On Book Clubs

LUCY BURDETTE: Though my hometown book club is on hiatus, we had a lot of wonderful discussions over the years. For a while, we decided that the hostess would choose the book and also provide dinner to other members. My turn came when we discussed Carlos Eire’s WAITING FOR SNOW IN HAVANA. I made an elaborate Cuban meal, including pork roast with black beans and baked bananas. Funny how I remember the details of the food better than the details of the book (although it was an excellent memoir.)
As a writer, I love book clubs even more, and I’ve had some fabulous visits with groups over the course of three cozy mystery series. Luckily for me, these often involved food. (Fudge pie anyone? Or how about the onerous task of judging molasses cookies?) The latest was a book group in Connecticut that was reading AN APPETITE FOR MURDER. The hostess created a Key West-themed meal, including decorations and Hemingway cocktails. Oh how I wished I’d been there in person, rather than by FaceTime! (You can read that whole story here.)  

But this book club photo has to take the cake—these girls are from northern Germany, so far north they are almost to Denmark, and their teacher sent me their questions about the book and I answered by email.

Over to you Reds. Do you belong to a book group or club? What’s your favorite book club story as a writer?

RHYS BOWEN: Unfortunately I don't have time to belong to a book club. I do belong to a hiking group and we find ourselves discussing books we've read as we hike--so I suppose it is an itinerant book club. I have led book club discussions at Book Passage bookstore. I've been a guest a many book clubs, lately more via Skype than in person, and I've

photo from Wikipedia

sent discussion questions to many more. I'm afraid I find being a guest in person rather awkward. Nobody can say what they really thought of the book with me sitting there, and I know from my experience as a facilitator at Book Passage that members are super critical. One session I led was on Edgar winners and my book club members didn't like any of them. Gleefully they pointed out flaws in Michael Connelly and Jan Burke etc. So I'm always thinking that they really hate my book and are just being polite.


 

My favorite book club memory? Would have to be the first book club for my first Constable Evans book, when I realized that ten people, sitting around me, had all read my book!

 




HALLIE EPHRON: I don't belong to a book club, either. I have barely time to read what I have to for my own work. 

I love going to book groups, or even Skyping. Better in person because there's always good food. A dear friend had me talk about "Night Night, Sleep Tight" to her book group - and she made food from the '60s when the book's set. Quiche! Pigs in a blanket! Just needed some Sara Lee cheesecake. It was lovely. Thanks, Nathalie!

 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I, sigh, belonged to a book club once. It took up a LOT of time, and I didn't really love it...except for one fabulous discussion we had about Bel Canto, which was unforgettable. (And shows you how long ago it was...)  I left the book club for two reasons: One, when my turn to pick the book came, I chose Edith Wharton's Custom of the Country, which I adore. NOBODY else liked it, and they proceeded to rip it to shreds.

And when I started writing PRIME TIME, so than I had NO more time.

I adore going to bookclubs, and I love it in person way more than Skype. It is SUCH a treat to be in a place where people have read my books, I so agree!  And yes, there is that element of knowing no one is going to criticize--but hey, what's so bad about that?  Nice and polite is good, right? Just, as they say, spell my name right.

Oh, sorry, one more thing. I always learn something at book clubs. For instance: One woman talked about how I have different characters leading different scenes. I said yes, it's multiple point of view. 

She had NEVER heard that phrase, nor did she understand it. When I explained it, I absolutely saw the light dawn in her eyes.
"You should teach people about that," she said.
But from then on, I realized that people do not see the world in the same way we do. And that is such an important thing for a writer to remember.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: No book club for me, either, although I volunteer at our small local library, and the spontaneous conversations about reading are wonderful (and informative!) I do enjoy speaking to book clubs  especially since Skype has made it so easy to do from home. I recently chatted with my mother's book club in upstate New York, and had a great time. (Although talk about not wanting to say anything bad...imagine if you have both the author AND her mother listening!)

