First look, Day One book trailer: November 19, 8:03 a.m.
ITW announces First Thrills, an anthology of original short stories by some of the best thriller writers at work today, to be published June 2010 by Forge Books. First Thrills will include my story, “The Princess of Felony Flats.” Read the announcement from ITW.
Coming Summer 2010 from Tyrus
Books
Born and raised in southern Oregon farm country, Ellie Spaneker flees her home and abusive husband, her trail dogged by a brutal ex-cop in the hire of her vengeful father-in-law. In Portland, retired homicide detective Skin Kadash fills his idle days drinking coffee and searching for Eager Gillespie, a teen runaway of special interest as the only witness in a troublesome and long unsolved murder. Eager, meanwhile, is on his own, grifting and working the angles in the homeless underground, oblivious to the unfolding events which will force him to face the consequences of a crime, and a longing, which has haunted him for years.
These disparate trails converge at a bloody standoff, the harrowing end of a string of violence which stretches from the high desert to the streets of Portland.
First runner-up for the 2009 Spotted Owl Award
Portland homicide detective Skin Kadash just wants to survive cancer treatment so he can get back to the work he loves. When his partner tries to drag him into an unofficial investigation of a series of deaths, he’s not interested — he’s dead-dog sick and doesn’t need the grief — until she reveals the victims all suffered from cancer themselves, and all had one thing in common with Skin. His oncologist.
- Excerpt
- The Chasing Smoke Trailer
- The Chasing Smoke Photo Tour of Portland
- Chasing Smoke Soundtrack
- Available from Bleak House Books
- Now available for Kindle
Learn More...
News
Listen to the Podcast from Caffeinated Art at Three Friends Coffee House on September 21, 2009. I read an excerpt from my story, "The Princess of Felony Flats," which will appear in the forthcoming anthology First Thrills from Tor. Also reading were Teresa Boze and Liz Grover.
Chasing Smoke Reviews:
- ★ Library Journal: Starred review, “Highly recommended.”
- At Booklist, David Pitt describes Chasing Smoke as “dirty and visceral and intricate, and it engages the reader on an emotional as well as literary level.”
- An IndieBound Notable List Next pick for January 2009.
- “...an instant mystery classic with vivid characters crafted with realistically deep personalities and secrets that keep you guessing to the very end,” says The Clarion in Madison, Wisconsin.
- “[T]his was both a sorrowful and engaging read that was well worth the cover price,” says Stephanie Padilla at the New Mystery Reader.
- Independent Crime Fiction: “an entertaining, well plotted mystery well worth checking out.”
- Books 'n Bytes: “couldn’t put it down.”
- Murder by the Book: “an entertaining and solid read.”