Comment to Win Two Novels Written by One of the Best Selling Authors of All Time

Do you know the name Erle Stanley Gardner? Maybe not. It is likely you have heard of one of his famous protagonist: the famous Defense Attorney Perry Mason--known both in book and from TV as portrayed by Raymond Burr. Gardner was proclaimed to be the king of American mystery fiction. He was a criminal lawyer who filled his mystery masterpieces with intricate plots with more twists than a wood screw. Gardner wrote novels, short stories, radio dramas, and articles on forensics and travel. He published 134 novels and 15 non-fiction books under his own name and A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray and Robert Parr. On Wednesday, we will post a blog on Gardner's "Theory of an Unstatic Plot" which helped turn his mind into a "plot machine."

Meanwhile, you have the chance to win two Perry Mason novels contained in one book: The Case of the Caretaker's Cat & The Case of the Perjured Parrot:

The Case of the Caretaker's Cat (1935) – "Charles Ashton is a cranky old caretaker with one friend in the world: a Persian cat. Samuel Laxter, his new boss, wants him to get rid of the feline. A simple case . . . on the surface. But when Perry Mason gets involved, there's suddenly more at stake. Like some priceless diamonds. A million dollars. And two gruesome murders. Only Mason with the invaluable help of Della Street and Paul Drake, can crack The Case of the Caretaker's Cat."

The Case of the Perjured Parrot (1939) – "Fremont Sabin, an eccentric millionaire, is found murdered in his country cabin. The only witness: his pet parrot. The bird keeps saying, "Helen, put down that gun." But is a parrot's testimony valid in a court of law? And what's Perry Mason to do when he discovers that the dead man had two wives named Helen? In one of his most ingenious and entertaining cases, Perry Mason puts Della Street and Paul Drake to work to help solve The Case of the Perjured Parrot."

How do you win? To enter the contest, simply leave a comment or question on The Writers' Lens blog between now (Nov. 28) and midnight December 3, 2011. Please include your email so we can reach you if you win. The more comments you leave, the greater your chance of winning the contest. If you refer others to The Writers' Lens who mention your name in their comments, we'll enter your name again in our random number generator along with theirs, also increasing your chances at winning! The winner will be chosen after midnight on Saturday and the announcement made on Sunday, December 4th. Good luck and comment often.

Thanks in advance for your comments, and good luck!

For more about David Alan Lucas, please visit www.davidalanlucas.com

Shopper alert: SCBWI helps with book list

If you’re reading this and not out shopping on Black Friday, don't despair. Instead of fighting those crowds, take a few minutes to see if any of these children’s books may help round out your holiday gift list. I added some of these to my shopping list while I was at the Nov. 12 conference in Chicago for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

Yep, I’m a new member and it was my first SCBWI conference. It was envigorating to be around more than 200 folks who are interested in creating books kids will want to read. In our packet was a list of books from each of the editors who spoke at the conference. Be sure to check out the book descriptions before buying, but for me, the highlights were:

The Chet Gecko Mysteries (age 8+) and Snoring Beauty (age 5+) by Bruce Hale

A Dog’s Way Home (age 8+) by Bobbie Pyron -- a girl and her dog are separated in an accident: told from her perspective and the dog's.

Divergent (teens) by Veronica Roth – If your kids liked Hunger Games, they’ll probably like this dystopian novel, too. I know I did.

This Girl Is Different (teens) by JJ Johnson – A homeschooler attends high school her senior year and finds social justice requires a large dose of personal responsibility to keep from running amok.

