You shouldn't buy a novel because the writer has cancer.

You shouldn't buy a novel because a writer is poor, or talented but unnoticed or has an abusive husband or lives in a besieged place.

You should only buy a novel because it's good, and I know that Patry Francis' novel 'The Liar's Diary' is good wrting and even better reading. I know because I read it and loved it and wrote about it a year ago when it was only in uncorrected proofs.

It's a story of murder and love and betrayal (always a promising mix) but more than that, it's a story with honesty and skill burned into every line.

And Patry Francis, whose book, 'The Liar's Diary,' comes out in paperback today, does have cancer, and is fighting it with every ounce in her body -- just as she fought to write when she was a waitress on Cape Cod with three kids and no hope of ever being published. It's an aggressive form of cancer but Patry is an aggressive sort of woman who won't let this bastard win without a fight down to the mat.

If you're in the market for a good book today, and it's my way of thinking that everyone should be... every day, follow this link to Patry's website or to the place on Amazon where you can buy 'The Liar's Diary.' It sounds a bit odd and silly; but I want to help a good writer write more. We writers are seen by others as grasping and greedy, unwilling to write kind things about others' books unless we're sure those books won't pose a threat to our own.

That's not true.

Or it's not true for many.

The very best writers have mighty hearts.

Most of them whom I know have an excess of compassion for others who serve this demanding goddess.

And so, today belongs to Patry. More than 200 other authors are mentioning her today, in their blogs, as well. I'm only one of them, but proud to be.

Patry's website is http://www.patryfrancis.com/ and the amazon link for her book is http://www.amazon.com/Liars-Diary-Patry-Francis/dp/0452289157/ref=pd_bbs...