Thrilling Detective Is Dead...
Well, sorta.
As has become painfully obvious, the Thrilling Detective Web Site has been in a semi-comatose state for a while.
Maybe not quite the six months J Wirebach claims in a comment on this blog, although that's about when my life took a wicked hop or two. I think I managed to (almost) keep up the pace for a few months into the next year, but eventually a series of events (work and some unexpected but potentially lucrative freelance work) conspired to tear me away from the site.
The sad fact is that, as much as I love doing the site, I love eating and having somewhere to sleep even more. The Thrilling Detective Web Site does not make a profit, and has existed for years (eight and counting) thanks to the generosity of a few advertisers, even fewer donors, Amazon.com and, well, me. In fact, we're currently operating in the hole.
So, in order to keep the site going, I must occasionally, like, make a living.
I don't begrudge the time or money spent to keep the site going, but it does take time and money, so bear with me, please. I'm treading water as fast as I can.
This month I'll be travelling north, for the BLOODY WORDS crime and mystery convention in Toronto, and for a long-overdue visit to one of the great cities of the world... Montreal. Home.
So, for the month of June, and maybe a little longer, the site is officially on hiatus. I'll be regrouping, considering my options. And recharging myself, hopefully. Right now, I hope to be back on track by summer, but we'll see. I'll be discussing those options with Gerald So, our fiction editor, and with She Who Must Be Obeyed, and with anyone else who cares to write me on the topic. And of course I'll also be in Toronto at Bloody Words, no doubt keeping a bar stool warm. If you're in the area, drop by. Despite rumours to the contrary, I don't bite.
Your opinions, as always, count. Talk to me.
But be forewarned because, like the Fat Man says, I like talking to a man who likes to talk.
Oh, and long live Thrilling Detective.
As has become painfully obvious, the Thrilling Detective Web Site has been in a semi-comatose state for a while.
Maybe not quite the six months J Wirebach claims in a comment on this blog, although that's about when my life took a wicked hop or two. I think I managed to (almost) keep up the pace for a few months into the next year, but eventually a series of events (work and some unexpected but potentially lucrative freelance work) conspired to tear me away from the site.
The sad fact is that, as much as I love doing the site, I love eating and having somewhere to sleep even more. The Thrilling Detective Web Site does not make a profit, and has existed for years (eight and counting) thanks to the generosity of a few advertisers, even fewer donors, Amazon.com and, well, me. In fact, we're currently operating in the hole.
So, in order to keep the site going, I must occasionally, like, make a living.
I don't begrudge the time or money spent to keep the site going, but it does take time and money, so bear with me, please. I'm treading water as fast as I can.
This month I'll be travelling north, for the BLOODY WORDS crime and mystery convention in Toronto, and for a long-overdue visit to one of the great cities of the world... Montreal. Home.
So, for the month of June, and maybe a little longer, the site is officially on hiatus. I'll be regrouping, considering my options. And recharging myself, hopefully. Right now, I hope to be back on track by summer, but we'll see. I'll be discussing those options with Gerald So, our fiction editor, and with She Who Must Be Obeyed, and with anyone else who cares to write me on the topic. And of course I'll also be in Toronto at Bloody Words, no doubt keeping a bar stool warm. If you're in the area, drop by. Despite rumours to the contrary, I don't bite.
Your opinions, as always, count. Talk to me.
But be forewarned because, like the Fat Man says, I like talking to a man who likes to talk.
Oh, and long live Thrilling Detective.
posted by Kevin Burton Smith at 12:51 AM
13 Comments:
Kevin,
Your site is a great reference tool and will remain that way. I am confident that other arrangements can and will be made to keep Thrilling Detective happening. It might be in a slightly diffferent form, who knows. Thanks very much for your years ofd effort.
Also, please get in touch with me before you go to Montreal. I should be there at the very end of June and beginning of July, and I really want to meet up.
Keith Logan
Christ, Kevin, don't scare me like that. A hiatus I can handle - everyone has their lives offline - but no more TD? Unthinkable. I'm sure I speak for all the writers yourself and Gerald have launched there when I say: you need any help, just give our sleeves a tug.
Well, Kevin, you know where I stand. Ya's had a good run.
I stood by ya every month and was happy to do so.
Long live the Thrill!
Well, gee, guys, I'm touched. But I'm not actually pulling the plug -- more like pressing the pause button for a while.
The site's been going for over eight years with barely a break -- I figure maybe I deserve a few weeks vacation. And I think I really need it right now. So I'm off to Toronto tomorrow morning, for Bloody Words, and then a long overdue visit to Montreal to see family and friends. Alas, I'll be long gone before you make it down, Keith.
So, I'll be back in California in a few weeks and then I'll see what's what. Sleeve tugging may be involved.
Kevin: I feel like shit after joking with you. I understand about how busy we are that we can't do what we want to do. I hope everything goes well for you and that maybe you can find a way to maintain.
Finally, for someone who doesn't know, where and when is the Toronto Bloody Words convention. I migth take a ride in JUly after Summer School ends.
J Wirebach
Nothing wrong with taking some time off. Especially if you're doing this for free and need to put food on the table.
Don't scare us like that! No seriously, I am from Montreal and this site is essential if we want some day to have a modern take on the private eye character. We have been plagued by parodies of the genre for long enough. If this site, created by a Montrealer, disappears, it could indicate that the genre is not viable in my beloved city.
Thrilling Detective is a fantastic source of reference, new fiction and just all around really fucking good work.
Glad you're taking a much needed break, and gladder still that you're not pulling the plug.
Kevin,
Your headline gave me a fright. I love Thrilling Detective, and I'm glad it is just on summer vacation.
In learning as much as I can about the PI genre, Thrilling Detective has been my bible.
Nothing wrong with a break, but do remember to come back. Some of us ... need you. Sniff.
I got my start at TD and can only hope that the hiatus doesn't last too long. These guys are two of the best editors out there!
I just hope the site would at least remain as it is - with the story archive and the trivia stuff and all that.
I just found the Thrilling Detective; in fact, I just wrote Kevin an email that my business partner and I (we're both PIs and writers) would like to take out an ad on the site...and now I read that it's dying? Say it isn't so! Although I certainly understand the need to put food on the table.
Hope you had a good hiatus, Kevin. And I hope the Thrilling Detective lives on, in some form.
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