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Books & writing – Page 7 – Pop Culture Nerd
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Books & writing

Where’s ALICE BLISS?

After I reviewed Laura Harrington’s gorgeous debut novel, Alice Bliss, she invited me to participate in the Where’s Alice Bliss? campaign, in conjunction with BookCrossing.com, to release copies of the book into the wild and see how far it travels. It’s like a message in a bottle, except there are a lot more pages and the book probably wouldn’t fit in a bottle. Then again, they can fit those ship models inside bottles so I don’t know.

Anyway, today I released my extra copy, which Laura generously provided, at a bus stop outside NBC Studios in Burbank (you can see the peacock logo in the background). I couldn’t pull away, though, because it looked so lonely. So I waited in my car to see who would pick it up. Within a few minutes, a tired-looking woman came along and sat on a bench right outside the bus stop shelter. She can’t see there’s a gift waiting for her just inside!

I figured I’d help things along a little so I jumped out, grabbed the book, and walked up to her.

“Excuse me,” I said. “Do you like to read?”

She took her time looking me up and down and then at the book before responding. “Sometimes.”

“Great! How would you like a free book?”

Another long pause, then, “Okaaayy.”

She was still giving me squinty, suspicion-filled eyes, clutching her pocketbook more tightly to her chest, but I ignored it and launched into my speech about how much I loved the book and wanted to pass it on, blahdy blahdy blow. When she became certain that I wasn’t selling Amway or trying to mug her, she suddenly smiled. “My boyfriend and I are writers. We’ll read it.” Then she tucked it into her bag like a treasure and promised she’d keep it going.

If you’d like to participate in this campaign, find out more at Laura’s website and see where other copies have been by going here. I sure am envious of all the places it’s visited so far.

Have you ever used Book Crossing to release a book into the world? Or found one somewhere that was sent out by another?

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Book Review & Giveaway: RULES OF CIVILITY by Amor Towles

by Thuy Dinh, editor-in-chief of Da Mau magazine

Rules of Civility, Amor Towles‘s debut novel, deftly reflects the American sensibility of being a nation of transplants. Structured as a bildungsroman, the novel begins in New York circa 1966 and proceeds backward to 1938, illustrating the youthful adventures of Katey Kontent, an orphaned but plucky twenty-something Russian immigrant.

Katie’s only assets are her wit, education, and emotional resilience. These inner assets make up the “True North” that guides her voyage through the treacherous undertow of social and gender assumptions, from a lowly job as a secretary to a plummy position as a Conde Nast magazine editor and happy marriage to a member of the Long Island gentry. As a meditation on the idea of being chosen (based on the gospel according to Matthew), the novel illustrates why many “beggars” are called to the wedding banquet that symbolizes America, yet only a few can survive the demands of this new world.

As a novel about dispossessed characters driven to reinvent themselves, Rules echoes Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany, with a gigolo passing as a Boston Brahmin, and a cornfed Midwesterner reborn as a continental socialite and Hollywood mogul. Towles is dead on when he describes the quintessential American need to redefine nature through desire and violence, such as when Katey articulates her attraction to guns:

[P]eering down the barrel into the open air, you suddenly had the power of a Gorgon—the ability to influence matter at a distance merely by meeting it with your gaze. And the feeling didn’t dissipate with the sound of the shot. It lingered. It permeated your limbs and sharpened your senses—adding a certain possession to your swagger, or a swagger to your possession….

If only someone had told me about the confidence-boosting nature of guns, I’d have been shooting them all my life.

The title is a direct reference to George Washington’s 110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior, written at the tender age of 14, encapsulating a code of behavior for young men that confirms the American hidden fascination with class and wealth.

But the novel also allows Katey to supplant Washington’s status-oriented rules with what can be called the Tao of Inner Peace. Katey’s principal rules include the literal and/or metaphorical appreciation of “a morning cup of coffee,” kindness to strangers and a deep strength in one’s conviction. Above all, Katey yearns to live “in a perpetual state of wonderment” like a child about to take her first steps. But while Katey understands this romantic ideal, she realizes that assimilation is the first order for survival, and that means the loss of innocence and the exclusion of certain possibilities.

