MB4 Celebrates 1st Anniversary!

Have you heard the buzz? What’s all the hubbub, you ask?

One year, 297 posts, 108 guest writers, and over 11,640 visitors later, we think it’s time to CELEBRATE!

So get your party hats on, blow your horns, and join the party!

It’s hard to believe that a year ago on a cold February weekend my writing buddies, Aaron Lazar, Kim Smith, and I cheered and sent cyber hugs to a fellow writer and friend S. W. Vaughn when she announced news of a new publishing deal. The MB4 bunch have been friends for a few years and we were all in agreement that no one deserved the recognition more than our pal, S. W. Vaughn. As e-mails flew between Upstate New York, Indiana, and Mississippi the creative juices began to pour and soon over flowed with ideas on how to help promote our pal.

Now, anyone who knows us will agree that we’re a pretty creative bunch and not afraid to stick a toe in uncharted waters. As you can imagine, one thing led to another and in a matter of hours MURDER BY 4 came into being and was launched on February 18, 2008. Our initial thought, of course, was to use the blog as a way to promote our writings, post announcements, etc. However, it quickly grew into much more than a site to self-promote. We four have more than mystery writing in common, we remember our humble beginnings, the writing hurdles, and the many bumps and bruises we collected along the road to getting published. We also remember those who helped us get there. So as we continued to discuss what to do with this blog, the logical next step was to use it to promote other writers as well. A “pay it forward,” if you will.

To show our appreciation to our many loyal friends and readers,
we have a few things to give away. Every person who posts a comment today will have their name tossed into the cyber hat for a chance to win one of the following:


A copy of Aaron Lazar’s TREMOLO: CRY OF THE LOON

A copy of Marta Stephens’s

THE DEVIL CAN WAIT (paperback), an e-book copy of THE DEVIL CAN WAIT, and one of Marta’s Sam Harper Crime Mystery Series book bags, and ...

an e-book copy of Kim Smith’s AVENGING ANGEL.

So, what’s the MB4 gang been up to since our last newsletter?

A note from Kim Smith

My first book, AVENGING ANGEL, was released in December 2008, and we held parties everywhere including on the radio at Blog Talk Radio on my radio show, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kims and it is still available in the archives. I kicked off the new year by having three pieces accepted! “A Will to Love”, a short romance novella (release date pending), “Love Waltzes In” a short story inclusion for an anthology coming in September, and the next Shannon Wallace mystery, “Buried Angel” due to be released in December 2009.

February was the launch of my virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotions, which is still ongoing. You can find all the stops at my website, http://www.mkimsmith.com/ or my blog, http://writingspace.blogspot.com/ and let me tell you, it is so much fun! You can win a free book tour if you are a published author or a fifty dollar gift certificate if you are not. So be sure and come with me as I travel the Internet promoting Avenging Angel. Look for the print copy of Avenging Angel soon!

A note from S. W. Vaughn

Made my first major book deal! Agent sold one of my urban fantasies, and an unwritten sequel, to Pocket Books!

Read all about it here: http://murderby4.blogspot.com/2009/02/holy-book-deal-batman.html/2009/02/holy-book-deal-batman.html

The book line up looks like this:

* Broken Angel scheduled for release through LBF Books on April 28, 2009.
* Hunted scheduled for release through Lyrical Press on June 1, 2009.
* Launched a new look for the website: http://www.swvaughn.com/

A note from Aaron Paul Lazar

The last few months have been spent buried under edits for MAZURKA and HEALEY’S CAVE. But finally, FINALLY, I finished and was able to release the final manuscripts to my publisher. MAZURKA is now scheduled for April, and HEALEY’S CAVE will follow sometime in 2009. FIRESONG: AN UNHOLY GRAVE is in review at Twilight Times Books. I’m hopeful that it will accepted to follow MAZURKA as the fifth LeGarde mystery.

Finishing up these edits has freed me up to work on THE AVIARY, a new standalone that will be my thirteenth book. It feels so good to be writing again, creating again! Since the last update, I enjoyed some delightful radio shows at the following locations:

Radio Interview by our own Kim Smith on Introducing Writers.

Join Kim Smith and Aaron for a half hour of laughs and fun. Topics included Mazurka (the fourth LeGarde book), writing, inspiration, and more.

Join us! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/KimS/2009/01/22/Chat-with-Aaron-Lazar

Literary Therapy with Dr. Ni. This experience was unique, and I invite you to join the 90-minute session that became almost a "literary therapy" experience. Wonderful topics were discussed, such as innocence, life in the country, why abuse is featured in the LeGarde series so prevalently, and more. Join us here for a fascinating step into TREMOLO and the author's and host's minds. Poetry, Prose, and Anything Goes with Dr. Ni.

I will also be appearing at the following venues in March. I hope if you’re in the neighborhood that you’ll stop in:

"Books Sandwiched In" at Wood Library, Canandaigua, March 2nd, noon, 2009

"Friends of the Library" Dinner and Author Talk, March 29th, 6PM 2009, 48 Union ST South, Concord, NC 28025 , (704)795-4902

Best wishes to all. Think spring!

A note from Marta Stephens

The release of the second book in my Sam Harper Crime Mystery series, THE DEVIL CAN WAIT, in early November brought with it an avalanche of promotional activities; book signings, talks at local libraries and several discussions at book clubs. I was sure the rollercoaster ride would ease up in December but since I’m not one to ever really slow down, I slipped a stack of articles and interview answers under my cyber arm and went on a virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion. It was truly a fantastic experience with one of the top in the business. Loved meeting new friends and reuniting with old buddies along the way. You’ll find the links to my tour stops at my Prose & Musing blog: http://mstephens-musings.blogspot.com/2008/12/december-2008-virtual-book-tour-stops.html

With the new year looming just ahead, I made plans to work on the third book in the series, GRAVE WITNESS (working title). This book also began as a novella and although I began rewriting it last June, I haven’t had a chance to get back to it. The truth of the matter is that I needed some time to work through a difficult scene. I was certain that during the Christmas holiday I would dive into it—okay, maybe after New Years. By then, the difficulty had developed into a writer’s block so while I pondered the how and why of it, I launched yet another blog. This one features none other than my protagonist, homicide detective Sam Harper http://www.samharpercrimescene.blogspot.com/ .

Stop by and chat with him. In return, he’ll entertain you with some short stories and periodic updates on some of his cases. Last week he received a call from Shannon Wallace (Kim Smith’s character). Shannon was in trouble and needed Sam's help. It’s all documented here, http://samharpercrimescene.blogspot.com/2009/02/troubles-knocking-again.html. And while you’re there, check out the amazing book trailer at the bottom of the blog that our own talented S. W. Vaughn created for me. :)

So you see, we live what we blog about. We thank you for supporting us during our first year and for sending your many words of encouragement. Most of all, thank you for helping us make MURDER BY 4 a great place to meet new authors, pick up a writing tip or two, and oh yes, allowing us to do a bit of self-promotion.

Let’s face it, our journeys may differ but we’ve all stood on the same starting block. So keep writing and sharing, and for Heaven sakes, keep coming back to MB4!

We love ya!