Chasing Down the Shogun

Writing historical mystery requires working within two sets of rules, the ones that govern mysteries and the ones for historical novels, and although those rules can be broken, I prefer to “play fair” with the reader when I can. Much of the action in my upcoming Shinobi Mystery, BLADE OF THE SAMURAI, takes place on the grounds of the shogunate–the compound where the shogun lived, which also housed the government offices. (The Japanese word for the shogunate government is bakufu, though I substituted “shogunate” in the novel to make it easier on native English speakers.) When writing the novel, I researched medieval

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An Interview With Mystery Author K.B. Owen

Please help me welcome fellow mystery author K.B. Owen, author of UNSEEMLY PURSUITS (Concordia Wells Mysteries, #2), which just released this month. K.B. Owen taught college English for nearly two decades at universities in Connecticut and Washington, DC, and holds a doctorate in 19th century British literature. A mystery lover ever since she can remember, she drew upon her teaching experiences in creating her amateur sleuth, Professor Concordia Wells. Unlike the fictional Miss Wells, K.B. did not have to conduct lectures in a bustle and full skirts.  Thankfully.  No doubt, many folks are grateful for that little fact.  😀 A deadly secret

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Other Ships, Rising Tides, and Josephine

Almost everyone has heard the expression, “a rising tide floats all ships” – and assuming your ship isn’t full of holes, it’s true. The expression applies with equal force to publishing, and has special meaning where authors are concerned. Because authors have the power to raise the tide. Not just bestselling authors, either. Every single one of us – and in the weeks to come I’m going to write on this topic more than a little. (If you’re not an author, don’t worry – a lot of my advice will apply to other life situations too.) Many times, when an author

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The ABCs of Authors and Blurbs

Today we continue our journey through the publishing process with a look at blurbs. In publishing, the word “blurb” can mean both the short jacket-copy summaries that appear on the back of books and also the short-form author reviews and recommendations used to promote the book. Today, we’re talking about the second of those: other authors’ recommendations. If you’ve picked up a book lately, you probably saw the complimentary comments from other authors (“blurbs”) on the cover. Blurbs also appear on a book’s website pages and online sales listings. Most readers, and authors, know what a blurb is, but many debut

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Seahorses and Pipes – Cousins of the Reef

Most people see pipefish as odd-looking, snake-like creatures with tiny mouths and wiggly bodies, but to most people’s eyes, the pipe hardly looks like much of a threat–especially to something as large as a seahorse. However, sometimes the greatest threat in mixing species doesn’t come from a physical attack. I’m a fan of pipefish, in all their forms. I kept a pair of brackish pipes for years, and when I set up the reef tank in December of 2010, I knew I wanted pipes. Unfortunately, pipefish aren’t normally good tank mates for seahorses.   Seahorses and pipefish both belong to

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Publicists in the Author’s Journey

Today’s post takes a look at publicists — a tricky topic, in some ways, and one we won’t have space to address completely. Instead, we’ll take a wide-angle look at the topic, with the understanding that author’s circumstances vary widely. Publicity isn’t “one size fits all” – and no one can tell you, for certain, what will or won’t work to market a novel. However, over the next few weeks we’ll be talking about publicity, marketing, and the interaction between authors and publishers in that context. Today, we’re looking at in-house publicists and publicity. In the weeks to come, we’ll look

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Zombies of the Reef

Every night, at feeding time, my little reef has a moment reminiscent of “Night of the Living Dead.” My “clean up crew” includes several types of aquatic snails., among them Nassarius (Nassarius sp.), a largely carnivorous scavenging snail that feeds on dead things–and leftover fish food. Nassarius (known in the UK as “dog whelks”) spend most of their time buried in the sand. Their regular burying stirs and aerates the sand bed, which is good for the aquarium’s general health. They’re also good at vacuuming up any leftover food and detritus, using a long, retractable proboscis that looks a lot like the

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The Road Less Cycled

Last month, I received a bicycle for Christmas. I hadn’t been on a bicycle since before my son (a college freshman) was born, but I’ve missed the “honest exhaustion” of cycling. I’m not an exercise nut by any stretch of the imagination–my favorite exercise is the Coffee Mug Lift–but in rediscovering my love of bicycling, I’m learning some other important lessons too. Today, I’m talking about the choice to take the “road less cycled.” When you live in an urban area, where almost every road has a bicycle “path,” it’s common to see cycles and cyclists on the streets. Some

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Publishing 101: A Look at Story ARCs

Welcome back to our continuing series on Publishing 101 – the author’s journey. Today we’re continuing tour of the publishing process with a look at ARCs and their place in a manuscript’s journey to publication. “ARC” stands for “Advance Reading Copy” (or sometimes, “Advance Review Copy”). As the name implies, ARCs are advance copies of a book produced for, and distributed to, reviewers. Until a few years ago, ARCs were mostly produced in physical, paperback format. Now, many publishers use digitial ARCs (in various ebook and e-reader formats) as well as–or instead of–physical ARCs. In addition to ease of distribution and

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See Horse, Indeed

Most people don’t realize that seahorses can change color, like chameleons (though without quite as wide a color range), or that these awkward predators survive in the wild largely through camouflage. Some seahorses like to sit in the open, but many spend their days quietly lurking in a corner of the tank. They’re masters of using geography to their advantage. We named our male seahorse “Ghillie” because, as a baby, he had protrusions (called cirri) which made him look as if he was wearing a ghillie suit. As he grew, he lost them, though smaller versions have returned since he

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