For extra effect, Walker Evans’s photography project Many Are Called, undertaken during the time period of the novel (1936-1941) and capturing the expressive faces of New York subway riders hurtling through dark tunnels, acts as the novel’s recurring motif: how strangers’ lives collide and foster the cultural milieu of their time. The everlasting tension between rugged isolationism and noble yearning for global engagement is amplified by Katey in the novel’s epilogue:

Life doesn’t have to present you any options at all….To have even one year when you are presented with choices that can alter your circumstances, your character, your course—that’s by the grace of God alone. And it shouldn’t come without a price.

Amor Towles’s novel is, in essence, a literary restatement of the Declaration of Independence. Its bittersweet message resonates deeply, for it brings home the fact that freedom is both hard won and miraculous.

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Viking is kindly allowing me to give away a copy of this book. To enter, leave a comment telling me the one rule you always try to follow in polite company. Doesn’t have to be a serious, important one. I’d accept something like “Always wear deodorant.” Giveaway ends this Sunday, August 21, 5 p.m. PST. U.S./Canada residents only, please, and no P.O. boxes.—PCN

 

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Book Discussion: READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline

Early word on Ernest Cline’s debut novel, Ready Player One (Crown, August 16), says it’s a nerd’s delight, being full of 1980s pop culture references, so how could I not read it? My husband also grew up in the ’80s and eagerly read it, too. We ended up with different reactions so I thought we’d do a conversation about it, giving you two reviews for the price of one.

First, a synopsis: Eccentric multibillionaire James Halliday dies and leaves his entire fortune to whoever can complete a difficult quest in the virtual world he created called OASIS. The winner must find three keys ultimately leading to a hidden Easter egg and the clues all involve Halliday’s obsession with ’80s culture, which provided fond childhood memories for him.

The action takes place in 2044, and lonely high schooler Wade Watts becomes the first player to find the first key after a five-year search. His archest enemy is Sorrento, who works for the evil corporation known as IOI, which wants control of OASIS for its own greedy purposes. The race becomes a Goliathan struggle between Wade, a poor orphan with a few virtual friends, going up against Sorrento and all of IOI’s resources. And though the competition takes place online, the results will have real-world ramifications.

Pop Culture Nerd: There are aspects of the novel I really enjoyed but I also struggled through sections of it. I have a feeling this is the rare book that will be better as a movie [Warner Bros. bought the rights] because as Wade visits each new sector or planet in the OASIS, we’d be able to see it right away, eliminating the need for three pages of narrative to set up those worlds for us. I wanted to get to the action faster and thought some descriptions could have been revealed within the action instead of being all front-loaded.

Mr. Pop Culture Nerd: I didn’t have that problem. Once you get into the first section of the book, called Level One, I was with Wade, loved the OASIS worlds the author created. As far-out as they may seem, the reasons they exist are grounded in the reality of what’s going on now. I think this is where the real world is heading: the almost complete exhaustion of fossil fuels, our educational system becoming more virtual (which would solve the bullying problem, if you ask me), brick and mortar companies not being able to stay in business because they can’t compete with online juggernauts. It’s a smart novel.

PCN: You might make some people think this is a political, message-heavy book when that’s just a subtle undercurrent. The best sci-fi should be rooted in reality. I got the feeling Cline wrote this more as a valentine to his geek obsessions. His love for ’80s pop culture comes through clearly. I got a kick out of the Star Wars and Blade Runner and Indiana Jones mentions—it’s funny how he disowned Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and all future Indy movies! And I used to watch Ultraman every day after school but have never met another person who has seen or even knows who he is so I completely nerded out every time there was an Ultraman reference.

Mr. PCN: I liked how Cline incorporated movie references, like Monty Python and WarGames, ’80s music and arcade game mentions into the quest.

PCN: I did, too, but I wonder if those mentions will mean anything to readers who didn’t grow up in that time period. Will a 25-year-old care about Rush or Pac-Man?

Mr. PCN: Maybe not, but most people will relate to the escapism, the desire to spend time in a virtual world where you can experience things that you can’t in an increasingly bleak real world, to create an avatar to look and be anything you want it to be.

