Better Than Anything I Could Make Up.

I wrote a ten book historical mystery series set in the 1910s featuring a forty-ish woman named Alafair Tucker, who lives with her husband, Shaw, and their ten children on a prosperous horse farm outside of Boynton, Oklahoma. Being as I have no children, have never lived on a farm, never cooked on a wood stove, washed in a iron tub, or sewed on a treadle sewing machine, much less shoed a horse, I do tremendous amounts of research so that I’ll know what I’m talking about. But only a very small percent of the research I do for each book finds its way onto the page. I’m not writing a history book, I’m trying to create a world, and it’s amazing how little it takes to add just that perfect touch of authenticity to your story. 

 For each book I write, I keep a notebook and file full of information that I read up on as I need it. Much of my research may not be used, for as a book advances some of the ideas I started out with fall by the wayside. Even so, when the book is finally done I will have added quite a bit to the huge amount of arcane knowledge rattling around in my head. 

 Why, then, do I spend so much time learning everything I can about the times, lives, and mores of my characters when I know I’m not going to write about most of it? Because my own familiarity with the era I’m writing about is going to show without my having to make a big deal of it. The characters are going to move naturally through their world without thinking about it, just like we do in our own world. Alafair ponders a problem while scraping the ashes from the fire box in her kitchen stove before breakfast. She doesn’t think about the history, configuration, or general use of the cast-iron, wood burning stove in rural Oklahoma in 1915. But I do. It isn’t a bit important to the story that the reader knows any of those things either. All she needs to know, or cares about, is that Alafair ponders a problem while scraping the ashes from the fire box. One single sentence in the book represents an hour of research and quite an education in cast iron cook stoves for me that may or may not ever be used again. Yet, isn’t that a picture? One tiny detail triggers a mental image and puts the reader in a country kitchen early one morning in 1915. 

 It’s a tightrope. An author wants to create as authentic a world as she can, but the whole point is to engage and involve your reader in your story, not to write a history book. A novelist should strive to be just accurate enough not to alert the anachronism police. The sixth book in the Alafair Tucker series, The Wrong Hill to Die On, (Nov. 2012) is set in Arizona, where I live, rather than in Oklahoma, where Alafair lives. 

So what were the problems I had to solve before I even began writing: 1. Why on earth would Alafair go to Arizona in the first place? 2. Once she gets there, what is going on that she could get herself involved in, how, and why? So in order to start to construct my story, I began with a trip to my nearest university library where I read through every issue on microfilm of the Arizona Republican newspaper for late February and early March of 1916, and thanks to interlibrary loan, I did the same for the Muskogee (Oklahoma) Phoenix. (There was no AI then, nor easy access to small newspaper archives) 

 I discovered that in Oklahoma, the end of 1915 and the beginning of 1916 were some of the rainiest months in years, accompanied by severe flooding. Therefore, there was lots of flu and bronchitis going around - enough that it was mentioned in the newspapers. Handily, in the late 1800s through the mid-1900s, Arizona was known as a place where people with chronic lung problems came to let the dry air cure them. Problem number one, solved! 

 And problem number two? There was a revolution going on in Mexico at the time, as well as the war in Europe. The Mexican Revolution interested the Germans no end, and there were lots of German “military advisers” in Mexico. Even better, in the first three months of 1916, residents of the entire Southwestern U.S. were hysterical over the possibility of a cross-border invasion from Mexico by the Revolutionary Army of Pancho Villa. In fact - and now that almost 100 years have passed, I can be happy about it - in March 1916, the Villistas did exactly that, increasing the hysteria in Arizona to a fever pitch. For icing on the cake, during the winter of 1915-1916, a major (silent) motion picture, The Yaqui, was being shot in Tempe, the very town in which I set my novel. 

 Anyone who can’t make a story out of all that should have her authorly epaulets ripped off.

Be True to Yourself

By Catherine Dilts

I’m anxious to start writing a new series. It’s been on my mind for a couple of years now, and darn it, I want to start writing the books.

Instead, I am carefully outlining books one through three. This is taking far longer than I expected. I know the beginning and the end. What’s the holdup?

I’ve been struggling to find the right tone. So much depends on exactly what type of story I envision. When I began veering into a darker telling of my tale, it felt wrong.

Collins Cemetery in Willow Lake, South Dakota

Was I failing to be true to myself?

Most of my novels and short stories have a cozy mystery tone. What does that mean? The generally accepted elements defining a cozy are: an amateur sleuth mystery set in a small community. There is no on-stage violence or sex. The tone is light. There may be humor. If an animal companion is involved, it will be featured on the book cover. The ending is reliably happy. The mystery is solved. The bad guys or girls will receive their just punishments.

Why would I veer away from such a comfortably optimistic universe?

Insecurity. Cozy mystery authors don’t receive the same respect in the literary world as thriller authors. Like romance authors (the ever-enduring most-read fiction genre), people writing cozy mysteries sometimes suffer from insecurity. Am I really an accomplished author when I don’t receive the recognition of other genres?

What’s keeping me from writing in a sub-genre getting more respect? Or stepping out of mystery genres entirely, and tackling a top-shelf women’s fiction series, or literary crossover?

South Dakota cornfield

You might think writers creating bright, happy worlds are living charmed lives. You would be wrong. Sometimes, creating a safe community (aside from the occasional murder) is the writer’s attempt to find a safe space in fiction that doesn’t exist in her reality. Solving the crime at the end of the story is a way to bring order to a chaotic and frightening world.

Not that I believe writers in other genres live charmed lives, and seek adventure through their fiction. Not at all. I suspect some thriller and horror authors embrace their worlds as a way to kill the demons in their real lives.

