Jump to content

J. A. Konrath

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Tom C. Cole (talk | contribs) at 10:30, 31 October 2011. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

J. A. Konrath
Born1970
Illinois
OccupationNovelist
GenreMystery, Thriller, Horror
Website
http://www.jakonrath.com

Joseph Andrew Konrath (born 1970, in Skokie, Ill.) is a fiction writer working in the mystery, thriller, and horror genres. He writes as J. A. Konrath.

Biography

Konrath graduated from Columbia College in Chicago in 1992 and spent the next 12 years garnering close to five hundred rejections for nine unpublished novels.[citation needed] His tenth book, Whiskey Sour, was picked up by Hyperion in 2003. It was the first in a series featuring Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels of the Chicago Police Department. He’s since published dozens of short stories and articles, been translated into eight languages, and edited an anthology called These Guns for Hire for Bleak House Books.[citation needed]

Konrath’s books are known for combining humor with terror. His work has been translated into ten languages.[citation needed] He lives in Schaumburg, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. J.A. Konrath teaches writing at Dupage College, Illinois.

He’s also known in the writing community for his work in self-promotion. Konrath believes that writers must play a large part in marketing their own books, and his blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, focuses on this. He has outspoken and somewhat controversial views on advertising, the publishing industry, and internet publicity.[citation needed]

In 2006, Konrath mailed out close to 7000 letters to libraries across the United States with fellow mystery author Julia Spencer-Fleming, touting their books to librarians.[citation needed]

Later that year, Konrath signed books in 612 bookstores across 28 states.[citation needed] The booksellers he met on this three month journey were thanked by name in the acknowledgments of his fourth novel, Dirty Martini.

Under the name Jack Kilborn, he penned the novel Afraid for Headline UK/Grand Central.

Konrath’s website features many free downloads, including three full novels.

He is an advocate of the Amazon Kindle and eBooks, having released a number of previously unpublished works to online retailers.[citation needed] As of June 2009 he had become one of the top selling authors in Amazon's Kindle Store.[1]

Bibliography

Novels

Tie-in stories

  • "On the Rocks" (Featuring Jack Daniels, first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (EQMM))
  • "With a Twist" (Featuring Jack Daniels, EQMM)
  • "Body Shots" (Featuring Jack Daniels, Amazon Shorts)
  • "Whelp Wanted" (Featuring Harry McGlade, Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine)
  • "Taken to the Cleaners" (Featuring Harry McGlade, The Strand Magazine)
  • "Street Music" (Featuring Phineas Troutt, EQMM)
  • "Epitaph" (Featuring Phineas Troutt, Thriller edited by James Patterson)
  • "Suffer" (Featuring Phineas Troutt, EQMM)
  • "Bereaved" (Featuring Phineas Troutt, These Guns for Hire, edited by J. A. Konrath)
  • "Potshot" (Featuring Herb Benedict, Amazon Shorts)
  • "The One That Got Away" (Featuring The Gingerbread Man, Amazon Shorts)
  • "Suckers" (Featuring Harry McGlade) novella co-written by Jeff Strand
  • "The Necro File" (Featuring Harry McGlade, first published in Like A Chinese Tattoo)
  • "Last Request" (Featuring Phineas Troutt)
  • "Overproof" (Featuring Jack Daniels, first published in Chicago Blues edited by Libby Fischer Hellmann)

Other short stories

  • "The Agreement" (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (AHMM))
  • "Symbios" (Apex Digest)
  • "Forgiveness" (Cemetery Dance)
  • "Light Drizzle" (Crimespree Magazine)
  • "The Shed" (Surreal Magazine)
  • "Finicky Eater" (Horror Garage Magazine)
  • "The Screaming" (The Many Faces of Van Helsing, edited by Jeanne Cavelos)
  • "Don’t Press That Button!" (James Bond in the 21st Century, edited by Glenn Yeffeth)
  • "The Bag" (Cold Flesh, edited by Paul Fry)
  • "The Big Guys, He Bites, A Matter of Taste" (Small Bites, edited by Garrett Peck and Keith Gouveia)
  • "Appalachian Lullabye" (Requiem for the Radioactive Monkey, edited by John Weagley)
  • "Lying Eyes" (Twisted Tongue Magazine)
  • "Redux" (Spooks, edited by Tina L. Jens & John Everson)
  • "The Conversation" (Hard Luck Stories)
  • "A Fistful of Cozy" (Shots Magazine UK)
  • "Mr. Pull Ups" (Tales From the Red Lion, edited by Tina L. Jens and John Weagley)
  • "Punishment" (Like A Chinese Tattoo, edited by Bill Breedlove)
  • "The Confession" (Like A Chinese Tattoo, edited by Bill Breedlove)
  • "Them's Good Eats" (Gratia Placenti, edited by Jason Sizemore & Gill Ainsworth)
  • "Lying Eyes" (Twisted Tongue #2)
  • "The Sound of Blunder" co-written with F. Paul Wilson (Blood Lite, edited by Kevin J. Anderson)
  • "S.A." (Wolfsbane & Misteltoe, edited by Charlaine Harris & Toni L.P. Kelner)

Unpublished novels

All of these books are available as free downloads at Konrath’s website.

  • Origin - A thriller about Satan being studied in a secret government compound (published November 2010). ISBN 1453887660
  • The List - A thriller about a cop who discovers he, and several others, are clones of famous historical figures (published July 2010). ISBN 145288126X
  • Disturb - A thriller about a new legal insomnia drug with deadly side effects (published November 2010). ISBN 1453887687
  • 55 Proof - A collection of short stories.

Audio

Konrath’s books are available through Brilliance Audio. Dick Hill and Suzie Breck are the voice talents, doing characters in dialect and making the reading sound like a play. Konrath also voices some characters on these productions, and also records short stories as an extra bonus.

Continuing characters

  • Jack Daniels - A forty-something Chicago Homicide Lieutenant.
  • Herb Benedict - Her fifty-something partner.
  • Phineas Troutt - Jack’s criminal friend, currently dying of pancreatic cancer.
  • Harry McGlade - Jack’s ex-partner, now a private eye.
  • Latham Conger - Jack's fiance.
  • Mary Streng - Jack's mother and occasional roommate.

Awards and recognition

  • 2008 Dirty Martini was on the final ballot for the Barry Award for best novel
  • 2007 "Epitaph" was on the final ballot for the British Dagger Award for best short story
  • 2006 Bob Kellog Humanitarian Award (www.bksp.org)
  • 2005 Love is Murder Award Best Police Procedural (Bloody Mary)
  • 2005 Ellery Queen Reader’s Choice Award, 2nd Place ("With a Twist")
  • 2004 Whiskey Sour was on the final ballot for the Anthony, Macavity, and Gumshoe Awards for best debut novel
  • 2004 Love is Murder Award Best Debut Novel (Whiskey Sour)
  • 2004 Derringer Award for Flash Fiction ("The Big Guys")
  • 2003 Gross Out Contest Winner, World Horror Con

Joseph A. Konrath is a Fellow of the Association of Independent Authors (AiA)

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=J._A._Konrath&oldid=458274396"