Author Topic: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself  (Read 95291 times)

Brian

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Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« on: May 18, 2019, 09:09:56 am »
I'll get this started. :)

I'm Brian, and I'm the co-publisher of Mystery Scene. I love traditional fair play puzzle mysteries, especially locked rooms or other impossible situations.

In addition to the Greats (Agatha Christie, John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen, Christianna Brand, Erle Stanley Gardner), I have a soft spot for Lee Child's thrillers, John Sandford's Virgil Flowers novels, Sarah Caudwell, John Verdon's books, The Thin Woman by Dorothy Cannell, and Vanishing Act by Thomas Perry.

Not so much on historicals, cozies, and P.I. novels, although Pronzini is great.

How about you?

Kate Stine, Editor

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2019, 05:08:46 pm »
I'll go next. I'm Kate and I'm the editor and co-publisher of Mystery Scene. I'm a lifelong mystery fan who has also been fortunate enough to make mysteries my career. I've worked as a book editor, editor of the late, lamented Armchair Detective, editor at Mary Higgins Clark Magazine, Director of the Agatha Christie Society and, for the last 17 years, the editor of Mystery Scene Magazine.

I like to read all over the genre -- thrillers, cozies, historicals, PI, noir, suspense. Favorite authors include Ross Thomas, Dorothy L. Sayers, Donald Westlake, Raymond Chandler, Rex Stout, Agatha Christie, Mary Stewart, Sarah Caudwell, Doyle and Poe, really there's tons more.

My favorite contemporary authors are an ever-changing array. Just a very few are Lindsay Davis, Craig Johnson, Tana French, Elizabeth Hand, Jasper Fforde, Belinda Bauer, Tana French, Donna Leon, S.J. Rozan, Laura Lippman, Adrian McKinty, Attica Locke... this list could go on for days.

I hope this forum will provide a fun way to share our love for the mystery fiction genre. I'm looking forward to hanging out with all of you!
« Last Edit: June 10, 2019, 08:51:52 am by Kate Stine, Editor »

ocogdill

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2019, 12:32:15 pm »
Hi All
Hope I am doing this right
I am Oline H Cogdill and I review mystery fiction, blog and write author profiles for Mystery Scene. I also review for Associated Press, Publishers Weekly and the Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale.
So yeah, I read a lot.
And just for fun, I edit a magazine for Nova Southeastern University.
I love all mysteries and all subgenres. But my favorites are the hard boiled novels and those that take me to a different world. culture, etc.
My husband is a theater critic and theater is another passion as are dogs.
This should be fun
Oline H Cogdill

JRob

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2019, 05:42:49 pm »
Hi all! I'm Jay and I'm lucky enough to be one of the contributors to Mystery Scene's review section. Seriously, I love getting to say and type that.

I'm a lifelong fan of mysteries and thrillers. Pretty much any kind of sub-genre can draw my interest save perhaps psychological thrillers.

I do read a lot, though probably not as much as I would like.

Besides reading, my other passions involve music/TV/movies and sports. I write for a couple of music based websites. I write CD and concert reviews for KNAC.com and write a series called The Cassette Chronicles for Limelight Magazine.com.

I've covered comic conventions and other pop culture events and items for a number of websites since 2005, though music and books are my focus these days.

I'm single and very happy about that fact. I spent 25 years coaching in the youth basketball league in my town.

Oh, and I like to pretend I'll actually write a mystery some day.




Brian

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2019, 06:57:44 am »
Welcome Oline and Jay!

I've met Oline, but not you Jay. Thanks for all your contributions!

Kate and I are thinking about going to a comic-con sometime this year (never been to one). Are there any good ones coming to the Northeast?

Brian

AgathaC

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #5 on: June 11, 2019, 07:22:44 am »
Hi, I'm happy to find this place!

Are there any other Agatha Christie fans here? I have read almost all of her books and I've never found anything else as good.

I'm going to put my favorites in the Top Ten topic.

AgathaC

Kate Stine, Editor

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #6 on: June 11, 2019, 08:23:56 am »
Hi AgathaC, welcome to the Mystery Scene Forum! We just launched the forum a few days ago and you're one of our first visitors!

I'm a big Agatha Christie fan. My first "grown up" book was Murder at the Vicarage given to me by my grandmother.

Before Brian and I took over the magazine, one of my freelance gigs was as Director of the Agatha Christie Society. She had such an amazing life and career. I used to edit the quarterly newsletter and we never ran out of articles!
« Last Edit: June 11, 2019, 08:40:48 am by Kate Stine, Editor »

JRob

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2019, 09:13:57 am »
Welcome Oline and Jay!

I've met Oline, but not you Jay. Thanks for all your contributions!

Kate and I are thinking about going to a comic-con sometime this year (never been to one). Are there any good ones coming to the Northeast?

Brian

Brian,

It's unlikely you'd ever meet me as I've yet to hit a big book convention. I attend book signings but that's about for getting out there in the "book world".

The New York Comic-Con is October 3rd - October 6th. You wouldn't even have to leave the state. It's a HUGE one, the Northeast version of San Diego Comic-Con which is the largest one in the world. I've never been to it though.