PCN: Which brings us to the characters and their avatars. Wade is a sweet, resourceful kid, and his virtual friends Aech and Shoto are also interesting characters. But I didn’t care for Art3mis so much. Wade sets her up as being a cool chick, with her blog and self-deprecation, but she turns grumpy for the second half of the book. I understood her reasons but she just wasn’t fun to be around, with all her sarcasm and anger.

Mr. PCN: I disagree. I felt her behavior was reasonable.

PCN: Whenever Wade got sidetracked by his obsession with her, the book dragged for me. I was only engaged whenever he was on the quest.

Mr. PCN: But Wade isn’t a well-adjusted adult male (if there are any). This is a teenager who has a major crush on someone.

PCN: I can understand a teenage boy’s crush on a girl; I just didn’t feel Art3mis was deserving of it.

Mr. PCN: What did you think of Sorrento? I thought he was pure evil, which made him fun to hate. You have to respect a villain who’s that formidable.

PCN: Yeah, anytime I hate a character so much I want him to die a violent, fiery death, I know the author has done his job.

Nerd verdict: PCN—Player is fun but flawed; Mr. PCN—High score for Player One.

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Free e-Books from Tyrus Books’ “Summer of Crime”!

Wanted to put up a quick post to alert you to the amazing thing Ben LeRoy and the good people at Tyrus Books are doing: giving away e-books for the rest of the summer! (UPDATE: Poncho reports below that the offer is not available in Latin America.)

For a “Summer of Crime,” a free novel will be given away every week. There is no obligation—just download and read it. LeRoy has repeatedly said all he cares about is that people read and he’s consistently backed this up with his generous actions. (In case you’re interested, my full valentine to Tyrus is here.)

This week’s title is Angela S. Choi’s dark, witty Hello Kitty Must Die, which has that  famous opening line: “It all started with my missing hymen.” And boy, did that MIA hymen start a lot of trouble. You can download it from Amazon here or from Barnes & Noble here. The promotion ends next Monday, August 8, and the schedule for the rest of the free e-books is as follows:

Late Rain by Lynn Kostoff (8/8 – 8/15)

The Wind Knot by John Galligan (8/15 – 8/22)

Untouchable by Scott O’Connor (8/30 – 9/6)

Mark your calendars, tell your friends, and get yourself caught up in crime this summer!

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MYSTERY TIMES TEN 2011

I must start with a disclaimer: My parents taught me and my siblings to be humble. They told us to dream big, do our best, then shut up about it. No one likes people who are too impressed with themselves.

So, Mom and Dad might be horrified to see this post, but I had to share that COPIES OF THE BOOK WITH MY FIRST SHORT STORY IN IT HAVE ARRIVED! Some of you may remember that I entered a writing contest back in January and my story was selected as one of ten for publication. The books are finally here from the publisher, Buddhapuss Ink, and I’ve been fondling them inappropriately. I checked to make sure my name was listed as an author in both copies so it wasn’t just a misprint in one.

The anthology is available at B&N and Amazon if you want to read it. (No, I don’t get royalties.) Now excuse me while I resume running with it in slo-mo through a field of flowers.

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Book Review: Rebecca Cantrell’s A GAME OF LIES

I wanted to write about Harry Potter but got completely slammed this weekend with deadlines for various projects so I’ll just reprint, with permission, my Shelf Awareness review in case you missed it in Friday’s issue. (What do you mean you haven’t seen it? Why haven’t you subscribed to SA?). Hopefully, I’ll get around to my HP retrospective later this week. Have a groovy Monday!

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Intrepid German reporter/spy Hannah Vogel is back in Rebecca Cantrell‘s A Game of Lies, her third mystery set in 1930s Berlin. Posing as a Swiss journalist, Hannah sneaks back into Berlin to cover the 1936 Summer Olympics, and to meet with her mentor about a package he needs couriered out. The meeting goes awry, people die, and Hannah, hunted by the Gestapo, risks her life to find the mysterious package.

Cantrell, who studied in Berlin, easily drops the reader into Nazi Germany. She weaves period details and real people into the story, making it both fascinating and educational. Readers may not know that the only Jewish athlete allowed to compete for Germany in that year’s Olympics was Helene Mayer, a fencer, and though Jesse Owens’s gold-medal wins are old news, reading about the “Negro’s” triumphs on Aryan soil is still satisfying.

