what I've been up to

October has been one long, fun month.

Tons of writing.

Tons of reading.

Tons of work on a certain secret project that I won't mention other than to say that it's a secret.

I've gotten to meet and interview some great writers.

(I'll never forget the three hours Reed Farrel Coleman spared me while he was here in Phoenix.)

And now the Rawson household is gearing up for Halloween

But, honestly, I don't have all that much to say.

(Oh, except if you haven't already, head on over to Patti Abbott's blog and check out the newest Flash Fiction Challenge. It should be a blast, so if you've never participated in one, this just might be the one for you.)

So instead of writing a long blog post about what I've been up to, I thought I'd pass along some video clips of the author events I've attended this month.

I hope you enjoy.

First up is Phoenix Noir editor, Patrick Millikin, introducing the line up for the anthology.

Here's Reed Farrel Collman talking with Barbara Peters about Tower.



And here's Michael Connelly making the scene



And last but not least, Stuart Neville, author of the Ghosts of Belfast

Hey, wait a second. . . .I know I'm forgetting something?

So I'm sitting at my usual spot on the couch, my Friday night 9 PM cup of coffee close at hand, the laptop's open, I'm half watching a movie and gearing up for a weekend night of the usual. But something keeps nagging at me. I keep thinking that I've forgotten to do something; something that's been working at me like an itch I can't scratch, like an amputee's ghost arm. Whatever it is can't be that important, right?

And then it slowly dawns on me. . . old Bloody knucks. Yeah, it's been a few weeks since I jumped on here and taken the old girl out for a spin. As usual, it's nothing personal and it's not that I don't care about maintaining the old girl, it's just, Hell, I'm busy. . .

Wow, deja vous, I don't know how many times I've said that when it comes to the old bloggy blog?

Anyway, I know this is old news by now, but Geoff Eighinger decided to close up shop on Eastern

Standard Crime and move on to other things. It's a bit of rough news as far as losing a market is concerned, but in the same breath, I have to applaud Geoff for calling it quits when he did, because it was pretty obvious he wasn't enjoying the gig anymore and it takes some balls to admit that he wasn't into it. Because let's face facts, gang, this writing gig--whether you're making the stories, editing them, reviewing them, whatever-- it doesn't pay all that much. Sure, most of us make a few bucks here and there, but all of us have our motivations for what drives us to do what we do. But, because of the low pay and long hours involved with this stuff, I think the #1 motivation for all of us should be that we have fun putting one word in front of the other and the same thing goes for the people who publish those cleverly arranged words and if this shit ain't fun for you, if it becomes a chore, something that you have to force yourself to do, chances are it's time to hang it up and call it quits.

(By the way, folks, if you haven't done so lately, you should drop a line to folks like Christopher Grant, Aldo Calcagno, Col Bury and Matt Hilton, David Cranmer and Elaine

Ash, Anthony Neil Smith, Todd Robinson, et cetera, and give 'em an electronic five second frencher for all the hard work they do.)

But our little world moves on and the new replaces the old, which brings me to the first of my linkage. It appears that Lyman Feero has started up what looks like a sweet little cross genre zine called the Feral Pages. It appears that the first official issue is going to go live as of October 15th, but Feero offered up a couple of stories for the type of fiction he's looking for by giving us a brief taste of new tales by Patrick Shawn Bagley and Chris Holm. The zine has a great layout and I'm looking forward to submitting to Feero in the near future and reading what the zine has to offer. Make sure to click HERE for submission guidelines if you're interested in sending in a story or two.

Alright, now onto my shit.

First up, new Short Thoughts on Short Fiction. . .Well, kinda new.

Click right HERE for my mini tribute to the hardass women of noir.

(Ladies, I know I didn't do you justice, but I'll say it right here and now, all of you scare the shit out of me with your amassed talent.)

Click HERE for my reviews of a few single author short story collections I dig

(And if you haven't already, we've been having a pretty lively discussion over at BSC, so if you haven't stopped by and added your two cents, go ahead and add a suggestion or three.)

And one last review link, click HERE for my review of the Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville

(And, yeah, after you read the review, go and buy the book.)

And onto stories.

Click HERE for my 3rd place story in the Watery Grave Short Story Invitational over at the Drowning Machine (And Click HERE for Sophie Littlefield's 2nd place entry and HERE for Hilary Davidson's 1st place piece. BTW, ladies, it was a true pleasure having my ass kicked by you.)

Next up, click HERE for my newest piece over at A Twist of Noir.

And last but far from least is my debut over at Full of Crow right HERE.

And one last bit of info for all my Phoenix peeps.

On Saturday October 3rd, the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, AZ is turning 20 years young and in celebration the store is also having a special event featuring the roll out of Phoenix Noir, which just happens to be edited by the Poisoned Pen's own Patrick Millikin. The anthology received a started review from Publisher's Weekly, so it promises to be one of the very best in Akashic publishings long running anthology series. But. I'll be down at the store around five PM to interview James Sallis (who is only one of the many, many author's who will be appearing at the event.) and then, of course, I'll be sticking around to have my copy of the anthology signed by Patrick and the authors in attendance. Click HERE for all the details and I hope to see you there.