So, my mystery novel got its first blurb today.

[smoogatz]

"In HIGH SEASON xxxxxxxx absolutely nails Provincetown, arguably the
funkiest and most interesting town in the United States, and stakes it
out for what I hope will be many more Frank Coffin yarns to come.
xxxxxx is a terrific writer. He's funny and wise, and he knows how to
build tension. I really liked this book."

William G. Tapply, author of ONE-WAY TICKET: A BRADY COYNE NOVEL

I'd never heard of Mr. Tapply 'til today, but he's published a huge catalog of work. Anybody ever read his stuff?

http://www.williamgtapply.com/

[diddlysquat]

1. So...

I can't find In High Season on Amazon. Is it published? Why don't you tell us how to get a copy?

[smoogatz]

3. It's not out yet, no--scheduled for August/September of this year.

We just finished copy-editing, and the first round of galleys just wnet out to blurbers last week, evidently.

[babylonsister]

2. Congrats to you, smoogatz! So, I should be on the lookout for

HIGH SEASON, set in P-town! I love mystery novels!

And Tapply's name sounds familiar, as does Brady Coyne; will have to check out your link.

[smoogatz]

4. Thanks!

Yes--out in August/September of this year. Sequel sometime in '09 (I hope).

[PLF]

5. that's great

It must feel good to know that people are out there reading your stuff.

I could never have the patience to write novels.

[smoogatz]

6. I don't, either.

Terrible ADD--gets worse as I get older. The internets don't help (although they're very useful for research).

[flamingyouth]

7. I'm excited to read your book

Congrats on the "blurb" - it sounds good! :D

[smoogatz]

8. Thanks!

I'll post all over DU when it comes out. It's a really fun book, I think.

[gratefultobelib]

9. I do love a good mystery, and one that makes me smile will even be better. This is exciting!

[Bullwinkle925]

10. Good on you.

Here's wishing you good luck and terrific sales.
I don't know why - but I can't seem to get into mysteries. One of my friends will only purchase mysteries. Can you change my mindset?

on edit - I am currently reading "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith but I wouldn't really classify it as a true mystery. However, I'm only 1/3 of the way into it right now.

[smoogatz]

11. Why should you change your mindset?

Most mysteries are crap: tediously formulaic, stocked with flat characters who speak in clichés. No wonder you dislike them. Mine's better than that, I think. It's pretty quirky, as mysteries go--funny, sexy and kind of dark, and all the victims deserve to die.

[Bullwinkle925]

12. Are your victimes current residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.?

Then, yes indeed, they DO deserve to DIE.

I'll keep a lookout for your book - better yet - will you be traveling around doing the autograph copy bookstore thing?

[RobertGregoryBrowne]

13. Congratulations

on the blurb. The first one is always the sweetest. And Tapply is a well-respected writer. Looks like you're off to a great start.

Congratulations on the book, by the way.

[smoogatz]

14. Thanks. And big congrats to you, too, Mr. Amazon.com sales rank #135,708.

Looks like you're selling some books. That's what we like to see! What kind of push did St. Martin's give you? I'm on their mystery imprint, St Martin's/Minotaur.

[RobertGregoryBrowne]

15. Yeah...

I haven't figured out those Amazon rankings yet. The other day I was down to 27,000, then back up to 500,000, then back down to 100,000 again. Not sure what any of it means. More experienced friends tell me to ignore the Amazon numbers, but we keep checking them anyway, don't we?

My publicists at St. Martin's are great, they've been setting me up for a bunch of signings. I'll be doing Poisoned Pen early next month, then the LA Times Festival of Books at several booths. They managed to land me a nice feature in RT Book Reviews as well, so that was a nice little push. They've also bought co-op space at a few key stores, and I've got a very nice placement on the Wal-Mart website, so I can't complain.

I was originally bought by the Minatour imprint, but because my book crosses genres we decided to release it straight SMP. The Minatour people are really great.

Who's your editor?

[smoogatz]

16. Let's go to IM, shall we?

Better not to bandy editors' names about in public, I think.

On edit: woops, you're not a donor yet, so no IM. Her initials are KR. It'd be funny if we had the same one... Hey, you weren't at Bouchercon in Madison this past October, were you?

On further edit: sounds like they love your book. That's great news--though God knows I'm not going to have a lot of time for that sort of thing, if they do something similar with mine. Deadline for book 2 is less than a year from now!

[RobertGregoryBrowne]

17. Actually, I WAS at Bouchercon...

...and had a great time. Hung out with the St. Martin's crowd a lot. Madison is a beautiful town.

I recognize the initials, a friend has the same editor, but mine is MR. I used to be with Ben Sevier, but he exited several months ago.

It's always best to get the second book out of the way before you do promotion stuff. I was fortunate in that I turned in my second book the month before the first one was released.

[smoogatz]

18. Madison's a great town--

I lived there for an academic year, on a poetry fellowship. I live a bit north of there now, but was able to drive down for a day of the conference and meet with K. Did you go to the cocktail party in the de-commissioned church? I was lurking on the edge of the crowd, checking everybody out. I ended up talking to Dusty Rhoades and Theresa Schwegel for awhile. Interesting conversation, mostly about large-caliber rifles and their various and fascinating properties.

I doubt I'll be able to get my second book in before the first comes out--my wife and I both have pretty demanding day jobs, and our 2.5-year-old likes to actually see us sometimes.

So, are you going to do more books for St Martin's?

Welcome to DU, by the way. Glad to know there are other progressive mystery writers around. And kind of a crazy thing, running into another SM author here, in this quiet little fiction forum.

[RobertGregoryBrowne]

19. Yeah, I was at the St. Martin's Party

Mostly hanging out with MB, head of marketing, who's a really great guy. Dusty's a great guy, too -- a fellow progressive as you may know. I've been coming to DU for quite awhile now, but only recently joined up.

You should check out Crimespace, where a lot of mystery/thriller/crime writers and fans hang out. http://www.crimespace.ning.com. I think that's the address.

And, yeah, I'm hoping to do more with SMP. Have a proposal into them now. They're a good house...