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THRILLERFEST 2009
RETURNS FOR ANOTHER BITE OF THE BIG APPLE

July 8 - 11
The Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City

Open to all Thriller fans, Thriller authors, and would-be Thriller authors.

ThrillerFest is the premier thriller event of the year! Featuring the world's most popular authors of fiction's blockbuster genre. Over 150 of the best loved and best selling authors will be in New York City to mix and mingle with fans during this unprecedented event.

In recognition of his legendary career, David Morrell will receive the ThrillerMaster 2009 Award at the gala banquet on July 11. Presenting the award to him will be ThrillerMaster 2008 Sandra Brown.

Awards will be presented for Best Novel and Best First Novel.

ThrillerFest includes a multitude of author panels, signings, a complete bookstore on premises, and a reader's reception. Meet attending thriller writers Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Gayle Lynds, David Morrell, M. Diane Vogt, Joe Moore, M.J. Rose, Barry Eisler, Steve Berry, David Hewson, Jim Rollins, Christine Kling , D.P. Lyle, Shane Gericke, Kathleen Antrim, Christine Goff, Jon Land, Shirley Kennett, and many more.

Registration for ThrillerFest, CraftFest and AgentFest is open to everyone with fabulous money-saving packages.

Opening ThrillerFest Reader's Evening Reception-July 9
ThrillerFest-July 10-11
CraftFest--July 8-9
AgentFest-July 9
The event will culminate Saturday night, July 11, at the Thriller Awards Banquet at 7:00 p.m. Day passes are available for July 10 and July 11. Complete details and date/rate schedule can be found at www.thrillerfest.org.

ThrillerFest 2009. July 8-11
Grand Hyatt Hotel New York City
www.thrillerwriters.org

Fifteen Weeks of Bees: A Laurie R. King celebration
I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock Holmes, fifteen years old with my nose in a book as I walked the Sussex Downs, and nearly stepped on him.

Fifteen Weeks of Bees began fifteen years ago, in February 1994, when Laurie R. King’s The Beekeeper’s Apprentice introduced young Mary Russell to Sherlock Holmes, and a cult was born. It and the next seven novels in the series (all still in print) have appeared in dozens of countries and on bestseller lists from the Independent Booksellers’ Association to the New York Times. It was chosen as a Notable YA novel by the ALA, was one of the IMBA’s 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century, and is one of the ten mystery novels that writer and Newsweek columnist Anna Quindlen would “most like to find in a summer rental.”

Fifteen weeks after this anniversary of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice brings us to May 22, 2009: the 150th birthday of the man who brought Sherlock Holmes into the world, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,

Between those two dates, on April 28, Bantam Books will publish The Language of Bees. Laurie R. King’s ninth Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes adventure returns the duo not only to the Sussex Downs where they met, but also to the beekeeping passion that (according to Sir Arthur) became Holmes’ avocation upon his retirement from Baker Street. In The Language of Bees, amidst Bohemian London and primeval monuments, Holmes’ past comes to life in ways Sir Arthur could never have imagined.

The weeks that include Beekeeper’s anniversary, The Language of Bees’ debut, and Conan Doyle’s birthday thus make up Fifteen Weeks of Bees, a celebration of the
ongoing adventures of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. The Laurie R. King web site (www.LaurieRKing.com) will coordinate a wide range of special events, including:
• Free downloads of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice from Picador Press
• A cooperative fundraiser with Heifer International (www.heifer.org) to benefit Heifer’s international beehive project
• Weekly posts from 109 year-old Mary Russell on her MySpace blog
• A limited-edition broadside—short story and woodcut—with Lavendier Press
• Special events for book groups and libraries: discussion packets, video chats, and library-only contests, in celebration of National Library Week in April
• Laurie’s reflections on writing The Language of Bees in her blog, Mutterings
• A blog tour—guest blogs by Laurie on a variety of Bees-related topics
• A new Mary Russell Language of Bees t-shirt
• Weekly contests and drawings including Youtube, Goodreads, Facebook, fan fiction projects, and contributions to Laurie’s next Russell and Holmes novel
• Mary Russell—Twittering!
• Related discussions on Laurie’s Virtual Book Club
• Library events with Les Klinger (The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes) on Arthur Conan Doyle
• And finally, an exciting new project called “Russellscape,” to be unveiled on the Laurie R. King website February 1

West Virginia Book Faire
Old Town Martinsburg, West Virginia, April 17 & 18, 2009
http://www.wvbooks.org

Carlson’s “Book Trailer” Leads To Two-Book Deal In Eastern Europe.

