Lea Wait's Blog, page 148

What Maine Crime Writers Are Reading

Group Post: Here at MCW we talk a lot about what we’re writing, and recently, we posted about the books we’re giving as holiday gifts. This is our chance to talk about the books we’re reading now, or looking forward to reading. We’d love it if you would share the books you are reading, too.

Kate Flora: I’ve been reading books I have to read lately, for research, for friends, etc., so I am really looking forward to that week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, when I curl up on the couch, do not go to my computer to write X-thousand words, and just read and read and read. There will likely be several new books as the packages are unwrapped, but on top of the list of books I’ve been saving for a quiet moment is A Stranger Here Below by Charles Fergus. I was on a panel with him at the most recent New England Crime Bake and was impressed. I was more impressed when I peeked inside and started reading. His writing is superb. Duty called, though, so the book has been put away until my reading week. Bought for the Christmas to New Year’s reading week, but read immediately, is Christmas Stories in the Tradition of Rod Serling by Richard Barre. Barrie is a write I knew years ago who writes brilliant noir-ish mysteries. These stories are brilliant and have the added bonus of introductions by writers we all know and love like Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, and Harlen Coben. Get it. It’s a wonderful holiday treat.

[image error]KaitlynDunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson: I read a lot, especially when the writing is going well. I’ll have read over 130 books in 2019 by the end of this month, up by about ten over last year’s total. I’m usually reading more than one at a time. On audiocassette (yes, cassette—I have a Walkman plugged into the dashboard of my Jeep) I’m currently listening to Elizabeth Peters’ Naked Once More, the last of her Jacqueline Kirby series. It usually takes me a few months of short drives to and from town to listen to entire book. In really cold weather, I have to remember to take the Walkman inside with me or it gets too cold to play at all. On days when I’ve forgotten to do that and really want to find out what happens next, I sometimes dig out [image error]my hardcover copy, purchased back when it was first published, and read the next chapter in print format! On my iPad, I’m reading one mystery, Triss Stein’s Brooklyn Legacies, and a biography, A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee. I’ve also been rereading, in mass market paperback format, the series of paranormal mysteries Tanya Huff wrote some years back, starting with Blood Price. I have the entire series on my keeper shelf but it’s a toss up whether I’ll read straight through them all or not. There are some pretty good books coming out at the end of December and in early January and they’ll be going to the top of my TBR pile.

Susan Vaughan: Like Kaitlyn/Kathy, I read a lot. Always I have more than one going at a time, one in print and one on my Kindle, which I use when I walk the treadmill. This[image error] month, I’m reading two more in print a little at a time, since they’re not novels. On the Kindle, I have The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Amanda Quick, a pseudonym of author Jayne Ann Krentz. This is a witty and intricate romantic mystery set in glamorous 1930’s Hollywood. The fascinating characters have dangerous secrets that intertwine and involve high-stakes suspense. I’m also enjoying the lack of technology, and how it adds to the suspense. My print novel is Michael Connelly’s The Late Show, the first installment in his new [image error]series featuring Detective Renee Ballard, a “complicated and driven detective fighting to prove herself in the LAPD’s toughest beat,” (The New York Times). Normally, cases caught by the midnight shift detectives would be passed to others the next day. But as the story begins, on that particular night, two cases grab Ballard, and she’s determined to see them through. This is a hard-hitting police procedural, but with Connelly’s skill and insight, also a very human tale with a fascinating heroine. As an author of romantic suspense, I often have male protagonists to portray as “guys,” so as I continue reading, I will observe how this talented male author has crafted this heroine. There are already two more in this series, so I expect to add them to my TBR list.

Dick Cass: I’ve been reading a very noir series set in Detroit by Steven Mack Jones. First in the series is August Snow, and a great gritty read which I’m gifting to my friend Tom who grew up in that city. [image error]Protagonist is a half-black, half-Mexican ex-cop who comes back to his inner-city neighborhood after winning a 12 million dollar settlement from the city. I’m also giving both Attica Locke novels: Bluebird, Bluebird, which won the 2018 Anthony and Edgar awards for Best Novel, and her followup, Heaven, My Home, [image error]second in an excellent series about a black Texas Ranger.