Best book club experience was early on, when I went in person to the book club hosted by one of the teachers at Ross's school. Book club was also Fancy Desserts and Wine Club, and we all had a wonderful, caloric time. After the discussion had ended, one of the members said to me, "That was terrific! It's the first time we ever actually talked about the book!"

LUCY: How about you Red readers--do you belong to a book club?

What We're Writing--Hank's adventures in the past

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Everything old is new again? Well, kind of.

When my publisher asked me to take a fresh-eyed look at my Charlotte McNally books in preparation for their re-issue—my first series in all new editions with gorgeous new covers!—I knew that could be a…shall we say, fascinating experience. I could change things if I wanted. Yay. 

But I would also see—in unassailable black and white--what needed to be changed. Would that be the good news or the bad news?

So with much delight and little trepidation, I opened the pages of the four books in my first series, and read all the way through.  PRIME TIME came out in February, and I am so happy Charlotte McNally is making friends with lots of new readers.

 FACE TIME is coming next week.  So today my “what we’re writing”

today is about “what we’ve written.”  

And then written again.

First, the fabulous news. Were you hooked on Serial, or Making A Murderer, as I was? It turns out that the Serial and Making A Murder theme is what FACE TIME is all about! So that was a treat to discover.

However. It was quite the education to see what needed to be changed in the books. It’s like watching a movie from 9 years ago. Things that seemed so timely and hip become…well, not so relevant. 

Or just—wrong.

First, in AIR TIME (coming in June) I had to change the announcement flight attendants make before takeoff. You don’t have to completely turn off your phones any more, right? You can keep them in airplane mode.  That almost ruined a plot point—it was very nice to be able to have the flight attendant yell at Charlotte to power down.

I also almost hit plot-disaster with beepers. You remember beepers, right? Those little gizmos everyone had? Especially reporters, who were not allowed to leave the station without them. Now, almost no one has a beeper. But um, rut-roh. I really needed them in the plot of one of the books.  I finessed.  Instead of Charlotte reassuring herself: “Everyone gets beeped!”  She now thinks: “It’s okay, people still get beeped.”

n PRIME TIME, someone’s computer proclaims “You’ve got mail!” Uh, hmm.  When was the last time you heard that once-constant refrain? So now I made their email ping. But a person still says “You’ve got mail.” The “you’ve got mail” reference is critical later in the book, so I couldn’t ignore it altogether.

There’s a reference, sigh, to Puff Daddy.  Charlie’s producer Franklin, corrects the speaker, reminding him it’s now P. Diddy. (Are you with me here? Of course not. And if you are, I love you madly.)

But because a suspect wears an item from his Sean John clothing line and that leads to his identification, it was a real key to the story. (You’ll understand when you read AIR TIME. It works.)   So I had to keep it—but how?

“How do you even know about P. Diddy?” someone now asks.

 “Oh, Franklin’s big on fashion history,” Charlie now says. “He knows all that vintage stuff.”

Another oops?  Someone bought a home “a few years ago in 2005.”  Now it’s simply “a few years ago.”

The crazy-crowded Cape Cod rotary is now gone. Luckily Charlie doesn’t have to use another route to be caught in the traffic jam. The toll booth on the Mass Pike are now mostly unstaffed E-Z pass automatic machines—happily for me, not ALL of them.

My editor back then yanked out all the current cultural references, much to my chagrin at the time. I remember telling her: “Jane Pauley will ALWAYS be on the Today Show!”  Okay, the editor was right. Big lesson learned.

Some things I just left the way they were—I mean, Charlie is 46, and her mental rolodex would be that of a person that age.  So she refers to the Beatles, and Ed Sullivan, and having had a collection of VHS tapes twenty years ago.

And from the “need I say more” department, here are two more snippets from the “change” list I sent for AIR TIME :

p 217  2^nd line from bottom

change

“Josh is getting cable,” I say.

To

“Josh is upgrading his cable,” I say.

P 226  Line 12-13

Change

Time to hit the pay phone.

To

Happily, Logan still has one pay phone.

