Recent Reads: Shot I.Q Payback

An amusing bathroom book.

Another amusing bathroom book.

WOW!   Detailed, filled with interesting backstories and histories.  A thorough look at the birth and growth of the Rap music world.  An interesting read for anyone interested in music/contemporary history/popular culture... even if you're not a Hip Hop fan (and I'm not!).  Heavy lifting but worth the effort.   Reads like a novel.  Really, a terrific, engrossing book - very hard to put down!!!

Guest Blogger Anne-Marie Klein and the Behind Blue Eyes series

Inspired by the Pete Townshend song made famous by The Who, Anne-Marie Klein's series is at once a nostalgic love letter to her hometown and to the music she listened to while growing up there. Let's hear a bit more from Anne-Marie about setting and inspiration...

In the late 1970s, I was a teenager in Toronto, madly in love with music and books. I read mysteries and thrillers, devouring anything by Ruth Rendell, Agatha Christie, and P.D. James, but couldn’t find novels with rock stars. So I did what I had to do: I decided to write one. I ended up with an ambitious, dramatic storyline, but I knew it lacked maturity and experience and made the conscious decision to shelve it until I could do it proper justice. Life went on for almost twenty years, and a series of events culminated with the re-discovery of the handwritten draft and a desire to bring it to the light of day. Armed with the knowledge and observational skills only time can give you, the time seemed right to redevelop my idea of helping to create a new genre in fiction.

Rewritten, edited, and polished into shape, the Behind Blue Eyes rock novels were published last year, with three of four planned books released. True to the original manuscript, the story begins in 1978, with The Who’s beautiful song as the inspiration for the main character, and Toronto and London as the backdrops. No longer a contemporary tale, the collection now falls into the category of historical or nostalgic fiction, shedding a light on what I fondly remember as a great era for my hometown.

The best part of having kept the first drafts is that I avoided the clichés of the 70s with accurate descriptions of the iconic locations that are featured in the story.  I have tried to evoke Sam the Record Man, the Terrace, the El Mocambo, and the Yonge Street strip with realism and affection, and have been touched by the response of readers who have identified with the landmarks. When I’m asked how to best describe the series, the standard labels always tempt me—rock novels, family drama, romance, and historical fiction. The most accurate answer always comes from the heart, though: it is my love letter to Toronto and to music.

 

Son of a wealthy, successful, and famous British designer, Ian was born into the world of the rich and shameless. He blames himself, and his father, for his mother's death, and has run far away to start a new life. Beautifully blond, musically talented, but emotionally troubled, he hides his pain behind pale blue eyes and drinks to numb the guilt that has followed him across the ocean. When he meets Sarah, the fiery-haired singer with all the connections to make their dreams come true, will the burdens of his past destroy their love and everything they ever wanted?

Ian Harrington is sober for the first time in years, happily married to Sarah with a child on the way, and their band Something is on the verge of major success. An opportunity to tour in his native England gives him the chance to further reconcile with his father, but his dad’s new romance interferes with his plans. In the middle of Ian’s family drama, a series of events beyond his and Sarah’s control threatens to destroy their happiness, their family, and the band’s future.

 It’s 1986. Ian Harrington is living the good life in Toronto: he is the lead singer of Something Else and is raising his six-year old daughter, Victoria. His life is busy and creatively satisfying, but he has not been able to hold a romantic relationship since Sarah. A chance encounter with a former flame offers the possibility of lasting love, but the liaison is fraught with conflicts and challenges both new and echoed. By following his heart, Ian risks having his world turned upside down. Standing still threatens far more…

Behind Blue Eyes is a four-part series following a young musician's turbulent life as he makes his rock and roll dreams come true in a city far from where he grew up. Equal parts family saga, love story, and rock and roll circus, this first novel will take you back to the late 70s in Toronto for a dramatic roller-coaster ride through the world of music.  Keep your eyes out for book four!  

