The Great Molasses Flood

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Nearly ten years ago I stumbled onto the great molasses flood in Boston. A massive vat of molasses burst in Boston on January 15, 1919, causing a wave of hot molasses to flood the streets at 35 miles per hour, knocking a train off its rails and killing 20 people. I included a fictional description of the scene in a novel I wrote about 10 years ago. I still find the idea fascinating. Supposedly for decades after, on hot days the bricks of Boston sidewalks would smell like molasses and the harbor was dyed brown for months. The Atlantic has Read more…

Want to see me dance the tango?

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I’m very excited to say that I’m supporting Tacoma Musical Playhouse and their their Dancing with the Tacoma Stars fundraiser. I’ve been paired with a professional dance instructor and we’re working on our choreography (and, ahem, basic dance steps). Saturday, February 16! I’m trying to fill a table of people to cheer me on. Tickets are $80 for dinner and the show and $35 for balcony seats to watch the show. I know it’s a lot, but … when else will you see me dance a tango? 🙂 If you are interested, you need to RSVP to TMP directly at Read more…

A New Year, A New Blog

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After more than three years hosting my blog on Posterous, I’ve finally decided to call it quits and create my own blog on my own site. This site was created using WordPress, a blog platform that has improved dramatically since the first time I checked it out. Posterous was a great resource for many years, but after having been acquired by Twitter, development on the system has been pretty much non-existent, and–when it really comes down to it–I wanted something much more customizable anyway. Because the truth is, I’ve been wanting more than a blog these days. I wanted a Read more…

I recorded an audiobook!

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Way back in June I started a new project: recording an audiobook of my fundraising guide, The Little Book of Gold. Working with Doug Mackey at Moonyard Studios, I was able to record a high quality audiobook and upload it directly into the Audible store. It was a fascinating experience, demanding a lot of patience and very. clear. enunciation. It was surprisingly tiring, I thought. Then, after the sound editing had been done, I had to listen to the whole thing again very slowly, reading the book while I listened, and watching for any slip-ups I made or dropped words Read more…

“The Con Before Christmas” is now on Kindle!

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It’s no longer free, but you can still get The Con Before Christmas for $1.99 (which is practically free) delivered direct to your Kindle. (I would still encourage you to sign up for my author newsletter of course!) It’s the next Beautyman mystery, but if you haven’t read the others, that’s fine, it’s still a good stand-alone read. I think this is a really fun story. The novella is about 90 pages long, so it’s prefect for a long drive or quick flight on your holiday weekend. I hope you’ll check it out!

Want to get “The Con Before Christmas” for free?

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In only a few short days, I will be releasing “The Con Before Christmas.” I want to give dedicated Arthur Beautyman fans a chance to get the book before anyone else, and for free, no less! I’ve created an “author newsletter” and if you sign up in the next couple of days, I’ll send you a free copy of the newest mystery for free! Before it shows up on any of the online stores! After the free copy is sent, emails will be kept to a minimum, usually with announcements of new books or new formats. Or you can just Read more…

Side x Side Creative

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Mary and I are very excited that we have transitioned “Mary Holste Design” to a new name and a new style with a lot more offerings. In the past, Mary Holste Design was mostly Mary, with me helping out on a per-project basis. Usually coding a website or writing an article. But I’m happy to say that since going full-time with the company three months ago, we’ve gotten a lot of jobs that have allowed us to work, well, side by side. Hence the name change. We’ve started new projects, like social media strategy for businesses, nonprofits, and authors. And Read more…

Something Frosted This Way Comes

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I’m very excited to announce that later this month I’m launching a new Beautyman mystery. This time it’s a novella, but during the holidays, who has time to read anything longer? This is going to be a fun one. Expect it on bookshelves soon!

My First 5,000 Sales

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So sometime in the last two days, I passed an incredible milestone: 5,000 total sales between my three books. I can’t even tell you how floored I am by that number. Two and a half years ago, when I uploaded The Saints Go Dying to the Kindle, I sold fifty copies in that first month. I would have been happy with just that, when it really comes down to it. 50 people reading a novel I’d written was already more readers than I’d ever had before. I dreamed about publishing more, but at that point The Marinara Murders was just Read more…

Movies About Writing

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I enjoyed this article by Michael McGrath on The Millions about how movies so poorly depict writers. Mostly by ignoring the writing and focusing on the rest:  The darker elements of creation are excellent fodder for thrillers and effective platforms for comedies. These films take the work itself less seriously (often a lack of literary merit is part of the joke) and instead focus on the pitfalls of the creative life. They ignore the words for the work and all that can inspire and disrupt it: psycho fans, ex-wives, portals to the Underworld. This is partly true, but honestly, I Read more…