[image error]Sandra Neily: As I drive, I’ve been listening to Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing. Yesterday I had to pull over and listen to her talk about the marsh over and over. That good! *(A murder mystery, a coming of age story, a celebration of nature, on New York Times best list for ages.)[image error]

I’ve been reading Peter Wohlleben’s, The Hidden Life of Trees . And while I thought I was paying special attention to them, visiting special tree friends and leaning on them, apparently I knew very little. Now I see more magic, more generosity, more drama … more life.  “There are more life forms in a handful of forest soil than there are people on the planet.” 

And also I’m rereading some chapters of What Happened. I think that same tree thing applies to  Hillary Rodham Clinton: perhaps we really did know very little.[image error]

“Donald Trump didn’t invent sexism, and its impact on our politics goes far beyond this one election. It’s like a planet that astronomers haven’t precisely located yet but know exists because they can see its impact on other planets’ orbits and gravities. Sexism exerts its pull on our politics and our society every day, in ways both subtle and crystal clear.”

“… women leaders around the world tend to rise higher in parliamentary systems, rather than presidential ones like ours. Prime ministers are chosen by their colleagues—people they’ve worked with day in and day out, who’ve seen firsthand their talents and competence. It’s a system designed to reward women’s skill at building relationships, which requires emotional labor.”

And whatever anyone thought of Hillary, we might think about this. To protest what the election brought us, “The Women’s March was the biggest single protest in American history.” 

John Clark is on a mix of YA dystopian/Science Fiction kick. Recent favorites include Gravemaidens / Kelly Coon, A River of Royal Blood / Amanda Joy, The Weight of A Soul / Elizabeth Tammi, The Ninth Floor / Liz Schulte, Eight Will Fall / Sarah Harian, Ride On / Gwen Cole, and Day Zero / Kelly DeVos. The book I’m drooling over is Katie McGarry’s Echos Between Us, due out on January 14th.

Charlene D’Avanzo is warming up with a couple of lovely cozies. I just finished a terrific read by my most excellent friend Connie Berry, “A Dream of Death”. Set on a remote Scottish island, the story features a Tartan Ball, a victim in the show with an arrow through her heart, a fancy antique little box, and amateur sleuth Kate Hamilton’s new love – a vacationing British detective. Katherine Hall Page’s latest Faith Fairchild mystery, “The Body in the Wake”, just appeared in my library and I snatched it right up. If you can believe it, this is number 25 in her “The Body In” series.

Maureen Milliken: I have trouble reading fiction when I’m writing, but that said, I just finished Paul Doiron’s Almost Midnight, because I got it for my brother for Christmas and I always like to read what I get people before I give it them.

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My niece is getting NO CHILDREN, NO PETS, which was one of the first mysteries I read a as a kid.

I also found a vintage copy of one of the first mysteries I ever read, No Children, No Pets, by Marion Holland. I last read it in 1970, and it was written in 1956, so I’m reading it to make sure it holds up for my almost-9-year-old niece. It may not hold up physically, though. The pages are pretty much yellowed and coming out. It does, hold up, figuratively, surprisingly well given the era. She’s also getting Lost on a Mountain in Maine, by Donn Fendler and Joseph B. Egan, because every child in Maine (and adult!) should read it.

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Donn Fendler and Paul Doiron chat at Books in Boothbay in 2016. (Maureen Milliken photo)

And I think as mystery writers, there’s a little bit of Lost on a Mountain in Maine in many of our books. I haven’t re-read it recently, so it’s not totally appropriate for this post, but I didn’t post about books I’m buying for gifts earlier this month because my family reads this blog. I’m guessing they’ll be too busy today to take a look before they get their gifts. And also, because all is connected in Maine, it gives me a chance to post my favorite photo of Fendler and Doiron chatting a couple years ago.