And now, here’s a bit from the about to be re-issued FACE TIME, a BookSense Notable Book (see? They’re called Indie Next Picks now!), about which Sara Paretsky (hurray!) said: “A gripping fast-paced thriller with an important story line and an engaging and unusual heroine.”

In this scene: our heroine, reporter Charlotte McNally, is not only facing a last-minute TV live shot about a new political candidate, but a disaster only possible to people of a certain age.

FACE TIME

 “Just read the news release,” Franklin instructs. “It’s got the whole drill, law and order, convictions out the wazoo, death to infidels, all that. Y’all know the lowdown on this guy, right?”

I do, in fact. Oscar “Oz” Ortega: recruitment poster for the

prosecution—cool, hot, and politically connected. Known for his

outrageous neckties and outrageous legal talent. Scholarship to

Boston College. Scholarship to Yale Law. Could cross-examine

blood out of a turnip. And, some predict, he’ll step out of the attorney

general’s office, percolate for a term or two on Beacon Hill,

then head for the Oval Office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

“Thanks, Franko,” I say, taking the release. Less than a minute

to go. I’ll read it through quickly, then use it to sum up when Oz is

finished. Done it a million times. Like riding a bike. “No problem.”

Wrong.

I can’t see the words. I mean, I can see that there are words, but

they’re a complete blur. I glance over at Franklin, ready to ask if

there’s a problem with the copy he’s offered. I can easily see the

crease in his predictably impeccable jeans, the tiny polo pony on

his pink knit shirt, even how the ten- o’clock stubble on his face

darkens his coffee skin to espresso.

Clearly, what’s wrong is me. Without my reading glasses, this is

going to be impossible. And even if I could get to my glasses,

tucked in my red leather tote bag and back in the van, I couldn’t

go on the air wearing them.

“Thirty seconds,” I hear in my ear.

I can’t read this news release, but I have to. Tucking the paper

under one arm, I use a finger to pull back my left eyelid and pop

out my contact lens. With a brief wince of regret and one flip of a

finger, I discard the contact onto the parking lot pavement, and try

again to read Oz’s formal announcement.

 “Four. Three.” I hear the countdown in my ear. “Two. Go.”

HANK: SO excited about this! And soon I will have fabulous other news. And—soon--there’ll be the brand new SAY NO MORE, about which you will hear, um, relentlessly. I'm working on the updates to DRIVE TIME now…and I will keep you posted.

But let’s talk about change. If  you had a do-over—about anything—would you?  Or how about this: Would you mind if I’d mentioned the Cape Cod rotary or Jane Pauley?

 And—a copy of the all new PRIME TIME to one lucky commenter!

Cover Story--and question for you!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  I need your advice. But first, even though they tell you never to do this, a bit of back story. (The flowers, the last from our garden last fall, are just for decoration.)

I was at my desk in the newsroom a few years ago, and, by mistake, clicked open an email spam. I stared at it, baffled. What it said didn’t make sense. Then--that very instant--I had the idea for my first novel.

That night, I went home and said to my husband: "I've got it. I've know the plot of the mystery I've wanted to write ever since I was a kid.”

Jonathan thought a moment. Smiled. Then he said, “That’s terrific. But, ah, sweetheart? Do you know how to write a novel?”

Newbie me laughed, and said,  “How hard can it be?”

And I typed: Chapter 1.

I soon learned how hard it could be. Ha! But through a process of doubt and delight, the story emerged. PRIME TIME (about secret messages in email spam!) became the first in my series of suspense novels starring reporter Charlotte McNally, the funny, smart, savvy TV journalist who wonders: What happens when a TV reporter is married to her job—but the camera doesn’t love her anymore?

The first cover looked like this. 

Don’t even get me started. But my sheer joy overcame any artistic questions. 

Questions like: Why is she wearing diamond handcuffs? And who is that person, anyway? It doesn’t look like Charlie McNally at all. And what is she kissing? That’s not an Emmy, and it if were, you wouldn’t kiss it.  And if she’s in silhouette, why isn’t her dress in silhouette? 

