Monday, January 19, 2009

Genreality

Starting today, I'll be part of a brand new group blog called Genreality. I'll be posting on Saturdays (beginning January 24th), joining Alison Kent, Joseph Nassise, Carrie Vaughn, Sasha White and Lynn Viehl.

Reality: the totality of real things and events

Do you want to know where ideas come from? Or what a day-in-the-life is like? What about how a person can beat back their doubts and insecurities to become a best-selling author, or how to take your ideas and make tangible stories out of them?

If you want an honest look at what it’s like to make a living as an author, and how these authors get the job done, then GENREALITY is the place to be.

Get to know these best-selling authors as they share not only their ups and downs of living the dream, but tips and advice on how you can too.

Check out www.genreality.com. Post your comments, and read about the realities of being a genre author.

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posted by Jason Pinter at 10:29 AM 0 Comments




Monday, January 05, 2009

Read Charlie Huston Now

Charlie Huston has become one of my favorite contemporary authors, and today's New York Times review of his new book, THE MYSTICS ART OF ERASING ALL SIGNS OF DEATH, just makes me salivate that much more to read it. His Hank Thompson trilogy was flat out brilliant, and THE SHOTGUN RULE was one of my favorite reads of 2007.

If you haven't read him, stop what you're doing and buy CAUGHT STEALING, SIX BAD THINGS and A DANGEROUS MAN. If vampire noir sounds cool (trust me, it is) check out the Joe Pitt casebooks. 

And as Charlie himself says on pulpnoir.com, "the paperback version of THE SHOTGUN RULE (has) come home to roost for those folks who like their literature to be flexible enough to fit the contours of their ass when stuffed in a back pocket." 

Really, can you honestly say you won't read Huston's books? If you don't, there's no way we can be friends.

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posted by Jason Pinter at 9:22 AM 0 Comments




Tuesday, November 18, 2008

School Daze

In the last two and a half years, I've participated in about a dozen book conferences and spoken on about twenty panels. I enjoy these engagements, mainly for the audience. The people who come to conventions simply love books. They travel great distances and pay for hotels, airfare and ungodly expensive meals for the chance to rub shoulders with their favorite authors (usually not me) and hear about the vague word that is 'writing.' As authors, we survive on readership.

Yesterday, though, I had a chance to speak somewhere a little different. THE MARK was selected by a high school for their book club, and they asked me to come speak to the students about the book. I've done about four or five of these kinds of talks, some high school and some middle school, an I hope I don't offend any convention attendees when I say that these are by far the most fulfilling speaking engagements I could imagine.

Aside from walking into the school's library to see between 40 and 50 high school students with well-worn copies of my book in front of them (a really humbling feeling) there's nothing quite like the genuine excitement and slight embarrassment of young readers. (How many people hesitated to ask questions of guest speakers in high school because they were embarrassed? Besides me?)

When you're at a book conference, you inevitably spend a great deal of your time talking about publishing, marketing, everything that goes on once you close the word processor, and everything you'd prefer not to deal with. But students...man, they want to know everything about the books themselves. They want to know where ideas come from. Where you get your inspiration. How much of the characters are based on you, and how many are based on other people. It's everything a writer really wants to talk about, to the hungriest audience there is. 

Students don't care about co-op. They don't give a damn about genre wars, review space, or sales meetings. All they care about is what is between those two covers, how it got there, and for some of them, how they can do it too. You can always tell who the writers are in these groups. They're the ones who ask question after question. At first tentative, hand raised just barely above their head, perhaps wondering what their fellow classmates will think of them. But as time goes on, the hands eventually raise higher and higher, they become more confident, more open. You have to purposefully call on other students sometimes because, near the end, that hand refuses to stay down.

Thank you to the great students at W.T. Clarke high school. I know there are hundreds of school around this country with students just as eager as you were to know just how books are written. And I hope you get a chance to hear about it from writers just like me, who probably enjoy speaking to you even more than you do listening to us.

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posted by Jason Pinter at 10:48 AM 1 Comments




Monday, November 17, 2008

Upcoming

Sorry for the lack of posts that aren't either BSP or "Shield" recaps, my wife and I have been living something of a nomadic existence over the last month and a half. So between a whole lot of travel, working on the next book(s) and now prepping to be out of commission for most of December, things have been a bit hectic.