On the personal reading front, I just finished Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill and She Said, by New York Times writers Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. While both are about the same topic — Harvey Weinstein & Co. — they’re really different and both excellent in their own ways. Also, very good looks at how journalism is done for those who may not get it and think it’s all just made up.

I just finished The Pschopath Test by Jon Ronson and am immersed in A Descent Into Hell, by Kathryn Casey, about the murder of a young woman, Jennifer Cave, in Austin, Texas. I like true crime in general, but almost all of what I’m reading now has some connection to the book I’m writing. Stay tuned!

And for all of you who find your way here, a Christmas story, Angel’s Christmas Eve, for you:

https://wordpress.com/view/kateclarkflora.com

 

Christmas Custom–a Shoe In

Susan Vaughan here. I admit it, the title’s a bad pun, but you’ll see shortly why I couldn’t [image error]resist. Christmas customs around the world differ in strange and bizarre ways. In the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain, we’re familiar with the tradition of hanging stockings for Santa to fill. According to legend, long, long ago, three sisters left their stockings drying over the fireplace. Saint Nicholas knew the family was very poor, so he threw three bags of gold coins down the chimney. The money landed in their stockings. Since then, children have hung up their stockings on Christmas Eve, hoping to find them filled with gifts in the morning. In many other places, footwear also plays a role, but usually not stockings.

Before going to bed, children in France put their shoes by the fireplace. They hope that Père Noel will put small gifts inside. France’s Santa also hangs small toys, nuts, and fruits on the tree.

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In the Netherlands, children fill their shoes with hay and a carrot for the horse of Sintirklass, who has arrived in town with an entourage of helpers and in a big parade.

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In Italy, children leave their shoes out the night before Epiphany, January 5, for La Befana the good witch. The custom appears to date from when children wore wooden peasant shoes but not why or how it began.

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Iceland has many traditions for celebrating the holiday. I won’t go into the history, but nowadays thirteen Santa Clauses, called jólasveinar, or “Yuletide Lads,” come to each [image error]town bearing gifts, candy, and mischief. These are apparently mountain trolls or elves. Each has his own personality and role to play. The first jólasveinn arrives thirteen days before Christmas and then the others follow, one each day. A special custom is for children to set a shoe in the window from December 12 until Christmas Eve. If they have been good, one of the “Santas” leaves a gift, but bad children receive not a lump of coal but a potato. After Christmas, the Yuletide Lads leave as they arrived, one each day, making the Icelandic Christmas season last twenty-six days.

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The Czech Republic has a wealth of Christmas customs and superstitions, but none for [image error]filling children’s shoes or stockings. Instead, I found Christmas customs that offer marriage hope to girls in the family. On Christmas Day, an unmarried girl can stand with her back to the door and throw a shoe over her shoulder. If the shoe lands with the toe pointing to the door, she will be married within the year. When the shoe points in the opposite direction, the girl will remain single for at least another year. Along with that, another tradition is that every woman should receive a kiss under the mistletoe so love is guaranteed throughout the next year.

Because eighty percent of the population in the Philippines is Christian, Christmas is huge there. For centuries, the bearers of gifts for children have been not Santa but the Three [image error]Kings. Brightly polished shoes and clean socks are left on windowsills, for the Kings to fill with gifts as they pass by on their way to Bethlehem. Some children leave straw or dry grass for the camels; if these are gone in the morning, the camels must have been very hungry. Epiphany, the “Feast of the Three Kings,” marks the end of the Christmas celebration.

I’ll leave you with wishes for a Happy Holiday and with questions for which I do not have answers. I imagine the tradition of filling shoes and stockings with treats and small gifts spread around the world with Christianity, but why do shoes and stockings still play such a prominent role in Christmas celebrations? And do shoes and/or stockings play a role in other holiday traditions?

 

Weekend Update: December 21-22, 2019

[image error]Next week at Maine Crime Writers, there will be posts by Susan Vaughan (Monday), Maureen Milliken (Thursday) and Charlene D’Avanzo (Friday), with a special group post on what we’re reading on Tuesday.

