Josh’s Comments (group member since Jun 17, 2010)

Josh’s comments from the Q&A with Josh Lanyon group.

Jordan wrote: "Ordering books for the library and I just came across this cozy mystery series set on Catalina! Much Ado about Nauticaling is the first book, for anyone who's interested."

You had me at Catalina!

Jordan wrote: "Cat Sebastian on writing historical MM Romance: https://www.popsugar.com/entertainmen..."

I really enjoy Sebastian's work.

WMD wrote: "Martha Wells released a tiny murderbot tale. She is closing her patreon account because someone took all her short stories shared there and released them in archive sites and is apparently planning on selling ebooks on amazon. .."

Ugh. What is wrong with people? I certainly hope she went straight to Amazon and got that shut down.

Jordan wrote: "A shop on Etsy? You have me intrigued! What would you sell?"

Nothing to do with Josh Lanyon as it turns out. :-D

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SleuthStreet

Karen wrote: "Josh wrote: "The latest publishing drama is, unsurprisingly, an article in the Atlantic which shared a link to more than 191,000 books that were used to train generative-AI systems:

https://full-..."

Yes. This has been in the works for a bit. It's expected to fail by most legal experts.

The latest publishing drama is, unsurprisingly, an article in the Atlantic which shared a link to more than 191,000 books that were used to train generative-AI systems:

https://full-stack-search-prod.vercel...

And yes, several authors you are familiar with are included in that database. Most probably our books were scraped from pirate sites, which is why there is such a weird selection.

Anyway, I'm not getting worked up about this--having been "data-mined" by human authors for decades now. :-D

Seriously though. Why am I not grabbing a torch and heading to the author signing? Partly because, as a student of history, I can see there is no stopping this anymore than it would have been possible to stop the Industrial Revolution.

But partly because of a little something called Fair Use Copyright. So far the majority of lawsuits against AI have crashed and burned in the face of it.

https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/

https://bit.ly/48u7l2g

I'm sure the occasional author/artist/photographer may prevail in court, but when you have giant corporations wholeheartedly embracing a technology, that technology is here to stay.

Thoughts?

Byron wrote: "Jordan wrote: "His book would be a great memoir now, but yes, written a few years from now, to be sure.

And yeah, Muriel didn’t do right by her son at all. 😞"

Does anyone else have occasional dr..."

LOL

Griff and Pierce will definitely expand each other's horizons!

So. Updates.

Well, most of this is old news.

The audio for 44. 1644 NORTH came out https://www.audible.com/pd/441644-Nor...

The audio for Lament at Loon Landing came out
https://www.audible.com/pd/Lament-at-...

Loon Landing came out
https://www.amazon.com/Lament-Loon-La...

The audio for Puzzle for Two came out
https://www.audible.com/pd/Puzzle-for...

Puzzle for Two came out
https://www.amazon.com/Puzzle-Two-Jos...


By the way, a bunch of the Secrets and Scrabble books are on sale at Amazon right now to bolster the Kindle Deal on Murder in Pirate's Cove

Also a ton of translations came out. My current website is not conducive to listing translations, so I've purchased a new website but haven't had time to set it up yet. That's planned for before the end of the year, which should allow me to get up to date on all my translations. I've currently got only about half of them listed, for which I apologize. Yeesh.

But in the exciting world of translations, the Japanese translation of the Movie Town Murders is coming September 10th, I believe. I can't wait to see the illustrations by Yooichi Kadono.

What else?

I'll be at Bouchercon next week
https://bouchercon2023.com/

I'll be at GRL in October
https://www.gayromlit.com/

Frankly, I think these will be my last conference appearances. But that may just be my current emotional temperature.

I'm still planning on Corpse at Captain's Seat and the 12.2 Per-Cent Solution before the end of the year, but no projected release dates and no preorders.

Both will be in ebook, audio and print.

In October I'll resume work on Ghosted for my Patreon account.

Every year, for the past four decades, Dr. John Perry, head of the Twinkleton Paranormal Society, hosts a gala ball and invites the quaint Oregon village's most notable citizens (both living and dead) to attend. This year is no different, with one exception. This year, Dr. Perry will vie for the role of Ghost of Honor.

Recovering from a bad case of burnout, FBI Agent Archie Crane returns to Twinkleton, Oregon--and soon finds himself suspected by local sheriff, Beau Langham, of murderIng his his beloved benefactor.

Beau and Archie go way back--and not all the memories are good. Ten years ago, Archie broke Beau's heart. Is Beau looking for revenge or does he really think Archie capable of murdering his eccentric former guardian?

https://www.patreon.com/joshlanyon

I think that's pretty much everything.

Johanna wrote: "Antonella wrote: "Thank you, Jordan and Ije. Although lately it almost feels like I'm occupying too much space if I share you what I do, because not many people write such things anymore.

Do tell..."

:-D :-D :-D

My gosh that seems like a long time ago.

This has been a very tiring summer, I have to say. It has been a very good summer--lots of wonderful visits and happy plans for the future--it has been productive though not nearly as much writing has happened as I anticipated.