For Teens

Boys Girls and Other Hazardous Materials by Rosalind Wiseman

Ultraviolet by R.J. Andersen

Dark Life series by Kat Falls 

Ask Elizabeth:Real Answers to Everything You Secretly Wanted to Ask About Love, Friends, Your Body...and Life in General by Elizabeth Berkley

The File on Angelyn Stark by Catherine Atkins

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

The Year We Were Famous by Carole Estby Dagg

The Implosion of Aggie Winchester by Lara Zeilin

Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big by Jose Canseco
  
For Middle Grade

Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland (age 8+) by Sally M. Walker

Bad News for Outlaws:The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, U.S. Deputy Marshal (age 8+) by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Hide and Seek (age 9+) by Katy Grant

Grow (age 9+) by Juanita Havill (in verse)

Sparrow Road (age 10+) by Shelia O’Connor

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had (age 10+) by Kristin Levine

For Elementary/Kindergarten

Planting the Wild Garden (age 6+) by Kathryn O Galbraith, illustrated by Wendy Halperin

The Blue House Dog (age 5+) by Deborah Blumenthal, illustrated by Adam Gustavson

The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians (age 5+) by Carla Morris, illustrated by Brad Sneed

For Preschool

The Little Rabbit books (age 3+) by Harry Horse

I Will Not Read This Book (age 4+) by Cece Meng, illustrated by Joy Ang

A Christmas Goodnight (age 2+) by Nola Buck, illustrated by Sarah Jane Wright

And I learned about some young adult books to keep an eye out for in January 2012: The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi, Teen Boat by Dave Roman & John Green, and Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine, and a July 2012 release, Insignia by S.J. Kincaid.

Comment to win signed copy of SERIAL by NY Times bestselling author John Lutz

Recently I had the opportunity to meet New York Times bestselling author John Lutz at a lecture offered by the St. Louis Writers Guild. I didn't miss the chance to pick up a signed copy of SERIAL, his new Frank Quinn novel.

  

"The killer becomes the hunted...She was gagged. Violated. Tortured. Nailing the killer is priority number one and only the best will do--that means Frank Quinn. And Quinn wouldn't want it any other way. Because he recognizes the victim. Years ago, as a homicide detective, he saved her young life. Now the hunt is on, and deep in his gut, Quinn welcomes it. he knows he's seeing the work of a truly twisted serial killer. Except it's not the ritual weapon that makes this killer so disturbing. It's who he kills--and how he makes them suffer..."

John Lutz is the author of more than 40 novels and over 200 short stories and articles. His SWF SEEKS SAME was made into the hit movie SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and his novel THE EX was made into the HBO original movie of the same title, for which he co-authored the screenplay. 

To enter the contest, simply leave a comment or question on The Writers' Lens blog between now (Nov. 21) and midnight Nov. 26, 2011. Please include your email so we can reach you if you win. The more comments you leave, the greater your chance of winning the contest. If you refer others to The Writers' Lens who mention your name in their comments, we'll enter your name again in our random number generator along with theirs, also increasing your chances at winning! The winner will be chosen after midnight on Saturday and the announcement made on Sunday, Nov. 27. 

Thanks in advance for your comments, and good luck!

Bettag wins Mayan guidebook

Congratulations to Janet Bettag, winner of our Nov. 14 giveaway, a signed copy of Diana L. Driver's guidebook, THE MAYA: PEOPLE OF THE MAIZE.

Check back tomorrow for another giveaway!

For the Reader: What is a Space Western? Why is it a subgenre to be taken seriously?

Space Westerns are a subgenre of science fiction that takes the themes of Westerns and applies them to futuristic space frontier. Do not confuse this with a Science Fiction Western, which is a science fiction story set in the old west (or similar location). Some very notable Space Westerns are:

Star Trek
Star Wars
Firefly/Serenity
The Beast Master
A Princess if Mars
Time Enough for Love
Cowboy Bebop
Outland
The American Astronaut

Space Westerns takes the idea that space exploration and colonization will be similar to the taming of the Old West. It’s settings may have dusty old towns (Star Wars’s Mos Eisley is great example). There may be horses or other beasts that are used for transportation. There may be “wagon trains,” bank hold ups, train heists, civil wars (as the story or as the background), saloons or cantinas and more.

There are many critics in the science fiction genre who see the Space Western as nothing more that “using old furniture in a new location,” or as a style of work that shouldn’t be taken seriously. I disagree. Mankind has a nasty habit of repeating history—the good, the bad and the ugly. Let us look for a moment at many of today’s nations that have been built with the blood and sweat of what Americans call “Cowboys.” Obvious the United States is the first one to come to mind. Let’s add Canada and Mexico next. In fact, if it wasn’t for the Mexican’s and their culture, there may not have been an American Cowboy. The Americans who settled in west had many of the “Cowboy” skills taught to them by the Vaquero. My disagreement doesn’t end with just the nations in North America. All of the countries of Central America and South America have been built on the same type of sweet and blood and “taming of the frontier” as Canada, Mexico and the United States. Furthermore, so have countries such as Australia and New Zealand. In fact there are some other nations that can fall into this list.

