My Year in Books 2023

 by Sybil Johnson

It’s time for my annual reading wrap-up. January to December, just to make it clear. One reason I say that is because I put together a list of my 3 favorite reads for Shepherd.com. Their year, however, went from end of September 2022 through end of October 2023. Those books were:

• Sherlock Holmes and the Rune Stone Mystery by Larry Millett 
• Charlie Thorne and the Lost Equation by Stuart Gibbs 
• The Vampire Book Club by Nancy Warren 

I won’t go into details here. You can read about these at Shepherd.com. They should be up soon. Just search for my name.

Number of books “consumed” (audio plus print/ebook): 68, 25 fewer than last year. 30% non-fiction. 70% crime (middle-grade books, cozies, historicals, mystery/thrillers and traditional). 35% of those were cozies.

Cozy highlights: 

• The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
• Vampire Book Club series by Nancy Warren
• Death Knells and Wedding Bells by Eva Gates (Lighthouse Library series) 

Yes, I have gotten on the Richard Osman bandwagon. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and intend to read the rest of them. I also read all of the books in the Vampire Book Club series by Nancy Warren and treated myself to the latest book in the Lighthouse Library series.

Non-fiction highlights:

• Mortuary Confidential: Undertakers Spill the Dirt by Kenneth McKenzie and Todd Harra
• Denali’s Howl by Andy Hall
• The Great Typo Hunt by Deck and Herson
• The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
•  In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
  
• The History of the World Through Body Parts: The Stories Behind the Organs, Appendages, Digits and the Like Attached to (or Detached From) Famous Bodies by Kathryn Petras and Ross Petras
• Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses by Bess Lovejoy

(The last two look a bit macabre, don’t they? They were both interesting.) 

This last year I learned about the Tudor era affliction known as the sweating sickness (you did not want to get this!), extinct languages, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, books on Henry VIII’s wives (this continues to be a fascination for me), true stories from undertakers, an ill-fated attempt at scaling Denali in the 1960s, a trek across the U.S. fixing typos ... Apparently, I was really into tragic sea voyages as I read two books on the subject, one on the Wager and one on the whaleship Essex. 

That’s my quick summary. I don’t usually set a reading goal for the year, but this time around, I think I’ll try for 100 books in 2024. I have so very many that I want to read. 

I’m curious, did you find yourself reading more last year than in previous years? Did you read different things? 

#

In other news, the American Dialect Society has chosen its word of the year: enshittification. I have never heard this term. Apparently, it became popular after a blog post by author Cory Doctorow to describe “how digital platforms can become worse and worse.” As usual, I am sadly out of touch with such stuff. You can read more here: https://americandialect.org/2023-word-of-the-year-is-enshittification/

About ChatGPT

 

by Charlotte Hinger

I spoke with a lady Sunday who knows a lot about ChatGPT. I'm fascinated with this new technology and have used it for composition twice and for a query once. 

She advised against using it to write anything because Google and other search engines have already become adept at spotting material that has been generated by AI and will downgrade the blog with its wily algorithm. 

Besides there are some serious lawsuits filed by major players who have the money to affect the usage by ordinary word toilers. 

My source enthusiastically endorsed using ChatGPT in other ways, including solving problems or locating information. 

Here was my query: "Can you devise a marketing plan for a historical novel that will be published by a University Press in July?"

Before I could draw another breath--there it was. And it was perfect! With all the right steps. You bet, I'm going to use it to promote my upcoming historical novel, Mary's Place. 

While all the discussion about AI rages, I'm comforted by a line from Rudyard Kipling's poem, "The Mary Gloster.":

"They copied all they could copy, but they could not copy my mind. So I left them sweating and stealing a full half mile behind."

Is Your Protagonist "Different"?

 By Thomas Kies

I recently finished two books back-to-back that I enjoyed but for completely different reasons.  The Maid by Nita Prose and Holly by Stephen King.  

The Maid was described by the Washington Post as “A cozy mystery to take along on vacation . . . a lighthearted mystery that shines as Molly evolves and learns to connect.”

The book blurb for Holly reads “Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town.”

These are two completely different novels with one interesting likeness.  Their protagonists are neurodivergent.  Until recently, I’d never even heard the term.  

According to Forbes Health "Everyone’s brain operated differently.  For the average individual, brain functions, behaviors and processing are expected to meet the milestones set by society for developmental growth.  For those who veer either slightly, or significantly, outside of these parameters, their brain functions could be classified as neurodivergent.”

It goes on to say,” Neurodivergent is a non-medical umbrella term that describes propel with variation in their mental functions, and can included conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other neurological or developmental conditions such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),”

The protagonist for The Maid, Molly Gray, is clearly autistic and utterly charming.

The protagonist for Holly, Holly Gibney, seems to be on the spectrum…and is utterly charming.

In spite of some of the descriptions, I’m not sure I’d describe the Maid as a “cozy”.  But it is fun to read and when you’re finished, you’ll feel good.

Holly, on the other hand, is grim, and as the book cover describes, “gruesome”. King’s writing is wonderful, of course, but I was happy to be done with the book.  

By the way, it was one of King’s more political novels.  He doesn’t pull any punches about people who refuse to get vaccinated for Covid, wear masks, and there’s no love lost for Donald Trump in the book. 

That’s not why I was happy when I got to the ending of Holly. While this was a mystery/thriller it was also classic King horror and this one got under my skin. 

In both books, the protagonist is “different”.  

Isn’t that what we want in our heroes?  We want them to be brave, of course, and driven, like a dog with a bone when it comes to solving mysteries and righting wrongs.  But we also want them to be different than regular people.  

The protagonists should be memorable and someone we care about.  A terrific example is Sue Grafton’s character Kinsey Millhone.  

And if it’s someone we don’t immediately identify with, we want to be fascinated by them, like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot. 