But there have also been less delightful things to deal with. My parents are really beginning to show their age. My dad has become obsessed with his health (which, for someone in his early nineties is actually quite good) and refuses to eat almost anything. I'm spending a small fortune in having special meals shipped to him--which he largely complains about and refuses to eat because he wants to eat zero sodium--ZERO--and finds something "unhealthy" in everything. He looks like a walking skeleton. I have tried three different meal companies and we're now down to one specifically tailored to seniors with health issues and he STILL has a problem with every dish.

My mother can't remember anything from even an hour earlier.

The SO is unhappy in his job.

So not to complain--these things are just part of life--but it has been an emotionally tiring summer. And I am very burnt out. Not really with the writing itself so much as our current writing community world. Which I won't get into.

Anyway. I have more to be grateful for than to be wearied by.

Antonella wrote: "Thank you, Jordan and Ije. Although lately it almost feels like I'm occupying too much space if I share you what I do, because not many people write such things anymore.

Do tell us what you are d..."

Even though I don't participate (anywhere) as regularly as I used to, I still pop in and I always love--truly love--to see what you're all up to. So please don't ever be shy about posting. It's like getting a letter from an old friend.

As far as new members (and we do continue to get a few every month) you'll find that you get so much more out of Goodreads groups if you engage and participate. This group, in particular, is friendly and civilzed. You won't find the drama here, and thank God for that.

Susan wrote: "Josh wrote: "5 - The new seasons of my favorite zany mystery shows: Only Murders in the Building"

I am a huge fan of this series. Steve Martin has always been a favorite forever. Love the mysterie..."

It turned out to be such a fun surprise!

Melissa wrote: "I'm reading a few things, and recently finished The monuments men murders and I loved reading about the Doubletree hotel 360 restaurant in Crystal City. I work in DC and passed it the morning I rea..."

Melissa, we're doing the same with old TV shows! We've been watching Lancer, Bob Newhart, Mannix, Murder She Wrote, and of course the Rockford Files.

Also we've been scouring YouTube for lost, er, gems and came across Jason King--which afforded many hours of amusement.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

1- Reconnecting with my old college roommates. :-)

2 - Weathering our mini hurricane (and the big aftershock from the Ojai earthquake) with not so much as a leaking window! Oh, and loving all that glorious rain for my parched garden.

3 - Although there is a hint of back-to-school in the air, it's still swimming weather

4 - My Plan B (aka my retirement strategy) which so far consists of a shop on Etsy. :-D

5 - The new seasons of my favorite zany mystery shows: Only Murders in the Building and The After Party

oh...bonus

6 - This sane, civilized little corner of the internet

The audio is an excellent suggestion. I'm too tired to read at night lately, but I could probably listen for a bit. I just bought it, so we'll see!

Antonella wrote: "«Vice Media reportedly headed for bankruptcy»
https://www.theguardian.com/media/202..."

I saw that the other night. That's a shame.

It's been a very busy month. A very productive month. Though never as productive as I hope. June is going to be a kind of marathon--a good marathon full of visits with friends and music and writing.

I've finished Puzzle for Two, which should be out in a few days (it's currently in edits) and I'm working on Corpse at Captain's Seat (that's now looking like a July release) and a bunch of translation projects.

I finally got a gardener out to the house I rent to my sister, and sadly two of the trees in the front yard had to be removed. They were such beautiful trees, but it seems they couldn't withstand the drought. Ugh. Just heartbreaking.

Marlowe seems to FINALLY be over his bronchitis. It took forever for him to recover, but he's back to his normal non-wheezy pugnacious little self.

The weather dropped last week and for the first time in decades we're going to have a cool and breezy Memorial Day weekend. In fact, the wind is really fierce right now--and all that pollen is making me feel sleepy and out of it.

What are you all up to? I loved reading Antonella's calendar of events. I continue to be amazed at your energy, Antonella. I suspect there are magicial properties in all that cake you eat. :-D

Antonella wrote: "Good news:
The recurrent fascist demonstration in my home village Dongo on lake Como was a flop, there were lost of antifascists though! I couldn't go because I got last minute work, but I did adve..."

Yeesh. We live in strange times.

Granted, I suppose all times are strange. It's more that so much of what I took for granted growing up...things like Democracy = good, Nazis = bad -- things everyone seemed to agree on -- seem to be up for debate in certain quarters.

Jordan wrote: "I can’t believe I forgot to mention that I’m starting week three of my new job!!! How did I forget that. 😂 I was keeping mum about the job interview and everything because I didn’t want to jinx any..."

Is this the job you interviewed for a while back?

Congratulations!!!! How exciting. :-)

Antonella wrote: "I've just had two lovely days.

On the 30th April I had my first Beltane/Walpurgis Night celebration with a very diverse group of women. There were 13 of us, just perfect ;-).

We went to a forest ..."

This sounds amazing.

Karen wrote: "We're in the Pacific NW for five more days (of 11) helping out with the grandkids while our SIL is at a conference in Europe. The weather is absolutely gorgeous. A day or two of rain when we arrive..."

Oh how nice to have such a long stretch with the kidlings!