Fall Issue of Spinetingler

Hi all. The Fall 2006 Issue of Spinetingler is now available. This is a huge double issue. Nineteen stories. 23 reviews(including a bunch from yours truly). Profiles and interviews with Crème de la Crime, Peter Robinson, Reggie Nadelson and Simon Kernick, as well as a special look at joint promotion with Barry Eisler and JA Konrath: ­ find out what they really did at Thrillerfest.

You can download, or choose to read online from here:
http://www.spinetinglermag.com/issuedownload.htm

Stories:
Roudabout by Patricia Abbott
The Killing by Stephen Allan
The Devil To Pay by John Barr
I am Sam by Bill Blume
Prey For Change by Betsy Dornbusch
Boys Will Be Boys by Sam Douglas
Killing Carol Ann by JT Ellison
Bad Dreams by Andy P. Jones
With The Help of a Stranger by Lauri Kubuitsile
Lucy Comes Calling by Sarita Leone
Camera Shy by Ed Lynskey
Haven City by Beverle Myers
Natural Causes by James Oswald
When Kyle Comes by Colleen Quinn
Tip Your Head Back by Stephen D. Rogers
In The Bones by Tracy Sharp
Cat¹s Pay by Pam Skochinski
Nuts to You by Paul Svendsen

Profiles/Interviews
Chris High profiles Peter Robinson and interviews Reggie Nadelson and reviews their latest works.

Sandra Ruttan interviews Simon Kernick and profiles publisher Crème de la Crime, who has exciting news for North American crime fiction fans

Andrea Maloney reviews:
Twisted Perception by Bob Avey, Art's Bloody by Vicki Lane, Max Unlocks The Universe by Mark Bouton, Murder, Mather & Mayhem by ME Kemp, The Deadly Tools of Ignorancy by Robert Elias, A Dream of Drowned Hollow by Lee Barwood, Philippine Fever by Bruce Cook, Baby Shark by Robert Fate, Deadly Interest by Julie Hyzy, The Final Judgment by Michael A. Black, Blind Traveler Down a Dark River by Robert P. Bennett

M. Wayne Cunningham reviews, Framed by Tonino Benqcquista, The Last Days by Gail Bowen, The Joining of Dingo Radish by Rob Harasymchuk

Flood Gondek reviews Murder Without Pity by Steve Haberman, The Scout Master: A Prepared Death by Luisa Beuhler

Diana Bane reviews The Case of Emily V by Keith Oatley

Sandra Ruttan reviews The Flood by Ian Rankin, Pale Immortal by Anne Frasier, The Last Assassin by Barry Eisler, The Green Room by Deborah Turrell Atkinson

Web profiles: DevilDog by James Oswald, Mouth Full of Bullets by BJ Bourg
Staff Profile: Tracy Sharp
Bonus: Between the Hardbacks with Barry Eisler and JA Konrath by Elizabeth
Krecker and MG Tarquini

Welcome to the Wild Kingdom

I went out my back door today to do some laundry in the basement and heard an awful racket coming from the bridal veil bush in our backyard. It's where the sparrows like to hang out. As I stepped towards it out shoots a huge Cooper's Hawk. He flew across the street, then flew back and landed on our chimney. Then from the chimney he shot down into the bush again and took off with one of our sparrows which he proceeded to eat. Later on he was back looking for another meal but with no luck this time but I was able to capture these great pictures.

Art Stamping Workshop Lesson # 3

Just finished the 3rd lesson for the Art Stamping Workshop which was to carve a tag stamp. I did two: one plain and one decorated. I really like how they came out and think I will be using them a lot.

Decorative Paper for Backgrounds and Such

I've seen loads of gorgeous papers in craft stores that are intended for scrapbookers but I use them in my art a lot. A bunch of them look handpained although they are printed. So I thought I'd try my hand at making some of my own with acrylic paint and such. They came out rather nice I thought.

