BLACK WATER launches today!

BLACK WATER officially launches TODAY with all sorts of fun and festivities.

What do you do at a cyber party, you ask? Well, no party would be complete without prizes, and I’d like you to enter my Black Water Giveaway Contest. It starts today and runs through June 15. I’ll be giving away a variety of books and a $50 Amazon gift certificate. Enter the contest by clicking here.

YOU don’t have to dress up for a cyber party. You can relax and chat with other guests online. And ask questions about BLACK WATER—anything you’d like to know. I’ll be talking a fair bit about crimes involving money, which my central character Pat Tierney loves to try her hand at solving. Some of your fellow partygoers will probably have a lot to say about this as well.

I’ll also be discussing financial crimes today on MYSTERY MAVEN CANADA, the first stop on my seven-day blog tour. Mystery Maven is one of Canada’s most influential crime fiction blog sites, and I’m thrilled to be Linda Wiken’s guest today. Please visit by clicking here, read my post, leave your comments and check out the rest of this marvellous site.

My BLACK WATER RELEASE blog tour has the following itinerary, and I’ll be updating this list every day of the tour:

1. Saturday May 25, Melodie Campbell — Author. As the Pages Turn. And an interview with The Dark Phantom.

2. Sunday May 26, Diane Rapp’s Quicksilver Novels.  Interview in The National Books Examiner. And Straight From the Author’s Mouth.

3. Monday May 27, Michael McCann’s The Overnight Bestseller.  Alison Bruce’s blog. Anne K. Edward’s website. And an interview on She Writes.

4. Tuesday May 28, The Mesdames of Mayhem. The Book Marketing Network. And Beyond the Books.

5. Wednesday May 29, Kat Flannery’s Kat Scratch, Blogger News and The Writer’s Life.

6. Thursday May 30, Sharon A. Crawford Author, American Chronicle and Blogcritics.

By the way, BLACK WATER is selling for 99 cents for just a few days. Get yourself an e-copy at this super-low price by clicking here.

#RosemaryMcCracken #mystery #womensleuths #BlackWater #suspense

Melodie Campbell on writing comedy

My guest today is Melodie Campbell, who has just launched her new fantasy novel, Rowena and the Dark Lord. It’s the second in the Land’s End time-travel series that features plucky Rowena, a thoroughly modern heroine in an archaic land. Filled with swashbuckling warriors, breathless pacing and wonderful humour, these books are fun reads. Maybe that’s because Melodie got her start writing comedy.

I hope you giggled at that line.  I think it’s one of my best.  And yes, I am a tad fond of eating.  In fact, you could list it as my major hobby.

My name is Melodie Campbell, and I write comedies.  (This is a self-help group, right?)  Sure I’d like to kick the habit and write a ‘real’ book with literary merit.

Okay, so that’s a lie.  Leave Rowena and the Dark Lord behind?  Not write a sequel?  I’m starting to hyperventilate.  Actually, I love writing comedies.  It’s in my blood.

<crowd gasps here>

A GREEK MASK

Some people are born beautiful.  But most of us aren’t and we look for ways to survive the slings and arrows of life.  Sometimes we choose to hide behind a mask.  That Greek Comedy mask was the one I picked way back.

As a means of self-preservation in the cruel world of teenagers, I looked for the “funny.”  More often than not, I made fun of myself.  This was easy to do.  I knew the target well and there was a wealth of material.  And it didn’t hurt anyone else, so people liked it.

When I left school and found a “real” job, I started writing stand-up on the side.  I rarely delivered it – usually I wrote for others. That led to a regular newspaper humour column, and more.

So when it came to writing fantasy novels, I fell back into “safe mode.”  Write it funny.

IT’S AN ADDICTION

Worse than chocolate and foreign Counts. Comedy writers take a situation, and ask themselves “what’s the worst thing that could happen now?” And then, what’s the funniest?

But why do it?  Why does an otherwise sane individual write zany and some might say silly comedy, and risk the inevitable hit from critics who say your book is without great literary merit?

One reason, and one reason only: many readers love it.  Their comments and reviews are heart-lifting.  I’ve lightened their day with adventure and laughter, and in some cases given them a story they can escape into, over and over again. It’s all about readers.

And here’s an excerpt from Rowena and the Dark Lord:

“Did you volunteer for this job?”

“Yes.” Howard was now relieving himself off to my right.

“Why?” My voice was perhaps a little harsh.

“To get out of fighting, of course. Everyone says there’s going to be a big battle. It seemed like a good time to leave the castle.”

I rolled my eyes. So now I had a complete newbie horse dude who was also a coward to look after on this trip. Howard the Coward. Lucky me.

“Can we sit for a bit? I’m exhausted.” He plunked down on the grass. Then he sprang up again.

“Ow! Ow! Ow!” He ran around in circles.

“What is it?” I watched in amazement.

“A bee! I sat on a bee.”

“Are you sure it’s a bee?” I said, crossing my arms. “Maybe it was a wasp.”

“Does it matter?” He was jumping up and down.

“Well, if it’s a wasp, you’re okay. If it’s a bee, the stinger will still be stuck in you. So when you sit down again…”

“Ahhh!! Take it out! Get it out!” He lifted his tunic and bent over.

Ick.

I turned away. “I am so not doing that.”

 * * *

Melodie Campbell achieved a personal best this year when Library Journal compared her to Janet Evanovich.  She has over 200 publications, including 100 comedy credits, 40 short stories, and 4 novels. She has won 6 awards for fiction. www.melodiecampbell.com

Enter for a $50 Amazon gift certificate and 15 book Giveaway!  Free!  Deadline is May 10 www.funnygirlmelodie.blogspot.ca

Rowena and the Dark Lord is now available at the special introductory price of .99! You can buy it here.

And the book that started it all, Rowena Through the Wall, the first adventure in the Land’s End series, is available here.

#ImajinBooks #RowenaandtheDarkLord #timetravel #MelodieCampbell #romance #fantasy

Hats off to librarians!

I don’t know where Canadian authors would be without the wonderful people who run our public libraries.

Last month, I joined fellow Crime Writers of Canada authors at a talk at a public library in Hamilton, and we will return to another Hamilton library in May.

For tonight’s event, the Walter Stewart’s Janet Nanos posted flyers around the library, at other nearby libraries, at a mystery bookshop and she had the talk listed in the community newspaper.

The result was a great turnout of readers and writers. And Janet had a display of Canadian crime fiction novels — by Gail Bowen, Howard Shrier, Sean Chercover, Peter Robinson, Maureen Jennings, Giles Blunt, to name just a few — out for them to view. The branch already had a copy of Safe Harbor on its shelves, and I believe she ordered a few more. And The Whole She-Bang somehow found its way to the branch, when it wasn’t there the last time I checked.

Up in Ontario cottage country where I spend much of my time in the warmer months, Catherine Coles, branch services librarian with the Haliburton County Public Library, added Safe Harbor to the library’s collection last year. And she invited me onto Haliburton County Reads, the weekly radio book program she co-hosts on Canoe FM.

Librarians are a terrific resource for Canadian writers. They support us, promote us and seem to enjoy reading our works.

We really appreciate them!

#RosemaryMcCracken #HaliburtonCountyPublicLibrary #TheWholeSheBang #HaliburtonCountyReads #SafeHarbor #TorontoPublicLibraries