Two Sentence Tuesday

Recently I started a new job. Macmillan publishing will be launching two new websites in 2011, one focusing on crime fiction and one on romance, and to that end they've hired a couple of people to maintain Twitter and Facebook presences. My new Twitter names are @parlormysteries and @safehousecrime, while my new Facebook pages can be found at Parlor Cozies and Safehouse Thrillers.

This is just a part time job, but what with everything else on my plate at the moment, it managed to take up the vast majority of my writing time this week. So my sentences come from the Safehouse page, and pose a question I'd love you to answer over there!

Who are your favorite characters? Mine are John Connolly's Charlie Parker (and his pals Angel and Louis), Robert Parker's Spenser (more mystery, less thriller), Lee Child's Reacher and Kathy Reichs's Temperance Brennan.

As to what I read this week, it seems the only thing I saw at all was that annoying Twitter spam about "Writers Needed." Now, just in case that comes into your mail box as well as your Twitter feed, I thought I'd post the Writer Beware warning about this. It can be found in a post on Fake Writing Jobs. Here's a brief clip:

"Thousands of people online are discovering how doing simple writing jobs from home can be so profitable! See how they're doing it by signing up now!" No experience necessary! Work at home! Make fat money (never mind that pesky earnings disclaimer)! All this for a mere monthly membership fee of $47 (although if you don't read the Terms and Conditions, you won't know that).

So what about you guys? Read or written anything of interest? As usual, post a couple sentences and we'll link to you!

• Leah J. Utas has some real bloodsuckers over at her blog this week.
• GM has some edge-of-the-seat sentences in the comments.

MTM: Off-Off Broadway, Family Style

Independent filmmaker Frank Kuzler is a relative of sorts. His wife, Jennifer, is first cousin to my daughter-in-law and, what’s more, my fabulous daughter-in-law is Godmother to Frank and Jennifer’s adorable son. So when I saw this article in the Wall Street Journal highlighting Frank and Jen’s love of Off-Off Broadway, I just had to share it with you all. Frank is presently filming “Burning to Communicate” which he hopes will bring the history and the present story of Off-Off Broadway into the current consciousness of New Yorkers and tourists.

When I was young, theater in New York City was exploding. The fifties and sixties were decades of great experiment. Artists were free to explore and expand. Ah, but where to find an audience? Cafes and coffee houses provided space for small shows. These sites were far from the glittering Broadway houses and far from the Off Broadway venues that stood just outside the shadow of The Great White Way. You can find Off-Off Broadway shows almost anywhere. They are so legitimate that the New York Times devotes listing and review space to the dozens of Off-Off shows around town each week.

The next time you want to see something new and different, look for Manson: The Musical! which is playing at The Ace way downtown, or travel to The Brick in Brooklyn to see Nerdlesque.

And if you want to support great theatre by doing more than just buying tickets to see a show, Frank Kuzler has set up The Awareness Project over at the DecadesOut Website, where you can find lots of information about how you can help. You will also find Twitter and Facebook links so you can keep in touch.

For more My Town Monday posts, click on over to the My Town Monday blog and see what people are talking about this week.

Terrie

Grab a Magazine . . .

and we'll show you a friend of the Women of Mystery.

The first thing that happened is that Mystery Scene magazine arrived in the mail. One of the first sections I read is Short and Sweet by good buddy Bill Crider, subtitled Short Stories Considered. Well, the anthology leading Bill's informative article is Beat to a Pulp: Round One, edited by our pal David Cranmer and Elaine Ash. I was excited to read about the book since my very own copy is winging its way to my daughter's house so that I have some grown up stuff to read while she and her husband are on a brief business trip and I am playing with (er, babysitting for) her kids. Bill also had high praise for David's story "The Sins of Maynard Shipley" in this summer's issue of Needle: A Magazine of Noir.

As if that isn't enough excitement, I have been searching everywhere for a recent copy of Woman's World Magazine because our friend BV Lawson has written a clever solve-it-yourself mystery called "Trouble in the Neighborhood" and I've been dying to read it. As I was stumbling and bumbling around the drug store, I noticed a magazine display off to the side and, there it was, an issue of Woman's World I'd not yet seen. TA DA!! If you can find a copy of the Woman's World issue dated 12/6/10, grab it, make a cup of tea and read BV's charming story.

Weekends don't get better than this.

Terrie

Going Around Like Legionnaires' Disease

and it's twice as funny!

This has been making the recent rounds among the scribbling set, but if you haven't seen it yet, here's the fabulous animated presentation SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A NOVEL. I've only made 3 or 4 of the mistakes of stripey bear, and now I have to finish my WIP by next weekend to make this Christmas's shopping season.

A Great Little Planner for Writers

I just found a wonderful surprise in my mailbox--my copy of A Working Writer's Daily Planner 2011.

I've had my eye on this planner for a while. According to the blurb on the cover, "Packed with helpful hints, awards, grants, residencies, market listings, writing prompts, and more, this all-in-one planner is an indispensable tool to help writers stay on top of the business end of writing and encouraging them to keep at the business of writing." How could I pass that up?

