The Shamus Sampler II is now available on Kindle. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KQFYV4A
I have a Christmas story in there collection. IFHC is not your normal tale of reindeer and sugar plums. This one has bad words and bloodshed.
My latest short story, IFHC, has been accepted for inclusion in the second Shamus Sampler, an anthology of private eye stories by Jochem Vandersteen.
When I started this story, the intent was to find a Christmas market. IFHC stands for "I f***ing hate Christmas." Christmas markets, though, tend to want stories that are soft and warm, even if there is a murder involved. It soon became clear that IFHC was not in that category. There's a lot of blood and bad words in IFHC. I also considered the Murder on the Beach anthology, but the story came in at 8,500 words. Even after cutting it down to 7,500, it was still 2,000 words over the limit. It's still longer than the Vandersteen's preferred length, but he was kind enough to take it anyway.
I don't know when the anthology comes out. It will be an ebook on Kindle.
Chrizette Bayman of Just Reading for Fun recently reviewed The Rules. Check it out here!
Bill Crider and Reavis Z. Wortham were kind enough to read The Splintered Paddle and give me their comments. Thanks Bill. Thanks Reavis.
Mark Troy's The Splintered Paddle is a riveting novel of vengeance in the Aloha State. Clean, hard-edged prose, a complex plot, and some carefully planted surprises. Ava Rome is a tough private-eye with a difference. Check it out.
— Reavis Z. Wortham, author of The Right Side Of Wrong.What a ride! Robert B. Parker’s legacy lives on with Mark Troy’s Ava Rome mystery, The Splintered Paddle.Splintered Paddle is a one-sitting read that crackles with energy and sparkles with Hawaiian personality. Troy’s characters are beautifully sketched and his dialogue is rich with the language of the island people who, despite today’s modern way of life, still hold true to the customs of their ancestors. When you finish, you’ll say mahalo for such a fast-paced, terrific read.
Here it is, the cover for The Splintered Paddle, coming in June 2014. If you can't wait to read Ava's exploits, leave me a comment about the cover and a valid email address and I will send you a Kindle edition of The Rules.
Who said it? The first two people who can identify the speaker of the following quote will receive a Kindle version of The Rules.
"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings."
Leave your answer in the comment box or email it to mark at marktroy dot net. Make sure I have your email address so I can send it to you.
If Mary Fran's book club is reading a book in which food or libations are mentioned, they will try to serve them when they discuss the book. When they did Rick Riordan's Big Red Tequila, they served both Big Red mixed with tequila (a really awful drink) and Tres Navarre's favorite margarita.
I got to thinking about some of my favorite series characters who have signature drinks. For James Bond, of course, it was a vodka martini, shaken, not stirred. For Spenser, it was beer, beer, beer, usually Rolling Rock, but sometimes Amstel, Blue Moon, or Sam Adams. The Wire's McNulty drinks Jameson. (Once he was offered a Bushmill, but he waved it off calling it a Protestant whisky. When the bartender told him it was free, however, McNulty relented.) Travis McGee drank Plymouth Gin.
In The Splintered Paddle, coming out in June, Ava Rome drinks vodka and tonic. However, I think that in the next books, she ought to have a signature drink. I am open to suggestions. Ava is a private eye in her early thirties, single, living in Honolulu. She has travelled most of the world in the Army.
What would be her favorite drink? If you have an idea, leave it in the comments. Give me a few lines about the drink and why she would like it. Tell me where I can find the recipe, or if it is a brand of liquor, tell me what makes this brand so good.
If you have a Kindle and include your email address, I will send you a copy of The Rules. I promise to try all the drinks mentioned. If I like one, I might turn Ava onto it.
The giveaway ends on Thanksgiving.
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