But I said not to get me started. And I was incredibly happy, whatever. 

And it won the Agatha.

Then MIRA grabbed the series, and re-issued Charlie to much acclaim. 

That cover looks like this. 

Very of-the-time right? Dark. Body part. Don’t get me started. At least it looks like a professional body part.  And, hey, I was still SO thrilled, I didn’t care. (Forgive the bad photos. My name is actually straight.)

That was several years ago. My first thriller, THE OTHER WOMAN (with an PERFECT cover), interrupted the so-far four books in the McNally series--but now, ta-dah, Charlie’s back.

I’m so thrilled to tell you the four Charlotte McNally books will be available in all gorgeous new hardcover and trade paperback editions from Forge--starting with PRIME TIME with a new one every other month this year.

Pant, pant. Back story over. SO. FINALLY the point.

How do I tell people about this? PRIME TIME is not new, but if someone hasn’t heard of it before (and they are certainly legion), it’s new to them, right?  But it’s not calendar “new.” So what does new mean?

And when I say “Charlie’s Back” it’s cute, but it  requires, as you just saw, some explanation. 

Reds and readers, how would you handle the new/not-new marketing case study? Have you ever done this? Have you ever been angered or annoyed by buying a book you've already read? Do I treat these books as new or old or returning or back or available or--what?

And if you saw  the version of PRIME TIME in a bookstore, what would you think?

(And isn't it instructive to see all these covers?)

PS--CONTEST!   If you missed Charlie (or miss her), TIME to get acquainted!  Buy PRIME TIME in any format—and you can enter to win a $100 or $50 or $25 dollar gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice! Yes, you can enter each time you buy. Click here for to see the info, the rules, and enter to win: https://1.shortstack.com/dmSQMz

Do you want to know a secret?

Okay...it's not really a secret.

We were planning to post something else today..an interview that will happen, we promise, sometime next month, but we can't let another day go by without a big shout out here to Hank. Her Agatha Award-winning debut novel, Prime Time is finally FINALLY available again - and everywhere - from Mira Books.

PRIME TIME introduces forty-something investigative reporter Charlotte (Charlie) McNally. Charlie's smart, savvy and successful—but she's worried her news director is about to replace her with a younger model. Now—she's on the hunt for the story that will save her job. Is it hiding in her email? Charlie begins to suspect some of that annoying Spam clogging her computer is more than cyber junk. She discovers it actually carries big-money secret messages to the big-shot insiders who know how to decode it. Problem is, the last outsider who deciphered the system now resides in the local morgue. It's either the biggest story of Charlie's career—or the one that may end her life. Charlie's also facing another dilemma: what happens when a top-notch TV reporter is married to her job—but the camera doesn't love her anymore?

It's an action-filled page-turner, with humor, romance and a scheme so timely and innovative you'll wonder why someone hasn't tried it. A twist of an ending will have readers going back to the beginning to check for all the clues they missed.

I was lucky enough to have read it when it was first available (that's the old cover below but check out the slick new look on the right)and I'll join the chorus of raves.

New York Times bestselling author Mary Jane Clark's kudos: "Current, clever, and chock full of cliffhangers. Readers are in for a treat."

Award winning author Harley Jane Kozak says it's "a great read" written with "quick wit, crackling pace and been-there-done-that credentials."

Page Traynor of RT Book Reviews gave Prime Time the highest possible rating—four and a half stars, awarding it the coveted TOP PICK. She says: "This book has humor, snappy language, danger and a wonderful mystery that will keep you guessing. Prime Time has the perfect combination of mystery and romance."

Way to go, Hank!!

On thinking..

In 2001 I credited my dog, Patrick for keeping me sane during the days right after 9/11. He did a great job. Whatever else was going on in the world Patrick had to be walked, fed and played with. I suppose a child could have fit the bill but I didn't have one handy.