There are some major developments in regards to 2009, all for the good, and information will be dispersed at an appropriate time. I can reveal that there will be two Henry Parker books published in 2009, but what's very cool is that the two books are really two halves of one epic storyline that I'm insanely excited about. I think the next Henry Parker novel, THE FURY, is the best one yet and I'm trying to top that one with the book I'm working on right now, THE DARKNESS. The story arc for these two books are thrilling to write, but along with that they are also the most personal Henry Parker novels yet. We'll learn a lot more about Henry, and at the same time he'll learn a lot more about himself. Those of you who've read the excerpt for THE FURY at the end of THE STOLEN have a glimmer of insight as to what's in store.

I consider these two books my L.A. CONFIDENTIAL in a lot of ways, not in that I could ever reach the achievement of that brilliant novel (one of my all-time favorites), but in that I tried to develop these two stories in similar fashion to how that book unfolds. It'll make sense when people read them.

So stay tuned, more information will be coming shortly. Plus recaps and analysis of the final two episodes of "The Shield." Don't think you'd get away from those.

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Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Book Pimpin'

First off, today is the last day you can read THE MARK for free online. Get to it! And if you've either emailed friends/family or pasted the widget on your website, remember to email me at jason@jasonpinter.com. Now on to the good stuff...

These three books are all new to the shelves, and if you know what's good for you you'll pick them up:


This is the fourth in the Anthony Award-winning Ceepak/
Boyle mystery series, and a terrific installment at that. It practically ripped from the headlines, and if you're new to the series, Ceepak and his partner Danny Boyle are kind of like what would happen if you teamed up Jack Reacher and Stifler. A good mystery with some laughs thrown in.










The first in a great new series featuring Texas Ranger Sarah Armstrong. Yeah, you read that right, Texas Ranger (the badass law enforcement type, not the team formerly owned by George W.).

Sarah is a great new character in the mystery genre, whip smart, caustic, loyal, and better than t
he men at their own game. The Texas setting is as authentic as they come, and Casey's a star in the True Crime genre already, imbuing her debut with the kind of research that give this book an extra oopmh.




Ok, the only mystery here is why after reading this book you might wake up naked in Central Park with a receipt from the San Diego Zoo.

Alex Bash is one of the funniest writers I've ever read, and THE IMBIBLE is not only the end-all-be-all of drinking game guides, it's legitimately one of the funniest books of the year. I mean, just look at this praise:

"A stunning debut by that guy who kept us up 'til 4am with drunken choruses of Wonder Wall..." - The Sorority Next Door

"The Imbible introduces Bash as a major new talent in the genre of 'books most likely to make you run through campus naked…'" – Officer Hernandez

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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

That One Image

When I sat down to write THE STOLEN, the third Henry Parker novel, at first I was somewhat lost. I had a very specific idea in mind for what kind of book I wanted THE MARK to be, and the idea for THE GUILTY came to me while I was still penning the first book. The ideas for my first two books were in my head early. THE STOLEN was the first book I had to write totally from scratch, without a sense of what I wanted it to be. I wanted it to be different from the first two--in some ways more chilling than thrilling--but I needed a story that would accomplish that without deviating too much from the tone and pace I'd set in the first two books.

Then an image came to mind. I can't remember exactly where I saw it, but I read a recent story about Elizabeth Smart, the young girl kidnapped by polygamists and held against her will for nine months while the nation prayed for her safety. I read about her parents, her community, how it affected everyone around her, including us. For some reason, that crime planted the seed for my story. And it grew, and one image popped into my head.

Picture a family at the dinner table. They're eating, talking, passing the food. The kids are acting up, mommy scolding them. It feels like a normal family, but there's an air of sadness about them. Then the doorbell rings.

When the mother goes to answer it, her jaw drops. She begins to cry. Standing outside the front door is her young son who disappeared years ago, vanishing without a trace. She gathers him into her arms, tears falling freely, embracing the child she thought she'd lost.

The boy hugs her back. Only he's not sure why. Because even though he's been gone, he has no memory of where he's been.

That's where my story would begin. This would raise several questions: How was the boy taken? How could he not remember the last few years? And what would it be like to suddenly be five years older, the world having grown while you did not?