If you want to get out of New York, there's Fan Expo Boston which runs from August 16th - 18th. It's smaller than NYCC but still draws a good crowd I'm told. I've never been to that one.

And there's also the Rhode Island Comic-Con which runs from November 1st-3rd. That one I've been to a few times and it is pretty packed, though I don't have a number to give you an idea of how many people there are.


Verna

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #8 on: June 11, 2019, 09:46:31 am »
Hi
I am Verna Suit and I construct the crossword puzzle found on the back page of Mystery Scene.

I began with Nancy Drew of course. In my 20s I started reading all of Agatha Christie that I could find, then moved on to PD James then John LeCarre. The world opened up once I discovered the contemporary mystery scene. Sue Grafton became my gold standard (RIP Sue), followed by Robert Crais, Elmore Leonard, Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Margaret Maron, CJ Box, Louise Penny, James Lee Burke, etc.

I enjoy thrillers, PI books, good stories, international settings, new-to-me authors, an occasional cozy, historicals no earlier than 1895. I belong to Sherlockian and Nero Wolfe societies.

When rejects of my own mystery novel equaled my age, I took that as a sign and moved on to reviewing. I also ran the Sisters in Crime clipping service for 12 years. But these days, making mystery-themed crosswords is my main contribution to the mystery community. I hope some of you will give solving them a try.


nyscrivener

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #9 on: June 11, 2019, 11:35:48 am »
Good afternoon, all, and thank you, Kate and Brian, for setting up this forum! I'm Joe Goodrich, a mystery writer and a proud contributor to Mystery Scene. (I'm also a playwright.) Levinson and Link---the Columbo series, the short-lived Ellery Queen series with Jim Hutton, etc---along with S. Holmes and A. Hitchcock got to me early, and I've been a devoted fan of the genre for over four decades now. My tastes are fairly catholic, ranging from mean streets to English country house. I'll leave it at that for moment. Congrats again to Kate and Brian!

Robin Agnew

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #10 on: June 11, 2019, 02:38:04 pm »
Hi, I'm Robin, I'm a reviewer for Mystery Scene, former bookseller, avid reader of the Golden Age ladies and in general devour whatever I can find in new traditional and historical mystery fiction. Recently I've really enjoyed Mariah Fredericks, Sujata Massey's new series, and Diane Freeman. I named my store for Agatha Christie and have a special love for her but I'm also a giant fan of Ngaio Marsh and Patricia Wentworth.  I re-read endlessly!  Something new during the day, something old at night.  Anyone else out there a re-reader?

JeffreyMarks

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #11 on: June 11, 2019, 03:06:12 pm »

Hi

I'm Jeff Marks, one of the contributing editors. I'm the publisher of Crippen & Landru Publishers, which produces single-author, mystery short story collections.

I've written for Mystery Scene many times over the years (and I wrote for Kate at The Armchair Detective before that.) I love Golden Age mysteries, and I collect American first editions of some of my favorite writers. I've collected all the Christies in first, and now I'm working on EQ and a few others.

Brian

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #12 on: June 11, 2019, 05:19:38 pm »

Brian,

It's unlikely you'd ever meet me as I've yet to hit a big book convention. I attend book signings but that's about for getting out there in the "book world".

The New York Comic-Con is October 3rd - October 6th. You wouldn't even have to leave the state. It's a HUGE one, the Northeast version of San Diego Comic-Con which is the largest one in the world. I've never been to it though.

If you want to get out of New York, there's Fan Expo Boston which runs from August 16th - 18th. It's smaller than NYCC but still draws a good crowd I'm told. I've never been to that one.

And there's also the Rhode Island Comic-Con which runs from November 1st-3rd. That one I've been to a few times and it is pretty packed, though I don't have a number to give you an idea of how many people there are.

Jay, thanks for that! For some reason I thought NY Comic-Con was in the Winter. October is good timing for us.

Brian

Brian

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #13 on: June 11, 2019, 05:30:00 pm »
Good afternoon, all, and thank you, Kate and Brian, for setting up this forum! I'm Joe Goodrich, a mystery writer and a proud contributor to Mystery Scene. (I'm also a playwright.) Levinson and Link---the Columbo series, the short-lived Ellery Queen series with Jim Hutton, etc---along with S. Holmes and A. Hitchcock got to me early, and I've been a devoted fan of the genre for over four decades now. My tastes are fairly catholic, ranging from mean streets to English country house. I'll leave it at that for the moment. Congrats again to Kate and Brian!
Hi Joe, glad to see you here!

Everybody, what Joe didn't say is that he is an Edgar-award-winning playwright.

If anyone wants to hear Joe reading a terrific story he wrote for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, you can listen here:

https://player.fm/series/ellery-queens-mystery-magazines-fiction-podcast-182925/episode-85-the-ten-cent-murder-by-joseph-goodrich-Sntri1qvuhhRmLhU

Brian

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Re: Say Hi and Introduce Yourself
« Reply #14 on: June 11, 2019, 05:45:03 pm »

Hi

I'm Jeff Marks, one of the contributing editors. I'm the publisher of Crippen & Landru Publishers, which produces single-author, mystery short story collections.

... I've collected all the Christies in first, and now I'm working on EQ and a few others.
Jeff,

All the Christies in first edition? Really? I had no idea.

Brian