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2009-05-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

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Special Release: Best of the Web 2008 -- Tattooed People

2008-08-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

Special Delivery today comes in the form of "Tattooed People" from this year's Best of the Web anthology published by Dzanc Books. More info here.

This story was originally published by Storyglossia and can be read here.

Today, August 20th, is the overall web-push day for Best of the Web.
Happy BotW Day everybody!

Change of Venue

2008-08-20T10:13:00.001-07:00

Uh oh...
This isn't the home of my blog anymore. Sorry. Now everything's consolidated at Seth Harwood.com
If you'd like the RSS feed for my new blog so you can subscribe, this is it:
http://sethharwood.com/rss.xml

Thanks for your support!

Best of the Web 2008 (Dzanc Books) - Avialable 7/15

2008-07-08T05:36:00.001-07:00

Yo ho ho ho ho...
Yeah, that means I'm excited about something. Czech this out:

... and featuring... SETH HARWOOD

I've known for a while now that these guys selected "Tattooed People" for inclusion in this new "Best of" anthology that's just this year rolling out. And now, finally, I've come to find that the book should be hitting stores right around the corner and is already up at Amazon here for the low low price of $12 and change. Yes, if you want to buy one and send it to me, I'll be more than happy to sign it for you. Just follow the instructions on the signed copy page.

But I'm not just here to schill, I'm really excited about this release. It means that my work will be appearing in pages edited by Steve Almond, a really big dude in the short story literary scene and an awesome, hairy-chested Boston guy, as well as alongside the work of George Saunders, one of the short story all-times in my book (If you haven't read Pastoralia, you're really missing something.) and other writers whose names I haven't even been able to see yet (get my copy this week).

In any case, I'm excited and this is kind of a big deal around these parts. Hope you'll pick up a copy and/or show it to a friend if you're in a bookstore and point to my name in the contents and say, "I know this guy!"

More to come. Word? Say word.

Subscribe to the NEW!!

2008-07-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

OK. If you want to get hooked up with the blog, open this link and bookmark the page on your browser. You'll be subscribed to the RSS feed for my all new blog over at sethharwood.com

AND, if you're ready for my all new project, the crime short stories podcast, CrimeWAV, come on over here and subscribe to http://feeds.feedburner.com/crimewav

SEE YOU THERE!

Time for a whole new world!!

2008-05-13T20:41:00.001-07:00

The run over here at BLOGGER for my blog has been a blast, literally! I've been here for two years, almost, I've gotten to the point where I have three websites, really: a blog, a fan-site, and my main site, and now it is time to bring them all together. That's right, from now on sethharwood.com is the home for everything: all of the aforementioned services.
So please, head over there, subscribe to the blog and the podcasts, sign up, and visit often to be a part of the discussions, voting, and social interaction!

Serious: registering with the new site is the best way to be a Palms Daddy/Momma!

Your boy 4 eva!

SH

The Great Psychobilly Blog Road Trip of 2008: Day 5, Part 1

2008-05-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

Oh man, after a night in the Hummer-sine, I could barely get out of bed this morning, much less post the post I was supposed to drop about our... ummm... time together.
So here it is, folks. And thanks to Neil for stopping by.

The rest of this post has been blogjacked by Anthony Neil Smith.

Last stop: Ray "The Saturday Boy" Banks

West Coast again, for two reasons. 1) So Greg Bardsley can get more folding money from his wife, and 2) to pick up rising crime writer and podcaster Seth Harwood, author of the JACK PALMS (all caps when you write the man's name) series, the first of which met the page with a Breakneck Books edition, only to get chosen for the major leagues with a jump to Three Rivers Press next year.

You feel it before you hear it: the deep bass thrumming of the hip-hop theme song from the new JP3 podcast. And you know you're there when you see the crowd, all the fans Seth has called down for his send off. The man's built a following, 'casting the good word of PALMS into the void and hearing adoration in return. He called out for them to support him on Palms Sunday, and they responded in droves. I've even been roped in, reading a "Story So Far" for JP2: THIS IS LIFE. It's fun stuff, full of a fresh new energy the private eye genre needs badly. It's a never-ending party over there, and you should take a listen. Seth's got mad skillz (man, is that, like, ten years out of date?) with words and knows how to keep your ear to the speaker. And make sure to check out this great short story, "Young Junius" at the Storyglossia Crime Issue. Congrats on all his success.

He descends the stairs to applause and cheers, all decked out in black leather and shades. I swear he's got a Glock tucked under his jacket, but I'm not going to mention it. It's already like an armory in the Hummer-sine. One more for the pile. Inside, he pops the cork on some champagne and we all share a toast to the Great Psychobilly Blog Road Trip of 2008. Man, that really hit the spot. Good breakfast. I'll take a another glass, please.