But better, what I just pulled out of the shipping box is a solid little book of 144 pages of text printed on a good stock of 6x9-inch paper and spiral bound to lay flat. The spiral, by the way, is made of a heavy wire and bent in at the ends, so it should both stay on the book and make it through the year.

Inside, in addition to a week's worth of large calendar squares per page are tons of the promised award, grant, and residency listings, with their deadlines again noted on the appropriate calendar page. Also, there are a submission tracker, articles on topics such as "How to End a Story" and "Reading as a Writer, "and an interview with a debut author. Birthdays of accomplished writers are noted for almost every day (except today--no one was apparently born today), and gorgeous color photos are peppered throughout.

A Working Writer's Daily Planner for 2011 is published by Small Beer Press. The cover price is $13.95.

Photo of book cover courtesy of Small Beer Press.

Nutty Friday

Happy Black Friday, everyone!

Am I the only one spending a quiet day at home today instead of ramming my way through the crowds at a mall? I've just been doing quiet stuff. I hate shopping, and when I do it at any time during the year, I much prefer going in the middle of a non-holiday weekday, when most other people are at work. One of the perks of freelancing.

Yesterday was a quiet day, too, although I did make myself a bit crazy. I opened a Twitter account about a year ago but never really set up the profile or tweeted anything. Well, I did allow Greenpeace and a save-the-whales organization to tweet for me when I signed a couple of petitions--does that count as me tweeting? No matter. Yesterday I posted my own first bonafide tweet. I also set up my profile and hunted down a non-Twitter-supplied wallpaper.

But as I said, I also drove myself crazy. I think I changed my username a dozen times before finally calling it a night. My original username was @elainews. Then about a month ago, I bought Twitter for Dummies and changed my username to @ewillsparber. But Twitter for Dummies, which I finally started reading a few days ago, tells me that people won't remember my first name that way, so I tried to go back to @elainews but found it taken. Wow, that was quick. No matter. I tried about a dozen different names and finally went with @ElaineWillSpar.

This morning, however, I actually woke up with that username on my mind as I slowly came to consciousness. It includes my first name, but it has 14 letters plus that at sign, and Twitter for Dummies says the shorter the name, the better, for when people retweet your tweets or include your username in their tweet. None of which I know anything about yet, but I do know that 14 letters means a long username and people might not want to retweet me or mention me.

I don't want to be left out. No no no. So now I'm thinking of going with @EWillSpar. I know it doesn't include my first name, but when I tweet, my full name will be shown in the display, so why does it matter anyway? @EWillSpar does have my first initial, and it has my middle name and the first four letters of my last name. That seems to cover it. And it's short--just 9 letters. People will want to retweet me.

And after all, I'll probably come home from dinner out tonight and change it. Then I'll wake up tomorrow morning and change it again. And tomorrow night I'll change it yet again.

I wonder if @LooneyElaine is taken?

Giving Thanks for All Things Bookish

Given the Women of Mystery's plethora of posts about favorite authors, favorite genres, favorite children's books - not to mention Patti Abbott's Forgotten Book Friday - it's clear that those who write and read this blog are lovers of words, humor, horror, fantasy, mystery, and illustration.

Having been reminded, I will have no problem giving thanks around the turkey today. And since I'm gathering with family and friends this Thanksgiving, I thought I'd ask them to toss out the names of a few books they want to give thanks for. I urge you to add to the list and carry on the discussion around today's nibbles and feasts:

To the Lighthouse; Pride and Prejudice; Anna Karenina; The Golden Bowl, His Dark Materials, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's Half the Sky, James Joyce's Dubliners, Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, Barbara Deming's Prison Notes. Ender's Game, Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings, Running with the Demon, Never Cry Wolf, James Herriot series. Antoine de Saint Exupery's The Little Prince and Night Flight, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.

And for dessert, a reminder that it all starts with words:

Jabberwocky

Lewis Carroll

(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Have a wondrous Thanksgiving!
- from The Women of Mystery

Kid Lit

I miss kids’ books. I thought about that recently as I read reviews of children’s books in The New York Times. I thought especially about the books I read to my first grade students, picture books with illustrations you want to get lost in and language as spare and specific as poetry.

I was lucky to be teaching in the days before TI (testing insanity) squeezed all the juice out of education, and we had time to read just for pleasure. (Message to Washington and Albany: The things that can’t be tested, like creativity and original thought and love of books, are infinitely more important than those that can.)

We began every year with a Danish folktale about an omnivorous cat that eats everyone and everything in his path until he explodes—here’s where the kids scream with laughter—and the whole neighborhood safely tumbles out; we ended with Munro Leaf’s The Story of Ferdinand, the bull who’d rather smell the flowers than fight. In between we read Leo Lionni's Swimmy, my friend Judy Pedersen’s luminous When Night Time Comes Near, Vera Williams’s A Chair for My Mother, Tomie DePaolo’s Strega Nona, the grandmother witch we all wish we’d had …and the list goes on.