Henry Parker is a young man, estranged from his parents. In many ways, Henry has chosen to forget years of his childhood. When he begins looking into the disappearance of this boy, I thought it was a beautiful symmetry: a young man who never really was a child, trying to find out the truth about a boy whose childhood was taken from him.

As much as I want my Parker novels to be page-turners, gripping crime novels, I want the readers to feel engaged with the characters even more so. Anyone can fire a gun. Anyone can investigate a crime. But the reader won't care unless they feel an attachment to the person doing it. I want each book to be somewhat of a personal quest for Henry, and in each book I want the reader to learn a little more about him.

So when the mother sees her young son on that porch, a boy who has literally and figuratively been lost for years, in my mind I saw two people standing there. 

Daniel Linwood, age 11. 

And Henry Parker.

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posted by Jason Pinter at 9:04 AM 3 Comments




Tuesday, July 29, 2008

THE STOLEN: In stores today!

Five years ago the young boy disappeared from his suburban home.
Today he came back...


Today the third Henry Parker novel officially goes on sale in bookstores across the U.S. I think the is the most chilling, and perhaps the best paced Parker novel yet, and I'm very eager to hear what reader think.

As in each of my books, there was one central image that inspired this book. And that was the picture of a mother answering her doorbell, opening it to see her child who'd vanished without a trace five years ago. This was the kind of image that chilled me, and I hope it does the same for readers. Click here to read an excerpt of THE STOLEN.

Check out my list of upcoming appearances.

PLUS: the first Henry Parker novel, THE MARK, is free online for one more week. If you're new to the Parker series and want to see how it all began, click the "Browse this Book" link below:
Want to be thanked in the acknowledgments section of a 2009 Henry Parker novel? By spreading the word about this free book you can do just that. Click here (and scroll down) to find out how.

You can buy THE STOLEN from:
or at your local bookseller

Thanks for supporting my books. I hope you enjoy THE STOLEN, and once you finish, find yourself wondering how far you'd go to protect your loved one...

Jason Pinter

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posted by Jason Pinter at 8:25 AM 0 Comments




Friday, July 25, 2008

Thanks...still 11 free days left!

I wanted to thank all the readers who've passed along the offer to read THE MARK for free online. The response has been phenomenal, and I'm already hearing from people who've started reading the book. If you haven't yet, click 'Read THE MARK' below for access to the full, uncut text of the first Henry Parker novel, THE MARK.

Quick note: If you've posted a link to the free book, or embedded the widget itself on your blog or website, PLEASE remember to email me at jason@jasonpinter.com. I've seen it on a lot of blogs, but haven't heard from the actual people and I don't want anyone to be left out.

To reiterate, there are two ways you can be thanked in the acknowledgments section of a 2009 Henry Parker novel:

1) Email five friends about this free read (with a link to www.jasonpinter.com or jasonpinter.blogspot.com). Make sure to cc/bcc me at jason@jasonpinter.com on the email. This is only so I can keep track, the emails will not be used for anything nefarious.

2) Link to www.jasonpinter.com, or embed the "Browse the Book" widget on your blog or website. Click the 'Add to your site' link on the widget for the html code. (remember to email jason@jasonpinter.com if you do this!)

Thanks for reading and spreading the word. Have a great weekend!
Jason

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posted by Jason Pinter at 9:13 AM 0 Comments




Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Read THE MARK--for free!!!

Through August 5th, you can read THE MARK online--for free! Click the "Browse this Book" link below to read the novel that's been nominated for the Barry award, the Strand Critics award and the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award--absolutely free. BONUS: scroll down to see how you can personally be thanked in a future Henry Parker novel!

Right as I’m about to die, I realize all the myths are fake. There’s no white light at the end of the tunnel. My life isn’t flashing before my eyes. All I can think about is how much I want to live.

I moved to New York City a month ago to become the best journalist the world had ever seen. To find the greatest stories never told. And now here I am–Henry Parker, twenty four years old and weary beyond rational thought, a bullet one trigger pull from ending my life.

I can’t run. Running is all Amanda and I have done for the past seventy two hours. And I’m tired. Tired of knowing the truth and not being able to tell it.

Five minutes ago I thought I had the story all figured out. I knew that both of these men–one an FBI agent, the other an assassin–wanted me dead, but for very different reasons.

