YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE, NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE.
Did you make it to Elevengedden, Poisoned Pen’s annual celebration of science fiction and fantasy? If not, you can read about the event in Michael Senft’s introduction in the Phoenix New Times. https://bit.ly/2IIkWH0
If you find a favorite author, you might want to check the Web Store for their books. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Dean Koontz’ latest Jane Hawk novel, The Crooked Staircase, is the current Hot Book of the Week at the Poisoned Pen. There are signed copies of the book available through the Web Store, along with copies of Koontz’ other books. https://bit.ly/2LjYVjr
Here’s the summary of The Crooked Staircase.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “¢ Jane Hawk—who dazzled readers in The Silent Corner and The Whispering Room—faces the fight of her life, against the threat of a lifetime, in this electrifying new thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling suspense master Dean Koontz.
“I could be dead tomorrow. Or something worse than dead.”
Jane Hawk knows she may be living on borrowed time. But as long as she’s breathing, she’ll never cease her one-woman war against the terrifying conspiracy that threatens the freedom—and free will—of millions. Battling the strange epidemic of murder-suicides that claimed Jane’s husband, and is escalating across the country, has made the rogue FBI agent a wanted fugitive, relentlessly hunted not only by the government but by the secret cabal behind the plot. Deploying every resource their malign nexus of power and technology commands, Jane’s enemies are determined to see her dead . . . or make her wish she was.
Jane’s ruthless pursuers can’t stop her from drawing a bead on her prey: a cunning man with connections in high places, a twisted soul of unspeakable depths with an army of professional killers on call. Propelled by her righteous fury and implacable insistence on justice, Jane will make her way from southern Southern California to the snow-swept slopes of Lake Tahoe to confront head-on the lethal forces arrayed against her. But nothing can prepare her for the chilling truth that awaits when she descends the crooked staircase to the dark and dreadful place where her long nightmare was born.
Praise for The Crooked Staircase
“An absorbing thriller full of fresh touches . . . Writing his unusual heroine, Koontz keeps the pages alive with attitude as well as action. . . . For Hawk, who is as fearless as she is beautiful, no obstacle is too great, especially with the well-being of her hidden-away five-year-old son on her mind.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Spellbinding . . . Beautifully plotted and written with notable care and flare . . . The Hawk series . . . is among [Koontz’s] best work.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Unrelenting . . . [Jane] rivets readers’ attention. . . . Michael Crichton fans and thriller aficionados who appreciate a fierce female protagonist . . . should be urged to meet Jane Hawk.”—Library Journal
CrimeFest in Bristol just celebrated its tenth anniversary. One panel featured the authors and editors of Ten Year Stretch, the anthology published by Poisoned Pen Press that celebrates the anniversary of the conference. Panelists included editor Martin Edwards, along with Lee Child, Yrsa Sigurdadottir, Simon Brett, John Harvey, and moderator Donna Moore. You can read more about CrimeFest on Edwards’ blog, Do You Write Under Your Own Name? You can order Ten Year Stretch through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2rVWFae
CrimeFest is another conference at which awards are presented. Some of the authors and books may not yet be familiar to American audiences. Some of the books haven’t yet been published in the United States. These awards are presented in England. Check the Web Store now and then if you’re interested in these titles. Some are already available. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here are the winners in the adult categories.
AUDIBLE SOUNDS OF CRIME AWARD
The Audible Sounds of Crime Award is for the best unabridged crime audiobook first published in the UK in 2017 in both printed and audio formats, and available for download from audible.co.uk, Britain’s largest provider of downloadable audiobooks.
Winner – J.P. Delaney, The Girl Before (Quercus), read by Emilia Fox, Finty Williams & Lise Aagaard Knudsen
eDUNNIT AWARD
The eDunnit Award is for the best crime fiction ebook first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format in the British Isles in 2017.
Winner – Michael Connelly, The Late Show (Orion)
LAST LAUGH AWARD
The Last Laugh Award is for the best humorous crime novel first published in the British Isles in 2017.