The basis of most cozy mysteries is that there will be light after the dark, and the dark won’t be too scary or oppressive. Edge-of-your-seat tense, but not lie-awake-at-night terrifying. Our own personal realities are likely much harsher. If I’m guilty of wanting to escape reality, I embrace that charge, along with the millions of readers hoping to disappear into an uplifting tale for a few hours.

Right now, I’m reading a very light series, Annie’s Museum of Mysteries. The lives of the characters may be a touch unrealistic, but I treasure the simplicity of their world. I know what I’m going to get, and it’s going to be fun.

During the outlining phase of my new project, I decided that I don’t want to turn my small town into a horror show of blood and despair. I want a safe harbor from scary reality. The trilogy may not fit the cozy mystery category precisely, but it will have that feel.

I need to stay true to myself and my writing voice.

Johnny's Fake Affair

 By Charlotte Hinger

Our occasional Type M Contributer and editor of Roundup, had a terrific column about his dealings with a fake bestselling romantasy novelist. I have his permission to post it here. 

Judging Others' Stories

 by Sybil Johnson

Sorry for the late posting. I've been so busy getting ready for Malice Domestic that I completely forgot it was my turn to post. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm moderating a panel at the convention so I've been busy reading books by the panelists and coming up with questions.

I found Steve’s post on judging a short story contest interesting. Doing something like that does take up a lot of time. I’m not super comfortable judging other peoples’ works. I know what I like and what I don’t like. To a certain extent you have to set all that aside when you’re judging for awards.

I've been a judge for an award that I will not name for a few years now. It’s my way of giving back to the mystery community that’s given me so much over the years. It's been interesting. I've read books that I wouldn't normally read and enjoyed them. I’ve read others that I haven’t cared for. 

The hardest thing for me to do is forget about my likes and dislikes and judge the book on its merits. There are certain crimes that I don't like to read about and, under normal circumstances, I’d put the book down and move onto something else. You can’t really do that when you’re judging for an award. 

Judging criteria includes things about the beginning of the book, the characters, the mechanics like grammar, the setting and dialogue, the plot and pacing and the voice. Lots of stuff to think about. I usually take notes as I go along.

Judging is tough. It takes a lot of time. But I also pick up ideas along the way on how to make my own stories better. 

Malice Domestic: If you’re at Malice, I’m moderating MUSEUM MACGUFFINS: Art & Artifacts in Mysteries. On the panel are Lynda Allen, D.R. Ransdell, Lane Stone and Jeff Tanner. It’s Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Should be fun and interesting. And I should be completely adjusted to the 3 hour time zone difference by then!

Judging a short story contest

   Be careful what you volunteer for. True, it's a great way to get involved in something. It feels good to contribute, and volunteers are always desperately needed by groups and organizations.

   I am a member of the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA). I didn't publish a PI story in 2025, so I was clear to volunteer to judge short stories for their annual award, the SHAMUS. Stories must have been published in 2025 by a mystery fiction publication, either paper or online, paid or not. We didn't specify the range of words allowed, like 1000-7500 words, just the author's judgment on whether their story is a short story (novels are 75,000 and up, usually 90,000 to 200,000). Maybe next year we'll specify a tighter range. Is it fair to judge a 1000 word story against a 15,000 word story?

   The only basic requirement is that the story must involve a Private Investigator. The story could have a PI as the main character or be about an incident involving a PI that is talked about, but the PI never actually appears in the story.  The three judges have two months to read the stories and to agree on the Top Five.

   OMG!  I must have 75+ stories to read! As short as 1500 words, as long as 15,000. 

 metaphoric image

   Authors submit an easy-to-read printed copy, double-spaced.  Editors send us short story anthologies, paper-bound books, sometimes nominating every story in the volume. How will I read all these pages? There isn't enough time to read every story slowly, carefully, and still lead a normal life. So I speed-read and down-select.

   I have learned to scan down the page with enough depth to catch the character and the plot. I read closely enough to follow the plot and to appreciate the story, and then I make a quick judgment: does this story go on the tall "good try" pile or does it go on the much smaller "read again" pile?

   I reread every story's opening more than once - openings are critical to a page-limited short story. The best openings get into the story immediately, no "elegant writing" to show off your MFA degree, hit the main character, the situation, and the principal obstacle as early as possible. OK, you're allowed to write well and to be interesting because skeletal writing isn't engaging to read, but get into the story Now.  If you can do it with clever word play, just-enough description, meaningful action, and a motivating plot in the first page or two, all the better.

   Endings must be justified by the story. Some are cliché. Many are too quick. Some linger too long. A great ending will satisfy the emotional needs of the story. The guilty are usually punished, but not always. If not, the reason must "work".

   Two weeks in, I'm about 50% read. No story has gripped me, but there are a few on the short pile. Next, I tackle the stories sent in printed books.

   But, Oh No! The editors of Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock just sent a box of almost every issue of their monthly magazines from 2025, each with 2 to 3 nominated stories! The hill just got a little steeper.

Twice Orphaned, Thrice Determined

by Catherine Dilts

What’s an author to do who gets orphaned, finds a new family, then is orphaned once again?

Hint: Quitting is not an option.

Back in 2012, I was enamored with traditional publishing. I hadn’t been able to acquire an agent. I was thrilled when my debut novel, Stone Cold Dead: A Rock Shop Mystery, was accepted by Five Star. They also published the second in that series, Stone Cold Case.

After sending in the third book, Stone Cold Blooded, there was a long silence. Crickets. The news finally came. Five Star dropped their mystery line. Not me personally. I was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. They had been shedding genres like a bird molting in spring. Their romance line had previously gone away. Now their entire stable of mystery authors went poof overnight.