If I die tonight–more people will die tomorrow.

And if you like what you read, check out the other books in the critically acclaimed Henry Parker series:

"Parker is a captivating and complex protagonist." --Publishers Weekly











"A brilliantly conceived, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride." --Chicago Tribune











Spread the word and be thanked for your efforts!

I want as many people as possible to read THE MARK for free. And I want readers to know how much I appreciate their efforts.

If you link to the free offer or embed the widget on your website/blog, or email five friends alerting them to this free read (and cc or bcc me at jason@jasonpinter.com on the email), you'll be personally thanked in the acknowledgments section of a Henry Parker novel to be released in 2009. So to reiterate, there are two ways to be thanked:

1) Email five friends about this free read (with a link to www.jasonpinter.com or jasonpinter.blogspot.com). Make sure to cc/bcc me at jason@jasonpinter.com on the email (this is only so I can keep track, the emails will not be used for anything nefarious).

2) Link to www.jasonpinter.com or embed the "Browse the Book" widget on your blog or website. Click the 'Add to your site' link on the widget for the html code.

Then see your name in the acknowledgments page of a 2009 Henry Parker novel.

Please pass this along to friends, family, and anyone you know who's looking for a good summer read. And I sincerely hope you enjoy the first Henry Parker novel.
Jason Pinter

P.S.  A very sincere thanks to my publisher for making this happen.

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posted by Jason Pinter at 12:38 AM 9 Comments




Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Hiatus...Over?

That remains to be seen, but with the publication of my third Henry Parker novel, THE STOLEN, just (gack!) 13 days away, I will be posting on a more regular basis. My month+ long hiatus (during which I still wrote three posts, sigh) was motivated by several factors, not the least of which was that my next novel was due and I needed to devote every extra word to the manuscript. Now that the book is in production, I have a little breathing room. I'm already at work on the next, next Henry Parker novel (which has an opening scene that literally gave me the shivers writing). And I've had an idea for a YA series rattling around for a while that I'm hoping to start fleshing out.

I will have two books coming out again in 2009, and I'm VERY excited for these, for reasons that it's probably too early to discuss. Suffice it to say readers will learn much more about Henry's past, as he'll be forced to confront some demons that never really died.

But back to the present. I'm very eager to hear the reaction to THE STOLEN. Whereas my first two books likely fell into the "thrillers with elements of mystery" camp, THE STOLEN is more "mystery with elements of thriller." You might say Potato, Potatoe, but it did feel like the book had a different tone while I was writing it. I think it's the most tightly-paced of my books, and there is definitely a real life theme that runs parallel to the story that I hope readers pick up on.

And, last but CERTAINLY not least, my publisher and I will be offering something very cool beginning July 22nd. So keep your eyes tuned to this page, because just like the Double Indy Whopper at BK, it'll only be available for a very limited time...

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posted by Jason Pinter at 9:55 AM 3 Comments




Saturday, May 31, 2008

THE MARK is nominated for the Barry Award!

I learned late last night (Friend: "Congrats on your nomination!" Me: "What nomination?") that THE MARK was nominated for the Barry Award for "Best Paperback Original."

Needless to say I'm thrilled about the nom, especially since I was at Bouchercon last year when Sean Doolittle's terrific book THE CLEANUP won in this category. This is the third award THE MARK has been nominated for, though I'm hardly expecting a trip up to the podium since the competition includes Megan Abbott's QUEENPIN, which has already picked up an Edgar. But it really is an honor just to be nominated, especially since the PBO category includes more than debut authors.

Congrats as well to fellow Killer Year members Sean Chercover, Marcus Sakey and Brett Battles who were also nominated for Barrys (Barries? Barry's?). Way to go guys!

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posted by Jason Pinter at 10:04 AM 6 Comments




Friday, May 30, 2008

Forgotten Books

Patti Abbott recently asked me to think of a book that I consider "forgotten," and to write about it. One book instantly came to mind. And even though the author is hardly an unknown, I consider this book an unheralded masterpiece. So here's my Friday forgotten book:

Simply put, this book captivated me growing up. When I dreamed of being a screenwriter and director, this was the book I dreamed of adapting. Written while King was still a college freshman and published years later under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, the story is deceptively simple. It centers around a young man, Ray Garraty, who has entered the country's premier sporting event, The Long Walk. The walk consists of 100 participants, all young men in their late teens to early twenties. The rules are simple. You must continue walking. You are given skimpy provisions and no bathroom breaks. If you fall below four miles an hour, you are warned. After three warnings, you are killed.

