Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Win a copy of Gold Fever: A Klondike Mystery


On Thursday (yes, April Fool’s Day) my newest book, Gold Fever, will be released. This is the second book in the Klondike Gold Rush series, the first of which was last year’s Gold Digger. Here is a little teaser:

It’s the spring of 1898, and tens of thousands of people, from all corners of the globe, are flooding into the Yukon Territory in the pursuit of gold. The town of Dawson welcomes them all, except for the people who had been there first. When young Angus MacGillivray saves the life of a Native woman intent on suicide, he inadvertently sets off a chain of events that offers his mother’s arch-enemy Joey LeBlanc, the Madam with a heart of coal, the opportunity to destroy the Savoy Dance Hall once and for all. Unaware of impending danger, Fiona has other things on her mind: among the new arrivals are Martha Witherspoon, a would-be writer with far more tenacity than talent, and her nervous companion Euila Forester. There’s something familiar about Miss Forester’s cut-glass accent, and Fiona MacGillivray is determined to keep the newcomer as far away from Angus as possible.

Twelve-year-old Angus, however, has a better idea.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Mann, the landlady, fills the yard with steam and men’s underwear in her new laundry business; Ray Walker, co-owner of the Savoy, a tough little Glasgow street fighter, spends most of his day mooning over Lady Irenee, the most popular dancer in town; Irene carefully guards her secrets; Sergeant Lancaster, the love-struck, ex-boxing champion, pursues his hopeless quest for Fiona’s hand; Journalist Graham Donohue digs the dirt looking for stories; Barney, one of the few successful miners, holds up his corner of the bar; and Constable Richard Sterling guards the morals of the town with steely determination and the occasional glance at Fiona’s ankles. And – joy of joys – a seamstress of unparalleled quality opens for business.

All the while percentage girls and drunks, croupiers and gamblers, prostitutes and clients, bar hangers-on, Bishops and newspapermen, cheechakos and sourdoughs, and the infrequent respectable businessman walk, or fall, through the doors of the Savoy.

Then a killer strikes and the Mounties are determined to get their man... or woman.

To celebrate the release of Gold Fever, I am having a contest and two lucky readers can win a copy. Please go to my web page at www.vickidelany.com, read the first chapter, and send me an e-mail at Vicki at Vickidelany dot com (you know the drill) and tell me the name of the river from which Angus saves the woman. Contest closes Saturday April 3rd.

Friday, March 26, 2010

FINISHED! Kinda. On the importance of taking a break from your manuscript.

It’s always a great feeling. A book is finished.

Well, not actually finished. More like finished for now.

I have finished Edward County. The book is done to my satisfaction. It comes in at about 94,000 words. I’ve been working on it for nine months.

Today I sent it to people for critiquing. Which means that in about a month I will get it back with all the problems pointed out. Sigh, and I’ll get back to it.

I try to take Stephen King’s advice, as told in his book, On Writing. King says you have to take at least a six-week break from the book and then go back and look at it again. I find that is long enough that you can then regard the MS with a slightly different eye. The problem with any book you’ve been working on for almost a year is that you know the story so well you can’t see the problems. Did X cause Y, but in the manuscript Y comes first? Is the character’s motivation clear to the reader, or is it only clear to the author?

So now Edward County is out the door.

Time to start the next Molly Smith.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Who was Your Victim and Why did he have to Die?

That was the subject I was given by Pamela and Terri at Mayhem and Magic. It was interesting to sit back and think about that. Read the result at
http://mayhemandmagic2.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Gold Fever!

Rendezvous Crime has created a very nice web site for Gold Fever. It includes the first chapter, so have a look.
Gold Fever by Vicki Delany