Then there's the protagonists who are quirky like Monk and Columbo. My own recurring protagonist, Geneva Chase, has plenty of quirks of her own--drinks too much, makes bad life decisions, has questionable morals.  But she has a good heart and readers identify with her and like her.  

So, in your own “work in progress”, what makes your protagonist different?  What makes him or her likable? 

Art and Politics

New Year's resolutions aren’t on my mind this week.

Don Winslow is.

I’m late to the game when it comes to Winslow, having just picked up THE POWER OF THE DOG. I immediately fell in love with his narrative style. He bounces between past and present tense, the dialogue is clipped and does the work, and the characters are strong but very human. And, of course, the book deals with moral ambiguity. The more I learn about Winslow, the man, the more that makes sense.

I’m glad he has several books, because he’s stopped writing fiction. His decision to do so and his reasoning behind it leave me deeply fascinated: Don Winslow has set his writing career aside to focus on his work as a political activist.

Winslow thinks the United States has lost its way, and, according to this LA TIMES article (and others), he’s calling out those who are leading it in what he perceives is the wrong direction. A major goal seems to be making sure Donal Trump does not become a two-time U.S. President. Winslow gets threats and is accosted on the street. He remains undeterred: “Most of those people are physical as well as moral cowards. I’m 69 years old. What are they going to do to me?” he says in an April 3, 2023 LA Times feature.

I’m curious to hear what others think of his decision, his stance, and the role of art in politics.

Happy New Year to all from Detroit!

In Praise of Mystery Conferences

 Festivals and conferences are a wonderful way for writers and readers to connect, forge networks and friendships, learn about new books and authors, and learn from the greats in informal meetings as well as in formal panels, readings, and interviews. As an author, I have been inspired, energized, and given new hope at these events. I have made many wonderful new friends and met authors I have admired all my life.

Mystery readers are fervent supporters of the genre and embrace new authors with warmth and enthusiasm, and mystery writers are a collegial, friendly, supportive bunch who welcome both readers and new authors. We jokingly say that since we get all our aggression out on the page, we are really nice people in real life. Mystery conferences are a bit of a lovefest celebrating the quirky genre we all love.

Some mystery conferences are small and intimate, often focussing on a specific region, while others are big, sprawling, and attract readers and writers from not only North America but from across the world. Probably the two biggest and most prestigious are Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime. Both these conferences move around from city to city in North America, giving people a chance to travel to new places and others to attend one closer to home. They are energizing but also can be intimidating to a debut author who knows nothing and no one.

I got hooked on mystery conferences when I attended the inaugural Bloodywords Mystery Conference in Toronto in 1999. Bloodywords was Canada's only uniquely Canadian conference and it drew writers and even readers from across the country. It was the brain child of a dedicated  group in Toronto led by Caro Soles, who presided over it for eleven years. It flourished and introduced the Canadian mystery community to each other and to readers across the country  and beyond, and I attended every one. Everyone was very sad when it finally came to an end.

In 2001, shortly after my first novel was published, I jumped into deep end and attended my first Bouchercon in 2001 in Washington DC. This was six weeks after September 11th, which set a hushed, emotional, and more intimate tone to the gathering. Gone were the brags and promotional gimmicks while we clustered instead in the bar and restaurant to share memories and feelings. The community seemed to wrap its arms around each other.

I have attended Bouchercons now and then and enjoy the electric buzz, but the cost tends to be prohibitive and it's easy to get lost in the huge crowd of writers jockeying to be noticed. Left Coast Crime, which concentrates on cities on the western half of North America (mainly the US) is smaller and its organizers have deliberately cultivated a more informal, playful, and egalitarian atmosphere.The conferences are held in slightly smaller cities like Monterey, Portland, Santa Fe, and Seattle, which keeps the cost down too. 

I have attended quite a few Left Coast Crime Crime conferences over the past twenty years and have loved them all. But the pandemic brought all conferences to a stop, and since then I have been uncertain about venturing into such large gatherings and committing a large amount of money to an event I might have to cancel.

I have a book coming out in early 2025, and I discovered today that not only is Left Coast Crime being held that spring in Denver, Colorado, a state and city I've never visited, but fellow Ottawa mystery lover Grace Koshida is the fan guest of honour. What a thrill for her, and what fun to be part of that. i haven't committed yet, but I think I will finally toss caution and financial restraint to the winds and book myself a trip. 

Let the fun begin!

Happy New Year - Please!

 

Don and I - 49 years later...

Here we are again, at the end of the year, and the beginning of a whole new cycle. December has always been a momentous month in my life. Besides Christmas, my family celebrated my mother’s birthday, my grandfather’s birthday, my sister Carol’s birthday, and my birthday. My mother and grandfather are gone, but Carol and I are partying on! 

2024 is going to be quite a year. For one thing Don and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in the fall, which if you had any idea, Dear Reader, some of the health things he's been through over the decades, you would be as amazed as I am, though nobody could be more grateful.

Another reason 2024 will be one for the books - well, I think we all know what the stakes are. So let me wish you all a fabulous year, many happy returns, many good books to read, and may every good thing come to pass for you and your loved ones.

In my family, we always begin the new year with black eyed peas for luck, so here's one for you.

 Hoppin’ John is a Southern dish that is traditionally served with greens on New Year’s Day in order to bring good luck and prosperity. Of course you don’t have to wait until January 1 to eat hoppin’ john. It’s delicious whenever you eat it. It’s good for you, too. I haven’t used the hoppin’ john recipe in any of the Alafair novels as of this writing, but I expect I will. It’s too yummy not to use.

Hoppin' John

I’m giving the scratch recipe, but there is no reason one can’t simply open a can of black-eyed peas and doctor it up with onion and garlic and bacon or ham hock. In fact, that’s what I did yesterday.

1 1/4 cups of dried black-eyed peas

4 cups of fresh water or broth

1 cup of chopped onion

3 cloves of minced garlic (I like mine garlicky)

1/4 tsp. cayenne (optional)

1 Tbsp. oil

ham hock or large chunk of fat back or bacon.

