Latest MWA Anthology Available Now

The latest anthology sponsored by the Mystery Writers of American is now available. If you are looking for something other than the usual mystery/crime stuff this may be the anthology you've been waiting for.

Crimes by Moonlight contains 20 stories that integrate horror and supernatural with mystery. Several of the authors are friends and acquaintances of mine and that not withstanding, I found the book to be a quick and satisfying read.
Ms. Harris, by the way, is slated to be this year's guest of honor at the New England CrimeBake Writer/Reader conference for details on the conference check their web page at http://www.crimebake.org.

I'm very partial to this conference for a couple of reasons; first, I have attended the 1st eight and have seen this conference grow from a 1 day local event into a nationally recognized Friday through Sunday conference. Secondly I was a member of the planning committee for 4 years and know first hand how dedicated the members of the sponsoring organizations (the New England Chapters of MWA and Sisters in Crime) are and how hard they work to make this conference an annual success.

New Book on PTSD Available

If there is anything more gratifying than seeing your own name in print, it's seeing someone you've helped get a book published. Such is the case of Dr. Diane England.

She and I met several years ago, shortly after my wife passed away, and I was able to introduce her to Paula Munier, Director of Product Innovation at Adams Media. Diane and Paula discussed Diane's work as a family counselor for the U. S. Air Force in Aviano, Italy. Paula immediately said, "I can use someone with your experience." The outcome of that meeting is THE POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER RELATIONSHIP.

Dr. England has many years experience in dealing with dysfunctional relationships and is a recognized expert in working with narcissistic substance and spouse abusers. She has a PhD in Clinical Social Work from the University of Texas, a Masters Degree in Family Studies from Oregon State University, and a Bachelor Degree in Child Development from the University of Maine (the Alma mater of yours truly) and has practised as a psychotherapist. Her counseling style is empathetic and her writing style makes you feel as if you're sitting in an easy chair having coffee with her.

The book is very readable and is full of case studies that illustrate the issues involved when one or more members of a relationship suffers from PTSD. It is available at most bookstores as well as amazon.com . For more information about Dr. England and her practise visit her web site at PTSDRelationship.com.

Congratulations Dr. Diane!!!

Mysteryman

Tired Of Dealing With Microsoft Word?

Are you like me, in that you've had it up to your keester with Microsoft? Well there is a solution and better yet it's FREE!

Sun Microsystems has developed an office suite every bit as powerful and useful as Microsoft Office and they are giving it away! All you need do is go to Open Office's website and download it. I've been using its word processor for several months now and find it as functional as Word in fact it will open Word documents and save in Word format as well as its own format.

The product is not a new to the market come-on either. It has been around for a while (I believe it was formally known as STAROFFICE) and users can submit suggested changes to SUN. WOW! A software package that you might actually have some input into! So if you are in the market for (or have recently purchased) a new computer, rather than pay Microsoft for Office download a free copy of Open Office and give it a try--I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Not to mention I'm sure you can find a way to use that licensing fee...

DEADFALL EVENTS SCHEDULED IN MAY

Level Best Books has scheduled two events featuring DEADFALL their latest anthology of mystery and crime stories by New England writers.

At 6:00 PM on May 9, 2009 a number of DEADFALL writers will be at Water Street Books in Exeter, NH and at 7:30 PM on Monday, May 11, 2009 Level Best will be at the Freeport, ME Public Library. Come on out and support a talented bunch of writers.

Also keep in mind that Level Best is accepting submissions for their 7th anthology. For submission guidelines visit their web site at http://www.levelbestbooks.com/

Breaking News

Due to an unexpected turn in my personal life, I'll be relocating back to northern Maine. As a result, blog updates will be sporatic at best through the month of February. I promise that by March 1st I'll be back.

Book Review: Heat Lightning by John Sandford

The best-selling author of the Lucas Davenport Prey novels has returned with his second book featuring Detective Virgil Flowers.

Flowers is called up to investigate a series of killings that appear to be the work of the same killer. He determines that all of the victims had a common link; they served in Vietnam in the turbulent period before the U. S. pullout and eventual fall of the South Vietnamese govenment.

I found the book to be as fast paced and absorbing as Sanford's prior works and in many ways find Flowers to be a much more interesting protaganist than Lucas Davenport. I highly recommend this for lovers of mystery/thriller novels.

Mystery-Man

DEADFALL Reviewed

Level Best Books' sixth annual anthology of crime stories by New England writers has been given a glowing review by Rae Francoeur in the Arts Section of Wicked Local , a local distributed newspaper in Rockport, Massachusetts.

The review states in part: "Deadfall: Crime Stories by New England Writers" is a veritable cache of inventive ways to die, offbeat characters that kill, and crime fighters who thought they'd seen it all." The review goes on to mention several of the anthology's stories, including: I found myself laughing a number of times. "Bagging the Trophy" by Vaughn C. Hardacker is a lively, funny story about a lawyer with the attorney general's office who's trying to get a suspected killer to implicate himself.

To read the review in its entirety click here to go to Wicked Local's website.