Now for a sample that may put you in the mood to stop off at the children’s room the next time you’re in the library.

In Kevin Henkes’ Julius The Baby of the World, (Greenwillow Books, 1990), Lilly, a mouse-child, is an admirable big sister before the baby arrives. However:

“After Julius was born it was a different story. Lilly took her things back. She pinched his tail. And she yelled insulting comments into his crib. ‘I am the queen,’ said Lilly. ‘And I hate Julius.’”

How can you put that book down?

As I think about the writers whose books filled my classroom shelves, I realize how much they taught me. Here's a quick summary: Make every word count; without a compelling character, there is no story; wit helps; reality is optional, truth isn’t.

How about your favorite children’s authors and illustrators? Do you feel they’ve influenced your own writing?

Striking Up the Band for Anita Page!

Our newest Woman of Mystery, Anita Page, is a former teacher, long-time Sister in Crime, and a brilliant short story writer whose first novel will debut in late 2011.

We are delighted to welcome her aboard the bloggy bandwagon!

Welcome, Anita!

Two Sentence Tuesday - Feeling Puckish

No, that's not a stuffed animal. That's my new "nephew," Puck. He's a nine-week-old Havanese puppy. Isn't he adorable? I just felt that you probably all needed a dose of that at the beginning of your week. I know I did!

So that's the good news. The bad news--I did very little reading or writing this week. I did finish The Whisperers, but I don't want to give you more from that. It's too dark to go with the cute overload.

So I'll give you a couple of lines from something I read that I totally agree with. It's from an article in Slate:

I am reminded of this little misadventure whenever I see cooking times listed in cookbooks. I don't mean "sauté the onions for five minutes"; I mean the supposedly all-inclusive, "start-to-finish" times. In my experience, these calculations aren't just a little bit off; they're usually not even close.

I was so glad to read this. I thought there was something wrong with me, or at least wrong with my oven and stove. Read the entire thing if you like to cook and are frustrated as I have been by these "30 minutes prep, 50 minutes total" instructions. There are interesting bits from my favorite cook, Mark Bittman, but it's the quote from Chris Kimball, editor of Cook's Illustrated (my favorite cooking website/magazine), towards the end of the piece that really answers the question. And no, I'm not going to give it to you. You're going to have to look yourself if you're curious!

This week, I'm not posting two sentences from my WIP. I'm subbing in two from a blog post I wrote for the NYC chapter of RWA about some interesting research I had to do for my current WIP.

Unfortunately, I knew nothing whatsoever about the sex toy industry. But I quickly found out that you could have a sex toy party at your house!

Feel free to read all about it (well, not ALL about it, but some about it) over on that blog.

And you? What did you read? What did you write? As usual, comment here and we'll add a link to your site to this post.

(DOH! Forgot to post a link to the blog. Updated to add it.)

-----

Let's all welcome blogger GM to the Two Sentence Tuesday crowd! GM's blog is totally excellent-- it's called "Just a Regular Vaganza" because, really, why do we only ever talk about Extra-vaganzas? Two sentences are in the comments, but head over and check out the whole post!

Dorte joined us again this week with a glimpse of a vulturish vicar.

My Town Monday: Crime Bake in Dedham, Mass.

It wasn't on a Monday, it was 2 weekends ago. But as usual, the New England Crime Bake was a terrific party, I mean, conference. This joint production of the New England chapters of Sisters in Crime (Scarlet Letters) with the local MWA is in its 9th year. It's always an intimate affair, limited in attendance, coming in around 250 this year. I was actually on the waiting list before being given the green light for my lovely road trip through fall color to Massachusetts. The guest of honor was Charlaine Harris, the notable author of Aurora Teagarden, Lily Bard, and Sookie Stackhouse's adventures, who became with HBO's True Blood, downright famous. Dennis Lehane was another worthy panelist making his first appearance this year.

I'll start with the bad news. The above is a nifty collection, another paranormal anthology edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner, but I was awarded it as a consolation prize after losing the costume contest. That bandage ripped free, let's enjoy the rest of the post in comfort.

Okay, this conference has agent pitch sessions, workshops, master classes, and plenty of chances to approach people and chat. But that's the stuff I didn't go for. Sure, I attended, and even tweeted a couple of panels (@clare2e #crimebake), *also loved Lehane* but truthfully, I was there to hang out with pals and have fun. And I did, so all the rest of my pix are from the night of the Vampire Ball, the red and black banquet. Click any to enlarge.

Panelist Hallie Epron (left) also helped with conference programming. Panelist Hank Phillipi Ryan (right), who was accompanied by her elegantly turned out husband, is also Hallie's blogmate at Jungle Red Writers. There, too, blogs Rosemary Harris, who helped with the banquet and hotel, but also helped judge the costumes along with Roberta Isleib and our guest of honor while Toni Kelner worked the room as mistress of ceremonies. Delightfully incestuous, is it not?

