FREE STUFF!

JENN McKINLAY: As you can see, we are giving away SEVEN books to one lucky reader! Click this link – GIVEAWAY – to enter to win the six books shown plus one mystery book! FREE BOOKS, ya’ll, does it get any better? No, it does not!

Now being a thrifty sort, I LOVE free stuff. When I was younger (read poorer), I took everything that was offered to me that had the right price of FREE. This is why I have an upright piano in my house that, once the Hooligans stopped taking lessons, no one has played except Hooligan 1’s Plus 1 when she visits and I adore her for that! Now that I am older and more discerning, I curate the freebies that I accept such as my in-laws gorgeous dining set from Copenhagen – yes, please, and thank you! Other stuff, not so much.

How about you, Reds, how do you feel about free stuff?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: It’s like, gift with purchase. SO irresistible, even if we know i’;s not a gift!  Or the points we get at CVS. I know they make the stuff more expensive (my opinion at least) so it’s a wash for them, but oooh, free points so I can get free stuff.  Airline miles, too, so fabulous.  (I cannot bring myself to use them, though, and have no idea what I’m saving them FOR, which is annoying. ) And all those little bookish trinkets we get at conferences–I have so many canvas bags! And pens.  But..they were FREE! 

Anyway! We are so happy with all of you that we decided to have some summertime fun and offer YOU free stuff!  And we’re thinking we’ll do this again.That’s why you’ll see on the entry form that we’re calling it a quarterly giveaway.

LUCY BURDETTE:  Hank, I do not get those CVS points, do not understand how to use those at all. So I just throw the receipts in the trash. Airline points are tricky because it’s very seldom you can actually use them. I encourage John to use them when he’s going somewhere with multiple flights like skiing from Key West. One thing I do adore is free books! Particularly something I desperately want to read anyway. We hope you will feel that way about this giveaway! And by the way, come to the Reds and readers Facebook page and chat about Jenn’s Hallmark debut, Thursday, July 30! I can’t wait…

HANK: Lucy, you throw those receipts in the trash? Even if they say Extra Bucks? Nooooooo.. And yes, free books. The total scourge. How can anyone resist?

HALLIE EPHRON, who is still trying to give away an upright piano (no takers) that my kids learned to play on. No takers.

CVS coupon deals? Meh. Every time I go to CVS I try to use one of those deals (25% OFF ON YOUR NEXT PURCHASE!!) and it turns out whatever I’m shopping for doesn’t qualify. 

Having said that, I love it when the grocery store offers two avocados or mangos or cucumbers for the price of one. But two 5-pound bags of potatoes? They’ll sprout before go through them. Still, I take that “free” extra bag and drop it in the food donation bin on my way out of the store. 

RHYS BOWEN : The one I don’t get. But one pair of shoes get the second free. Who needs two pairs of identical shoes? In my early marriage/ raising a family days I loved  free stuff. Who  else collected Green Stamps? They paid for kids Christmas presents. These days I’m happy to pay. I do get and use airline miles. I’ve books trips to Europe for several family members on my miles. I currently have 249,0000 miles on AA. 

 

I don’t claim most freebies. I feel other people need free stuff more than me  But I do love a bargain!

JENN: I am also a flyer miles collector. Love upgrading my seat to one with legroom every chance I get!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Ditto here on the CVS points. I am just annoyed by all the extra paper added to my receipt. Airline miles, on the other hand, have made trips to London and back much more comfortable over the years. I will take those upgrades, although they're not exactly "free" these days, even with mileage.

Otherwise, I'm not so big on free stuff these days. I'm trying to get rid of stuff, not add to it!

 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I adore free stuff (well, except for the $15,000 cat.) I occasionally have dreams where I get to go through some sort of thrift shop and take anything I want. Seriously, I don't know what that says about me, but I do. My first time at the American Booksellers Conference in NY, I took EVERY advance reader copy I thought I might be remotely interested in - and then had to stagger back to my hotel from the Javits Center carrying approximately 500 pounds of books, sine there wasn't a cab to be had anywhere.

 

I have learned since then. Like the rest of you, I've gotten a lot more picky as the count-of-items-owned has increased but my storage space has not. It's still a delight, but it has to 1) actually be worth it (do I want to spend the money on the skin are to get the "free" gift-with-purchase) and something I need (buy-one-get-one-free is my trip-up here.) 

