ABOUT THE BOOKSTHE JACK MCMORROW MYSTERIESBRANDON BLAKE: A CRIME NOVEL

Posts Tagged ‘Brandon Blake’

October 5th, 2011

The Days Grow Darker

Maybe it’s the shotgun blasts that have taken the place of my alarm clock in the past week. No carnage, unless you’re a duck and the hunters on the marsh have shot you out of the air. But when you’re  jarred away by a 12-gauge, it does get your day off to an interesting start.MysteryMonth2011Final 193x250 The Days Grow Darker

But the days are growing shorter, and the mornings and evenings darker, and that’s a good thing for a crime novelist. Something about fog and rain and early dusk. I’m in the mood to write and McMorrow No. 10 is moving along. I’m liking it. I hope you will, too.

Of course, I’m also out and about talking about my young friend Brandon Blake and PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE. This week I did a joint thing with New Hampshire writer Toby Ball at Water Street Bookstore, in Exeter, N.H. Great store, nice people, good crowd. I had a good time and I think everyone else did, as well.

Next up is Oct. 20 at Lithgow Library in Augusta, Maine. Lithgow is one of my regular stops, and one I look forward to. Hope you can stop by. And check out the poster. Some of my friends from Maine Crime Writers are on the slate. Stop by and say hello.

If not, stop by here when you can and I’ll have the latest news. E.G., Booklist really liked PC B&W. Some reviewers like the book and get it. Some even add to my understanding of Brandon. This is one of those.

Question of the week: a reader at the NH event asked if I had plans to bring McMorrow and Blake together in a future novel. I’ve considered it. What do you think?

September 19th, 2011

More quick notes

Things are rolling right along with PC B&W. Next stop is Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, N.H., Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. I’m doing a joint appearance with N.H. writer Toby Ball. He’s out there with his second noir mystery, TORCH CITY. Toby’s a good writer, very distinctive style. He’s also fun in person so if you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by. I hear very good things about the store and its proprietors. Should be a good time.

Otherwise, all is well. Getting in the last boat outings of the season. Writing steadily (McMorrow No. 10). Blessed with good health, good friends, good times.

Enjoy the day,

Gerry

PS Enjoy PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE? Please drop a quick review on Amazon. I’m told this is important. I know it will be appreciated.

PSS Don’t forget to check out the group mystery writers blog, mainecrimewriters.com. Ten Maine mystery writers, blogging all the time.

September 16th, 2011

Quick notes

A couple of things. One, I’ll be at Children’s Book Cellar (they’re mystery buffs, too) in Waterville Sept. 17, Sat, 1-3 p.m. Come and chat!

Also, doing appearances for PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE these days, wondering yet again, to read or not to read? What do you think?  Does a reading put a damper on the party? Or do you like to get a taste of the book?

Thoughts appreciated!

September 10th, 2011

The gift that keeps on giving

A good time was had at the PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE launch event at Longfellow Books in Portland, Maine, earlier this week. Thanks to all who came and joined in. We had a good chat, I think. Great store. Enthusiastic group. Cupcakes where vodka was said to be a key ingredient. Portland P.D. even supplied some sort of blue-light event across Congress Street to add to the Brandon Blake ambiance.iron will shoeshine cats 84x130 The gift that keeps on giving

And there was a first. Readers bought my books. And one bought a book for me. Readers often recommend books they think I’d enjoy.  I always appreciate it, as they usually know more about what’s happening in mystery/crime fiction than I do. So after I signed books for one gentleman, he walked to the used section of the store and came back with a just-purchasd copy of THE CHICAGO WAY by Michael Harvey. He knew I was born in Chicago (father’s side of the family settled on the South Side after arriving from Ireland) and thought I’d like it. It looks good. Goes high on the stack.

And then Chris, co-owner of Longfellow, came up with another book, THE IRON WILL OF SHOESHINE CATS by Hesh Kestin. Chris, who has wide-ranging book knowledge and impeccable taste (He likes my books, after all) said this book, set in NYC in the early 60s, is a corker. My hunch is it’s noir meets 60s hipsters meets Manhattan. Can’t wait.

