Down East Books | GERRY BOYLE

Posts Tagged ‘Down East Books’

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.

Tags: Brandon Blake, Down East Books, Gerry Boyle, Jack McMorrow, Maine Crime Writers, mystery novels, Port City Black and White, Toby Ball, Water Street Bookstore
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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!

Tags: Brandon Blake, crime novels, Down East Books, Gerry Boyle, Maine Crime Writers, mystery novels, mystery writing, Port City Black and White
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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.

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 ….

Tags: Brandon Blake, Down East Books, Gerry Boyle, Hesh Kestin, Jack McMorrow, Longfellow Books, Maine Crime Writers, Michael Harvey, mystery novels, mystery writing, Port City Black and White, Port City Shakedown, The Chicago Way
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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.

Tags: Aislinn Sarnacki, Bangor Daily News, Beth Kanell, Brandon Blake, crime novels, Down East Books, Gerry Boyle, Kingdom Books, Maine Crime Writers, mystery novels, Port City Black and White, Publishers Weekly
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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:

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.

Tags: Brandon Blake, crime novels, Down East Books, Gerry Boyle, Maine Crime Writers, mystery novels, Port City Black and White
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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.

Tags: Brandon Blake, crime novels, Down East Books, Gerry Boyle, Maine Crime Writers, Maine mysteries, Port City Black and White, Port City Shakedown
Posted in Brandon Blake, Events | 2 Comments »

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.

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.

Tags: Brandon Blake, crime novels, Down East Books, Gerry Boyle, Grace restaurant, Jack McMorrow, Maine Crime Writers, mystery novels, Port City Black and White, Robert B. Parker
Posted in Brandon Blake, Writing | 2 Comments »

August 2nd, 2011

Me and Emmy Lou

A 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.

Tags: Brandon Blake, crime novels, Down East Books, Emmy Lou Harris, Gerry Boyle, Maine Crime Writers, Maine mysteries, mystery novels, mystery writing, Port City Black and White, Port City Shakedown
Posted in Brandon Blake, Jack McMorrow | 2 Comments »

July 12th, 2011

Galley ho!

I know I’m supposed to be sort of cool about all this but I have to say that when galleys for PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE arrived in the mail yesterday I felt that little jump, that skip of the heartbeat that comes when you see your words in print.

I’ve been doing this for 18 years now and PC B&W, out in September, is my 11th book. No small number, but not up there in the ranks for somebody like the late Robert B. Parker, for example (whose endorsement I still wear with pride). But you’d think that after nearly a dozen books a bit of the thrill would be gone. No way. I picked up the package at the post office, saw the Down East Books label. I tore it open in the car outside and held the galleys up. Flipped through the pages. Read a passage or two or six. Recalled when all of this was just a few scrawled notes on a legal pad. And it wasn’t all that long ago.

Something there is about the printed word. I got that jolt daily when I was newspaper columnist. Now I get it in Colby magazine, where I write stories. I have to wait a bit longer for the bigger bang, the delayed gratification of an actual book.

I have a friend named Earl Smith who just sold his first mystery novel, THE DAM COMMITTEE. I’m going to remind Earl (and the same goes for any writer just setting out) to savor every success because each one follow a lot of very hard work. When the book is sold. When you see page proofs for the first time. A cover design. Galleys. Your first good review (Negative ones we dismiss). That first carton of books. Pulling them out and seeing your name on the cover. Opening it up and seeing the words you wrote.

This craft can very quickly become a business. There’s the money side of it. The marketing side. The slog of copy editing (OK, it’s a slog to me, maybe not to everybody). But I always tell myself not to become numb to the pure joy of doing this, the absolute privilege that it is. You invent characters, draw a place on a blank page, tell a story. And once published, the book has a life of its own. That’s very cool.

If you’re a published writer, you know what I mean. If you’re still working toward that goal, let this be an incentive, something to encourage you on one of those dark days. Opening that box—it’s a blast.

Tags: crime novels, Down East Books, Gerry Boyle, Maine Crime Writers, Maine writers, mystery novels, Port City Black and White, Robert B. Parker, Writing
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