Cantrell maintains a sense of danger throughout, not just for Hannah but for anyone who dares defy the Nazi doctrine. This makes it impossible for the reporter to trust even long-time friends fully. Further complicating her mission is her growing attraction to the SS officer Lars Lang, who poses as her lover and helps her spy for the British. Not only are his motives questionable, but he struggles with alcohol and his temper. Hannah’s feelings toward Lang are fraught with red flags, but the tension between them is surprisingly sexy. Hannah’s actions risk making her young son an orphan, but her fight for a better world is noble, and her perseverance is something to admire.

Nerd verdict: Intriguing Lies

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Book Review: YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD CRIMINAL by Michael Van Rooy

This is by Mr. PCN, my friendly neighborhood contributing reviewer.—PCN

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Ever try to quit something you know is bad for you, but it feels so instinctive it’d almost be wrong not to do it? That’s the dilemma loveable ex-criminal Montgomery “Monty” Haaviko faces on a daily basis.

What keeps our hero on the path to upstanding citizenship is the love he’s found with tough-as-nails Claire and their adorable and feisty baby, Fred. There’s also a dog named Renfield and a mouse named Thor. This family, combined with Monty’s current occupation (no, I will not spoil it in case you haven’t read the previous book in this series, An Ordinary Decent Criminal), infuses the story with more than a few chuckles.

But the meat of both novels is how Monty uses his skills as a master criminal and all-around badass to blur the lines between right and wrong, without actually stealing or killing while keeping one step ahead of the cops.

In Your Friendly Neighborhood Criminal, Monty and Claire are struggling financially with his odd jobs and her budding real estate venture, but it’s all legal so there’s a stability to their newfound life on the straight and narrow. Until a tempting offer comes along. Monty has to decide whether to use his abilities for a good cause and a great payout, or walk away and continue wrestling with his cash flow issues.

Of course, his past comes back to haunt him anyway in the form of Smiley, a fellow lethal guy who shows up on Monty’s doorstep in the middle of the night, claiming he wants to try living the straight life as well. Add to the mix a crack den taking up residence down the street and Monty has his hands full keeping his family, the neighborhood and his current life safe from his past one.

Intrigued? You want more? Here’s Monty’s response to Marie, someone who approaches him with a $5000/week job offer because of his past, and inadvertently makes him feel like she’s blackmailing him.

When Claire and I were standing Marie spoke in a bantering tone: “Out of curiosity. Just what is your response to blackmail?”

I didn’t smile. “I hurt you. I hurt you badly enough so you remember it forever. I burn down your house. I take an electric drill to your kneecaps. I blow up your workplace. Memorable shit like that.”

And memorable he is.

Though this second installment in Van Rooy’s wickedly fun and edgy series can stand on its own, I recommend starting with the first novel because you don’t want to miss Monty’s extremely intense backstory.

Unfortunately, the author passed away suddenly in January of this year, and though his third Monty adventure is available in Canada, it’s not clear when it’ll hit the States. It’s really too bad because Van Rooy was one of the good ones and I, for one, will miss this very promising series of books.

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Nerdy Recycling

I’m copyediting a couple of manuscripts right now (Brett Battles’s Becoming Quinn is in da house!) and sleeping showering blogging time is a little scarce. So, I’m posting a link to a piece I did at Criminal Elements about how casting can ruin police procedurals, and, with Shelf Awareness’s permission, my review of Duane Swierczynski’s Fun & Games that ran in its newsletter recently.

Enjoy! It’s almost Friday!

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Duane Swierczynski’s Fun & Games, the first in a trilogy, is aptly titled because it blows your hair back and leaves you gasping for more. What the title doesn’t tell you is that the games being played are stone-cold deadly.

Charlie Hardie is a professional house-sitter whose latest assignment is a film composer’s lair in the Hollywood Hills. All he wants to do is spend the week on the couch drinking and watching DVDs. Instead he finds drugged-up actress Lane Madden hiding in the house, yammering about how “they” are out to get her. Her claims soon prove to be true, and Charlie unwillingly gets caught up in her life-or-death struggle, trying to vanquish the ruthless people who are determined to trap and kill them inside the house using various methods from the murderers’ manual. Along the way, Charlie discovers why the killers are targeting Lane, a reason almost as terrible as his own secrets.