Soak the peas in water overnight. Drain, then cover with the fresh water or broth. Heat the oil in a large stock pot and brown the ham or bacon. Add the onion and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes, until the onion is translucent. Add the peas with their liquid. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for an hour, until the peas are tender and luscious. If needed, add more liquid as the peas cook.

Serve over rice, with a side of cooked greens (or mix rice and greens and peas all together). Best eaten with a buttery hunk of cornbread. For luck in the new year, add a coin to the pot just before serving. Whoever gets the coin will have a prosperous year. (Be sure and warn everyone to be on the lookout for the coin, unless you want to start the new year with a trip to the dentist.

Happy Holidays!

 Wishing you all the best this holiday season. May the new year bring you lots of great books to read.

Happy Holidays!!

 Happy Holidays from the coast of North Carolina.  May all your mysteries be intriguing, and your endings be happy.   Thank you Lee Hinson and Dean Vick for the photo.  

Four Books for the Holidays

The original idea for this month's post was a humorous reflection on my family's Xmas traditions. Then last night I learned that a good friend, someone from my critique group, was in a very bad motorcycle accident. When I started to write about him, it read too much like a eulogy and we're not there. Hopefully, on next month's post, I'll have good news. Needless to say, my Holiday spirits have dimmed a bit.

Instead I'll give a recap of the most memorable books that I read this year.

When Breath Becomes Air, a remarkable and poignant memoir by Paul Kalanithi. He started his university studies with the intention of being a writer, then switched to becoming a neurosurgeon, only to have terminal lung cancer interrupt his promising career. Kalanithi's literary talent shines though his prose and his 1st POV narrative reminded me of Flowers For Algernon, where we the readers are helpless bystanders as the author describes his descent toward the tragic end. 

Atomic Habits by James Clear, came to my attention via one of my ghostwriter clients. As we struggle to get a handle on life and find ways to improve our station, we often turn to self-help books. While the advice is usually sound, finding ways to exercise it can be frustrating. One of Clear's habits is the idea of getting one percent better in a specific area of your life. In applying this concept to himself, my client determined that getting one percent better meant devoting one percent of his day (which calculates to 14 minutes 24 seconds) to a particular effort. Not even fifteen minutes. How many increments of fifteen minutes a day do we waste? Sitting in traffic. Scrolling through social media. I embraced this idea and used it to improve a skill I'd been slogging after for years, improving my Spanish. 

Now my daily routine is to study Spanish for at least fifteen minutes a day, usually by reading a book in Spanish. Which brings me to Corrido de Amor y Gloria by Reyna Grande. While Corrido is fiction, the story is based on the Mexican-American War of 1847, during which Mexico lost more half of its territory (New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, California, and parts of Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Kansas) to the US. The narrative is told through John Riley, one of the Irish-American soldiers who defected to fight for the Mexicans in the St. Patrick's Battalion, and Ximena, a Mexican curandera (healer), who served as a battlefield nurse. Besides laying out the historical foundations for the war and sharing the cruel deprivations suffered by the ordinary Mexicans, Reyna also relates the internal treachery and political machinations that undermined their nation's resistance. 

I continued my "One Percent Better" practice in Spanish as I explored one of my favorite periods in history, the years between WW1 and WW2, in El Hombre Que Amaba a los Perros by the Cuban mystery writer, Leonardo Padura. We follow Lev Davidovich, aka Leon Trotsky, in exile and his assassin, Ramón Mercader, the Spanish communist who wielded the murder weapon, the infamous ice ax. The tome sprawls over 700 pages, and Padura does a masterful job giving us context and tension as the characters maneuver to their fateful encounter in Mexico City on August 20, 1940. Trotski died the next day.

On that cheery note, Merry Christmas, and I'll see you Next Year!

Evolving traditions for the modern world

 As a few people have noted, the holiday season has begun, and with it, the good, the bad, and the sad of family traditions. I decided that rather than write something erudite about the creative arts, I would, like Donis, add my own evolving traditions over the past three quarters of a century.

I was born in Montreal, my mother a native Anglo-Montrealer going back several generations and my father born in a Newfoundland outport and arriving in Montreal as a McGill student via a circuitous route. Both were of British Isles stock, equal parts Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and English, and brought to the Christmas table many of the traditions of "back home". We had a huge turkey with stuffing inside it - chopped celery, onions, turkey liver, walnuts, chunks of bread, sage, thyme, and sometimes rosemary. Mashed potatoes smothered in the gravy made from the drippings, peas, cranberry sauce, plum pudding set afire in brandy and served with hard sauce, and as many chocolates as we kids could handle. It was not a meal for the faint-hearted.

This meal was served mid-afternoon on Christmas Day. In the morning we opened stockings and presents under the tree and then while my mother ran around the kitchen, my father read us the portion of Dickens' The Christmas Carol about the Cratchet Christmas dinner. He was a university professor and delivered a dramatic reading in his powerful, sonorous voice. 

We often had an extra guest or two at the table, often one of my father's foreign students who was far from home. Christmas crackers sat at each place setting and once they were pulled, we all had to wear the silly paper crowns.

My mother was the undisputed queen of the day, and she presided over Christmas dinner long after we all left home, until she moved into a retirement home at the age of 87. By then, I had married and had my own children. My husband was Jewish, so although we continued to share Christmas with my extended family, in our own house we switched our celebration to Hanukah. My husband was an only child whose parents were dead and who had no family in the city, so we developed our own traditions. We made latkes and lit several menorahs each night for the eight nights. To make it festive, we made Hanukah-themed decorations, played Hanukah games such as dreidel, and sang traditional hanukah songs and lively Yiddish and Hebrew ditties. All these we learned from records and tapes and I played them on the piano. Hanukah was a playful, joyous holiday, and our three children got a small present every night!

