tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64759861730854683602024-02-20T22:47:21.914-05:00cats & crime & rock & rollCrime fiction, animal issues, and rock & roll. What more do you need?Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.comBlogger817125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-74937804243644565862017-11-20T02:30:00.000-05:002017-11-20T02:30:04.944-05:00Memories tried and not so true...Here's the full essay that ran last month in the wonderful Crimespree blog.
How reliable is memory?
According to neuroscientists, not very. While we may view any particular memory as a continuous film of a past scene, those who study how the brain processes describe it as something more like a collage. As a 2012 Psychology Today article summarized, every time we conjure a memory, we are not so Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-50844375114088226592017-11-10T01:00:00.000-05:002017-11-10T01:00:07.231-05:00Before I was a writer...Writers talk about finding their “voice” – their personal style – as if it’s a positive thing. But, sometimes, that means discovering that you are completely tone deaf.
I’ve always loved music, maybe as much as I love writing. And long before I became an author, I was a musician.
Drawn to the string bass in grade school – it was so big! The sound so rich and deep! – I was playing in communityClea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-27312552680012714142017-11-08T00:30:00.000-05:002017-11-08T00:30:03.708-05:00Mysterious Bookshop tonight!As you read this, I'm on my way to NYC! I'll be reading and chatting at the renowned Mysterious Bookshop tonight at 6:30 (58 Warren St.) - the world's oldest and greatest mystery fiction specialty store. Hoping to see some old friends and family – and maybe some new friends as well! But if you can't make it, please feel free to call the store today at 212-587-1011 and order your copy of World Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-67294826046634053442017-11-07T02:00:00.000-05:002017-11-07T02:00:10.192-05:00I wanted to go but...I'm hoping to see you tomorrow (Nov. 8 at 6:30 p.m.) at Mysterious Bookshop in New York City (58 Warren St., in Tribeca). But if you can't make it and still want a signed, personalized book, you can get one. Please just call the store and tell them you want me to sign one for you – the number is (212) 587-1011. (You can always order a book on line, but please call to make sure they know to put itClea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-55525242254579952022017-11-06T01:30:00.000-05:002017-11-06T01:30:13.795-05:00Going dark...You should write romantic suspense.
That was how it started. A possibly offhand comment by my publisher over drinks at Crimefest that sent me off into a tizzy. After 22 mysteries ranging from cozy to paranormal, I was being directed to change things up. I’d written harder books, for sure (my Blackie and Care mysteries are positively dystopian), but all my mysteries had an essential sweetness to Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-15116502740619332522017-11-02T00:30:00.000-04:002017-11-02T00:30:09.274-04:00Launch party tonight!FINALLY! We're celebrating the release of World Enough at Harvard Book Store tonight with a reading, chat, and more (Harvard Book Store is right in Harvard Square, at 1256 Mass. Ave., Cambridge). Won't you join us? If you can't be there physically, you can still get a signed/personalized book. Please just call the store at 800-542-READ (or 617-661-1515) and order a copy. Tell them you want me to Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-19071742206826243972017-10-28T01:00:00.000-04:002017-10-28T01:00:06.218-04:00Boston Book Fest! Wow, do you know about the Boston Book Fest? With authors, bookstores, readings, talks, and giveaways, this event has grown in its ten years into a wonderful citywide festival. While there are tons of things happening today – see the schedule here – I'm hoping you'll find time to drop by and say hi to me. I'll be at the Mystery Writers of America booth, 2–2:45 p.m. and the Sisters in Crime booth,Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-17825258556774039372017-10-27T01:14:00.000-04:002017-10-27T01:14:09.282-04:00Before I was cozy...
Back in the day, there was little that was cozy about my life. Sure, I had creature comforts, thanks to a part-time secretarial job that paid most of the bills., and even a long-haired grey cat whom I loved dearly. But what I needed for soul sustenance was loud, hard, and fast.
