Prime Crime

This blog has moved

2010-03-31T17:31:00.001-05:00

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100 dollars!

2009-12-11T07:27:00.000-06:00

Make sure to read this month's newsletter and win a chance at a 100 dollar gift certificate or a free book!
Happy Holidays!

Sword Tour

2009-10-19T09:31:00.002-05:00

Dave Barry and I began our Peter and the Sword of Mercy tour in Coral Gables, FL on Friday to a crazy crowd! The tour kicks off officially in NYC this Sunday, October 25. Hope to see you while out on tour. Bring any book and I/we will sign.
Ridley

Dave Barry and I hit the road

2009-10-14T07:08:00.002-05:00

Dave Barry and I hit the road for
Peter and the Sword of Mercy.
Hope to see you out there!
Ridley

Dates

2009-08-10T14:47:00.001-05:00

New dates for Dave Barry's and my Sword Of Mercy tour:

- October 12 – Barnes & Noble, NY
- October 16 – Books & Books, Coral Gables
- October 25 – Symphony Space, NY
- October 26 – Books, Bytes & Beyond, NJ
- October 29 – Anderson’s Bookshop, Naperville, IL
- October 30 – University Bookstore, Seattle
- October 30 – Barnes & Noble, Seattle
- November 4 – Poisoned Pen, Phoenix
- November 12 – St. Louis County Library
- November 13-14 – Walt Disney World events

Ridley

No Rain? No Pain.

2009-07-24T07:31:00.001-05:00

If only it wouldn't rain in Idaho this summer.

Click here...

Favorite Caper stories

2009-06-30T13:34:00.001-05:00

What are your favorite caper stories?
Mine include: Thomas Crown Affair, The Italian Job, even Charade (a bit of a stretch to call it a heist or caper film).
Yours??

Killer Summer

2009-06-23T13:34:00.002-05:00

Killer Summer publishes Tuesday, June 30th.

I'll be appearing in St Louis, Scottsdale, Houston, and Sun Valley, Idaho. Check out the schedule, for more info.

Thanks for the support!
Ridley

Talk about hand to eye...

2009-05-24T08:36:00.002-05:00

Twitter

2009-05-18T07:14:00.001-05:00

I have given in to the high tech world I attempt to embrace and am now on Twitter:
Ridley Pearson AKA RidleyTheWriter
I'm traving in the US for the next two weeks and will post from Twitter.
please follow if you HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TWITTER IS ABOUT....
Ridley

Bird can Rock

2009-05-07T02:15:00.000-05:00

This bird can rock!

It's Illegal

2009-03-27T18:06:00.002-05:00

For those of you who read the blog, you know that I seldom, if ever, use it to hawk another author's books, but I have to give pause and encourage you to try Paul Levine if you haven't read him yet. He's smart and funny and a terrific writer. His newest is Illegal. If you have an empty bedside table, go GET A COPY!
Ridley

The Power of We

2009-03-19T18:41:00.000-05:00

The Power of We

Ridley

One of the aspects of Chinese life abundantly obvious is the commune in communism. Our lane is a string of dwellings--some "grand" like ours, a small and simple house, some not so grand--our neighbor, her husband and 12 year old son live in a structure roughly 12x14 feet, their only sink out in the lane in front of their front door and roughly ten feet to the left of our front door. We often pay witness to the boy being given a bath/shower/wash as he stands naked in a plastic tub and warm-ish water is poured over him. All the cooking and washing and clothes washing is done at that tub. It can't be easy, but our neighbor always smiles at us as we come and go from our warm house, brightly lit, with its two baths and full kitchen. There is never a hint of animosity. Acceptance is the rule here.

There is a lane community center very near us where forty year old women do line dances to old fifties American hits, most of which I play with the Rockbottom Remainders. There is choir practice every Wednesday and a Chinese variation on an aerobics class some mornings. We all know each other to say hello to -- and of course the Chinese know each other by name. There's the bald man down the street who carries his large number of potted plants out when the weather is nice (he came and doctored a plant for us not long ago, all smiles to see inside our house.) There's the neighbor with the perfectly restored 1943 motorcycle and sidecar, shined to a spit polish. And of course there's the laundry. Everyone -- yes, including us -- hangs their clean laundry to dry (there are no real clothes dryers here, reducing their carbon footprints when most don't know what a carbon footprint even is), so you're able to see underwear styles and sizes, and the next time you see the woman three houses down you can't help but picture the large sized red underwear somewhere buried beneath the other plain clothing. Long underwear. Bra sizes. We know a lot about each other here in Lane 339.

But it strikes me that the power of we is at work, and no more so than when our wonderful Xue (our housekeeper) had her electric bike break down. She arrived to our house having pedaled the heavy bike (smaller wheels than a regular bike). And she explained in Chinese, and some sign language, that her electric bike had broken. Then she pointed to our back garden, where we keep our bikes, and it was obvious she had quickly jumped to the conclusion that we had four bikes and hers was broken, so we would offer her one of our bikes. Which we did. She didn't thank us. She nodded and smiled, and I gave her the key to the lock, and helped her to get the bike out the big steel door that serves our garden patio. And she rode off. I realized it was expected. This is a communal society. If you have a bike not being ridden and your neighbor needs a bike -- bingo, it's worked out. A few days later Xue returned the bike, smiled, and showed us that hers had been repaired. We were part of the we. We were part of a community.