This is the dancefloor scene before the salads were served! Not even Irish weddings get off the launchpad before the greenery! I kid you not, the crowd had its hands in the air and its collective rumps shaking before we even got bread and butter. Now that's a party!

Until she attended to her judging duties, Ro Harris was at my table, along with the fabulous Cheryl Ullyot from the Twin Cities, posing above to look thematic. In addition to the rest of the author activities, Cheryl participated in this years Flashwords, a contest to write 150-word crime story including at least ten words supplied by organizers and culled from Charlaine Harris' covers. Cute, huh? The four winning entries were also read during the banquet.

Another Twin Cities attendee and author, Mickie Turk, took her place in the coffin standing at one side of the ballroom for the purpose. Also at our table were panelist Emily Arsenault and Debby Buchanan who you may know from New Jersey's Deadly Ink conference, at which Hank Phillipi Ryan will be the guest of honor next summer.

Here I am at last, lipstick on my teeth and the exquisitely undead version of MWA's Margery Flax in my arms. You know you're jealous! Of course I went as the Hamburglar-- you've seen my avatar! Besides, he's an actual criminal whose togs include tons of black and red. I have to say that cutting a rug in sneakers is easier than managing stilettos, though my cape strings, name badge, and tie conspired to strangle me during the funky chicken.

I posed for action earlier at the hotel bar, where Mickie and Cheryl and I caroused with the always-adorable Kate Lincoln and new pal Jerry Serasin. Everyone was happy with their agent/editor meetings which made for a happy table ready to toast. Of the costume groups, mine seemed to fall best into the Hell-arious category, but there was stiff competition, as you'll see.

Little Red Riding Hood is Sharon Daynard, who organized merchandise for the conference. She's hoisting the dead wolf's head she had hiding in that basket, wicked thing. My foot's poking out just behind her and Charlaine Harris is applauding from the dais.

There were bloody brides, Dead Sox, and Jane Austen zombies everywhere! I apologize for the incomplete photo of Paula Matter on the left, whose banquet-worthy front concealed the typical writer's backside with printed pj's, dangling computer mouse, and backwards-pointing fuzzy slippers. The dashing gent in the middle had a summer-stock quality costume he'd styled as Van Helsing with stakes and garlic. But the one who struck fear in my heart, from the first second I spied him in his cape by the bar, was the vampire lobster. I'm 95% sure it was Stephen D. Rogers who the judges picked as our Hell-arious winner, and honestly, I can't blame them. *fist clenched and upraised* Until next time, Crime Bake and Dedham!

Link here for more My Town Monday posts, and if you have one of your own, let me know in the comments and I'll link to your MTM, too!

Top Suspense Group

Is it too early in the season to sing the Hallelujah Chorus? A group of terrific authors, many of whom are old friends of the Women of Mystery have banded together to form the Top Suspense Group, which leads you directly to purchase links for e-books written by this great selection of authors: Bill Crider, Ed Gorman, Max Allan Collins, Harry Shannon, Dave Zeltserman and Vicki Hendricks.

Although I have not yet jumped on the e-book reader bandwagon, (hey, I rarely use my cell phone and didn’t have cable tv until the little black box option came into play) I do realize that nearly everyone I know is at least thinking about getting an e-reader.

And among those who own e-readers, the question of the quality of available material is a frequent topic. I mean how many times do you want to read first chapters that are clearly leading nowhere?

The Top Suspense Group offers, in e-format, the work of authors you can count on, authors you have counted on year in and year out to bring you quality genre fiction. Stop by and take a look, I’m sure this is but the beginning of groups of great writers banding together to make sensational writing and spell binding stories available to the ever growing e-reader population.

Lest I get into trouble, I want to acknowledge that is the Top Suspense Group website's striking banner at the top of this post.

Terrie

"Whisper n Thunder" Holiday Cash Contest

image source: http://whispernthunder.org/

The folks at the online magazine, "Whisper n Thunder," whose byline is: "The whisper of Native American stories, the Thunder of the stories demand to be told," inspired by the recent feature of Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer, edited by Robert Swartwood, on NPR radio (see below) have announced a Hint Fiction contest of their own, called the "Holiday Cash Contest."

The rules:

1) write your very "short story" in 25 words or less.

2) e-mail your story to bkfidlin (at) hotmail (dot) com. In the subject line, write "Holiday Cash Contest."

3) All entries are due by Sunday, December 5, 2010. Winners will be announced December 10.

There will be three cash prizes:

First prize: $75

Second prize: $50

Third prize: $35

For Twitter fans: Follow Whisper n Thunder's founding editor @BillieFidlin, and keep up with @Hint_Fiction. On Facebook, you can join the Whisper n Thunder page or "like" the Whisper n Thunder fan page, -- and "like" Hint Fiction.

Come follow me on Twitter @katcop13.

Sneaking in some Brains, Brains, Brains!

We've had so many great posts this week, it's been challenging to slot in my cabinet of curiosities post. But while you're all out having fun tonight, I have a chance to inflict one upon my fellow wallflowers and shut-ins--my peeps, if you will.