Art Stamping Workshop

I recently joined a great group called Artists of the Round Table and they have different workshops based on some great books. The one I'm doing now is from the book Art Stamping Workshop by Gloria Page. It's all about learning how to carve your own rubber stamps. So I've done my first project which was to carve a shadow stamp. I've done two different ones and here they are the actual stamp and the stamped image too:

A Bazillion Decos

I have had a number of artistic decos(little art booklets) for way too long. But now I have finished working in all of them and it's time to send them on their way. Here they are:

They are Honey Bee Deco, Blue & Gold Deco, Together Deco, Purple Deco, Blue & Gold Deco, Pink Deco, Vintage Child Deco, Carnival of Curiosities Deco, 2nd Carnival of Curiosities Deco, Japan Deco, Odd Circus Deco, Women of the World Deco, Embossed Deco, Brown & Gold Deco, Cut Out Deco, Watercolor Deco, 2nd Watercolor Deco, Goddesses Deco, Celestial Deco, 2nd Celestial Deco, Artistic Nude Deco, Dreams Deco, Bejeweled Deco, Brown & Gold Deco and Travels to Italy Deco.

Pale Immortal by Anne Frasier

I've heard a lot of wonderful things about Anne Frasier's new book Pale Immortal. It's on my list of books to be bought asap!! And check out this really cool video for the book:






And here's the description of the Pale Immortal :

Welcome to Tuonela, a sleepy Wisconsin town haunted by events of 100 years ago, when a man who may have been a vampire slaughtered the town's citizens and drank their blood. Now, another murderer is killing the most vulnerable...and draining their bodies of blood.
Evan Stroud lives in darkness. The pale prisoner of a strange disease that prevents him from ever seeing the light of day, he lives in tragic solitude, taunted for being a "vampire." When troubled teenager Graham Stroud appears on Evan's doorstep, claiming to be his long-lost son, Evan's uneasy solitude is shattered.
Having escaped Tuonela's mysterious pull for several years, Rachel Burton is now back in town, filling in as coroner. Even as she seeks to identify the killer, and uncover the source of the evil that seems to pervade the town, she is drawn to Evan by a power she's helpless to understand or resist....
As Graham is pulled deeper and deeper into Tuonela's depraved, vampire-obsessed underworld, Rachel and Evan team up to save him. But the force they are fighting is both powerful and elusive...and willing to take them to the very mouth of hell.

And be sure to check out Anne's blog for more!

August Reads

1. Baby Shark by Robert Fate: Review to appear in Spinetingler Magazine's fall issue: A terrific debut novel with great characters and a taut storyline.

2. Deadly Interest by Julie Hyzy: Review to appear in Spinetingler Magazine's fall issue: Another great installment in the Alex St. James series.

3. The Final Judgment by Michael A. Black: Review to appear in Spinetingler Magazine's fall issue: An absorbing mystery with a fascinating look into the life of a kick boxer/private investigator as he faces the toughest challenges of his life.

4. The King of Lies by John Hart:

Jackson Workman Pickens, known as Work, is going about his life with little passion or hope. His business is failing, his marriage is passionless and his life in general is just unfulfilling. A little over a year ago his mother died and on the same night his father, Ezra Pickens, vanished. Ezra was a brilliant lawyer who created a legal empire that Work is now trying to carry on with but failing miserably.

Then suddenly everything changes when the murdered body of Ezra is discovered and Work finds himself to be a prime suspect along with his sister, Jean. For it turns out Work has been left a vast fortune by Ezra which the police see as a huge motive for murder.

Work’s life was always overshadowed by Ezra, his domineering father, who did everything he could to keep Work under his thumb. While Work lived his life under this father’s eagle eye his sister Jean’s life was practically destroyed by Ezra but was it enough for her to have killed him?
Fearing the worst about Jean, Work is determined that she not spend a day in prison so he sets about his own investigation. He finds himself at odds with the power-hungry detective investigating the murder who already has him convicted in her mind. Soon rumors start to fly and Work finds damning evidence that he is determined never comes to light.

Jean emotionally starts to crumble as the evidence against Work comes to light and he finds his own emotions bubbling up as he fights finally to get out from under Ezra’s domination and become his own man. He finds himself in a desperate battle to save his sister, free himself from the accusations flying about him and finally win back the love of a woman he has loved for most of his life.

John Hart’s The King of Lies is an amazing debut novel from an author who is one to watch. It is far more than a mystery, it’s the story of one man’s odyssey to find himself and the life which was taken from him at a young age. Hart’s writing pulls you into this powerful story with abundant descriptive detail, crisp and powerful dialogue and characters that are rich and full of life.

It’s at once a thrilling mystery and a poignant and heart wrenching story of a man who finds himself outside looking into a world he once thought was his own. As Work questions everything about himself and his life you will find yourself unable to put this novel down until you reach the emotional and electrifying ending.