 

I'm still a sucker for free books, though... 

Your turn, Readers, where do you stand on free stuff?

What Hank's Writing--A Sneak peek! And on the Lookout for Typos

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: The new book is IN. YAY!

It's in production, which means they are making the bound manuscripts for early early blurbers, and then they will make the advance reader copies--not yet proofread, and not yet copyedited,  to distribute to reviewers. 

Meanwhile,  the copy editor is at work on the manuscript, to fix all (we hope) the dropped words and repeated words and errors and mistakes and stuff you cannot even imagine that's happened in the 617,852 (that's the real number) of characters and spaces in the manuscript.  

In two weeks or so, I'll get that copyedited version back, and make (I hope) all the corrections. And, as always, find even more errors. I have rally found some doozies in those copyedited versions--once when a character went to a place in an Uber, and then departed in her own car. AHHHHH.

It's always amazing to me, once I struggle and slog through that first draft (imagine Jenn climbing those boulders, that's exactly how it feels) how many changes get made in a book

Here's a page from the novel --on this particular day, the document was titled  "NEWEST Trying no phone 5-8." (My file titles are always hilarious. Like: "New New USE THIS ONE  6-6 no steps." There must be a better way, but I have not discovered it. This is page 10. LOOK at all those changes!

Here's another page.  Page 42. SO many changes! 

When I look back, I see why I did the things--the sentence structure was awkward, or with the wrong emphasis. It was not a tight as it should be. Not as dramatic. Not as thematic. It was repetitive (one of my pitfalls) or overly internal.

(And looking at these pages, right now, I can still see several things I will change in the copy edits.)

I adore the editing process. It's my favorite part. It's when I take that unwieldy first draft and try to wrangle it into  being the story I meant to write. I always find something new, and I always discover a theme I hadn't known was there.

And I am always always shocked and supremely thrilled when I get that final email from my editor--she'll say: "Pencils down! We're done!"

For this book--and you are the first people in the universe to see pages from it--we have no title that I can tell you now. And we will have no cover for a month or so.

But it's about a mysterious place crash. A missing influencer.  Her frightened pre-teen daughter. And a writer who is searching for happy endings.  

And it is almost done!

And now, Reds and Readers, I need a good idea for the next book. 

You DO know that advance reader copies are NOT copyedited or proofread, right? They are for savvy readers who know how to read around the errors, and understand they are not reading a final version.

 A while ago I was hearing a lot about typos in final books, though. Are those still as prevalent as they were at one point? 

Reds and readers, are you finding typos in books? Do you tell the authors when you find them?

Authors, do you want to know?

Hurray for ONE WRONG WORD!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: It’s here, the day we’ve all been waiting for, the debut of our fabulous Hank Phillippi Ryan’s new thriller, ONE WRONG WORD!!

You know Hank’s won so many prestigious awards for her crime fiction– five Agatha Awards, five Anthony Awards, the Daphne, the Macavity, and the coveted Mary HIggins Clark Award. And she’s won 37 Emmys for her TV investigative reporting. She’s also one of the founders of Jungle Red. So, truly, we would not be here without her!

The Reds couldn’t decide who would have the honor of interviewing Hank, so we’ve pooled our questions in what I think is our first group interview! We are so excited!

JRW: Tell us about ONE WRONG WORD!

HANK: Oh, for some reason–even now that I’m on book 15–giving a tiny synopsis is the hardest part...so I will practice on you!

One wrong word can ruin your life, and no one knows that better than crisis management expert Arden Ward --because she's now forced to manage a crisis in her own life.

She's been accused of having a scandalous affair with the client –it’s not true! –but she’s given two weeks to save her career. Her assignment is to repair the reputation of Ned Bannister, a powerful Boston real estate mogul who has just been acquitted in a vehicular homicide. But even though the jury found him not guilty, the court of public opinion still thinks of him as the Parking Garage Killer - and that's ruining his life. And his wife's life. (Just ask her.) And the lives of his two adorable children.