There are exceptions. When daughter Storey broke her ankle last week and we needed a wheelchair to get her down the impossibly long lane, we turned (through our cook) to our community center. Might they, by any chance, be in possession of a wheelchair? (Since there are many elderly about.) Indeed, as we'd guessed they had one. And they were willing to loan it to us: for a fee. Shanghai is where capitalism meets communism and so we had a taste of where the we meets a fee. We borrowed the wheelchair for three days and three nights. Fee: 2 US dollars.
Today, our cook showed up with a wheelchair -- to loan us indefinitely. Someone's mother had used it, died, and it was lying around. How she managed to get it here (she lives WAY across town) I have no idea. But a man showed up, lifted it into our front door and trundled off. No fee.

And so we are learning that people help people here -- sometimes charging, most of the time not -- out of a societal consciousness that instills at an early age that the individual cannot survive without the group. Historically, we are told, this goes back millennium to the spring floods of major rivers and how, without a full effort on everyone's part, the river could wash away farm ground, taking its top soil and rendering it infertile for generations. Or... they could band together, divert the river and protect their food source. Out of the efforts of many came food for the few. Now, thousands of years later, the same attitude prevails. I cannot make it without you.

As much as an American I have instilled in me the notion of independence and every-man-for-himself, I find myself reflecting that both 911 and the current financial crisis has left me feeling this pulsing group agenda--that we need to thinking as a people not as a person. That we need the power of we. That I'm currently living in an example of how this works at the community level so well. I'm not condoning Communism as a political force. There's too much here that can be criticized (just as there is at home!). But at the base level of neighbor to neighbor, door to door, wheelchair to wheelchair, and bike to bike, there is much to be learned and cherished.

Live and Give

2009-03-09T21:53:00.000-05:00

Recessionitis

As employers large and small seek methods of plugging the ever-widening holes in the hulls of their sinking vessels, and tossing things overboard to lighten the load, something troubling is happening--it is being used as an excuse. It's not just that company benefits are being eliminated or trimmed, though that is happening at alarming rate, it's that obligations are being overlooked. We mustn't let the recession give us recessionitis.

I spoke to a corporate executive last week who explained a particularly vexing employee, who had badgered the department and had found protection from being fired in their Human Services rules was bundled into a bigger layoff and let go. What would have taken six weeks to several months to accomplish was taken care of in a single stroke. This happens to be one of those understandable usages of layoffs, and I could hear the relief over the employee finally being gone, but it suggests a crack in the veneer of truth. It wasn't entirely above board.

Another owner of a small company said he'd taken the opportunity to clean house of some workers who were never going to cut it, that the recession provided perfect cover to speed along what otherwise would have been costly and dragged out dismissals. There is efficiency in such layoffs--firings--and efficiency is what's needed to keep small and large businesses afloat. But if such practices become easier for having done them once, then there's a danger of falling into the excuses trap.

More troubling to me, as a board member of a worthy non-profit, is that businesses and individuals have stopped giving. As of the start of the new year money simply dried up. This makes for desperate times for our inner city youth literacy and athletics program--it may go under. And I have to wonder what's going on. Yes, money is tight for all of us, but this is no time to allow safety nets for the needy to go under. To the contrary, there are and will be even more needy--kids and adults alike--in the coming months and if ever there was a time to reach deep and give to charity, those who can afford to must.

If the recession becomes an excuse instead of a challenge then there is a double barreled effect: it hits our purses and our humanity; it degrades our bank accounts and our ethics. Times of hardship can unite and lift a society to new accomplishments, or turn it on itself--every man for himself; dog eat dog.

We must go forward, yes. Difficult decisions must be made, no doubt. People will lose jobs. Non-profits will fail. But hopefully we can retain our common humanity in the process.

Getting Naked (2)

2009-02-16T16:02:00.003-06:00

I'm now posting every Wednesday on www.nakedauthors.com

I hope you'll pay it a visit.

The Starcatchers stage play in La Jolla was INCREDIBLE. What a great experience. If you get anywhere near La Jolla before March 3rd -- it's a play for adults (although children seem to get it too). You'll be enchanted.
Ridley

Act 2 of the play

2009-02-11T14:11:00.000-06:00

I was able to see the second act of Peter and the Starcatchers -- the stage play -- last night, and while Disney has asked I not review or give anything away about the performance (this is a workshop after all) what I can say is WOW! Rick Elice's script has brought the book alive in a funny, thoughtful and heartfelt way. More details to come. Tonight I get to see the whole play -- both acts. And then a dress rehearsal tomorrow night! Public performances begin on Friday night.
Ridley

Starcathers--The Play!!!