The incumbent, Max, (pictured here) has a much easier job description. He helps me think - sometimes about life, sometimes about a story, sometimes about why people with small dogs don't think they need to pick up the poop. But I digress.

Walking Max, grooming him or just canoodling on the bed - no surface is off-limits for our little prince, and public displays of affection are frequent and spontaneous - slows down time for me.

It's not unusual for me to go out for a stroll with Max and find a character, or a trait, or a motive.

Gardening does it for me, too. I rarely spend time in the hammock swinging back and forth and musing about a storyline but I have been known to end a particularly rigorous pruning session with an aha moment about how to dispatch one of my characters. (No worries, I haven't really chopped anyone up yet, although my next door neighbor doesn't know just how close I came last year on Norwegian Independance Day which is a very big deal to him.)

ROBERTA: Definitely walking Tonka is a help. Besides the canine simplicity that Ro describes so nicely, I think moving in general is good for stimulating thinking. I believe Jan said this a couple of weeks ago, but getting out in the field to the actual scene where a book is set can be wonderfully helpful too. I did this last week when I visited the police department in my town. I gleaned some fabulous details that my imagination was not going to discover.

HALLIE: For me it's cooking. Conjuring dishes from whatever happens to be in the refrigerator. If the fridge is bare, haul out the pasta maker -- there's nothing more zen-like than mixing up a batch of noodle dough, kneading it until it's elastic, letting it rest, and then running it, over and over through the machine's rollers so that a little 2-inch ball turns into a six-foot-long sheet of paper-thin pasta. (I find my best ideas come to me when I can't possibly write them down.) Fry up some sage leaves from the garden.

Boil the pasta for barely a minute or two and serve it piping hot and buttered, sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan and the fried sage leaves. Enjoy with a glass of robust Italian wine.

The perfect way to relax.

RO: I'll be right over..sounds yummy. I don't know anyone else who makes their own pasta. I remember an aunt making her own raviolis. Quite a production. Lots of time for wool gathering.

HANK: Sleeping? Well, not really sleeping, but the time just before going to sleep.

RO: I refuse to believe that you actually sleep. I've been convinced you are superhuman and don't need sleep like the rest of us mortals.

HANK: My brain just works like crazy then, in a very unstressed and openminded (!) way. I can do interviews in my head--taking roles as both me and the interviewee. And that's been incredibly helpful in my job as reporter--when I do ine interview for real, it's almost as if I've practiced. As for the books, whole scenes unfold--and it's as if I'm just watching them.
Tonight, though, I'll be thinking about PRIME TIME--the new MIRA version goes on sale Tuesday! (Look for it,okay?)

RO: Yippee!! Run, don't walk to your local bookstore for Prime Time, Hank's Agatha-winning First Novel. Come back for more PT news later on this week.

Janny, what about you?

JAN: Taking a shower. I've decided that first thing in the morning is a complete waste of a shower. It's much more productive after two or three difficult hours of writing. Then right in the middle of the shampoo -- or maybe it's the conditioner -- I have a Eureka moment.

Also driving. I've had my very best ideas on Route 95.

RO: My showers are strictly for singing. I put the ipod speakers on full tilt - impossible to think about anything but where in my brain all the song lyrics are stored. I'm totally with you on driving though, it's a great source of inspiration.

Other drivers...strange vanity plates, mismatched couples in other cars..all grist for the mill.

So what non-writing activity gets your creative juices flowing?

The aftermath of Big Screen TV

Time has convinced me of one thing. Television is for appearing on, not looking at. ~Noel Coward

JAN: I’m not normally a visual person. Like a lot of writers, I live inside my head. But I’ve got it worse. I walk into rooms and don’t see the décor, can completely miss someone’s new haircut, and have been known to not even notice that it’s been raining all week.

But that’s only in real life.

About two years ago, my husband installed a new television. I say “installed” because it's not actually a television, but a projector screen that rolls down from the ceiling. It’s about eight feet wide and five feet tall. And we have high definition, which mean everything isn’t just large, it’s crystal clear.