So Arden devotes what may be her last two weeks on the job to helping the shattered family. and convincing the public that Ned Bannister is actually a good guy. But as the truth begins to emerge, so do Arden’s doubts-- might be might she be staking her career on protecting a killer?

Here’s a link! https://bit.lyOWWHPR

JRW: In the past you have had fun describing your books in five words, and then five phrases. Did you do that for this book?

HANK: Oh, yes, I can never resist!

Here’s what it’s about in 5 words: Scandal. Betrayal. Greed. Empowerment. And revenge.

And in five phrases? A crisis management expert with a crisis of her own. A shocking and salacious rumor. A controversial jury verdict. A gorgeous brownstone on Beacon Hill. And the devastating power of public opinion.

Bottom line: two smart strong people face off in a high stakes psychological cat and mouse game to prove their truth about a deadly crime --but which character is the cat, and which character is the mouse?

JRW: We love your cat-and-mouse thrillers! And the amazing Oline Cogdill’s review called this one “a winner.” Where did the book come from?

HANK: Harlan Coben once told me to write the kind of book you love to read, and when you do, the reader will feel that passion on the page. 

So I'm not a fan of graphic violence in books, but I do love gaslighting, mind games, deception, and a little bit of murder. And that got me thinking about violence, and how powerful and destructive words can be. In fact, I thought, words are a powerful weapon we all possess--we just have to decide whether to use those words for good or evil.

We also all know how it feels to have someone say something about us that is completely and devastatingly untrue--how do we fight back from that? (Something like that happened to me, long ago, and it left a powerful mark.)

I’m also fascinated by the people who make their living convincing others what to think—the public relations people, the crisis management experts, the spinners and the fixers. I've worked with them for years as a reporter. And found some who are honorable and wise, others… not so much.

And all we have is our reputation, right, that fragile fragile creature?

I also know how one wrong word can ruin your life.

So I knew weaving all that together could be an intense and compelling story. What if a crisis management expert had to manage a scandal in her own life? And as a result, what if she had to protect a murderer?

JRW: That sounds amazing. But wait, go back. What happened to you?

HANK: Ohhh. When I was about 19, (and this is one of the few photos I have of myself from that time)  one of my first jobs in the real world was in a political campaign. Very high pressure, very high stakes, very fast-paced.

 I was a worker bee, and I absolutely loved it. But one day I overheard a conversation between two campaign big wigs, and they were gossiping about another powerful man in the campaign. 

We'll call him Jim, not his real name.

The first man said “I hear Jim has a big crush on Hank. And if his wife ever hears about it, it's going to be a disaster.”

WHAT? I was completely baffled! This was completely news to me, I had no idea, and certainly would never be involved in such a thing. I was horrified.

But then the second man said something like: “Well, I guess we'll have to fire Hank.”

And I thought what? Fire me? Fire me? Seems to me that Jim is the one who has to go.

Well, no one got fired, and nothing untoward ensured, and the campaign ended, and we all went our separate ways. But, as I said, that moment has stayed with me so powerfully. I had done absolutely nothing wrong, yet I was the expendable one.

JRW: So did you set out to write a book about that?

HANK: No. That's the hilarious part! It never crossed my mind that the book was about that, until partway through and I realized--ohh, I see now! I'm writing about what happened to me. I'm writing to set things right. I'm writing about what I wish I would have done when I was that age.

My books are often about women getting their power back, so maybe, even after all these years, this was a way to get mine back.

JRW: And now you are off on book tour!

HANK: Yes! It all started Friday with a sold-out SRO pre-launch (WOW!) at Brookline Booksmith where I was interviewed by Tess Gerritsen! 

And if all goes as planned, today, Tuesday, I will be on the Tamron Hall show! I took the train to New York on Monday, went to the studio this morning dash--and crossing fingers it all went well! Then I leap back on the train, and head up to Boston for the official launch party at An Unlikely Story Bookstore. A magical place!

Then Wednesday morning I'm off to Atlanta, and then Florida, and… I think I will be home for about four days in all of February. So this should be a truly magical mystery tour!

I'll be in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas and Arizona-- at least! Here's a link to my events. http://HankPhillippiRyan.com/events It would be so incredible to see you, Reds and Readers. What an absolute treat it would be to meet you.

JRW: And you’re having an amazing giveaway!

