I'm a fan of supernatural fiction--love to read (and write) the stuff. And I know just how difficult it is, especially in the CBA, to come up with a unique twist on the genre. After all, "supernatural fiction" in the CBA often means works centering around spiritual warfare, populated by angels and demons.

So it's a rare treat when someone comes up with a new spin on the old angels and demons idea. This is exactly what Kathryn Mackel's done with her new chiller "The Hidden." In a dark ravine on her father's horse ranch, Susan Rose, a child psychologist, finds a young man bound in chains--a young man who doesn't know who he is. Who is this young man called Jacob? And what will happen when Susan finds out?

I hate discussing plots in reviews, because you should discover the plot for yourself as the reader. Suffice to say Mackel fills the story with some nice twists and surprises as she explores the nature of love and forgiveness. But for me, "The Hidden" refers to more than the obvious young Jacob in chains, hidden in the darkness when Susan finds him. Even more interesting are the hidden secrets and motivations of the cast of characters. This is a book with a supernatural thread running through it, to be sure, but the heart of the conflict, and the heart of the story, is about Susan's fractured family.

Let's all hope Kathryn Mackel's next book hits the shelves soon.

As I've admitted already, I google my book regularly to find new reviews. Along the way, I've discovered wonderful new places where my book has been reviewed, or where my book is available. All are wonderful surprises.

After all, I'm happy to see ANYONE reviewing or stocking the book, so I'm quite thankful to all the fine folks who have taken the time to do reviews and offer the book for sale. Really.

But every once in a while, I run across a site that gives me pause. Case in point: recently, I found WAKING LAZARUS, and a one-chapter excerpt, are available on a site called "Christian Mommies." The site is a resource center for mothers, and expectant mothers, looking for parenting information and such.

Let's stop and think about this for a moment. This is a site aimed at women in search of information to help them protect their children and be better parents. WAKING LAZARUS is about a serial kidnapper who preys on children.

One of these things is not like the other. One of these things does not belong.

Once again, I'm quite happy to be featured. But something tells me worried, protective mothers probably aren't the people who will enjoy a book featuring kidnapped children.

I think most authors harbor a secret fear that they will do a signing event, and no one will WANT the book. Such was certainly the case for me--I pictured myself sitting at a table with a giant stack of books, looking forlornly at a sea of people waiting in line for the latest "Lemony Snicket" book. (I, myself, would have liked to wait in line for the next "Lemony Snicket" book. But there are only so many things you can do--too many books, too many booths, too many people, and not nearly enough time.)

The good news: I signed 150-ish books. Yeah, 150 books. Part of that was due to the fact that Linda and Tim, fine folks from the Bethany House team, were old pros at the book signing thing. They put up a poster, they handed out sticky notes for people to spell their names on and give to me, they handed me books opened to the title page for signing. As I said, they had it down to a fine science. (I even found out, after comments from a few people in line, that Bethany House had run an ad for the book in that day's "Publisher's Weekly," highlighting my signing.) Met a lot of nice library folks, a lot of nice bookstore folks, and a lot of just plain nice folks in general. One woman admitted she always reads the last page of any mystery book first. Blasphemy! In my inscription, I told her she couldn't read the last page of the book first; she seemed to think it was funny.

So, the signing was great. But so was the whole day. I stood in a few autographing lines myself, waiting for books by Christopher Moore and Joyce Carol Oates. I told Christopher Moore my name was "Ozymandias" when he asked how to inscribe the book, and he didn't bat an eye. Of course, he also waited for me to give him my real name. Joyce Carol Oates, while signing my book, asked if I was from Michigan (she'd looked at my badge, which listed Michigan--location of my publishing house--on it). I told her I was actually from Montana. "Ah, Montana," she said as finished signing a book and handed it to me. And that was it.

I'm not sure if she liked Montana or not.

Early afternoon, I met Steve Wozniak, who was at a booth promoting his forthcoming memoir "I, Woz." I found his name in the program too late, and rushed to the booth five minutes past his allotted time. He was chatting with one person, so I waited patiently for a few moments. When he was free, I told him I just wanted to shake his hand, and that I was sorry I'd missed out on getting a signed ARC from him. "Oh, I'm sure we have a copy of the book left around here someplace, don't we?" He turned to his publicist. Then he turned back to me. "Just kidding--we didn't bring any books. We're just here for a meet and greet."

