Deadlines and Short Stories

 by Sybil Johnson

I have a love/hate relationship with deadlines. Having one gets me writing more consistently, but it also stresses me out. Doesn’t matter if it’s a self-imposed deadline or one that comes from a contract.

Currently, I am trying to get a short story finished to submit to the Malice Domestic anthology, Murder Most Senior. Deadline is the end of August.

I have an idea that I like and that I think fits in with the anthology theme. Not sure, though, that I will finish it in time to submit it. So I’m a little stressed out right now. Plus I have cataract surgery coming up next month so that's fun

I have decided to just keep on plugging away, doing the best I can. Even if I don't make that deadline, I'll have a story that is pretty close to being done that I can submit somewhere else.

Speaking of short stories, my story “Mini-Mart Sleuth” is out now in Black Cat Weekly #207. The issue came out on Black Cat Appreciation Day, which seems appropriate for the magazine. I am very happy to have it published there and thrilled to see my name on the cover along with other contributors. There’s also an illustration at the beginning of the story, which I was not expecting. Pretty cool to see that as well.

 

I really enjoyed writing this one. It was rejected multiple times from 2 anthologies and a couple other places before finding its home at BCW. I didn't change it too much over that period, just tweaked it here and there. Whatever I did seems to have worked because it got accepted.

It’s published in epub and pdf formats only. For more info and to purchase the issue ($2.99 USD):  https://blackcatweekly.com/b/l7OQ9

If you're into writing short stories BCW is also runing a short story contest. Details here. https://blackcatweekly.com/b/gue0P Deadline is September 30, 2025.

 I better get back to writing. I shall listen to harp music while I’m working. That always calms me down and helps me focus.

How Far?

 by Charlotte Hinger

The job market is changing. More than a few friends and family have been beating the bushes for jobs. This includes people with degrees and an awesome work ethic. 

One I especially admire was a young woman who was let go very unexpectedly from a job she had held for 10 years. She wasn't particularly treasured at this place. She was a (token)woman in a STEM field. For that matter, she didn't just love the company. Their philosophy was a bit on the dinosaur side. 

But a decent salary is a decent salary. If you don't believe this, try going without it. 

She took any job she could find: housekeeping, dog-walking, driving for Amazon, Ubering, child care. These little jobs paid the bills. It went on for a year and a half. Then lo and behold at a job fair she was invited to interview with a fabulous company who hired her on the spot at twice the salary she had earned previously. She sparkled and got promoted and promoted. 

But during the time she was wandering in the wasteland, I marveled at her ability to keep trudging along. Applying for jobs. Applying for jobs. Applying and applying.

I call this "chaining the black dog." Earnest Hemmingway referred to periods of depression as "Black Dog Days."

Today, so many writers are accepting a bitter reality. They will never be published by one of the houses that dominate the market. Black dogs threaten their well-being.

So they do the sensible thing and turn to one of the variations available: self-publishing, independent publishing, hybrid publishing. The reading public is the winner. Books that deserve to be published and wouldn't be through the traditional route are available. 

The biggest barrier to writers going the nontrad route is money. It costs. A lot if a hybrid publisher is involved. There are scams galore. 

There's a way to do it for free. Or nearly so: Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing. KDP.

So why wouldn't an aspiring writer go that route? It's really really hard work, that's why. And most of us don't know what we are doing.The experience will help writers understand why books cost so much money. What do you actually know about book design, font size, spacing, cover art? Probably nothing. 

I've only had one experience with self-publishing. I helped an elderly priest publish his memoirs. Working with KDP was tedious, but worth it.

Now there is a cottage industry of people whom you can employ to do all the aspects of creating a book. I met a lady last Sunday who is a graphic designer for independently published books. I would hire her in a heartbeat. 

How much work are you willing to do to getting a book published? Is it more important to you to save money or time? Or are you nervous about creating an inferior product?

Why this mystery writer also works as a private investigator

I want to write incredible stories about interesting people in wild, dramatic situations with deep thoughts and insight, and flash action scenes. But I'm a writer sitting in a basement room. Just me. Where can I get workable ideas? From my books and references, from the internet, from messages, yes. But, there's NOTHING like the real world.

 The real world isn't crazier than you imagine. It's crazier than you can imagine.