My mystery novels were now orphans.

Fast forward to a new opportunity. Encircle Publishing adopted many Five Star orphaned authors. We were delighted to have our series continue in a traditional publishing model.

Book three in my Rock Shop series had found a home. Then my new series, titled A Rose Creek Mystery, achieved publication of books one and two. I sent in book three, and was met with an uncomfortably familiar silence.

All good things seem to end. The creative and kind folks at Encircle faced a brutal financial reality. They made the decision to switch to a “hybrid” model. Meaning authors would pay for services (cover, editing, formatting) to have their books published. Not a vanity press. Not self-publishing. It’s perfectly fine, in my view, if you understand what’s at stake.

Having my second series orphaned after two books, I was ready to go it alone. Not entirely alone. My daughter Merida Bass declared she had no interest in trad publishing. She had witnessed my journey from the sidelines. We co-authored two books in a YA series that doesn’t fit the angsty, adult-ish tone of current YA. We knew it would be a hard sell to a trad publisher. And we started on a series whose pitch captured attention and interest.

A ninja kidnaps senior citizens and places them with families in need of a grandparent.

We both had a very good feeling about this project. In an informed and researched decision, we decided to skip seeking the traditional route and try self-publishing.

I couldn’t abandon my Rose Creek series. I requested my rights back from Encircle, which they swiftly and graciously returned. This orphan had self-emancipated.

Rose Creek book three, The Body in the Hayloft, released in December 2025. When my Encircle rights reverted to me for The Body in the Cornfield, book two vanished from the usual sales outlets. Book one is still available via Harlequin Worldwide Mystery, having been farmed out by Encircle in their final days as my publisher.

Yikes. Yes, it’s complicated.

I realized my series isn’t a series if books one and two aren’t available. I edited book two, The Body in the Cornfield. Why not? We have to redo everything, so I needed to do everything possible to improve the story before re-releasing. My daughter will create new cover art, and we’ll publish the novel this summer. This fall, book four, The Body in the Chuckwagon, will be released. When book one becomes mine again, we’ll do the same.

So much work. Editing. Cover art. Book design. Formatting. Getting the books up online. Hand-selling to libraries and bookstores.

Is it worth it?

Have you ever watched a televised series that is cancelled midstream? Like the cult classic Firefly, or the high-stakes thriller The Old Man. The dissatisfaction level at incomplete series? High!

I don’t want to leave readers feeling like the characters in my novels simply . . . stopped. Fell off the edge of a suddenly flat earth.

More important to me, I don’t want to feel like I left something undone.

At this point in my life, the best route to completion is this experiment in self-publishing. I don’t have to be an orphan anymore.

 

 

Dialogue---It's More Than Just Talk

 by Thomas Kies

I recently started reading a traditionally published mystery novel. About fifty pages into it, I had to stop.  The dialogue was killing me. It was painfully bad. It was stiff, wooden, and much too formal.  Everyone was making a speech. 

If you’re a writer, listen to people talk with each other.  Really listen. 

Real people don’t speak in polished sentences and paragraphs. They interrupt each other. They circle back. They change subjects when something gets too close to the truth. Good fictional dialogue mimics that rhythm—but with purpose. It's controlled chaos. 

On the page, dialogue should do three jobs at once: reveal character, move the story, and keep the reader leaning forward. Miss one, and the whole scene starts to feel like two androids talking.
Technically correct, maybe even stylish—but lifeless.

In mystery writing, dialogue carries even more weight. Isn’t it evidence? Every word is a fingerprint, every pause a hesitation worth noting, a clue. People lie. They deflect. They say too much when they’re nervous and too little when they’re afraid. Let the reader hear all of that without announcing it. 

Don’t over-explain. Show, don’t tell. If a character says, “I’m angry with you,” you’ve already lost the scene. Anger doesn’t introduce itself like that. It leaks out in weird ways.

“Funny how you remembered to call now.”

That’s anger. Or maybe resentment. Or sarcasm, or maybe something deeper. The point is, the reader gets to participate. They lean in, interpret, and engage. That’s where the magic happens.

Subtext is a cunning accomplice. It’s the thing riding beneath the words, steering the conversation somewhere the characters may not even realize they’re going. In a good interrogation scene, for example, the detective and suspect may not be talking about the same thing. One is asking questions. The other is answering a different set entirely.

And then there’s voice.

Every character should sound like they own their words. A seasoned reporter will speak differently than a nervous witness. A career criminal won’t frame a sentence the same way a suburban accountant does—unless he’s trying to, and then that becomes interesting in its own right.

Read your dialogue out loud. It’s the fastest way to spot what doesn’t belong. If you stumble, your reader will too. If it sounds like a speech instead of a conversation, cut it. Tighten it. Let silence do some of the work.

Because silence is part of dialogue.

The pause before an answer. The question that doesn’t get answered at all. The moment when a character chooses to walk away instead of speaking. Those are lines just as surely as anything in quotation marks.

And for heaven’s sake, stay away from adverbs.  He said angrily.  She cried sadly.  They shouted excitedly.  Show action instead.  Show what your character is doing. 

In the end, good dialogue is about tension. Not necessarily loud, explosive tension—but the quiet kind that sits between two people who both know more than they’re saying. That’s where stories live. That’s where readers stay up too late, turning pages, trying to catch what’s hiding in plain sight.

I know that if I can write that—if I can make the reader hear what isn’t being said—I’m not just writing dialogue. I’m telling a story.

