August 14, 2005
I own a lot of books. I tried selling a bunch a couple years ago at a garage sale, but the something-for-nothing crowd was more interested in baby clothes and trying to talk me down from $20 for a $125 stroller to about $1.50.

Well, with publishers sending me tons of books and ARCs it was getting out of hand, so I decided to clear out the "library," today with the intention of donating them to senior centers, library book sales and possibly the high school library. My wife dropped in to see me standing in the walk-in closet off the "bat cave" (one of two finished rooms in my basement, the other being my office), flinging books to the floor, a huge pile rising over my ankles toward my knees, grocery bags full of hardcovers, plastic grocery bags filled with paperbacks. "Are you depressed?" she asked.

"No. But this is a little disturbing. There are books here I reviewed a few years ago by people who I've never heard of again."

Tons and tons of books are published every year in the mystery/crime/suspense field and I'm sure many of these people have just faded away, never to be heard of again. Some maybe are still around, flying way below my radar, and many were published by small presses that no longer exist. It can be a bit jarring, frankly. (Oh yeah, there was one brilliant one called "The Coffin's Got the Dead Guy on the Inside," by a guy named Keith Snyder. I know he got his start with Write Way (dead and gone), then picked up by one of the big NY indies whose name I'm blanking on at the moment, who later dropped all the mystery writers and fired (or he quit) their editor of mysteries. This is an f'ing fickle biz, folks!) [Also a couple really great ARCs by a pair of writers by the name of Mary Reed and Eric Mayer. They write historical mysteries about a eunuch--kind of leaves out the romance angle, ey? Now there's a 'high-concept pitch': "The Graduate Meets John the Eunuch--he could have testicular cancer, or prostate..." Nah! At least Mary & Eric are still kickin' out books.]

Alas, I'm out of space for these books and I just had to start pitching. I'm hoping they won't get dragged to the trash, but will be read by somebody. Meanwhile, I'll try to stop sneezing from all the dust I kicked up.

Best,
Mark Terry