Quite the jokester, that Woz.

I told him I've been a big fan of Apple, and a Mac Evangelist, since the very beginning. "Well, then, you'll have to read my book to find out what made the Apples so special." Good one. "And," he added, "I didn't say anything bad about Steve Jobs at all."

"Yeah, I'll bet," I said. He responded with a hearty laugh.

You gotta love this guy.

While waiting to start my signing at 4:30, I sat in the "Green Room" for a few minutes. F. Paul Wilson, author of the Repairman Jack series (and other books), walked in shortly after me. I went over, introduced myself, told him I was signing at the same time as he was, and asked if I might be able to get a signed copy of his new RJ novel immediately after the signing. He invited me to sit down, and so I was able to visit with him and his publicist (who was very kind) for about 10 minutes. We chatted about the show, Montana, Christopher Paolini, whiskey, the World Horror Convention in SF, and International Thriller Writers. While we chatted, Newt Gingrich walked into the Green Room and sat down at the table next to us. Kinda surreal, being seated between FPW and Newt Gingrich. I'm happy to say, however, that I got my personalized copy of the new RJ book.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to seek out Dennis Lehane; to tell the truth, I'm not even sure if he was there or not. Seemed like a fair amount of schedule changes and flip-flops happened throughout the conference.

As I said, I missed a lot of things I wanted to see/attend. At the top of that list was a signing event from International Thriller Writers, for their new "Thriller" anthology edited by James Patterson, and featuring stories from a bazillion ITW writers. I probably SHOULD have been at that event (being an ITW member), but I was instead standing in line to get a copy of "Fairest," the newest book from Gail Carson Levine, for my lovely young daughter. (And I'm quite glad I did--my daughter will love the book.)

I spent a fair amount of the day with author Bob Liparulo, an old pro at these trade shows, who shared a lot of advice, information and tips he's learned from promoting his first book. And I listened because, after all, he's under contract for nine more. I think I owe Bob a big steak dinner.

In the evening, I had a great dinner with Linda and Tim from Bethany House; we found a nice Chinese restaurant in, oddly enough, Chinatown.

All in all, it had a good beat, and you could dance to it. I give BEA an 87.

I'm relieved to report my first signing at BEA--via the Mystery Writers of America booth--was quite fun. I signed 42 copies in 45 minutes, and met a lot of great folks. Lots of library people dropped by, which was nice to see. (I love libraries, and am on the Board of Trustees at my local Parmly Billings Library.) Some mystery bookstore people, a nice woman with the Northern California Independent Booksellers, one woman who has had a Near Death Experience of her own (the main character in "Waking Lazarus" has recurring NDEs), and a woman who has done "past life transgressions."

I didn't push to ask about those.

The "big" signing is today (Saturday) at 4:30 in the Autographing Area. I've browsed the Autographing Area, and it's an odd setup with 25-ish tables on raised platforms, fronted by long chutes where people wait to get signed books. Two things struck me about this: 1) The authors, at their tables, sit above the approaching book-folk, in much the same way royalty might wait for common peasants while sitting on a raised dais. 2) The book-folk, working their way through the chutes to the tables, look like cattle being led to a slaughterhouse.

Perhaps I shouldn't comment on either of those analogies any further.

The fine folks at Baker Publishing Group/Bethany House Publishers have been wonderful, and have gone out of their way to help me. I dropped by their booth at least four times during the day, just because it was fun to chat with the people there. Also dropped by the NavPress booth (just across the aisle from the Baker booth) to chat with the folks there about Claudia Mair Burney's wonderful "Murder, Mayhem and A Fine Man," coming out July, and grabbed a copy of Donald Miller's latest book.

Met Jerry B. Jenkins, he of "Left Behind" fame, and got a signed ARC of his forthcoming autobiography/writing book.

Attended an afternoon panel discussion entitled "State of the Thriller," chaired by David Morrell. Most interesting fact to come out of the discussion: a reinforcement of the old adage that "most readers are women." One bookseller in the audience put it nicely: "We find that women are willing to read men's books (meaning books written primarily for men), but men won't read women's books (meaning books primarily written for women)." The writers and editors on the panel confirmed this; one quoted the "average" figure he'd heard for female/male readership of thrillers is 70/30. James Patterson estimated three-quarters of his audience is female, and David Morrell said at least 60% of his email comes from female readers. This is David Morrell, the guy who created the character of Rambo in "First Blood." If 60% of his audience is female, is there really any such thing as "men's" fiction?