2009-02-10T03:09:00.000-06:00

I will be traveling to La Jolla, CA for the soft opening of Peter and the Starcatchers, the stage play, produced by Disney Theatrical. I will try to post several times and keep you up on events.
Ridley

Hello, Mommy

2009-01-22T17:50:00.003-06:00

Japan's fascination with Hello Kitty just gets weirder and weirder. Here, in Shanghai, it's nearly as bad, but not this crazy.

Getting Naked

2009-01-21T19:13:00.002-06:00

I will be joining the Naked Authors blog starting in Feb. 2009.

www.nakedauthors.com

I will be posting every other Wednesday. About two weeks after each NA post I will re-post the same piece here, but I hope you'll visit Naked Authors and keep up with my writing colleagues like Patricia Smiley and Paul Levine.

Happy Chinese New Year from Shangahi (www.shanghai-family.blogspot.com)

Ridley

For the program guide

2009-01-16T21:53:00.002-06:00

I was asked about childhood fantasies, for the program guide to the stage play of Peter and the Starcatchers (La Jolla Playhouse, beginning Feb 13th):

As a child I was surrounded by sorcery and magic. The kids in our Connecticut neighborhood were very close and over the years we formed a kind of secret club without ever calling it that. As the youngest of that club I was the guinea pig, the object of childhood "torture" like being tied up and left in the attic while the others dressed up as goblins and then raided the attic, scaring me half to death; once I was made to drink a green potion that I was told would kill me (it turned out to be 7-UP with green food coloring). This went on for many years. Ricky Hart, who lived down the street, wore capes and rode his bike around in the gloom of night making hooting noises. We were a strange bunch.
My fantasy back then, and perhaps it carried forward, was to be a spy. I would work on walking through the woods without making a sound; I would sneak around my house trying not to be noticed; at one point I had run wires throughout most of the house so it was "bugged" and connected to a tape recorder in my room. I'm not sure my parents ever found out about that. I wonder where those tapes are now?
But an ability I fantasized about, was, like my favorite early book, Harold and his Purple Crayon: to imagine and create a world. Harold could draw things that then came to life, and he stepped into that world. My mother was the artist. My father was a writer. I began using words in place of Harold's crayon--creating worlds where I could be the caped magician, the spy. And I, the writer, was of course, invisible. It's a fantasy world I still enter each day as I sit down in my office chair.
Ridley Pearson

Kidle freeze, Kindle crash, Kindle alive!

2009-01-15T19:15:00.004-06:00

I know there are those out there who dislike the notion, if not the actual device itself. I'm talking about the Kindle. Living in China for the past six months it has been a life saver. Not only can I carry 10 to 20 books with me wherever I go -- and I've been traveling a lot -- but I use it with my students' papers (30 a week!) to create a paperless office. I read and grade on the Kindle.

And then it failed. If it entered "sleep" it wouldn't wake. I had to reset it with a paperclip. I searched the Internet for solutions -- and tried a half dozen fixes. Nothing. Still not working. Then Amazon wrote me to send it back and get a new one -- and I hated to do that, but finally, today called Tech Support to get a return number. And that's when they decided to tell me how to fix it. I was lacking a single step in all the dozens of variations of resets I had done. One button. Nowhere on their site. Nowhere on any of the blogs. But I went ahead and followed his instructions, and now it seems to be working again. Which means I can read, and I can teach (and not waste reams of paper). It galls me that they don't post this solution. So here it is:

ALT-SHIFT-R and then when the screen blanks... release those and hold down HOME KEY until the firmware reset menu appears. (so simple!) press 2 for firmware reset, and the EPROM is wiped clean and you can start all over -- load your books (the Amazon site holds them!) and get going again.

I love real, tangible books. I will continue to buy REAL BOOKS in independent stores, whenever, wherever possible. But the Kindle, both for long distance travel, and paperless reading of Word documents is a terrific addition to a writer's toolbox. I'm glad to have it back working.

MIAMI BOOK FAIR - this weekend, Nov 14, 15 - Walt Disney World 18, 19

2008-11-10T04:15:00.006-06:00

MIAMI BOOK FAIR

Dave Barry and I will be speaking about Science Fair on Saturday morning.

I'll be with Scott Turow taking questions mid-day

The Rockbottom Remainders (full band, all but Stephen King) will celebrate the Fair's 25 Anniversary with a special show in a new location (and food!)

Hope to see you somewhere along the way..

WALT DISNEY WORLD:

TUESDAY NOV 18th: Dave Barry and I will do a signing -- check the web site for details
WEDNESDAY NOV 19th: I will be signing KINGDOM KEEPERS 3 (twice) in the Animal Kingdom -- check the web site for details

Ridley

Dave (Barry) and I get serious on book tour

2008-10-22T10:00:00.001-05:00

Our Mentos experiment goes live at Books Inc. Alameda, CA

Getting serious about Sciene Fair

2008-10-14T06:40:00.003-05:00

Dave Barry and I will be on Good Morning America, Friday, Oct 17.
A preview of our serious attire as modeled by Dave.

SCIENCE FAIR

2008-10-10T16:28:00.001-05:00

Dave Barry and I head out on book tour Tuesday, Oct 14 for what promises to be a experiment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3Cl7OeE3Zs