HANK: Yes, and it has a fascinating writerly origin. You never know where your next story is coming from, that's for sure, and I realized that another genesis of ONE WRONG WORD is a short story I wrote, years ago, called “All Aboard.”

(It takes place entirely on a train, which was quite the challenge!)

I reread it recently, and realized: Oh! In this short story are the seeds for Arden Ward. It was fascinating, because I didn’t realize it until after the fact.

So I'd love to hear what you think. And that's why everyone who sends me a proof of purchase for any format of ONE WRONG WORD--- hardcover, audiobook, or ebook--will get a copy of "All Aboard" as a gift! Just email here with your proof: giftfromhank@gmail.com and we will instantly send it to you.

Which reminds me of something else fabulous. If you get the audio book, there's a surprise at the end! Of course the brilliant actor Gail Shalan reads the story itself, but with the help and guidance of Macmillan Audio, I recorded my own acknowledgments! And that was truly fun. Here I am in the studio.

JRW: Love that. And it must have been so much fun. Congratulations on the stellar reviews–I saw the amazing Collette Bancroft said: “Ryan builds the pacing of “One Wrong Word” skillfully, keeping both Arden and the reader spinning amid the flurry of lies, shocks and escalating danger. It’s a thrilling ride.”

That’s so wonderful!

HANK: Yes, that was such a delight to read, Thank you, darling friends! Please keep in touch with me via social media…and crossing fingers for my new adventure!

Will I see any of you on the road?

And oh–if you do a bookface–like some of the Reds have here!--post it on social media and tag me! And I will send you a special gift. (Aren't they hilarious?)

 

The Cover Fairies

LUCY BURDETTE: In general, I have been very lucky with the book covers developed by my publishers. My agent refers to these as the good book fairies. Though I don’t have final cover approval, my contracts usually include some initial input. (I’ve talked about how the artwork has changed from the ideas I’ve sent here and here.) they’ve not always turned out exactly as I imagined, but I do expect that the publisher people know more about sales and marketing than I do so unless I really hate it, I go with it. This fall I got word that A SCONE OF CONTENTION, and DEATH ON THE MENU had been selected for Harlequin’s book club. I would get a small royalty and they would put out a new addition with a new cover. That all sounded good! last month the publisher sent the cover for SCONE:





Of course I knew what this was: a Heilan coo, a Scottish breed of rustic cattle indigenous to the Scotland Highlands. However, these animals have a very small cameo in Scone—think background wallpaper. This was cute, but I wasn’t sure this artwork would draw new cozy mystery readers. Ps, what has the animal gored? I think it’s supposed to be scones or baked goods, but I hope it wasn’t… The victim.) in this case I did not have any cover consultation rights so all I could do is think that it would make for a great blog!

RHYS BOWEN: These days I have complete cover input and approval. For my big stand-alones, there is a lot of back and forth and haggling between me, who knows what my book is about and marketing (who are all twenty-something computer geeks who only go by algorithms) but in the end we come up with a good compromise. Sometimes it’s brilliant right away. The Tuscan Child we all loved instantly. The upcoming book, The Rose Arbor, has had many title changes and thus covers before we are all satisfied.

In contrast the Royal Spyness series has had the same illustrator since day 1. I know him. He lives in San Francisco. He asks me what I want and voila. There it is. Perfect.





My very first series, Constable Evans, when I had zero clout, was the artist’s impression of Wales and all the covers had sheep or goats on them. Perhaps this is a requirement for a cozy mystery in the UK. Cozy fans love cats, therefore also have a soft spot for sheep, goats and highland cattle!

HALLIE EPHRON: I got sent two possible cover illustrations for two DIFFERENT books that were nearly identical - a massive steam-punk-looking padlock on a field of blue/black. Perfect if I’d written Bluebeard. The first cover sent me for my updated writing books was a murky green forest. (I said to them, it’s a WRITING BOOK!)

“Please, start over.” And they did.

But I confess I do love Highland cows and if they’d sent me a book cover with one of them, even though my books have none, I’d have been tempted to rewrite the book to shoehorn one in.