5. Snow Blind by P. J. Tracy

The holidays are over and it looks like it will be a long, cold winter in Minneapolis. But this is Minneapolis and they love the snow so they sponsor a good, old fashioned snowman building contest. Everything is going along delightfully until two of the snowman are revealed to contain the bodies of two police officers. Suddenly what was a fun filled event turns into a nightmare for Detectives Magozzi and Rolseth.

Meanwhile the next day, the brand new sheriff of Dundas County, Iris Rikker, comes across another body in another snowman and soon it is feared a serial killer is on the loose.
Afraid that the new sheriff will be unable to handle the investigation, Magozzi and Rolseth head to Dundas County in a blizzard to help out. Soon they find themselves in need of help from Grace MacBride and her crew at Monkeewrench to search the web for clues to help them solve this horrible killing spree.

The mother and daughter writing team known as P.J. Tracy have done it again. Snow Blind is another thrilling installment in the Monkeewrench series with a taut and exciting storyline, beloved characters and humor sprinkled liberally throughout.

With Detectives Magozzi and Rolseth in the lead this time you get a wonderfully developed police procedural storyline with terrific character interactions, witty dialogue and woven throughout are social issues that will leave the detectives with an ethical dilemma showing that life isn’t just black and white but sometimes filled with shades of gray.

P.J. Tracy has done a marvelous job of continuing the evolution of these wonderful characters and I for one am looking forward with great anticipation for the next installment in this delightful series.

6. Dying Light by Stuart MacBride

Detective Sergeant Logan MacRae finds himself moved into D.I. Steel’s “Screw Up Squad” after the raid he lead into a warehouse rumored to be full of stolen property ends up with no arrests, no stolen property and one officer critically injured. D.I. Steel’s team is made up of the most inexperienced and/or worthless members of the homicide department.

Logan is desperate to show that he doesn’t belong on this team and he will do anything to make sure he isn’t there very long including working long hours on two brutal cases. One the police are desperate to solve is the high priority case of the murder by arson of six people including a baby. The second case is not high priority compared to the fire but still needs a resolution and that is the beating death of a prostitute down at the docks. Soon though the second case becomes a much higher priority when a second prostitute is found brutally beaten to death.

Both cases seem simple on the surface. Yet the more MacRae investigates the more he finds that everything isn’t as simple as it seems.

Throughout all this MacRae finds himself at odds with everyone he knows including D.I. Steel, D.I. Inch, his girlfriend Jackie Watson and his friend Colin Miller. Trying to juggle his personal life while dealing with murder and mayhem at work is a daunting task one which MacRae isn’t sure he is up for. Despite the overwhelming odds he is determined to get to the bottom of these brutal murders and also get himself out of the “Screw Up Squad”.

Stuart MacBride has written another thrilling entry in his DS Logan MacRae series. Darkly brilliant, Dying Light, pulls you in from the very first page and you’ll find you won’t be able to put it down until the taut and gripping ending. Don’t start this late at night unless you are prepared to not get any sleep.

MacBride’s dark sense of humor adds fire to the crackling dialogue, brilliant descriptive detail pulls you deeply into the city of Aberdeen and a storyline full of unexpected twists will leave you chilled and thrilled to the bone. A compelling read that will leave you looking forward with great anticipation to MacBride’s next entry in this outstanding series.

7. Blind Traveler Down a Dark River by Robert P. Bennett: Review to appear in Spinetingler Magazine's fall issue: Great storyline that just didn't have the writing to develop it to it's full potential.

The reviews for Dying Light, Snow Blind and The King of Lies also appear on Spinetingler Magazine's review site.

Grrrrrrrr

Grrrrrrrr! I can't post comments on anyone's blog if they haven't signed up for the beta version merging google and blogger! Unfortunately, you cannot post a comment on a non-beta blog or claim a mobile blog using your Google Account. These features are coming soon. What good is that????? Next time I don't sign up until all the bugs have been worked out. :(

Yes, I'm still Here

Yes, I'm still here. :) Been busy trying to get some decos done that I have had here forever. Like maybe a year. I know I know....baaaaaaaaaaaad! But I only have about 7 more to do...I've done about 15 and then I can find someone to take them off my hands to see that they eventually get home to their rightful owners. And then from now on I won't take on more than I know I can do. Phew!

And if you are asking what a deco is see Lisa Vollrath's site where she has a terrific definition of them.

Next after I finish these I will be working in two awesome journals and then making an oriental themed deco. Soon I'll also be posting my reading for August. Not too good only read seven books this month. But there's always next month.