Monthly Archives: February 2011

Peroozal Spotlight: Author Lorenzo Carcaterra

Written by EmilyK. Posted on February 24, 2011. Filed under Author news. Tagged , , , , , , . 61 Comments.

An author of religious artifact quest thrillers set in Florence? Enough said. I’m sold.

“Kate Westcott is an American woman studying art history in Florence, writing her thesis on the lost works of Michelangelo. Early into her stay, Kate befriends Marco, an art student who is Northern Italian handsome and not nearly as passionate about his work as is Kate. The two are together when they discover the Midnight Angels—three long-lost sculptures by Michelangelo. For Kate, the discovery is a dream come true, but it is also the beginning of a nightmare. Soon, Kate and Marco are dashing through Florence’s cobbled streets, on the run from the operatives of a master art thief and under the suspicion of the fabled Rome Art Squad, fighting not only to protect their find but to keep their lives…”

(MIDNIGHT ANGELS)


Who is Lorenzo Carcaterra? Besides being the number one New York Times bestselling author of masterful thrillers set in international locations, Carcaterra is a writer/producer on the TV series “Law and Order” as well as the movie “Sleepers” – he is also a favorite Peroozal author and his recommendations page can be found here.

Also, if you’re a fan or if you’re just curious, you may find this interesting: The National Geographic Traveler is presenting the first three chapters of MIDNIGHT ANGELS in their latest iPad issue and the first chapter on their web site. Check out more by going here: http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/

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Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries

Written by EmilyK. Posted on February 23, 2011. Filed under Author news. Tagged , , , , , , . 102 Comments.

If you’re on top of the digital transformation of reading, you’re hip to the fact that Apps are where it’s at when it comes to content these days. Not only are authors updating their fans from their Twitter App about book tour dates and teasers from their new novel, but readers are reading books, magazines, and literary journals (such as the fabulous Scarab) on their phones via Apps. Now, with a new Nancy Drew App, mystery buffs and Nancy Drew fans are able to experience a sort of choose your own adventure via, you guessed it, an App…

Nancy Drew App Takes Readers on An Interactive Mystery
By Michelle Castillo

Nancy Drew App Takes Readers on An Interactive Mystery
The Nancy Drew series might have been around for 80 years, but that doesn’t mean that the art of the mystery novel is outdated. Her Interactive has updated the fan favorite female detective’s adventures with the Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries app. Using text inspired by the original books, the app creates an interactive story for readers. You don’t have to imagine you’re on the case with Nancy Drew, now you can be part of it as well. “By combining a book and a game, we’re trying to create a whole new form of interactive entertainment,” chief executive of Her Interactive Megan Gaiser said in an interview with Venture Beat. “You get to play the story” -

Read more here.

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From TV to Thriller Novel, A Producer Switches Gears

Written by EmilyK. Posted on February 22, 2011. Filed under Author news. Tagged , , , , , , , . 150 Comments.

The producer of edge-of-your-seat television series “24″ is now a first time author. Not surprisingly, his book is a political thriller, and it sounds fantastic…

’24′ Producer Howard Gordon on His Three New TV Series, First Novel and the ’24′ Movie
by Kim Potts

Howard Gordon 24

If ’24′ producer Howard Gordon isn’t the hardest working man in show business these days, we don’t want to see the schedule of the guy who is.

While finishing the final season of the hit Kiefer Sutherland drama last year, Gordon also penned his first novel, ‘Gideon’s War,’ a fantastic political and military thriller that pits Gideon Davis, a pacifist negotiator (yes, the anti-Jack Bauer), against his brother, a special ops agent who’s gone rogue and taken a multi-million dollar oil rig hostage…

For the complete piece click here.

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A Perfect Day for More About Salinger

Written by EmilyK. Posted on February 17, 2011. Filed under Author news. Tagged , , , , , , . 2 Comments.

For certain people, perhaps those of us who are, maybe, just slightly obsessed with the late J.D. Salinger and his books, those same types of people who create or read fan sites such as DeadCaulfields.com, a mystery solved about the author is going to be as exciting as reading the climax to a favorite mystery novel. The author of the “earnest, sympathetic and perceptive” new Salinger biography J.D. Salinger: A Life, is one of those people.


Author of new biography on Salinger shares insights of Salinger’s war career, personal life and where he lived in Westport
By Nancy Burton

The mystery of where J. D. Salinger lived in Westport when he put his finishing touches on The Catcher in the Rye in 1949 is now closer to being solved, thanks to the release of the first new biography of the celebrated writer in a decade.

