Happy Halloween! You're Invited to an Online Party!

If there's one holiday that gets my vote for TOTAL CUTENESS, it's got to be Halloween.


HALLOWEEN PARTY ONLINE

On Monday, October 31, we'll be inaugurating my new "fan page" on Facebook. Helping with the festivities will be 12 of my best author buds. Here's the lineup:

9 to 9:30 p.m. EST
Mollie Cox Bryan (Scrapbook of Secrets)
Angie Fox (A Tale of Two Demon Slayers)

9:30 to 10 p.m. EST
Betty Hechtman (Behind the Seams)
Laura DiSilveria (Die Buying)

10 to 10:30 p.m. EST
Julie Compton (Tell No Lies and Rescuing Olivia)
Alan Orloff (The Taste)

10:30 to 11 p.m. EST
Casey Daniels (A Hard Day's Fright)
Vicki Doudera (Killer Listing)
Penny Warner (How to Party Like a Vampire)

11 to 11:30 p.m. EST
Joanna Campbell Slan (Make, Take, Murder)
Margaret Grace (Murder in Miniature)

Special "drop in" guests will be Linda O. Johnston (The More the Terrier) and Monica Ferris (Buttons and Bones).

We'll be giving away books, books, and more books! Just come to my new Facebook Fan Page and click "LIKE" or ask to be my FRIEND. (Which you are, aren't you?)

SLAN's SLAM ALBUMS

In the spirit of the spirits, I make these two adorable "slam" albums. Here's a great explanation of how to create the body of the albums: SLAM

Now on to the fun part...

Both "spiders" are just buttons with googly eyes. To one, I attached wire legs. To the other I cut a thin strip of blackish page and folded it accordian-style. That became a leg.

Is this fun or what?

Happy Halloween!

P.S. READY, SCRAP, SHOOT is now available for pre-order!

Dangerous Dames Tour

Prepare for a perilously good time when the “Dangerous Dames’’ visit the Raleigh-Durham area for a book tour, Oct. 13-17. Deborah Sharp, Julie Compton, and Joanna Campbell Slan live up to their billing: They kill people for a living -- at least fictionally. In reality, the three nationally known mystery authors are perfectly nice women with families and pets and houses with mortgages. There’s not a homicidal maniac among them, except when it comes to plotting their novels. However, at least one of the Dames confesses to considering murder while undergoing editing. Several appearances are scheduled throughout the area. (See schedule below.)

Most will feature the “Dangerous Dames’’ in a panel discussion. Moderating is Molly Weston, who blogs and lectures about mysteries. An avid Tarheels fan, Weston also edits the Sisters In Crime journal, inSinC.

Here’s more on this lethal literary trio:
Julie Compton mined her training as a lawyer to write her debut, Tell No Lies. Aptly described as part Scott Turow and part Jodi Picoult, the legal thriller earned a starred review from Kirkus, which called it a "taut, tense cautionary tale … with courtroom drama and a surprise ending." Her most recent release, Rescuing Olivia, was praised by Publisher's Weekly as an "intense, entertaining second novel" with a "super-satisfying resolution."

Compton, who left the practice of law to write full-time, now considers herself a recovering attorney. She hopes to never fall off the wagon. She lives near Orlando, Florida. 




Deborah Sharp, a former reporter for USA Today, traded in sad news stories for funny fiction. She sets her ''Mace Bauer Mysteries'' in a sweet-tea-and-barbecue slice of her native Florida. Sharp rode a horse across the state to research her second book, and landed on NBC's Today show in a tacky wedding veil for her third. Mama Sees Stars, her fourth, garnered a starred review in Library Journal: “This zany fourth entry . . . is a feature worthy of the big screen.’’
Sharp and her TV reporter husband, Kerry Sanders, live in Fort Lauderdale. No kids. No pets. They had goldfish once. Turned out badly.

Joanna Campbell Slan is the author of the “Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series’’ and a dozen other books. Paper, Scissors, Death -- the first book in the mystery series -- was an Agatha Award Finalist. It is also one of Kindle's top 50 bestselling books. Her most recent release in the series is Make, Take, Murder. Slan’s newest mystery series starring Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth will be released in July 2012, from Berkley. When she isn't traveling with the Dangerous Dames, she divides her time between Washington, DC, and Jupiter Island, Fla.

**
Dangerous Dames Schedule

Friday, October 14, noon — Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill

7:00 — Page-Walker Cultural Arts Center, Cary, co-sponsored by the Cary Library



Saturday, October 15, 2:00 — McIntyre's Fine Books, Fearrington Village, Pittsboro



Sunday, October 16, 2:00 — Halle Center, Apex, co-sponsored by Eva Perry Library



Monday, October 17, noon — Holly Springs Library (brown bag lunch)

3:00 — West Regional Library, Morrisville
 
And on the fifth day, they collapsed. (Kidding!)

Why I Go To Conferences and Other Events

While I was at Malice, a friend who is a New York Times bestselling author told me that her agent said, "At this point in your career, you no longer need to do personal appearances."

Wow.

I don't know what to think about that. I mean, I understand. At a certain point, your name is well-known and the bookstores are delighted to stock your books. So, I guess you don't have to do so much to promote yourself.

But...I get a lot out of conferences. Oh, sure, I'm still tired and I'm terribly behind. But, I had learned about a new sort of book on tape at the Howard County Library, I met some authors who I hope will become friends, I re-kindled my friendship with other authors, a group of us discussed promotional methods that work, I had the chance to brainstorm a plot with Casey Daniels as we drove to Festival of Mystery, I chatted with another NYT bestseller about when to switch agents and why you should ignore some advice from your author friends, I visited a college bookstore that will now carry my books, I moved a lot of books (the bookstores at Malice sold out of my books and Mystery Lovers sold a lot of copies as well), and I spent time with my fans. Whew.

So faced with the pile up on my desk, I wondered: Did I spend my time wisely?

Then I sent an email to Charlaine Harris asking for a favor. She emailed me that she'd get back to me after she returned home from her tour.

Her tour?

Gee. If Charlaine Harris thinks it's still important to "circulate," shouldn't I be out there pressing the flesh, too? I mean, you can't get any more popular than Charlaine!


Here I am with my Midnight Ink brothers and sisters at Malice before the big dinner.



That's me begging forgiveness from Meredith Cole. I left her out of the list of people who were at the Mysterious Women panel at Howard County Library. And she was sitting right next to me. How ditzy is that? Meredith wrote Posed for Murder, which is about a photographer in New York who becomes embroiled in real life murders when her fantasy pictures are recreated by a killer.



Deb Sharp is one of my favorite people. She writes the "Mama" series. The upcoming one is Mama Gets Hitched. Deb explains, "Mama likes getting married so much that she's doing it again for the fifth time!" As a former journalist, she's committed to doing her research. For one book, she rode a horse across central Florida.



Jan, one of my Pittsburgh fans, made the Stovetop Cookies from my website. Need I confess I gobbled them down on the ride back to D.C.?



I love photos of doors. This one of a church in Pittsburgh was particularly appealing.