 I think you need to be out there. Yourself. In Person. With all your senses alive and collecting information, shades of meaning and real human feelings, reactions, speech, and tragedies. Cramming human experience deep into your writing subconscious.

 If you want to write police procedurals, try volunteering at a local police department. Maybe go to a mall (one that is still open) and study people. The population at 9 AM is a lot different than the population at 9 PM. Go to a shooting range to study gun people. Go to a gay pride parade or Walmart to see all sorts of things. Go alone (being mindful of risk) so you can't hide behind someone and have to deal with the experience personally. Be careful of who you stare at and who you photograph. Go out there, then sit with a coffee and a bearclaw with three other writers who are doing the same thing and gossip about meaningful things.

So, how do you get PI experience? Not by reading PI fiction. Most PIs I read aren't that real. PIs must pay rent, taxes and food, They spend money on databases and indexes. They invest in ongoing education, and they study. They belong to PI groups and trade experience with other PIs. The field is broader than you realize. There are many working PIs out there who work at the thin level of fiction.  I know PIs who are true professionals and who have amazing experience. So, how do you tap into that?

Some States have straightforward licensing requirements, and many offer a good starting point. Colorado did, but doesn't now for political reasons. I started by reading the State material about Standards of Practice, Colorado Revised Statutes (laws), especially on privacy, stalking and business ethics. Then I discovered the State PI exam was open book! So I built a notebook with all the State-recommended references, studied a little, took the test. Missed one dubiously-worded question. I bought E&O (Errors and Omissions) liability insurance, posted the New-Guy Surety bond, and I was in. So, I found office space to rent, bought a computer and furniture, and designed a website. Glass Key Investigations, named after a Dashiell Hammett novel.   D4C.*

I got cases. I learned tough business lessons and I formed interesting friendships and business relationships. I learned things the novels and topical books never tell you. People have problems that affect them deeply, cases can be messy, clients this real PIs are like CSI and will solve their case in 60 minutes. And you learn people can treat each other horribly.

 I've "met" a millionaire's wife who did sex shows online at 2 AM for small change. They called her Queen, she called them Slaves. I located a Hispanic man who fathered a child out of wedlock and discovered he has four other children by three other women. Never married. Doubtful citizenship. He thought bedding women was a mandatory cultural expression of his manhood. I investigated a man who ran a shady business and who fathered two children by a woman who had lived rent-free in one of his barely acceptable houses for several decades. Paying rent the old fashioned way. And he lives in a really nice new house. His business couldn't deliver that much income. To use a Thai expression, he is "unusually rich". My imagination can work on that statement. Book fodder.

 Perhaps my imagination could invent similar characters, but they wouldn't be real enough for my stories. Working as a PI, I meet interesting people, and my characters and plots benefit from that experience. So can yours. Get out there.

*D4C Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

SP/MC

Big Fish, Little Pond

Oklahoma Promotin'

 Donis here. Since my fellow Type M-ers are musing about promotion, allow me to share an excellent  piece of advice I received many years ago. When my first book, The Old Buzzard Had It Coming, was just about to come out in 2005, I asked my beloved editor Barbara Peters what she thought would be the most effective actions I could take to publicize my work. (Keep in mind this was before the great flowering of social media.) Attend Bouchercon? Do a national tour? Hire a publicist? Her advice was to concentrate on activities in Oklahoma, where the book is set, and environs – at least at first – because readers are always interested in reading about a place they recognize and people they are familiar with. This advice had done me well. Over past past decades I have attended conferences all over the country and done book tours all over the U.S. I receive fan letters and notes from everywhere in the wide world, but when I do anything in person, I always draw a bigger audience when I'm in my home territory of Oklahoma and its sister states of Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas. The only book in the Oklahoma-set series that did better here in Arizona, where I live, than it did in Oklahoma was The Wrong Hill To Die On, which was set in ... you guessed it ... Arizona.

So here is what I'd advise any author early in their career who asked me about promotion. Concentrate your efforts on whoever is your audience. My books are regional and seem to strike the loudest chord with those who are familiar with the region, though I get a fair number who are simply fascinated with life in pre-World War I America. If I were writing a series about a gourmet chef, I'd be hunting out foodies. Fashion for fashionistas, racing for race aficionados, genealogy for family historian, apple farming for Washingtonians. This is not to say that others won't be delighted by your brilliant plotting or gorgeous prose, and as time goes on it's very good to expand your publicity efforts to a broader audience. But since there's only so much time and money to go around, spend it to build your base, especially when you're starting out. 