With the podcaster along for the ride, I'll hook you up with some excerpts from Yellow Medicine I posted on my site: HERE, HERE, and HERE. I hope that whets your appetite for more, and more you shall have if you take a moment this coming Monday, May 12 (Psychobilly Monday) to purchase Yellow Medicine through Barnes & Noble. We'll see if they invite us in for a beer or slap at us like a pesky mosquito. Now, if you happen to be around Minneapolis, Madison, or Milwaukee this coming week, forget B&N and come down to see me at Once Upon a Crime, Booked for Murder, or Mystery One. I'll be dropping by some Barnes & Nobles and Borders stores, too, so that Upper Midwest corridor will be flush with signed copies.

Seth's snapping cell phone pictures of the crazy party we've got going on in the back while I reach for the volume knob and step on the gas. Where to next? To answer the S.O.S. from The Jordans at Crimespree Magazine: "Need More Road Trip!" And so we oblige.

Driving time: Three light years (and a parsec)
Tune for the leg: "Drunk Fuck Fight" by The Formaldebrides

Storyglossia Crime Issue Rocks! (Now with more Harwood!)

2008-05-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

Today's the launch of our favorite online journal's new issue: Storyglossia #28, the All-Crime issue is out NOW. Edited by Anthony Neil Smith of Plots With Guns and the CrimeDog One Blog (also an old friend from JP2), this issue provides hot (and I mean HOT) stories from Vicki Hendricks, Megan Abbott, Ray Banks, and a little story I like to call "Young Junius." Fans of JACK WAKES UP and Junius Ponds, you've GOT to check this story out!

I'm also happy to add that "Young Junius" has also been released as a podcast by Rick Stringer and the Variant Frequencies team. If you haven't heard of the Stringers (Rick and Anne) and Matt Wallace, you will, soon. I promise.

Cybernoir Panel from Noircon

2008-04-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a very cool, enhanced podcast (means with images) of Shannon Clute, Richard Edwards, and myself presenting on Cybernoir (noir/crime in the age of the internet) at Noircon in Philly on April 4th.
All of the images are also clickable to take you to the sites the show through links.
Very very cool. Thanks to Richard Edwards of Noircast.net for putting this together!

Direct link to panel podcast.

Tha Big Newz

2008-04-27T23:36:00.000-07:00

Palms Nation, family, friends, folks,

The day has come!! I'm here today with some big, big news in the land of everything Harwood and Palms: Jack Wakes Up has just been bought by Crown/Random House for a release in 2009 as a trade paperback from Three Rivers Press!

Thanks to Breakneck Books for bringing out JWU originally. Soon this version will be coming off the market, off Amazon, because the boys in New York bought Jack. This means a contract for me (one book right now) actual money, and more writing here on my end. It's basically the culmination of something I've been working toward for longer than I'd want to tell you and it's big big. This puts me up in "the reals."

I'm really pleased with the editor I ended up with, Julian Pavia, and can't wait to get JACK back on shelves and into every bookstore in America. Yeah.

GLAD TO BE THIS WEEK'S RED ROOM RISING STAR!

2008-04-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

What's up?
This week I'm featured as the RedRoom.com "Rising Star"! This lasts a week and features me being on the front page of RedRoom.com, a sort of myspace type thing for writers and their fans. So if you have a minute, buzz over there and give me a couple clicks. I'm sure someone's out there watching!

Back in the Chronicle on Thursday!

2008-04-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

Hey hey hey!
So Saturday's article in the Chronicle drew such great online responses (over 40), that the paper was prompted to write a follow-up article about the force of podcast fiction all over again. Great to see more names mentioned and some wonderful quotes.

"Gone are the days of publishers telling readers what to like. Gone are the days of admiring authors from afar." --Geordon VanTassle, 34, Rockford, Ill.
Awesome stuff!

Video of Berkeley Reading

2008-04-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

Ha Ha!! Thanks a super ton to J. Daniel Sawyer for taping this reading and posting it on his site!
**If watching me read from a book gets too boring for you, the Q&A starts around 7min in and things get really rolling there!** (I even look at the camera.)

Podcast Fiction: Take my book. It's free. (In SF Chronicle)

2008-04-05T07:27:00.001-07:00

Scott Sigler and Seth Harwood have spent the past few years writing novels, disseminating them over the Internet as serialized podcasts and amassing audiences so considerable that top-shelf agents and publishers are now eager to represent the authors.

read more | digg story

Photos from NYC event

2008-04-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

"World famous" Uncle Stan (the inspiration for Al) and myself.
The reading event at Otto Penzler's Mysterious Bookshop in NYC was just amazing the other night! Thanks to all you Palms Daddies, Palms Mommas, and Palms Eye-dogs who showed up!!
Here are a few pics, thanks to Mary Reagan. More to come here.

