Every day is Read a Book Day at Answer Girl headquarters. At the moment I have four different books going, which is on the high side even for me — two for work, one for Gaslight, and one for my own entertainment. Oh, and the manuscript I'm finishing a third pass on, which would count as five.
I don't see books as any kind of escape from life; instead, books are the frames I use to look at the world. Books — even and especially novels — explain things to me and show me truths I don't have the experience or insight to figure out on my own. Books are both records and dreams, and as an earlier incarnation of this blog discussed, books are the way I keep track of my own history. But most people don't measure their lives in books, and the question of how people decide what to read has created entire industries. My own corner of the Internet has been roiled lately by the revelation that some authors have been gaming the system in sleazy ways, using false identities not only to praise their own books but also to trash competitors' books in online forums. It matters because the Internet has become many readers' primary source of word-of-mouth reading recommendations, as Amazon, BN.com, Goodreads and LibraryThing have moved into the roles once served by neighborhood booksellers and hometown librarians.
I've been working on this book with Messrs. Connolly and Burke since the beginning of this year, and am proud of the result. It lands in the United States on October 2, just in time for Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, but you can pre-order it here. I promise not to do too much promotion here between now and then.
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