We now know that Salinger lived on Old Road, off the Post Road near present-day Balducci’s, according to Kenneth Slawenski, author of J.D. Salinger: A Life, released on the first anniversary of Salinger’s death last year at age 91…

For the rest please click here.

For more on the biography, its author, and on Salinger’s life, click here to go to The New York Times (Peering Into A Reclusive Life).

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Peroozal Spotlight: Critically-Acclaimed Mystery Novelist Bill Cameron

Written by EmilyK. Posted on February 16, 2011. Filed under Author news. Tagged , , , , , , , , , , . 66 Comments.

“Portland homicide detective Skin Kadash just wants to survive cancer treatment so he can get back to the work he loves. When his partner tries to drag him into an unofficial investigation of a series of deaths, he’s not interested — he’s dead-dog sick and doesn’t need the grief — until she reveals the victims all suffered from cancer themselves, and all had one thing in common with Skin. His oncologist…”

Critically-acclaimed mystery novelist Bill Cameron is the author of the dark, gritty mysteries Chasing Smoke and Lost Dog, both featuring irascible Portland homicide cop Skin Kadash. The next Skin Kadash mystery, County Line, will be released in June 2011 by Tyrus Books.

Bill lives with his wife and poodle in Portland, Oregon, where he also serves as staff to a charming, yet imperious cat. He is an eager traveler and avid bird-watcher, and likes to write near a window so he can meditate on whatever happens to fly by during intractable passages. He is currently working on his fifth novel.

The author tweets at twitter.com/bcmystery. His Peroozal page and recommendations can be found here.

Bill is interviewed by Teresa Bergen for Sparkle: The Creativity Hour. Listen to the podcast here.

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The Invincible Duo of Self-Publishing & Social Networks for Authors

Written by EmilyK. Posted on February 15, 2011. Filed under Author news. Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , . 162 Comments.

Have you heard of her? Young-adult paranormal author Amanda Hocking was fed up with traditional publishers and decided to surf the wave of digital publishing. She sold 164,000 books in 2010 – most were low-priced (99 cents to $2.99) digital downloads. The young author credits her success to aggressive self-promotion on her blog, Facebook and Twitter. It also doesn’t hurt that her books star trolls, vampires and zombies…

We’re incredibly impressed.

Authors catch fire with self-published e-books
By Carol Memmott (USA TODAY)

You may not know her name, but Amanda Hocking and others like her are riding the comet of digital publishing.

Amanda Hocking sold more than 450,000 copies of her nine young-adult paranormal books last month. Virtually all were e-books.

Fed up with attempts to find a traditional publisher for her young-adult paranormal novels, Hocking self-published last March and began selling her novels on online bookstores like Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.

By May she was selling hundreds; by June, thousands. She sold 164,000 books in 2010. Most were low-priced (99 cents to $2.99) digital downloads.

More astounding: This January she sold more than 450,000 copies of her nine titles. More than 99% were e-books.

“I can’t really say that I would have been more successful if I’d gone with a traditional publisher,” says Hocking, 26, who lives in Austin, Minn. “But I know this is working really well for me.”

In fact, Hocking is selling so well that on Thursday, the three titles in her Trylle Trilogy (Switched, Torn and Ascend, the latest) will make their debuts in the top 50 of USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list…

For the rest click here.

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Author Of The ‘Redwall’ Books Has Died

Written by EmilyK. Posted on February 10, 2011. Filed under Author news. Tagged , , , , , , . 109 Comments.

The death of a beloved fantasy author. May Brian Jacques rest in peace.

Brian Jacques, Author Of The ‘Redwall’ Books, Has Died

From NPR by Mark Memmott

British author Brian Jacques, author of the popular Redwall series of adventure books for kids, has died. He was 71.

NPR’s Lynn Neary reports that:

“The 21-book fantasy series Redwall is filled with the heroics of anthropomorphic animals. Foxes, squirrels and mice feast and fight their way through numerous adventures and in the process have won the hearts of millions of young readers.

“Since they were first published in 1986, the books have been translated into more than 20 langauages and have sold more than 20 million copies. Jacques wrote the first book to entertain children at a school for the blind where he was a patron.

“Originally, he didn’t plan to publish the stories. But he eventually won a five-book contract.

“Born and raised in Liverpool, Jacques left school at the age of 15 and traveled the world as a merchant marine. Once back in England, he formed a folk singing group with his brothers before becoming a writer.