 

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

 

 

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

 

And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business. Contact Kate Flora

“Then The Grinch Thought of Something …”

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Snow-woman overlooking Moosehead Lake.

This is the time of year I relish quiet snow and  seek out other voices: concerts in small Maine churches, the Vienna Boys Choir piped through my computer, and on the solstice, pouring a class of wine and listening to NPR’s broadcast of Paul Winter’s famous solstice concerts (delivered in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Upper Manhattan).

Orson Wells and Lionel Barrymore’s 1939 tour de force radio production of “The Christmas Carol” is worth a large pot of tea and huge plate of cookies that must be only sugar and butter. And sprinkles.[image error]

 

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My cove.

 

Sometimes I lie on Moosehead Lake in the dead of night when the ice is booming and cracking its way from shore to shore, settling in for a “long winter’s night.” Only once has the boom traveled up my cove and rushed under me like a freight train I could hear and feel. I am always hoping for another magical night.

 

I reread “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” and the famous Virginia Santa Claus letter and this year, I found a Robert Frost poem where he refuses to sell his Christmas trees. Just delicious, cranky, and very Frost.

So here, I’d like to share some of these voices and holiday photo memories as well.

 

[image error]“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!” ― Dr. Seuss

 

 

 

 

 

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Me: “I think we’d only have to lug it out about a quarter of a mile.” Bob: No comment.

Excerpt from “Christmas Trees” by Robert Frost 

… He proved to be the city come again

To look for something it had left behind

And could not do without and keep its Christmas.

He asked if I would sell my Christmas trees;

My woods—the young fir balsams like a place

Where houses all are churches and have spires.

I hadn’t thought of them as Christmas Trees.

I doubt if I was tempted for a moment

To sell them off their feet to go in cars

And leave the slope behind the house all bare,

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The dogs: “Need any help with the tree, Bob?”

Where the sun shines now no warmer than the moon. …

 

 

 

 

 

 

[image error]In 1897, eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial.

DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.

Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’

Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?[image error]

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.[image error]

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.[image error]

 

 

 

[image error]Ho, Ho, Ho.

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“The new toys are all mine, mine, mine.”

 

 

 

Sandy’s novel, “Deadly Trespass, A Mystery in Maine,” won a national Mystery Writers of America award, was a finalist in the Women’s Fiction Writers Association “Rising Star” contest, and she’s been a finalist for a Maine Literary Award. Find her novel at all Shermans Books and on Amazon . Find more info on the video trailer and Sandy’s website. The second Mystery in Maine, “Deadly Turn,” will be published in 2020

 

 

Writing for the Holidays

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here. This year, as every year, many publishers brought out Christmas-themed books. Some editors regularly request Christmas books or novellas from the authors of the series they publish. One of my contracts even specified that the second (untitled) book I was to write for that publisher would be “a Christmas book.”

[image error]Aside from the occasional “October is much too early to be buying books about Christmas” complaint, most readers seem to enjoy stories centered around popular holidays. In the Liss MacCrimmon series, written as Kaitlyn Dunnett, I’ve done Halloween (Vampires, Bones, and Treacle Scones), Thanksgiving (Overkilt), and Christmas (A Wee Christmas Homicide and Ho-Ho-Homicide). Because the plot I had in mind required fireworks, I wanted to do a 4th of July story, but “those who decide such things” didn’t think that would be enough of a draw. That book (Kilt at the Highland Games) ended up focused on an annual local festival rather than a national holiday. I can’t say that it made any huge difference. It was just a little trickier to explain the fireworks.

[image error]But to return to Christmas, I enjoyed writing those two books, although both were more focused on the weeks leading up to the holiday than on the actual day. In A Wee Christmas Homicide, my amateur sleuth, Liss MacCrimmon, realizes that she has in her shop, Moosetookalook Scottish Emporium, one of the last remaining stashes of the hot toy of the season, Tiny Teddies. But are they real, or ringers smuggled in from nearby Canada? Two other stores in Moosetookalook have a supply as well and when one of those shopkeepers is murdered, finding out the truth may be a matter of life or death.