Follow Anne-Marie on Twitter @BadmanSadman

Check out Anne-Marie's website HERE

Get the books on AMAZON
 

Interview with Metallic Dreams author Mark Rice

  If  my character Sasha Jackson were real, and if Mark's character Spark MacDubh were real, I'm quite certain Sasha and Spark would me deep in the throes of a hot n' heavy romance!

Here's a bit more about Mark and Spark...

1.       It’s obvious that two of your passions are music and books.  If you had to give up the ability to see or the ability to hear, which would you choose and why?

If I had to lose one, it’d be the ability to hear (but I’m in no way tempting fate).  It would be horrific to deal with the loss of sounds I love: music, wind, the sea, laughter.  My mother had a deaf colleague who went to heavy metal concerts.  When music was loud enough he could feel its vibrations and experience it in that way.  I’d use that tactic and also extend it to other locations such as car and house; I’ve a pair of 100W Celestion speakers which can kick out monumental volume and bass.  The neighbours might not like it, but the Metal Gods would.  As far as blindness goes, it’d have a more detrimental effect on independence.  I’d have to give up many of the pursuits I enjoy: climbing, mountain biking, driving, reading, archery and Muay Thai, to name a few.  Deafness would cause less of a complete lifestyle overhaul.  Strangely enough, when I started listening to LOUD music at 10, my mother would often burst into my room shouting, “Turn that down or you’ll be deaf before you’re 20!”  When I turned 20, she had to revise her warning to, “Turn that down or you’ll be deaf before you’re 30!”  By the time I was 30, I had my own home.  Regardless, when my Mum was visiting and the music was loud, she’d shout, “Turn that down or you’ll be deaf before you’re 40!”  Sometimes, to wind her up, I’d boom, “WHAT?  YOU’LL HAVE TO SHOUT LOUDER, MA!  I THINK ALL THIS HEAVY METAL HAS MADE ME DEAF!”  She fell into the trap every time, replying, “I told you!  I warned you that would happen!”  Then she’d see me laughing and say, “You’re not funny, ya eejit!”

2.       What can you tell me about your current work in progress?  Will readers be seeing another Spark MacDubh (mis)adventure?

I’ve a few projects in the pipeline.  Spark and his gang of lovable degenerates will be back for sure.  I hadn’t planned on making Metallic Dreams a series, as the first book ties up all the loose ends.  When the characters started doing things in my mind again, though, I had to either document their actions or be driven crazy by them.  I chose the former.  Additionally, I’m half way through a novel that has nothing to do with Metallic Dreams.  Set on the remote Scottish island of Lewis, it’s a mystery which fuses science, religion, mythology and Scandinavian black-metal excess.  I’m also working on a shortish story (around 20,000 words) which revolves around the witch trials in Scotland.  As research for the story, I immersed myself in the University of Edinburgh’s database of Scottish witch trials.  While there, I discovered that four ancestors on my mother’s side had been tried for witchcraft.  I wasn’t able to go back in time and right those wrongs, but in my story I have no such restraints.  The plot is veering into some very dark places.  I’ve just launched my short story Revelation Was Wrong on Kindle.  It’s the tale of a drunken Scottish prophet who has never predicted anything correctly...until he prophesies the Apocalypse and things begin to unfold exactly as described.  The Kindle edition of A Blended Bouquet - a Writers Inc anthology which I compiled, edited and contributed to - will be launched any day now.  I put together the text, then Deena Rae Harrison Schoenfeldt, my superheroine at eBookBuilders, turned it into an e-book with gorgeous aesthetics.

3.       Clearly Douglas Adams was an early favourite, an early influence.  What other writers have had an impact on you?  What writers do you wish to emulate?

