Audrey's Door

Because you were totally holding your breaths!

Appearances:

I’ll be reading at Bookcourt in Brooklyn Heights on Tuesday, March 11th, along with MARIAN FONTANA, NINA HERZOG, and STACY MORRISON. Audience choice– I’ll bring all three books, as well as a back-up short story, and I’ll read whatever you’re in the mood for.

Bookcourt is about five blocks from the main, Borough Hall subway hub.

I’ll be on a panel and teaching a workshop at the Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference at the Woodbridge Hotel and Conference Center in Iselin, NJ on March 13, 2010. The two-hour workshop starts at 9:30am, and its subject is: “Where Plot, Character, and Voice Collide: Painting Yourself into Corners, and Writing Yourself Out.”

Description: Writing novels is all about juggling plot, character, and voice. When one weighs too heavily, the whole thing falls apart. Using examples from Elmore Leonard, Stephen King, Toni Morrison, and Walter Tevis, this workshop will be about finding ways to edit first drafts in ways that serve story.

For more information or to register, go here

It’s not too early to register for the World Horror Convention, 2011 in Austin, where I’ll be one of the guests of honor.

News:

AUDREY’S DOOR is a Bram Stoker nominee for outstanding novel. Hooray. Click here for the full list, and good luck to all.

A very cool new review of AD is up at Strange Horizons. It’s not all positive, and makes some valid points about potential homophobia, but it’s well researched and very insightful– my favorite type of review. Contains spoilers, though. So only read the first couple of paragraphs if you haven’t yet read the book.

Have a great couple of weeks, and watch out for the ides of March!

Yours,

Sarah Langan

A critic named Richard Larson gave Audrey’s Door a smart, thoughtful review. These aren’t so common, but very valuable, because they’re helpful to the writer, and inform the work. So thanks, Larson and Strange Horizons!

Everybody!

AUDREY’S DOOR made the HWA’s final ballot for the Bram Stoker Award in outstanding novel. Hooray! Congrats and good luck to all the nominees. Deadlines and motherhood have sadly limited my time, so I haven’t read the other contenders, but intend to remedy that shortly. In other categories, I’ve read:

Damnable by Hank Schwaeble (Jove)

The Little Sleep by Paul Tremblay (Henry Holt)

In the Closet, Under the Bed by Lee Thomas (Dark Scribe Press)

The Stephen King Illustrated Companion by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)

Happily, I can recommend every one of them, because they are fantastic!

In other news, I’ve got an interview up at Fatally Yours.

Hope you all are good.

It’s women in horror month. Aptly, the shortest, coldest, and bloodiest month all year. In honor, Fatally Yours went live with my interview today. Read it!

I finally saw the above movie, based on an out of print book by Jeffrey Konvitz, because I’ve been told it’s like AUDREY’S DOOR. I figured they probably weren’t much alike, since AD is so different from most everything I’ve read, even the works of Polanski, from which it was inspired. Turns out, they’re pretty similar! They both seem like the natural, feminist progression from “Rosemary’s Baby,” though Konvitz continues to incorporate the Catholic Church as a major plot point in 1977, but in the 2010 text of AD, the absence of religion is part of the plot. Pretty excellent movie. Hope AD holds up as well.

One question: anybody know what “Black and White Cat, Black and White Cake” is supposed to mean?

The Horror!

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10032/1032635-82.stm

I saw “Our Town” last night, and was happy to discover that it’s still my favorite play.

Everybody!

I’ll be at the main branch of the NYPL (455 Fifth Avenue [at 40th Street] Phone: 917-ASK-NYPL (917-275-6975) tonight for a panel discussion at 6:30pm. The details:

“Legal, Medical, and Psychological Thrillers: How Professionals Use Their Inside Knowledge When They Write,” with moderator, Lawrence Light and panelists, Charles Atkins, MD, Roberta Isleib, Sarah Langan, Justin Peacock and Elizabeth Zelvin of Mystery Writers of America / New York Chapter.

Write what you know. Harnessing that age-old dictum, many working professionals directed their “day-job” know-how into crime fiction. Learn how our panelists, seasoned pros from various disciplines, used this knowledge to enrich their plots and hook readers. What are the promises – and perils – of knowing your subject cold and trying to translate it into edge-of-your-seat mysteries?

Be there or be a stinker.