German Translation

Hey, hey.  Just got copies of my latest book “IN TONGUES OF THE DEAD” in GERMAN.  It is called “The Bible of the Dead” – Die Bibel Der Toten.

It ranks as one of the most exciting accomplishments in my writing career.  It is one thing (and great) to have a publisher and be published but seeing one of your books translated and knowing it is being sold across the sea – that’s great.

I’d recently found some international reviews of IN TONGUES OF THE DEAD.  There was a favourable review in an Australian Newspaper.

All in all, this book has launched well and I’ve been pleased.

In Tongues of the Dead

Random

Still struggling to find the appropriate amount of time to fix up my latest book.  I want to rework chunks of it to have it resolve in a more satisfying fashion.  Would someone be willing to offer up a beach house for a few weeks of uninterrupted planning and writing?

Lincoln Child has a new book coming out next week – “Terminal Freeze”.  I’m looking forward to it.  I really enjoy Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston stuff.  I finished one of Child’s book “Death Match” at the start of the year.  It was good (not great).  I thought “Deep Storm” – also by Child was great.

I’ve also been tracking the reviews of my latest book “In Tongues of the Dead” on Amazon.com.  There’s been a mix of good and bad (thankfully, more good).  One criticism that is bizarre is that the book is too short.  A few critical comments, both from amateur critics and in published reviews, have made their main criticism that the chapters are too short and the book is too short.  What?  Is that really a criticism?  Would someone say that they didn’t like a painting because it should have been a couple inches bigger?

The people that understand what “In Tongues of the Dead” is supposed to be – like it.  The book is a fun read.  It’s not supposed to be a heavy, literary tome.  It is a holiday book.   A weekend book.  A fun diversion.

And back…

I’ve been absent from this site for a bit.   I’m back.

It’s been a busy time for me over the last few months.  First off – had the launch of my newest book – IN TONGUES OF THE DEAD back in the late fall.  Had the chance to do a little media on it.  Was on a local news show “Live at Five” and did an interview at the University Radio station.  Also was on an webTV show and you can see the interview here:

http://live.haligonia.ca/component/content/article/716-dr-brad-kelln-forensic-psychologist.html

Then I needed a break and took about 4 weeks off around Christmas.  How is that possible – you might ask?  I don’t really get that much vacation time from my hospital job (generally) but I didn’t get to use any vacation over the summer after I ruptured my Achilles and so I had a full bank of days to use.  So there.

Then back to work after the holidays.

I’ve also been struggling to finish another book.  I have about 75% done but I just can’t quite get the ending I want.  If you think you want to help me sort it out – send me an email.  I can always use test readers and guinea pigs to help fine tune my new projects.

Finally, I’ve read a lot of books and watched a lot of good movies over the last few months.  In particular – GRAN TORINO.  Great film.

So that’s that.

Trailer for My New Book

My publisher has done up a trailer for my new book – here it is!

Update on Other Stuff

I’m back to work at the forensic hospital full-time again.  It took close to three months of recovery having ruptured my Achilles Tendon.  If you can avoid this injury – I recommend you do.

I’m in physio and trying to get my strength back on the injured leg.  I guess I won’t be playing basketball or running around much until mid January 09.  It normally takes a minimum of 6 months to recover from a fully ruptured Achilles (like mine was).  My mobility right now is pretty good but I sure do lack strength on that leg – I guess that’s what happens when your calf muscle fully detaches from your heel.  OUCH!

Anyway, while I was off work I started the new book project – a novel on a hostage taking at a group home.  I got one whole draft done while I was mending.   Unfortunately, I HATED the ending of the book and right now am re-writing the last 10 to 15 chapters.  It’s really hard to abandon that much writing but you have to do it for the sake of the book!

In a nutshell, the new book is about this:

A father bursts into a psychiatric group home looking for a patient he believes molested his son.  The police surround the home and call in a psychologist.  From that point on the whole situation goes from bad to worse.  In the opening chapter, the lead police officer is interviewing the psychologist about how the hostage situation got out of hand and demanding answers on what the psychologist’s role was.  As the story unfolds it becomes increasingly clear that no one did their job properly and it gets harder and harder to pick out the truth.

Sound good? 

Hope so, but back to work for me!

Update on New Book Release

Well, my new book, IN TONGUES OF THE DEAD, has been out for about a month.  I’ve had some great feedback so far.  A few people have emailed me with their thoughts and I discovered a few different reviews online or in newspapers.  Here’s a couple of snippets:

“In Tongues of the Dead is a compelling religious thriller, skillfully woven within real-life mysteries….The pace is action driven and the real history becomes part of a thriller with twists and a concluding turn that feels just, especially if you’re a Da Vinci Code fan.   Tongues of the Dead is Kelln’s third and best thriller to date. His readers wait for more.”

(Don Graves, September 08, Hamilton Spectator)

 “I devoured this fast paced thriller in a matter of days despite the fact that I’m a slow reader. Kelln has done a wonderful job of crafting a tale mixing historical fact about an untranslatable manuscript with a riveting story of intrigue, mystery and suspense.  The tale is well crafted, and given that I tend not to have a lot of tolerance for backstory detail and historic meanderings when I’m reading fiction, the author does a wonderful story of filling in fact and info where necessary but cutting right to the main action and moving the tale along quickly and efficiently.”

 

(posted by a reader on Chapters.ca)

 

If you’ve read the book – I’d love to hear from you too!