Hard-Boiled, Soft-Boiled, Cozy, or Classic?

by Shelley Burbank

Apparently Amazon KDP Cares . . . When It Suits Them

My little novella, which has sold some copies since January (but nothing spectacular as anyone can see by checking out the best-seller rankings for both ebook and print versions,) caught the attention of Amazon KDP the other day, somehow. And not in a great way. 

For those of us who self-publish our books or have some say in how our small press publishers categorize our books, figuring out the "right" categories for Amazon is a bit daunting. Put your book in too wide a category and you have zero, absolutely zero chance, of being ranked where potential readers could actually discover you organically. You need to find categories into which your book DOES fall, but which are sub-genres, a bit more granular on the meta-data side of things. If your books don't neatly fall into a sub-sub-genre, you have a bit of a problem on your hands.

I use Publisher Rocket to look at potential categories. It's helpful, but not without some landmines, as you can see in this example. 

My Olivia Lively books are private detective fiction. That's a pretty wide category. They aren't cozy, though the style of writing and the Maine coastal setting kind of fit cozy. However, cozy mysteries, by definition, involve AMATEUR sleuths--not professional investigators, police detectives, FBI, or forensic specialists. 

So when it came time to pick categories, of course I chose Private Detective Fiction but didn't feel right picking Cozy Mystery. 

I picked Female Sleuth, as well. Another big category. 

Then I looked for a category that wasn't so crowded. I saw Hard Boiled Mystery and thought, "Hmmmm. Maybe..." I looked up the conventions. 

Private Detective? Check. 

Corruption plot? Check. 

Detective hired to do the dirty work of a suspect? Check. 

Morally-flawed detective character? Check. 

City setting? Half-check. (Portland is a city, but it's not exactly Chicago in the 40s).  

Male detective? Nope. First person? Nope. 

I thought this particular novella actually fit the hard-boiled detective bill pretty well. I would have called it Soft-Boiled Mystery (if such a category existed on Amazon) because a soft-boiled detective is usually a woman. From a post by writer Lisa DiSilverio: "The tone of a soft-boiled book is relatively light and sometimes veers into slapstick as in Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series." https://www.lauradisilverio.com/mysteries-hard-boiled-or-soft-boiled/

Here's the thing. When I wrote my first Lively, I looked for comp titles, and Stephanie Evanovitch's Stephanie Plum books came pretty darn close. So did Elle Cosimano's Finlay Donovan. These defy currenty categories, too, in my opinion. Finlay can be a "cozy" in that she's an amateur, but Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter, in the biz but not a detective. There's not much else cozy about these books. They deal with gritty subject matter, but they are also humorous crime fiction. 

Each of our main characters are, however, female sleuths. And they have romantic interests. And they get into some hot water along the way. And there's some humor. And some high heels. 

I consider Olivia Lively to be soft-boiled detective fiction because a) she's a female b) she's a private investigator c) she deals in moral ambiguity d) she works in a city, not a cozy small town. 

So this brings me to KDP. I got an email from them yesterday saying they determined my choice of hard-boiled as a category was "misleading to readers" (like there's a lot of them being misled, eyeroll), and that they had removed my book from that category. The actual wording was, " . . . did not match the nature of the content, and may cause a misleading customer experience."

Normally this wouldn't bother me so much, but, BUT . . . I've seen so many books miscategorized in MUCH more egregious ways.

A quick look today at the top spots in Cozy Mystery yield a couple of actual cozies but not all. Here are the top five.

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz (Also ranking #1 in crime THRILLER, Animal Mysteries, and Amateur Sleuth but I think it could be a cozy? At a stretch? It's not obvious from the cover, and I'm not sure cozy mystery readers would pick this up in a bookstore.)

Coming in Hot by Deany Ray (this is definitely a cozy vibe and cover)

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. (A NYTimes Best Seller and Read With Jenna book club pick. NOT a cozy vibe or cover. Too slick and NYTimes hardcovery--and now a Netflix tie-in. Though there is a mystery in it, it's not generally considered a mystery novel but more of a feel-good story.)

Flesh and Blood: A Kay Scarpetta Novel by Patricia Cornwell (Not a cozy. Professional investigator. Gritty. Dark. Bloody. It's in the title. MUCH more mis-categorized than my quiet little novella.)

Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh (Cozy title, cozy setting, but also a professional detective AND a classic, Golden Age of Mystery re-issue. It's more of a CLASSIC mystery or traditional detective mystery.)

There was a Sue Grafton Kinsey Milhone on the list at #20. (Another of my comp picks, and probably the closest, actually.) Kinsey's a private detective, not an amateur which is de riguer for cozies. Supposedly. Unless you are a famous author, a best-seller novelist, or have a big publisher behind you--then apparently, nobody cares. 

Now, least you think I wish any of these books or authors ill, I don't. In fact I kinda want to read all of them! 

It's Amazon's hypocrisy that bugs me. Categories are squishy. My "category mistake" was so less obvious than so many others, and it begs the question: Why are they picking on a basically undiscovered author doing her best to pick a category that isn't even that well-defined, not any more defined than ANY of these categories, anyway? Did someone "report" me? How did my little novella even get on the radar? 

Maybe It All Comes Down to the Covers

So, you might ask, what ARE the books allowed on the Hard-Boiled Detective Mystery list? 

You can go look for yourself, as I'm only going to talk about the ones at the #2 and #5 spots [as of this particular moment in time/date]. Enter the Martina Monroe Private Investigator "Crime Thriller" series by H.K. Christie. They are books in a series with a female private detective with flaws (her character's drinking and a DUI to my character's sorry taste in bad men) who returns to her hometown (a more cozy kind of set up). 

