If you’re thinking of getting copies of my books, it couldn’t be easier. I’ve got you covered, even for autographed books!
I’ve been recommending this essay for years to every writer I know. And it’s free to read online…
I compiled a list of fun facts about this brilliant mathematician after reading two biographies. The oddest little things stayed with me, and here they are…
Well, that sure went south fast, didn’t it?
My wife and I have been in lockdown for 30+ days, and I’m sure it’s as weird for us as it is for everyone who is doing the same. We’re professional writers/freelancers who have been working from home for nearly 20 years, so at first blush this type of life should not be THAT strange. But this is distinctly different.
We’re working as best we can, and to that end, I’m trying to keep everyone in the loop about my work.
I’m happy to announce that I’m now a regular blogger at Sleuthsayers, a blog run largely by mystery writers. My first official post went up Friday, talking about a recent book event I attended. My wife, Denise Kiernan, had the pleasure of interviewing Erik Larson, probably the nation’s greatest practitioner of narrative nonfiction. He’s probably best known for his book, The Devil in the White City. But the new book—entitled The Splendid and the Vile—is about the leadership of Winston Churchill during the Blitz of 1940-41. Since leadership during national crises seems to be The Issue of the moment, I thought I’d share my takeaways on their talk.
The link to the blog post is here.
Feel free to bookmark Sleuthsayers. I’ll be appearing there every three weeks. The next post will be end of the month.
Beyond that, I will try to post at my website more often, as I’m finding it’s quite important to share my opinions on what I see, hear, feel. Books, music, art—the hallmarks of civilization—are all the more critical.
If you’re looking for reading material during this time, I hope you’ll consider one of Erik’s books, Denise’s, or one of mine. (See below.) Escapism rules!
Author Erik Larson in conversation with Denise Kiernan.
Later, gang—and here’s hoping we’ll all be able to breathe safely in each other’s presence again real soon.
Book “collage” photo credit: Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
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The e-book versions of both of my two most recent books, Murder on Book Row and the fantasy novel, Sorceress Kringle, are available at almost every online retailer. You can order print copies at the usual suspects online, or autographed copies from Malaprop’s, the bookstore in my nabe.
I did a guest post at the mystery writers blog, Sleuthsayers, this week, on the subject of the origins behind my latest short story in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.
The story is called “The Detective Who Stopped By Bedford Street,” and it appears in the Jan/Feb 2020 issue of the popular mystery magazine.
But as usual, the story behind the story reaches back (in part) to my childhood growing up in New Jersey. The other part has to do with thriller movies, an old John Cheever story, and a particular New York City shop I used to walk past on my way to work at Scholastic back in the day.
The link to the blog post is here.
If nothing else, you’ll get to see an old postcard I found of my hometown back in the day. Check it out, if you have an interest in such things.
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Just a reminder: the e-book versions of both of my two most recent books, Murder on Book Row and the fantasy novel, Sorceress Kringle, are available at almost every online retailer. You can order print copies at the usual suspects online, or autographed copies from Malaprop’s, the bookstore in my nabe.
My new historical fantasy novel about a female Santa Claus pubs today–the eve of St. Nicholas–and I thought I’d take the time to lay out the case for a female Santa Claus, and maybe clarify (if only to myself) how I even came up with such an idea. Some thoughts on the subject follow, and with it, I hope, some insight into this writer’s mind and process.
I think the seeds of the idea are rooted in my childhood. My mom grew up in Italy believing not in Santa Claus but in La Befana—a broom-riding female witch who brought presents to children on the eve of the Epiphany, i.e., the day the Magi encountered the Christ child in the manger. When Denise and I lived briefly in Italy, we’d see these adorable Befana dolls sold in Christmas markets in Rome.
It took me six years and three rewrites to get this book right. During that time, I learned that researching the history of Christmas sometimes feels like partaking in a massive, multi-century, international game of telephone, where language is constantly being corrupted and reframed for new purposes. The German-named Christkindl is a traditional European gift-bringer who is a kind of fae-like personification of the Christ child. But you could not ask for a more gender-ambiguous name than its corruption: Kris Kringle.
Similarly, the name Santa Claus is a corruption of the Dutch Sinterklaas (i.e., Saint Nicholas). But when I was growing up, my mom always referred to female saints as Santa Maria, Santa Teresa, Santa Cecilia. Male saints were San Francisco, San Giuseppe, etc. To my early mind, a Santa anyone was female unless otherwise noted.
I love the work of writer Washington Irving, who inserted a gift-giving St. Nicholas into his early 19th-century satirical history of New York City, so much so that one historian flat-out said, “Without Irving there would be no Santa Claus.” A couple of years after Irving’s book pubbed, the Dec. 28, 1815 edition of the New York Evening Post took a different tack, trotting out a female Santa Claus, dubbing her “Queen and Empress of the Court of Fashions.” Scans of the original article are a little hard to read (and the content sexist) but you can get the gist here.
My wife spent seven years researching women’s work during World War II. Among the many jobs women performed when men were off fighting in the war was the role of department store Santas. This did not always go over well with traditionalists during that era, leading to the over-the-top newspaper editorials described in this 2017 article in Smithsonian.