Charlie is the most entertaining protagonist I’ve met in a long time. He’s a reluctant hero who fights back only because he’s angry, like a sleeping bear who’s been poked too many times with a stick. Once he’s on the warpath, though, there is no stopping him. And Lane is no stereotypical actress. She’s a resilient yet vulnerable character whose life hasn’t been made easier by her fame and beauty.

The pulp noirish story has more turns than the twisty L.A. canyon roads that provide its setting, and the pacing is as fast as a car careening down those same roads without brakes. Though Swierczynski lives in Philadelphia, he describes Los Angeles landmarks like a local. But his biggest gift to readers here is the creation of Charlie, a winning protagonist I’ll follow to Hell—Hell & Gone, that is, the next installment coming this October.

Nerd verdict: Explosively Fun & Deadly Games

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Book Review: WHAT ALICE FORGOT by Liane Moriarty

I mentioned in my review for S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep that amnesia seems to be a hot topic this summer (Marcus Sakey’s The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes also features an amnesiac) but I’ve noticed something else that’s popular: characters named Alice. Laura Harrington’s superb debut novel and her lead character are both named Alice Bliss, Alafair Burke has an Alice as her Long Gone protagonist, Elle Fanning plays Alice in the movie Super 8, and the book I’m reviewing today, What Alice Forgot, combines the two trends by featuring a lead named Alice who has amnesia.

Alice Love falls down while at the gym, hits her head and loses all memory of the last ten years of her life. She thinks she’s 29 instead of 39, and the last thing she remembers is being broke, pregnant with her first child, and deeply in love with her husband, Nick. Imagine her shock, then, when she calls him from the hospital and gets a nasty, unsympathetic reaction from him. Is their marriage no longer idyllic? And she has three children now?

In the weeks that follow her fall, Alice tries to reclaim her life but finds it has changed drastically. She has somehow attained the house of her dreams and a nice toned body, but her kids and the person she’s become are strangers to her. Her eldest daughter seems to resent her, her once-close sister has become distant, and her friends are all catty, bitchy women. She apparently also has a new suitor but she still loves Nick while he wants nothing to do with her. Does Alice really want to recover her memories if they’ll only tell her how she ended up here?

This novel is much more thought-provoking than the premise sounds. Moriarty tackles some weighty subjects but does so with a light hand and breezy pace. She uses wit to examine the complexities of life, how it can alter in small ways without our noticing until one day we might wake up to an existence beyond our recognition. Could we prevent that from happening if we can somehow see where we end up years from now? Or is change inevitable and necessary in order to survive?

Moriarty doesn’t make things black and white for Alice or predictable for the reader. There’s a bit of mystery about what happened during her lost decade, and how Alice will deal with the knowledge when she regains it. The ending is moving and may surprise readers who think they’ve got everything figured out. Alice’s journey is messy and sad and joyful, much like life itself.

Nerd verdict: Delightful, thought-provoking Alice

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Book Review: THE HYPNOTIST by Lars Kepler

Lars Kepler’s The Hypnotist is already a smash in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries since its release there in 2009. It hits our shores this week with strong buzz and that dreaded tag I refuse to use: the NSL. You know, the next author who’s like that guy who wrote the Lisbeth Salander novels. It’s a lazy shorthand that undermines an original and exciting novel that can stand perfectly well on its own merits, thanks very much.

The novel doesn’t bother with any plodding exposition; its very first line is “Like fire, just like fire,” as a boy—the sole survivor (barely) and witness to the slaughter of his family—describes under hypnosis what he saw. What he reveals is even more disturbing than the carnage left at the scene.

The session also opens a Pandora’s box for the hypnotist, Erik Maria Bark, who had sworn never to use hypnosis again after his practice led to tragic events ten years earlier. When news gets out that Bark had hypnotized the boy, Bark and his family are suddenly in grave danger. It’s up to Detective Joona Linna, who is always right, to protect the Barks and solve two gruesome cases that might be related.