For the first few years, after I graduated from college, the local music scene was the center of my life. The clubs Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-8236785383891400472017-10-26T02:30:00.000-04:002017-10-26T02:30:10.574-04:00My rock star moment!I'm opening for Kristin Hersh! And for Nick Flynn's Shaker/Flynn music project! Well, not really. Hersh (of Throwing Muses and solo fame), Flynn, poet Kelle Groom and myself will be reading, talking, and, yes, playing music (well, some of us) tonight at WORDS & MUSIC, a free event at Emerson College in Boston. Part of the Boston Book Fest LitHub, you can find out more (and nab some free tickets) Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-17255268379824921712017-10-25T01:00:00.000-04:002017-10-25T01:00:07.778-04:00New England is for readers (and a giveaway!)I sat down (well, virtually) with Jen Rose Smith, the author of the new Moon New England Road Trip travel guide to talk about my mysteries, New England authors, and more. Moon is also giving away two of my books: the Boston-based World Enough and the Berkshires-set When Bunnies Go Bad. You can enter below.
JEN: Is there anything essentially New England about your mysteries?
CLEA: Setting is Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-34234746148801269382017-10-24T22:07:00.001-04:002017-10-24T22:07:55.450-04:00Pru is back!Well, she will be. Just sent off the completed manuscript of "Fear on Four Paws," a Pru Marlow pet noir, off to my editor. Projected pub date is August 2018. Phew...Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-44803123350850152042017-10-23T08:02:00.000-04:002017-10-23T08:02:09.883-04:00Taking a deep breath....This week, it begins. On Thursday, I'm doing a really fun musical event (with Kristin Hersh! Nick Flynn! Kelle Groom!) at Emerson College and next week my new mystery World Enough launches, with events at Harvard Bookstore and more. Oh yeah, and on Wednesday, I'll be announcing a contest – stay tuned! And I've got new books to write. So I might be quiet for a few days.... that doesn't mean that Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-14451050510313626472017-10-22T19:06:00.002-04:002017-10-22T19:06:57.087-04:00"A dark and compelling mystery..." Thank you, Kingdom Books!"She's quietly brought us four different semi-mystical cat and amateur sleuth mystery series over the past decade -- and some edgy nonfiction before that. Now Boston author Clea Simon lets her inner rock 'n roller out of the back room and rips into a dark and compelling murder mystery of Boston's music nightlife in WORLD ENOUGH, due to release on November 1." So begins the book blog of Kingdom Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-77351081902710841602017-10-20T11:40:00.001-04:002017-10-20T11:40:23.745-04:00How reliable is your memory?How reliable is memory?
According to neuroscientists, not very. While we may view any particular memory as a continuous film of a past scene, those who study how the brain processes describe it as something more like a collage. As a 2012 Psychology Today article summarized, every time we conjure a memory, we are not so much reviewing a complete set of stored data as re-configuring a complex Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-8628176631255566652017-10-17T00:30:00.000-04:002017-10-17T00:30:02.315-04:00Boucheron in picturesWhat happens when something like 1,700 crime fiction fans (authors, publishers, librarians, and fans - all of us readers) gather in one place? Craziness – and a lot of love. I'm now catching up after spending Thursday through Sunday at that party, also known as Bouchercon, an annual celebration that, this year, was held in Toronto. (That's where the auction in my last post took place.) Of course,Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-87341307517730488302017-10-15T13:22:00.002-04:002017-10-15T13:22:58.059-04:00Going once, going twice ...So one of the great things about Bouchercon is that it pairs with a charity, usually literacy related, to support reading (of course). But this being Bouchercon, it's done in a fun way. This year's beneficiary was Frontier College, is a longstanding cross-Canada literacy organization supporting people across Canada as they work to increase their literacy skills.
How do we raise money? Well, by Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-4773619376298660332017-10-11T09:42:00.002-04:002017-10-11T09:42:33.724-04:00Indie bookstores rule...When the Moon travel guides asked me to blog about my local independent bookstores, I jumped at the chance. New England has such a rich literary history, it makes sense that we have a rich bookstore history too – and this piece has links to great stores, reading series, and more!
