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Did you study for it? Actually, the page 69 test is simply turning to page 69 in the novel and seeing if it is representative of the rest of the book. Would a reader skimming that page be inclined to read on? It doesn't have to, but it is an interesting exercise nonetheless.
Many authors have participated. Me, too! See it here.
Today is the day! We are officially published. It's a celebration! The book is in bookstores, I'm gearing up for the book launch party, all is right with the world!
Please come on the blog tour with me. I've already been to a few places. Here is the list.
BLOG TOUR:[a virtual tour wherein I post on the blogs of others or get interviewed.] September 30--Historical Boys; October 6--Crispin gets interviewed!; October 6-12-- Moments in Crime (the St. Martin's blog), October 20--Reading, Raving, and Ranting; October 25--Historical Tapestry; October 26--Edward the Second Blog; October 28--History Buff; October 28--The Rap Sheet; October 29--Poe's Deadly Daughters;Nov 3-- Reading the Past, Nov 5 & 6--The Graveyard Shift; November 9--Type M for Murder November 10--Book Bitch;November 12--It's A Crime; November 15--Writer's Plot; November 17--Working Stiffs; November 19--Jungle Red Writers; ...stay tuned! There are a few more!
And on Thursday, October 30, catch me on the radio! --8:48AM PDT/11.35 AM EDT Radio Interview on AM 1290 KZSB out of Santa Barbara, CA. The program also airs in Goleta, Carpinteria, Ventura, Thousand Oaks and Los Angeles County. In addition, the show is rebroadcast on KNRY AM 1240 in Monterey, Salinas, Santa Cruz and Pebble Beach; KNWZ-II AM 1270 in Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Indio and Rancho Mirage. The program is delayed broadcast in Australia on 99.7 FM in Queensland and to another 30+ radio stations via ComRadSat.
Well, it's been a long time. 593 years, to be exact, when the Battle of Agincourt took place on the fields of northern France outside the village of Agincourt. Henry V of England and his troops of 6,000 were up against the amazing odds of 150,000 French troops and miraculously won the day in high chivalric fashion.
Or did they?
William Shakespeare immortalized this bravery of Englishness and put in the mouth of Herny V the stirring St. Crispin's Day speech ("...we few. We happy few. We band of brothers...") But maybe there was a bit of exaggeration on the English side to make this appear more amazing than it was. And the chivalrous acts of England? Maybe not so much, though the facts of burning prisoners alive in a barn were well documented in the Gesta Henrici Quinti and didn't seem to ring unnaturally harsh on medieval sensibilities.
A conference at Agincourt is taking place where French scholars will be discussing a little revisionism (oddly, no British scholars were invited. Dites que ce n'est pas vrai!)
You can read the full story here.
Happy St. Crispin's Day, all!
Susan Higginbotham has a very funny post today, explaining how Sarah Palin is a shoe in for a medieval queen. See it here.
I miss Parrot Boy. No, he's not the latest in superheroes. He's the kid in the parrot costume that stood on the corner sign-twirling. My husband and I would see him on our carpool commute to work (the day job, don't you know). He was advertising some early bird special for a lube shop. ("Polly want a lube?") I don't know if sign-twirling is peculiar to California alone but usually some kid or retiree (or me about six months ago when I considered it when I was downsized) is stuffed into some kind of costume, stands on a street corner, inhaling smog and whatnot, and twirls these directional signs advertising (usually) new tract homes (not so much these days).
It's funny. "Westerson" would not seem to be such a hard name to spell. There's a "west" and an "er" and a "son". And yet, it's one of those quirky things where people have a hard time with it. Mostly, they want to add an "N" in the middle of it--"WesterNson". Which is sort of what it means in Danish, really: Son of West, West probably being someone from the west. Vistersen, is the original spelling before the fellows at Ellis Island put their hands in it. Lately, though, I've been seeing--and hearing, from intros--the spelling "Westerman." Now admittedly, my husband, whose name it is, has been dealing with it a lot longer than I have (though "Jeri" gets its fair use of spelling choices). So Jeri "Westerman" and even "Jen Westerman" have been sloshing around the internet on occasion. But as it happens, there is a quite successful mystery author by the name of John Westermann. So it might look a bit as if he's got another pen name, masquerading as a middle-aged woman writing medieval mysteries.
