Headshots, part 2

You may remember from a few weeks ago: I was on my way to have a new set of headshots.

Look, I’m in my mid-sixties. I’m reconciled to the fact that the best I can hope for is to be like a character actor: interesting to look at. This is a conversation that, as we’ve aged, I’ve had with my musician husband many times. Old favorites have made themselves recognizable by keeping to a certain look (think Robin Zander of Cheap Trick or Marty Stuart). As an aged performer, you don’t have to look as gorgeous as you did in youth, you just have to give people something to look at.

It’s particularly true for authors. It’s my belief that all the photo needs to do is make you look like someone with something interesting to say. As opposed to, say, a fashion shot, the point of which is beauty or artistry. It doesn’t even occur to you to be interested in what the model has to say, does it?

Matt Mendelsohn took the shots. I picked him after seeing K.T. Nyugen’s headshot. Go to his website: you won’t see a bad photo. He’s a former UPI photographer and he knows how to bring out your personality, no matter how buttoned up you are. If you’re an author in the D.C. area, I highly recommend him. Alina Karaman was the stylist.

So these are the pictures you’ll see of me peeking out from the back of my book, or in social media posts for events and such. And I say this every time, but I hope this is the last set of headshots for a while.

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Wait, theres’s more me:

Last year, while I was in Nashville, I had the opportunity to speak to Jeremy Finley for Nashville Public Television’s long-running show on books, A Word on Words. For the entire podcast, click here.

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Winner, winner: Last week I forget to reveal the winner of a copy of Sara Gran’s Little Mysteries. It was Greg G. of Alabama! Congratulations to Greg. Stay tuned: the next giveaway will include the tote I got for Independent Bookstore Day. While it is cute as can be, there are already far too many totes in this house and it needs a good forever home.

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Recommendations: I’m currently reading S.A. Barnes’ latest space horror, COLD ETERNITY. A woman on the run takes a job as caretaker on an ancient space hulk carrying the cryo-dead. Could you imagine a creepier set-up? If you’re looking for something to make your skin crawl, look no further.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker is about a specific kind of pandemic horror, the kind known to East Asians at the time, as a crime scene cleaner discovers Asian women are being killed in NYC. Grimly humorous, unusual, and an unexpectedly good read.

As for TV, the new season of Hacks (Max) has arrived. As with most new seasons, the first episode feels a little meh but since they never pull their punches on this show, I expect it will go to interesting places and will keep watching. Andor (Disney) has begun it’s second and final season and it is already fascinating. Not just for Star Wars geeks! It’s crazy how current it manages to feel (rebellion against an evil fascist regime, anyone?)