So thanks, guys. For the books. For coming to talk about Brandon Blake and Jack McMorrow and writing and whatever else we got on to. Nights like that are highlights in the writing biz. It’s deeply appreciated.

PS Next up is Children’s Book Cellar, Waterville, Maine, Sept. 17, 1-3 p.m. No gifts necessary. But if you’re so inclined ….

August 23rd, 2011

Review the reviews

Feedback on PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE just starting to come in. Publisher’s Weekly, the big trade journal, liked it very much. Beth Kanell of Kingdom Books, a bookstore owner and blogger, liked it, too. Interesting juxtaposition there. The big industry publication and the mystery/crime novel expert whose word-of-mouth recommendation carries a lot of weight. Also weighing in was the Bangor Daily News, where reviewer Aislinn Sarnacki had good things to say. She  came to the house and we talked for a couple of hours. I actually asked almost as many questions of her as she did of me because she’s 23, same age as Brandon and Mia, more or less, and I wanted her reaction to my 20-something characters. All good. Aislinn was particularly interested in and psyched about the dialogue-driven aspect of the book. Something I’ll keep in mind for Brandon Blake No. 3.

It’s interesting how we get the word out these days. Fewer newspaper reviewers (thanks for keeping this service alive, BDN!), more bloggers, the big trades. Most important of all is word of mouth, readers like you saying, “Hey, have you read this guy Gerry Boyle? You might like him.” So thanks. None of this would happen without your continued support.

August 20th, 2011

Keeping up Appearances

I’ll be getting out and about in coming weeks for PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE. Last week it was the Wells (Maine) Public Library where we all had a good time, I think (photo at right). More events are coming in, and I’ll be updating this list so keep checking back in:P8150324 250x187 Keeping up Appearances

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011, 7 p.m., book launch event! Longfellow Books, Portland, Maine.

Come and partake in the festivities. Or just sit in the back and listen was we chat, read from PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE, generally have a good time celebrating Brandon Blake No. 2.

Sept. 17, 1-3 p.m., Children’s Book Cellar, Waterville, Maine. Signing and chat. And don’t let the name fool you. Store owner Ellen Richmond is a big mystery fan and very knowledgeable.

Oct. 4, 7 p.m., Water Street Books, Exeter, N.H. Reading/signing/chatting with author Toby Ball (SCORCHED CITY). Toby’s a good guy, good writer. I’m looking forward to it.

Oct 20, 6:30 p.m., Lithgow Library, Augusta, Maine. One of my favorite stops. Great reading room with handsome period stained glass. And nice people.

August 15th, 2011

And the winner of the PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN giveaway is …

… Pamela Oberg of Stone Coast Writers Conference. Her name was picked randomly (entries written on small pieces of paper, placed in a beat-up Red Sox hat ((Manny Ramirez special edition)), shuffled around, and voila!) Thanks for all who took the time to enter. Keep stopping by. We’ll be doing a PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE giveaway very soon.

Lastly, a reminder that I’ll be at the Wells, Maine, Public Library tomorrow, Tuesday, Aug. 16. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. My plan is to have a good general chat and, because this is the first event for PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE, I may read from that one a bit. Hope that if you’re in the area, you can stop by. It’s a handsome library with good people. More events are coming in. I’ll be posting them asap.

August 8th, 2011

Hey, a crime novel isn’t about PR

I’ve been thinking this of late as the release of PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE looms. (Sept. 16). Port City is Portland, Maine, where I  nearly always have a good time. Last weekend I went to dinner (the restaurant Grace), a concert (Emmy Lou Harris), visited my daughter, and got up at 5 a.m. to take a bike ride around the downtown. The city was quiet but for the gulls calling overhead. The bay was covered in rising mist. I had the downtown to myself, except for the people picking bottles from trashcans and the homeless guys still asleep on benches in the park across from the Courthouse. I rode down Congress Street to Longfellow Square, not as far down as where the guy was shot in the chest and killed the other morning. You read about that? No arrests yet. He died in the parking lot of a convenience store at 4 a.m.Screen shot GUN 249x140 Hey, a crime novel isnt about PR

And there I go again.