[image error]Ho-Ho-Homicide is set on a Christmas tree farm in Maine, one Liss and her husband are visiting as a favor for a friend. What that friend hasn’t told them is that the former owner disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The book actually ends before Christmas, when Liss returns to the scene of the crime to buy a tree for herself, but it still counts as a “Christmas mystery.” By sheer serendipity, it also got a major publicity boost when the title caught the attention of the good folks at The Tonight Show. Although Ho-Ho-Homicide isn’t precisely recommended by Jimmy Fallon, since the titles were obviously chosen so he could make fun of them, he does say that “it has two things everybody loves—Christmas and murder.” That’s what we call a “pull-quote” in the book business and it now appears on all my book jackets.

[image error]I’ve also written one other mystery novel and one mystery short story with Christmas settings, both in the Face Down series I wrote as Kathy Lynn Emerson. Set in sixteenth-century England, the second in this series, featuring Elizabethan gentlewoman, herbalist, and sleuth, Susanna, Lady Appleton, is Face Down Upon an Herbal. It takes place in a castle in rural Gloucestershire during Yuletide and gave me the opportunity to have my characters engage in holiday customs of yesteryear. It was first published in 1998. Then, in 2010, I was asked to write the Christmas story for that year’s Christmas chapbook from Crippen & Landru, a publisher of short story collections, including my collection of LadyAppleton stories, Murders and Other Confusions. The result was “Lady Appleton and the Yuletide Hogglers,” which was later included in my second short story collection, Different Times, Different Crimes from Wildside Press.

[image error]Going back even farther, when I was writing contemporary romance novels, again as Kathy Lynn Emerson, I set two at Christmastime. Relative Strangers takes place at an inn in rural Maine, one with a resident ghost, where my heroine has gone to escape from her family. That Special Smile is set in the same small Maine town, Waycross Springs, which is about an hour’s drive from Moosetookalook, and although it starts several months earlier, the fast-approaching holiday is what forces characters to make some life-changing decisions. Some of the characters in these two romances reappear in minor roles in the Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries.

Although it’s fun to structure a murder mystery around a holiday, especially one that gathers large family groups together, it’s also a sad reminder that many real murders happen at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ask anyone in law enforcement. Tensions run high over the dinner table and in front of the tree, and when they do, it may not take much to incite violence. To quote from an old TV show: be careful out there.

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With the June 2019 publication of Clause & Effect, Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett has had sixty books traditionally published. She won the Agatha Award and was an Anthony and Macavity finalist for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2015 in the best mystery short story category. She was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor in 2014. Currently she writes the contemporary Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries and the “Deadly Edits” series as Kaitlyn. As Kathy, her most recent book is a collection of short stories, Different Times, Different Crimes. Her websites are www.KaitlynDunnett.com and www.KathyLynnEmerson.com and she maintains a website about women who lived in England between 1485 and 1603 at A Who’s Who of Tudor Women.

 

Your Friends Tell You What You Need To Hear

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Vaughn

Vaughn C. Hardacker here: As many readers of this blog know, I live further north than any other contributor to this blog. This can be a problem when you hate winter. All of my memories of growing up in Caribou, Maine seem to be winter memories–its almost as if there were no summers in my youth. Therefore the obvious question is: Why do you live there?

For more than thirty years I worked as a technical instructor in the hi-tech arena. I was living in southern New Hampshire when my wife, Connie, passed in 2006. In 2008 I was laid off (In the last nine years working I had seven jobs and I did not leave one voluntarily.  In fact only one of the companies I worked for is still in business, Xerox. The names Wang Laboratories, Bay Networks, Nortel Networks–Nortel bought Bay and the company became Nortel Networks–or Lucent may sound familiar to you.) I was now in my mid-sixties and faced with another long period of unemployment. As much as I loved living in the southern part of New Hampshire and the Boston area, I knew I would not be able to continue living there. The periods of unemployment and Connie’s losing battle with cancer had decimated any thing we’d put away for retirement. I moved back to northern Maine. I still had family here and the cost of living was much lower (I was paying three times what I pay here for a mortgage for apartment rent in NH) and I could live on Social Security and write full time.