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Books-Hard-Boiled-Mystery/zgbs/books/10468

These books look really good. What makes them different from my Olivia Lively books? Um, the dark covers? Maybe the writing style, but I can't tell that from the description, and neither can you or any of the so-called "misled readers." 

Another similarity? My novella is a literary mystery cold case. The #5 Christie book is a cold-case murder investigation. Okay, there are bodies, not books, at the heart of the Christie book. But are they really so different INSIDE? Again, I don't know how down and dirty these books get. I try to keep my books swearing and open-door-sex-scene free (because my parents read them and honestly? I don't think we actually need to rely on the crutches of foul language and sordid sex to get our points across. I take it as a personal challenge to talk about moral issues without getting "blue.") 

So HOW did my book even get on the KDP radar? Maybe they had AI search for swear words and bodily fluids and scan the cover for black and murky, and, not finding any, decided I'd miscategorized my book? 

I'll never know.

I Guess I Better Smarten Up

The lesson I'm learning here? After I'm finished with the Olivia Lively series, I'm going to make sure my books are firmly in a category, nothing squishy, nothing unique, nothing with one foot in two worlds. My covers will scream the category. My titles will scream the category. My metadata will line up precisely . . . somehow. It won't be by looking at the top books in the category, obviously, since that doesn't matter if you are a Jenna Book Club pick, NYTimes Bestseller, etc. Instead I'll scan the middle of the list and make sure my novels conform. 

I don't aspire to be a best-seller. I just want people to find my books. I thought Strawberry Moon had a better chance of getting eyeballs on it in a smaller category like Hard-Boiled Mystery, and since it ticked quite a few of the boxes, I went with it. So yeah, that category was probably a bad move based on my chick lit cover. It should have been black and muted, murky, and more "thriller" like, and probably readers looking for gritty, hard-boiled fiction wouldn't be attracted to my cute girl in sunglasses and the big pink moon on the cover. 

My bad, KDP! I'll do better next time. 

Has anyone else dealt with this issue? Drop a comment.  

Welcome, Judith Starkston, Author of Achilles's Wife

Judith Starkston

 Today, I (Donis) am proud to host Judith Starkston, author of Hand of Fire and Priestess of Ishana. Her fabulous new novel, Achilles's Wife, has just become available for purchase as of March 16.  Judy writes historical fantasy and mythic retellings set in the Bronze Age of the Greeks and Hittites. Her six novels bring women to the fore—whether Deidamia or Briseis from the Trojan War cycle of myths or a remarkable Hittite queen whom history forgot, even though she ruled over one of the greatest empires of the ancient world. Check out Judy's website at www.JudithStarkston.com.

Achilles’s Wife book cover image

The case of the Missing Mycenaean Palace: Setting Historical Fiction in Myth

My latest novel, Achilles’s Wife, arises from Greek myth and reinterprets the story of Achilles’s life before the Trojan War—when his divine mother conceals him on a remote Greek island to keep him out of the brewing Trojan War. But as a feminist novel focusing on female leadership and motherhood, its main character is a young woman, Deidamia (Mia), a princess on the Greek island of Skyros, daughter of King Lycomedes. 

Choosing a Royal Setting

Princesses and kings live in palaces or castles, of course, and a royal dwelling represents power and leadership, so it was important to me to “build” a palace that gave my overarching theme of governance—good and bad—a vivid physical rendering in the readers’ imaginations. 

Being the historian I am, I also wanted to be historically accurate for the Mycenaean, Late Bronze Age period when this mythic king and his daughter would have lived, if they were ever “real,” which they certainly could have been.

A Missing Palace

So, I found myself writing a novel set on the Greek island of Skyros because that is where, according to tradition, the myth I’d chosen took place. I soon encountered a problem as I researched this setting: the missing Mycenaean palace.

Archaeology from a Previous Era

There’s not a great deal published in scholarly research about the archaeology of Skyros. Moreover, the gorgeous archaeological site that has been excavated on the island, called Palamari, dates to the Early Bronze Age. Its final habitation is about 1700 BCE. I was aiming for somewhere more or less around 1250 BCE within the Late Bronze Age to be a credible palace for Lycomedes. But this is a mythic retelling, not precise historical fiction, so I used my knowledge of Mycenaean architecture and borrowed some of the vivid setting details from Palamari. Voila! A fine palace of Lycomedes.

Or so I thought. Then, deep into writing this manuscript, my husband and I decided we wanted to travel. Our last international trip had been pre-Covid. In about a month, I planned a trip to Skyros and Santorini. In the process, I tracked down a Greek archaeologist, Christina Romanou, who fairly recently had published about the Palamari site. I was looking for help identifying local people familiar with the dig. I have found such connections hugely helpful in my past research travels.

Locating the Missing Mycenaean Palace

Ms. Romanou was very helpful. She gave me names of people who’d worked on the dig and could be located at the archaeology museum or guarding the site. But more significantly for my novel in progress and my inner accurate historian, she told me about the likely location of Lycomedes’s palace. It turned out there was evidence of where a Mycenaean palace had once stood, whether the mythical king lived there or not.

Palace atop rocky mountain, medieval ruins visible (photo: author’s own)

Not Much Left

The Palamari site I’d previously focused on for the palace lies on the northerneastern portion of the island. Long before my characters would have arrived on the scene, the residents of this city abandoned it (possibly when a volcano-caused tsunami consumed a huge chunk of the settlement). My Mia and Achilles could explore the dramatic ruins of horseshoe-shaped bastions and stone walls. The site is so atmospheric that I incorporated this haunted city as a key location in my plot, even when I had to give up on it as the site of the Mycenaean royal seat. But Palamari did not solve my missing palace problem.