In these countries, the people developed a “western” type of society. It was different by degrees in each land, but there was commonality of personality that existed—a fiercely independent, self reliant, can do person who lived on the dream of a better world—an escape from a change in culture, slavery, or the coming of the mechanized society where machines replaced people and horses—on a often hostile frontier facing animals, disease, storms, and hostile indigents who were threatened with the loss of their freedom, land, religion, way of life, and very existence.

If mankind continues to repeat history (which we will) and if we go out to the stars (we have to or die on Earth), then yes, I expect to see some kind of frontiersman/cowboy. He may not be sitting on a horse. He may not engage in Hollywood style gunplay. However, the personality will still exist. The frontier will not be antiseptically clean or without the conditions that was seen in the old frontier—in fact I would be highly surprised if those conditions are not somehow magnified. Maybe I am wrong, but the genre of Science Fiction is the exploration of what may be. In that exploration is the exploration of the frontiers of reality and what lies in our imagination On that stage, the Space Western explores what it means to be human in a universe that is far from tame.

You can learn more about David and follow him at www.davidalanlucas.com

Writer's Twitter Chats and How to Join

A number of months ago a group of like minded middle grade writers decided, after frequenting YA and kidlit chats on twitter, that we needed our own middle grade literary chat.  And so #mglitchat was born.

The originators of the chat usually select a time appropriate for the group.  #MGlitchat chose 9pm est on Thursdays to avoid competing with similar chats for writers; young adult genre #yalitchat 9pm est on Wednesday, and picture book genre #kidlitchat at 9pm on Tuesdays.  The group also created a blog as an information point for transcripts and future topics, http://mglitchat.blogspot.com/.

If you have never attended a twitter chat, I highly recommend them.  It's a great place to exchange ideas and information with fellow writers and readers. Recent topics on #mglitchat include, SF in MG, Technology in MG, Violence in MG, and Compelling Villains. This Thursday we'll discuss Religion in middle grade fiction.

Some pointers:

     use twitter apps to follow along during the chat time.  Tweetdeck and tweetchat.com are two of the most popular. 

     Always use the #mglitchat (or whatever the chat's hashtag is) after each of your comments, that way it is seen by those in the chat. 

     Enjoy sharing your own ideas and information with fellow writers or illustrators and HAVE FUN! 

Win signed copy of Mayan guidebook

It's Monday--time for another Writers' Lens contest!

This week, I'm excited to share a signed copy of Diana L. Driver's guidebook, THE MAYA: PEOPLE OF THE MAIZE. It's geared toward readers interested in an overall view of the ancient Mayan culture. Topics include Mayan history, religion and social structure.You'll find examples of Mayan art, pictures and descriptions of their temples and glyphs. With Dec. 21, 2012, fast approaching, you'll want to check out Diana's fascinating overview of predictions about the end of the Fourth Age of Creation, not only from the Maya but from the I Ching, Edgar Cayce, the Hopi nation and other sources.

"The Maya created a civilization based on terror and human sacrifice and yet managed to excel in the arts, writing, mathematics, astronomy and the building of temple structures that rival the Egyptian pyramids. However, by the time the Spanish arrived, most of the great Mayan cities had been abandoned and reclaimed by the jungle. Why did this happen?"

Learn about the author, Diana L. Driver, in her Sept. 1 interview on The Writers' Lens. 

To enter the contest, simply leave a comment or question on The Writers' Lens blog between now (Nov. 14) and midnight Nov. 19, 2011. Please include your email so we can reach you if you win. The more comments you leave, the greater your chance of winning the contest. The winner will be chosen after midnight on Saturday and the announcement made on Sunday, Nov. 20. 

Thanks in advance for your comments, and good luck!