For years I have suffered from periodic down periods. Connie was always able to ride them out with me. I would become angry (and stay that way for weeks) and isolated myself from everyone. My alcohol consumption was way out of control and I blamed many of my problems on my battled chilhood growing up with a domineering, alcoholic mother. It wasn’t until I returned to Maine that a counselor at the Veteran’s Administration said to me: “How long have you been suffering with severe PTSD?” My answer was: “Hell if I know, I’ve always been a loner and in a continual state of anger and couldn’t understand why some people seemed to go through life easier than I did.” Her reply: “Were you like this before Vietnam?” I had no answer to that. She later told me that I was the hardest patient she’d had to deal with because every time she asked me a question that got close to one of of my issues, I’d deflect it by telling her a story. The problem, she said, was that the stories were usually interesting enough that she was deflected from the purpose of the question. She told me that it took her three times longer to complete the PTSD assessment on me than any other patient she’d dealt with.

By now you’re probably asking: “Okay. But what does this have to do with winter?” In winter my depression really kicks in. I’m actually amazed that I’m writing this. I have been battling writer’s block for a couple of months now. Where I usually have a thousand word a day goal, I don’t think I have written more than 1000 words during that time.Every time I’d sit at my desk, open a Word document, stare at it for several moments while I tried to get in touch with my muse (I think it goes to Arizona for the winter), and then close everything down and go lie down. Not that lying down helps. When I’m like this I can sleep eight hours, get up, have a cup of coffee, and then go take a nap. That, by the way, is a productive day. I usually don’t even turn on my computer. If it wasn’t for my iPhone I wouldn’t even check my email.

I was scheduled to write a blog on Monday, December 9th. After a couple of weeks in which I could not think of a single thing to blog about, I just ignored my responsibility (another symptom of PTSD) and didn’t write one. A few days ago I received an email from Kate Flora noting that I’d missed my day and there was an open date for today if I wanted it. Still dealing with my depression, I ignored her offer. I got another email from Kate asking if I was mad at her. That shook me up. I hadn’t realized that my isolation might be misunderstood (not surprising since I was isolating and nobody knew it–that’s the grandiosity of the disease; we think that we’re the only one going through this and don’t want to burden other people with our problems–besides, no one wants to hear me whine) and her email opened my eyes. I replied explaining some of what I was experiencing and she replied that I could blog about what I am dealing with. So, I’m doing just that.

During winter my body and brain crave sunlight and this far north in late November and early December the sun rises around seven in the morning and it’s dark between three-thirty and four. I was asked once what it was like to live through a winter like that I replied: “You become like a mushroom. In the dark and fed B.S.” To combat this the VA has provided me with what I call a mood light. It is a rectangular light with special bright bulbs and I was advised to use it for an hour each day. I still have it around here somewhere.

I know I’ll be all right. I have a mantra. Each and every day I look skyward and say: “I know, Lord–this too shall pass.” Then there is the serenity prayer:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

A wise woman (my wife ) once told me that God speaks to us through other people. Now that I see the length of this blog I believe that my higher power spoke to me through Kate. I think I’ll go find my mood light, place it on my desk, and do some writing. I have to keep reminding myself: Your friends tell you what you need to hear; not what you want to hear.

Oh yeah.

Thanks Kate, you’re a mentor to all of us and if I’m half as smart as I think I am, I’ll keep listening to you.

Jen’s Best of 2019

Jen Blood here, with a look back at 2019, since it is in fact that time again. This year was a rough one around the homestead – between politics and dire climate predictions and the loss of a close family member, it’s definitely been a year I’m eager to put behind me. However, in my effort to escape all the horrors of reality, I did manage to find some quality means by which to do exactly that. Here, then, is a list of my top podcasts, TV shows, and YouTube channels of 2019.