DIY Experimentation

by Catherine Dilts

I’ve noticed clever graphics on social media by fellow authors. I wondered whether they were developed by their publishers. Or if they were making so much money, they’d gone and hired publicists.

I’m a save-a-buck kind of gal, modeled after my cheapskate mother. I was certain an intrepid person could DIY the heck out of their own promo graphics. But the thought of taking photographs, or locating free or very cheap images to use without violating copyrights, was daunting. Plus all the fiddling around with text and formatting. Ugh!

My daughter Merida Bass works with pencil on enormous works of fine art, but is also becoming quite adept at graphic arts. She had the potential to do these bits of promotional art, but I hesitated to take more time from her crammed schedule.

Then we both zoom-attended a webinar for the local Sisters In Crime chapter. Voila! The mystery was revealed.

A first attempt at promo graphics for my traditionally published debut novel.

I typically avoid talks that are basically advertisements for services. Some folks here have heard me whine about everyone and their Aunt Harriet making bank off publishing, except for the writer. Particularly when you delve into the world of self-publishing, although traditional pubbing is not immune from authors paying for editing and publicity services.

Kathleen Sweeney from Book Brush Inc. pitched her company with a detailed demo. During the webinar, I texted Merida, who was zooming from her home. She’s the artist creating covers for our co-authored series. I asked whether she thought this was worth the price.

“I can do this on Canva,” she typed back. But the question was, did she want to? Before the end of the talk, she signed up for the service.

Sunday morning, I had a chance to play around with Book Brush. You definitely need to be a bit computer savvy. But it’s delightfully easy once you tackle that rather mild learning curve.

I’m still more interested in writing. I loathe the business and promo end of publishing. But I also believe in my work. I definitely can’t afford to purchase every shiny new object promising to make writers buy-you-own-island famous and wealthy. I’ll do everything I can manage on my own.

This service fits my DIY personality. Not for the book cover creation. My artist daughter will still create those. But for all the branding and promo bits, this feels like a game-changer. Including promoting my traditionally published novels.

This week, I’m attending a Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America meeting. The topic: Audiobooks. Tom Farrell’s talk will be less sales-pitchy, I’m sure. He’s going to give us info, share his experiences, and doesn’t have a service to sell.

Becoming a published author was an eye-opener. Hardly anyone gets publicity they haven't generated themselves. Traditional or self-pubbed, selling books under either banner are both are DIY projects. Maybe, after over a decade being a published author, I’ll finally get the hang of this business. Or not. Time will tell.

A promo image for the YA co-authored with my daughter

Point of Sale

 by Thomas Kies

Most of us have been there.  You go to a planned book signing at a library or a bookstore where nobody has heard of you and you- and maybe your spouse- are the only ones there.  Where it’s so quiet you can literally hear the clock ticking in the next room.  Where everyone avoids making eye contact with the author. 

Or at a book event or authors’ fest where there may be a dozen other writers, but once again, the audience is sparse, and you’ve just spent six hours of your life staring into space.

Those are humbling experiences.

So, I get a lot of requests for attendance, but I’ve become much more selective.  Let’s face it, time is a precious commodity.   

One of the events I do attend is something called the Olde Beaufort Farmer’s Market.  Now, admittedly, this sounds like it could be lame.  Can you really sell books in the same location that feature fruits, vegetables, and crochet animals?

Yeah, at this one you can.  At one point Beaufort was named the coolest small town in America. It’s got a vibe.  And the Farmers Market isn’t’ just for farmers. It’s also got some very eclectic items on sale, like gourmet coffees, baked goods, fine arts, cool jewelry, funky clothes and, of course, shrimp. We are, after all, on the coast of North Carolina. 

During the summer, this is an event that takes place every week, but once a year, they ask local authors to attend. I love this event.

This past weekend, I went through cases of my novels.  The people who attend this event are both locals and tourists, both of whom come to spend money.

Yeah, you still have to work the crowd.  You have to make eye contact.  If they look interested, you ask them, “Do you like mysteries?”  If they say no or tell you they don’t like to read, send them packing. They’re not going to read your books. 

