Edgy Mama

You may have heard already about Mars Hill College English professor, Hal McDonald. He was named the “Next Great Crime Writer” by truTV, and he’ll read from his new novel tonight at the college. The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Broyhill Chapel.

His novel The Anatomists was released on March 25 (my birthday) by HarperCollins.

Here’s the great American dream part of the story: McDonald was one of more than 900 authors to submit entries in the TV network’s “2007 Search for the Next Great Crime Writer” competition. His story, “A Simple Case of Revenge,” was a mystery that took place in 1825 London. The grand prize included the opportunity to sign a book deal with HarperCollins. They liked his story enough to move forward, which gave McDonald just six weeks to develop the short story into the novel.

Check it out!

UPDATE: I saw McDonald’s novel at Malaprop’s this past weekend. The book looks like fun, although it clearly was quickly produced without much focus on aesthetics. Guess truTV doesn’t budget much for printed paper.