About five years ago, when I was first thinking about the story that became Dark Jenny, I began looking for books that dealt in a critical and scholarly way with the meaning of Arthurian stories. I’d read the basic, classic fiction texts–Le Morte d’Arthur, The Alliterative Morte Arthure, The Once and Future King, The Mists of Avalon, The Wicked Day–but … Read More
The Best Thing Ever! (and a side order of WTF?)
Recently I read a review of the Doctor Who season premiere that suggested the show is essentially creating an entirely new nonlinear form of storytelling. With all respect I think this is excessive praise, much like the folks who claim Ron Moore reinvented SF television. But whether or not you agree with this idea, I’m more interested in the critical … Read More
New cover art for Burn Me Deadly
Here’s the mass market paperback cover art for Burn Me Deadly, from the same artist who did Dark Jenny. What do you think? (Don’t yet have the official release date, but I’ll post it ASAP.)
Horton Foote’s Beginnings: A Memoir
Like pretty much everyone I know, I have a massive TBR (To Be Read) pile of books filled with probably awesome literature. Some I’ve started, and for whatever reason never quite returned to. Some I know I’ll have to make myself read one day. And some–often the unexpected ones–I pick up and literally can’t put down. That’s the joy of … Read More
The horror of pink toenails
I’ll warn you up front, this is a rant. My last one was about the deification of Ron Moore. This one is a lot more personal, and also thankfully much briefer. Apparently this J. Crew ad has been pissing people off because it shows a woman painting her five-year-old boy’s toenails. The ad quotes the mom as saying, “Lucky for … Read More
Giants of West Tennessee: Dale Watson
Recently a family emergency prompted a visit to my hometown of Gibson, TN. It has a population of around 300, with no school, newspaper, public library or sit-down restaurant. It’s a notorious and unapologetic speed trap. And judging from the condition of a lot of the houses around town, it’s fully embraced Tennessee’s status as number one in the nation … Read More
Release day for DARK JENNY
Today is the official release day for the third Eddie LaCrosse novel, DARK JENNY. It drops as a trade paperback, e-book for all the usual platforms, and audiobook, read once again by Stefan Rudnicki. And how, you ask, does this novel stack up to the previous ones? “Bledsoe skillfully combines humor, action, deduction, and emotion to make the material fresh … Read More
The Wicked Day: the weight of legend
It’s no secret that my new Eddie LaCrosse novel Dark Jenny (which hits stores tomorrow, March 29) draws its inspiration from Arthurian sources. So on the eve of its release I’d like to write about the straight Arthurian novel that’s so good, I wish I’d written it: Mary Stewart’s The Wicked Day. Stewart’s first three Arthurian novels (The Crystal Cave, … Read More
The Sword-Edged Blonde eBook for only $2.99!
Right now the good folks at Tor Books have the eBook of my first Eddie LaCrosse novel, The Sword-Edged Blonde, on sale for $2.99. So all you Nookies/Kindlers/iPadders, there’s never been a better time to see what a mash-up between high fantasy and hard-boiled pulp looks like.
Review: Alice Hoffman’s The Red Garden
If Alice Hoffman was a painter, her brush strokes would barely touch the canvas, yet her pictures would be as vivid as Monet’s. She crafts delicate stories that always seem on the verge of wafting away until they come back to earth with some devastating, perfect detail. The Red Garden is something new from her: a book pitched somewhere between … Read More