JanDunlap.com » Bob White

Life imitates art…again

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:38:15 +0000

I can’t believe it. It looks like a Scott’s Oriole has been sighted in Duluth, MN, just three hours from my home. What’s unusual about that is that a Scott’s Oriole is a bird native to the southwest. What’s even odder (is that an oxymoron?) is that my Bob White characters see a Scott’s Oriole in my most recent release, Falcon Finale, when they go to Arizona. And now they could have stayed home and seen one right here in Minnesota!

This has happened to me before with these books: bird events that echo my book events. For the first book, it was an influx of Boreal Owls (normally very hard to find) in northern Minnesota the winter after the book The Boreal Owl Murder debuted in September 2008. Then, the spring after Murder on Warbler Weekend came out, we had larger-than-normal waves of warblers that practically blanketed the area. As far as I know, nothing weird happened after the third book came out, so I figured it was just coincidence with the first two. But now this…am I an unwitting bird psychic?

Or am I just unwitting…..maybe we should take a vote….

A treasure trove of dead birds…and ideas!

admin — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 16:08:28 +0000

Last month, I made a quick tour of London, Derry and Dublin with my husband and daughter, and while in London, we toured the British Museum. As Megs, our hostess and guide, explained to us, many of the items in the museum are booty that intrepid British travelers of the 1800s brought home with them, and while many countries want their stolen goods back, the Brits believe in “Finders, keepers” apparently. In the photo on the left, I’m standing in front of a section of the enormous glass display case that lines the wall in the museum’s Royal Library, which is basically a repository of knowledge of the time, long before encyclopedias appeared, let alone the Internet! In the case, you can see some bird eggs and stuffed birds that are native to Europe. In the photo on the right, I’m posing with someone’s souvenir from a holiday in the Fertile Crescent. I can’t really blame the traveler too much, though – I’d love to have one of these stone birds on my front walk. The falcon at the right would be especially appropriate now as my fourth book, “Falcon Finale,” hits the book racks. The Museum was well worth our visit, and so full of intriguing displays – mummies, Assyrian wall carvings, totems sculpted from reindeer antlers – that I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to write a Bob White adventure that takes my cast of characters overseas into international birding chases and mysterious murder cases. Hmm…that may be a thought worth pursuing…

Luce’s blog is up, and Falcon Finale is on the press!

admin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:10:01 +0000

It’s a new month and I’ve got two big launches: Luce’s blog, titled “Me, Bobby, and the birds” is now up at www.cooksleepbird.blogspot.com and the fourth book in the Bob White Birder Murder Mystery series is on the press and expected to be shipping in a few more days. That means I’m into marketing mode. I had a nice chat this afternoon with Chef Tom and Business Tom at Millie’s Deli in Chanhassen, doing some brainstorming for booksigning events in the months ahead. I have a soft spot for Millie’s breakfasts…and lunches…and dinners..and my books have been on display in the dining room there for years now. In fact, I’m writing some of Millie’s staff into the fifth Birder Murder which is already taking shape on my word processor. Stay tuned for upcoming events!