Rhys’s book covers are a good study in how the different subgenres are telegraphed by the cover styles. Very effective.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, gosh, Lucy, I am still laughing over that creature–which I will admit when I first saw it, I thought: WHY does Lucy have a buffalo on her cover? Okay, I get it now, but I am distressed by its nose. And the things on the horns. I would ONLY (but instantly) buy this if I knew it was YOUR book.








This is the UK cover of TRUST ME. It’s so UK! First, the publisher did not want me to be Hank Phillippi Ryan, and wanted a more instantly female name. Okay, so much to discuss about this, but here it is.

What I am fascinated by is the cut line. “She may be a bad mother, but is she a killer?”

I’m not sure that’s the way I would have gone with it, but I always try to remember that publishing execs in other countries are aiming for THEIR readers, not for me.

(I did get a wonderful email from the woman who posed for the cover–which is somewhere in my photos and absolutely unfindable.)

As for my current covers, it’s a wonderful collaboration, and truly fun and rewarding and fascinating, and my publisher’s art department is genius. AND I am allowed to say no. So that’s great.

JENN McKINLAY: I am fortunate that I have never had a bad cover, not one, not ever. Like Rhys, I am fortunate that the publisher asks me what I want and then the art department delivers something that’s so much better than my wildest expectations. Now I am going to burn a candle to the cover gods because I don’t want to jinx myself. LOL.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Lucy, the more I look at your Highland Cow, the more adorable I think it is. (He? Do the girls have those horns, I wonder?) But I'm not sure that I would instantly get that this is a food-themed cozy mystery.

I've had such a checkered career with the Cover Fairies. I had NO say with the first few books. While the first two were charming, they looked like English historical cozies, not contemporary procedurals. But #3, LEAVE THE GRAVE GREEN, was absolutely awful. Where would you say this book was set?





Not in Henley-on-Thames, where a body is found in a lock. Or in the gorgeous green and mysterious Chiltern Hills, or in the world of the English National Opera, where part of the book takes place. Sigh. I feel fortunate that anyone bought it.

I do have cover approval these days, thank goodness, but it's very much a collaborative process. For a while my publisher used my photos, which was great fun, but then they went for a "bigger book" look. I know we always love our most recent books best, but I do think that my latest cover is my absolute favorite of all of my books.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I’ve been blessed by the cover gods in that none of my published books has had a clunker. After the first book, Minotaur settled on a “vaguely foreboding rural scene” theme which has worked well.

However, when ALL MORTAL FLESH was in the process, someone had the bright idea to rebrand the cover to emphasize the obviously popular romance angle, and I got a couple artists’ concept mock-ups that I refer to as “my vampire covers.” One has the face of a beautiful woman in her twenties, staring toward an off-screen sunset, with a gorgeous guy in his thirties, also in profile, right behind her. This, I understood, was to represent Clare, a 36 year old with a “plain face” “all points and angles”, and Russ, a rugged 50 year old with graying hair and glasses. Huh.

The second one was even worse, if you can imagine it: it took the male model away and had the woman’s face, still in profile, hovering over a very pointy church spire, giving the effect of a giantess about to suffer a horrible injury to her soft palate.

Lucy, I swear, I looked everywhere for these pictures; I think I must have deleted them in horror. The cover they eventually used was based on a sketch I did, after a fairly heated discussion, seated at the St. Martin’s booth at the old BEA (How I miss it! Yes, the Javits Center was awful, but still.)

Question of the day: Reds, tell us about your most unusual (or other adjectives) cover.

Readers tell us about a cover that particularly drew you in or repelled you from reading a possible book.

Top Posts of 2023!

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!!!

 JENN McKINLAY: I'm a big one for end of the year tallies and whatnot. I like to look back, see what was accomplished and what is left to do. In the case of this blog, I like to review what posts of ours resonated with our readers and which ones didn't.

Not for nothing, but according to the stat machine of Blogger, the Jungle Red Writers had 1.7 M views and 26.8 K comments just in the past twelve months. Whoa! 

What a year it was! We covered everything from Barbie to the World Economic Forum to beans! Your comments and the stories you shared with us made our posts even more engaging and we thank you for joining us and bringing your wit and wisdom to the party. 