This is the combination of celebrations that we continue today. As my mother grew old and later died, my sister and then her sons hosted the large extended family Christmas dinner. As spouses, in-laws, and grandchildren appeared, the crowd grew. This year I expect there will be about twenty-five people around my nephew's table. We all pitch in with some side dishes, but the turkey remains the piece de resistance.

As my own children grew up, moved to other cities, and began their own families, we have worked hard to maintain the tradition of all the family getting together. Christmas is easier to coordinate because both school and work holidays take place around that holiday, but the dates of Hanukah change every year. Sometimes they coincide with Christmas, but often, such as this year, Hanukah is over before Christmas holidays begin. It's not possible for my family to all get together for one of the nights of Hanukah. So, ever flexible, I instituted "Fradkin's famous Ninth Night of Hanukah" so that one of the days of the Christmas holiday, when my children are all at my house, becomes our joint Hanukah celebration. This year, it will be December 26. My motto is "better late than never".  We have the traditional latkes, light several menorahs, and have a festive meal. We are now introducing my grandchildren to the songs and the dreidel game. 

In recognition of the diversity in our family, I have a tree that is decorated in blue and white and we hang stockings on Christmas morning for the grandchildren before heading over to my nephew's for the big feast. I believe combining and honouring both traditions enriches the family and gives us twice the chance to celebrate together. 

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Holidays to everyone, and may 2024 be a year of happiness and peace everywhere!

Traditions!

 Thanksgiving is over for both the U.S. and Canada, which means that the holiday season is officially off and running. My husband and I had our traditional vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner. We have been doing this for years. It has become our ritual. For the past many years, our Christmas ritual entails a giant brunch with another friend who invites several family-deprived persons over to her house on Christmas morning. We are happy with the holiday traditions we have developed over the last quarter-century.

But it was not always thus.

Every family has its holiday traditions, and it is always a wrench the first time you are separated from your ancestral table and are forced to eat something that your mother or grandmother would NEVER have served. But even in your old age, you look back with fondness on the Thanksgivings and Christmases that you had at grandma's house, and all others pale in comparison.

Of course I'm not talking about the Christmas or Hanukkah where your uncle and brother-in-law got into a fistfight over politics or the Thanksgiving when grandma was too drunk to finish the turkey and the kid had an allergic reaction to the sweet potatoes.

I'm talking about the many Thanksgivings and Christmas dinners I had at Grandma Casey's house. The ones where she started cooking the turkey the day before, and when the hour came to eat, the bird had practically fallen off the bone. My aunt always brought a Jello salad, which was really a casserole dish full of diced apples and pecan halves with just enough red Jello to hold it together. The stuffing was really stuffed in the bird, but no one died of salmonella. Grandma put something different and interesting in the stuffing every year. She liked oysters, which tasted like rubber bands to me. I really liked the roasted chestnuts, though, and the years she used walnuts or pecans. Oh, and in Boynton, Oklahoma, the dressing is always made of pure cornbread. No soggy wheat bread for us.

And it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the pies. My mother always made a pecan pie (lots of native pecans in eastern Oklahoma.), always a fruit pie, and a couple of pumpkin, naturally. Pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream. I do mean lots.

My late cousin Craig is the one who began the more-whipped-cream-than-pie ritual in my family. It didn't take too many years before it became tradition to always serve the pie in a bowl, the better to hold the cream. So here's to you, Craig, and to all the family rituals that we simply cannot do without. It wouldn't be the holidays without them.

FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS ENJOYMENT:  The following recipe is for the easiest and most amazing pumpkin pie ever made. This is my mother’s recipe, and I’m presenting it here exactly as she wrote it down. This is the pie my cousin loved.

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup biscuit mix (such as Bisquick)

1 can (16 oz) pumpkin

2 tsp. butter

2 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 can (13 oz.) evaporated milk

2 tsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 inch pie pan. Beat all ingredients until smooth. Pour into pan. Bake until knife inserted in center comes out clean, 50-55 minutes.

(No, you don’t make a crust. The pie will make its own crust.)

Words of the Year 2023

 

by Sybil Johnson 

Words of the year for 2023 have been announced by various organizations. A number of them use word of the year in the broader sense of vocabulary item so suffixes, phrases, etc. are fair game.

Merriam-Webster chose ‘authentic’ as their word for 2023. They define it as “not false or imitation,” or “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.” According to Merriam-Webster, look ups of authentic saw a substantial increase this year. I thought that was interesting. I guess the word has been bandied about lately. Don’t really remember that, but then I’m not up on what’s going on in the social media world these days. Other than Twitter/X’s rapid decline. Read more about it here. 

Collins, a British dictionary, chose “AI” as their word of the year defining it as “abbreviation for artificial intelligence: the modelling of human mental functions by computer programs.”. Artificial intelligence has certainly been in the news a lot this last year. This choice seems like a reasonable one to me. Read more here.

The Cambridge dictionary chose “hallucinate”. I wondered for a bit if I was hallucinating this, but then I read on. Apparently, this also has to do with AI. From the Cambridge website, “When an artificial intelligence hallucinates, it produces false information.” Read more here. 

The Macquarie Dictionary (Australian English) chose "cozzie livs". Sounds pretty Australian, doesn’t it? It was coined in the UK, though, but seems to resonate with Australians. This is a light-hearted play on cost of living. “Blue-sky flood” and “algospeak” were honorable mentions.Blue-sky flood comes from floods that occur  not from rain storms, but attributable to high tides or rising sea levels. These often occur when skies are clear. Algospeak is another reference to AI. It refers to “code words or turns of phrase users have adopted in an effort to create a brand-safe lexicon that will avoid getting their posts removed or down-ranked by content moderation systems.” They also have a People’s Choice word of the year: generative AI. Read more here.

The Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year is “rizz”. This is short for charisma or“someone's ability to attract another person through style, charm, or attractiveness.” The finalists were “prompt” (an instruction given to an artificial intelligence program, algorithm, etc., which determines or influences the content it generates), “situationship” (a romantic or sexual relationship that is not considered to be formal or established), “Swiftie” (an enthusiastic fan of the singer Taylor Swift). I don’t know if Taylor Swift’s popularity has increased, but she sure has been in the news lately. She seems to have “rizz”. Read more here. 

The American Dialect Society will select its word of the year at its annual meeting in January 2024. The 2023 word of the year was a suffix “–ussy”. Not sure why this is. I guess a lot of people have been putting it at the end of words. And, apparently, I am out of touch with this trend. You can read more about why they chose it here.

I noticed that a lot of them have to do with artificial intelligence. Not really all that surprised about that.

What word do you think should be the word of the year?

I Wonder If . . .

 by Charlotte Hinger

Is there anything more frustrating for a writer than being half-sick and half-well? This year I've been plagued with intermittent health issues. Most of which can be traced to allergies to medications. That's a happy ending. All I have to do is quit taking them. But oh, the search to identify the culprits because the conditions produced mimicked rare forms of cancer. 

For instance, I'm diabetic and my body turned against Metformin, a medication I've been taking for twenty years. Why? And why can't I take Tylenol, everyone's go-to drug?

The medical mystery game show has come to symbolize all the "I wonder if . . . ." issues I've puzzled over this year. For instance:

I wonder if...When the mega-productive best-selling authors say they never ever ever miss a day writing, are they telling the truth? Do they ever have the flu? Covid? Just throw in the towel for a day occasionally? Have overwhelmingly difficult family situations? 

I wonder if. . . other writers take time off between books? During this time do they catch up on other stuff? I do. I've done everything I need to do for my new historical novel, Mary's Place. It won't be published until July, so I'm not going to do a thing about marketing until the first of the year. I've developed a sudden mania for making Christmas gifts. Five aprons down and two more to go! Plus, a quilt!

I wonder if . . .Does marketing on social media really pay off? If so, which sites are the best investment of time and energy? Some time ago mega best-selling authors Kathleen and Michael Gear tweeted about the vast number of books in their personal library. It's huge! For some reason the tweet went viral via a raging controversy over whether they were destroying the planet (all those trees cut down to make paper) and those to whom all the books represented a commitment to culture. Incredibly (I'm not making this up) there were 10 million views of this tweet. The Gears are serious archeologists and anthropologists.

The Gears later reported that all the views did not produce a single sale beyond the usual number of books purchased. Not one!

My media presence is not robust, but I'm going to beef it up come January. I'm sorting through what I'm comfortable with. For some reason, signing into Facebook has become an ordeal. That's just one of the many sites where I go through too-elaborate identification processes. On the other hand, I've had several friends tell of the horrors of ID thefts and untangling hacking situations. 

I wonder if . . .I'm making a mistake when I've turned my back on TikTok because my mystery publisher (Poisoned Pen) really likes it.  But due to all the controversy over that site, I'll skip it. I would love to say the decision is the result of conviction, but honestly, it's because I'm too lazy to learn the ropes to create an effective presence. 

I wonder . . .why I have to give a review for everything under the sun? I mean everything! From a visit to my dentist to an Amazon purchase. Why is it no longer acceptable to give an honest three-star review instead of the expected five-star? I can no longer heap praise on a book I think deserves the Pulitzer Prize through a five-star rating because five-stars are expected for anything that is well written. 

I wonder if . . . all our lovely readers will receive all the blessings I wish for them during the coming year.

Favorite Holiday Tales

 by Thomas Kies

My third Geneva Chase mystery, Graveyard Bay, takes place shortly before Christmas.  Now, under no circumstances would I classify it as a holiday tale.  Of all my
novels, Graveyard Bay is probably the darkest.  Whips, chains, assassinations, jailbreaks—not a lot of eggnog moments.  Toward the end, I broke down and gave Geneva a proper holiday ending, but that’s not the kind of girl she is. We know she’s really not going to enjoy it.  Pour her another Absolut.

When someone asked me what my favorite Christmas movie is, I immediately answered Die Hard.  Filled with murder, action, explosions, gun play and Bruce Willis wisecracks, there aren’t a lot of warm and fuzzy holiday moments.  But in the words of that infamous bad guy, Hans Gruber, “It’s Christmas, it’s the time of miracles, so be of good cheer and call me when you hit the last lock.”  Yippee-ki-yay.

Curious about everyone else, I reached out on my social media platforms and asked what their favorite Christmas story, book, or movie is.  The book (and many movies it spawned) named, overwhelmingly, was A Christmas Carol.

There’s no need to recount the story because we all know it, but a couple of little-known facts are: the book was published on December 17, 1843 and was sold out in three days. By the end of 1844, thirteen editions had been printed. Dickens began writing the novella in October and finished it in six weeks to have it ready before Christmas.

One last fact, Mark Twain was in the audience when Dickens did a reading (actually, more of a performance than a reading) in New York and gave him a tepid review.  “There is no heart.  No feeling.  It is nothing but glittering frostwork.”

Before his readings, Dickens would drink two tablespoons of rum with cream for breakfast. Later, he would have a pint of champagne, and just before the performance, he would drink a sherry with a raw egg beaten into it. During the reading, he would sip beef tea and would have soup just before bed. Much like Graveyard Bay and Die Hard, there’s not a lot of laughs in A Christmas Carol.  It does have a satisfying story arc.

The number one movie pick in my unofficial poll was It’s a Wonderful Life.  Here’s a little known fact about it.  Philip Van Doren Stern, an author, editor, and Civil War historian was inspired by a dream he had, based on A Christmas Carol, and wrote a 4000 word short story called The Greatest Gift.  He shopped it around, but couldn’t get it published.  So, in 1943, he printed 200 copies and sent them out as Christmas cards to his friends.  Someone showed it to a producer at RKO Pictures who gave it to Cary Grant to read.  The actor was interested in playing the lead and the studio purchased the film rights for $10,000.