The last man alive wins.

All along the Walk's hundreds of miles, spectators turn out to cheer the entrant from their state. Garraty himself is "Maine's Own." Perched alongside the trail are tanks and caravans with heavily-armed soldiers. Most of the spectators are there to cheer. Many are there, however, in the hopes that a boy will fall below 4 mph for the last time in front of them.

The book is harrowing in that it both serves as a horrific harbinger of the reality-obsessed world in which we've become (the book was published in 1979--ironically the year I was born), and a fascinating study of human nature. It is a a mirror of the all but anonymous life of young men, and the bloodthirsty nature of our society.

It is fascinating to watch as these 100 young men--all strangers at first--form tight bonds despite knowing that all but one of them face will die by the end of the race. At first they are enemies, hoping to see their nemeses fall in the name of sport. Hoping to see them fall because that means one less person to outlast. But as more and more die at the hands of the brutal military overseeing the Walk, the more solidarity the boys develop, the more defiant they become. We flash back to various points in Ray's life. His mother, his father, the girl he loves but is too tentative to express his feelings toward. These remind us that despite the fact that we only get to know a handful of the participants in the race, each of the boys, like Garraty, has a home. A family who loves them. A family that will almost certainly see them die.

The ending is simply harrowing and heart-breaking. And though I've been a King fan my whole life, this is the book I remember most vividly. This is the book that haunted me most after turning the last page. And though King is hardly a writer that will ever be forgotten, this book deserves to sit at the pinnacle of anything he's ever created.

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posted by Jason Pinter at 9:10 AM 8 Comments




Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Best (and worst) blurbs

When a book, especially a first novel, is published, the author, agent and editor bend over backwards in an attempt to secure endorsement from other authors (hopefully highly recognizable ones) in order to entice people to buy it and stores to stock many copies. 

I'm fairly new to the blurb process, having only blurbed one book in my nascent career. And that blurb was incredibly difficult to write. You want a blurb to speak effusively about the book in question, but not so much that it becomes over the top (and readers become skeptical). Authors ideally want a blurb to contain two things: 

1) a pull quote about the book ("The Willow Tree is a phantasmagoric treat!"
2) a pull quote about the author ("Bill Fester is phantasmagoric!") These are desirable because they can be used on several books.

Anyway, a newspaper article got me thinking about the best and worst of the lot. I remember picking up Warren Ellis's CROOKED LITTLE VEIN and seeing this quote:

"Stop it, you're scaring me." --William Gibson

Now that's a great quote. I'd love to know some oft he best, worst and silliest blurbs you've ever seen. Here's a good one to start things off:

The London Spectator on CLEAR by Nicola Barker:
"The brilliance of Barker's style is beyond perfection."

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posted by Jason Pinter at 1:40 PM 7 Comments




Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Coming July 29th
Five years ago the boy vanished without a trace. 
Today he came back.

Five years after he disappeared, young Daniel Linwood returned to his suburban home for dinner as though he'd never left. It's a blessing for both his family and their community. And I've snagged the exclusive interview.

But it turns out Daniel is just one of a string of abducted children who have mysteriously returned to their families with no memory of their lost years. Some people want me to leave it be. Some want me to simply let the healing process begin. But these wounds are deeper than anyone realizes.

To get the story on these bizarre kidnappings, I need the help of the one woman who owes me nothing. I've got to find answers before another life is snatched away from sight and time and memory. But doing so means we could be the next ones to go....