Podcasts:

Podcasts are a mainstay for me, particularly when I’m working in the kitchen. My weekly roster:

Pod Save America, in which former Obama staffers bemoan the decline of the country, interview politicians about what’s coming next, crack wise about the state of the world, and generally keep me from sticking my head in ye olde oven.

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WTF, with Marc Maron. I started listening to WTF because Ben listens, and at first found Maron a little bit much. Before long, however, I came to appreciate his rants, neuroses, and – especially – stellar interviews.

Judge John Hodgman, in which comedian/actor/author John Hodgman (formerly of The Daily Show and those old Apple commercials, among other claims to fame) hears silly cases from people around America, and rules on those cases. Warm, witty, and occasionally wise, this is the podcast most likely to be playing when Ben and I go on road trips together.

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TV: 

Okay, so… My TV is not like other people’s TV. I know this is the golden age of television, and there are things like Game of Thrones and Killing Eve and a thousand other things that I will eventually, possibly, watch. But Ben has a problem with plot-driven drama, and this year I had a problem with intense storylines, so…um, yeah. Our TV is not like other people’s TV. Mostly, we watch British panel shows – most of them starring the same eight or nine UK celebrities on a perpetual rotation. Here are a few of our favorites:

QI. This is what started us down the rabbit hole that is British panel/game shows. Originally hosted by Stephen Fry and now with Sandi Toksvig at the helm, QI features four different British celebrities – well, three different British celebrities, and Alan Davis – who crack wise about a particular topic. Each series revolves around a different letter of the alphabet, and then each episode focuses on a word or set of words beginning with that letter. Simple, soothing, often informative, and sometimes hilarious.

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Would I Lie to You, Mock the Week, The Last Leg, Taskmaster, Eight Out of Ten Cats, Eight Out of Ten Cats Does Countdown... The list goes on. I’m not actually going to go into detail about these shows, since there’s nothing particularly astounding about any of them. But they’re funny, dark but not too dark, and the fact that Ben and I now know all of these British celebs as well – if not better – than their US equivalents just kind of strikes me as funny. We watch most of the shows on YouTube, though occasionally they can be found on Amazon.

YouTube:

YouTube is one of my favorite things on the planet, at this stage. If you need to learn to do something, chances are you can find at least half a dozen video tutorials on YouTube to help you along the way. Since a good portion of the time I spend seeking entertainment is on YouTube, I thought I would include a few channels that really had an impact for me this year.

SustainablyVegan, in which British twenty-something Immy Lucas shares ideas for leading a more sustainable life. I love how earnest Lucas is, how transparent she is with her audience, and how passionate she is about the causes she cares about. I’ve learned a great deal from the weekly videos, and gained a greater appreciation for the young men and women leading the movement toward a more holistic, sustainable, and inclusive world.

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Nik the Booksmith, in which artist Nik the Booksmith (I tried to find her real name, but this was all I could come up with) shares videos on how to make astonishing books, journals, and other paper crafts on a weekly basis. Nik is not only hilarious but also genuinely talented, and I’ve actually taken a couple of her online classes in order to learn more about making junk journals and zines. If you’re interested in paper crafts and especially alternative forms of book making, this is the channel to watch.

MIGardener, a channel devoted to organic gardening in all its forms. Informative videos presented two to three times per week, on every gardening-related topic under the sun. The host’s perpetual pep sometimes makes me a little weary, but he’s passionate, well-informed, and committed to his audience and his topic, so who am I to complain? And, seriously, the amount of information provided on the channel is kind of astonishing. Highly recommended for both novice and experienced gardeners.

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Since I’ll be talking about the books I’m reading in Wednesday’s post this week, I’ll save that for later. Hopefully, this gives you a few things to chew on if you’re looking for something new to delve into. The watchwords for me this year were gentle, funny, and/or informative, and I think most of these – with the exception of Pod Save America, which is sometimes funny and always informative but is rarely gentle – fit that bill.

