At Maine Crime Writers today I have a more reflective post concerning "North Woods Law," the new reality TV show on the Animal Planet that features the Maine Warden Service. The series, which premieres tonight at 9 p.m. (check your local listings), plays up the drama of being a conservation officer. The Warden Service definitely took a risk when it made the decision to go public to a national audience—the work wardens do isn't isn't always pretty or without controversy. There might well be some blowback. The better scenario is that increases awareness of the need for conservation law enforcement in Maine and helps reverse a trend of leaner budgets for the department.
Calendar Boy
If I had known Workman Publishing was going to choose The Poacher's Son as the February 17 entry in its Book Lover's 2012 page-a-day calendar, I would have had a party. I'm sorry I missed it (thank you, Jane Dagley for sharing the page with me), but I hereby designate the date to be an Official Maine Literary Holiday forevermore!
North Woods Law
A couple of years ago, National Geographic launched a TV show about California conservation officers. It was fun, but I thought that, for sheer weirdness and wildness, nothing would beat a reality series on Maine game wardens. I'm delighted to say that Animal Planet saw the wisdom of taking my advice. Set in Maine and featuring many of the officers who advised and inspired The Poacher's Son and Trespasser, "North Woods Law" premieres this week. There's a sneak peek tonight (March 11) at 11 p.m. Going forward, the show will air on Fridays at 9 p.m. You'll know I'll be watching.
Update on 2012-03-13 11:58 by Paul Doiron
Here's the full schedule for North Woods Law six-episode run:
Fri, 03/16/2012 – NWL Ep 102 @ 9 PM (Official Premiere)
Fri, 03/23/2012 – NWL Ep 103 @ 9 PM
Fri, 03/30/2012 – NWL EP 104 @ 9 PM
Fri, 04/06/2012 – NWL Ep 101 @ 9 PM (Repeat)
Fri, 04/13/2012 – NWL Ep 105 @ 9 PM
Fri, 04/20/2012 – NWL Ep 106 @ 9 PMAlso, check out the new NWL Facebook page:
Let's hope the series comes back for a second season!
Essential Doiron Pronunciation Guide
In my eternal quest to help book readers everywhere learn now to spell and pronounce my name I have another post up on the subject—this one at MaineCrimeWriters.com. I manage to work in some interesting trivia about Nathaniel Hawthorne and William Faulkner so it's not entirely self-promotional and a waste of your time. I even cite Cecil Adams, world's smartest human being and author of The Straight Dope, which means I really did my research.
Does Social Media Really Sell Novels?
That's the question I explore today at MaineCrimeWriters.com. We're all living in a brave new world where cultural conversation is increasingly shifting to online venues like Twitter and Facebook. But writers are under additional pressure from publishers to use these social media platforms as marketing tools, and many of the novelists I know are secretly wondering whether the time spent tweeting is a misplacement of priorities. As I write in my post, "If an author tweets in cyberspace and no one is around to read it, does it actually sell a book?"