19 Sep This and That
Another week in the books. Pretty cold this end of the country for the first half of September. I’m thinking about eating a ton of carbs and hibernating until late spring. Hopefully, there’ll be a vaccine by then.
No book news (I have a feeling this is going to become my refrain for a while.) I did manage to write most days on my latest manuscript and am approaching 40,000 words. It’s another fun one to write and a good plot to disappear into for a few hours each day.
I wrote a blog on Monday about how I stay positive during these difficult times for 7 Criminal Minds blogspot and you can link to it here. It also gives insight into how I spent my summer 🙂
Also this week, Chapters Gloucester (Ottawa) is featuring Closing Time as the first in its local book promotions. They have lots of copies available if you’re in search of one.
So what have I been reading you ask? Well, I just completed How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi and recommend the book as a thoughtful and timely read. I’ve started reading an advance copy of Frank Zafiro’s book Code Four with the view toward giving him a quote/recommendation. Frank and I are co-bloggers on 7 Criminal Minds and he interviewed me on his podcast earlier this year. One of my goals is to read from each of the authors on this blogspot so I’ve pleased to have this opportunity. I’m planning to put in another book order soon. When the lockdown happened mid-March, I ordered from Perfect Books and had the package delivered. From those books, I can recommend Adrian McKinty’s The Chain. This book won a recent major award and is going to be made into a movie. It’s a thriller. I also highly recommend McKinty’s Sean Duffy series, featuring a Catholic cop in the early ’80s living in a Protestant neighbourhood in Belfast. The first in the series is The Cold Cold Ground.
McKinty is one of the brilliant Scottish authors and you can tune in to some of the writers and panels being broadcast live from the book conference Bloody Scotland, which is live off and on all weekend. Here’s the link.
Here is the information given by my co-blogger Abir Mukherjee about the conference:
The Bloody Scotland Crime Festival is on this weekend, and because it’s virtual this year, it’s allowed it to be truly global and feature the best of British and international crime writers such as Lynwood Barclay, Ann Cleeves, Jeffrey Deaver, Peter May, Ian Rankin, Steve Cavanagh, Lawrence Block, Val McDermid, Adrian McKinty, Yrsa Sigardursdottir, Lee Child, Robert Crais, Lou Berney, Denise Mina, Mark Billingham John Connelly to name a few.
Happy weekend, everyone 🙂