If they say “yes”, you’ve got them.  Engage them in conversation, tell them about your books, how you came to create your protagonist, the writing process, and what makes your books special. Try to do it with humor and humility. 

Accent on the humor. 

What’s fun is if they’ve heard of you or seen your books somewhere before. 

There was one woman, when she spotted a poster featuring my first book, Random Road, rushed to my booth with her friends and exclaimed, “I just read that book.  Are you really the author?”

I live for those moments.  She kept telling everyone around us how much she enjoyed the novel and then proceeded to buy the rest of the books in the series.  

And then there was the group of young ladies in the early part of a celebration of their friend’s looming nuptials.  Seeing the future bride, I gave her a signed copy of Random Road as a gift and told her, “Here, you can take this on your honeymoon.”

The group broke out in laughter.  She smiled at me and purred, “If nothing else, I’ll read it by the pool.”  Two others in her entourage bought books. 

Obviously, it helps if you’re an extrovert, which I am, and enjoy talking with people. What I also love is that if they buy one book, they’ll order more.  I always see a spike in online sales after this event. 

Make sure you can take credit cards; more and more people don't carry cash anymore.  And more than once, a younger buyer asked if I use Venmo.  I don't, but I might have to take a look at it. 

So, I try to be selective these days when and where I spend time with my books. But I also try to keep an open mind.  You never know where there will be an unexpected success. 

Novella Finished and Out With Beta Readers

By Shelley Burbank

Happy Friday, Friends! 

How's your summer going so far? Have you written all the words, read all the books, soaked up all the sun, splashed in the lake or ocean, cooked up some burgers or portobellos on the ol' grill while fireflies danced and sparkled in the long grass on the side of the road? 

For me, this past month has been all about revising Strawberry Moon Mystery. Early beta reader response has been positive overall. I'm hoping with a few tweaks and changes, I'll be able to make it available to readers by the end of September, latest. The more I learn about indie publishing, the less appealing it is, but I'm at this stage where it makes the most sense, at least with this novella.

I'm going to price it fairly high because it's either that or give it away for nothing some other way. Here's my thought: my readers, the readers I'm hoping to attract, will be willing to pay $5.99 for a 120 page ebook. I know the common wisdom is to price it low, but you know what? I think that just signals a lack of confidence and a sense of my work's worth. I haven't decided yet on the print cost, but I think I'll keep in in line with the other two books in the series at 19.99. (It would be so much easier if we could just round up to $20! Especially since we are getting rid of the USA penny! Are any of us REALLY fooled by the .99 on the end of pricing?)

Creativity Webs

Lately I find myself wanting to focus on multiple creative pursuits: learning to crochet granny squares, reading ancient and world history and Guam history, catching up on classic literature I've missed, and continuing to explore art techniques and art journaling. All this plus more story ideas than I can handle. It feels as if I'm spinning a complex web of creativity and getting myself tangled up in all the threads. 

How do you balance your creative life?

I think one way, moving forward, will be reducing my screen time. It's so easy to fall into a nightly television habit. I'm more productive in the mornings, but I could spend my evenings reading the history and literature and knitting/crocheting. One idea was to create a cozy reading space, and so I bought a beautiful, cheery yellow lamp to sit beside a chair in my living room.

I'd like to add a pretty blue and yellow print to the shade if I can figure out how to do it properly. And yes, that's the same knit dishcloth I started months ago. I looked for some floral artwork at the local Salvation Army Thrift Store with no luck, but I was in a hurry. I'll get there again soon and take my time poking into odd corners.

Facebook, Shmacebook

As I'm about to begin "marketing" the novella, Facebook is once again on my iPhone. Am I pleased with this development? No. Simply, no. Hopefully I've figured out how to use the platform without it using me. I hop on. I post. I skeedaddle. No scrolling. Very little hitting the like button. Even less commenting. 

This makes me a "freeloader" and I don't care! 

Hope you have a wonderful week and final weeks of summer. See you in the fall!

Shelley

Have you subscribed to Pink Dandelions, my monthly newsletter on creativity, culture, manifesting, mindfulness, and nurturing your own beautiful life? http://shelleyburbank.substack.com/

[A version of this blog post appeared on my private blog, Shelley's Journal.