Some pretty, pretty pics!

2008-04-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

Find more photos like this on Palms Family Clubhouse

Cambridge, MA: Two readings this week!

2008-03-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

I'll be in Cambridge at Porter Square Books on 3/26 at 7PM. Lots of my family and folks will be there, but I'm hoping to see a lot of you too. I'm expecting some of you to turn out and come along for a pub crawl after!! Yee haw!

On 3/27 I'll be reading at a special event in a cool bar/lounge called The Enormous Room in Central Square! (starts at 7:00) My friend DJ Mosart 212 will be spinning beats and breaks after the reading. This promises to be an awesome night! Free tapas with drink orders until 8! Come out and celebrate what we did to Amazon! Soccergirl expected to be here too!

Both events fully accessible by T (Red Line). More info here.
Hope to see you there!

Back in the saddle!

2008-03-23T07:52:00.001-07:00

So I've been slow to post more this week as things move on. More because I've been recuperating and getting the energy back up, enjoying a little time with my wife, than for any other reason. Turns out I was pretty wiped out after Palms Sunday. But you know who was even more wiped out? Amazon, those bastards. Not only did we hand it to them on a platter on Sunday, but we bought them out of Jack and home! Even though JWU is strictly print-on-demand and, as far as anyone knows, Amazon just orders the books to be printed as the purchases come in, somehow by 11:30 last Sunday morning, they were showing "out of stock. Ships in two to four weeks."

You know what I'm talking about if you saw this message. For going ahead and buying anyway, I thank you. So of course, Siglerisimo has his conspiracy theories about why this would be the case (and why the Amazon bestsellers numbers basically ground to an updating halt on Sunday) and I can't honestly say I disagree. Thing is, it seems like he's offered the best explanation I've heard. Might be he's the only one who has a theory to explain this (Amazon's not saying anything), but still.

So is Amazon against us? Do we care? Like the Russian in Rocky 4, we come to crush them. "I will break you." That's what we say to Amazon. Even if they move to Siberia to train by carrying heavy rocks and large branches across their shoulders as they tromp through knee-high snow, or run up large mountains wearing tight black pants and a snazzy leather jacket, we are stronger, faster, and shoot way more steroids than they can keep up with. So yes, it is inevitable: we will break them. Our next shot comes on April 1 when Siggie's Infected goes live for real. Lucky for me, I'm "better together" with him after our big push last Sunday. That should be great.
Have a look. And yes, I'll be getting a new episode of JP3 to you today. So get ready!

This (and THANK YOU) says it all

2008-03-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

THANKS!

Harwood vs. Hosseini: Kite Runner Falls!

2008-03-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hosseini's award and heart-winning book (now movie) is the latest victim to fall to the attack of the Palms! First Cormac and now Khaled. Patterson, Sandford and Evanovich already pushed out the way.

Update #9

2008-03-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

Ate. Probably too much considering that I haven't eaten much today. Ouch. Slowing down.
BUT on the charts, I'm back up to #45 overall!! What Woot!
DOn't call it a comeback!

Update #8

2008-03-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

Small decline a little. We've dropped to #50 overall, which might mean #45 was the peak. Nothing I can be ashamed of there. No way, no how!
Yow. Serious. At #50 now and holding strong, dominating Mystery Still and Movers and Shakers.

Update #7 of Palms Sunday!!

2008-03-16T16:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, Peeps: here's the current counting at 4:54PM. (ANd by the way, as we've shaken down amazon today, they've been getting later and later with their stats updates, to the point now where they're practically a full hour behind. Bitches!)
Current numbers: #45 overall. THis is literally amazing. Not only did I blow past The Road, but I've cracked into the top 50. Zow!
#1 in mystery&thrillers>>Mystery
#3 in Mystery&thrillers overall and in Mystery&Thrillers>>thrillers>>suspense
#1 in Movers and Shakers
#21 in Hot New Releases
and... up to 25 reviews now! Keep em coming! Drop a review if you haven't.

Uncle Stu and Aunt Connie go Palms Wild!

2008-03-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

As we wait for the NEXT update from Amazon--man are they going slower and slow as the day goes on--we see Uncle Stu and Aunt Connie ready to go Palms Wild!

Update How Many?? PALMS SUNDAY!!

2008-03-16T15:29:00.000-07:00

OK: Amazon #50 overall
#1 in Mystery
#3 in Suspense
#3 in Mystery and Thrillers
Booming!
SL is done. Waiting for updates. At home, in the sun!
Check new audio.