“Jacques had a heart attack last weekend and died in Liverpool.”

The BBC adds that Jacques weekly show, Jakestown, “ran on BBC Radio Merseyside for more than 20 years.”

More here, from Galleycat.

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When Books Become Reality…

Written by EmilyK. Posted on February 9, 2011. Filed under Author news. Tagged , , , , , . No comments.

In this case, has art mirrored life or is it the other way around? I first heard the term “Drugstore Cowboy” in a book written by James Fogle (Drugstore Cowboy). The book was also made into a film of the same name directed by Gus Van Sant, a film that has become a bit of a cult classic (the book rivals the film and is definitely worth a read). In any case, we all know that authors are prone to write what they know, but when what they know happens to be ripping off drug stores for drugs…well, here you go:

‘Drugstore Cowboy’ author pleads guilty to pharmacy robbery
by John de Leon

‘Drugstore Cowboy’ author James Fogle, 74, plead guilty at a hearing in the plea court at King County Courthouse in Seattle.

James Fogle, who penned the book “Drugstore Cowboy” that was later made into the acclaimed 1989 film, pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to first-degree robbery for the holdup last May of a Redmond pharmacy.

Fogle, 73, and 45-year-old Shannon Benn, walked into the Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy on Redmond Way around 9 p.m. Benn was armed with a handgun and Fogle had a BB gun, according to charging paperwork filed in King County Superior Court.

Fogle confronted a female employee when she said the store was closing; he pulled up his shirt to display the BB gun tucked into his waistband…

For the complete article click here to go to The Seattle Times.

(“How to be a drugstore cowboy”, here. First step: Read the book.)

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Peroozal Spotlight: Suspense Author Laura Bynum

Written by EmilyK. Posted on February 8, 2011. Filed under Author news. Tagged , , , , , , , , . No comments.

“…Harper Adams was six years old in 2012 when an act of viral terrorism wiped out one-half of the country’s population. Out of the ashes rose a new government, the Confederation of the Willing, dedicated to maintaining order at any cost. The populace is controlled via government-sanctioned sex and drugs…”


Suspense writer Laura Bynum is one to watch. Back in 2006 she attended the Maui Writer’s Conference and was awarded its top prize–the Rupert Hughes Prose Award–for an early draft of VERACITY. It has since become an IndieBound Next Notable Pick for February 2010.

“Move over, George Orwell. Laura Bynum’s Veracity reads like a modern day NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR—disturbing and coercive. This book is so spooky it gets under your skin and lives there, smoldering with fear, mistrust, and wild adventure.”
—Jeff Carlson, international bestselling author of Plague Zone

Laura is currently at work on a second novel. You can find her Peroozal page here, and an interview with Laura by Crotchety Old Fan here.

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Peroozal Spotlight: Author Carla Buckley

Written by EmilyK. Posted on February 3, 2011. Filed under Author news. Tagged , , , , . No comments.

Peroozal author Carla Buckley is an excellent example of how tech savvy authors are using social networks to spread the word about their books. Buckley is an avid Tweeter (@CarlaBuckley). Her book, THE THINGS THAT KEEP US HERE was published February 9, 2010 (LA Times called it “A knockout debut of the decade”), and she is working on her next novel, another standalone, which Delacorte Press will publish in 2011. We’re excited!

Book Reporter has a great interview with the author, excerpted below.

(How do we know these things about Carla? Because we follow her on Twitter, that’s how! View her Peroozal profile here.)

From Book Reporter -

Carla Buckley’s debut, THE THINGS THAT KEEP US HERE, is an apocalyptic novel that centers on a family whose already fractured relationship is put to the test as they find themselves in the grips of an avian influenza pandemic. In this interview, Buckley explains what inspired her to write about such a timely topic and describes how her awareness of such highly infectious diseases has influenced her day-to-day life. She also discusses her writing process and shares details about her next book already in the works.

Question: Why did you choose to write about an avian influenza pandemic?

Carla Buckley: Being married to a scientist allows me unfiltered access to some pretty amazing information. At the time, my husband was conducting research into bird flu and regularly bringing home frightening reports. One night, I had a nightmare so vivid that I called my sister the next morning to share. After I was done speaking, there was silence. Then she said, “This is the story you need to write.” That story became THE THINGS THAT KEEP US HERE.

Q: Do you keep emergency supplies on hand?

CB: When I realized the only thing I could do to prepare was stockpile food and water, I went to the grocery store and loaded up my cart. Twice…

For the complete interview click here.

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