* * *

"Pinter's ambitious third Henry Parker novel opens as Daniel Linwood, 11, suddenly reappears on his family's front porch five years after being kidnapped. Parker, a young but seasoned New York Gazette reporter, snags an exclusive interview with Daniel and his overjoyed mother. But Daniel appears to have no recollection of his missing years, and something he absentmindedly says in the interview deeply rattles Parker—convincing him there's a sinister undercurrent to this feel-good story. Working with his ex-girlfriend, Legal Aid Society lawyer Amanda, Parker meets resistance from law enforcement officials, a popular politician and even his own editor. What he gradually uncovers involves seemingly disparate individuals with unexpected motives, desperate to keep their activities a secret. Parker's first-person voice dominates: it lists between Parker as gritty, desensitized journalist and young romantic who wants little more than to spend the rest of his life with one woman. The emotional dichotomy makes Parker a captivating and complex protagonist, one whose pithy observations about New York are dead on. Pinter's chunky plot, rapid pacing and credible dialogue do the rest."
--Publishers Weekly

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posted by Jason Pinter at 8:58 AM 2 Comments




Wednesday, May 07, 2008

New Website!

I finally went and redesigned my prehistoric website, and the fruits of that labor can now be viewed at www.jasonpinter.com. There are still a few bugs and tweaks that need fixing, but I like the look a lot and it's a whole lot cleaner (and doesn't look like it was made by a third grader with a low attention span).

Let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions!

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posted by Jason Pinter at 8:27 AM 2 Comments




Friday, March 07, 2008

Writer Unboxed Interview: 
less filling, now online!

I recently did an interview with Writer Unboxed, the first part of which can be read here. Along with my road to publication, I talk about the first book I ever tried to have published back in 2003. Which, in light of the recent fake memoir scandals, is pretty darn interesting. 

It's called THE REAL LIFE OF JOHN GILLIS, and it's about a man whose life is manipulated by a literary agent to make his memoir more "salable." I'm thinking about posting some of it. Perhaps a few chapters. Maybe even the whole book.

I never considered it a novel about the publishing industry, but more about how lives these days are packaged, distorted, and the lengths people will go to in order to make lives more commercially appealing. I don't think it's a great novel--it's kind of a comedy/suspense mishmash--but I do think it's more timely than ever. And I still think the opening line of John Gillis's fake memoir might be my favorite I've ever written.

My name is John Gillis, and my life is in syndication...

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posted by Jason Pinter at 9:07 AM 1 Comments




Monday, March 03, 2008

That Shiver Moment

When it came time to begin my fourth Henry Parker novel (THE STOLEN has been in the can a few months), it took a little longer than usual to come up with a story that I liked. Then, when it finally hit,  I knew it was right. I had the story for book 4.

I wrote the first two chapters, which would be included as an excerpt in my third book, THE STOLEN. Chapter two ends with a moment that, when I describe it or think about it, makes me shiver. I'm not going to give anything away since THE STOLEN hasn't come out yet, but it made me think about my favorite 'shiver moments.'

A Shiver Moment is that moment in a book that literally sends a jolt of electricity down your spine, eliciting some sort of physical reaction just from reading the words on the page. It can be violent, sexual, beautiful, just something done or written in a way in which the words create a sort of psychosomatic reaction.

I think there's a shiver moment in each of my books. In THE MARK and THE GUILTY, the shiver moments each occur a little ways into the book. But I knew what they were and knew when they would happen when I began writing the books. I felt if these moments made me shiver (and I knew they were coming!) they would hopefully make the reader do the same. In the fourth book, the Shiver Moment comes right at the beginning. And it might be my favorite one yet.

This made me think about other 'shiver moments' in my favorite books:

--When Chief Bromden says, "It's the truth even if it didn't happen" in Ken Kesey's ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST.

--When Jimmy Marcus confronts Dave Boyle in Dennis Lehane's MYSTIC RIVER (I just shivered typing this--seriously).

--When Georgie meets Pennywise in Stephen King's IT.

--When Carl realizes the truth behind Zora's motives in Zadie Smith's ON BEAUTY.

--The very last sentence in Charlie Huston's A DANGEROUS MAN (more powerful if you've read the whole Hank Thompson trilogy).

These are a few of the times when reading a book where the words or actions had such an impact on me that they gave me a "shiver moment."

What are some of your favorite Shiver Moments?

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posted by Jason Pinter at 8:29 AM 3 Comments




Wednesday, January 09, 2008

One Step Closer
(and a movie recommendation)

This morning, I sent in the final manuscript for my third novel, THE STOLEN. This book has been consuming pretty much every free moment over the last few months, both because I had some catching up to do during my job transition, but because as I've said before, this was the first novel I've written in which I didn't already have the plot in mind well ahead of time. 
In the end I think this mighty actually be my tightest plotted book yet. I would describe THE MARK and THE GUILTY as thriller with mystery elements, while I would describe THE STOLEN as a mystery with thriller elements. Perhaps a small distinction, but I think when you read it you'll see what I mean. I hope this will keep the books and characters fresh.

