Let’s Get This Carnival Started!

Had I not been suffering from a bad cold yesterday (please send Kleenex!), I would have mentioned this much earlier than now. But forgive me the tardiness, and let me simply draw attention to the inaugural “Carnival of the Criminal Minds” post at Karen Chisholm’s excellent Australian and New Zealand Crime Fiction Web site.

The idea for this rolling blog carnival came from author and academic librarian Barbara Fister, who in mid-September suggested that a gaggle of bloggers interested in crime and mystery fiction get together and regularly post links to Web-based stories about the genre that they’ve read and enjoyed recently. At least initially, the carnival’s hosts will alternate on a fortnightly basis. We started with Chisholm’s site. The Rap Sheet will follow up with a similar round-up posting in mid-October, and things are expected to go on from there. At last count, Fister had convinced four bloggers--including yours truly--to participate, with others still waiting to see how things go. She has also created an archive blog to keep track of where the carnival has been, and where it’s headed next. If you’d like to participate in this round robin, simply send her an e-mail message here.

This seems to me like a fun opportunity to cooperate with, and get to know other bloggers who boast similar reading interests. Since Barbara Fister is trying to rope people in from around the globe, we might even learn something about just how broad and interesting the genre is these days.

When you get a chance, click over to the first crime carnival post.