About Me

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Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada
I am a lawyer in Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada who enjoys reading, especially mysteries. Since 2000 I have been writing personal book reviews. This blog includes my reviews, information on and interviews with authors and descriptions of mystery bookstores I have visited. I strive to review all Saskatchewan mysteries. Other Canadian mysteries are listed under the Rest of Canada. As a lawyer I am always interested in legal mysteries. I have a separate page for legal mysteries. Occasionally my reviews of legal mysteries comment on the legal reality of the mystery. You can follow the progression of my favourite authors with up to 15 reviews. Each year I select my favourites in "Bill's Best of ----". As well as current reviews I am posting reviews from 2000 to 2011. Below my most recent couple of posts are the posts of Saskatchewan mysteries I have reviewed alphabetically by author. If you only want a sentence or two description of the book and my recommendation when deciding whether to read the book look at the bold portion of the review. If you would like to email me the link to my email is on the profile page.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Anthony Bidulka has Lambda Nomination and New Book

Saskatchewan mystery author, Anthony Bidulka, is having an exciting spring though winter is still strongly entrenched in Saskatchewan. 

Earlier this month his book, Dos Equis, was nominated on the shortlist for mysteries for a Lambda Literary Award. With his usual style Anthony exuberantly celebrated the nomination on his fine blog. 

It is the second nomination for Anthony. In 2004 he won the award for his second book in the Russell Quant series, A Flight of Acquavit. 

The criteria for the mystery category are: 

Novels, novellas, and short story collections that adhere to the criteria of a“mystery,” as defined by the Mystery Writers of America: “A mystery is considered to be any novel in which a crime, or a series of crimes, are an integral part of the story.” Anthologies are not eligible.

The finalists for gay mystery are:

1. Bokassa’s Last Apostle, Rod Shelton, Paradise Press UK

2. Dos Equis, Anthony Bidulka, Insomniac Press

3. Fires of London, Janice Law, MysteriousPress.com/Open Road

4. Lake on the Mountain: A Dan Sharp Mystery, Jeffrey Round, Dundurn

5. The Yellow Canary, Steve Neil Johnson, Clutching Hand Books

He is already excited about the awards ceremony in New York City on June 3. It is a special year for the Lammy's as it is their 25th anniversary.

Anthony is not going to have much time to get there as on June 1 he is having the release party for the first book, When the Saints Go Marching In, in his new series featuring disaster recovery specialist Adam Saint.

Each of his Russell Quant books has had an overflowing book launch party at the McNally Robinson bookstore in Saskatoon.

Wanting a party but with a change, Anthony is hosting a two hour come and go party at McNally Robinson on the Saturday afternoon. Being Anthony it would not be a party without food and drink. He assures readers there will be complimentary wine and cheese for the “entire” two hours.

During the come and go party he will be signing books except for a 15 minute interview session with two interviewers of Saskatoon. Readers can send in questions for the interviewers to ask Anthony.

I expect a long line of book buyers. At the launch for Dos Equis Sharon and I decided to go for supper at the restaurant next to the bookstore rather than stand in line. After spending over an hour at supper there was still a line of book buyers getting their books autographed. It was much shorter. Overall Anthony spent over 2 hours signing books.

It is going to be a good party in Saskatoon.
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My other posts featuring Anthony and his books are:
2011 Questions and Answers with Anthony; The author's website is http://www.anthonybidulka.com/ – (2004) - Amuse Bouche (Most interesting of 2004 – fiction and non-fiction); (2005) - Flight of Aquavit (2nd Best fiction in 2005); (2005) - Tapas on the Ramblas; (2006) - Stain of the Berry; (2008) - Sundowner Ubuntu; (2009) - Aloha, Candy Hearts; (2010) - Date with a Sheesha; (2012) - Dos Equis and Q & A and Thoughts on Q & A; (2012) - Book Launch in Saskatoon of Dos Equis; (2012) - Where's Anthony? Paperback or Hardcover

6 comments:

  1. Oh, Bill this is great news! So exciting! Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Margot: Thanks for the comment. I am looking forward to seeing if Anthony is the winner this year.

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  3. Bill - thank you for the kind shout out. You are such a great supporter of mystery writers and I'm grateful to be a regular benefactor of that generosity.
    Indeed I'm toying with trying to make a zippy trip to NYC for the Lammies, but it's quite tight as we're hosting a 90th birthday for my mother-in-law a few days later. So I may have to pass.

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  4. Anthony: Thanks for the comment.

    Every trip from Saskatchewan has to take into consideration the time in travel. It is going to take a day to get to New York City.

    If the timing is wrong this time I am sure there will be another nomination for Russell in the future.

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  5. Glad to hear about the Lambda nomination for Bidulka. Very exciting for him. I am definitely interested in the new series. And I have Flight of Aquavit waiting to be read in the near future.

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  6. TracyK: Thanks for the comment. I look forward to your next review.

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