Creepypasta and more

 by Sybil Johnson

Today it’s random thoughts day for me. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a writer or if everyone has random thoughts throughout the day. I pretty much have them when I’m driving or walking or watching TV or reading a book or.... Something catches my attention and I feel the need to look it up or make a note. Sometimes I get stories out of them, sometimes I just find them interesting. Here are some of my most recent thoughts:

Creepypasta – I was watching an episode of the French crime series, The Art of Crime, and they mentioned creepypasta. What? I double-checked the English subtitles (I don’t know French) and, sure enough, it said “creepypasta” all one word. The episode was set in the world of ballet. Students at a ballet school were scaring each other with what they called creepypasta videos. They’d dress up as a Degas ballerina statue that was rumored to come to life and scare the crap out of each other, then post it on the internet.

What is this, I thought? Is this a thing in real life or made up for the episode? So I looked it up. Turns out it’s real. A creepypasta is any horror story or video that is posted to the internet. The name comes from “copy and paste”. Not sure I get how that works, but that’s okay. I’m old. I may have to come up with a story that features creepypasta stories. Hmmm.

Cats of Disneyland – I love Disneyland. It’s my happy place. I always feel better after I’ve been there. I see ducks that live in the park all the time. I knew there were also cats who lived there, but I’ve never seen any of them. They generally come out at night and help keep the vermin population in check. A friend pointed me to this video about the cats. Made me smile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLCoFx4Hrns

Pronouns – I recently read a book by John McWhorter, a linguistics professor, called simply Pronouns. I found it highly interesting, particularly the chapter on “they”. Worth a read. When writing a mystery, I don’t really want to use he or she for the murderer because that might give something away. Unless the police are absolutely sure the perpetrator is male or female, of course. I tend to use they a lot.

Hen pronoun in Swedish --- I’ve been “learning” Swedish for a while now. Still don’t know it well, but I am learning more and more each day. In the above book on pronouns, McWhorter mentioned that Swedish now has a “hen” pronoun for use when you don’t know the gender of a person or for someone who is non-binary or where gender doesn’t matter. I was not familiar with this at all. In my studies, they just mention han(he) and hon(she). Hen seems like a nice addition so I looked it up.

According to various sources on the internet, hen originally came into being in the 1960s, but did not reach the “masses” until 2012. It was officially added to the Swedish Academy’s dictionary in 2015. It was inspired by a Finnish pronoun which refers to anyone at all. This was an interesting article on its origins and current use: https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/swedish-hen

 aibohphobia – This is the fear of palindromes. I saw this on Jeopardy! I really, really want this to be a real thing. Can you imagine having this fear and your name is Anna? Anyway, apparently the word was invented in response to a challenge to invent a new phobia. The word is, of course, a palindrome itself. No one has been diagnosed with this as of yet.

Murderbot Diaries – I recently discovered the Murderbot Diaries, a series of books by Martha Wells. I am currently in the middle of book 4 of 7. They are full of adventure. What I really like, though, is the personality of the Murderbot. I hear AppleTV has made a series out of the books. I want to finish the books before I watch it. I wonder if I’m going to enjoy it as much as the books. 

Those are my random thoughts for today. What are yours?

Colorado Book Awards

 By Charlotte Hinger

The Colorado Book Awards event was held Saturday, July 26. I was thrilled that Mary's Place was a finalist for the Historical Novel award. First place went to All Our Yesterdays, by Joel H. Morris. It's about Lady MacBeth and I'm eager to read it.

I was delighted to learn that an anthology, Ramas Y Raices, written by Type M's very own Mario Acevedo was also a finalist. It features the best of CALMA--the Colorado Alliance of Latina Mentors and Authors. There were twenty-four contributors. 

The Colorado Book Awards are very suspenseful for the finalist. All the finalists are revealed early, but the winner is not announced until that very special Saturday night. 

Winners from each category read a selection from their book and then gave thanks to people they wanted to acknowledge. The winner of the Creative Non-Fiction Award was Brandon Shimoda with The Afterlife is Letting Go. This book was also chosen as Booklist's one of the top ten history books of the year. No small feat! In fact, Shimoda has won quite a number of prestigious awards. 

Afterlife is about the Japanese American concentration camps during World War 11. All the reviews praise his research plus his ability to integrate his own family's history. 