There aren’t any writers whom I want to emulate.  The more I write, the stronger my own voice becomes.  For me, that’s the point of everything: being true to oneself and carving as original a path as possible.  The work of Douglas Adams stimulated an epiphany in me (that writing can be profound, preposterous, clever and creative all at once).  Many other authors have affected the way I view the craft.  Key among them are Salman Rushdie, Robert Burns, Norman MacCaig, James Robertson, Umberto Eco, Markus Zusak, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Irvine Welsh, James Herbert, Stephen King, Ben Elton, Christopher Brookmyre, Bill Drummond, Mark Manning (aka Zodiac Mindwarp) and my father, Peter Rice, who had no interest in getting published, yet was as eloquent a poet as ever walked the planet.

4.       Satan Satan Satan.  The poor old Devil is forever maligned and vilified in literature and the arts.  What was fun-interesting-challenging about writing Beelzebub? 

For some reason, I find the Devil an easy character to write.  Effortless, in fact.  That probably says more about me than it does about the Horned One.  The fun part was opening myself up and channelling His Infernal Majesty onto the page.  Finding original ways of expressing and portraying Auld Nick was interesting and challenging.  I had a blast turning old Devil-related myths on their heads and creating my own dark folklore.

5.       You say you began scribbling stories at age five – wow!  You must have a drawer full of stories, synopses, and who knows what else.  What old, unfinished, or abandoned writing project would you like to finish someday?

My mother has most of those early stories.  A few are up in my loft.  Those early works are all complete, as I stuck with each project until it was finished.  One horror story I wrote in secondary school, at age 14, had a rushed ending.  I’d like to get my hands on that and give it an upgrade.  My English teacher was so badly affected by it that she contacted my parents and said, “I think your son has a disturbed mind.  If you’re in agreement, perhaps we should bring in a professional.”  My Dad’s response was, “Don’t talk gibberish, woman!  We’ve always encouraged him to let his imagination run wild.  And he has been reading a lot of James Herbert recently.”

6.       Social media – it’s how we “met”, so I have to bring it up.  How effective do you find social media in terms of book sales or reviews?  How much time do you spend on it?  What else do you have to say about social media for authors?

Social media is invaluable to authors.  I’ve met some talented writers, yourself included, through those channels.  I’ve also met some voracious readers who went on to enjoy my writing, review it and share with me the reactions it stirred up in them.  Some of these readers also took the time to write reviews.  It’s impossible to quantify the relationship between reviews and sales, but a glowing review certainly shouldn’t do any harm.  When something I’ve written provokes emotional and/or cerebral responses in a reader, inspiring him/her to contact me through social media channels, it’d be criminal to ruin that reader’s elation by being aloof and pretentious.  Those traits aren’t in my nature anyway, but solitude is; social media has guided me away from self-imposed marathons of creative solitude, as I don’t want readers and fellow writers to feel as though I’m neglecting them.  That’s the best thing and the worst thing about social media: it forces writers to be more social, which, generally speaking, doesn’t come naturally to folk who gravitate towards writing.  The most serious writers I know are reclusive by nature.  Those who refuse to become involved with social media are shooting themselves in the foot by limiting the potential audience they can reach.  True, they have fewer distractions and can focus fully on writing, but they also have a diminished accessibility to readers.  And what use is a literary masterpiece without readers?  If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?  Sometimes I spend too long on social media sites, logging on with the intention of saying hello, then getting involved in conversation and, before I know it, hours have flown past.  Perhaps the most successful strategy is to allocate specific times for writing and other times for being sociable.  When I announced on Twitter that Metallic Dreams was free on Kindle for one weekend, retweets went crazy, as did downloads.  The e-book hit #1 in two categories on Amazon UK and one category on Amazon US.  The knock-on effect was substantial, with the e-book staying at #1 on Amazon UK for over a week.  Twitter, facebook and goodreads had an impact on those figures.  You could say I’m a semi-reformed recluse.  I used to shut myself away for up to three weeks at a time, disappearing into an inner Universe which I spilled onto the page.  Now I don’t let a day pass without checking social media sites.  They have been good to me and I appreciate the platform they provide.

