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 Spring, 2006 - Vol. 4, Number 1
ALL POINTS BULLETIN
By Carl Brookins
The tides rise and fall, and changes, large and small, come upon us. It is inevitable. The clock cannot be denied. Just as changes in the publishing world seem to be occurring with greater frequency, smaller more intimate changes are occurring with the Minnesota Crime Wave. One of our members, Deborah Woodworth, has found it necessary to step away from our recently formed partnership and we are now three.
We've returned safely from a library and bookstore tour of the
Northeast. Kent recently won his second Anthony Award for Mercy
Falls, fourth in his continuing Cork O'Connor series, and Ellen's twenty-first novel, The Iron Girl, has been launched to accolades from around the nation. I've introduced a new noir detective series, featuring a short Minneapolis-based P.I. with no middle name. Sean Sean's first case is The Case of the Greedy Lawyers.
Then there is our special project. Jointly producing an anthology of short mysteries incorporating the talent of Minnesota authors and a local publisher was both a lot of work and a soaring high. Trying to corral a group of mystery authors is akin to trying to herd cats, but we managed it in pretty good order. It's all in the numbers. Thirteen (!) Minnesota authors produced divergent stories around a common set of eight clues. One talented Minnesota author created an outstanding introduction, two mysterious women offered up intriguing cover comments, and an internationally-known photographer lent us his considerable talents to produce a striking cover. The Silence of the Loons is 224 pages of mystery, murder and other crimes.
More changes are on the horizon; we'll revise our web site and launch a contest or two. Meanwhile, we wish all of you, our fans, happiness, good health and we exhort you to read more mysteries.
INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN FREEMAN
By Ellen Hart
![[cover]](images/cover_freeman.jpg) I had the opportunity to have lunch with Brian, a longtime resident of Woodbury, MN, a few weeks ago and these questions came directly from our discussion. His first book, Immoral, has just been shortlisted for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel.
Ellen: Have you always wanted to write crime novels/thrillers?
Brian: Yes, I've actually been writing crime fiction since I was a kid. In sixth grade, I started a book called Checkmate, which was about the murder of a chess grandmaster. (This was in the Boris Spassky/Bobby Fischer days.) I actually completed my first full-length novel when I was 13. The book was about the kidnapping of the president. So you can see I'm still focused on crime and suspense, even many years later.
Ellen: What's your process? Do you write daily? Do you outline?
Brian: I usually write in the mornings for several hours, and then I need to decompress and move on to other business. I do fairly detailed outlines before beginning the book, although the plot and characters inevitably evolve as I go forward. In my second book, Stripped (due out in September), I was actually two-thirds of the way through the book when I decided that the major plot twist simply didn't ring true for that character as I had been writing her. So I scrapped it. That's pretty scary—being so far along in the book and finding yourself without an ending. But inevitably, I find that there's a better twist in the background of the characters as they've already been written—as if it was just there waiting for me to find it. And that's what happened.
Ellen: Why do you think The Da Vinci Code became such a phenomenally popular thriller?
Brian: Sometimes you get pop culture phenomena that seem to defy rational explanation. (Does anyone remember the Spice Girls?) The Da Vinci Code is a fast-paced, entertaining thriller, but so are many other books that don't enjoy such amazing success. I think The Da Vinci Code struck a chord with people because of its interesting twist on religious dogma, which generated a lot of publicity from those on both sides of the issue. Once the rock started rolling downhill, it picked up enormous speed with people who simply had to see what all the buzz was about. The real test for the publishing industry, though, is whether we can harness those millions of new fiction readers who enjoyed The Da Vinci Code and turn them on to other great writers in the genre.
Ellen: What are you working on now?
Brian: Immoral will be out in paperback in June, and the hardcover of Stripped will be out this fall. I'm well into my third book right now. They're all part of the same series featuring Lieutenant Jonathan Stride in Duluth. I hope I'm carving out a niche by writing character-driven thrillers, with more of an emphasis on sexual themes than is common in the genre. You know what they say, write what you know. Ha, just kidding.
Ellen: What writers/books have inspired you?
Brian: The writers I enjoy today include authors like Michael
Connelly, Peter Robinson, Stephen Hunter, and Nelson deMille. I will say that I was inspired in the early days, back in the 1970s, by Robert Ludlum. He practically invented the modern suspense novel. I remember reading
The Chancellor Manuscript and thinking, that's what I want to do. I want to write these books.
LATE BREAKING NEWS!
William Kent Krueger's Mercy Falls has been
nominated for this years Minnesota Book Award in the
Best Popular Fiction category.
![[cover]](images/irongirl.jpg) Ellen Hart's The Iron Girl has been nominated for
this year's Minnesota Book Award in the
Best Popular Fiction category.
The 18th annual Minnesota Book Awards ceremony,
sponsored by the Minnesota Humanities Commission,
will be held at 8 PM on April 29 at
The Women's Club, 410 Oak Grove St., Minneapolis, MN. The program will be hosted by Minnesota Public Radio's
Cathy Wurzer, cohost of Channel 2's "Almanac." Book
Award tickets went on sale at the end of February. Go to
minnesotahumanities.org for more information.
Ellen Hart's The Iron Girl has been nominated for
The Golden Crown Literary Award in the
Best Popular Fiction category.
The Iron Girl has also been nominated for the
Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery.
DEBORAH WOODWORTH
Deborah Woodworth, one of the founding members of the Minnesota Crime Wave and author of the fine Shaker mystery series, has decided to step back from further Crime Wave activities. Her decision is due, in part, to health concerns. Also, she is trying very hard to focus on the writing of a new series in the genre, and the time she might give to promotion would be, she feels, put to better use doing what we all love most: writing.
Her fine prose has won her a legion of fans. But anyone who has attended a Crime Wave event knows there's even more to Deborah than what they find between the cover of her books. With her intelligence, her humor, and her marvelous Shaker cloak and herbs, she's charmed audiences at Crime Wave events across the country. We will miss her presence, and we of the Minnesota Crime Wave wish her well as she directs her energy into new endeavors.
Read back issues:
Winter, 2002 - Vol. 1, Number 1
Spring, 2002 - Vol. 1, Number 2
Fall, 2002 - Vol. 1, Number 3
Winter, 2003 - Vol. 2, Number 1
Spring, 2003 - Vol. 2, Number 2
Fall, 2003 - Vol. 2, Number 3
Spring, 2004 - Vol. 3, Number 1
Fall, 2004 - Vol. 3, Number 2
Spring, 2005 - Vol. 3, Number 3
Fall, 2005 - Vol. 3, Number 4
Spring, 2006 - Vol. 4, Number 1
Fall, 2006 - Vol. 4, Number 2
Spring, 2007 - Vol. 5, Number 1 |
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