Antiques Giveaway and a Nomination

April 8th, 2014 by Max Allan Collins
Antiques Con

The International Association of Media and Tie-in Writers has announced this year’s Scribe award nominees. It was a tough field (COMPLEX 90 did not get a novel nomination, for example), which is healthy considering how weak the tie-in field generally is these days. I am pleased to say the Spillane/Collins MIKE HAMMER short story, “So Long, Chief” – already honored as an Edgar nominee – is also a Scribe nominee.

In the past, these awards have been presented at San Diego Comic Con. We intend to do so again this year, but haven’t received confirmation from the con as yet. I’ll post that info here when I have it.

In the meantime, here is the full list of nominees at my pal Lee Goldberg’s terrific web site.

On a related note, here’s a terrific recent review of Lee’s book on tie-ins (with contributions by me).

A flurry of M.A.C. books has started to hit, including mass-market paperbacks of TARGET LANCER and ANTIQUES CHOP (the latter perhaps my personal favorite of the series). Coming up very soon are ANTIQUES CON (April 29), KING OF THE WEEDS (May 6) and SUPREME JUSTICE (June 1).

[Nate: All copies are claimed for now—see you next time around!] I have available twelve ARC’s (advance reading copies) of ANTIQUES CON for the first dozen of you who are willing to review it for Amazon (and other sites, such as Barnes and Noble and Goodreads). First come, first served, and only USA addresses, please. You can’t post at Amazon until the book is out, so April 29 is the key date. Goodreads reviews can go up immediately. Amazon is crucial because it takes nine reviews to get on their radar.

I am trying to get copies of KING OF THE WEEDS from the publisher for a similar giveaway, and will have some in a few weeks for SUPREME JUSTICE.

Again, I can’t stress how important these Amazon reviews are, not just for me but for any authors whose work you follow and enjoy. You don’t need to post lengthy reviews – a line or two is sufficient. If you are a Quarry or Nolan fan, for example, please consider going to Amazon and posting quickie reviews of those. The Nolan books are in particular under-reviewed, and again, this keeps the Amazon algorithms from kicking in.

Getting back to ANTIQUES CON, we’ve just had a delightful review from ROMANTIC TIMES (a great place for a cozy mystery to get attention). Take a look:

Romantic Times May 2014
ANTIQUES CON
**** ½

Allan’s madcap series has never been the most typical of cozies; it provides non-stop humor as well as a logical, tangled mystery. Vivian is wildly charming, although she often drives Brandy close to insane. The New York City comic book convention setting gives the story a gentle, satirical backdrop. This is a fun, fast mystery that shows Allan at the top of her game.

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M.A.C.

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5 Responses to “Antiques Giveaway and a Nomination”

  1. Mike Doran says:

    n

  2. Mike Doran says:

    Second try:

    New computer at home; no intelligible directions; I have to dope everything out solo.
    Once I got hooked up, yours was the first site I went to.
    After several false starts, I finally was able (barely) to scroll down to my “farewell” message; so it was that I saw your reply for the first time.
    Now THAT was encouraging – and I thank you.

    Getting my “sea legs” is going to take some time, so bear with me.
    Meanwhile, all the best to you and Barb & all.

  3. Mike Doran says:

    Third try:
    (I seem to have wiped out my first two.)

    I am now back on-line, however tentatively.
    This new oedipusrexer is proving very temperamental. I’m trying to reestablish contact with my old stopping places; yours is the first.
    Thanks muchly for the words of encouragement, which I only saw for the first time yesterday.

    Looking up, I just saw that my previous message got through after all.
    Was it this much of a pain in the ass for you when you first started out on these demon machines?
    (Imagine what it’s like for a 63-year-old PC-virgin like me.)

    Anyhoo, I suppose I’ll eventually get used to all this.
    Meanwhile, like I said above, all the best, etc. etc. and like that there …

  4. Mike, I didn’t realize you’d posted this week. For some reason I am not (as I always have been before) notified when new comments go up here.

  5. Enjoyed ANTIQUES CON. Left reviews on Goodreads and Barnes & Noble(unfortunately it seemed to not take my name and was left anonymous. I’ve got one prepared for the blog and will post Tuesday morning, but with a link back to it the day it goes on sale.