Grant eventually passed on it, however, and Liberty Films bought the rights and George Capra made the film calling it It’s a Wonderful Life. Should you forget, there are some mighty dark scenes in that movie as well.

The next most popular movie choice was Miracle on 34th Street. Look hard at Kris Kringle’s Foley Square trial scenes.  If it looks vaguely familiar, it’s because in the movie The Godfather, those are the same steps where Barzini is murdered. Interestingly, the comedy Christmas Vacation came in third.  This was the last film for Mae Questal who played Aunt Bethany.  She started her career as the voice of the cartoon character Betty Boop in 1931, then voiced Olive Oyl starting in 1933 in the Popeye series of cartoons. And in the movie, look closely at the kid playing Rusty.  He’s actually Johnny Galecki, who went on to become a megastar as Leonard Hofstadter in the series Big Bang Theory.

Some honorable mentions in the poll were White Christmas, Holiday Inn, Christmas Story, Polar Express, Elf, Bells of St. Mary’s, Mixed Nuts, Home Alone, and Nightmare Before Christmas.

Other than A Christmas Carol and the Bible, the only other literary vote was cast by my daughter-in-law, Gillian.  She says, “There’s a series of children’s books by Graham Oakley about church mice.  I’ve always loved Church Mice at Christmas. The written story is entertaining, but the illustrations are what really tie everything together.  My mother and I would spend hours looking through the book, finding little nuances and clues about what will happen next.”

Gillian hits it on the head when she talks about how she and her mother bonded over that story. Perhaps that’s why we have favorite holiday stories and movies.  We have warm memories of sharing them with our families and friends.  Tearing up a little when a bell rings and an angel gets his wings or laughing our butts off when Cousin Eddie shows up unannounced and uninvited at the front door.

So, step away from your Work in Progress, close your laptop, pour yourself some eggnog and spend some time with people you love. Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas!

Timing and the Big Reveal

 Last week, Sybil posted about the importance of pulling the various threads and subplots of the book together at the same time at the end of the book, and it made me smile because I think this is one of the most challenging and stressful aspects of writing a mystery. Perhaps more than in any other type of fiction, a mystery has to pull together in exactly the right way at the right moment. The climax, the big reveal. This is no time to wander off on some sidetrack or whimsical flashback, or to introduce a random new subplot. In the classic mystery, at least, no matter whether it's amateur sleuth or detective, cosy or edgy, the writer is playing a game with the reader of guess it if you can, drawing the reader through the mystery to try to solve it along with the protagonist. The quest to be solved can be whodunit, whodunit, or even howdunit, but there is usually some puzzle that the detective and the reader is trying to solve.

It's an element of story building that I really enjoy but also find the most challenging. I am not a plotter, so I don't know ahead of time whodunit it and how the sleuth will solve it. The story evolves as I write and introduce a variety of suspects with credible motives. Since it's a guessing game for me until quite near the end, I figure it will be one for the reader as well. But there comes a time in the story that I realize who makes the most exciting and meaningful perpetrator and then I have to figure out how the detective solves it. Gone are the days when the detective gathered everyone together in the library and accused them one after another. I like a more dramatic climax with suspense and danger. 

But there are some rules that mystery readers expect, or they may well throw the book against the wall in frustration. First of all, I have to answer the central  questions of the story– who, how, and why. I don't have to spell everything out and tie it all up with a neat bow, but, I must give enough of a hint that the reader can  figure out the answers and feel a sense of satisfaction as they close the book. I like a book that leaves me slightly bewildered and thinking about the story long after I've closed it, but I don't like feeling cheated or frustrated.

Secondly, I have to play fair with the readers who're engaged in the guessing game along with the sleuth. None of this "butler did it" or some previously unknown twin who's parachuted in at the last minute. The "villain" has to be fleshed out and participate in at least part of the story. There have to be clues, cleverly slipped in, that an alert reader can piece together. There have to be red herrings that lead readers astray, because that too is part of the enjoyment and suspense.

For me, anyway, the detective has to be as much in the dark about the villain as the reader is, which means that they can't figure it out until the climax either. I know it's not uncommon for writers to cheat a little and have the detective learn some crucial piece of information that he doesn't share with the reader before he goes off to confront the suspect. This is a device that gives the writer an easy out but I have never done that. I've always kept my detective in the dark until the big reveal, often suspecting the wrong person or not knowing which of two possible suspects it is. It puts the sleuth in added danger and ratchets up the suspense.

It also adds an extra challenge to the writing. How to keep everyone guessing until the crucial big scene, how to reveal just enough but not too much, but also how to avoid the sleuth looking like an idiot for not figuring it out earlier. 

But I've always loved a challenge. None of this is solved in the first draft. That's what rewrites are for. That's the time when clues are planted, removed, or better disguised; when characters' motives and actions are enriched and massaged to fit the story; and when subplots or scenes are inserted to clarify or distract.

Life Happening

 I'm really, really late today but I want to post because I missed my last Friday. I was busy with my day job (teaching at university) and lost track of the schedule. Today I wanted to get a post up. Except last night, I felt a small jab of pain in my eye. It was gone in a second, but it was in the same eye that I saw an ophthalmologist about back in spring. My GP referred me when I called her about the bloodshot eye had seen when I happened to glance in the mirror I was passing. He determined that I had a fairly common broken vein in my eye. It looked and sounded scary, but it wasn't painful and would probably resolve itself. 

He could see my eyes were dry and asked if I had ever been told that. I said I but I hadn't used artificial tears since the wave of recalls of contaminated eye drops.  Even though my artificial tears had not been among the brand or type of drop in the several recalls, I had been spooked enough to stop using them. We agreed it might be safe to start again. But this morning I woke up with both eyes itching and I forgot about my post because I was busy getting my dog to daycare and then calling for an appointment to see what's happening. After I'd gotten in for Monday, I turned to emails I needed to respond to and then picking up dog and feeding pets and self and responding to more emails and I'm finally here now.

