CBC First Ever Book Awards For Canadian Authors

I’m sorry, but they need to rethink the title of the award: Golden Beaver. This is a certificate given to the winner of a “Bookie”. The categories are also odd, like ‘Best Scene” and “Best Relationship” CBC Books created this monumental award named the Bookies, their first book club award *ever*, and I suppose no … Read more

What are some of the best ways to stay organized – and sane?

Juggling time, always a fun thing to do and never more so than when you’re taking on so many different tasks at once. All the people I know who study or work from home and have small children are very organised. One friend actually sells a product called Mayhem Manager which helps you to organise yourself, your house and your kids. It’s an awesome product but I’m not here to talk about this except in how it can help me manage my life.

I’ve just taken on the task of studying English Literature. I was hoping for a daytime class but that was cancelled as they didn’t have enough enrolments so I had to switch to Wednesday nights. For most Wednesday nights during the year I’m going to be leaving the house and travelling into the CBD to study. The course I’m doing is English Literature Units 3 and 4, this means I’m doing Year 12 or the last year at school before going onto University. I’m going to have a three hour class each week and around six hours of homework/study/research per week. The only thing it’ll qualify me for is being irritating about literature and maybe for writing better articles about books.

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A Real Character of a Writer

One of the gravy parts of my tenure managing mystery bookshops, was meeting and greeting authors. Established, brand new, legends, ego maniacs, and future friends. Granted, I worked in arguably the greatest city in the world (I take that line from the David Letterman show) and therefore had more opportunity to meet authors. In a … Read more

New Expanded Article-Malice Domestic Agatha Award Nominees Announced!!

The Agatha Awards are different than The Edgars, in that they are voted on by readers and writers–anyone who attends the Malice Domestic convention each year. You must register by a specific time to be able to nominate, but all attendees at the conference vote The Edgar Awards are decided by a small group of … Read more

Refreshing, Odd, Bizarre, Weird, and Wonderfully Offbeat Books

One of the cool things about AbeBooks.com, is the theme e-mails they send to customers, like myself. I use bookfinder.com, which in turn sends me to various internet used book sellers on Abe and other large sites. Before the invention of the internet, it could take months, sometimes years for a wanted book to be … Read more

Edgar Allan Poe Home in Baltimore MD In Trouble

Mystery Scene Magazine has published an article by Oline Cogdill about the uncertain fate of one of the United States most important author’s home being forced to close. Poe lived in several cities, including New York, where one of his former homes was carelessly torn down by New York University. You’d think a center for … Read more