The Writer's Chatroom Presents Timothy Hallinan

Published: Fri, 07/04/08

The Writer's Chatroom www.writerschatroom.com

Chat with Timothy Hallinan

Timothy Hallinan is the author of nine published books - eight mysteries and a nonfiction work on Charles Dickens. His first six novels, set in Los Angeles, featured an erudite private eye named Simeon Grist and were named to several Ten Best lists. His current series, set in Bangkok, centers around an American "rough-travel" writer named Poke Rafferty, who has settled in the Thai capital and has created a family by marrying the woman he loves, a former bar girl, and adopting a street child.

The first book in the series, A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART was a Booksense Pick of the Month and received extremely positive reviews. The second, THE FOURTH WATCHER, will be published at the end of June and just received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly. Hallinan is currently at work on the third in the series, tentatively titled MISDIRECTION. The Poke Rafferty books are published by William Morrow.

For the past twenty years, Hallinan has divided his time between Los Angeles and Southeast Asia, where he has apartments in several cities, including Bangkok. Prior to beginning his writing career, he served as a consultant to Fortune Top 100 corporations, guiding them in selecting and promoting television programming. He also headed a company that created educational websites aimed at making quality television programs, primarily on public television, useful to teachers.

For many years, Tim taught a course on finishing a novel. You can find much of that course for free at http://www.timothyhallinan.com/writers.php .

While in college, he was in a rock band that made several albums and wrote songs for and with many well-known artists, including the platinum-selling band Bread.

He is married to Munyin Choy. Vist him at www.timothyhallinan.com

(Look below for a review of The Fourth Watcher)

On the Products page you will find some great recommendations. Please use our links to buy, and help support the chatroom!

Please check the Chatroom Schedule for information on upcoming guests and writing-related chat topics. Visit our Previous Guests page to catch up on what you've missed.

DOOR PRIZE

Tim has donated several copies of The Fourth Watcher, and a copy of A Nail Through the Heart. These will be award to lucky chatters during the chat. Remember, you MUST be present to be eligible!

Please feel free to pass this announcement on to anyone or any groups that you think may be interested. Thank you.

WHEN?

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Eastern USA Time..........................7 PM

Not sure what time that is wherever in the world you are? http://www.worldtimeserver.com

WHERE?

The Writers Chatroom at: http://www.writerschatroom.com/Enter.htm

Scroll down to the Java box. It may take a moment to load. Type in the name you wish to be known by, and click Login. No password needed.

Please note: The chatroom is only open for regularly scheduled chats.

Don't forget the open chat on Wednesday nights, 8-11 pm EST!

Mystery of the Month from Book Page by Bruce Tierney

http://www.bookpage.com/

OK, call me a sucker for thrillers set in exotic foreign locations, particularly ones with rampant corruption, triple-digit humidity and lazily seductive ex-bargirl protagonists. Guilty as charged; please let me serve out my sentence in the

Thailand depicted by author Timothy Hallinan in his wickedly atmospheric new work, The Fourth Watcher (Morrow, $24.95, 320 pages, ISBN 9780061257254), this month's Tip of the Ice Pick Award winner.

Travel writer Poke Rafferty has a clever and popular series going for him: Looking for Trouble In . . . (fill in the blank with the exotic Asian locale of your choice). His latest installment about Bangkok is in the works, after which he is thinking seriously about settling down into a line of work a bit less edgy and dangerous, to allow him to spend more time with his girlfriend and their recently adopted daughter (a precocious 10-going-on-30-year-old named Miaow).

However, although Poke may no longer be "looking for trouble," trouble is definitely looking for him when his long-estranged father shows up unannounced, with a box full of rubies and a very large favor to ask. Poke initially wants nothing to do with his old man, but that decision is quickly taken out of his hands: his girlfriend and daughter are kidnapped, along with the wife of his best friend. If Poke ever wants to see them again, he will have to come up with the rubies (and a whack of cash) and turn his father over to a sworn enemy who has been tracking Rafferty Senior without success for a number of years.

Well, that's the setup, but it doesn't begin to describe the action, the intensity, the pacing, the humor, the dialogue, etc. What words are sufficient to describe a book with chapters titled "Ugliest Mole in China," "Asterisks Would Take Too Long," or my personal fave, "The Leading Sphincter on the Planet"? Is it enough to call someone a clever wordsmith when they can craft a sentence like "He was unevolved; he had one foot in the Mesozoic and the other

in his mouth."?

So I ask you, after reading this review, can you think of one good reason not to read this book? I can't.

--BRUCE TIERNEY

Have you joined the forum yet? Meet our members. Keep the discussions going after chat. Learn where the hottest markets are for your genre. Find a critting or writing partner. Get inspiration, education, and social interaction at the same place: http://writerschatroom.com/forum/index.php

We look forward to chatting with you!

Audrey Shaffer Linda Hutchinson Renee Barnes Kim Richards Lisa Haselton