Welcome to the 15. installment of the Crime Fiction Carnival !
With this post the Carnival arrives in Germany. As the majority of its regular attendants will not be so familiar with the German language I try to stick with English.
On the previous outing Barbara Fister’s Place presented a truckload of links to blogs and if you followed the earlier editions of the carnival (-> summaries) you know that a large range of topics had already been covered and a huge number of blogs that deal with crime fiction had been referred to.
Therefore it isn’t easy to present something new. Most of the keepers of blogs work hard to present regularly new topics and new posts. As a result readers are at a certain risk to forget last week’s post, not to mention last month’s post although these posts had thrilled them so much. Therefore my question to you: Which older post would you like to see in a blog museum ?
Let me refresh your memory and bring to your mind some older posts or web articles which delighted me (or us). [For those of you who wonder whether there are any German crime fiction writers and blogs related to crime fiction I will present at the end of this post a small assortment.]
Although this is all about crime fiction books, it seems to me that recommendations for books (compared to the books themselves) will not be remembered. Still, I’m thankful for Linda L. Richards small note on Clyde W. Ford’s The Long Mile and where it usually takes several articles to attract a reader to a book this single one for The Power of the Dog in January Magazine by Anthony Rainone did the job. Sometimes posts and resulting discussions help to understand a book or its reception better. Peter Rozovsky’s post about Peter Temple’s Broken Shore was very helpful in this aspect (and it reminds us that sometimes the commentators deliver the icing).
Thomas H. Cooks is one of the best US-American crime fiction authors but it seems as if he is known to a small number of readers only. Kacey Kowars conducted a wonderful insightful and understanding interview with Cook that gives many informations about his early novels. Not so much an interview as a dialog is the talk between Andrew Vachss and Joe R. Lansdale about Vachss‘ Two Trains Running.
Sarah Weinman’s blog is obvious good for several reasons but the yearly debates about the nominees of the Edgar Awards are always a highlight. The discussion in 2006 is in hindsight especially inspiring, it not only features the usual topics (e.g. Lippman’s is missing) but also exhibits an engaged discussion. A fine post that was transformed by the comments was Paul Guyot’s What’s your point ?. It helps readers to understand some issues of the writing process and demonstrates the struggle of writers with their subject. Declan Burke, Grand Vizier of CAP let us take a look into his toolbox and gives us some ideas how authors choose names for their characters.
Obviously, there are not only tons and tons of books we didn’t know but sometimes it seems whole chapters of the book of crime fiction are unknown to us. Brian Lindenmuth’s already previously mentioned article about the landmarks of black crime fiction as much as Lee Horsley’s text about its historical and literary aspects inform us about one important chapter of this ever fascinating book. Female authors arrived in the middle of the genre and constitute nowadays an important part of crime fiction. Damian Seaman’s fine Femme fatale points out the once shaky start of the involvement of females with the genre.
Literature is more than entertainment and fun, it is also business. Jim Huang’s essay is not only about small brick and mortar stores but even more about the relationship between publishers and booksellers. Something that do affect (us) readers very much. The ever thoughtful Barry Eisler analyzed in a series of posts on Buzz, Balls & Hype the possible future of the business and Neil Nyren shared some helpful and interesting informations about inside stuff.
Barry Eisler tackles in his rare posts on his own blog serious matters. Two articles analyzed the US-situation on guns. At least I got the point – but I don’t get it. Some blogs hide their intentions in very artisanal posts. At Naked Authors, where they have writers who use pictures as well and as many as words you learn that Purple Hearts are nowadays sometimes out of stock.
P.J. Parrish who lately post less often than would please us follow on their blog the failed attempts of fellow-authors who try to get their hands on good sex. Brilliantly put was Barbara Fister’s discription on the not-so-lucky situations of writers. And a class of their own are Ken Bruen‘s regular posts on murderati, not only are they poetic and profound but they offer also a wealth of tips on others writers. As it seems not fair to single out one of those posts I give you all of them.
So, dear carnival aficionado/aficionada did you get lost in the museum ? I help you out, but let’s detour to some blogs in German. Ludger Menke’s Krimiblog is on the loose since 2005, it covers a wide rage of topics, as does watching the detectives, the blog of Dieter Paul Rudolph (a young hopeful writer) that leans more towards the literary side, though. But if we really need background information on literature and scientific stuff we read Joachim Linder’s NuT (Notizen und Texte).
The hub of the German crime fiction web-world are the Alligatorpapiere. They list und link on a daily basis relevant information and reviews, usually from newpapers, but bloggers receive nowadays more attention. Axel Bussmer’s Kriminalakte is one of those blogs, it features a wide range of topics, one of its main subjects is crime fiction on TV, Margit Breuss is an Austrian psychiatrist who covers on her blog krimi.krimi Austrian culture, psychiatry and crime fiction. Henny Hidden, the Krimilady present regularly reviews and at Krimikiste Kristine Greßhöner broadcasts her lovely voice via podcasts, she reviews books from a wide range of German and International Authors.
There are not many crime fiction authors in Germany who blog regularly, Jan Seghers is one of them, although his short clipped posts don’t allow comments and don’t invite discussions; Henrike Heiland is another one, on her blog she describes a lot of small funny or interesting encounters of her life.
There you are. Hope to meet you next time, when Sandra Ruttan will host the Crime Fiction Carnival.
Bernd Kochanowski
pictures
1. Louvre by ancama_99
2. The Lecture table, Library, Utrecht by Eric
3. Ufo Crash Site, Universum, Bremen by cloud nine
4. #7 Dan Flavin, Lehnbachhaus by yushimoto_02
A museum! how wonderful. I will enjoy browsing through the exhibits and revisiting blog posts of the past. We are too often looking for the next new thing – looking back for an older, lasting thing is a very good idea. Thank you – and also thank you for the guide to German and Austrian blogs.
[…] (oder auch Blogparade genannt, gab es hier auch schon → zwei → Mal) – hält → seine 15. Station bei Bernd ab. Er präsentiert dabei unter anderem einen kleinen Überblick über die deutschsprachige […]
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This is what many other blog carnivals do: cite and link to specific posts of outstanding quality from various blogs. Some carry it as far as requesting submissions from the readership („give me your best post of the past two weeks“). Doing it that way points the reader to good writing or an interesting subject, whether the blog is familiar to him or her or not.
Terrific stuff, Bernd. You are doing absolutely nothing at all to undermine the stereotype of German thoroughness and efficency … Nice work. Cheers, Dec
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