Saturday October 20th: Oklahoma Book Festival

I’m excited that this weekend I’ll be taking part in the inaugural Oklahoma Book Festival. It’s going to be a terrific event and I’m happy that it will bring me back to my hometown. My schedule:

Oklahoma Book Festival
October 20, 2018
OKC Boathouse District
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Meg discusses Into The Black Nowhere
Saturday October 20,  11:00am – 11:45am
Ida Sutton Williams Headliner Tent
Signing to follow

Here’s more on the festival, from the Sunday Oklahoman: Oklahoma Book Festival to bring 50 to 75 authors to Oklahoma City this week.

If you’re in the Oklahoma City area, come on down. I hope to see you there!

Thriller Time: New York Times Book Review & Book Podcast

I’m pretty excited — okay, very excited — to be included in the New York Times Book Review and Book Podcast this week. When I was in NYC for Thrillerfest, I was interviewed by Tina Jordan about writing thrillers. It’s a joy to be included in the podcast with Lee Child, Megan Abbott, Lisa Gardner, and Lisa Scottoline. Check it out:

Making a Killing: Top Thriller Writers Talk about Their Craft

And this weekend’s NYT Book Review includes Into the Black Nowhere in “It’s Thriller Time / Lights Out!”

The Times says: “We’re hereby calling the next title trend: thrillers that stoke our fear of the dark with titles that play on words like ‘black’ or ‘night.'”

Yeah, pretty excited.

Coming up: San Antonio Book Festival

This Saturday, April 7th, I’ll be speaking at the San Antonio Book Festival. Details:

San Antonio Book Festival
Saturday, April 7, 2018
Serial Killers: Facts & Fiction with Meg Gardiner and Kate Winkler Dawson
12:00-1:00 PM
Swartz Room
San Antonio Central Library
600 Soledad
San Antonio, Texas

The festival runs all day, and is packed with great speakers. Sandra Cisneros, Jorge Ramos, Holly Black, Paula Poundstone… check out the entire program.

If you’re around, I’d love to see you.

Reddit “Ask Me Anything” March 16th

On Friday, March 16th, I’m going to be doing a Reddit AMA — Ask Me Anything. There will be a link where people can ask me written questions and I’ll reply. About my books, writing, Jeopardy! the impending squirrel apocalypse — anything.

AMA: Meg Gardiner
Friday, March 16th, 2018
12 Noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific

More details to follow on the 16th!

I’ve been talking… to Texas Monthly, Seattle Review of Books, and more

As part of the launch of Into the Black Nowhere, I did a bunch of talking. To readers, radio hosts, and magazines. Here’s a roundup. Just in case you want to know more about the novel, or my writing process, or which tunes I listen to when I write. Bonus: click through to enough articles, and you’ll see what I look like when I go axe throwing.

Meg Gardiner’s Dark Past — Texas Monthly

How Author Meg Gardiner Gets Into the Mind of a Killer — Austin Monthly

The Quintessential Interview: Meg Gardiner — Seattle Review of Books

Tracking the Darkness — The Big Thrill

The Kindle Chronicles Podcast

Video and podcast with Lisa Gardner

On Tuesday evening, I spoke at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona, with Lisa Gardner. The Pen is a legendary independent bookstore, and it was an excellent event. Thanks to everybody who turned up — especially my law school classmates and the reader who drove three hours from south of Tucson to get books signed.

The bookstore livestreamed the event. You can rewatch the stream here.

And beforehand, Lisa and I recorded a podcast. It’s now up. Check out our discussion of Into the Black Nowhere, Lisa’s novel Look for Me, series mashups, dog boot camp, and more. Meg Gardiner & Lisa Gardner. February 6, 2018.

Many thanks to The Poisoned Pen and its owner Barbara Peters for inviting me to Arizona and for making the event a success.

How a photo inspired Into the Black Nowhere

In September 2016, as I was just beginning to flesh out ideas for the sequel to UNSUB, I attended Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention. I wrote a post about the photo above, which was taken during the weekend:

Where I get my ideas Part 6 Million: photos

My publisher threw a shindig at Bouchercon in New Orleans. When guests walked in, a Polaroid-style camera was available for everybody to use. This is roughly what happened when I found it.

Me: I love Polaroids! Okay, these are actually mini Fujifilm pics, but I love them!

The Husband: Sure. Whatever makes you happy. I’m just arm candy.

[click]

[photo develops]

Me: Wow. Uh. It looks like something you’d find in a serial killer’s garage.

Journalist friend: And everyone asks, “Who are these people?”

And so my next novel is born. To all involved: Thanks.

(And yes, in the novel, when the cache of photos is found in the garage, the people in them won’t be wearing name tags. But I have to start somewhere.)
_______

Guess what? I took that joke, and the shiver that underlay it, and used the idea in the novel that became Into the Black Nowhere.

The lesson: Everything is material. And if an idea worms its way under your skin, pay attention. You never know how, when, or where you might use it.