Word on the Street

Rain, rain. Rain all day today and again tomorrow.

I think today is going to be a pyjama day.

Yesterday, I had a great day at Word on the Street in Toronto. I was the organizer of the Crime Writers of Canada booth, so had to be there from 9 to set up until 6 to close down. It was just wonderful to see all those thousands of people, tens of thousands probably, wanting to talk about books and about reading. We had a steady stream of visitors to our booth, to meet the authors and to hear about the organization. It didn’t hurt, I am sure, that Robert J. Sawyer, was at the table next to us.

Over at Type M for Murder, the group blog I am part of, we’re talking about using technology in promotion. I wrote my piece today so won’t repeat it here, suffice to say that I’d rather spend a day at something like Word on the Street, actually meeting people, readers and writers, than sitting at home wondering if anyone is reading my posting on Facebook or watching my homemade video on You Tube.

Finished the short story. I think it’s pretty good!

Pictures of Trafalgar, B.C.

I put a few pictures up on the web page album that I took in Nelson, B.C. in April. I decided that they are the view from Molly’s apartment in Trafalgar. Yes, after two books, Molly Smith has moved out of her parents’ house. To see them go to my web page and click on Photo Album in the bottom left corner.

I’m off to Toronto shortly to pick up stuff for the Crime Writers of Canada table at Word on the Street. Then I’m going to have tea with my good friend and fellow-scribe Cheryl Freedman. I am in charge of CWC table this year so will be there most of the day tomorrow (Sunday). I’m actually signing from 1 – 2 (along with Rick Blechta) so please stop by and say Hi if you are in the neighbourhood. If you are in the neighbourhood and haven’t been to WOTS before, you really should. It’s held at Queens’ Park, is huge, and is an all day celebration of books and writing. Great fun.

http://www.thewordonthestreet.ca/wots/toronto

A YouTube Effort

In preparation for the upcoming Poisoned Pen Web Conference (http://www.ppwebcon.com) I have been testing out all the technology tools available. The conference is all online, and there will be written, audio and video presentations and talks. One of the things I am going to be doing is a live presentation over LiveStream. So I tested it out by recording something.

It’s now up on You Tube. Pretty amateurish, to be sure, but it’s a lot cheaper than having a book trailer done. Have a look and see what you think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOcwUCO7DP0 This is titled Vicki Delany introduces Winter of Secrets. It’s just over a minute long – I struggled to keep it that short, long enough to make my point, but hopefully short enough not to lose the audience’s interest.

I finished the short story, titled Sore Feet and Gold Dust. And then decided that it might work in present tense. So today I’ll be rewriting it that way. Normally I don’t care for anything written in present tense, but I thought for a short story it might give a sense of intimacy with the character.

A Starred Review for Winter of Secrets

Forgive me a moment of self-indulgence. I was absolutely thrilled yesterday to receive a starred review for the forthcoming Winter of Secrets (November from Poisoned Pen Press). I was particularly pleased that they liked the ending, because that last couple of chapters went back and forth between the editor and me several times. So all that hard work paid off. I will be offering a contest in early October to win an arc of Winter of Secrets, so please stay tuned.

Fiction Book Reviews: 9/21/2009
Reviews of New Fiction, Poetry, Mystery, Science Fiction and Comics
-- Publishers Weekly, 9/21/2009

* Winter of Secrets Vicki Delany. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (274p) ISBN 978-1-59058-676-8
The discovery early one Christmas morning of the bodies of best friends Jason Wyatt-Yarmouth and Ewan Williams, two privileged young men from Toronto, in an SUV sunken in an ice-covered river propels Delaney's stellar third mystery to feature constable Molly Smith of Trafalgar, B.C. (after Feb. 2009's Valley of the Lost). Molly investigates what at first appears to be an accident, but when the times and manner of Jason's and Ewan's deaths turn out to differ, she and her colleagues have a murder case on their hands. Whether at the Glacier Chalet B&B, on a black diamond ski trail or in the police station, Delaney glides between scenes with ease. She uses a bare-bones style, without literary flash, to achieve artistry as sturdy and restrained as a Shaker chair. Warmth and menace, past and present, are nicely balanced, with a denouement that's equally plausible and startling. This confident performance is sure to win new fans to the series. (Nov.)

Score one for the Good Guys

On the group blog I am part of, Type M for Murder, we often discuss the rather poor reputation mystery or crime writing has in comparison to so-called literary novels. The Americans use the label mystery books, sometimes even, shudder, murder mystery, and in Britain they say crime fiction. I vastly prefer the word crime, because I believe that a good crime novel need not be about a murder, and often not even a mystery. It is, in my definition, a book about a crime, or the threat of a crime, and the consequences thereof.

Anyway, in Canada in particular crime novels are seen as second rate. The wonderful writer William Deverell recently wrote in the National Post about our National Snobbishness Disorder, which Rick Blechta linked to at Type M. My friend and blog-mate Charles Benoit replied that he didn’t care what anyone called his books as long as they call them ‘bestselling’.

It’s a matter of respect I believe. In Canada, because of this ‘disorder’ it is hard for crime writers to get things such as writer-in-residence positions or grants. We’re not seen as writers of serious fiction.

Last week on the CBC radio programme, the Sunday Edition, I heard a writer and teacher by the name of Lorna Crozier confess that on Sundays she indulges in books that are “not good for her”. Mystery novels in general and the works of Peter Robinson in particular. Michael Enright, the host, appeared to agree, calling them “bad books”. Presumably bad, in the sense of a naughty indulgence.

I took offense and wrote a strongly-worded letter to the programme. I won’t reproduce the letter here, sufficient to see we’ve discussed these points at Type M many times. (Look under the tag Genre Fiction) This week they read my letter on the air and Michael even said, “I apologize to Vicki Delany”.

Yeah, I felt as if I’d scored one for the good guys.

The Storm Witch by Violette Malan

Last night I went to the launch of The Storm Witch, a new book by my friend the fantasy writer Violette Malan. It was held at Novel Idea in Kingston, Ontario. My daughter, Alex, loves fantasy and she is a huge fan of Violette’s work. For more: http://www.violettemalan.com

This afternoon I’m off north to the tiny town of Lyndhust to attend tomorrow’s Turkey Fair, where I’ll be selling books. This is my first year at this event, but it sounds like a real, traditional, small-town Ontario fall fair. Should be a blast.

I started on the short story yesterday, with as I said, not much of an idea as to what I wanted to do with it. But I find that once the fingers start moving it engages the brain. I wrote about 1000 words yesterday, getting a good beginning, and this morning when I re-read what I’d written the idea for the ending came to me. Trust in your characters, I say, and then you can trust in yourself.

After two days I am about half finished in terms of word count, but I've decided to take a break to dive back into my books on the Klondike. It's been a while, and I think I've lost some of the colour.

On other news, these sunflowers are in my kitchen. Aren’t they lovely? I did have two sunflowers growing in the garden, but they were too precious to cut and bring indoors. The beans are the ones that I’ve been shelling to store in jars until the winter. Pretty labour intensive, and probably not cost-effecting considering the price of beans, but it gives me a sense of being self-sufficient.