The image above (via Eugene at the MyModernMet blog) is by French photographer Sacha Goldberger. In response to his 91-year-old grandmother's growing depression, he took a series of (super) heroic photos of her. They cheered her and more people than Frederika could've imagined. Go look at them all and read the story. This is, to my mind, where contemporary art has its greatest potential. Not as a loudspeaker, but a different view of the everyday that's human and transformative.

David J Montgomery tweeted this 1976 Roger Ebert piece on John D. MacDonald. It's very good. I especially liked its tone as it's decades different from the tenor of current coverage. Find out what Travis McGee's creator thought of Lew Archer's naming a novel The Blue Hammer, and a very funny aside about one of James M. Cain's later works. Fantastic photo of the archetypal author, fingers on typewriter keys and pipe in mouth.

Could trees infused with gold nano-particles replace streetlights? I confess to liking the notion explored in PopSci. Eco-friendly and pretty, it could offer a way to introduce safe passage without elaborate construction.

Cnet's blogger Elizabeth Armstrong Moore reports on a new kind of imaging that shows the human brain is more complex than ever imagined, each one of ours containing "more switches than all the computers and routers and internet connections on earth." Pat yourself on the back, brainiac, your synapses could number the stars in 1,500 Milky Way galaxies!

And when it comes to buying decisions, despite the prevalence of online shopping, Catherine Clabby of American Scientist explains that our complex human brains may be tuned to prefer "the real thing", and to pay more for what's physically present. Velly interestink, no?

Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day

On her blog, "Suspend Your Disbelief," Jenny Milchman suggested the idea of a national "Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day" to occur in December. She received a lot of positive feedback, and has designated the first Saturday in December as "Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day."

A web page has been established to promote this endeavor, and the banner above has been created for use on blogs and posters.

So -- help spread the word, and take your child to a book store on Saturday, December 4, 2010, and make it an annual tradition. Tell your friends and favorite booksellers. If you're not a parent, this would be a perfect day to take a niece, nephew, or godchild. If your children are grown and you have been blessed with grandchildren (and they live nearby), I'm sure they'd enjoy this special day designated for them.

How exciting for a child to enter a bookstore in the beginning of December, when most stores are decorated for the holidays -- and be encouraged to read, and choose a book or two. The visit may reveal ideas for gift-giving later in the month, or future birthdays.

How about going out for a meal before or after your book store visit, or stop somewhere for a cup of hot chocolate?

Even though I take my kids to the library and bookstores throughout the year, this is a special event which promotes books, bookstores, and the love of reading. I'm making my plans for December 4 already ~ although it will have to be after my Long Island Sisters in Crime meeting, in which Emmy-winning reporter and award-winning author Hank Phillippi Ryan will be our guest speaker. The meeting starts at 1 p.m., and Hank will join us at 2 p.m., at the Sachem Public Library in Holbrook, NY. The event is open to the public. I had the pleasure of attending Bouchercon in San Francisco last month, where Hank won an Anthony award and a Macavity award for Best Short Story for "On the House," which appears in the anthology: Quarry: Crime Stories by New England Writers. "On the House" also won an Agatha award earlier this year.

The word is spreading already; Kaye Barley has blogged about Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day at Meanderings and Muses; so has Cheryl Rainfield, Sheryl McFarlane, and Vicki Lane.

Share your thoughts with us about this event. If you can help spread the word, or have titles of kids' books to suggest, give us a shout!

Come follow me on Twitter @katcop13.

Long Way Home Giveaway: Winner Announced

The winner of Long Way Home: A Young Man Lost in the System and the Two Women Who Found Him by Laura Caldwell, published by Free Press (a division of Simon & Schuster), is:

Janimar.

I used the list randomizer at Random.org, and Janimar's name came up first. However, I see that Janimar didn't leave an email address, nor is one attached to his/her blogger profile. If you are reading this, Janimar, please leave an email address so that I can contact you to get your mailing address. If I don't hear back, I'll re-do the giveaway to give another commenter a chance.

Thanks to all of our readers for commenting and entering our giveaway. On your next trip to the bookstore or library, or perusal of e-reading choices, consider Laura Caldwell's A Long Way Home -- I think you'll find it a fascinating read.

Forgotten Books Online

When Cathi Stoler in last week's post asked us to name, within ten minutes, the ten authors who'd meant the most to us throughout our lives, it was hard to limit the list to ten. The first on my list was Frances Hodgson Burnett, who wrote my favorite childhood book, The Secret Garden, about which I'll write a post very soon.

Thinking the book might be out of copyright and available in its entirety, free and online, I ran a Google Books search and found not only one but several versions of the book. The only problem with Google books is that you can't download or print without going to some trouble, and I found a number of easier-to-use sources for this and hundreds of other favorites. I couldn't explore them all, but you can't go wrong with these:

Internet Archive, which allows you to read, print, or download in several e-book formats over a million digital versions of older books, popular books, children's books, historical texts and academic books; and over 70,000 current books free to 'check out' to those with a library card from many of the over 11,000 libraries that subscribe to the OverDrive service. This archive is so cool I can't begin to describe its many features.

