I never much liked circuses when I was little – it was those creepy clowns trying too hard to be funny. And as for carnivals, I was traumatised for life when I was a young newspaper reporter by having to edit pagesandpagesandpages (yes, you get the idea) of pictures and results from the west country carnival circuit which is seriously cut-throat when it comes to the winning floats.
Anyway, never mind that, we've got a much nicer carnival calling in at Dead Guy this week . . . One with tasteful floats and jolly nice people on them! Ladies and gentleman, please give a big hand to the Carnival of the Criminal Minds.
We've picked up the baton from those lovely gals over at Jungle Red Writers. And thank you to the equally lovely Barbara Fister for inviting us to host the gathering this week.
So what is it? It's a chance to have a nose around other crime fiction blogs and see what they're nattering about. And half the fun, of course, is picking up some cool new places to hang out in.
I'm a fussy blogger, so to speak . . . I swore blind for yonks that I'd never blog because no one in the universe was the least interested in my daily plod through how I'd had a row with my boss and how my train was 45 minutes late. But yay for the specialist blogs and that silver-tongued Jeff Cohen for enticing me into the water!
So I find that my first port of call tends to be the very focussed blogs. Karen Meek's excellent EuroCrime provides a one-stop shop for all of us who are addicted to UK and European crime fic. Karen keeps a beady eye on all manner of media outlets for news, and keeps her site updated often.
And then there's the very charming Declan Burke over at Crime Always Pays which has Irish crime fiction bang to rights, guv. I'm very fond of his off-beat interviews with writers – this week he's shining his lamp into the eyes of the excellent RS Downie, author of the equally off-beat Ruso series.
It's not a conventional blog, but there's blogging, reviews and interviews at AustCrimeFiction which is a good 'un for what's going on Down Under. I've been checking up there more than usual of late, thanks to their new snapshot interviews.
My next two must-reads are from two of the great characters in the genre. What I like about them is they call it how they see it. So if you want some good, old-fashioned straight talking, you need to hurry over to Andi Shechter's Hedgehog where she takes off at the kneecaps those poor, hard done-by writers who whine that it's sooooo difficult to attend conventions. Andi, one of the most experienced convention organisers around, speaks up trenchantly for the fan.
Over at Elaine Flinn's Evil E she's pondering what writers have to do to stay in the public eye. Oh, and she's unleashed her team of interviewers onto Otto Penzler . . .
If I had to pick my favourite bloggers, though, it would be those contrasting partners in crime Ken Bruen and Louise Ure. They're part of that large and lively gang over at Murderati which is a must-read blog. I have to admit that Tuesday is my favourite day there when two incisive and lyrical wordsmiths share the duties. And please join me in leaning heavily on Ken and Louise to publish their blog entries in a book – I want them recorded for posterity!
OK, the carnival's coming to an end here today – all the candy floss and popcorn has been scoffed, the costumes are looking a tad droopy and the make-up is starting to run! So let's hand over swiftly to Bill Crider at the excellent Pop Culture Magazine.
Thank you to Carnival of the Criminal Minds for having us!
