Jeffrey Ricker dot com

Reading March 13 at the St. Louis Artists’ Guild

Jeffrey — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:58:03 +0000

I’ll be doing a reading and signing at the St. Louis Artists’ Guild on Tuesday, March 13, from 7 to 9 p.m. In addition to reading from Detours, I’ll also give a little preview of my current work in progress. You can find all the details here, and if you haven’t got a copy yet, you can order one from Left Bank Books here in town. You can also go into their shop and pick one up, of course. (Say hello to Spike, the store kitty cat, while you’re at it. He’ll pretend not to care, but he’s really a sweetie.)

Hope to see you there!

‘The Key Ingredient’

Jeffrey — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:26:41 +0000

That’s the title of my next story, which will be appearing in the anthology The Dirty Diner, edited by Jerry Wheeler. It’s not out until July, but it’s available for pre-order at the Bold Strokes Books website, and the entire story lineup (which includes some of my talented friends, such as ‘Nathan Burgoine, Todd Gregory dba Greg Herren, and William Holden) can be found at Jerry’s blog.

Reading! This Thursday!

Jeffrey — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 22:37:39 +0000

In the mood for a little holiday cheer? Head to the St. Louis Artists’ Guild on Thursday, December 15, at 7 p.m. for some Holiday Literary Cheer presented by the Guild’s Literary Section, including yours truly. There’ll be poetry and fiction, along with assorted refreshments. (I’m bringing wine, because I believe an audience should have a little holiday cheer in them.) I’ll be reading an unpublished short story, so it’s a little bit of a Christmas surprise!

Click the link above, or you can download this handy dandy flyer right here.

Hope we’ll see you this Thursday!

Win a copy of DETOURS—the winner!

Jeffrey — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:56:31 +0000

So yes, it’s taken me a few days to finally get around to this, and I’m sure the suspense is killing you—well, killing all three of you who entered. (But that’s just because the rest of you have already pre-ordered your copies, right? Right?)

But seriously, I took every entry and assigned it a number in the order it was received, then I called the folks at MIT and asked them to build me a random number generator, preferably with lots of gears and pistons….

No I didn’t.

But! I did use a random number generator. And it spit out a number, a definitive answer, and the winner is…

Drumroll please…

(Rickroll?)

No, I said drumroll.

The winner is Zane Tschanz!

Dude, if you’re reading this, send me your address. And thank you to all three of you who entered!

Another chance to win DETOURS

Jeffrey — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:54:35 +0000

Did you enter Red Room’s ghost story contest for a chance to win Detours? Here’s another chance—from yours truly—to win a copy before its official release date next month.

Detours is in part a road trip novel. A lot has been said by people smarter than me about the positive benefits of travel:

Mark Twain: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”
Lao Tzu: “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”
J.R.R. Tolkien: “Not all those who wander are lost.”
St. Augustine: “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
Martin Buber: “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”

Between now and November 6, tell me about your most favorite place you’ve ever visited. It could be your favorite city, a little cabin on the upper peninsula in Michigan—even a fantastic corner in your local library where you can sit and take down a book and be transported.

Leave a comment here or send your e-mail to jeffrey at jeffrey-ricker dot com. I’ll pick one and mail you a signed copy of Detours.

I’m looking forward to hearing about all the places you’ve been!

Win a copy of DETOURS!

Jeffrey — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:42:42 +0000

DETOURS isn’t out until November 15, but do you want to get a jump on everyone else? Well, over at Red Room, they’re having a contest asking readers to blog about their favorite ghost story. Featured blogs that they’ll select will win one of three books, one of which is (have you guessed it yet?) DETOURS.

Whenever anyone asks me what DETOURS is about, I say it’s a road trip with a love story surrounded by a ghost story. I hope you’ll fall in love with this particular ghost.

What are you waiting for? The deadline’s October 21 at 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time.

(Oh, and if you don’t win, don’t despair! There’ll be some other opportunities to win a copy of the book coming up.)

SPEAKING OUT reviewed at Kirkus Reviews

Jeffrey — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:56:17 +0000

I’m really bowled over by the glowing review for SPEAKING OUT: LGBTQ Youth Stand Up, edited by Steve Berman, over at Kirkus Reviews. (Read it here.) Writing this story was close to my heart because it was the sort of story that I couldn’t find myself when I was a teenager. Part of me hopes it would have helped, and maybe helps now.

The characters didn’t let go of me by the end of the story, so you’ll be seeing them again….

Reading Sept. 17 at Left Bank Books

Jeffrey — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 17:21:55 +0000

I’ll be taking part in an LGBT Mystery Author Showcase reading on Saturday, September 17, at 6:30 p.m. at Left Bank Books in the Central West End, St. Louis. Lots of great authors will be there including Greg Herren, Rob Byrnes, J.M. Redmann, Neil Plakcy, Val McDermid, and more. Click here for more information. Hope to see you there!

DETOURS now available for pre-order

Jeffrey — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:35:17 +0000

Head on over to Bold Strokes Books’ website and you’ll be able to pre-order my upcoming first novel. How exciting is this? (Well, I’m pretty excited. And look at that cover.) You can also pre-order it from my local bookstore, Left Bank Books, and if you like, I can even sign it for you.

BLOOD SACRAMENTS gets award nomination

Jeffrey — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 11:14:17 +0000

BLOOD SACRAMENTS (which, as you may know, includes my short story “Lifeblood”) was 2010 Book of the Year Award finalist for Horror Fiction by ForeWord Reviews. (For the complete list of nominees in horror, check here.) To quote from their website, the awards “were established to bring increased attention to librarians and booksellers of the literary and graphic achievements of independent publishers and their authors. ForeWord is the only review trade journal devoted exclusively to books from independent houses.”

Looking through the other categories, there are a number of nominees from my publisher, Bold Strokes Books. I’m always encouraged when LGBT fiction gets noticed and recognized for its relevance and quality beyond its own niche market.

Congratulations to Todd Gregory, the editor of BLOOD SACRAMENTS, and to Radclyffe, the president of Bold Strokes. This is great news!