When you write these books (in my case set in Portland or Waldo County, Maine, or even Boston or New  York), you take a perfectly nice place and put it through the wringer of your imagination. It’s not that you’re inventing the bad things that happen. People are murdered in these places most days. There are drug dealers and drug buyers, thieves and gropers, people who are just generally rotten. But there are thousands of good people, too, and most of them go about their business and only read about murder and mayhem in the newspaper. Those people don’t play prominently in books like these.

It’s an odd thing. I had a reader show up at a book signing for PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN, listen to my reading, and say, “But I thought Portland was such a nice place.” Well, it is. Very nice. You’d be hard pressed to find a nicer place to live. But that’s not the side of the city I write about.

It’s an odd thing, this need to insert evildoers into a story, only so you (or your heroes) can vanquish them. I find it hard to write any other way.

I was driving  through Waldo County on Sunday, coming back from a weekend away. We drove from Belfast west, up over Knox Ridge, and it was a beautiful view from the top. Rolling hills, and woods, and pastures. We remarked on how lovely it was, and then I said, ‘This is McMorrow country.” The lovely setting in those books is populated by some good people, but a lot of people you wouldn’t want to meet on a dark country road.

I love what I do. I love writing about people who do bad things. I love the push and pull of good and evil. I write about a Maine that you won’t read about in travel magazines. I long ago resigned myself to the fact that I’m not going to be the darling of the Chamber of Commerce. I once had an idea to have a book signing for passengers getting off cruise ships in Portland. I proposed it but it never happened. Go figure.

August 2nd, 2011

Me and Emmy Lou

opryfeb1a 120x130 Me and Emmy LouA quick post today to catch up on a couple of things:

One, want to read how McMorrow No. 10 may be inspired by Emmy Lou Harris? Go to mainecrimewriters.com for the details. I kid you not. lt’s true.

Two, I’m going to let the PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN giveway go until Aug. 15. That gives the lucky recipient a month or to read Brandon Blake No. 1 before moving on to  PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE, Brandon Blake No. 2. Just comment. Or send in your name and email and let me know you’d like to enter.

Three, I’m going to be at the Wells, Maine, Public Library Aug. 16 at 6:30 p.m. Rumor has it that we may have a few advanced copies of PC B&W on hand. I can’t wait to hold it in my hand.

Four, we’ve had some disturbing crime in my neck of the Maine woods of late. I’m still processing it. There are days when I wish I’d become a cop. More on that at the end of the week.

Take care and stay in touch.

July 25th, 2011

Getting to Know Brandon Blake

Hey all. I spent part of Saturday chatting up Brandon Blake, both in his debut (PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN, 2009) and his upcoming outing in PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE, due out in September. Some people had read SHAKEDOWN. Some were new to my young friend on the Portland waterfront. I have to say I’m excited to introduce Brandon to new readers, many of whom have read about Jack McMorrow for years. One reader predicted that the two of them will meet one of these books.Port City blackŠcover 161x250 Getting to Know Brandon Blake

Could be, but in the meantime I’m pretty psyched about BLACK AND WHITE. I’m looking forward to getting Brandon and Mia, Brandon’s police partner Kat Malone, and the rest of the crew out into the public eye in just a few weeks. In fact, I’d like to get Brandon out there right now. So I’m going to send out signed copies of PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN to two commenters who tell me they want to get to know this guy. I’ll have one of my associates here pick the winners randomly. Blindfolded. Sworn to secrecy.

I’ve got to tell you. Brandon’s  cut from a different cloth. In some ways I’m still trying to get a handle of the guy. It’s fun when you create a character who surprises you at many turns.

Looking forward to hearing from you.