Or...is John Westermann my nom de plume? Hmm.
The blog tour is gaining momentum. Check out the schedule and come along!
This Bouchercon has been a bit different for me. Usually, I spend a lot of time going to panels and reporting on them. This time, however, my husband was with me, coloring the experience a bit as more of a holiday. Consequently, I didn't attend nearly the amount of panels I might have. (I never really go to the bars. I'm not a bar kind of gal or one to push myself into groups of people I don't know.) My husband was pretty good at this. Just by wearing his name badge and hanging around the lounge for the evening wine and snack get-together (while I was snoozing or writing), fans were coming up to him discussing my panel and he plugged away at the book, bless him. In fact, it was probably easier for him to do it when I wasn't around. Satruday evening when I finally came down to the wine thing, we had no where to sit and all the groups were pretty well-established. I think it's me. Maybe I give off a desperate vibe. I'd be happy to sit with a small group and chat, especially with booze in my hand. To me , that's not the same experience as wandering in a bar where it's hard to hear the conversation. Next time.
At any rate, we did get to a panel on Saturday, Private Eyes: Why Would Someone Want to Be A PI? (And just for those on future planning committees, I would LOVE to be on such a panel. After all, Crispin is a PI and there was a distinct lack of the female voice on that panel. HINT). It was a very interesting conversation, though, between Henry Hunsicker, Linwood Barclay, Declan Hughes, John Lutz, Dave White, Michael Wiley, discussing classic PIs and the state of the PI genre (I think it's healthy. I hope so).
There was a long lunch with some incredible crab cakes and a long dinner in the inner harbor, strolling along the quay and marveling at the tall ships. Lots of wonderful seafood. Today there will be checking out, brunching with the Anthony Awards, and a drive to a few Maryland bookstores, and then coasting into Virginia to visit with the sister and see more bookstores in DC.
But the highlight of the week for me was my panel and the signing of the actual book afterward. Did I mention I was sitting between two very popular authors for my signing? On one side, people were bringing boxes of books for the fellow to sign, and on the other, there was a neverending stream. And then there was me in between, wondering if anyone was going to buy my book and trying not to look pathetic. But then people started to bring my book and I tried to stretch it out a bit with chatting (well, there was plenty of time for it!). But even after my "crowd" died down, I was trapped behind the table. They were shoved against the wall and circled the room like a habit trail and I was inbetween these big guns. I suppose I could have crawled out under the table but that might have left the wrong impression. Instead, I hung out and waited, saw my chance, and dashed for the exit.
I'm hoping for maybe two panels next time. An Historical and a noir or PI panel would be great. The more exposure the better. The next convention is at Left Coast Crime, but that's not until March. We have the book launch to look forward to on November 8th and then a few bookstore signings. I'm REALLY looking forward to all that!
Reading yesterday's post, I realize I gave short shrift to Thursday (my jets were definitely lagging.) I wanted to say how great my panel was. I think it helped introduce me to a new group of fans, who continue to come up to me to tell me (or my husband when I'm having a snooze. He's very quickly becoming Mr. "Jeri" Westerson--he's such a good sport) how much they enjoyed the panel and how disappointed they were that we ran out of books.
I also forgot to mention all the great people I ran into: Kat Richardson, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Jeff Pierce, Meredith Cole, Shelia Connelly, Sandra Parshall, Bob Fate, Bruce Cook, S.J. Rozan, and Claire Johnson (whom I need to sit down with. Are you reading this, Claire?)
Friday was full of people and places.