7.       If an aspiring author asked you for some advice, what is the one thing you would tell him or her?

Always be learning.  Never stop trying to master your craft.  Technically, that’s two things, but they’re very much intertwined.

8.       What is the most surprising thing about being a writer (and here I am referring specifically to since Metallic Dreams came out)?

The most surprising thing has been the openness and generosity of other authors, readers, musicians and people in the publishing industry.  This interview with you, Jill, is an example of that phenomenon.  Fellow writers RJ McDonnell, Maria Savva, Darcia Helle, Martin Treanor, Stuart Haddon, Jeff Dawson, Charity Parkerson, Mark Hegarty and the inimitable James Pettigrew voluntarily took time out of their busy schedules to read Metallic Dreams and write praise-filled reviews, as did metal blogger extraordinaire Jimmy McCarthy, Helle SØe Gade (a Danish woman who balanced out her glowing review by threatening to castrate me when, for fun, I mistranslated the Gaelic phrase oidhche mhath as ‘bitches in Denmark are easy’ {it actually means ‘goodnight to you’}) and other readers, many whose identities I don’t know.  I’m happy that the story resonated with them and I appreciate their reviews.  A sense of community exists among indie authors.  Charity Parkerson and Melissa Craig have me on their podcast regularly, even though the material I write is different to theirs.  We have a laugh on the show and everyone wins.  The energy I’ve received, and still receive, from Deena Rae Harrison Schoenfeldt would sound far-fetched if I described it in a work of fiction, yet it’s real.

9.       Which is easier/more fun to write: dialogue or description?

I have more fun with dialogue.  Mastering the phonetics of different accents adds authenticity to a story.  I enjoy playing around with regional dialogue, especially my own brand of Scottishness, and using it to infuse stories with warmth, passion and humour.

10    The last question is kind of a freebie: What is the one question you wish I had asked you, but didn’t?  Now go ahead and ask and answer that question.

Jill: When is the movie version of Metallic Dreams coming out?

Me: Do you hear that, Hollywood?  Jill Edmondson wants to see Metallic Dreams on the big screen.  Are you going to let her down?  No?  Well get your act together, fly me to the States and let’s make that movie.

Thank you for the interview, Jill.  Excellent questions.  Slàinte mhath to you and Sasha Jackson.

For more on Mark:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/135694.Mark_Rice

Metallic Dreams on AMAZON

Follow Mark on Twitter @Metallic_Dreams

Born in Glasgow, Scotland. Grew up in the new town of East Kilbride. Began scribbling stories at the age of five. At ten, discovered heavy metal and Douglas Adams. Never looked back. Rumours that he sold his soul to the Devil at a Scottish crossroads in exchange for literary flair may have been exaggerated. Then again, Robert Burns saw Satan in Scotland's Old Alloway Kirk...

Long-haired Scottish rock singer Spark MacDubh drops dead on a snow-covered street of his native Bronzehall, only to be jolted back to life by what he calls lightning from Heaven. Following Spark's resurrection, his sanity is stretched thin: during waking hours, he receives instructions from deities known as the Metal Gods; at night he is haunted by visions of a Devil who wields ultimate power over the music industry. Employing behaviour that swings between messianic and infernal, Spark gets his old band back together with a view to steering them towards greatness. The Devil, however, only grants success in exchange for souls. Unwilling to use his band's eternal souls as bargaining tools, MacDubh comes up with a preferable route to stardom: put the Devil out of commission for good. A simple idea but questionable in terms of practicality. For starters, it requires a trip to Hell, and only the right music can open the gateway to that dimension. Catch-22? More like Catch-666. 

Sasha's Current Playlist (from "The Lies Have It")

Random mention of the late sixties/early seventies...
Truckin' by the Greatful Dead ... Wavy Gravy is what brought it to mind.  That, and tie-dye.
The Ballad of Lucy Jordan by Marianne Faithfull.  Super Mom meets Mid-Life Crisis.
She Came in through the Bathroom Window (not really mentioned... and if I have to tell you that it's by the Beatles, then you're too young to be reading the Sasha Jackson Mysteries).