Honestly, if he writes as well as he speaks this book must be outstanding. He literally broke my heart. Although Afterlife is based on the Japanese experience, he then referred to the terrors of the Israel Hamas War. Of course I was aware of the staggering toll on people, but he also pointed out the obliteration of libraries. 

Why had that not occurred to me? In a very short time, precious rare books have been destroyed and libraries reduced to rubble. Historical and family records no longer exist. 

I'm not sure I could breathe without access to a library.  

Alert the physicists!

 Michael Chandos

Alert the physicists! Time has changed. For me, at least. When I was a kid, sometimes time dragged by. Now, with me over 70, time flies by.  WHY?

When I graduated from college, I was in the Air Force. I traveled. Started a family. Bought cars and a house. Took the equivalent of online schools. Started a Masters program. But I still found time to write.

Strictly an amateur, I wrote for fanzines and online blogs, before they were called blogs. One was a Star Trek-inspired writing club organized like crew members on an Enterprise-type ship. Each contributing writer developed a character from Star Trek, complete with a bio, an image (which a talented member drew to our specification). I was an Andorian security and intelligence officer. A Redshirt. Then we picked a theme or mission scenario to write stories featuring our character. The "Captain" pulled the stories together into a spiral bound anthology for the members' enjoyment.

I started collecting background data on mystery and SF subjects, stored in boxes that I dragged through four successive house moves. Apparently, filing was optional. I still have a couple of the boxes of articles, pictures and notes. There's gold in there.

I left the service for the aerospace industry. I still took classes, but now I added live theater. I moved twice to new-to-us houses. I started Vintage Racing in a 1964 Formula car. I still wrote. I researched, wrote, pitched and sold a volume of military history. I sold my first SF story for 10 bucks.

I left industry for Federal Civil Service. More classes (Air War College), lots of travel, a new house, still racing, still doing theater, at a higher level, took college and professional theater courses. Got an agent, did commercials. Sold several mysteries, even one SF story to a Scottish publisher. Finally, retired from the 9-5.

Started a business, a private investigations LLC, just me. Was very busy. Licensed in two States. Sold the race car. Theater and travel tapered off. Bought a buy & die house that took a year of my time. I had my first professional sale to a mystery anthology, then 12 others, joined groups like the Mystery Writers of America.

Finally closed the business. 

Oh Boy! I was unburdened and had loads of time to write. Except I didn't. 

I was busy doing "stuff", like painting and repair. I did housework. Days passed like telephone poles seen from a train. I had to ask people or look at my phone to make sure I was aware of the day of the week. I didn't have a solid fix on the month or hour either. I did less writing. Less writing. Less sales. WTH.

I am sure some evil experiment or geophysical anomaly has altered time.

Anyone out there in contact with Einstein?

I'll Take Mine With a Twist

 Since good writers copy and great writer steal*, I'm always looking for good ideas to lift from other authors. Not plagiarism, of course. Heaven forfend! But when a piece of writing catches my eye, surprises and delights me, I want to know: How'd he do that? Because I want my books to surprise and delight as well.

I shall readily admit that I do the same thing when I see a good movie. I was telling a friend about the startling ending of Life of Pi, and to my surprise she said, "I don't like to be fooled."

Not me, baby. When it comes to storytelling, fool me once, I like it. Fool me twice and I'm a fan for life. Of course it depends on how you fool me. It has to be like a magic trick – the magician distracts you while the magic goes on right in front of your eyes. It must be that when you look back it was there all the time.

As a mystery writer and reader, I'm pretty hard to fool. This is one thing I discovered early on about writing mysteries – mystery readers know all your tricks. They've seen it all before. So if you can manage to surprise a dedicated mystery reader, you've really done something.

One of my favorite twisty movies was No Way Out, a 1981 thriller starring kevin Costner and Gene Hackman, based on a novel called The Big Clock, by Kenneth Fearing. Costner plays a naval officer named Tom who falls for a women who he later discovers is the mistress of his boss David Bryce (Hackman) – who happens to be the Secretary of Defense. When Bryce finds out she's seeing someone else, he accidentally kills the woman in a fit of jealously. To protect him, the Secretary's aide concocts a cover up. They'll blame the death on her secret lover, not realizing it's Tom. And to keep the whole affair classified and out of the papers, the aide tells the CIA that the murderer they're looking for is a Soviet agent called Yuri. Yuri's name has been bandied about as a deep undercover spy in the Pentagon for years, but most officials long ago came to the conclusion that he doesn't really exist. During a search of the murdered woman's apartment, the CIA finds an overexposed Polaroid on the floor, and a Pentagon systems analyst tells them he can have the computer reconstruct the photo within twelve hours. Tom knows the photo is of him, taken during one of his trysts. Now the clock is set. 