WWII was long gone by the time I arrived on the scene, but as a kid, I’m certain I sat on the lap of many a female Santa. More to the point, I’ve always thought that Santa’s look was outrageously…suspicious. Overdetermined, if you will. When someone dresses like they’re trying to hide something, they probably are. Why couldn’t the real Santa be a woman in drag?
In her book, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, author Karen Abbott investigates Confederate women spies during the Civil War. In one of her talks, Abbott, a friend, said that one of these women successfully passed as a man simply by donning men’s clothing. In 19th century America, that’s all it took. If you wore trousers, you had to be a dude, because what else could you possibly be? In my book, Kringle intentionally hides her identity, like any superhero, and takes up arms to defend the people she loves. Throughout history women fought in battle–disguised as men or otherwise–though the practice has strangely been ignored by us supposedly open-minded moderns, as brilliantly explored in this now-famous essay.
Last year, a viral news story raised the notion of a gender-neutral Santa, and Snopes had to step in to set the record straight. But academics have actually probed the notion, pointing out that most of the work of Christmas cheer, not to mention the nurturing of children and other family members, is still performed by women.
So there’s some of my thinking on the matter. As I’ve said the whole time I’ve been working on this book, I can’t really picture an elderly obese dude willingly leaving his cozy man-cave on a cold winter’s night to ride in a drafty open sleigh. There’s no question in my mind: the big man is not a man at all, and never has been.
If you’re interested, you can check out the first chapter of the new book here. Thanks for stopping by.
Today I’m guest-posting at the mystery writers blog, Sleuthsayers, talking about two things—how I became a writer, and the curious path to publication of my latest novel, Murder on Book Row. Yes, believe it or not, the two are heavily intertwined, although separated by the span of some 40 years!
I don’t usually talk about my childhood, but the only way to talk about my obsession with mystery novels is to jump back in time to 1979, when I thought I could just sit outside on my parents’ patio and bang out a novel in the course of a summer. The results, as you’ll see, were not what any of us expected.
The link to the blog post is here.
If nothing else, you’ll get the inside scoop behind this photo of me, taken in my parents’ garage in New Jersey back in the 1970s.
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Just a reminder: the e-book versions of both of my two most recent books, Murder on Book Row and the fantasy novel, Sorceress Kringle, are on sale until the day after Christmas. You can order print copies at the usual suspects online, or autographed copies from Malaprop’s, the bookstore in my nabe.
It’s gift season once again, and people always ask how they can get my books. So I’m putting all the info into this one post.
The quick and dirty answer is, two ways. If you prefer ebooks, you’re all set. The complete list is here, on a single page. All my books are readily available at the usual online stores in e-book format. Just click the cover of the book you want, and choose your preferred store. The only exception is my children’s book on Fibonacci. That book is still only pubbed in print only.
Physical copies of my books—especially the new ones—are available via Amazon, B&N, and your local bookstore. If a store doesn’t have them, they can order them.
If you want books autographed by me, the best way to do that is to contact the bookstore in my town, Malaprop’s, and order personalized, autographed copies of whatever tickles your fancy. Signed books make great gifts, and it’s still sounds funny to ask an author, “Please, will you autograph my Kobo?”
Here’s the skinny:
Call Malaprop’s directly at 1-800-441-9829 or 828-254-6734. Just tell them…
Which book you want to order and the author’s name. (That would be me, Cheezmo Q. Daggy.)
How do you want the book personalized? To you? To the mother-in-law you’re always trying to suck up to? Your frenemy? Do you want it to say “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Holidays,” “For a mystery buff,” or nothing at all?
Give them your payment information and shipping address.
Make sure you get your order in by December 17th for delivery by Christmas.
That’s it! Malaprop’s will summon me to sign, and they will ship your book out to you or to the person of your choice, autographed and ready to go.
But what about gift wrapping?
Yes indeed, they gift wrap–for FREE. I told you they were wonderful. So, you can have that autographed book gift-wrapped AND have a gift card slapped on it. That package of holiday reading cheer will be shipped wherever you want and will arrive ready to be shoved under a tree, stuck in a (larger than usual) stocking, placed next to the menorah, or swapped at an office party.
Can I order online?
Technically, yes, but calling is much more efficient, less ambiguous, and, in the long run, will take less of your time.
Which books of yours can I order?
All of them, really. The complete list is here, on a single page. (The Fibonacci book is here.)
Allow me to single out for your reading pleasure the two novels that are NEW this Christmas! They are:
Sorceress Kringle: The Woman Who Became Santa Claus
A gender-bending fantasy novel about Santa–the way you never imagined her.
Ebook on sale through Dec. 26
Meet the Book Lady. She sells books, eats well, and has a very large brain. Criminals fear her.
Ebook on sale through Dec. 26
Happy shopping, and thanks for supporting a local independent author and bookstore!
Yes, I am trying to post here more often. Thank you for noticing. If you want to sign up for my newsletter and claim your collection of free ebooks, go here. Thanks!
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