Also on the eastern coast, but toward the middle of the island, rises a steep, rocky mountain. It’s currently topped with Classical, Medieval, and Ottoman ruins and a still-functioning monastery. I’d never heard a word about a Mycenaean palace there. 

However, Ms. Romanou gave me the essential information. Soundings taken on the acropolis area of that mountain revealed Mycenaean ruins. The many layers of later use have wiped away any significant trace of this palace, but at least we know where it was. I spent hours climbing (600 steps or so from the base of the mountain, through village to acropolis) and crawling around the acropolis area where the soundings place a palace. I was ready to site my imaginary palace and citadel.

My Fictional Palace Becomes Real

Instead of a broad bluff over the sea, my novel portrays a rocky mountaintop location. Since my characters, early in the novel, do some illicit escaping from said palace, this took some major rewriting. There are, after all, many steps and dangerous heights to scale, although there is a lovely river valley cutting in midway from the facing mountain range, so Mia did not need to go all the way down to the beach.

 

But my rewriting developed in other unanticipated ways. I love to write from concrete details. I had been suffering from a sense of amorphousness of place. I don’t write as well without the inspiration of real locations: the smells, the sights, the textures, and the geographic realities. Finding the true location and spending a lot of time there in person ended up meaning even more to me than success in achieving historical accuracy. Myth retellings need to create a lifelike immersion. I felt this story becoming fully convincing once I held that rocky mountaintop on Skyros in my heart. 

Palamari site, “haunted” city with horseshoe bastion (photo: author’s own

The Novel, Achilles’s Wife

Here is a brief book description of Achilles’s Wife:

In an ancient kingdom, a princess takes inspiration from a visiting young woman to challenge her father’s views and reach for leadership—and then discovers her muse is a man. 

The goddess mother of Greek mythology’s most famous warrior, Achilles, will do anything to prevent her son’s fated early death. In a desperate move, she hides Achilles, against his will, on an island—disguised in a girl’s body.

Tormented by inner discord, the miscast “girl” befriends Mia, the eldest daughter of the island’s king, launching a transformation of Mia’s own. Armed with a new vision she believes comes from a girl, Mia contends with family secrets, a controlling father, her destiny to rule, and the wrath of a goddess. 

When fate reveals Achilles’s identity, a divine mother’s fury drives Mia and Achilles into marriage. Mia must navigate her love for a man with a divided heart and a dangerous measure of immortality. Balancing governance and motherhood, Mia will face an unbearable choice.

________

Achilles' Wife is available on Amazon, Bookshop, or at Judith's website,  https://www.judithstarkston.com/

To Edit Or Not To Edit, That Is The Question

 by Sybil Johnson

Fellow author Marla Cooper recently wrote a blog post about relaunching her Destination Wedding mystery series with the publication of Terror in Taffeta. (It's a good book.)

In the post, she mused a bit about how much to edit the book. One of these days I plan on getting the rights back for my first 5 books and re-releasing them with new covers. I’ve thought about how much I should edit them or whether I should edit them at all.

Certainly, I would correct any typos, though I don’t think there are any. My editor and were good at catching those things, but who knows, something might have slipped through.

The covers definitely have to be changed. I love the ones I have now. When I self-published the 6th book, I had the same artist who created the other covers create the new one so it would fit in with the look of the series. When I republish, though, I think I’ll have to change the look so the new editions are distinguishable from the old. I’ll be sad to see those old covers go, though. 

There is at least one continuity error between the books to do with a description of one of the buildings. I noticed it awhile back. I’ll go through all the books and correct the descriptions so they are consistent. 

Other than that, I don’t know if I should edit anything else. A part of me itches to “improve” my writing. But, I really think I should generally let them be. They are good stories and reflect my writing style at that time.

What do you all think? If you republish a book, what kind of edits would you make? Or would you let it stand as is?

When We Become the Device

 My phone sends a nightly report of that day's screen time. Usually I'm around two hours and change. But that's screen time on my phone. Like most other writers, the majority of my screen time is at my laptop. While it's easy to complain about all the time we spend staring at screens, much has changed in how we consume information. Unless you're involved in physical labor--the trades, cooking, gardening--how else would you work?

 

According to Demand Sage, worldwide, the average person spends 6 hours and 54 minutes on screen time. While the time for Americans is 7 hours, 2 minutes, we are digital sloths compared to much of the world. South Africa leads at 9 hours, 24 minutes; Brazil is second at 9 hours, 13 minutes; Philippines at 8 hours, 52 minutes. Measured behind countries such as Colombia, Russia, Egypt, Mexico, Bulgaria, and Saudi Arabia, we in the USA clock in at number 19.

Discounting work, even if we wanted to limit screen time, it becomes a challenge. We get most of our news from the web, though what gets delivered is often throttled by search engines and we have to dig deeper to get past click-bait. The phone is a portable TV, so it's a convenient way to watch programs, movies, and videos. Then there's social media. Add gaming. On-line banking. Hooking up. Checking the weather. Scrolling through photos. Seems every business and venue wants you to download their app.

Even before AI, the phone became a crutch. City maps have practically disappeared and we rely on Siri to tell us how to get to our destination. Rather than hunt for radio stations on the car dashboard, Spotify delivers tunes based on our algorithms. 

What we consume through screen time affects our mood, deliberately since the harder our emotional buttons are pushed, the more likely we are to engage with what's online and be rewarded with dopamine hits. 

AI studies our engagement on an unprecedented scale and not just by documenting what sites we've visited, but by eavesdropping, sifting through our email and social media, mapping our locations, cataloging our photos, cross-indexing biometrics gleaned from smart watches and fitness trackers, reading our eyeballs whenever we're close to a camera. The level of surveillance we've embraced would astonish and certainly dismay George Orwell. 

