On the Road and On the Sea

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Brenda Buchanan
The renovated Mayo Mill in Dover-Foxcroft

The renovated Mayo Mill in Dover-Foxcroft

This week I’ve been both on the road and on the sea, talking with readers about Quick Pivot.

Tuesday evening, I participated in a panel discussion with other Maine crime writers at the wonderful Thompson Free Library in Dover-Foxcroft, a former mill town in Piscataquis County.  The other authors were Maureen Milliken, whose debut novel, Cold Hard News, also has a newspaper reporter as its protagonist, and Vaughn Hardacker, whose thrillers feature a pair of big city cops who find they most certainly did not leave crime behind when they moved to Maine. Retired librarian John Clark, who writes young adult novels as well as adult mysteries, moderated what turned out to be a free-wheeling discussion about crime, Maine, back roads, deep woods and mill towns. Many thanks to  librarians Michelle Fagan and Helen Fogler for making this event happen. Continue reading →

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Author Panel at Scarborough Public Library

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Brenda Buchanan

I was honored to be part of a terrific panel at the inaugural Local Authors Showcase at the Scarborough Public Library this evening.  I was glad for the chance to talk with readers about Quick Pivot, and excited to hear about the books of some of my Portland-area peers.

Here I am with Richard Afuma, whose memoir, The Python Trail – An Immigrant’s Path from Cameroon to America was published by DownEast Books in May. With Richard Afuma in Scarborough 062415

I’m sorry not to have gotten a shot of Stephen Johnson, whose debut novel Those That I Guard, came out last November, or Richard Shain Cohen, whose book Our Seas of Fear and Love is the seventh he’s published. It was great to hear from both of them.
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Library Love

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Brenda Buchanan

Who doesn’t love libraries?

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is credited with this lofty quote: The student has his Rome, his Florence, his whole glowing Italy, within the four walls of his library.  He has in his books the ruins of an antique world and the glories of a modern one.

But I also like Paula Poundstone’s take: The truth is, libraries are raucous clubhouses for free speech, controversy and community.

Libraries also are also wonderful places to meet readers and talk about your book if you’re a newly-published writer. In recent weeks I’ve had a terrific time at three local libraries doing just that, and I’m looking ahead to three more events this week and next.

James Rathbun and the rest of the staff at the beautiful Baxter Memorial Library in Gorham hosted me on May 27, one month to the day after Quick Pivot was released. Baxter Memorial Library #2 I was honored to speak in one of the beautiful rooms in the old part of the building, which was built in 1908 by James Phinney Baxter. It was a wonderful evening with an intimate, supportive group of readers.

A couple of days later I spoke at the Portland Public Library over the lunch hour. Rachael Harkness and Harper Chance helped with publicity and room set up, and a good group of folks came. We had a lively discussion about, among other things, female authors writing male protagonists and the ins and outs of e-books.
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