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Posts Tagged ‘Damaged Goods’

January 1st, 2013

Another Year Begins

Hey all,

Happy 2013. The world didn’t end, you’re still reading, and I’m still writing. In fact, I’m in the study right now, 16,000 words into a new stand-alone mystery novel. More on that soon. I’m also looking forward to publication of ONCE BURNED, the new McMorrow. More on that soon, too. Sorry to be so vague but there’s lots happening behind the scenes. Stay tuned.

photo 250x187 Another Year Begins

The view from the study window, aka what I see when I'm procrastinating!

In the meantime, if you want to chat face to face, I’ll be at the Scarborough (Maine) Public Library Sunday, Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. This is part of the Friends of the Scarborough Library Literature Series called “Murders They Wrote. I’ll be catching people up on my doings, writings, Jack McMorrow and Brandon Blake, and whatever else comes up in the conversation. Hope to see you there.

July 13th, 2012

So many authors …

Hey all,

Saturday Aug. 14, it’s off to the Boothbay Book Fest. Forty authors, including moi. A flash mob of Maine authors of all sorts and sizes.  Don’t miss it. If you do, hope to catch you later on. The list of my stops for the summer is below, or click on the “events” tab.

June 28th, 2012

Summer Reading, with Jack McMorrow

Hello friends,

A quick note on a summer day in Maine that can’t make up its mind: rain or sun, blue sky or dark gray clouds. I go outside, come back in, go outside, come back in. I’m in now and it’s showering so I thought I’d be in touch with you all.

Three things:homebody Summer Reading, with Jack McMorrow

One, I’m at work on a new McMorrow, in the research stage but not long from starting to write. I’m excited about the premise. I can’t tell you because that will jinx it. Not that I’m supersititious.

Two, I’ve got a few appearances coming up. Next is the Auburn (Maine) Public Library, Monday July 2  at 6 p.m. Come join in the conversation.

Three, in my travels people have said they’ve been having trouble finding some of the early McMorrow novels. Not to worry! Just drop me an e-mail at gerry@gerryboyle.com and we’ll fix you up. We have the books in hardcover. Let us know what you need and we’ll have them signed, sealed and in the mail. Don’t want you to miss any of Jack’s adventures, or Brandon Blake’s, either.

June 3rd, 2012

Why Birds Abound In My Books

A reader named Rick, who lives in Belfast, wrote  recently to say he’d just finished DAMAGED GOODS. Rick bid on the book and lunch with me at a fundraiser auction. DAMAGED GOODS, McMorrow No. 9,  was appropriate because it’s set in the coastal town of Galway, Maine, which is a lot like Belfast. And I mean a lot.

So Rick and I ate in Darby’s Restaurant, had a very pleasant conversation, and a stroll around downtown Belfast to see some of the locations McMorrow frequents. Rick read DAMAGED GOODS  that week and was kind enough to send me a note saying that he’d liked it very much. (Authors pretend not to need this sort of positive reinforcement but most of them are lying.)398px great horned owl 15b1 165x250 Why Birds Abound In My Books

But Rick’s first reaction was interesting. He said he could tell I was a birder because there are birds all through the book. And I suppose there are, though I’ve never sent McMorrow out with his binoculars and field guide. But my reporter protagonist is aware of his surroundings, natural and otherwise, and if you live in the country it’s very likely that you’re surrounded by birds. And if you know birds at all, you can’t help but notice what’s out there.

McMorrow and I share some qualities, I guess, and this is one. When I step outside in the early morning I look up at the sky, the woods, and listen. Often there are a dozen or more birds calling at once and I run through the list as I walk to the road to get the newspaper. Orioles, various warblers, sometimes an osprey, crows, chickadees, vireos, robins, bluejays, cardinals, thrushes, woodpeckers, sapsuckers. To some people it’s just a cacaphony, I suppose, a lot of chirping and tweeting. For me and McMorrow it’s much more than that.

So that’s the explanation for the bird thing. To me birds are as much of the landscape as the clouds in the sky.

One morning last week I woke up at 3 a.m. to a wonderful hooting sound. Outside, close to the house, a great horned owl was calling. Another answered. It was a territorial call, from what I’ve read and heard, some maybe there’s a nest nearby.

It was very cool. So don’t be surprised if, in an upcoming McMorrow novel, a great horned owl awakens Jack as well. Funny how that happens. Must be because Jack and I walk the same woods.

April 9th, 2012

Ireland, Scotland and other April news

Friends:

I’m calling this the Summer 2012 Maine Library Tour. Libraries are special places for readers and writers and I’m going to hit a few in coming weeks.  Here’s the latest:

May 24, 7 p.m., North Gorham Public Library.

June 7, 6:30 p.m., South Portland Public Library.

July 2, 6 p.m., Auburn Public Library.

July 14, 12:30-3:30, Boothbay Harbor, Books in Boothbay.

July 17, 6 p.m., Rangeley Public Library.

July 25, 5:30 p.m.,Tenants Harbor Public Library.

Aug. 9, 5:30 p.m., Newport Cultural Center.

Hope I see you along the way.