Trio of "moon" songs inspired by plumber-butt:
Moon River - forever thankful to Johnny Mercer for this one!
Moondance - Van Morrison, it would be impossible not to include this in any list of songs with the word "moon".
Fly Me to the Moon - Frank Sinatra.

Dixie Duo:
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band.  One of my (and Sasha's) favourite songs.  Check it out on video in "The Last Waltz".  Levon Helm owns it.
Dixie Chicken by Little Feat.  I love this song!  There's something very sexy about the rhythm.

Dylan Duo:
The Times They are a-Changin'
Like a Rolling Stone - many have covered this one, but a young Dylan doing it live is unparalleled.

Internet Radio:
Sasha listens to some Al Greene, Sly and the Family Stone, Marvin Gaye, and Sam Cooke.  Awesome vocals!

Drum Medley:
The Contours, The Velvelettes, Albert Collins and the Icebreaksers, Howlin' Wolf, and Randy Newman.  Sasha's drumming starts in Mowtown and ends up in Nawlins.

Misc.
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2
Sasha comments on Metallica, CCR, George Thorogood, and ACDC.

The Lies Have It on AMAZON 

Interview with Mystery Author Margot Kinberg

Here we go... Today's post is my interview with mystery novelist Margot Kinberg, an academic who has never killed a student, but I bet there were times she wanted to.

Jill:  Publish or Perish and the Joel Williams character... come on, admit it, his name was inspired by  

Billy Joel, wasn’t it?


Margot:  LOL! Of course Joel Williams’ name was inspired by Billy Joel! What’s so funny is that you are only the second person who’s spotted that, and I think most people who are kind enough to read my blog know that I’m a Billy Joel fan.

Jill:  Joel Williams is a former cop. What advantages do you have as a writer in having a main character who is NOT in uniform?

Margot:  I think it gives me several advantages. One of them is that a lot of people, both in real life and crime fiction, don’t trust the police. Having a character who isn’t a cop can make people more comfortable and trusting. That lets me create more believable conversations where witnesses and suspects say things either to Williams or in his hearing that they wouldn’t say to the cops. Another advantage is that since I’m not an expert on police procedure (although I do try really hard to be authentic), I don’t have to rely as much on my less-than-perfect knowledge of it as I write.

Jill:  Nick Merrill is (was) involved with two women. How could you be sure as you were writing this that female readers wouldn’t be turned off? After all, readers need to care about the victim in order to stick around to watch the solution unfold.

Margot:  A good point! One can never be 100% sure, of course. But I tried to do a few things to avoid making Nick out to be a complete misogynist or otherwise really off-putting. First, I tried to make it clear that he doesn’t take either relationship lightly, nor is he abusive to either woman. He’s genuinely in a quandary and is trying to think of the least hurtful thing to do. Also, he makes a sincere effort to set things right with Angel Shaftson. He tries hard to respect her point of view. Carrie Woods’, too, for that matter. He’s self-involved when it comes to his relationships but he’s not heartless.

Jill:  Your books are set on a university campus. You teach at a university. How much does your own experience inform your setting? (I hope none of your students has ever died as a result of foul play!)

Margot:  No, to my knowledge, none of my students has been a casualty, except at grading time ;-). My university experience has actually had a lot to do with the setting I chose, though. I’ve been on and around college campuses for decades. I’m familiar with a lot of the “behind the scenes” things that go on at universities and I know the kinds of people you’ll often find there. So in that very general sense, my experiences have directly informed my writing. I will say, though, that the buildings, descriptions, and characters aren’t drawn directly from real life. It’s probably more accurate to say they’re composites of lots of different people and places I’ve known. And of course, a shot of imagination ;-).

Jill:  B Very Flat is a mystery set against the background of music, and I know you’re a musician

yourself. How much of you is in this book?