Winner – Mick Herron, Spook Street (John Murray)
H.R.F. KEATING AWARD
The H.R.F. Keating Award is for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction first published in the British Isles in 2017. H.R.F. “˜Harry’ Keating was one of Britain’s most esteemed crime novelists, and a renowned reviewer and writer of books about crime fiction.
Winner – Mike Ripley, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (HarperCollins)
THE PETRONA AWARD
CrimeFest also hosts the presentation of The Petrona Award which was created in the memory of Maxine Clarke by her friends and colleagues. The award celebrates the best of Scandinavian crime fiction.
Winner – QUICKSAND by Malin Persson Giolito, translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles (Simon & Schuster) – To be released in the U.S. in August, 2018.
If you’re planning to attend the Elevengedden Sci/Fi Fantasy Party on Wednesday, May 23 at 7 PM (See blog here – https://bit.ly/2IzReDT), you probably already know who won the Nebular Awards. The Nebula Awards are presented annually by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The awards were just announced. Check the Web Store to order the books by the authors. https://store.poisonedpen.com
Congratulations to the winners and nominees.
Novel
Novella
Novelette
Short Story
The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book
The Kevin O’Donnell Jr Award for Service to SFWA went to Bud Sparhawk.The Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award went to Gardner Dozois and Sheila Williams. The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award went to Peter Beagle.
Are you a fan of Dana Stabenow’s mysteries set in Alaska? Or maybe you fell for Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone. You might want to check out Mark Adams’ nonfiction book, Tip of the Iceberg: My 3,000 Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska, the Last Great American Frontier. You can order it through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2rXSnOw
Here’s the summary.
From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu, a fascinating and funny journey into Alaska, America’s last frontier, retracing the historic 1899 Harriman Expedition.
In 1899, railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman organized a most unusual summer voyage to the wilds of Alaska: He converted a steamship into a luxury “floating university,” populated by some of America’s best and brightest scientists and writers, including the anti-capitalist eco-prophet John Muir. Those aboard encountered a land of immeasurable beauty and impending environmental calamity. More than a hundred years later, Alaska is still America’s most sublime wilderness, both the lure that draws a million tourists annually on Inside Passage cruises and a natural resources larder waiting to be raided. As ever, it remains a magnet for weirdos and dreamers.
Armed with Dramamine and an industrial-strength mosquito net, Mark Adams sets out to retrace the 1899 expedition. Using the state’s intricate public ferry system, the Alaska Marine Highway System, Adams travels three thousand miles, following the George W. Elder‘s itinerary north through Wrangell, Juneau, and Glacier Bay, then continuing west into the colder and stranger regions of the Aleutians and the Arctic Circle. Along the way, he encounters dozens of unusual characters (and a couple of very hungry bears) and investigates how lessons learned in 1899 might relate to Alaska’s current struggles in adapting to climate change.
*****
Here’s the author, Mark Adams, talking about writing.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJgWQOxaVPM?rel=0&w=560&h=315]
Will Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club and Books for Living, has a podcast called “But That’s Another Story”. He recently interviewed Louise Penny, author of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries. It’s a very personal interview in which Louise discusses E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, her own fears, and writing. You can hear it here. https://bit.ly/2rUVjvw
Penny’s next book in her series is scheduled for a November 27 release. You can pre-order Kingdom of the Blind, or the other books in the series, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2LeWZJ2
Interested in Will Schwalbe’s books or Charlotte’s Web? You can check the Web Store for those as well. https://store.poisonedpen.com
It’s that time of year when science fiction and fantasy authors show up to party with readers at the Poisoned Pen. It’s time for Elevengedden. The party kicks off on Wednesday, May 23 at 7 PM. You can buy the authors’ books that night at the bookstore.
The event starts @ 7pm. We ask that participates to please line up outside the front door of store. We will provide the water if needed.
We will have author books for sale for signing as well as other stuff.