I had intended to write a longer post about the topic my Type M colleagues were discussing recently -- muddled middles. I've been dealing with that, too. It isn't usually a problem that paralyzes me for long periods as I'm writing because I'm a plotter. But this time I'm writing a historical thriller and trying to plunge in and see where it gone. With that in mind, I have focused on the characters and their goals and motivations rather than extensive outlining. That worked until I got to the middle and realized I wasn't sure where to insert my parallel murder investigation by my Albany police detectives happening in the months leading up to the presidential election in their present. Their "present" because my two Albany books were set in the alternate near-future when I wrote them, but now are in the recent past. In their present a presidential election is approaching and in the first book I had Howard Miller, a character who turned out to bear a striking resemblance to one of the real-world candidates that we all now know too well. In Book 2, people connected to him had McCabe and her family under surveillance because her father is a retired journalist and had been doing some research on the candidate's activities. In my third book --when I get to it -- I intend to deal with that, but meanwhile I want to use the characters as the investigators of the murder in my historical thriller.

I think I may have mentioned this complex structure before. But I didn't realize last time I mentioned how difficult it would be to deal with the "muddled middle" when I can literally flip a coin to decide when a scene should appear. Knowing that has slowed me down to a crawl. I have gone back to my preferred method of outlining and that has taken me down a path that didn't occur to me when I was attempting to write faster. 

I'm just hoping that whatever is happening with my eyes is no more serious than an allergy or something I've been using on my face. I want to get my pile of term papers read and grades submitted and then settle into summer writing. By then I should have outlined enough to find my way out of my maze.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

The End of an Era, or What Not to Do Redux

 Donis here, wishing you all a lovely holiday season. Since last I posted I've made a big change in my writing life. After seven years of reviewing mystery novels for Publishers' Weekly, I have hung up my red pen. As I told a friend, I've finally run out of ways to say charming and/or suspenseful. Reviewing had also become burdensome, continually knocking up against my own writing time. I'll miss knowing what new books are coming out in three months' time and discovering promising new authors I want to read. In fact, as soon as I resigned, I had mixed feelings. I learned a lot about what is being published at any one time (in the mere seven years I reviewed, things changed!) I had to read a lot of iffy stuff, though. In fact, I learned a lot about what NOT to do. 

I named some of these bugaboos in a blog post I wrote for this site four or five years ago, and in the spirit of helpfulness to other writers and as a fond farewell to my reviewing life, I repost it below. Take note. I have spoken to other PW reviewers who have the same opinions about the following as I. Best of luck to all of us, and may all our reviews be stellar!

What Not to Do (from 2019)

Besides writing mystery novels, for a few years I've had a side gig as a free-lance mystery reviewer for Publishers' Weekly Magazine. I don't choose the books I review. The editor at PW sends me three or four advance reading copies (ARCs) a month to review. Usually these books will not be available for purchase for several months, and an ARC is not the final version, so I don't pay undue attention to typos or other minor flaws that will more than likely be corrected before the book hits the shelf. 

I try never to be mean with my reviews, because as a writer myself I know how that feels. Besides, just because I don't enjoy a particular type of character/plot/setting/time period, that doesn't mean it's not well executed, and other readers may love just that kind of thing. But I know an epic fail when I see one, and when I do, I'm honor bound to tell the truth. In the years I've been reviewing, I've seen the best of the best and the worst of the worst, and both have taught me many things I've tried to apply to my own writing. In fact, I'm currently in the midst of getting a lesson on what not to do. I'm reading the second or third installment of a series in which some loose ends are left from earlier books, and the author keeps interrupting the action to catch us up on what went before. Now, it has to be done, but said author does it with such lengthy digressions that when he returns to the action, I've forgotten the details of the story. 

As I read, I'm furiously taking "what not to do" notes, especially considering I'm in the midst of writing the second installment of a mystery that contains loose ends from the first. How do you catch the reader up on what has gone before without bogging down your momentum? Do it in short intervals, I think, and try to work it into the action naturally. That's what to shoot for, anyway. 

Here are some other comments I've sent to the PW editor about fails in books I have reviewed which all writers would do well to watch out for. None of these comments actually showed up in the review I wrote for publication, and the names, situations, and details have been changed to protect the guilty. 

"The plot had so many holes that I have a headache from slapping my forehead so many times while I was reading." 

"She had an idea for a plot and bent all her characters out of shape to fit it." 

"This is a historical, but I couldn't tell what the year actually was and the author never actually said. From things the author wrote in the beginning I thought it must be in the 1850s or so, but I kept revising my estimate forward as more and more modern items kept showing up. I think maybe the 1870s." 

"The sleuth's method of detection consisted of basically going from suspect to suspect and loudly accusing him or her of murder in hopes someone would crack. The motive was stupid and the killer was stupid for falling for (X's) lame trap." 

"No proper English lady would go on 'vacation' with a single male acquaintance in 18--." 

"Great characters and deft handling of the mores of the time. But I wish (X) hadn't cleared (Y) of the murder by having the coroner pinpoint the murdered woman's time of death within half an hour! In the 19th century!" 

 "I like the unusual setting and the characters are fun. She handled tension well, but I would have liked it better if the big showdown between the sleuth and the murderer hadn't ended with a slapstick food fight." 

"She certainly studied the manual on how to write a cozy, so cozy lovers will find much to like. But that ending! The protagonist and her sidekick lay a trap, then hide in the bushes to eavesdrop on the conversation between the killer and the person who agreed to be bait. I always get annoyed when the killer confesses all in excruciating detail, and at the drop of a hat!"* 

But really good characters cover a multitude of sins: "Her editor would have done well to have her condense the beginning quite a bit, but it eventually picked up nicely and the main character was well drawn and realistic. She was actually emotional about the deaths! It wasn't hard to figure out whodunnit, but there's enough atmosphere and crafting and eccentric characters (and a hunky detective and a kitty) that cozy lovers won't care."

