What is Mutual Admiration from the Asylum Department? Good question. Jaki and Lynne met in a writers critique group and discovered a mutual taste for homicidal humor. We're happy to share our MAADness in the form of newsletters to anyone who sends their snail mail address to murraymade@aol.com.

ISSUE #9 - SPRING-SUMMER 1999

Spring / Summer Sprouts from the MAADwomen! Mutual Admiration from the Asylum Department Presents: Crops and Harvest from the Publishing Field, Sprouting Events, A Tasty Recipe and a Bouquet of the Green Stuff -- yes, THAT green stuff, well sorta. [Disclaimer: From spring till well past mid-summer madness we're reporting on the latest. As usual we inspire each other to new heights (or possibly depths) of silliness.]

ST. MARTIN'S PRESS OFFERS MURRAY A 2-BOOK CONTRACT -- HER ANSWER?

"...and yes I said yes I will Yes."

Okay, so that's also the last 7 words of James Joyce's Ulysses, but somehow it seemed appropriate. I am happy to announce that St. Martin's Press has elected to take on the Josephine Fuller series. Along with the paperback that introduced the series, Larger Than Death, St. Martin's will publish the hardback and paperback editions of the next two Josephine Fuller books.

Larger Than Death will be published in paperback at the same time as the new hardback, the second book in the series: Large Target, wherein Josephine embarks on saving a kidnapped admiral who may have been the target of espionage or his world-class dysfunctional family in San Diego. St. Martin's will also publish the third Josephine Fuller book, Murder At Large, wherein the woman who stole Josephine's first husband is inconveniently murdered, with the murder weapon even more inconveniently turning up in Josephine's storage locker.

So far no publication date has been set, but stay tuned for future explosions of ecstatic announcement.

GIRDNER MAKES HISTORY WITH MURDER ON THE ASTRAL PLANE!

The First (And Only) Author Ever to Sign On The Astral Plane

This spring our own Jaqueline Girdner will become The First Author Ever to Sign On The Astral Plane! And the only author to commit Murder On The Astral Plane.

Even as you read this, Jaki's tenth novel Murder On The Astral Plane will be hovering over bookshelves waiting to levitate into your hands. Published in March in hardback from Berkley Prime Crime, in Murder On The Astral Plane Kate seeks relief from a curious phenomena -- everywhere she goes, people drop dead. Kate attends a psychic soiree, seeking relief from this karmic impairment that sends her stumbling over dead bodies repeatedly... only to discover at the soiree, yet another corpse. Now Kate must answer that faint telepathic whisper, "Whodunit?"

Even as this riddle unfolds -- with questionable help from the psychic community -- some of you may be hearing that small telephathic whisper telling you you're going broke. For those facing this dilemma Jaki's previous book in the series Death Hits The Fan will hit the bookstores -- in its first paperback incarnation!

Jaki is slaving along the book promotion trail as this goes to press -- well, goes to the photocopy parlor, but you know what I mean. You might be able to have a close encounter with Jaki, either On the Astral Plane, or at one of the signings below. Never fear, despite the slaughter of an author in Death Hits The Fan, no one who could possibly, conceivably ever buy a book is ever banned at one of these events:

Thursday, March 25 at 7:00 p.m., M.C. Newburn Books, Albany (510-524-1370)

Saturday, March 27 from 2-3:00 p.m., San Francisco Mystery Bookstore, San Francisco (415-282-7444)

Wednesday, April 7 at 7:00 p.m.. The Depot, Mill Valley (415-383-2665)

Saturday, April 10 at 2:00 p.m., "M" Is For Mystery, San Mateo (650-401-8077)

Sunday, April 11 at 5:30 p.m.. Book Passage, Corte Madera (415-927-0973)

Wednesday, April 14 at 6:00 p.m. (PST), Internet Interview, http://www.talkcity.com/mystery

Sunday, April 18 at 2:00 p.m.. Sisters in Crime Soiree at a Clean Well Lighted Place For Books, San Francisco (415- 441-6670)

April 30-May 2, Malice Domestic Convention, Renaissance Hotel, Washington, D.C.

May 7-16, Mystery Week, To Be Arranged

Saturday, May 8 at 2:00 p.m., Capitol Crimes and Coffee, Davis (530-758-7358)

Sunday, May 16 at 2:00 p.m., Crown Books, Walnut Creek (925-945-6616)

Tuesday, July 6 at 7:00 p.m., Copperfield's at 4th and D Streets in Santa Rosa

MAADWOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE!

MAAD money for MAADwomen Only*!

Sue Corbett and Geri Havlicek have been kind enough to start the first MAADwomen's Society and Girdner/Murray Fan Club. We don't know whether to blush or cheer so we're doing both!!!

Sue is eminently qualified to be President. Here is a woman who has fed cookies to a hyena with her mouth in a circus; rescued, raised and rehabilitated bats; and jousted on a Percheron horse she trained herself. She is a foster-mom to kittens and puppies with the local animal rescue societies. The heck with mysteries, I think we should write about her adventures. Sue is a pre-published mystery writer who also writes in the fantasy genre.

We are honored that Geri is able to spare us some time to take on the (hopefully not too strenuous) position of Vice President, Treasurer and Controller of the MAADmoney. At the moment she works in an office by day and attends classes in accounting and anthropology by night. We suspect that she is working her way through the alphabet to zoology, at which time we'll all have to toast her with Zinfandel. Some of these studies are research for a mystery-writing project which Geri assures us is neither hard nor soft-boiled but on the scrambled side. We're confident that she can deal with MAADwomen in her sleep (and with her schedule, it looks like she may have to).

Sue and Geri have already collaborated on a creature feature film entitled Furassic Park -- a kitten versus teddy bear epic that resulted in the adoption of several orphaned actors of the feline variety. This dynamic duo is sharpening their pens to contribute future terrifying articles on such subjects as Restaurants in the Girdner Books -- Truth Versus Fiction, and Stalking the Plus Sized Outfit with Murray.

To kick off the Club we decided to expand on the old mystery writers' motto: "Crime Doesn't Pay -- Enough!" For MAADwomen Only* we will be issuing MAADmoney to anyone who wants to join the Club. We will start with 25MAAD-dollar denominations. Future editions may bring higher denominations (can you say inflation?) or lower denominations (can you say poverty?). Jaki will be handing out MAADmoney with book purchases at her signings this spring.

If you can't get to a signing, feel free to join the Club by sending your snail mail address to Sue Corbett at 1234 Scott Street, El Cerrito, CA 94530. You will receive a 25MAAD-dollar bill (not to mention copies of future MAAD newsletters -- except I just did mention it, ha, ha).

* Note -- The MAADwomen's Society does not discriminate on the basis of gender -- if you're mad enough to want to join, you're welcome!

MAADMONEY -- WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH IT?

ACTUALLY NOT A WHOLE LOT -- although the artwork is a Jaqueline Girdner multimedia, limited edition, so you can enjoy the whimsy of it.

YOU CAN'T spend it anywhere unless you find a merchant crazier than we are -- and he or she probably won't be in business long.

YOU CAN'T trade it any for any sort of prizes or discounts or, well, much of anything.

YOU CAN put it in your wallet for the real money to laugh at.

YOU CAN take it with you to your local bookstore, library or other book dealer so that you have the MAADwomen's book titles available in a handy foldable form.

AND FURTHERMORE, it makes a handy cat toy.

12 ounces light silken tofu

BLEND ALL INGREDIENTS.

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