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2009 Edgar® Awards

Tonight at the Grand Hyatt in New York City, there’s the 63rd Annual Edgar®Award banquet. Wow, James Lee Burke and Sue Grafton are the 2009 Grand Masters. I just searched twitter and can’t find anyone giving out the winners. Maybe they’re still eating dinner.

Here’s the nominees. http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html

My predictions, Best Novel, Blue Heaven by C.J. Box (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

and someone remembers to twitter the winners we’ll know who got these awards.

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1,000 Detectives Beyond Borders, and having your cake and eating it too.

I’m a fan of Detectives Beyond Borders, so when I read on April 24th, Peter Rozovsky posted his 1,000th post. I was duly impressed.

Dial M for murder: My thousandth post http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/2009/04/dial-m-for-murder-my-thousandth-post.html

And I would die and go to heaven if 102 people every commented on my blog, which I realize I have a long way to go to get near his reporting. But he is so much fun to follow, to read and here’s to you Peter for a great blog. 

And I love Who is eating the Watchmen.

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Author panel two, Jordan, Crystal, Mel and Charles.

Second author panel at the Oklahoma Library Association meeting included Jordan Dane, Crystal Inman, Charles Sasser and Mel Odom.

Interesting and some little know facts about these authors: Jordan and Charles like kayaking, but Jordan should probably not go in the same boat as her husband.  A boat is just like a car, there can be way too many back seat drivers. Mel has written over 140 books, and Charles has 50 published books and around 3,000 articles to his credit, they both think sleeping is way overrated.  Crystal writes steamy romance besides having a day job in a library. Who says librarians are boring.

Sasser has been influenced by Hemingway and Steinbeck. He is a real life action character, no couch potato here. Inman loves romance, and that’s what she reads and writes. Dane grew up with historical westerns and packs action into all her books as a result. Dane and Inman don’t plot first, just go for it.  And Mr. Odom “grew up on junk”, thinks  Robert Parker is the stuff and admires the storytelling ability of Louis L’Amour.

New projects for these folks include: Sasser is working on a  story about Iraq, None Left Behind, a science fiction story called Sanctuary and a book on predator drones used in battlefields. Crystal just finished the last one of the Elemental Guardian Series, available through Amazon’s Fictionwise ebooks. Jordan Dane is working on the third book in the Sweet Justice series. And of course Mel has just a ton of new projects underway; a new Rogue Angel (Archer pseud.), a Shadowrun novel, and something very new in the interactive fiction category.    

Very fun, interesting folks with lots in store for us in the future.

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National Poetry Month in Oklahoma

“I know Durant’s way down here on the Red, but if anyone’s straying this 

far south Ron Wallace (That’s me) will be reading some new poems at the 

Market Square stage off First and Main Street in Durant at 3:00 PM this 

Saturday the 25th.”

Ken Hada at Full Circle Book Store in Oklahoma City at 2 p.m. on Sunday, and Carol Hamilton and lots of others are reading in 15-minute sessions at a Readathon and celebration at the Ralph Ellison Library in Oklahoma City also on Saturday the 25th.  Wherever you are, lots to do for Poetry Month.

 

Saturday, April 25, 2009

 National Poetry Month Read-a-thon
Time:

All Ages

 

Celebrate National Poetry Month at the library with an entire day of poetry reading. The poetry begins early at 9:00am and continues until midnight. Come for children’s readings from 9:00am to noon, refreshments and music from 12:00 to 1:00pm, an open mic poetry session at 6:00pm and keynote speaker Deborah Hunter at 7:00pm. Make sure to stay for the finale starting at 9:00pm where you could get a chance to win some awesome prizes. All ages are invited to attend. After 5:00pm, children 16 and under must be accompanied by a parent or have a permission slip. Call 606-3459 with questions, or to sign up as a poetry reader (spots are limited).

 

 

 

 

 

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Oklahoma’s Bounty of Talent

Lunch with Tim was very nice. What do I know about him you might not after our lunch…. He worked in a university library Special Collection, working with sheet music and magic.  He attended a writing program at Brown University.   Grew up in Midwest City, teaches at Rose State. Found out about being a finalist for  the National Book  Awards from a Tulsa World reporter (his agent left a voice mail but the reporter beat her to the news). Journalism is still alive. Can Rap but should probably not give up his day job for a music career.  Changed to writing young adult novels because he was inspired by the immediate emotion of the younger readers to his first novel Falling Dark, which was written for an adult audience .  He writes to explore characterization, language and themes. And brings literary fiction to the young adult reader in a way that doesn’t talk down or dumb down.

Then later in the afternoon I went to the panel discussion with the authors I mentioned in the previous post. Tim Tharp, Bob Burke, Nathan Brown, Anna Myers and illustrator, Mike Wimmer.