First up was meeting with my great editor, Keith Kahla, were we talked about how it was all going (very well, thank you), and then it was off to a lunch with the Sisters in Crime after which most of us piled into a couple of taxis and headed to the Edgar Alan Poe House.
Situated in a less than stellar area, it's also a place most cab drivers apparently don't go. Ours circled around a bit before we spotted the rather obscure Civil War era house. You rap on the door a few times, the docent lets you in, and quickly locks it again. Poe lived in this rented house in a bad time in his life (and normally he's such a jolly fellow) when he was terribly poor. Five people were crammed into this multi-level space. Tiny rooms with low ceilings. Must have been terribly depressing. (More Poe pix at the bottom of the post).
When we returned we had time for one panel: Is A Protag a Hero? with Declan Hughes, Val McDermid, Charlaine Harris, S.J. Rozan, and Laurie King. A laugh-outloud panel, as you can imagine.
After, I took a quick snooze while my husband did a quick scmooze on my behalf in the lounge area.
Then we were on our way to the Private Eye Writers of America banquet. Two great things about that. One, it was at a place called Westminster Hall (and anything called "Westminster Hall" has to be sign of great things to come, as much of the action of my series takes place in the original Westminster Hall in the outskirts of London.) and two, this was the first time I got to go to a gathering of the PWA.
My husband and I were seated at a table with a librarian and her northern California friends, and author David Corbett and his companion, who is a filmmaker for National Geographic. A great and diverse group of people.
Bob Randisi started the Shamus awards ceremony and was suddenly interrupted by Edgar Alan Poe himself, who did a dramatic reading of The Raven. Pal Cornelia Read won for her short story and she thanked us all via cell phone. Sean Cherover won for best first novel, the award I am coveting for next year. Fingers crossed!
After the dinner, we went down below the church for a catacomb tour. Vaults, headstones, a well, creepy dark corners, and the hope of ghosts were part of this little diversion. Earlier, my husband and I visited Poe's memorial at the front of this great churchyard (Westminster Hall used to be a church) but armed with our knowledge from the Poe House, we knew he had been buried here twice. So we followed the brick path to his original grave site as well. He was moved to the front when he began to grow in popularity. Tourists couldn't find his original grave, so they moved him along with his wife and mother-in-law. That's togetherness.
A short walk back and we were back in our hotel. We made an early night of it and will have more to do Saturday. Pictures!
Hey, don't forget to catch my last two posts on Moments in Crime.
With Kat Richardson, author of the Greywalker series.
Poe's laptop.
Poe's garret.
This is Westminster Hall
Sinister picture of me by Poe's monument.
The original grave.
The catacombs
The ice coffin with glass cover, an Igloo for bodies.
The first day was just getting one's bearings and getting ready for my panel at 11:30. Ran into all sorts of people I knew, including Ross, Julia Spencer-Fleming's husband and introducing him to mine. The book room was filled to the brim and my medieval basket was on hand on the table for the silent auction.
Didn't have time for any panels prior as I headed for the green room to meet with my fellow panelists. Laurie King, our moderator, had us chit chatting a bit before we paraded to our room, and a big room it was! And filled to the capacity with people.
With six on a panel, we kept our answers brief. Our credo was to entertain, and that we did. The audience seemed to enjoy it and I got a little surprise for the signing room. I was told early on that St. Martin's wouldn't be able to get my books early for Bouchercon, but an enterprising bookstore in the dealer room--Rue Morgue--was able to wrangle a few, so I had the extreme pleasure of signing the actual book! And we sold out! (Okay, there probably weren't that many to begin with, but don't spoil the moment!)
The rest of the day seemed croweded with chatting with people, investigating a local brew pub, and then standing in the back of the ballroom where the opening ceremonies were held along with the presenting of some awards, but we were near the bar and there was a lot of chatting going on and I really couldn't hear much. A good experiment but it might be best to go back to another format.
Friday there will be more going to see things and few panels but I'll tell you what went on.
