Category Archives: The Killing Hands

November 6, 2009

New blog features, Melbourne Cup, hitman manual

Filed under: PD Martin website,Research,The Killing Hands — Tags: , , , , , — PD Martin @ 9:20 pm

Today I’m launching my new blog features! My web guru has incorporated WordPress into the site, which gives me some of the more standard blog features such as the blog roll, an RSS feed and a comment field.

So go ahead, write something! Yep, scroll down and type. You can do it! And click on the RSS feed button on the left to sign up for the blog feed.

Onto writing…or maybe not….

I have to confess, not much went on this week in the way of writing or author-type activities. I did, however, back Crime Scene in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup. How could a crime author not put a few bucks on a horse named Crime Scene? And I wasn’t alone, so congrats if you were enough of a crime fiction fan to back the horse.

This week I’ve also fixed up the formatting for The Killing Hands case file. So if you’re interested in some behind-the-scenes info, visit the case file and my references (which includes the somewhat bizarre Hitman Manual for Independent Contractors). One of my favourite extracts is below:

‘Because of their uncanny ability to get into places and situations a man might find hard to duplicate, because of their deceitful, “game-playing” natures, and because a woman can be twice as vicious as a man, a woman can be a better hired executioner than a man.’

So guys, beware…and don’t forget to be nice to your wife this weekend!

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October 31, 2009

Big week

Filed under: PD Martin website,The Killing Hands — Tags: , , , — PD Martin @ 5:54 am

It’s been a big week…The Killing Hands official release date in the US and Canada, the release of my very first book trailer and I’ve been continuing work on my website – including the case file section for The Killing Hands and a new section on safety for women and how you can protect your children from predators, online and offline.

The case file for The Killing Hands is almost done (actually, it is finished but I’m having problems formatting the page so it looks pretty bad at the moment!). However, the other new section of the website will be about a month away.

In case you missed it during the week, you can view the book trailer for The Killing Hands at:

The Killing Hands

I think the producer’s done a fantastic job and lots of people are saying it’s one of the best book trailers they’ve ever seen. Hopefully new people will keep logging on and viewing the 35-second video in the coming weeks.

Finally, next week the blog will be different – with comments and some other standard blog features enabled. Like I said…it’s been a big week!

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October 23, 2009

Case file – coming along nicely

Filed under: Research,The Killing Hands — Tags: , , , , , — PD Martin @ 5:51 am

This week I’ve been getting stuck into the case file for The Killing Hands. In fact, I’ll be loading it on the web next week.

Here’s a sneak peak of what you can expect:

Photos – including pics of the crime-scene location and pics of the FBI building in LA and the Coroner’s Office.
References – some of my fascinating references…research, research, research!

Photos

Below is the car park where the victim is found in The Killing Hands.

car park 3-15percent

 

 

Comment: The car park was quite a bit smaller (like about one-third of the size) than I’d realized (found it on Google Maps originally), but the building site behind it worked really well with the narrative and crime-scene location.

 

 

References (excerpt only)

FBI – Organized crime website 

Australian Institute of Criminology’s Contract Killings in Australia

Hitman Manual for Independent Contractors – can download/view via http://rapid4me.com/download.php?f=1557512

The Yakuza in America – TruTV Crime Library 

 

 

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October 16, 2009

Storyboard

Filed under: The Killing Hands — Tags: , — PD Martin @ 5:45 am

I’ve started work on the page proofs for the Aussie release of book 5, Kiss of Death. However, I decided to spend this blog talking about the storyboard for The Killing Hands book trailer…I mean, you guys don’t need to know if there was a typo on page 54 of my page proofs, now do you?!

I’ve gotta say, it was pretty exciting when I saw an email with two attachments – one PDF file and a QuickTime file titled “storyboard”. Of course, my natural reaction was to madly click on the QuickTime file, but I read the email, which recommended opening and reading the PDF script first. And I actually managed to resist. I mean, authors hate it when readers skip to the last page (yes, don’t even think about it!). 

The script looked good and then it was time for the main event. I double-clicked and waited impatiently for the file to open, fingers twitching and leaning closer and closer to the screen. My trigger finger was on the mouse, ready to click Play. It was described in the email as a rough, to give me an idea of pace and concepts. What was I about to see?

Music started. Drums. Then words: “In Kung Fu they call them the Ten Killing Hands.” Cut to flashes of an anatomy diagram and the ten strikes, all hitting the screen in time with the music. Then more of the story…“When a victim is found with his throat ripped out, FBI profiler knows she’s dealing with a skilled killer….”

Okay, I’ve just told you the first 15 seconds of the 30-second clip, so I’m going to shut up now before I give away the rest. It may be the bare bones, but those bones are looking good.

Next week I’ll get the first cut of the full book trailer. Then I’ll be posting it everywhere – on my site, Facebook, Twitter, Crimespace, YouTube. Not to mention convincing all my friends, family and hopefully readers to do the same.

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October 1, 2009

Who’s got time to write?

Filed under: PD Martin website,The Killing Hands — Tags: , — PD Martin @ 5:40 am

Killing HandsUS-10percentAnother week? Gone already? Yet again, no writing or editing this week, but I’ve managed to get some book-related work done.

After some umming and ahhing, I’ve finally chosen the video producer for my book trailer. He’s Aussie-based and has done some recent work for Pan Macmillan Australia, my Aussie publisher. You can see a few of his book trailers at: www.youtube.com/user/PanMacmillanAus

I’ll be working on two book trailers with him, the first will be for the North American release of The Killing Hands (November 1). It will give readers and potential readers a quick snapshot into the book. I’ll let you know when it’s ready!

Next up will be another 30-second trailer for the Aussie release of book 5 in the Sophie Anderson series, Kiss of Death (release date is 1 January 2010). Again, I’ll post it on my website once it’s ready.

I’m still finding the book trailer ‘thing’ very interesting – obviously it’s a marketing tool but will it have the desired effect and bring new readers to Sophie? Only time will tell :)

And yes, that is a sneak peak of the North American cover for The Killing Hands on the left!

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