26

Last year I caught the '25 things about me' bug on Facebook, and one of my 25 was an attempt to list my 25 favorite authors. I managed to come up with a list of 26, none of whom I could bring myself to cut. The list still looks pretty good to me today: Austen, Balzac, Büchner, John Dickson Carr, Chekhov, Conrad, Dickens, Diderot, Dostoevsky, Dumas, Marguerite Duras, Euripides, Freud, Henry James, Kafka, Kleist, Marx, Thich Nhat Hanh, Nietzsche, Plato, Ruth Rendell, Sade, Schiller, Shakespeare, Simenon, Wodehouse. I propose in future posts, from time to time, to blog about the 26, one by one, and to recommend examples of their work. (Hence the link to Duras' North China Lover in the column to the right.)

Balzac Would Approve (Almost)

My idea of the perfect morning brew: a (short) latte made with 1+ ounce (30 - 40 ml.) of brewed espresso and 2 ounces (60 ml.) of heated (not boiled) whole milk, sweetened with a single packet of Sugar in the Raw (optional). Recommended methods for brewing espresso: (a) a Nespresso coffee maker, using a capsule of 'Ristretto'; (b) a 'moka' espresso maker, using illy beans you grind yourself. Of course, if you're happy with what you're drinking now, stick with it. But, if you're at the mercy of chain baristas and not pleased with it, give this short latte a try. (I just thought it was too good to wait any longer to share it.)

And what does it have to do with writing in general and Balzac in particular? I'll 'connect it up' another day.... And, yet another day, the 'skinny' on one of my friends' faves, using a Nespresso frother and skim milk....

Unforeseen Convergences

It's Saturday morning, first light, and my body is still processing last night's gator tail appetizer, sour-orange-and-chocolate pie, and everything in between. Unforeseen convergences: when we got married a month ago today, we never would have thought that putting our names together into a search engine would turn up, as the first hit, a Kiss Before You Leave Me page at a site devoted to e-books for Sony Reader. (We've always been a Kindle household. But, since my last post, Kiss has become available at Smashwords in all the non-Kindle e-book formats.) There's even an adult-content warning (so marriage doesn't mean the end of raciness--what a relief!) before you get the first 29 pages of the book and a link to more.... And here's one more convergence: today's the one-month anniversary of our wedding and the one-week anniversary of Kiss for Kindle. Can you blame me for celebrating a little?

"A Kiss Before You Leave Me" Available on Kindle Now

My novel "A Kiss Before You Leave Me" is now available for Kindle in the US and UK Kindle stores online.

Because the "jacket blurb" currently appears only at the UK site, here's what the rest of the world is missing:

"Three master manipulators--and a woman in love--clash in the worlds of surveillance, voyeurism, and art.

"Miranda Kincaid used liquor and other men to flee the control of her husband Vince and his mother Kathleen. Now divorced, sober, and man-free, she's putting her life back together. Vince, now her friend, wants her back--and his mother will stop at nothing to keep them apart. Kathleen's secret weapon? A new man: a seductive, married misfit, a once and future painter with demons of his own--and his own plans for Miranda.

"Equal parts moral tale and 'guilty pleasure,' A Kiss Before You Leave Me is plotted like a thriller, but its most memorable violence is emotional--and all the more disturbing because it's done in the name of love."

Soundtrack for "A Kiss Before You Leave Me"

Here's the "soundtrack" to the novel, courtesy of the US iTunes store. Think of the track list as a sort of "trailer" for the novel itself.

Let's Kindle Like It's 2010

Before we do anything else, let's get in an updated link to the Kindle of the hour, the "latest generation." So far I know only the first two generations of the device, but a friend (here in the US) just got the Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6" Display, Graphite - Latest Generation and it sounds like love. (Look for further links on that same page to other Latest Generation models. As of this writing, only Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 9.7" Display, Graphite, 3G Works Globally – Latest Generation is available for immediate shipment; the others can be ordered for shipment in about 10 days.) I got my first Kindle over two years ago and I've never looked back....

If you're in the UK, please link to the Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6" Display, Graphite - Latest Generation page and continue from there; availability and lead times vary by country....

Coming soon on this blog: a "soundtrack" for my new novel, "A Kiss Before You Leave Me."