*This is a pet peeve of mine. Can you tell?

Timing Is Everything

 

by Sybil Johnson

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Ours was very nice with a lot of food. 

Every time I put together a dinner with multiple things going on at once, I thank my junior high Home Ec teacher, Mrs. Cook. Yes, that really was her name. For our final assignment one year we worked in pairs and cooked a meal for a teacher. We made ours for our art teacher, Mr. Klatt. As part of that, we had to work out the timing of every course so it would all be ready at the same time. 

This got me thinking about timing in writing. I guess what I’m talking about here is not only pacing, but also making sure multiple plot lines come together at the end.

In my books, I usually have three plot lines going at once: the major one which involves the murder, one that involves another crime or bad situation and a final one that involves the personal lives of my ongoing characters. The first one gets more scenes than the second one etc. They still have to be woven throughout the story and come together in the last part of the book.

This aspect of timing is probably the easiest for me. When I’m writing or rewriting, I look at each of the scenes and see which ones refer to each plot line. If I haven’t addressed a plot line in a while, I figure it’s time to put something in about it.

In terms of pacing, if you reveal some things too quickly, the story feels rushed and the reader may not understand what’s going on. If you reveal things too slowly, the reader gets bored and may give up on the story. Either way, it’s not a good thing.

Setting a story aside for a week or so can help bring any issues to light. I read my stories aloud to myself (when I had cats it was to my cats). That helps me as well. A good editor and beta readers are also useful in this situation.

Knowing your own tendencies is important. I know I sometimes just want to get to the end of a project, particularly if I’ve been working on it for a long time. So I’ll rush an ending. I have to consciously slow myself down.

How do you get your timing right? I don’t have a degree in creative writing. I don’t teach classes. I can only go on what I’ve experienced throughout the years I’ve been writing books and short stories. What do those of you out there who teach writing think? Do you have any tips you give your students?

Weather or Not?

 By Thomas Kies

On Saturday I was the emcee at a Small Business Vendor Holiday event at our local community college where I also happen to teach Creative Writing.  There were 140 vendors that were in attendance, and I’d be introducing local dance and singing acts.  It was an all-day event and in return for my services, they kindly gave me a spot to put up a tent, set up a table, and sell and sign a few books.

I thought, what the heck?  This was a holiday event.  What makes a better gift under the tree than a mystery signed by the author?

Things never go as planned.

On Thanksgiving, just a few days prior to the event, the weather here on the coast of North Carolina was sunny and in the seventies. On Saturday, the temps had dropped to the high forties—low fifties and the winds had picked up to gusts of over twenty miles per hour. 

I started the morning by unloading the car and then attempting to put up the canopy.  In that wind, trying to do that alone, it became a hilarious wrestling match.  The struggle was not only to put it up, but to keep it from flying away and becoming a lethal missile.  

After a half-hour battle, I was sweating, breathless, and frustrated.  I looked around to see if I could find one of the other vendors to give me a hand.  They were all having the same problem.

Most had reached the logical conclusion which was not to put the canopy up at all. 

While overcast, it wasn’t supposed to rain so I put the tent back into the back of my car and parked it in the adjoining lot.  Then I set up the table and had a similar problem with the tablecloth.  It was like something out of a Buster Keaton movie.

I’d have one end of the tablecloth laid down when the other end would go flying around as if it was possessed by a demon.  Since my wares were books, they ended up being my weights. 

It was a smaller than expected crowd.  As I said, the weather was cold and very windy.  Many vendors gave up and went home early.  Cindy, my wife, joined me a little later in the morning and that helped rejuvenate my spirits. She gamely greeted shoppers as they drifted by and even managed to sell books when I was on stage introducing the next gaggle of kids choreographed to dance to Christmas Carols. 

When she started to shiver however, I asked her to go home.  I stuck it out the rest of the day and I did sell more books than I should have on that miserable afternoon.

Okay, so it wasn’t the most conducive day to sell books.  But it’s the kind of day I enjoy when I’m writing. Here it is, the day after and still cold, not as windy, but dark and it’s raining off and on.  For me, that’s perfect writing weather.  

If it’s sunny and warm, I feel like I should be outside doing something.  If it’s nasty out, I love being inside with a cup of hot coffee, listening to some soft music, and sitting in front of my laptop, knocking out another chapter or two.  

Our environment is an important part of our writing process.  Some of us can be more productive when we’re free of distractions while some other writers are happier in a bustling coffee shop.  Some of us love to listen to a little jazz while we create, and others need total silence.

When I teach my creative writing class, one of the subjects we discuss is finding a place that’s comfortable for you, a place where you can feel creative.  And to get into the rhythm of writing every single day.  

Where do you like to write and does the weather impact your writing? Do you enjoy music while you’re creating or do you need the quiet? 

www.thomaskiesauthor.com

Sidestepping Tradition

 We've entered that period in America known as the Holidays! And with my schedule here on Type M For Murder, my posts coincide with the big holiday celebrations, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

While Thanksgiving is about getting together with loved ones and friends and sharing a meal in a spirit of gratitude, hosting Thanksgiving dinner is an exercise in anxiety. This year, my girlfriend and I decided to sidestep tradition by hosting a low-key breakfast for my sons and their significant others. While the meal was simple--waffles, omelets, sausage--there was a bit of anxiety since there's this pressure for everything to be perfect. I'm happy to report that a good time was had by all. 

We did enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner of sorts by dressing up and going out that evening to nosh at The Ship's Tavern in the swanky Brown Palace. Followers of this blog will happy to hear that dinner conversation involved stories of murder at the Brown Palace and other tales from Denver's sordid past. On the way home we drove by the Denver City and County Building and saw that it was decked out for the Holidays!