"What do Ralph Waldo Emerson and Robert Parker have in common? They both lived and worked in New England, and whetherClea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-55931586614748629782017-10-06T00:30:00.000-04:002017-10-10T01:12:53.713-04:00Life lessons from a kittyFor this #FelineFriday, I look back on what Musetta (and Cyrus before her) have taught me. Here – and on the Pulpwood Queens' Beauty & the Book Blog – I share that wisdom with you!
There is no longer a Musetta here at Chez Musetta. The round tuxedo longhair who used to supervise my daily writing is gone But even though my beloved pet left us two weeks ago – after a long life and a blessedly Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-58040408683212137962017-10-03T03:30:00.000-04:002017-10-04T18:47:58.172-04:00Yes, more cat mysteries are in the worksFeline left out? Please don't let your fur get all ruffled. Although my upcoming World Enough (Severn House) is a rock 'n' roll noir, I've got several cat mysteries in the works, ranging from cozy to claws out.
First up, the feline sleuth Blackie will return in Cross My Path (Severn House). This third Blackie & Care adventure tackles the mystery of Blackie's past as the duo take on a murder and Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-12631375490953842852017-09-26T14:56:00.000-04:002017-09-26T16:36:56.638-04:00Lisa Unger LOVES "World Enough""With a colorful cast of characters, a gift for detail, and intricate plotting, Simon takes her readers deep into the esoteric world of the Boston music scene ..." – Lisa Unger.
I am breathless. Thriller queen/bestselling author Lisa Unger said THIS today on the Poisoned Pen bookstore blog:
Ah, remember the eighties? The alternative music, the underground clubs? When it was cool to be an Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-37277946628764165472017-09-22T11:21:00.000-04:002017-10-04T16:51:54.871-04:00Happy new year – and new books!Wow, what a week.
A week ago today, Musetta was still with us. Still herself. But maybe something had already changed. I was sitting at my desk, writing, and she came over and reached up to me – grabbing onto my thigh with her claws and asking to be lifted onto my lap. She hadn't done that in a long while. I hadn't thought about it – or if I did, I attributed it to her arthritis (for which we Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-83023681870039583022017-09-22T06:54:00.000-04:002017-09-22T06:54:10.826-04:00Some cheering news (new books!)This happened this week, too. More cat mysteries on the way. So that is cheering!
From Publishers Marketplace: September 21, 2017
Digital: Fiction: Mystery/Crime
Author of the Pru Marlowe series Clea Simon's A SPELL OF MURDER, the first in her new "Witch Cats of Cambridge" series about a newly single woman training to be a witch, unbeknownst to her that her three felines are the ones with Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-11227205748369934832017-09-20T18:34:00.002-04:002017-09-22T17:23:28.197-04:00And then there was Musetta....Again, from The Feline Mystique (St. Martin's, 2002):
In early March, we go to Texas and close-dance at the Broken Spoke. We eat barbecue, and buy cowboy boots. (THat's not why we went, but as I admire my ostrich-clad feet, I must say it was a high point.) I have begun to feel like myself again. One awful moment: After the long flight, as the cab nears our building, I hear it in my head as Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-14246312037516516972017-09-20T18:26:00.000-04:002017-09-20T18:26:06.229-04:00Remembering Cyrus, 1984-2001(from The Feline Mystique)
JANUARY 25, 2001
Well, our dear kitty – the sixteen-year-old perfect master – is gone. It was as good as it could be. He spent the last night with us. First he dragged himself into the living room and we lifted him onto the couch and he crawled onto my lap and purred. Then we took him to bed with us and he spent most of the night there. He even kneaded my arm weakly. Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6475986173085468360.post-3116405458783277802017-09-20T12:00:00.000-04:002017-09-20T12:00:17.257-04:00Today, I have a cat-sized hole in my heartMusetta is gone.
March 28, 2001–Sept. 20, 2017Clea Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10810838253598050028noreply@blogger.com4