We've become so reliant on AI to tell us where we are, to remind us what to do, to nudge us about healthy options, to validate who we are, so that in a not-too-distant future, AI via the phone will tell us how to feel. Which brings me to my writer friend Nick Arvin, who embarked on an ambitious project on Substack to write and publish 52 short stories, one for each week of 2026. The stories have an off-center Twilight Zone mood, a bit creepy, not quite horror but definitely unsettling and worth reading. In this week's offering, Arvin presents "A Device For Feeling Feelings", describing how reliant people will become on their devices, to the point they're uncomfortable trusting their emotions without getting affirmation from AI, even in matters of romance.

Writing as Time Travel

One perk of writing historical mysteries is that I (Donis) get to live in a time and place that no longer exists, and believe things that no one believes any more. I think sometimes that there is something of acting in writing fiction. Actors and novelists both have to dig deep to inhabit our characters and make them real. Sometimes it takes research into people and ways of life one would never come across in her ordinary life, such as a former computer programmer-turned novelist like Vicki Delany inviting a police friend over to her house to teach her Close Quarters Combat, or actor William Hurt spending a couple of weeks in Angola Prison in Louisiana for a movie roll.  

Author or actor, if you want your character to come alive, something inside you has to live her life with her.

I just wrote a scene in which one of my characters does something that he absolutely believes is right, and in the context of the story, he is right.  But I, Donis Ann Casey, would NEVER consider justified.  One of the joys and perhaps one of the great challenges of writing is that you can explore lives, places, times, people, attitudes that are entirely different from your own. The book I’m writing now features a protagonist who leads a life that couldn’t be less like mine, nor does she believe the things I do  And yet I know her intimately. I grew up around her world and loved a lot of people who were just like her.

I wonder sometimes if readers think I have the same values and ideas as my protagonists. I always wondered how like their characters other authors are until I actually started writing fiction myself.  Now I think the answer often is, “not even close.” I read an interview with Salmon Rushdie in which he said he didn’t have to be religious himself in order to understand quite well how a religious person thinks, and not only to understand him, but have great admiration for him. 

That's how I feel about those who lived their lives in a world that no longer exists.

Spring in the Air?

by Catherine Dilts

Here in Colorado Springs, we’re having a false spring. The temperatures are setting records. However, it’s all a lie.

Any day now, we’ll get that crushing drop in temperature, preferably combined with precipitation. Snow, please. But we’ll take whatever we can get, as long as it's wet.

Peonies and tulips think it's spring

When the weather is bonkers, the trees and bushes leaf out prematurely. Then the inevitable cold returns, causing branches to snap under the weight of ice and snow. Oh no! My peonies and tulips are emerging! Go back, before it’s too late!

The unusual weather is making writing difficult. Typically this time of year, I can accomplish impressive writing sprints because I’m still in hibernation mode, hunkered down in my writing cave. This season, I’m struggling to stay focused on my computer screen.

I do write year-round. It shouldn’t be impossible for me to be creative just because the sun is shining and the birds are singing. I do my best work sitting on the deck in the morning as the sun rises, surrounded by flowers.

It’s not the same when the trees are leafless and the flower pots bare. And a bit too chilly to sit outside in early morning temperatures of high thirties to mid-forties. Spring is the time for hummingbird feeders, but I can’t put mine out until the middle of April.

There are plenty of writing projects to keep me busy. Re-reading a Rose Creek novel final draft before submitting to critique group. Providing feedback to a friend planning to pitch to an agent. Hammering away on the outline for a new trilogy. Drafting the next Ninja-Grandparent mystery.

I have to focus my energy. I’m finally getting my books placed in stores. (Basecamp Books & Adventure, and a new "maker" shop Hidden Gems.) That will be wasted effort if I don’t continue to write books.

Hidden Gems 5020 N. Nevada Ave. Suite 120, Colorado Springs, CO 80918

I’m sharing my experience traveling with our two new family members, an English Springer Spaniel and a feisty tuxedo kitten. That’s writing, but not fiction. (See my Substack for Traveling With Pets.)

I’m reducing my gardening plans due to those new additions. But I still hope to fill my grow boxes with flowers, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and basil. I started seeds yesterday. Gardening, even a limited deck “farm,” keeps my mind busy with green dreams.

Bird Watching

Okay, so I’m not sitting idle. Listing my have-to-dos and am-doings has helped. Thanks for letting me vent. Life has been busier with a few extra challenges in the form of our puppy and kitten. They’re both napping right now.

Perfect. Peace and quiet. Time for a writing sprint.

Scams, Scams, and More Scams

 by Thomas Kies

I recently received these unsolicited emails. 

Hello Thomas,

I’m reaching out on behalf of The Great Books Society of Denver, a lively community of 680 readers who meet monthly in Englewood, Colorado.

Your work, Random Road, came up in one of our recent discussions, and in true book-lover fashion, we thought: why not go straight to the source? The gritty realism, layered mystery, and complex humanity in your novel resonated deeply with our members. We would love to feature your book as our monthly pick, giving it exposure to an engaged, thoughtful audience who are genuinely excited to read and discuss new works.

Featuring your book with us provides direct engagement with a dedicated community of readers who love to discuss and recommend books, increased visibility among literary enthusiasts who value discovery and thoughtful conversation, and the opportunity for your work to become a memorable part of a month-long reading experience.

If this sounds like your cup of tea (or glass of wine, we don’t judge), please let us know, and we’ll share the next steps to make it happen.