After the panel, I shook hands and chatted with James Patterson--a surreal few minutes. I also met David J. Montgomery, a well-respected reviewer in the crime fiction community (he was a panelist), talked with David Morrell and Chris Mooney about the upcoming Thrillerfest in Phoenix (dangit, maybe I should go), and finally got to meet Bob Liparulo in person.

In the evening, fellow Zoetrope.com member Patrick Beltran was kind enough to treat me to a fine, fine dinner at Clyde's, a local restaurant. Always nice to meet folks you've only communicated with online.

Today, I'm hoping to get autographed books from Joyce Carol Oates, Dennis Lehane and F. Paul Wilson. Wish me luck.

Upstairs, I hear my wife say: "Tony, come here." Downstairs, I usually ignore these kinds of comments and continue my plans for worldwide conquest uninterrupted. Kidding! What I meant to say was: Downstairs, I usually drop everything I'm doing and spring into action, vaulting up the stairs to find out what item of interest my lovely wife has discovered.

This time, it happens to be a package from Bethany House Publishers. My publisher. My lovely wife knows exactly what the package holds, and so do I. "Well, go ahead and open it," my lovely wife says. She's never been one for delayed gratification.

After approximately 25 minutes of tearing, I finally manage to make it inside the package and see the treasure it holds: a copy of the final hardcover for WAKING LAZARUS. A real, living, breathing final copy. (For me, you'd better believe the thing lives and breathes.) That nice front cover I've spent many an hour gazing at, some wonderful blurbs from other writers on the back cover, a photo of moi on the inside back flap (Thank goodness they didn't use a photo of me grinning; after reading the book, I think the last thing people will want to see is a picture of me grinning. In fact, I think the last thing I, myself, will want them to see is a picture of me grinning.), and an interior design that's like buttah. The Bethany House folks have hit a home run, I'm pleased as punch, and two cliches per sentence is my limit.

After about an hour of reading, smelling and fondling my new book, I wander off to bed. A few moments after I slip between the sheets, my lovely wife asks, "Did you put the book under your pillow?"

A real joker, my wife.

Which is why I can't tell her I have, indeed, slipped the book beneath my pillow.

In related notes, I'm leavin' on a jet plane today, headed for the big Book Expo America show in Washington DC for a few days.

If you're going to the show, please drop by one of my "official" signings. I'm at the Mystery Writers of America booth (#1749) from 11:15 to Noon on Friday, and at table 16 in the "Autographing Area" from 4:30 to 5:30 on Saturday.

I'm planning to post a blog entry or two during the show, but we'll just play that by ear, shall we?

The ubiquitous Harriet Klausner is omnipresent on the web, reviewing books for roughly 37,000 different sites. She's the #1 book reviewer at Amazon, runs a couple of her own review sites, and does reviews for magazines such as Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine. I'm not sure how many reviews she posts each week, but it's several--maybe even a couple dozen.

Because of this, Harriet Klausner has become something of a mythical enigma--the online equivalent of a Bigfoot or UFO conspiracy. Some have suggested she doesn't read all of her books, but cobbles together reviews from back cover synopses and press materials. Others have accused her of being a borg-like entity: an amalgam of several different reviewers, reading and posting under a single pseudonym.

In any case, it's something of a thrill for me to be reviewed by Ms. Klausner; just a few days ago, I found, she posted a review at her SciFi/Fantasy/Horror review site "Alternative Worlds." Even better, she was very kind to my work, saying:

It is hard to believe this is T.L. Hines’ debut novel because it is so well written and the characters populating the storyline are believable. Visionary fiction is hard to write well but Mr. [Hines] does a great job of doing just that.

Okay, so she actually calls me "Mr. Holmes," but let's give her a break; surely such a prolific reviewer has earned more than a few of them.

As for the Klausner controversies: I can't be much help. I do feel, based on her comments, that she read the book. She mentions plot developments she wouldn't have gleaned from cover copy or any other existing press materials. I like to think Ms. Klausner is real, the literary equivalent of John Henry, pounding away at a sheer mountain of books in front of her.

And I thank her for picking my book out of that mountain.

