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Dear Reader,
Today's guest author Paul Doiron is the author of the award-winning Mike Bowditch series of crime novels, including the newly released The Bone Orchard. Before leaving his full-time job to write books, he was the editor in chief of Down East: The Magazine of Maine for eight years, and he has also worked as a fly-fishing guide in the North Woods, which he describes as his "favorite place in the world." He lives in a village on the coast that bears a resemblance to Cabot Cove--except with fewer dead bodies and more convincing Maine accents.
Enjoy Paul's guest column and then be sure to drop him an email and enter his book giveaway.
Take it away, Paul...
I am writing today, as I often do, in the least ergonomic position possible. There is a cat in my lap. I have a wooden board that I place on the arms on my armchair and on which I set my MacBook Air. You would think a lap desk would be a formidable obstacle, but anyone who shares a house with cats knows that they will not be persuaded from pursuing warmth and pleasure. Somehow my tabby Rooney has wormed herself under it. She is snoring lightly: all ten pounds of her resting on my thighs.
I write novels of suspense set in the Maine North Woods, and by all rights I should own a gun dog--a German short-haired pointer or a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Instead I own a cat. I was raised with dogs and always saw myself as a "dog person," but that was before I met my future wife who introduced me to a barely domesticated calico named Emma. I still bear the claw marks of that vicious little creature who saw me as an invader in her house and a competitor for her "mother's" affections. Over time we made peace and, in her later years, Emma became my first real writing companion.
Rooney came to us as a stray, and she is as trusting as Emma was ornery. She also took a liking to my lap, and now I barely notice her when I am writing, reading, or watching an episode of Justified on TV. Initially, I felt a reluctance to admit that I had become a cat person in my middle age. The New York Times, after all, has described me as a writer of "manly mysteries," so I have a certain reputation to live up to. It feels like I should own a wolfhound or a pit bull, some breed that is supposed to project true machismo.
On the other hand, I have been reminded recently of Ernest Hemingway's deep affection for cats. He owned something like fifty-two at his farm in Cuba, and the descendants of his polydactyl cats have become national treasures at his former house in Key West. If a man as manly as Papa Hemingway could be a cat person, then I can be one too.
And so I am proud to say that I have a cat on my lap. She probably isn't good for my spine, but she is good for my soul. The fictional game warden I write about, Mike Bowditch, is a pretty rugged guy. I've been thinking lately that it's about time I show what a real man he is and give him a cat.
--Paul Doiron
Email Paul and be included in his drawing for one of five copies of The Bone Orchard. Email: [email protected]
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
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* This month's Penguin Classics book THE BIRD'S NEST by Shirley Jackson. Start reading now and don't forget to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin Totebag: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqB1AFE3FA7A33&c=CLASSICS
AUTHORBUZZ: AZAGOTH (Fiction) by Larissa Ione
I'm often asked how I can write romances set in dark worlds full of violence and monsters. My answer? The human world is also full of violence, darkness, and monsters, but we still find the beauty, love, and laughter in life. When I wrote this story, which is set almost entirely in the underworld realm of the Grim Reaper, I definitely had my work cut out for me! It's dark and gritty, and yet, steamy and romantic. Hope you enjoy!
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on AZAGOTH to read more and to email author Larissa Ione, you'll get a reply.
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