Step into the minds of this group of talented, twisted, slightly psychotic crime novelists with a penchant for mystery, mayhem and murder. We write crime fiction or true crime that gets the heart pumping and the blood boiling.
"Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200". I always wondered what I was going to jail for. Not paying that parking ticket? Leaving in the middle of the night without making rent? Mismanagement of utilities? Then there's the "Get out of Jail Free" card. Did I bribe someone? No, that wouldn't be free. Must have threatened them, or maybe ... I'm innocent of whatever trumped up charge had me in jail in the first place! That's probably it.
The national Monopoly championships are about to take place in Montreal and the winner will go on to the world championships in Las Vegas in October. Prize money is $15,000 for the national winner and $20,580 U.S for the world winner; an odd number but equal to all the cash in the board game's bank. Probably was big stakes when the game first came out. Doesn't seem like much these days but maybe it will again.
As I learned from my blogger mate Cheryl Kaye Tardif, a blog tour is a great way to generate buzz for a new novel. I have tried to follow her good example and have 10 blog stops to boost my novel, Russian Roulette which will be released on June 13th. The surprise was that just making contacts for the tour stirred up a lot more buzz for the imminent release. Here's what I picked up in my Google alerts!
First, the Crime Critics website posted a very nice review of Russian Roulette, the very first advance review published. Crime Critics is one of the best mystery review sites on the net, and I'm flattered that they plugged my newbook so soon.
I recorded a short promotional video for Russian Roulette, in which I personally explain my new novel. It's on You Tube and several other web sites.
Also, I was interviewed by mystery author Jean Henry Mead on her website, Mysterious People. She is an excellent interviewer who prompted me to reveal some new sides of my work.
And the lovely video trailer for Russian Roulette went live a couple days ago - it's ib a number of web sites but here it is for you. Circle of Seven Productions does the BEST work!
Russian Roulette was not my only writing effort to turn up on line. A blog post on The Stiletto Gang highlighted the new journal called “The Writer's Journey.” This new manual for authors is a collection ofwriters' essays on the craft and business of writing fiction. It'salso obviously a journal with pages left for authors to write abouttheir own journey. Thirteen writers contributed to this manual,including yours truly. Aspiring authors can e-mail me at ascamacho@hotmail.com to learn how to get an autographed copy of the manual from me.
While monitoring the internet for my activity it is sometimes surprising what Google Alerts will turn up. I found out that you can order copies of The Troubleshooter in India. I had to do some research to figure out what Rs 1143 is in American money.
And finally, the trailer for Blood and Bone turned up on a web site for African American Scholarships. Maybe someone will use it for a fund raising event. Check the posting on African American Scholarships.
Will all this internet activity really translate into book sales? I'll let you know in a later post.
Every once in a while I want to brag about my children, nothing mysterious about that. And they are hardly children any more either. This brag is about my daughter Vanessa Violini who is running in the BC Provincial Election for the Green Party. She took part in an all candidates debate last night at the Ridge Theatre in Vancouver.
Vanessa is an amazing natural speaker with a passion for people and a call to return to common sense.
This video was taken with a tiny digital camera from eighty feet away. The visual is a bit fuzzy but the audio and the message is loud and clear. If it strikes a note with you, please tell your friends about Vanessa.
Driving back from the Bronx, I'm traveling south on the Harlem River Drive when I notice some clothes and things strewn all over the center lane. Traffic is whizzing past on both sides. It's after 10:00 p.m., it's raining lightly and the car's tires are leaving tiny wakes on the shiny blacktop. As I near the bundle of clothes I see it's actually a body lying there. I stop and put on my hazard lights to warn oncoming traffic to go around... I don't want to see this person get hit... again. I grab my cell phone and step from the car in order to wave traffic around the body. I'm wearing a reflective safety vest so I'm fairly safe and the drivers, although morbidly curious, go around me and the lady lying in the road. She's on her back, her eyes wide and bulging, blood oozing from her nose, mouth, and ear. I let the 911 operator know what's going on and give her my name and number. I turn back ti the lady in the rain. She appears to be anywhere between 30-50 years old... it's hard to tell in the dark and rain with my hazard lights alternatingly making the scene dark and light. She may be Hispanic. Two young men materialize from the darkness at the highway's periphery. One of the squats over the woman and is touching her about the neck and face. I warn him away, telling him that if this is a hit-and-run, then this is a crime scene. He tells me he's checking for signs life. I tell him she's dead. DOA. He insists he's checking if she's alive. I tell him once the cops arrive that I will point him out as the person that disturbed the body and he leaves. He and his friend remain in the shadows just off the highway. I'm still directing traffic and now I'm also just hoping the authorities would hurry up. Other people soon arrive, including a man that admits to being the driver of the first vehicle that hit her. The first?!? Finally lights and sirens in the distance announces the arrival of an ambulance coming the wrong way up the highway toward where I'm standing. They check the lady for vitals. She's DOA. The two guys in the shadows come out and claim to be witnesses. The ambulance crew tells them to save the info for the cops. I'm still directing highway traffic in the rain. More lights and sirens, this times coming the other way. Highway cops drive up in a souped-up Charger. Cool. They block off some of the traffic but these on-lookers won't be denied and nearly run me over several times in their efforts to rubberneck the scene. A huge FDNY Suburban shows up and blocks the center lane, now traffic has no choice but to move all the way over to the passing lane. The ambulance crew covers the body with a sheet. It's time for me to go... I'm still on the clock. When I go back to my car I notice someones placed the lady's personal effects on the hood. I ask one of the officers to please remove it, he nods, puts on a pair of plastic gloves and puts her things into separate baggies. I say a prayer and glance at the two guys there were hidden in the darkness, they're talking to the cops. I pull around the puddle of blood, the ambulance, and the growing crowd of responders and onlookers and drive away from the lady in the rain.