And this is changing me. And not for the better, either. In fact, I’m slowly becoming the most superficial person on the planet. I find myself watching a really educational, thought-provoking PBS documentary, with this takeaway: What's with the bad teeth? Aren’t PBS academic experts educated about orthodontia, too? Are they chosen for their bad teeth? Is that a sign of intellectualism?

It’s not just PBS specials. I now notice everything, everywhere. I notice that in the Coors commercial where they catch the “cold train,” every single person spilling out of the office building is uniformly attractive. No one stands out, but no one is below that American standard.

It's as if youth, perfect, but unexciting features and a flawless complexion were part of the occupancy permit for the building they are fleeing.

But worst is baseball. Probably because the game is so slow and because I’ve watched pretty much every single Red Sox game, I’ve actually ranked the players in terms of attractiveness. Two categories: position players and pitchers. Adjusted as players are traded or put on the DL. And this is pure HD superficiality. No bias: the ranking does not correlate to my favorite players.
So this is my question: Am I the only one out there being corrupted by big screen HD television, or has anyone else noticed that they are noticing what should go unnoticed?

HALLIE: Well, I do love to be petty, so if I HAD a large screen TV, I’m sure I’d be counting zits along with you, Jan.

But I was the last person in Massachusetts to get…a tape deck, a CD player, a video player, a DVD player, a microwave oven, a cell phone (and I still have my first which is now an antique at 8 years old)…so it should come as no surprise that I do not have HDTV. A) I’m cheap, and B) the 18”-TV we have works fine and C) I do not want to dedicate a room in my smallish house to watching the tube (have you noticed, those things are seriously BIG).

When my friends George and Barbara got an HDTV, they had us over to watch football in high def (see, I do know the lingo) and George kept switching back to regular to say “See how amazing the detail is?” I saw, but I confess I didn’t get why that was so great. But then, I can't tell a good sound system from a crummy one, either.

Just drove by where they’re tearing down the multiplex cinema in that’s been in Dedham for decades. Certainly movie theaters and the whole experience of seeing a movie with a community of viewers is a casualty of those massive home entertainment systems.

RO: I'm the wrong person to ask...I still have a manual lawn mower.I don't have HDTV either. I have a big old tv from 12 yrs ago that works fine and is huge so I get that movie theatre feel. (We watched No Country for Old Men last night and I saw quite enough of Javier Barden's psycho face thank you very much.)People ALWAYS say it's great for sports...does it make the balls any bigger?

JAN: I hate to admit it, but the big TV is really great for sports. You can see the ball, the tatoos, the rivulets of sweat. You also get well acquainted with the faces of season fans who sit behind home plate and start to notice when someone is a no-show. But as far as movies go, I can get equally drawn into the story on the big screen or a tiny 18-inch with marginal reception.

ROBERTA: Obviously, you have a group of techno-phobes here Jan! My husband and I have been arguing this one for the last year. All his buddies watch sports on enormous HDTV screens and he wants one too. In fact, he says everyone's got to change over come the end of the year. (Is that even true?) In our case, it would require ripping out the custom-built bookshelves with the perfectly-sized TV cubby. So I'm holding out--I can be just as shallow as the next girl and who needs more of that?

HANK: Yeah, I'm all about TV, and we don't have hi def either. (We do, however, go to our best pals' house next door and watch sports on HD. And it's--amazing. I love it.) (And ha ha, Ro.)
But listen gang, soon I've gotta see my face on it. But here's what I'm hoping. Everyone says TV adds ten pounds and ten years. And it does. But HD doesn't. So we're all buying dermablend make-up (ultra-coverage but sheer), and crossing our fingers.

(So Jan, you're saying you now judge people on TV by how they look? Ha. Most people have been doing that for years. Just read Prime Time.)

Roberta, nope, tell your (adorable) husband you do NOT have to change to HD! Thing is, next February, we all have to switch to digital tv. But most people won't have to do anything. And if you do, it can be free. I'm doing a story about it right now, so I do know the scoop. Any questions?