Warm regards,

Organizer | The Great Books Society of Denver

So many compliments. By the way, in a follow-up email, they listed a tiered list of prices for their services. This wouldn’t be a scam, would it?

Hello Thomas Kies

Your book Darkness Lane was recently highlighted by one of our club members. Would you let us know if it’s available for our 7 Day Read Along and upcoming Club Literary Prize?

Organizer, Vienna English Club

Author scams are rampant.  It was a topic of multiple discussions in San Francisco a few weeks ago while I was there attending Left Coast Crime. 

Dan Berry recently wrote a column for the New York Times Book Review talking about scams.  He said that one scammer had reached out to him claiming to be Margeret Atwood (full disclosure, I got one of those too).  Berry contacted Atwood’s agent who wrote back saying, “Oh, this is so terrible and mean. Preying upon people’s hunger for success and/or their hope to improve their writing.”

What are some of the most common author scams these days?

• Fake Literary Agents/Publishers: Scammers pose as legit agents, offering publishing contracts in exchange for upfront "reading" or "editing" fees. 

• Marketing and PR Scams: Companies promise Hollywood film adaptations, Netflix pitching, or massive marketing campaigns, often targeting indie authors. 

• Vanity Presses: These houses demand high fees to publish, promising success but providing little to no real editing or distribution. 

• Paid Review Scams: Offers to purchase "guaranteed" reviews on sites like Amazon or Goodreads, according to The Darling Axe.

• Impersonation Scams: Scammers use AI and LinkedIn/social media to impersonate well-known publishing professionals, often using using well-known, bestselling authors. 

• Award/Contest Scams: Fraudulent literary awards that charge hefty entry fees

Why are these SOBs targeting writers?  Dan Berry summed it up by saying, “…the victim’s vulnerability. A lonely heart yearns for love and companionship: an author yearns for sales and validation. 

Yes, I know this is the second time I’ve published a blog about scams.  I apologize.  It’s just that I know there are people being cheated and it really cheeses me off.   www.thomaskiesauthor.com 

Investing in a Writer Mentorship Program

"Janice is Skeptical" by Shelley Burbank

Hi Type Ms. Shelley Burbank here. 

Following is a segment from my recent PINK DANDELIONS newsletter.

I may be delusional, but I’ve just done something so out of character, I can only think it’s either gonna be the smartest thing I ever did for myself or the stupidest. After forty years of autodidactic literary study, I signed up for a one-on-one writing mentorship program that will eat up the last bit of writing money I’ve earned and hoarded over the years, using it all in one last big spend.

I feel like I’m blowing on dice at the craps table at Ceasar’s Palace and hoping for sixes. Hey, it can happen.

What do I want to get out of this experience? Well, for one, I’m finally going to get some honest, professional feedback from a developmental editor trained in a system I find extremely cool and satisfyingly complex. I’m HOPING this feedback enables me to crank my writing up to the “next level.”

My goal is to write books that are so emotionally compelling and beautifully-written that readers stay up all night finishing them, can’t wait for the next one to come out, and tell all their friends about them. I want to write stories that delight a small but mighty group of dedicated and intelligent and thoughtful readers. And I want a publishing contract with an imprint big enough to pay me a decent advance and/or with a marketing budget that helps grow this readership further than I’ve been able to do for myself.

This mentorship should help me get there, if getting there is possible for me.

****

When is much, too much? 

The previous segment is only a small bit of a much longer (maybe too long) newsletter. Something about only sending one per month spurs me into cramming everything into one long email. This is something I am of two minds about. 

Is it more value for the subscriber? Or is it overkill?

In my newsletter, I've also started posting scenes and vignettes of a "piece" I'm calling The Peony Hotel. These follow the adventures of a literary novelist at mid-life, recently divorced, who runs away from Maine to Guam for a fresh start. She's taken a job ghost-writing a series of YA historical books for a famous gospel superstar, and her three children back home in the USA think she's lost her mind. 

This is the most fun way for me to share my experiences here in Guam which, after a year, I finally feel I know just enough to have some perspective on the place. Plus, it's a mid-life crisis/coming-of-second-age story. 

These may or may not end up as scenes in a novel one day. Who knows. 

If you are interested in reading more about my mentorship program, the Peony Hotel, and other writing-related and creativity-related content, please check out the PINK DANDELIONS newsletter on Substack. 

Cheers!

Shelley

Prepping For Malice

 by Sybil Johnson

I’ll be attending Malice Domestic once again this year. For those who don’t know, it’s a mystery convention celebrating traditional and cozy mysteries. This is my 10th or 11th one or something like that. I’ve lost track over the years.

Malice is my favorite mystery convention. I look forward to it every year, even though it means a plane ride across the country and a 3 hour time difference. An added bonus is I get to visit the pandas at the National Zoo.

I’m particularly excited for this year since I know both the Guest of Honor, Annette Dashofy, and the Toastmaster, Ellen Byron. They’re both great writers and people.

I’ve been lucky to be on a panel every year I’ve attended as a published author. This time around I’m moderating a panel, MUSEUM MACGUFFINS: Art & Artifacts in Mysteries. On the panel are Lynda Allen, D.R. Ransdell, Lane Stone and Jeff Tanner. The topic is an interesting one. Should be quite fun.

I feel the role of the moderator is to keep the conversation flowing, ask interesting questions, and make sure everyone gets in on the conversation. In order to do this, I need to know about each panelist so I’m checking out their websites and reading at least one of their books. After all that, I should be able to come up with interesting stuff to talk about.

I had better get back to it.

For the full Malice schedule: https://www.malicedomestic.net/ Clicking on 2026 Schedule will bring up a pdf of the current schedule.