Tidbits from them… Burke has written 88 nonfiction books and is working on five more for next year!  Myers has won FOUR Oklahoma Book Awards in the Children/ Young Adult category. She’s got a new one coming out in the fall called Time of the Witches, about the Salem witch trials.

  And a new first adult novel that sounds like a lot of fun with some serious on the side. Tharp likes revising. Wimmer is happiest with his first pencil drawing, because the beginning is the best and the ending will always disappoint.  And Nathan Brown wants us to escape all the previous scarring of bad poetry teaching and find out it can be understandable and enjoyable. He’s got a new one in the works called My Sideways Heart.

My final comment is something Mike Wimmer said when talking about wanting to inspire and in the course of meeting and talking with people, he discovered  two  important concepts  from successful people.  They are the choices they made about what they want to do with their lives and that they picked something they love to do.   Something to think about this spring afternoon, choice and passion, and I’m glad I got to visit with people who’s choice and passion bring us art and literature.

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Lunch with Tim Tharp

Having lunch with Tim Tharp today, Ok, maybe it’s me and another 200 or so librarians, but it’s still lunch with National Book Award finalist Tim Tharp. You know, Falling Dark, Knights of the Hill Country and The Spectacular Now. 

Later in the day at the Oklahoma Library Association meeting there is an author panel with Tim Tharp, Anna Myers, Bob Burke, Nathan Brown and Mike Wimmer.

So on that note, I’ve got to go get ready and get myself on the road to Midwest City.

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Finding your own demon, Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory

When a first time novelist hits his mark, then  it’s one well worth reading, and Gregory hit his mark with Pandemonium.  I just read his book and apparently really good reviews have already hit the internet by those lucky first readers. It’s one of those books where I wish I was a lot smarter and could pick up on all this references to “collective unconscious”, Jungian psychology and archetypes, A.E. Van Vogt and everything Philip K. Dick. I do know about Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots, Nixon, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and mashups, so I feel I’ve crossed several generational divides  in the book. 

Del Pierce is “possessed” by a demon. As a young child Del, became possessed by the demon, “Hellion”. Beginning in the 1950′s there began a recurring phenomena that involved certain people being possessed by demons, the demons doing the possessing included;  “The Captain”, “The Truth”, the “Little Angel” ,and the “Painter”.  Throughout the book you’ll meet these demons up close and personal. Unfortunately Del’s demon attached itself to young male blond haired children and he fit the bill. Subsequent accidents in Del’s life seem to have revived his “demon”.

The story revolves around Del’s ability to deal with his problem, his family’s reactions and interactions with him, the outsiders who apply various measures to “fix the problem”, which range from an attempt to do away with him by the “Human Leaguers” in Harmonia Lake (absolutely not so harmonious), Mother Mariette O’Connell and the “Red Book” clan  applying Jungian psychology and hypnosis on him and a final tornadic climax in Kansas.

Hopefully something in this review will stir you to read Pandemonium, you’ll be glad you did. 

Gregory recently picked up the very tasty Crawford Award  for a new fantasy writer with a first book,  presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. And best yet has a new book in the works.

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Local #amazonfail

Sadie at ExtremelyGraphic blog does a very good job of explaining the mystifying disappearing Amazon sales rankings for certain titles. But here’s an example of what it does to one of our local authors. Jaci Burton   has had her books “delisted”, and she explains what this can mean to her sales.

Jaci said, “For those who don’t understand what it means, let me explain. The sales # associated with a book is no great shakes. It’s just that that sales # affects a book’s visibility on the various Amazon bestseller lists (of which there are many), and the “If you like ___, then you’ll like ____” comparison, which also increases a book’s visibility. ”

So when you are delisted you don’t come up on these bestseller lists, even if you are a Bestseller. 

Perhaps it’s time to try some other online book sellers, how about Powells. And I’m sure if Jaci’s books are delisted there are other Oklahoma authors that have been delisted also. Apparently all the tweeting

has caused Amazon to re-think this silliness.

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Woodfest Readers, National Poetry Week

Another fun, free literary event celebrating the life and words of Wood Guthrie, with Oklahoma Poets!! Try something new, go to a poetry reading. 

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Howard Starks comment

I thought everyone would like to see this comment about Oklahoma poet Howard Starks,

Howard Starks was the embodiment of genius. I write poetry and teach English primarily thanks to his influence. This book was a finalist in the 1997 Oklahoma Book Awards. It should have won hands down, no way a book of translations could even be close. Robinson Jeffers, James Dickey, Walt Whitman, Howard Starks: his name is on their level. I use this book in the classes I teach at Southeastern. It has been reprinted and can be purchased at the Campus Bookstore at Southeastern or from my website http://www.RonWallacePoetry.com Don’t miss the chance to read this work. It is the pinnacle of Oklahoma Poetry.

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