And now that THE STOLEN is in, I have a little time to think about THE GUILTY, which hits stores in just seven weeks. I'm very eager to hear what people think about my second book. While I am proud of THE MARK, I'm also aware there was significant room to grow. THE GUILTY has a more complicated story, required far more research, and I think could even be a little polarizing (in a good way, I think).

I do plan to write longer posts in the near future, right now I need to recharge the batteries a little bit. Especially because work on book 4 is looming. And we all know there's no rest for the e wicked.

Speaking of which, that line made me think of Peter Jackson's vastly underrated ghost flick "The Frighteners." Made in between his low budget gorefests "Dead Alive" and "Bad Ta
ste" and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "The Frighteners" stars Michael J. Fox as a ghost hunter who, due to the traumatic suffered after the death of his wife, can communicate with the dead. Now when you say the words "Michael J. Fox" and "paranormal comedy" you might not run out to the video store, but trust me, this is a ghost story with scares, heart, humor and brains that actually holds up pretty well. I saw this in the theaters, and was shocked at how much I liked it. Not to mention it's the crowning moment of Jake Busey's career, playing homicidal lunatic Johnny Charles Bartlett.

Bartlett on being the most prolific serial killer in history: "That Russian cannibal creep is telling everybody he did fifty plus. That reflects badly on both of us, Patty. This record should be held by an American!"

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posted by Jason Pinter at 1:08 PM 2 Comments




Monday, December 10, 2007

THE STOLEN

I haven't discussed this book, my third, much because frankly it always seemed so far off. I'd spent so much time on THE GUILTY--writing the book, going over proofs, preparing for publication--that until recently it seemed strange that I was in the midst of writing book #3. This book was a challenge to write, mainly because I was working a full time job while being contracted for two books per year. I'd figured out the plots for my first two books--THE MARK and THE GUILTY--before I'd even sold one. So in a way this was the first totally fresh book I've written under contract. In order to meet my August publication date for this book, I've been pulling some major late nights and writing 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, and even 5,000 words a day. And these words had to fit into a tight story structure, since I wanted the pacing and feel for this book to be a little different. Fast paced, yet taking a little longer to develop, so the end, I felt, had more of an emotional impact.

Well, as of this morning THE STOLEN is with my editor and my agent. It's an odd feeling, since in a few weeks the whole process will start anew. Going over edits, page proofs, galleys, the whole deal. And much of that will likely take place before THE GUILTY even hits stores. I'll be working on promoting THE GUILTY while my mind is on the nuts and bolts of THE STOLEN, not to mention working on the manuscript for my fourth book. 

I'm extremely pleased with how THE GUILTY turned out. I honestly feel it's a better book than THE MARK. While I wrote THE GUILTY, there was one phrase I literally on just about every page: KSM. Or: Keep Sh*t Moving.

While I love THE MARK, I'm aware that it takes a little while to warm up the engine. Mainly because I wanted the reader to care about Henry. If he was thrust into the action on page one, the reader would be rooting for a cartoon character. I didn't want that. I felt the build up was worth it come pay off. In THE GUILTY, I was able to build upon what we know of Henry and the other characters in his world, embellishing their stories while wrapping them in a much bigger and more intricate story. And I was able to put things in motion right off the bat. 

I've always been intrigued by the "what if" storyline. Where the plot is set in motion by two seemingly unrelated events thrust into conflict. What if this happened here...THE GUILTY has one of those "What if" storylines, and I think it's excited as hell.

Now my first two books I consider to be thrillers with mystery aspects. THE STOLEN I consider to be more of a mystery with thriller aspects. That may sound like splitting hairs, but I could feel the difference while I was writing it. I think fans of the first two will enjoy it, but it feels fresh too. There's more actual 'mystery' than in the first two books, yet I also feel it might be the best-paced story of the three. 

In the meantime, just 78 days remain until THE GUILTY hits stores everywhere. I can't wait. And then things began anew. There's always work to be done.

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posted by Jason Pinter at 12:53 PM 2 Comments