Summer is here and so is summer reading. I actually have a stack of books sitting here by my side. All great potential beach reads. Some are new, books I've begged editors for, and some are older books that I've pulled from my shelves. I'm embarrassed to admit that some are galleys for books that were published a few years ago.
I was just updating my Goodreads account and realized I hadn't updated the blog in a few books.
At #BEA I picked up The Killing Kind by Chris Holm. I devoured this book. This is exactly the kind of book I love and would love to see. How can you go wrong with a hit man who targets hit men? The way the story plays out is really the true magic though, the twists are perfect and the end leaves you satisfied, but still desperate for the next in the series, which is really disappointing since this book doesn't even officially publish until September. Put it on your pre-order list.
Two great things happened to me at #CCWC. I had a terrific conference experience and I was given a copy of Charlaine Harris's Midnight Crossroad, the first book in her new Midnight Texas series. Charlaine has such a great style, one that's truly all her own and I love the mix of the paranormal with a true mystery. This was a fun read and one I know Jessica Alvarez has been chomping at the bit to get her hands on so I'll be passing it along to her.
Now to go through my stack and decide what's next.
--jhf
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By: BookEnds, A Literary Agency,
on 7/17/2015
Blog: BookEnds, LLC - A Literary Agency (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: reading, Jessica Faust, #MSWL, Add a tag
By: BookEnds, A Literary Agency,
on 6/23/2015
Blog: BookEnds, LLC - A Literary Agency (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: writing, Jessica Faust, #MSWL, Add a tag
By: BookEnds, A Literary Agency,
on 6/9/2015
Blog: BookEnds, LLC - A Literary Agency (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: BookEnds, A Literary Agency,
on 7/17/2015
Blog: BookEnds, LLC - A Literary Agency (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: reading, Jessica Faust, #MSWL, Add a tag
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By: BookEnds, A Literary Agency,
on 6/23/2015
Blog: BookEnds, LLC - A Literary Agency (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: writing, Jessica Faust, #MSWL, Add a tag
Last week I posted this Tweet:
 | BookEndsJessica #MSWL a book based on this crazy story: http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2015/06/lawsuit_bring_me_young_blood_stalker_told_westfiel.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured 6/19/15, 12:16 PM |
If you haven't read the article you absolutely must. It's the creepiest thing I've heard in a long time. Since reading it I've thought and thought about what kind of book I'd like to see and then I thought about all of the different types of books that someone could create from this crazy story.
Which is why I think writers sometimes worry a little too much about protecting an idea. The idea in this case is a book based on this particular true story, but what any one writer does with that idea will likely be completely different from what another writer will create.
A YA author might create a story about a young girl who moves with her family into the house and is either possessed by a demon or lives in terror of what is in the walls. Maybe she has supernatural powers, maybe she doesn't.
A suspense or mystery author might create the story of a killer who used live in the house and buried bodies in the walls, or a killer who killed as a child and is now trying to get back in the house because he needs to be there to start killing again.
A romance writer might write the story of a woman who inherits the house and moves in only to be terrorized by these letters, stalked even, when the hero comes to investigate and saves the day, and they fall in love.
A SFF writer could write the story of an alien abduction that happened in or around the house...
Or, even if all of the writers who take my idea and run with it write in the same genre, the possibilities are endless. What's really going to be important isn't the idea (although that's a terrific first step), but the execution. How the idea or the story plays out, who the characters are and the author's voice.
--jhf
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By: BookEnds, A Literary Agency,
on 6/9/2015
Blog: BookEnds, LLC - A Literary Agency (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: #MSWL, Add a tag
As a young editorial assistant I was lucky enough to get my hands on The Alienist by Caleb Carr. It was a book I never forgot and one that inspired the types of books I knew I wanted to buy. In fact, it was a book that inspired buying the first in the Gaslight Mystery series by Victoria Thompson.
This past year I’ve been keeping you updated on what I’ve been reading. It’s been a fun exercise for me and hopefully will give you some insights into the types of books I’m hot on lately. Unfortunately, knowing what book someone has read does not necessarily give you insights into why she read it or what she most loved about it. And that’s the type of information that can become crucial when considering whether an agent might be right for your work. The more you know, the more power you have.
When I think back to reading The Alienist, 20 years ago when it was first published, there are certain elements that really grabbed me. I loved the time period. I loved learning about and seeing New York at the turn of the century and I loved the atmosphere Carr had created.
Not only is New York a city rich in history, but it's a city I personally love and have always been fascinated by. Carr wrote a book that kept me riveted and gave me a history lesson all at the same time. He took a real-life city and made it as much a character of the book as the characters themselves. He also included real-life people into his fictional story, something I think makes historical fiction even stronger.
I'm a sucker for non-traditional characters and the alienist was a definitely that. I loved that he wasn’t law enforcement, but had a career that made him a natural for solving crimes. In many ways he was the first profiler (a career I’m fascinated by).
For me a strong female protagonist is almost a must. It’s not that I won’t enjoy or read books featuring great male characters, but I like a character that I can imagine being and its rare I can imagine being a man. In this case our female character wasn’t the alienist, but she was essential to everything that happened.
And, in my mind, the darker the killer the better. I have long had a fascination for serial killers (in real life and in fiction) and a historical serial killer thrilled me. I was scared, sat on the edge of my seat, and read the book as fast as I could.
I wrote this post without looking back on the book. The Alienist is a book that stuck with me and I wanted to write what I loved about the book by memory. These are the things that stick out to me even years later and things I'm looking for in new submissions.
The Alienist is definitely the type of book that's on my #MSWL list.
--jhf
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