In Tongues of the Dead

Well, it has been quite the summer (now fall).  I haven’t been overly active on the blog because of lots of other stuff.  Not the least as been the recovery from the ruptured Achilles.  I was pretty productive while I was off.  I wrote the hostage taking book that I’d blogged about before.  I’ll give more details on that soon.

I also had my newest book released right at the start of October!  In Tongues of the Dead (ECW Press) is out in stores and online.  Check it out.  Here is a video blurb with me talking about the book.  Enjoy.

Non-Political

As you may know, Canada has entered into federal election fever with the vote in October.  Here’s a video to help explain the real decision you need to make.

Summer Movie Round-Up (or Fall DVD previews)

Well, I didn’t get to have much of a summer break (because I ruptured my Achilles Tendon – where have you been?) but I did get to see a lot of the summer (and spring) movies.  Here’s my break-down from best to worst.

Iron Man – previously mentioned that one here.  Great, great, great.  Good acting, special effects, story, everything.  Just what a summer movie should be.

Hancock – Will Smith is summer movies.  He does a great job here.  So does Jason Bateman – could anyone not like him?  I miss Arrested Development!!!  You need to see Hancock.  Great story.  Very well done movie.

Hell Boy 2 – probably the biggest surprise of the summer.  Really, really good show.  Good story.  Interesting characters.  Funny, full of action.  Sleeper hit for me.

The Dark Knight – pretty dark movie but actually very good.  Another must see especially if you liked the first Christian Bale Batman.  Was the Joker an Oscar worthy performance?  No, but good.

You Don’t Mess With the Zohan – WOW!!  I didn’t expect anything from this Adam Sandler vehicle but was I ever pleasantly surprised.  It was genuinely funny.  It had a number of laugh out loud moments and the story was okay.  Well worth a watch.

Transsiberian – a Woody Harrelson pic.  A good one.  A real, sleeper must-see.  Very Hitchcockian.  Look for it.  Watch it.

Wanted – Another kind-of surprise to me.  I expected to dislike this one as just a fluffy action movie churned out for the summer crowd.  It was, but it was also very watchable.  I enjoyed it.

Kung-Fu Panda – I admit it, I like Jack Black.  This kid’s movie was pretty entertaining but was really a kid’s show.  I’m pretty smart.  I picked up on that right away.

Indiana Jones 4 – nothing special here.  Take it or leave it.  Better yet, watch Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Wall – E –I guess it was okay.  There wasn’t any dialogue for like the first 45 minutes.  Actually, the show kind of drove me nuts but I think kids like it.

The Incredible Hulk – Ed Norton does an okay job.  Tim Roth does an okay job.  But the story is boring and the abomination isn’t right and doesn’t show up early enough in the movie.  I’m also tired of superhero types who whine about it.

Chronicles of Naria 2 – dark, complicated.  Who is the audience for this stuff?  Not kids.  Not me.  And I read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe over and over as a kid.

The Love Guru – I was so disapointed in Mike Myers.  What a waste of time.  Maybe one or two parts will make you smile.  The rest – ugh.

The Happening – maybe the biggest disapointment of the summer for me.  Dumb story, bad acting, and awful ending.  Real waste of time.

P.S.

Baby Mama – This was an early Spring release and out on DVD pretty soon but you NEED to see this.  Great chemistry in the actors.  Great story.  Awesome writing.  Fantastic show.  I laughed so hard I wanted to stop the show because I thought I would miss more funny stuff.

 

Guess that’s it.  There’s a few others I haven’t gotten to yet (like Step-Brothers) so I’ll let you know after I see them.  I’ve seen almost everything so if you ever want my opinion on a film – just ask.

Enjoy.

Another Update on my Achilles plus I start Writing!

Well, I’m about 5 weeks post-surgery on my Achilles.

This has been fantastically tough.  Not the worst injury a person could have but certainly a bad one.  I’ve come to realize it is worse than I originally wanted to believe.

Being on crutches and being so immobilized has been very difficult.  I tend to be an active guy – very into sports and very physical most of the time.  But even the simplest, most mundane jobs are beyond me.  I can’t mow the lawn, carry the garbage cans to the curb, play soccer in the backyard with my kids.  Nothing.

So I was starting to go a bit stir-crazy and, all the while, getting more confident, and less paranoid, moving around UNTIL I had a bit of a slip going up the stairs in my house.  This was over a week ago.  Missed a step or something.  Went down on the bad foot (a little) and rolled away quick.  It scared the SHIT out of me (sorry for the language).  I had flashes of having to go through surgery again, having to start recovery from step one – all the wasted weeks until now.  I was literally in a panic.  It’s only now, over a week after that tumble, that I’m starting to not have panic attacks every time I think of stairs.  Stairs are the worst for crutches!!!!

I’m okay.  I didn’t damage my Achilles on the fall.  It’s still healing along.  I have some mobility back.  Pretty tight around my ankle though.

Anyway, over the last month of feeling bad, missing out on summer, and losing business in private practice – I made a decision.  I didn’t want to look back on this time as complete lost time.  I didn’t want to have to think about the months that went past and me with nothing but a high score on Super Mario Galaxy to show for it.  So I started the book project I’ve talked about here in earlier blogs.  I started the group home hostage taking story.

And it has gone pretty well.  I write almost every morning.  I can get through about a chapter per sitting.  It helps that the book was mapped out quite a bit over the last number of months.  I even have a good ending (which I won’t tell you here).

So, I’m here, I’m struggling, and I’m writing.  Hope your summer was more fun than mine.