The Children's Nursery, which - as far as I could tell - has the richest collection of original illustrations from Victorian books, but is clumsier to read than some other sites. Given the fact I've got small children in my life, I was enchanted with the fairy tales, the Mother Goose collections...and oh please check out the Beatrix Potter books! This site makes me wish I had a decent color printer (I'd really like to print them on indestructible cloth for teething babes) and reminds me of how the old children's tales were deliciously gory, paranormal and fantastical, with lots and lots of wicked villains.

Project Gutenburg, which allows you to download over 33,000 free e-books to read on your PC, iPad, Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android or other mobile or cell phone. This site also provides dvd's and audio books free (a bit clumsy to use) or at modest cost in most audio formats. Here's Gutenburg's excellent step-by-step guide to downloading free e-books. Read about the public domain, sites for reading e-books, and more.

The International Children's Digital Library is a new site that scans children's books in various languages and doesn't leave out the illustrations. Read them online.

Anybody taking advantage of this wealth? Let us know where, and what you think about it all.

====================

Leigh Lundin suggests ManyBooks.net (which allows you to filter by genre and includes lots of mysteries) and UPenn...check out his comments.

- Lois

Thoughts of a Writer

I’m an avid reader. On average, I read at least two books per week, sometimes three or more if I’m on a roll. When I’m at a low point as a writer, I look at all the good books available, all the books I won’t have time to read, and I wonder why I think I should be author of one of these books anticipating new readers. Thinking about it is enough to make you close the file and turn off the computer.

I have a variety of writers I follow. For example, I always buy Nora Roberts, J.D. Robb, Robert B. Parker, and John Sandford on the first day of release. I make a note on my calendar as soon as I know the release date and never miss a trip to the bookstore that day.

Now why do I think I have a snowball’s chance in a volcano of having a book on the shelves beside writers of this stature? I’m not sure, but I’ve been steadily working toward it for many years.

I’ve been a member of various writers’ organizations since the early 80s. I always try to participate in a local group and if there’s not one nearby, I look for book clubs and people with similar interest to establish ties. That just comes along with finding new doctors and scoping out grocery stores when I move.

It seems a bit arrogant to think I could have a place among the writers above, but I have to admit, I do. And the thing that keeps my hopes alive is that I’m discovering new writers I enjoy reading almost every week.

I’ve been through a number of phases in my reading. I always enjoyed fiction and biographies, but I eventually settled on romance, moved to romantic suspense, mystery, and the various subgenres of police procedurals, cozies, and the beloved series, where you can see a character grow and develop over a number of books.

And this is why I’m still writing and hoping to break through the brick wall into being a book-length, published writer. I took a desire to write fiction and used it to create a lucrative career as a reporter and editor for several newspapers and magazines. I love seeing my byline, and I assure you, one day I’ll see my name on the spine of a book.

Writers aren’t quitters.

My Andy Rooney Moment

I’m having an Andy Rooney moment. A curmudgeonly-how-can-this-be-possible pause. And while my amazement has little to do with writing, it has everything to do with language.

Last week I was taking the bus home, reading a book and minding my own business. Suddenly, I realized that a woman speaking on a cell phone in the rear of the bus was talking just loud enough to draw my attention away from my novel. While not meaning to eavesdrop on her conversation, I found myself tuning into her voice … and was dismayed. I listened for a few minutes and realized that about every fifth word out of her mouth was ‘like’ with several ‘F bombs’ dropped in for good measure. With one stop to go before I left the bus, I decided to count how many more times she used the word ‘like’. I was up to 8 before the exit door closed behind me.

A few days later I had a similar experience on the street with a man and woman who were walking close behind me. Again, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop--honestly, I’m usually oblivious to the people around me-- but their voices carried. They were discussing the woman’s thesis and literally every other word out of her mouth was ‘like’. I can only imagine how her thesis read.

With an estimated three-quarters of a million to a million words in the English language—I checked—how is it possible to use ‘like’ for every other one you utter? And in the context of phrases such as “like you know“, "it’s just like great” or “like I went shopping”, so superfluously? Is it a social commentary? Are people having trouble thinking of what they want to say? Do they want to give off an ‘I’m a cool teenager vibe even though I’m a grown adult”?

I don't know. But as Andy Rooney just might say, “I learned that we have lots of words to choose from, and like it or not, I’d like it better if people used more of them.“

What do you think? Let us know.

Image from: http://freetimegoestodie.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/andy-rooneys-town-is-frackin-great-and-no-you-dont-get-to-live-there/

Two, Two, Two Sentence Tuesday!

Now, I know that we've always called this Two Sentence Tuesday, but of late I've been posting considerably more than two sentences at a time. While that's all very well and good, I was struck this week while reading John Connolly's The Whisperers at the power a mere two sentences can have. Indeed, there were several sets of two sentences I could have chosen, but here's the first one that caught my attention:

I pulled away, the ruin of the Blue Moon receding in my rearview mirror until at last I left it behind. Yet it seemed something of it remained on the mirror, like a smudge left by a blackened finger, a reminder from the dead of what the living still owe to them.