Margot:  The truth is, there’s some of me in everything I write. In B-Very Flat, I definitely tapped into my love for music and my experiences with music and musical artists at different places I’ve taught. Most campuses with a music department, for instance, have rehearsal and practise rooms like the ones in the novel, and I’ve spent my share of time in them. I also tapped into my own undergraduate experience. Again, not with any specific character, but more the general sense of what campus life is like for undergraduates.

Jill:  Name three mystery authors who are/were your biggest influences.

Margot:  Only three?? Hmm….. Agatha Christie, Colin Dexter and….let’s see…Michael Connelly, I think. And without a doubt Dorothy Sayers - oh wait, that’s four – rats! There are a lot of other authors, too, whose work I very much admire and from whom I would so much like to learn. But those three have each taught me so much about the really well-written mystery. For example, I’ve learned a lot about plotting and the mystery itself (and so much else, too!) from Agatha Christie’s work. From Dexter I’ve learned about making a university/college setting realistic. I’ve also learned a lot from him about solid intellectual puzzles. From Connelly I’m learning so much about character development and tying the various threads of a story together. And Connelly’s setting descriptions are so nicely done, too. As I said, though, there are so many other truly fine authors out there that I really couldn’t say that only those three influence me.

Jill:  What do you as an educator (not a novelist) think is the BIGGEST problem these days in the world of post-secondary academe?

Margot:  As an educator, I would say that one very big problem is what I see as the commercialisation and the increasing “corporate mentality” of many institutions. Instead of an emphasis on the pursuit of knowledge and the support of those who are acquiring it, the focus (and the structure) in many institutions is becoming far more business- and profit-oriented. Only a fool forgets that higher education is a business, but when that mentality takes precedence over the intellectual life of an institution, then the entire institution suffers. And one thing that suffers the most is students’ ability to critically evaluate, to develop themselves, and to explore their worlds.

This emphasis on the commercial has also led to far too many students who choose a program not because they want to learn but because they want their “ticket punched.”

Higher education is under a tremendous amount of financial pressure given the current economy. So it’s understandable that Boards of Trustees and other leaders send the message that profit is important. But all too often, intellectual rigour, the development of the self, and the opportunity to take the time to explore knowledge are sacrificed.

Jill:  Which is more fun for you to write (and why): dialogue or description?

Margot:  I like writing dialogue. I think it’s because I have a background in linguistics, and have always been fascinated by language and the way that people use it. One learns so much about a character from the way she or he speaks, too, so dialogue is also an effective way to share characters with readers.

Jill:  What is the hardest thing for you about plotting a mystery?

Margot:  The hardest thing for me about plotting a mystery is coming up with realistic ways for the mystery to be revealed. I’m not much of a fan of “the long arm of coincidence,” so it’s important to me to be sure that all of information that Joel Williams gets (or the police, etc.) comes naturally and isn’t contrived.

Jill:  What can you tell me about your current work in progress?

Margot:  Thanks for asking! I’ve just finished the manuscript for the third Joel Williams mystery. This one, unlike the first two novels, takes place mostly in and around Philadelphia. Williams and two research colleagues are doing a study of an alternative school program. In the course of that study, they find out about the two-year-old death of one of the students in that program. At the time, the death was put down to a tragic accident, but the research team suspects that it was murder. As the researchers get closer to finding out what happened to the student, they also discover that the killer will do anything to cover up what happened.

Jill:  What is one thing about you that one of your fans/readers would be surprised to know about you as a novelist?

Margot:  I’m really a very non-violent person. I’m not squeamish, but I don’t like violence at all, even though I write about it.

Jill:  How detailed are your outlines? Or do you make outlines? Tell me a bit about your own process for writing a whodunit.

Margot:  I always start with the victim. After all, it’s nearly always something about the victim that caused her or his death. I think about who that person was and where and how that person lived. Then I think about who would have wanted a person like that dead. Once I’ve got that settled, I think about the different people in the victim’s life, and those become the suspects and other characters. But it all starts with the victim.

