… The mystery or the personal story?

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/850598–the-nesting-dolls-and-crime-machine

My sister discovered my novel Deadly Fall listed on Amazon.ca. I hadn’t thought to check since the book won’t be released until March. I looked at Chapters/Indigo.ca and also found it there. It’s also on Amazon.com for US readers. 

In our enthusiasm, my husband Will and I instantly fired off a batch of e-mails to tell family and friends the news.  A couple of them told us they pre-ordered the book. The next day, while poking around the Amazon site I found that Deadly Fall was # 95  on the Amazon bestseller list for Mysteries with Women Sleuths and # 20, 234 for overall books. Many thanks to the book’s first purchasers. 

A day later Deadly Fall was off the Women Sleuths list and something like #40,000 overall. What a difference a day makes. It was fun while it lasted and is still fun to see my novel posted on the sites.  Here are the links:

Chapters/Indigo:

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/home/search/?keywords=susan%20calder%20deadly%20fall&pageSize=12

Amazon.ca:

Yesterday, my husband Will and I went to see the movie Black Swan, a ballet thriller that is one of this year’s big Oscar condenders.  For psychological horror, I feel the movie works. It made me gasp out loud, although I’m easy  for movie directors to manipulate and am usually the first to scream in a theatre. Black Swan has plenty of creepiness, enhanced by mood music; lots of blood and ugly, damaged ballet feet; twists that make you wonder what is real and what the heroine, Nina, has imagined.

My main problem with Black Swan was that the theme struck me as heavy handed. The ballet director tells Nina she is technically perfect and ideal for the role of the white (good, virginal) swan, but needs to lose control and explore her dark side to dance the black (evil, sexy) swan, and so achieve overall perfection, which is all that matters in the ballet world. Rather than feel engaged with characters and a story that developed this theme, I felt the characters and story were dancing to the message.  At the end, I thought fine theme and entertainment, but who cares?

For Oscar contending movies, I far preferred The Social Network, a movie with a message, real characters and heart.