Naturally, reading all the stuff that comes before these two sentences gives them even more impact, but you don't really need anything but those two.

My own sentences have nowhere near the punch of Connolly's, but then I'm writing light contemporary romance, not thrillers. (Or, I tell myself that's why I can't muster up a fraction of his talent!)

Several people asked about Benny’s visit, and by Thursday, Evie had convinced Patricia to move his talk into the café, where they could host a larger crowd and make money on drinks as well as books. She’d also bought a coffee pot, which--for a mere $19.99--improved her life immeasurably.

So what about you? Read anything? Written anything? As usual, post in the comments and we'll link to you!

• David Cranmer gives us more Cash this week!
• Dorte is playing dogs and bears at her place.
• Leah J. Utas's sentences will set specific teeth on edge.
• Christine Verstraete is Steampunk-ing for her first week with us!
• Our own Clare2e has posted hers in the comments.
• Taryn Kincaid plays along with her surfer dude at her place this week.
• Our own Lois Karlin plays along in the comments with a couple of hairy sentences.
  

Book Review & Giveaway: Long Way Home by Laura Caldwell

A criminal’s confession can be one of the strongest forms of evidence -- as police, prosecutors and juries well know. An innocent person should never be coerced into making a false one by overzealous detectives -- but unfortunately, this phenomenon has occurred.

In 1999, 19-year-old Jovan Mosley, a witness to a brutal beating that took the life of Howard Thomas, Jr., was thrown into a police car and whisked away — six months after the murder — and kept in police custody for more than 24 hours. According to author Laura Caldwell, the Chicago police employed a host of tactics -- "outright lying, seclusion of the suspect, sleep deprivation, lack of food and water." Jovan was cuffed to a wall by a ring around his wrist. Jovan was so worn down he probably would have admitted to the Kennedy assassination or the Lindbergh kidnapping. Despite his unwavering insistence that he did not participate in this horrendous act, the police suggested he threw two punches — which certainly didn’t cause the victim’s death, they assured him. If he would just admit to punching the victim, he could go home.

It took nearly six years for Jovan to go home.

If it wasn’t for Laura Caldwell, an attorney and the author of Long Way Home: A Young Man Lost in the System and the Two Women Who Found Him, and criminal defense lawyer Catharine O’Daniel, Jovan might still be in prison.

While Laura Caldwell (photo, right), who is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University of Loyola School of Law, was conducting research for her novel, The Rome Affair, she asked acquaintance Catharine O’Daniel if cops ever really coerced someone into confessing. O’Daniel replied: "Oh, honey, do I have a forced confession story for you."

Together, both women decided to take on Mosley’s case pro bono. This story is a harrowing tale about the breakdown of the justice system.

I read Long Way Home during three flights from Long Island to Oakland, California last month on my way to Bouchercon. You can imagine how tired I was by the end of the third flight. Let me tell you that when the announcement came that the plane was beginning its descent, I got upset — I was in the middle of reading such a fascinating book, at a very exciting part — and I found myself wishing the third flight could last longer so I could keep reading. Laura has written a gripping, emotional tale.

After her experience with Jovan’s case, Laura founded the “Life After Innocence” project, a support group designed to help wrongfully convicted with their re-entry back into society. Their mission statement reads:

"Life After Innocence advocates for innocent people adversely affected by the criminal justice system, helping them reenter society and enabling them to reclaim their rights as citizens, through individualized legal and support services and wider-reaching public policy initiatives."

In the true crime memoir I have written, it includes the story of a potato picker who was forced to confess to a murder he didn’t commit — in 1953. After 60 hours of questioning, with no food, no water, no mattress in his cell, and being dragged to the crime scene at 2 a.m. and having his "confession" read to him, and not being advised of his rights to remain silent or have an attorney present, he gave in. It took 17 years for that poor man to have the Supreme Court acknowledge that yes, his rights had been violated — and was finally released.

It’s sad that 46 years later in Chicago, things hadn’t improved much when it came to questioning and coercing a young, naive suspect to "confess" to a murder he didn't commit.

Long Way Home, Laura's first nonfiction book, is an inspirational tale of friendship and success when all seems lost.

***

Women of Mystery have a copy of Long Way Home to give away to one of our lucky readers who reside in the U.S. or Canada. Just leave a comment and make sure we have an email address so that we can contact you for an address to mail the book. I'll use Random.org to choose a winner. Leave a comment by 11:59 p.m. ET this Friday, November 19. We will announce the winner on Saturday morning.

Come follow me on Twitter @katcop13.

E-books Bestselller List

With a hat tip to Deb Lacy of Sleuthsisters, here is the link to an article announcing that the New York Times will be publishing a "best sellers" list each Sunday for e-books commencing in 2011. You can read all about it here.

And, of course that is the Time's instantly recognizable logo uptop, taken directly from the book page.