Once I have my ideas for characters and major events, I do outline. But it’s not a minute-by-minute outline; it’s sketchier than that. That’s because as I go along, I’ll think of other characters or places that fit in, and I write them in, too. To me, it’s a workable balance between planning and allowing good, spontaneous ideas to work their way in, too.

Once I have the outline, I start writing. Sometimes the story morphs as I go along; sometimes not. Then, when it’s done, I revise and edit for obvious problems. Then it’s time for my first readers to take a look. When I get their feedback, I use it to revise and edit again, and then proofread.

Jill:  Final thoughts...?

Margot:  Thank you so much for hosting me, Jill! I’ve really enjoyed the experience, and I wish you the very best in your own writing.

Margot's blog Confessions of a Mystery Novelist

Margot Kinberg on AMAZON

Recent Reads: Beyond Street Bach First Professional Brain Thursdays Society Name

I've had two long vacations in the last six months had a chance to do some reading, finally!  Here's a quick look at the last few books I've read:

Beyond the White House by Jimmy Carter 

Wow, he's been more effective and more productive in his post-presidency years than he was in office.  I learned a lot from this, about all sorts of things, including foreign relations and diseases.  A tad self-serving (but how could it not be?), but a thoroughly enjoyable read!  Kudos to the Carter Center.

 

Street Gang by Michael Davis    Okay, so this is a history of Sesame Street, but is is SO MUCH more than that!  It's about education and educational theory, social policy, economics, Disney, income levels and differences, inclusiveness... and Gordon was a cokehead.  Fascinating story.

Bach, Beethoven and the Boys by David W. Barber  Pretty good, I guess. I know nothing about classical music and I wanted to get a basic foundation out of this.  However, it was a bit more on the people and their (personal) lives than about the music and its impact/importance.  Having said that, I still enjoyed it because they style of writing was great: irreverent, tongue in cheek, witty, funny... 

  

The First Excellence by Donna Carrick     Despite the fact that this blog post has three fiction books on it, I rarely read fiction.  The First Excellence is the first mystery I've read in quite a while and I really enjoyed it.  The story has many layers, tied together very smoothly.  I actually wrote a review of this one on Amazon.com.  A wonderfully mysterious escape.     





The Professional by Robert B. Parker   Hmm... I guess this will be the 2nd last Spenser book :(    I wonder how complete this (and the yet to be read Painted Ladies) were at the time of Parker's death?  I love Spenser and have read every single one of them.  This wasn't one of the best, but I like getting together with old friends.     




This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitan    Interesting, clever, edifying, down to earth.  I learned a lot from this one and enjoyed the way Levitan explained things.  He gave great examples to illustrate his points and spoke in plain, simple language.  The subject matter was at times a tad out of my league, but that didn't seem to diminish the enjoyment index.    












One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde  I love Fforde and the Thursday Next series.  Love them, love them, love them!  I also love the Nursery Crimes books and am anxiously awaiting the next one.  Jasper Fforde is awesome!  He is one of a handful of fiction authors that I turn to without question, without hesitation.  Funny, clever, many oblique or inside jokes, brilliant literary references and send ups.  Keep 'em coming! 






Dead Politician Society by Robin Spano   
What can I say? I've met Robin several times and our professional lives have overlapped here and there.  I knew before reading this that I would enjoy it - and I did, very much so.  Spano's sleuth is Clare Vengel and Clare rocks, the mystery is solid, the dialogue is snappy.  I can't wait to see what she gets up to next in her coming release Death Plays Poker (Fall 2011).   






Slavery By Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon    
This book will wake you up and make you angry.  Blackmon tells the story of how blacks were treated in the years (roughly four decades) after the end of the Civil War. The research and sources are solid, the personal strories are poignant.  Blackmon aims a magnifying glass at topics that make people uncomfortable but that shouldn't be ignored. Should be required reading for any course on American History.