 
Just ahead of the publication of his second novel, sci fi thriller Plague War, author Jeff Carlson and two friends released a “book trailer” entitled 4 Minutes Above 10,000 Feet.  Shot in the Sierra mountains, this short film can only be described as Alive meets The Blair Witch Project meets the new Andromeda Strain. 
 
With moderately high production values and starring Carlson himself alternating between roles as the narrator and a survivor caught in his own books, the trailer quickly garnered attention at genre and mainstream web sites such as boingboing, GalleyCat, and io9.com, as well as popular blogs such as those of Joseph Mallozi (television’s Stargate: Atlantis) and top literary agent Nathan Bransford.
 
“This trailer is really exceptional,” remarked bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson.  “I can just see many publishers convincing themselves that something like this would cost $100,000 or more.  It’s great work, and I’ll bet [Carlson’s publisher] is dazzled… and confused!  They must be thinking ‘Wow, how did he do that!?’”
 
Among other spectacular visuals and action sequences, the four-minute trailer features computer generated imagery of a smoking space shuttle roaring over Carlson’s head as he stands on a desolate mountaintop, having just escaped the microscopic nanotechnology featured in his novels Plague Year and its new sequel, Plague War, published by Ace/Penguin in North America.
 
According to Carlson, however, “The most unusual part about our short film must be that my total out-of-pocket costs were less than four hundred dollars, nearly all of which went to my web guy to convert the original file and build a Flash player for it on my site, which, in retrospect, was unnecessary.  The YouTube version looks surprisingly sharp,  especially if you click on the ‘Watch In High Quality’ tab.
 
“Next time I'll skip the fancy Flash player and go YouTube all the way, with the original QuickTime file also available on my site for the purists.”

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Carlson added, ”It cost me a tank of gas to drive to the Sierras and back, and Adad and Chuck were paid in sandwiches, Pepsi, and chips, plus we had to license two songs for the soundtrack.  That was it.  Of course, I’m fortunate that the real mastermind, Adad Warda, is a childhood friend of my wife's, a film student turned pro who was delighted just to tackle the challenge of it.”   
 
A high definition version of the short film can be found on Carlson’s web site at http://www.jverse.com.  It is also readily accessible on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU-i0faBPkY
 
Carlson was asked if there will be another such trailer?
 
“Absolutely,” he said.  “It was a lot of fun to act out parts of the book, and we’re already scripting our follow-up for next summer.”
 
As a marketing device, the short film seems to be working.  In its various formats, 4 Minutes Above 10,000 Feet has received more than 20,000 views in two months.  Carlson has also been interviewed about his novels and the making of the trailer by radio stations as far from home as Florida and, much farther, New Zealand.  Perhaps more impressive, within three days of the trailer’s release, Carlson’s agents were contacted by a senior editor with Millennium Press in eastern Europe who had seen the trailer.  Negotiations on a two-book deal were finalized this week for translation into Romanian.
 
Plague Year and Plague War have already sold in Spain, where “La Plaga” is currently the lead hardcover from Minotauro, backed a massive promotion campaign, including newspaper ads, radio clips, and gas masks and yellow biohazard warning tape on floor stands and in book store window displays.  Minotauro is also distributing the book in Columbia and Peru, and plans further releases across South America.
 
In Germany, the entire trilogy went to Piper Verlag in best bid auction for a “significant” deal in high five figures.
 
Plague Year is also available on CD from Recorded Books, as narrated by stage actor Richard Ferrone.  Film rights for the novel were optioned last week by award-winning producer James McNally of Seven Seas Jim.
 
Readers can find free excerpts of both Plague Year and Plague War at Carlson’s web site at www.jverse.com along with tour dates, blog, videos and more, including a mind-croggling sci fi trivia contest in which winners will be allowed to name a character after themselves or a friend in one of Carlson’s upcoming novels.