As we launch our new venture Reds and Readers (click the name to join) TOMORROW on Facebook (it's a new place for giveaways, live chats, etc.), we look forward to even more shenanigans in 2024! Make no mistake, we will never give up our blog, but we do want to be able to chat with our community, our readers, our friends, a little more easily and it's our hope that this group will do that! So come on over and check it out!

And now here are some of our top posts from 2023 to revisit: 

Hallie : CONNECTING WITH THE MURDER VICTIM

Hank: SHOULD WE TALK ABOUT BARBIE?

Rhys: RHYS ON RULES

Lucy: LUCY IS COUNTING BEANS

Debs:  THE ICONIC TOMATO SANDWICH

Julia: DAVOS FOR THE REST OF US

Jenn: WHEN LIFE BECOMES A SITCOM

So, Readers, what were some of your favorite posts from last year? What do you think we should talk about next?

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HAPPY READING, EVERYONE!!!

Bring it, 2024 -- And by "it" I mean BOOKS!

JENN MCKINLAY: It’s that time again, Reds, to tabulate the total of our bookstore gift cards received during the holiday season (woo hoo!) and plan our purchases for 2024! So, what are your most anticipated reads (excluding the Reds because of course we’re on the top of each other’s lists) for the coming year?

I’ll go first:

ONCE UPON A MURDER by Samantha Larsen

I absolutely loved, loved, loved the first in this new series - A NOVEL DISGUISE - An impoverished woman masquerades as a male librarian to an earl to keep the roof over her head, set in 1754. Brilliant!

ONE OF US KNOWS by Alyssa Cole

I really enjoyed WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING and am eager to see what this author does next for a suspense/thriller read.

JUST FOR THE SUMMER by Abby Jimenez

I've read all of Abby's books - she is fantastically funny, poignant, and delightful. I will read anything she writes, even her grocery list.

All right, Reds, your turn! What titles are you most looking forward to? 

HALLIE EPHRON: Top of my list: I’m looking forward to reading a book that slipped by me this year, a memoir by Patrick Bringley, All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me. 

It’s Bringley’s first book. In it he tells the story of how, after his younger brother died, grief-stricken and lost, Bringley quit his job in publishing and took a job at the Met as a guard–where  he found the time and space (and the beauty of the works of art) that he needed to grieve and heal.

I love the Met. Spent untold hours there when I was an undergrad and an art history minor at Barnard. I’ve become intimately acquainted with grief in the last two years. I don’t know how I missed this book when it came out but I’ll be making up for that in January. 

RHYS BOWEN:  with various health concerns looming over us, including a new knee for me sometime soon I need good suggestions for comfort reads!

But I am looking forward to Jackie Winspear’s last Maisie Dobbs novel. That will be bitter-sweet reading as I’ve enjoyed Maisie’s journey.

LUCY BURDETTE: Rhys, have you tried the Lane Winslow series set in western Canada? I just finished the first, A KILLER IN KING’S COVE. After a slow start, I loved the book.

I’m also hoping Santa brings me Richard Osman’s THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE, and François-Régis Gaudry’s LET’S EAT PARIS. And I’m finally going to read ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, which is already waiting on my nightstand.

JENN: I loved ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE but haven't watched the Netflix version - afraid they'll ruin it. Anyone see it?

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'm looking forward to Deborah Harkness's THE BLACKBIRD ORACLE, the long-awaited fifth book in her All Soul's series, but that's not out until July. A little sooner is Natalie Jenner's, EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE, out in May. And I am hoping there will be a new Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London novel in 2024, although I haven't seen anything about a release yet. 

In the meantime, maybe I will get to the copy of ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE on MY nightstand!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I am about to devour my idol Lisa Scottoline’s THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DEVLINS, which I know will be fabulous. Oh, what else–Soon I’m going to interview Elizabeth Gonzalez James about her new THE BULLET SWALLOWER, which is billed as a magical realism Western. What?  Yup. It is fabulous so far!   SWIFT RIVER by Essie Chambers, so looking forward to it. And the wonderful Mary Kubica’s new SHE’S NOT SORRY. One more? Michael Koryta, one of my favorite authors ever, has a new novel which he’s written as Scott Carson called LOST MAN’S LANE. Cannot wait! 

(Don't you love how our choices are different?)

