LoveIsMurder

Chicago is cold this time of year, but next week-end, February 6-8, there will be plenty of heat at the Love Is Murder Conference held at the Chicago Westin.

The headliners include Jeffery Deaver,(Lincoln Rhyme series) Alex Kava,(Maggie O'Dell series) Sharan Newman,(Levendeur series) and Steve Berry.(The Cotton Malone series)

The local guest of honor is Raymond Benson. Ray has been an author, composer, computer game designer, stage director, film historian, and film genres instructor for over thirty years. He is also the fourth official author of the James Bond 007 novels. Plus a very cool guy to hang out with at the bar.

Got a novel, but not a editor, agent or publisher? You have the opportunity to pitch your manuscript to several literary agents and editors during our Pitch-a-Palooza to be held three times during the weekend.

I'll be there in the Newbie author breakfast panel on Saturday. Give me a wave, better yet let's meet in the bar Friday night. I've attended last the last two of LIM conferences. It's a first class conference, great way to mingle with other fans and authors. Rob Walker summed it up nicely when he said,"so what if it's in Chicago in February, how else can you gonna keep the bodies on ice?"

The full online registration price of $290 includes ALL the food--from Friday evening's dinner to Sunday morning's breakfast, as well as a High Tea on Saturday afternoon, and admittance to ALL the workshops from Friday at 11:30 a.m. to Sunday at noon. The Pitch-a-Palooza is extra for $55.

Hope to see you there.

ByTheSword

Believe it or not I was held captive by little people. They wanted to be played with and fed. They also wanted 24/7 attention.

Did you know the new Mario has three worlds on a DS player? News to me, but I'm sure if you have small people around all the time this isn't an earth shattering news flash. Oh well, needless to say my reading was curtailed.

I'm having an affair with Jack. Even though we havn't formally been introduced he's got my mind occupied with his antics. F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack is one bad boy in his lasting outing By The Sword.

Jack lives off the grid and has no identity. He's an anarchist, an urban mercenary. Jack fixes those problems the establishment can't. I love a character who walks the edge of the envelope between good and evil and battles back when I would under the same circumstances turn into a ball of goop.

In By The Sword Jack must find a legendary sword stolen (kanta) from the Hiroshima Peace Museum. Unfortunately a cabal of Yakuza ganesters, an order of mystical monks, the Kickers from previous novels, and let's not forget his supernatural nemesis Rasolom are all also trying to retrieve the sword. Talk about your bad day at the office. The bodies do pile up in this one. Jack uses his brain more than brawn. A nice cross between the original Bond and MacGiver. I'm amazed at how Jack extricates himself from his latest assignment.

Then there is the whole "otherness" and "ally" tug of war going on to boot. Unfortunately you can't really jump into the middle of this series, although F.Paul believes it can. I think they need to be read in order. BTW F.Paul has started a trilogy for young adults The reader meets Jack as a teen, his mother and father, big sister Kate, his bully of a brother Tom, even an old lady with a dog. (Yikes!) Great escapism.