Terrie

Whodunit Slam Event at Queens Library

If you're in the neighborhood of the Queens Library in Forest Hills today, there's a free event being hosted by the New York chapter of Mystery Writers of America. The Whodunit Slam Event takes place between 2:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Artist and crime novelist Jonathan Santlofer will moderate a discussion and readings by Megan Abbott, S.L. Linnea, Stefanie Pintoff, M.J. Rose, and Jason Starr. They will discuss how they develop their stories. In addition, author Jane K. Cleland will interview Lorenzo Carcaterra, author of Midnight Angels and a former writer and producer for "Law & Order."

The library is located at 108-19 71st Avenue. Books will be available for sale and signing. If you would like to attend this event, please visit the Queens Library web site or call 718-268-7934. For directions and library hours, check here.

Come follow me on Twitter @katcop13.

Traveling Light to Crime Bake

Image via Chelsea Art Museum.

This weekend, I'll be at the intimate and delightful conference New England Crime Bake in equally wonderfully-named Dedham, Mass. I'll be tweeting #crimebake tags @clare2e and we'll see how it goes. Pathetically, if I know myself. Anyhoo, to reduce my luggage, I'm offloading these links before I drive out.

1) Amazon increases Kindle royalties to newspaper and periodical publishers. Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine can thank me now for my e-subscription, and I'll take this opportunity to thank them for publishing so many of my talented pals.

2) I've been meaning to link this post by Chuck Wendig at TerribleMinds on how to give good writing criticism.

3) Joanna Penn has a video interview with book cover designer Joel Friedlander to understand how the overall process and iterations (should) work.

4) Ah, Hollywood. The Wrap covers its big checks for untested novelists. Is it too sour-grape-flavored to point out how seldom this works out? At least when optioning a completed novel, there's a hint at the skill of the long-form execution, and consumer expectations ARE different. Of course, often when novelists suggest that they might work on their screenplay adaptations, they're told the difference in forms is too vast to allow them that costly chance. So are the skills the same or not, or does talent only transfer from film outward?

Screenplays and teleplays are powerfully symbolic shorthand for collaboration among cinematic professionals who use their skills to unpack them. Without the support of visual and audio, a novel's story gets communicated only through author-selected and described details. In a novel, there's no cinematographer, production designer, composer, director, or actors to assist a writer in getting the mood or action across. A novelist has only a thin connection to the reader's imagination, one that may be dropped anytime the phone rings or the prose flabs out. Treating that canvas interchangeably with a movie screen, or long-form prose as a wordier, more boring sort of screenplay, guarantees a stinkbomb of a book. Then, all us scribblers will hear again how novelists (!) understand nothing about storytelling for a contemporary audience. Oh, I don't know, why don't you try us sometime?

Burnout

For the past couple of weeks, I've had a bad case of burnout. It's exacerbated by a few things:

1. I got new glasses and I don't think they're right.
2. I'm trying to deal with our bank on a rather tangled financial situation, which is taking--I kid you not--a minimum of 1.5 hours every day.
3. It's November--I know that even if I finish something, I can't really send it out until January anyway because of the holidays.
4. My epilepsy drugs are acting up so that by 3pm every day, I just want to crawl into a dark hole and go to sleep.

None of the bits and pieces of my life seem to be fitting together well, but I have to write anyway. I have an article due for an online community I'm contributing to and my non-fiction book proposal has a chunk missing I have to get done before I can send it in.

So I am looking for help here, people--what tricks do you use to keep yourself going when you just feel like hiding from the world?

VETERANS DAY

Nearly every American has someone in the family who is actively serving in our military or who has actively served in the past. Today it the day we set aside to honor their service. If you would like information about our national ceremony honoring our veterans, click here.

And you know I am going to move right along to reminding you about Homes For Our Troops, which I explained here. It is a wonderful organization which provides adaptive housing for our newest veterans who were critically injured in Iraq or Afghanistan.

And then I told you that I have a story in an anthology called Murder To Mil-Spec, which was written and published to raise funds for Homes For Our Troops.

I have to say that you all have been very generous and sales of Murder to Mil Spec have been steadily moving along. For that I thank you.

So fly your flag proudly and take the time to make the phone call or send the email that says “thanks for what you did for us. I am grateful.”

Terrie

Author! Author!

My friend Kerry Giese posted an interesting challenge on Facebook and I thought it would be fun to share it with you.

Here are the rules:

1. Don't take too long to think about it.

2. Pick 10 authors who've influenced you and who will always stick with you.

3. List the first ten you can recall in no more than ten minutes.

4. Tell us who they are.

Original Cover for The Secret of The Old Clock by Carolyn Keene, the 1st Nancy Drew Mystery.

Here are mine in no particular order: Charles Dickens, Helen MacInnes, Shakespeare, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Lindsey Davis, Mark Twain, Jack Finney, Lawrence Sanders, Carolyn Keene and Irwin Shaw -- mostly oldies but goodies, just like me!

Ready. Set. Have fun!

Cover image from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ND1tsotoc.JPG