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Hank, I didn’t know about the Michael Koryta book - he’s one of my faves, so thank you or the heads up!

As one of our resident SF fans, top of my list is THE MERCY OF GODS by James S.A. Corey, the pen name for the writing duo that brought us the brilliant Expanse series. Humans become the captive and unwilling helpers of their alien conquerors as the latter attempts to dominate the galaxy. No one does realistic political space opera like these guys, so I’m already pre-ordered, and the book doesn’t come out until August.

And my most anticipated “haven’t read it yet but will in 2024” is YELLOWFACE by R.F. Kuang. I think Jenn has read this? It’s gotten major attention since it came out at the beginning of last summer, but of course, I’m always reading a year behind or a year ahead…

JENN: Yes, I did read Yellowface. Let me just say, it is a wild ride. There is some very cutting observations made about publishing that I enjoyed tremendously.

All right, Readers, your turn. What are you most eager to read in 2024?

What Hank's Writing: Are YOU Over-Tabbed?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: This bookface photo will wake you right up, right? Weird, huh? But that's not what this is about.

Listen, I sat down at the computer yesterday morning, ready to work. But my computer was not going to participate.

It would not respond, no matter what I did. I clicked on my e-mail. It would not open. I clicked on Facebook. It would not open. Nothing nothing nothing would open. I stared at it, incredibly frustrated, and accelerating into panic. I had meetings at 10, 11, 12:30, and 130.

But before those, I had to confirm the large print cover with New York, and send the publicist links for a potential January appearance, which meant I had to find the links. I had to check on the Super Readers for One Wrong Word. Email the graphic designer about a project. I had to create a blog for Wednesday. I had to prepare to teach my Master Class at Crime Bake this weekend, and then for my travel to the UK for the documentary premiere events.

AND, after my meetings, I had to do my words for the day for the next book!

But my computer did not care about any of that. It just sat there, petulant and dead.

I sat right here in this chair, staring at the screen, and worked myself into a total snit. I realized I was going to have to get a brand new computer, like, today!

And what if I hadn't saved the newest version of the new novel? And I couldn't work without a computer, the laptop would not be good enough, plus tomorrow I had two interviews on zoom, so I had to have the desktop. It had to work. It HAD to work. It had to work.

And then I looked again at my screen. And saw how many tabs were open along the top.

Reds and readers, I should have taken a picture of all them instantly, this is about half the screen, but once I realized I had too many tabs open, I knew what I had to do.

The computer was trying to communicate with me. And she was saying: “We have too much going on! Pick something! And let the rest of us rest.”

Adobe Express, close. Canva, gone gone gone. Twitter, close. Three different Amazon tabs, close close close. The One Wrong Word BookTour Google doc. Diminish. Instagram, diminish. Someone else's manuscript. Save, close. Facebook author page, close. Facebook personal page, close. Spreadsheet for The Back Room, close. Spreadsheet for First Chapter Fun. close. My backup e-mail, close. The backup to the backup e-mail. close. My website, close. I know what's on that.

I could almost hear the computer sighing in relief. And I burst out laughing, then, imagining the weight off of the computer's shoulders.

And the weight off of mine, too. When I had two tabs left: my manuscript in Word, and my e-mail, my whole brain settled, too.

I had over-tabbed myself, and the computer was a metaphor for my very own brain.

I used to be the queen of multitasking, and I am still pretty good at it. If necessary. But these days I truly prefer to pick one thing, do it, finish it, then go on to the next thing. The psychic weight of having too much to do, i truly think, makes each task harder. When I focus, and be present for each individual task, then I can accomplish it.

My computer tabs taught me a lesson, and I hope I can remember it. If your brain is on overload, at some point it is going to refuse to respond.

I know, it's actually a good thing. The only thing worse than having too many tabs is having no tabs at all. And I love all of my tabs, they are fabulous tabs, I embrace them fully, and I am happy to have them. I just need to learn to deal with them one at a time.

Reds and readers, do you have too many tabs, whether metaphorically or actually?

(And an advance review copy of ONE WRONG WORD to one lucky commenter!)

The Reds Salute Hank #MaliceDomestic

DEBORAH CROMBIE: As you've probably heard, our fabulous Hank was the Guest of Honor at Malice Domestic this year! We Reds were asked to write a piece for the program book, and we thought you might enjoy the results--along with some fun photos!