So you've likely heard the story circling recently that MySpace gets more daily traffic than Google. Don't know if it's true or not (likely it isn't), but the mere fact that the story is circulating illustrates just how much buzz MySpace is getting.

About a month ago, my wife was watching the evening news on television. When I walked into the room, she said, "Hey, look at this story." I stopped to watch--a two-minute feature on MySpace, and how it's being used by many predators to target young kids. After the story finished, my wife looked at me and said, "Scary, isn't it?"

I paused for a moment. "I have a page on MySpace," I said.

Her turn for the pause. "You do?"

"Yeah. You know, for the book and stuff. Lots of other authors over there, and fan groups for horror writers, and writers like Ted Dekker. People who might be interested in my book, you know."

She looked at me a few moments and slowly nodded, then I sneaked out of the room. The thing is, the story--and her reaction--confirmed what I'd somewhat felt about MySpace any time I ventured over there--which is to say, I felt like the dirty old man who hangs out around school playgrounds. The site has kids as young as 14, and probably half the users are under 20. Maybe not quite half, but close. Certainly, 90% are under thirty.

Me? I ain't under thirty. In fact, I'm just about to be spit out the other end of that "thirtysomething" label.

So, let's just say the story about sexual predators stalking kids on MySpace didn't exactly make me feel better about using it. Judging from the ads served on the site alone, its primary purpose is "dating" (euphemistically speaking). Whenever I sign in to MySpace, an ad for a dating service shows a scantily-clad young woman, along with the tag line of "It's nice to be naughty." Hmm, what's the underlying message? And why is it appropriate for 14-year-old kids to see it? For that matter, is it appropriate for 39-year-old married men to see it? And is it any wonder predators might target the site?

Just today, I received a "Friend Request" from a 20-year-old woman claiming to be from Jordan, Montana. I clicked to see her profile, and was greeted by her photo: a view of her butt, clad in nothing but a G-string. Other photos showed her in lingerie, posing seductively on a bed. This, it was obvious to me, was not a girl from the small prairie town of Jordan, Montana. It was a fake profile, the MySpace equivalent of "Hey, check out my webcam!" meant to lure hormone-fueled young men to porn sites. Yet one more reason to avoid MySpace.

I scrolled through all the comments on this young woman's profile, noting, among other things, that every friend she has invited is male. Most of the comments were the garden-variety "You're so HOTT!" exclamations, but I'd like to give special note to Tanner, who made me laugh out loud with his comment:

Yet another hot woman I don't know in skimpy underwear wanting me to add them as a friend. When will this ever stop? Look, I am sure you are nice and all, but I have a dungeons and dragons tournament to get back to.

It's obvious Tanner was being facetious with his comment--especially after looking at his profile (Hot Dog is the best movie of all time! Except for Basquiat.). But that didn't make the comment any less funny. At least Tanner can navigate MySpace with a healthy dose of humor intact. Tanner, I don't think we have to worry about; give him a hall pass and let him wander the halls of MySpace as much as he wants.

It's the young men posting "You are a SMOKIN' chick!" comments who worry me. If they can't recognize a scam here, what hope is there for them out in the real world? On the other hand, who am I kidding? Maybe MySpace is the new real world.

So I've been thinking: I need to spend more time on MySpace. People who have pure intentions need to spend time on MySpace. People who want to simply connect with friends (not "friends") need to spend time on MySpace. People who have no agenda or scheme need to spend time on MySpace.

If not, the only folks there will 45-year-old porn entrepreneurs posing as 20-year-old women from Jordan, Montana--along with the undiscerning young men who easily fall for their scams.

Tanner, you're getting a "Friend" request from me right now.

Are you a writer or reader interested in listening to authors do public readings and answer questions about their work? Do you have an iPod (or some other inferior mp3 player capable of playing podcasts)?

If so, I heartily recommend you visit authorsontourlive.com, which posts weekly podcasts from public readings at The Tattered Cover in Denver--certainly one of the greatest independent book stores on earth. And, the podcasts feature a diverse and impressive range of authors: everyone from Andrew Weil to Frank McCourt to Joan Didion to Lemony Snicket.

Some authors are natural performers (Neil Gaiman, I thought, was quite charming, holding the audience capably in the palm of his hand). Others are uncomfortable public speakers. Still others seem to hate everything on earth, including the folks who showed up to hear them. But that's okay; it's interesting--and instructive--to listen to a variety of authors talk about their lives and loves.