Lars Kepler is actually a nom de plume for married couple Alexander and Alexandra Ahndoril, self-admitted movie lovers who have said they wanted to write a cinematic novel. They succeeded, constructing a hard R-rated story (for extreme violence) with nerve-racking scenes that make you squirm and want to cover your eyes. Yes, I actually yelled “Don’t go down there!” at my Nook. Read this scene in which a retired detective and his daughter—the hypnotist’s wife—are searching for clues in the dark basement of the house where the massacre occurred and tell me it doesn’t unnerve you:

A tapping noise comes from the ceiling, and Simone looks over at the stairs and then at her father. He doesn’t seem to hear the sound. He walks slowly toward a door at the far end of the room. Simone bumps into a rocking horse. Kennet opens the door and glances into a utility room containing a battered washing machine and dryer and an old-fashioned wringer. Next to a geothermal pump, a grubby curtain hangs in front of a large cupboard.

“Nobody here,” he says, turning to Simone.

She looks at him, seeing the grubby curtain behind him at the same time. It is completely motionless yet at the same time alive.

“Simone?”

There is a damp mark on the fabric, a small oval, as if made by a mouth…

It seems to Simone that the damp oval suddenly caves inward. “Dad,” she whispers.

There is no shame in admitting you might need Depends after reading that. I’ll wait while you pull it on.

The novel’s other strong point is its twisty, fast-paced plot. It’s just one WTF thing after another, leaving no chance for either characters or readers to relax. I did get frustrated with how Erik and Simone got so stressed, they couldn’t even communicate with each other, sometimes causing hurtful actions to come out of simple misunderstandings. But Detective Joona Linna is an amusing lead. He often gloats about how he’s never wrong but instead of coming across as arrogant, he instills confidence that’s badly needed when situations take really nasty turns.

Nerd verdict: Disturbing, suspenseful and thrilling Hypnotist

To read the first thirteen chapters, go here. Seriously, leave the lights on and have a change of undies.

Buy this now from Amazon| B&N| Indie Bookstores

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Short Nerdy Bits

Just wanted to point out a couple of quick things before you start your weekend. Danielle over at There’s a Book alerted me to the new website, Pottermore, and the official J.K. Rowling YouTube channel where the author will make an announcement about her new project in 5 days. Bookmark them, watch the countdown with me if you’re a Potter head, and hopefully we’ll have some happy news to celebrate in less than a week!

The other thing is the new Shelf Awareness publication for readers, which launched today. If you subscribe to the daily newsletter for the book trade, you should have automatically received this new edition. It comes out twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays, and contains lots of bookish news and reviews of the best books released each week. It’s free, and if you haven’t signed up, you can do so here, get all the scoop and be more interesting at parties. I’m excited to say I write for it and have a review of Marcus Sakey’s The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes in the first issue!

Happy Friday to all. Hope you have a brilliant weekend filled with all the entertainment you like best.

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Stalker Award Winners

I’m happy to announce the winners of the inaugural Stalker Awards, given to crime fiction books and authors readers are obsessed with, voted on by genre fans at large. The races were extremely tight, with leaders changing by the hour in several categories. This was exciting to me because it means the contenders were evenly matched and each had an ardent fan base.

I was also encouraged by the notes I received after nominees were revealed last week. One reader said he’d check out at least one of the underrated authors, another said she loved the opening sentences and will start paying more attention to them, and yet another said he’s already making mental notes about books and authors he’ll nominate for next year’s awards. I’m not trying to boast that I influenced anyone’s reading habits. The nominees were determined by crime fic readers so you did that. Thank you. I hope you had fun participating.

Congratulations to the following winners:

Favorite Novel

The First Rule by Robert Crais (36% of votes)

Favorite Lead Character

Joe Pike from The First Rule (38%)

Favorite Supporting Character

Elvis Cole from The First Rule (47%)

Best Opening Sentence

“The night they were hijacked, Roxy Palmer and her husband, Joe, ate dinner with an African cannibal and his Ukrainian whore.” —Wake Up Dead by Roger Smith (37%)

Most Memorable Dialogue

Savages by Don Winslow (39%)

Best Title

Hello Kitty Must Die by Angela S. Choi (44%)

Most Eye-Catching Cover

Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski (43%)

Favorite Author on Social Media — Tie

Hilary Davidson and Duane Swierczynski, both with 27% of the votes

Most Underrated Author

Charlie Huston (41%)

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