LUCY BURDETTE: I first met Hank Phillippi Ryan when I was working on a New England Sisters in Crime calendar in 2003. Several of us traveled across New England with a photographer to take small group shots of our members. One of these was at Hank’s home. She was warm and welcoming and immediately impressive, taking charge of the photo shoot, and insisting we redo it until it was perfectly professional. She was a founding member of the Jungle Red Writers blog (now going on 15?? years and still writing!) She is the biggest engine behind our success, always insisting that we put our best foot forward, welcome all readers and writers, and produce excellent content every.single.day. She is a brilliant brainstormer, an indefatigable supporter of other writers, and the hardest worker in the business. She is known and loved across the country for her twisty suspense novels, her wise advice, and her warm friendship. I knew at that first meeting that I was in the presence of a whirlwind.

HALLIE EPHRON: I met Hank way back when she was working on her first crime novel (PRIME TIME), but here in New England she was already legendary as an investigative TV reporter with shelves full of Emmy Awards. “Help me Hank” was a phrase that thrilled her readers and terrified the targets of her investigations. I was in awe of her glamor and polish, her savvy and her smarts. Her debut novel, PRIME TIME, featuring (what else?) an investigative TV reporter, won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel adding a Teapot (Agatha Award for Best First novel for PRIME TIME) to her shelf of awards. Soon our roles were reversed and she was helping me come up with the perfect title for a story or wrangle a misbehaving character or amp suspense (her forte). To repeat a theme: GENEROSITY! That should be her middle name. I’d be surprised if there’s even a single author at Malice who hasn’t been, like me, been boosted by Hank.

JENN MCKINLAY: There is no greater supporter of other writers in the publishing world than Hank Phillippi Ryan. She is generous with her time, her wisdom, and her enthusiasm, all of which she has in abundance. Truly, between her award-winning investigative journalism and bestselling thriller writing - she is a force of nature! When I joined the Jungle Reds seven years ago, Hank welcomed me with open arms (as did all the Reds) and it’s been a joy having that friendship grow into a real sisterhood. 

(Hank's GOH interview with the lovely Robin Agnew.)

RHYS BOWEN:  Hank and I bonded late one night after an award ceremony where we were both nominated and both didn’t win. I have to say we clicked immediately.  Until then I had been rather in awe of this impeccably polished person with the incredibly high heeled shoes. But once you get to know Hank you discover a warm, generous, funny, witty person who will be your biggest cheerleader. I count her as one of my dearest friends, and certainly the person I could turn to if I needed help, advice or cheering up.

Her support for other authors is legend. That she would give up so much time every week to host upcoming authors on various platforms is beyond commendable. What’s more when she goes out of her way to make her guests look good. I am thrilled that she is being honored at Malice.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'd never met Hank Phillippi Ryan when I was invited to join the Jungle Red Writers blog more than a decade ago, and I have to admit I was a little intimidated by this very accomplished and always elegant woman. What I've since discovered is that Hank is THE most generous and supportive person in the mystery community, and that, yes, she really is that nice. Her energy and enthusiasm seem boundless, but even amid her busy schedule she always has time to offer a word of encouragement or advice. I count myself as very fortunate to be her friend, and I can't think of anyone more deserving to be honored at Malice Domestic. Brava, Hank!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: If Hank were a character in one of her delicious cat-and-mouse suspense novels, you'd be very suspicious of her. Who is this woman asking penetrating questions as if you're the most interesting person she's ever met? Why is she always doing selfless things for others? How is it her hair is always perfect? She must be the villain, right? That's the shocking twist - beneath her striking looks and groaning shelf of awards, she's still the same gosh-darn nice girl from the Hoosier State. Sharp, funny, utterly loyal and with a deep well of love for everyone and everything in the genre she's made her own. She'll take you to lunch, offer you the ballet flats in her purse, feature you on one of her many book promotion platforms, and if you asked how to repay her, she'd be utterly befuddled. Guest of Honor is great, but if Malice Domestic ever decides on a Queen, Hank Ryan has the title sewn up.

Congratulations to our Hank! Any Hank stories that you would care to share?