Friday, November 14, 2008

Cooking up a Conference...

This week I'm at the Crimebake Conference in Boston, so I'm not cooking dinner (DH is on his own, sorry, hon!). I'm stoked to be at Crimebake, not just because I get to learn about cool things like forensics and poisons (hey, you just never know when that stuff is going to come in handy in a plot ;-) but because I get to meet...

Harlan Coben.

All time, hands down, one of my favorite authors. I have few authors who are auto-buys for me, and Harlan is one of them. Thanks to my good friend Margie Lawson, who used a Harlan book as an example in a workshop, and the excerpt was so compelling, I went out the next day and bought the book. I've read everything (except his Myron books, because I want to read those in order, and a girl only has so much time when she's SUPPOSED to be writing her own books) he's written ever since.

If you like suspense, you have GOT to read Harlan Coben. Read "Tell No One." Read "The Woods." Heck, grab any of his books off the shelf and start reading. You'll be drawn in and you'll be a better reader than me if you figure it out before the end.

Harlan, of course, isn't the only amazing author at Crimebake this weekend, so I know my credit card is going to be on fire from all the books I'm buying. I have GOT to finish my own book that's due really soon because I just know the books I'll buy will be screaming to be read.

Shirley

4 comments:

  1. I LOVE, LOVE Harlan Coben, too! And used to live in the town right next to his before moving to Michigan.
    Does this mean you're thinking of writing some romantic suspense maybe?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9:20 PM

    Shirley,

    I've been thinking about you and wondering how you're doing. More importantly, WHAT you're doing and WHO you're seeing.

    Hope the weather is better there than it is at home.

    Bring backs lots of ideas to share!

    Cathy, in cold and damp Indiana

    ReplyDelete
  3. I never rule anything out, Peg :-) But I know that I can use a lot of what I'm learning here for the horror YA that I'm doing for Houghton Mifflin under the AJ Whitten name. The poisons stuff, etc. And I'm meeting HARLAN!! :-) That alone is worth the price of admission. Just love his books.

    Cathy, same icky weather here in Boston--the only difference is I'm seeing it from the hotel window, LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous8:41 PM

    Hi, Shirley! It was great to meet you at Crime Bake! Isn't Harlan wonderful? Hope you had fun. I tried to email you through your site, but kept getting errors...let me know if you're still up for doing a contest with me and Michele Scott.

    Jessica Conant-Park
    http://conantparkmysteries.googlepages.com
    jessica@conantpark.com

    ReplyDelete

Share a recipe or thought, and remember to visit www.shirleyjump.com to read about Shirley's latest book!