Gigi Pandian's Blog

This blog has migrated to my website. The previous posts on this site will remain here, but all new blog posts are now on my website.

July 6, 2015 press release from Pro Se Productions(ASIAN PULP features my Sanjay Rai short story "The Curse of Cloud Castle")  
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE‘ASIAN PULP’ DEBUTS FROM PRO SE PRODUCTIONS!
In April 2013, Pro Se Productions released ‘Black Pulp’, a collection of stories written in classic pulp genres featuring lead characters of African descent. Not only were readers captivated by the cast of characters featured in the book, they also saw the potential of future volumes, both of ‘Black...

I attended my first ALA last week. The American Library Association convention took place in San Francisco this year, giving me a great introduction to the amazing event. With my author hat, I signed books for librarians; with my reader hat, I took in the huge (and I mean HUGE) gathering of librarians and book-lovers.



The Sisters in Crime booth
Sisters in Crime is an organization that does so much for its members and for the mystery genre as a whole. (Here's a brief history of SinC.) One of th...

Last week I attended the California Crime Writers Conference (CCWC), and wow did I learn a lot! For the last few years I've focused on attending mystery conventions where I get to meet readers, instead of the craft-of-writing conferences I attended while learning how to write a mystery novel. But CCWC was a fantastic reminder about how much all writers can continue to learn, no matter where we're at in our careers. Plus, it was fun!



The conference is a joint project between Sisters in Cri...

Last week marked the official release of LAdies Night, the new Sisters in Crime Los Angeles chapter anthology. The book features my new short story "Tempest in a Teapot," an impossible crime mystery starring magician Tempest Mendez (one of Sanjay's magician pals who lives in LA).

Based on the type of mysteries I write, I was resigned to the fact that I'd never have a pulp-style book cover, even though I love that classic mystery graphic style. But now that I've begun writing short stories publ...

Last week I shared a recap and photos from my writing retreat in Edinburgh, where one of the highlights was revisiting the Edinburgh setting of "Fool's Gold," my novella prequel to Artifact. Jaya and Sanjay solve a mystery at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that involves Scotland's famous Lewis Chessmen.

The novella was published in 2012 in Other People's Baggage, and this May was the first time I'd been back to Scotland since the mystery came out! So of course I had to stop...

I'm home from Scotland, where I celebrated my 40th birthday with the writing retreat I envisioned nearly four years ago while going through chemo. (The story behind this trip can be found here.)

I've been pretty good at hanging onto my post-cancer seize-the-day mentality, so I rented an apartment in Edinburgh and invited my local writer's group to join me for a writing retreat vacation. Nearly half of them were able to make it! Rachael Herron, Lisa Hughey, Mysti Berry, and Emberly Nesbitt hopp...

The 27th annual Malice Domestic mystery convention wrapped up yesterday. I attended the traditional mystery convention as both a mystery fan and an author, so between being a fan-girl and putting on my professional writer hat, the three-day event was a bit of a whirlwind.

I'm at the airport, drinking plenty of coffee and green juice to recover from the long weekend, so it's time to share a recap and photos:

Welcome to Malice Domestic Upon our arrival, this mysterious projection was waiting for u...

It's official. I've signed the contract to publish the next Jaya Jones book with Henery Press!

It's perfect timing, just in time to celebrate at Malice Domestic, and then on to Scotland for a writing retreat that I've fantasized about doing since I went through chemotherapy nearly four years ago.


You know what else a book contract means? Book deal shoes! I love Fluevogs for being the perfect combination of oh-so-cute and oh-so-comfortable, but one really needs something to celebrate to justify...

One week from today, I'll be stepping off an airplane in Edinburgh, Scotland. Along with me will be several members of my local writers group who are joining me for a week-long writing retreat. And even cooler than that? The week culminates with my 40th birthday!

My first trip to Scotland, 30 years ago.I hatched this plan nearly 4 years ago, while I was going through chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer, a time when I had no idea if I'd be alive and well at 40. The writing retreat was a...