The eBook version of my new collection of short stories is now available on Amazon. 20 short stories of murder and mayhem along with a couple of more charming tales tossed in – all with a twist.
Author: John Greco
Author/Photographer. My latest book is "The Late Show and Other Tales of Celluloid Malice." Available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
http://www.amazon.com/John-Greco/e/B00K0RCADI/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_6?qid=1452516005&sr=1-6
Member of The Florida Writers Association
Bitter Ends – The eBook
The eBook version of Bitter Ends will be available on Amazon within the next few days. Meanwhile I thought I would share the titles of the twenty short stories. A paperback version will follow soon.
Good for Nothing
Benny and Slaughter 
Killer Smile
Izzy
The Arrangement
About to Die
The Promotion
Ellie’s Cats
No One’s to Blame
Never Look Back
Brotherly Love
The Neighbors
The Best Sex Ever
We All Got What We Wanted
Assisted Living
The Confession
Your Perfect Match
Divorce Not an Option
Anything for Art
A Marriage to Die For
Ten Books for 2019
Happy New Year everyone! Let’s hope it’s a good one. In 2018 I read 51 books and am looking forward to reading as many if not topping that number this year. Here are a few upcoming books I am looking forward to reading in 2019.
Available in April
Bitter Ends: Making of a Book Cover
In an earlier post I wrote about how I designed my own book covers for my previous books using my own photographs. In this post I focus on the book cover for Bitter Ends my forthcoming collection of short stories.
Part of the thrill for me in creating a book cover is digging into my files and discovering that one photograph that expresses what’s in the pages in between and expressing it in a way folks who see the cover will be interested enough to take a peek inside and maybe even buy the book.
Like my previous book of short stories, Devious Tales, Bitter Ends is a collection of tales filled with murder, revenge, greed, and other mayhem along with a couple of slightly less deadly yarns. That said, the cover needed an ominous look informing the potential reader what they are getting.
In digging through my files I first focused on a few images taken in New Mexico back in 2013. One in particular was of a deserted highway with its colorful mountains in the background. I felt it reflected a feeling of vast emptiness and a bit of dread. I saw bodies potentially buried everywhere.
Below is the original image followed by a series early versions of the book cover.
We were on our way to visit Georgia O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch located in Abiquiú, New Mexico,when I pulled over and took the above shot that was my first choice for the cover. Cropping it was the first step followed by the lettering. I tried various fonts and colors before settling on the image on the right.
I spent some time reviewing the image, asking myself was this what I wanted. Did it visually express the stories and entice potential readers. The more I looked at it, the more I wasn’t satisfied that it did. I went back to digging into my photographic archive.
I next found a photograph taken just two months earlier in Yellowstone National Park. We were on a photo tour and came across this area in the park that had burnt. We stopped and took a series of photos, one of which is the first photo below. Looking at it, I thought it projected a dark, eerily, end of life feeling.
Some cropping followed and then some software experimenting resulting in the two early versions below.
I still wasn’t completely satisfied and kept working at it. Finally, I came up with what I envisioned visually expressed what I wrote. Below is the final cover.
Bitter Ends will be available in January from Amazon and Barnes and Noble as a paperback and ebook.
Merry Christmas and Peace to All
Santa Rollo wishing everyone a peaceful and happy holiday.
Favorite Books of the Year: 2018
With 2018 coming to a close ‘tis the season for lists so I thought I‘d share a list of my favorite crime/mystery books I read this year. Most were published this year, but there are a couple old-timers in there I read for the first time in 2018. The first two are my topped ranked. Other than that they are in no particular order.
The Woman in the Window
Read my review here.
Sunburn
Read my review here.
The Neighbor
Read my review here.
Two Kinds of Truth
November Road
A beautifully written road trip/conspiracy thriller that will surprise you right to the end. Read my full review here.
The Killer Inside Me
Read my review here.
Early Autumn
Read my review here.
The Man Who Came Uptown
Read my review here.
Colorblind
Read my review here.
Dark Sacred Nights
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Fugitive Red – Jason Starr
Blood Feud – Mike Lupica
Old Black Magic Ace Atkins
The Chill of the Night – James Hayman
Don’t Let Go – Harlan Coben
Then Came Darkness – D.H Schleicher
The Deep Blue Good-by – John D. MacDonald
The Hangman’s Sonnet – Reed Farrel Coleman
The Girl in the Green Raincoat – Laura Lippman
Sunrise Photographs From Blackwater NWR
We were fortunate enough to get a great sunrise (November 30th) at The Blackwater NWR is located in Cambridge, Maryland.
