Shamus Award Finalist

I'm not terrific at blowing my own horn, but this is a big deal. Devil May Care, my second Crag Banyon Mystery, has been nominated for a Shamus Award. So from here on out I'm now a Shamus Award-nominated writer. Pretty darned nifty, actually.

Day Spa

I see an ad in the paper for a "day spa" for men, where in addition to fancy haircuts the fellas can get manicures, pedicures and something ominous called "bioglycolic cleanser." I'm not sure what that last thing is but, if it's what I think it is, an emphatic no thanks. The only hose I use is for watering the garden.

I still go to the same barber shop I've been going to since junior high school, and the day the guy next to me starts pulling off his shoes or dropping his drawers is the day I buy a Flowbee.

I always liked Beth Davenport, Jim Rockford's lawyer on The Rockford Files. Beth was no damsel in distress. She was the one Rockford called when HE got in trouble. Beth was smart, tough, and could go toe-to-toe with the smarmy boys who often underestimated her, and she always managed to outsmart them. She was also never slutty or humorless and nasty, which is all you seem to get on TV these days. She just happened to be a woman who just happened to be a lawyer, and she was a really good one. Forget all the worthless feminist icons of that age, my vote for Woman of the Seventies is Beth Davenport.

Amazon

I posted this as a reply in another thread, but I thought it deserved its own thread. It's a continuation of my gripe yesterday about Amazon's practice of selling used copies of new books at a fraction of the new book's cover price. I figure more eyes will see it if it has its own thread.

My complaint didn't include folks who are trying to complete collections of out-of-print books that are impossible to find at the local level...for that the Internet is a great tool. What set me off against Amazon again yesterday was seeing that there are already 29 used copies of Red and Buried available at Amazon. Moonstone and I are trying to get something going here, and it's hard enough to launch a series (or even a one-off book) these days without being undercut by people who bought the book, read it, then dumped it back on the market at two bucks less than what we're selling it for within days of the book's release...plus I get not one penny in royalties. This Amazon practice is pure evil and it's directed against struggling writers, as well as the fans who want to see those writers continue writing.

Clearly Amazon is staying in business, but I'm sure this practice has driven some writers on the bubble out of the business. Even McDonald's couldn't afford to stay in business if people were allowed to sell the exact same burgers for thirty percent less in their lobby.

I think my worst allergy attack in over a decade is passing. Last night amputating my head or driving a spigot into my forehead to let out the syrup and demons seemed liked a good idea. Now that seems kind of stupid.

Shane Black

Back cover blurb on Moonstone's paperback edition of The Red Menace, No. 1: Red and Buried:

"(Mullaney is) a miracle tonic for today's ghostwritten knockoffs and so-called 'novels of suspense'" -- Shane Black, Lethal Weapon, Iron Man 3.