Talking To Punks About Books (Podcast)

March 2, 2018 — 1 Comment

I recently spoke with two punk singers about their favorite authors and books. If you like punk rock and reading as much as I do, you’ll definitely dig what Joey Cape (Lagwagon) and Jim Lindberg (Pennywise) have to say. These two episodes were part of a podcast mini-series called “Books on the Bus.”

As the Descendents like to say, ENJOY!

S.W. Lauden is the author of the Greg Salem punk rock P.I. series includes BAD CITIZEN CORPORATION, GRIZZLY SEASON and HANG TIME (Rare Bird Books). He is also the co-host of the Writer Types podcast. Steve lives in LA.

“Books on the Bus” Podcast—Episode 1

January 29, 2018 — 7 Comments

I’m thrilled to share the first episode of the Books on the Bus podcast. I’m kicking things off with Jeff Whalen, lead singer of the Los Angeles rock group Tsar, and soon to be a solo artist with the release of “10 More Rock Super Hits.”

Jeff’s a rocker by night and librarian by day, so I couldn’t think of a better way to launch this five-part podcast mini-series about rock and reading.

Here’s Books on the Bus, episode 1:

Click here to find out more about Jeff Whalen.

Here’s the Tsar song “Calling All Destroyers” from the soundtrack to the James Gunn film, Super.

I’ll be posting a new episode every day this week (January 29 to February 2) over on the Rare Bird Radio podcast platform. Tomorrow’s guest is Joey Cape of Lagwagon and Me First & The Gimme Gimmes.

S.W. Lauden is the Anthony Award-nominated author of the Tommy & Shayna novellas, CROSSWISE and CROSSED BONES (Down & Out Books). His Greg Salem punk rock P.I. series includes BAD CITIZEN CORPORATION, GRIZZLY SEASON and HANG TIME (Rare Bird Books). He is also the co-host of the Writer Types podcast. Steve lives in Los Angeles.

Reader’s Choice Awards

May 7, 2017 — Leave a comment

I need your vote please!

I just found out that I’m up for the Silver Falchion Reader’s Choice Awards. These are given out at the annual Killer Nashville convention, and I’m thrilled to see two of my books on the list:

GRIZZLY SEASON is up for Best Action/Adventure
CROSSWISE is up for Best Mystery

The voting is open to anybody and requires no registration of any kind. If you have a few seconds, please click THIS LINK and give my books a vote. There are lots of great books to choose from, but you can only vote for one book per category.

S.W. Lauden is the author of the Greg Salem punk rock P.I. series including BAD CITIZEN CORPORATION and GRIZZLY SEASON (Rare Bird Books). His Tommy & Shayna Crime Caper novellas include CROSSWISE and CROSSED BONES (Down & Out Books). He is also the co-host of the Writer Types podcast. Steve lives in Los Angeles.

Interrogation—Larry Wilson (LitFest Pasadena)

June 1, 2016 — Leave a comment

Who: Larry Wilson

What: Artistic director and co-founder of LitFest Pasadena. For 12 years he was editor of the Pasadena Star-News, and previously the paper’s editorial page editor. He is now on the editorial board of the Southern California News Group, 11 newspapers in three counties. He and his wife Phoebe Wilson, creative director of LitFest, live in Pasadena and have a 25-year-old daughter, Julia.

Where: Pasadena

Interview conducted by email. Some questions and answers have been edited.

Congrats on the fifth year of LitFest Pasadena! Can you tell us a little about the history of the event and the organization that puts it on?

Six years ago LitFest prime movers Jervey Tervalon and Jonathan Gold came up with the idea of having a literary festival in Pasadena that the city could call its own. One that felt not exactly loving-hands-at-home but that was more fun for its authors and reflected the incredibile diversity of both Pasadena and Los Angeles in their literary lives.

New Author Interview

November 18, 2015 — Leave a comment

As many of you reading this blog already know, I do weekly author interviews every Monday. It’s probably one of my favorite parts of the week—getting to connect with another writer and finding out how they tackle this monster.

So, it’s always fun for me when the tables are turned. Today, Holly West gives me the third degree over at DO SOME DAMAGE.

Also, it’s not too late to win a signed copy of BAD CITIZEN CORPORATION. Just visit my guest blog post over at THE SIRENS OF SUSPENSE and leave a comment for your chance to win! That post is all about why bars and crime/mystery fiction go hand-in-hand.

S.W. Lauden’s debut novel, BAD CITIZEN CORPORATION, is available now from Rare Bird Books. His novella, CROSSWISE, will be published by Down & Out Books in 2016.

Interrogation: Sam Wiebe

January 12, 2015 — 3 Comments

Who: Sam Wiebe

What: Sam Wiebe’s award-winning debut novel LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS was published by Dundurn Press this fall. His short fiction has been published in Thuglit, Spinetingler, and Subterrain, among others.

Where: Vancouver

I thought that LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS was one of the best modern P.I. novels I have read. What was your inspiration for writing this story?

When I started LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS, I’d just finished school. I was out of work, broke, and pissed off. I’ve always loved the classic detective fiction writers, like Chandler and James Crumley, and I wanted to pay homage to them while speaking about contemporary life. The P.I. novel seemed the perfect vehicle for discussing ‘real’ problems, without being a crushing bore.

Why is Vancouver an ideal setting for this kind of story?

Vancouver is familiar to everyone from the thousands of movies and TV shows shot here, from X-Files to Highlander. Yet it’s always dressed up as New York or Seattle or some other American city. In a way it’s an American city, with American problems, and yet it’s above the 49th parallel.

So is it American? Is it Canadian? Technically it’s on unceded native land, so who knows what it is? It’s a city without a fixed mythology, and that’s very appealing.

LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS does a good job of paying homage to classic P.I. novels while pushing the boundaries of the genre to update it. Is that a task you set for yourself?