Grand Central Noir

I have a post up at Women of Mystery announcing a new short story of mine, "A Primal Force," that appears in Grand Central Noir, an e-book compiled by Terrence P. McCauley, which was published by Metropolitan Crime in June 2013. It's currently available on Amazon for Kindle and Kindle Apps. All proceeds go to the charity, God's Love We Deliver.

Visit Women of Mystery to read all about it!

Marilyn Levinson, Author of A MURDERER AMONG US

I'm thrilled to have Mystery & Children's Books Author Marilyn Levinson, the President of Long Island Sisters in Crime, as my guest blogger today. 
Congratulations, Marilyn, and much success on the release of your latest novel, A Murderer Among Us. 

Kathy, I’m happy to be your guest blogger today.  I was fortunate to meet Kathy when she joined the Long Island chapter of Sisters in Crime that I co-founded last summer with my friend and fellow writer, Bernardine Fagan.  Kathy became a valuable asset -- helping us with all things police-related, PR, Facebook, and Twitter.  We’re a friendly, informal group of mystery writers who meet in various libraries around Long Island.  Our meetings vary from month to month.  We’ve been fortunate to have two wonderful writer guests so far -- Hank Phillippi Ryan and Reed Farrel Coleman.  We critique, try to fathom the mystery of writing mysteries, publishing, and marketing, and support one another wholeheartedly.  We welcome all Long Island mystery writers to come and join us.

My mystery novel, A MURDERER AMONG US, debuted on June first.  My sleuth, Lydia Krause, has moved to Twin Lakes, an upscale retirement community on Long Island, to start a new life.  Lydia’s appalled when her neighbor introduces her to the community’s financial advisor, a convicted embezzler whom Lydia holds responsible for having driven her sister to suicide. She exposes the man in public and exchanges heated words with his wife, who is discovered the following morning, mowed down by Lydia’s Lexus. Suddenly, Lydia is Suspect Number One. Employing the many skills she’s honed as CEO of her own company, Lydia undertakes an investigation to prove her innocence.

The book is about new beginnings.  Widowed and no longer in charge of her company, Lydia forges new friendships.  Her relationships with her grown daughters take unexpected turns.  She even finds herself in a budding romance.  Life, Lydia learns, marches on.

A MURDERER AMONG US is available at Wings ePress in print and eBook format. will soon be available on Amazon.com, Kindle, and Fictionwise.com

Visit my website at: http://www.marilynlevinson.com. 

If you’d like to know more about Long Island Sisters in Crime, feel free to contact me at Marilev4 (at) optonline (dot) net. 

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Thanks, Marilyn, for visiting today, and your very kind words. I enjoy being a member of Long Island Sisters in Crime. As a relatively new group, I think we're off to a smashing start, if I say so myself!

Visitors: If you have a question or comment for Marilyn, leave a comment ~ and thanks for stopping by!

L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories

Mulholland Books has announced that between now and June 12, 2011, residents of North America can download the new ebook, L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories, for free. After the 12th, it will be available for 99 cents. The collection features original stories from Joyce Carol Oates, Lawrence Block, Megan Abbott, Andrew Vachss, Duane Swierczynski, Joe R. Lansdale, Francine Prose, and Jonathan Santlofer.

For those without e-readers, the collection can be downloaded to a PC or a Mac. Details are available on the Rock Star games site.

L.A. Noire is a video game available for PlayStation3 and XBox360; it is set in 1947. Players are challenged to solve a range of crimes. It was released in North American on May 17, 2011.

I think this is a fascinating partnership between ebook publishing and video gaming. It will be interesting to monitor the results of this marketing concept. What do you think of this alliance?

NYT to Rank Best Seller eBooks

It's official -- early next year, the New York Times will begin publishing a new list of best-selling eBooks, fiction and non-fiction. They will also redesign the section of its Sunday Book Review that features the best-seller lists.

