Sunday Salon, 31 May 2009

Glorious day here for the last day of autumn- I know, for most of you nearly the beginning of summer. I've already seen posts from the northern hemisphere crowing about the beginning of summer holidays. Here it is the season of heaters, electric blankets, warming soups, short days, and supposedly rain, although we are not doing all that well in that department as usual.

I've been thinking this week about how I keep up-to-date with news about the crime fiction world that I'm interested in. I spend a lot of time keeping the unread bits under control with constant daily doses.
I have "news" coming in from so many quarters like the Yahoo groups that I belong to:

• oz_mystery_readers
• 4MA - reading Yahoo group
• Murder &Mayhem - Yahoo group
• Mystery Readers Cafe - Yahoo group

and I try to add to the noise there too, by contributing as well.
I also belong to a number of "projects" like this Sunday Salon one.
And then there are the RSS feeds from about 100 blogs which I monitor via RSS Reader, and share with you on Crime Fiction Journeys.
Recently I joined Twitter and now follow 134 people. I've begun to get a bit selective there though, and I've removed fopm my list a few people who seem to have a lot of conversations that don't really relate to reading.
And finally there's the Friendfeed room: Crime and Mystery Fiction where some "real" conversations occur with a smaller number of people.

All of that takes some keeping up with and a day or two away from my computer can engender a real feeling of crisis.

I use all of these sources to find out what I could/should be reading, who has been listed for what award and so on.

This week's posts

• Will you attend a writer/reader "convention" this year?
  
• Completed in May 2009
• Review: UNSEEN, Mari Jungstedt
• What does it take to stay in the top 100?
• Review, SEARCH THE DARK, Charles Todd
• 3 Acts of Murder coming to ABC TV
• My top 5 reads so far in 2009
• Review: THE BAD POLICEMAN, Helen Hodgman
• Considering Award Nominees

Breaking News:

• No female authors on Miles Franklin short list
• Theorin wins Nordic Glass Key
• Upfield's 3 Acts of Murder premiers 14 June
• Winner of International Man Booker Prize announced
• Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 23-26 July

This week's poll asked:
15 people participated and for a while I thought THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO was going to be the only one people would pick. The poll result does point out the problem with many awards, that very rarely are all those on the short list universally well known.
I should have asked if anyone had read them all - but no-one commented that they had.

This week's poll: How many writer/reader conventions will you attend this year?
Do pop over, vote, and leave a comment on why you voted as you did. Tell us where you will found.

Currently Reading

• now - SILENT IN THE GRAVE, Deanna Raybourn
• then - RITUAL, Mo Hayder
• after that - THE MYSTERIOUS MR QUIN, Agatha Christie
• in the car - WATERLOO SUNSET, Martin Edwards