Then Bryce puts Tom, Costner's character in charge of the investigation. How Tom manages to get out of this predicament before the photo exposes him as the murdered woman's secret lover is pulse-pounding, to say the least.

But the best part is the twist at the end, and believe me, I never saw it coming. Just when you think it's all over, just as the whole plot comes out int the open and the bad guys are exposed...

But I can't spoil the twist. You'll just have to see for yourself.

And if you can figure it out before the end, kudos. You are a genius. Drop me a note and let me know.

–––––––––––

*I stole this quote. I wish I had said it, but it was T.S. Elliot.

Are we headed for self-destruction?

 Once more I have managed to miss my last Type M post day, so this time I decided that no matter how busy the summer is and how tired I am by the end of the day, I wouldn't miss my next Wednesday post.  This one will be brief. As a child psychologist, I have posted before about my concern about the erosion of basic thinking skills as we rely more and more heavily on technology. This is especially true of young people whose brains are still developing. In the early years, up to about age 7, the brain is expanding rapidly, making more and more connections to make all kinds of learning possible. After that, however, it begins to concentrate on those connections that are most needed and used, while cutting back on the connections that seem unimportant. It's a use it or lose it era. 

Two fundamental building blocks of cognition are attention and working memory, without which more complex thinking and analysis is impossible. Both have been seriously eroded by technologies providing superficial, rapid-fire stimulation. When was the last time you did mental math, when the calculator on your phone was readily at hand?

I first sounded the alarm when students began to use sources cribbed from the internet to cut and paste a jumble of ideas to produce an essay or project. I worried they would not learn to see the big picture and integrate ideas to see how they were connected. I also worried about the cellphone umbilical cord that tied young people too closely to their parents, so they didn't develop the self-confidence and problem-solving skills that come with doing things on their own. 

With the advent of AI, I am afraid that an entire generation will grow up barely learning to think, or feel, for ourselves at all. Recently, I've read several articles that convey the problem for better than me, and I share two here. They are long but well worth the read (for those of us who can still read for in-depth understanding). There were many more but I can't offhand find the articles. But this is a brief glimpse of the dangers ahead.

https://www.forkingpaths.co/p/the-death-of-the-student-essayand

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/27/it-wants-users-hooked-and-jonesing-for-their-next-fix-are-young-people-becoming-too-reliant-on-ai

Bearing Fruit – On Your Own Terms

by Catherine Dilts

I picked my first tomato Saturday. Colorado backyard gardeners compare their efforts to other regions at their emotional peril. Seeing bountiful harvests on social media can be distressing. I have to remind myself, we have a short season, and harsh weather.

I’m celebrating my modest successes. I’ve been harvesting lettuce, zucchini and green beans. The snapdragons are finally blooming. Barring a hail storm, I’ll have a decent harvest of tomatoes.

Writing fiction can feel like a slog through a vat of molasses in January. Especially if I immerse myself in social media announcements. Everyone and their Aunt Harriet is getting published. They’re having book signings, and winning awards. Bushel baskets full of success! Or so it seems.

Being a serious introvert, just witnessing all this putting-yourself-out-there author activity stresses me out. And here’s where my gardening attitude needs to apply to my fiction writing.

Comparing yourself to others can cause depression, especially if you’re on the socials frequently. Fellow Type M for Murder author Shelley Burbank takes breaks from social media. This is a fantastic idea.

Focusing on your own path is healthier. Write that next story. Outline the next book in a series. Write a blog post, plan a book signing, or take a writing class. Give back to the writing community by teaching a class. Celebrating the success of other authors is a way to engage in the community in a positive way.

Along with my tomato, I have a writing success to celebrate. I can announce this now because the contract has been signed.

Real Cowgirls Like It Hot is scheduled for the November/December issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Set in modern day Colorado, rancher Katie is wrangled into judging a televised hot sauce contest at a mountain farmer’s market. Things heat up when a bottle of Banned in Hades hot sauce goes missing.