The Los Angeles Times reports that E-book sales are headed to $1 billion.

The International Digital Publishing Forum collects quarterly US trade retail eBook sales in conjunction with the Association of American Publishers.

If you haven't read it yet, click on over to J.A. Konrath's awesome blog where he announced his eBook sales topped $100K -- and offers advice on e-publishing and makes predictions on the future of eBooks.

Discount Noir

I am thrilled to announce that my story, "Secret Identity" appears in the Untreed Reads crime fiction e-book, Discount Noir, edited by Patricia Abbott and Steve Weddle.

Here's the description from Untreed Reads:

If you thought standing in line at your local warehouse store was murder, then you haven't been to Megamart. These flash fiction tales of superstore madness and mayhem will make you think twice the next time you hear "clean up on aisle 13."

This anthology contains works by: Patricia Abbott, Sophie Littlefield, Kieran Shea, Chad Eagleton, Ed Gorman, Cormac Brown, Fleur Bradley, Alan Griffiths, Laura Benedict, Garnett Elliot, Eric Beetner, Jack Bates, Bill Crider, Loren Eaton, John DuMond, John McFetridge, Toni McGee Causey, Jeff Vande Zande, James Reasoner, Kyle Minor, Randy Rohn, Todd Mason, Byron Quertermous, Sandra Scoppettone, Stephen D. Rogers, Steve Weddle, Evan Lewis, Daniel B. O'Shea, Sandra Seamans, Albert Tucher, Donna Moore, John Weagly, Keith Rawson, Gerald So, Dave Zeltserman, Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen, Jay Stringer, Anne Frasier, Kathleen A. Ryan, Eric Peterson, Chris Grabenstein and J.T. Ellison.

A tremendous thank-you to editors Patricia Abbott and Steve Weddle, agent Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency, and Jay Hartman of Untreed Reads.

Discount Noir lists at $5.99, but is on sale at Untreed Reads for $4.49 until October 31, 2010, and is available in PDF, EPUB and Palm Reader formats (I downloaded it straight to my laptop). The ebook is also available for Kindle at Amazon for $5.99.

"Secret Identity" was written in response to a flash fiction challenge posed by Patricia Abbott in 2009, and it had a different title then. My story won a Flash Fiction Award in the Public Safety Writers Association's 2010 Writing Competition. I proudly accepted the award during their Las Vegas conference this past June.

"Discount Noir" ~ Short Mystery Anthology

I just learned some fabulous news. Agent Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency has arranged for Untreed Reads to be the e-publisher of a new short mystery anthology tentatively titled, Discount Noir. According to Untreed Reads, the anthology consists of "super short/flash murder and mayhem centered around a very Wal-Mart/Target-esque backdrop."

The anthology, edited by Patricia Abbott and Steve Weddle, contains works by:

Patricia Abbott, Sophie Littlefield, Kieran Shea, Chad Eagleton, Ed Gorman, Cormac Brown, Fleur Bradley, Alan Griffiths, Laura Benedict, Garnett Elliot, Eric Beetner, Jack Bates, Bill Crider, Lauren Eaton, John DuMond, John McFetridge, Toni McGee Causey, Jeff Vande Zande, James Reasoner, Kyle Minor, Randy Rohn, Todd Mason, Byron Quertermous, Sandra Scoppettone, Stephen D. Rogers, Steve Weddle, Evan Lewis, Daniel B. O’Shea, Sandra Seamans, Albert Tucher, Donna Moore, John Weagly, Keith Rawson, Gerald So, Dave Zeltserman, Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen, Jay Stringer, Anne Frasier, Kathleen A. Ryan, Eric Peterson, Chris Grabenstein and J.T. Ellison.

Discount Noir should be released in late September or early October. I will keep you posted when I learn more.

I am thrilled to be in the company of these authors in Discount Noir. Many thanks to Stacia Decker, Patricia Abbott, and Steve Weddle, for their efforts in this endeavor.