Five on Friday - Sean Chercover

Happy Friday everyone! Do you have great plans for the weekend? I hope you have great books. I know I do.

Before we get to what's become the highlight of my blogging week, I wanted to do some reminders and housekeeping stuff:

Today's the last day to enter for a chance to win one of two copies of Karin Slaughter's CRIMINAL on audiobook.

Don't forget to tell me what your favorite debut is for a chance to win John Verdon's LET THE DEVIL SLEEP.

Over at Criminal Element, there's still time to enter to win Simon Toyne's two novels: Sanctus and The Key.

And at Lesa Holstine's blog this week, you can enter to win a copy of Francine Mathew's JACK 1939, which I highly recommend and will be talking more about next week. Another great book in Lesa's giveaway this week is Rebecca Cantrell's A CITY OF BROKEN GLASS. More on that one here soon as well.

If you're in the Cleveland area, I hope that you'll join me on August 7th for Michael Koryta's event at Rocky River Public Library for his new book THE PROPHET. And if you're in the Chicago area on August 7th, my guest today will be hosting an event at the Hidden Shamrock for his new book, THE TRINITY GAME. Please go have a drink with him for me. Wish I could be in two places at once! Oh and you'll get a bonus treat...Marcus Sakey will be interviewing Sean. Could someone video tape this for me?

Speaking of Criminal Element. I wrote my first "Fresh Meat" review for the site and it just so happens that I reviewed Sean Chercover's latest magnificent work THE TRINITY GAME. I hope you'll pop over and see what I blathered on about there. I'll have a whole book review here next week, but that review highlights some key components of what makes the book so great.

And that's all for the end of the week round-up. Now the fun stuff! I am literally over the moon to have Sean Chercover's name showing up in pre-publication news again. It's been a little while since we had a new book from him and I can assure you, it was well worth the wait.  Besides being a talented writer, he's also an extremely generous person; he's witty and kind and I'm honored to know him. It is my distinct pleasure to share his Five on Friday with you all today. Here he is:

 Q: My favorite place to read is... 
A: ...sitting in my favorite chair (see attached photo). The chair used to live at the cottage of a good friend of ours, until she gave it to us as a wedding gift. Agent 99 and I got married at that cottage, and the chair is very special to us. Also, it's incredibly comfortable.

Q: My favorite brand of athletic shoe is... 
A: ...Merrell Barefoot. Barefoot style shoes force you to run the way the human body was designed to run. I had two surgeries on my right knee when I was 19 and 20 years old, and never thought I'd run again. Now I can run without knee pain or shin splints, and life is good. Thanks, Merrell Barefoot!

 Q: The most famous person I ever met was...
A: I used to work in the television industry, so I've met a lot of famous people. I guess the most famous was Bob Dylan. Hate to admit it, but I was pretty star-struck and had a total fanboy moment when we met.

Q: If I had to be stranded on a desert island with only one other person, it would be...
A: Tough one. My first impulse is to say, "...it would be Agent 99, because I love her." But there's the rub. I love her, so I wouldn't want her stranded on a desert island, and I also wouldn't want to deprive The Mouse of his mother. So I guess it would have to be someone I like a lot, but not so much that I'd mind condemning that person to being stranded on a desert island with me. Is this line of reasoning making any sense to you? Well, in my head it does. Like I said, tough one...

Q: The #1 item on my bucket list right now is...
A: I don't have a bucket list, so I guess #1 would be: Make a bucket list.

Now add in Marcus Sakey and I know you all want to go to Chicago to hear that interview! If you can't do Chicago, you may want to check out his schedule as he'll be in various places around the country for his book tour - and in Cleveland for Bouchercon in October. I'm sure he'd love to see you! Many thanks to Sean for taking time out before the big pub date to have fun with us.

Happy Reading, All!