I’m celebrating by writing on the deck. Listening to hummingbirds, blue jays, and magpies, enjoying the summer heat and the blooming flowers, is inspiration to keep going.

Ten Commandments for Mystery Writers?

 By Thomas Kies

The first thing I write on the blackboard when I start teaching a creative writing class is “There Are No Rules”.

But in reality, there are…more or less.  While waiting to meet someone for a meeting in a coffee shop (he was fifteen minutes late), I was scrolling on my phone like every other patron in that place, and I tripped over the Ten Commandments for writing detective stories.  The rules were created by Ronald Knox in 1929.  He was a British author and theologian, and he was a member of The Detection Club, a group of writers that included Agatha Christie and G.K. Chesterton 

Let’s take a look at his rules and see which ones should be followed and which ones are a little dated.  Some of them have been broken, often enough to have become their own tropes. 

1- The criminal must be someone mentioned early on in the story.

This rule ensures fairness: the reader should have a chance to solve the mystery alongside the detective. No last-minute villains allowed

I agree with this, but I’ve read novels where the story was more character driven and the mystery was deep in the background. The bad guy wasn’t mentioned until the very end and there was no way the reader could have figured ‘whodunit’. 

2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.

Mystery, not fantasy. The solution must be grounded in logic and reason, not ghosts or miracles.

There’s a whole genre of supernatural mysteries being written.  Many of them have become bestsellers. I believe Stephen King has broken this rule once or twice. 

3. Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.

Secret passages were a popular trope in earlier Gothic fiction, but Knox believed overuse was lazy writing. One was permissible—barely.

I’m not crazy about secret rooms or passages.  That being said, I had a secret tunnel in my third book, Graveyard Bay. But it was just the one. I swear.

4. No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.

This was Knox’s way of banning deus ex machina solutions. The science should be believable and understandable to the reader.

I just broke this rule.  I’ve written a dinner mystery for which our local community theater will soon be rehearsing, and I created a poison that will kill someone in exactly thirty minutes. That’s how much time the audience will have to figure out who in the dinner theater has the antidote.  

5. No Chinaman must figure in the story.

Though offensive today, this rule was aimed at discouraging lazy reliance on xenophobic tropes. “The mysterious Oriental” had become a cliché in early 20th-century fiction, and Knox called it out.

I would hope we’ve all moved past this by now. Keep your ethnic biases to yourself. The early James Bond books and movies have some pretty heavy stereotypes that include both racism and sexism.

6. No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.

Detectives should solve crimes using intellect and deduction, not luck or “a feeling.”

This rule is broken all the time now. 

7. The detective must not himself commit the crime.

This rule was upended by later classics like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, but Knox felt it violated the trust between reader and detective.

The unreliable narrator has become its own trope. 

8. The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the reader.

Again, fairness is key. The reader should see all the clues the detective sees, as soon as he sees them.

I’ve seen this rule broken multiple times very recently.  I loved the limited series called Residence on Netflix.  The detective Cordelia Cupp is delightful, but the most damning clues were withheld until the last episode.  The audience had no chance to figure out whodunit before then. 

9. The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.

The narrator, often a Watson-like figure, should be an honest but slightly naive companion—not a co-conspirator or red herring.

The sidekick must expose all of their conclusions, because they’re a mirror of ourselves. They ask the questions that we’re asking. This is a pretty good rule.  If anyone out there has an exception to this rule, let me know. 

10. Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.

Another safeguard against surprise cheats. The “evil twin” twist is only fair if readers had a fighting chance to suspect it.

And once again, this has become its own trope.  Didn’t the second “Kives Out” film, “Glass Onion” have a surprise twin in it? True the twin was announced early on in the movie. Plus, this really feels like it’s been ripped out of a soap opera.

Knox wrote these rules to be tongue in cheek, and now they’re broken all the time. As I assure my students at the beginning of our creative writing class, there are no rules.  But a mystery is a little like a written puzzle.  The reader wants the chance to solve the puzzle—to catch the killer.  It’s up to us, as writers, to lay down enough clues in the story where, at the end, the reader says, “Oh yeah…I should have seen that.” 

The one rule I think we all agree on is:  It should be a damned good story.

What rules do you have that you won’t break?