Check out my photography website.
https://1-john-greco.pixels.com/index.html?logout=true
Bitter Ends – Coming Soon
My new collection of short stories, Bitter Ends, will be coming out in January. Twenty short tales of murder, revenge and other mayhem along with a couple of slightly less deadly yarns. No exact date is set as of yet. Will be keeping all informed.
Cats and Bookstores
Cats of the Gotham Book Mart
There is a certain aura that overwhelms you when you enter a bookstore, I’m not talking about your chain type Barnes and Noble store but those small independent stores that have been under a financial siege for years now. Browsing a bookstore is an adventure. It’s a place to meet old friends and discover new ones, authors of all kinds will jump out at you. Bookstores are a piece of heaven here on earth. And any bookstore worth its salt has a resident cat.
Hodge (Chicago)
Yes, cats and bookstores go together like salt and pepper or peanut butter and jelly; neither are complete without the other. When you walk into a bookstore and lying down, resting his head on a small stack of books is a feline who takes a quick glance up at you, then makes the split decision to judge if you are worth his energy to greet or should he just lower his head and go back to sleep, you know you are in bookstore utopia.
Cats, like bookstores, are above the fray of the outside world. That’s why they are perfect for a bookstore where customers are all hoping to find the next book that will pull them out of their mundane daily life and for a time escape from the real world.
When you find your next perfect book to read there is nothing like taking it home, sitting in your favorite chair and having your own feline buddy snuggle up right next to you. Cats carry themselves with a certain dignity and manner that demands the reader hold the book in one hand and pet them with the other.
Cats in bookstores most likely began with the owners attempting to cut down on the mice/rats population in their store. These days the furry feline is way too regal to be strictly a mouser! Anyone who owns a cat knows it’s their house and you only live there to serve their needs. It’s the same with bookstore cats. It’s their store, their only job is to make your stay more inviting, cozy and pay attention to them.
Mistletoe and Mayhem: Christmas Crime Time
It’s the time of the season where I like to indulge myself in a little holiday criminal activity… on the written page only of course. Over the past few years, I’ve read one or two mysteries set during the Christmas season. This year’s top choice is Christmas at The Mysterious Bookshop.
As a way to give back to his customers for their support and loyalty, The owner of The Mysterious Bookshop, Otto Penzler, commissioned an original short story from a top-notch crime writer each year that he would give away to his devoted customers. Penzler gave the authors three rules: first the story had to be a mystery, second it had to be set during the Christmas season, and finally The Mysterious Bookshop had to be included in some way. Over the years, writers have included Lawrence Block, Anne Perry, Mary Higgins Clark, Ed McBain, Donald E. Westlake, and Meagan Abbott among others. In all, 17 stories were written.
In 2010, Penzler published the complete collection of short fiction under the title Christmas at The Mysterious Bookshop. Recently, I purchased a copy and am ready to sit down by the fireplace with a hot chocolate and dive in. Okay, I live in Florida and I don’t have a fireplace! It will be more like turning on the air conditioning and a cold drink, but a fireplace and hot chocolate sounds more cozy and seasonal.
There are plenty of Christmas crime tales to keep you busy for many seasons to come, especially if you read cozy’s. I rarely do, but admittedly I have indulged on occasion. Lea Wait’s Shadows on a Maine Christmas is a favorite.
I have listed below a partial list of Christmas themed mysteries I’ve read in past years. I am always looking for suggestions for the future.
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (aka A Murder for Christmas & A Holiday for Murder) – Agatha Christie
The Spy Who Came for Christmas – David Morrell
A Christmas Tragedy (short story) – Agatha Christie
Silent Night (Spenser) Robert B. Parker and Helen Brann
The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries – Otto Penzler (editor)
Visions of Sugar Plums – Janet Evanovich
Deck the Halls – Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark
Merry Christmas, Alex Cross – James Patterson
Shadows on a Maine Christmas – Lea Wait
Sanity Clause – Steve Brewer
King’s Christmas (short story) – Richard Neer
Wreck the Halls – Sarah Graves
John Greco Author/Photographer 