*Please support the author you’re getting books signed with by buying one of their books at our store. Be dutiful of personal book amounts limit is 3. If you have more respectfully ask the author. This event supports the authors, the community & our store. Independent bookstores are unicorns.*
Myke Cole
Emily Devenport
Cory Doctorow
Jason Fry
Araron Mahnke
Sylvain Neuvel
K. Arsenault Rivera
John Scalzi
Victoria (V.E.) Schwab
Scott Sigler
Charles Soule
Chuck Wendig
Sam Sykes
That’s not ALL! More authors are going to show up and hang out the evening of the event!
It’s been all over the news, and it kicks off next week. According to the PBS website,
“THE GREAT AMERICAN READ is an eight-part series that explores and celebrates the power of reading, told through the prism of America’s 100 best-loved novels (as chosen in a national survey). It investigates how and why writers create their fictional worlds, how we as readers are affected by these stories, and what these 100 different books have to say about our diverse nation and our shared human experience.
The television series features entertaining and informative documentary segments, with compelling testimonials from celebrities, authors, notable Americans and book lovers across the country. It is comprised of a two-hour launch episode in which the list of 100 books is revealed, five one-hour theme episodes that examine concepts common to groups of books on the list, and a finale, in which the results are announced of a nationwide vote to choose America’s best-loved book.”
Looking for some of those 100 books? Here’s the list. https://to.pbs.org/2Knp5Rf
Here’s the website where you can find more information. https://to.pbs.org/2rGEvsB
And, here’s the Poisoned Pen’s web store, where you can order the titles you’re interested in reading. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
From time to time, I like to mention mystery sites, and then encourage you to come back to the Poisoned Pen’s Web Store to order books. https://store.poisonedpen.com
Criminal Element took a short hiatus in March, and it looks like they’re back. https://www.criminalelement.com
There are reviews, excerpts from books, some contests. Check out the latest news there, and then come back to the Poisoned Pen for your reading.
Jon Talton is a former columnist for the Arizona Republic, so he has quite an audience when he returns to Arizona. It doesn’t hurt that his latest novel, The Bomb Shelter, was based on an actual bombing in Phoenix. Signed copies are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2vFQj31
Here’s the summary of The Bomb Shelter.
The past never rests easy in Arizona.
Forty years ago, a Phoenix reporter was killed by a car bomb in one of America’s most notorious crimes. Three men went to prison – but was there more to the story of Charles Page’s assassination? More than three low-level players? Did a kingpin order the hit and get away with it? And what was the real motive? Despite the work of teams of journalists and law and legal professionals, no one yet knows why.
It’s a case custom-made for David Mapstone, the historian-turned-sheriff’s deputy. And suddenly Mapstone’s boss, newly re-elected Sheriff Mike Peralta, promises to reopen the investigation into the only murder of an American journalist, in the US, in modern times. Why?
The promise triggers new murders. The crimes are reenactments of Phoenix’s mob-riddled past, where gangsters rubbed elbows with the city’s elite amid crosscurrents of corrupt cops, political payoffs, gambling, prostitution, and murder, all shielded by the sunshine image of a resort city. But who is committing them? A former soldier who is an explosives expert and deadly with a knife? A woman with screen-siren looks and extraordinary computer skills? Or someone out of Phoenix’s seamy, swinging Seventies with secrets to keep, even though the major power brokers are dead?
Mapstone will need all the help he can get. He enlists a PhD candidate and Black Lives Matter activist to help him comb through sealed archives of the original bombing. Mapstone’s wife, Lindsey, a top hacker, rejoins the Sheriff’s Office and plays a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with the perp or perps – one that goes from the digital to the real and risky world. Somewhere in the house of mirrors surrounding the Page case they must find the key that connects the past to the present.
In this swiftly paced, compelling new novel by journalist Jon Talton, the ninth in the David Mapstone series, a big city is trying to keep its darkest history off-limits.
*****
Credit for the photos goes to Timothy Moore who sent them to the Poisoned Pen.