What about you? What’s your go-to when it comes to escapist forms of entertainment?

Thanks to all who have read my rambling here at Maine Crime Writers this year. Wishing you the very sweetest of holidays, and a very, very happy New Year. See you in 2020!

Jen Blood is the USA Today-bestselling author of the Erin Solomon Mysteries and the Flint K-9 Search and Rescue Mysteries. To learn more, visit http://www.jenblood.com.

Weekend Update: December 14-15, 2019

9[image error]Next week at Maine Crime Writers, there will be posts by Jen Blood (Monday), Sandra Neily (Tuesday), Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson (Thursday) and Kate Flora (Friday).

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

 Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson and MCW alumna Sarah Graves are featured in a recent article on mysteries set in Maine. https://www.criminalelement.com/maine-in-crime-fiction-light-and-dark/

If you missed it last year, here’s a Christmas story from Kate. Click on the link and then on A Christmas Story in the header.

https://wordpress.com/view/kateclarkflora.com

From Christmas long ago – Kate Flora and John Clark on the Union, Maine farm:

 

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business. Contact Kate Flora

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! My Bests of the Year!

Dear Readers,

Thank you for another amazing year. This will be my last post for 2019. Great things happened. I had a short story, ‘School Daze’ published in Landfall: New England’s Best Crime Stories. My novel PRAY FOR THE GIRL came out in April and hit #1 on The  Portland Press Herald best seller list. And I finished my new novel, THE PERFECT DAUGHTER, which comes out April, 2020.

Since it’s the end of the year, here are a few of my bests for 2019.

Best Book I Read—BAD BLOOD

A chilling true story of one woman’s corporate greed and unethical behavior.

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Best Movie—PARASITE from South Korea.

A brilliant movie about class tension and domestic turmoil. Beautiful camera work and scenery. A classic!

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Best TV Show—YOU from the same named book by Caroline Kepnes

Creepy and cringeworthy, you won’t be able to forget Joe, Beck and Peach Salinger.

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Best Pizza Places—It’s a tie

1. Monte’s Pizza on Washington Ave in Portland. Amazingly crafted pizzas, nurtured and cold fermented for three days, with the finest pepperonis.

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2. Scarr’s on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. Scarr mills his own flour!!! What more do you want? Get the grandmother slice.

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Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and catch you next year!

Best,

joe

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

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John Clark on the topic of short stories. Years ago, I was invested in writing full length books when my sister Kate suggested I might be good at writing short stories. She was one of the founders of Level Best Books and, at the time, they were soliciting entries for the second anthology of crime stories by New England writers.

My initial thought to myself was no, I should stick with what I’m doing. However, the longer I thought about it, the more intrigued I became. One of the motivating factors that pushed me across the line was the recurring dream I was having at the time. In it, I had murdered a young woman before getting sober, hid the body and, with a fairly clear head, was now petrified that someone would find her and I’d be busted.

I decided it was worth trying to exorcise this demon by turning it into a story. I did, it was published in the anthology and I never had that dream again. (Too bad the paralyzed in the jungle about to be attacked by cannibal ants and a couple other similarly vivid ones haven’t met the same fate).

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Since then, I’ve written a decent number of short stories. Some have been accepted for publication, many have not, but the process of having an idea pop into my head and a day or so later turn into a work that others can enjoy is extremely satisfying.

Writing short stories serves other purposes. At parties or meetings, I often mention that I’m paid to kill people. That gets attention quickly. Depending upon the mood I’m in, or the situation, I string the other person(s) along for a while before clarifying. Very few get upset at the explanation and on occasion, the conversation turns into a new story opportunity.

There are multiple resources for short story ideas, especially mystery and horror (more about that in a moment). The older I get, the less I need to say, but the more I’m willing to listen. Quite honestly, the world is starved for good listeners, just ask any small town librarian. People frequently come there as much for the sense of being heard and recognized, as to check out an item. Since my hearing, especially in crowds, has deteriorated to a point where I have to strain to follow a conversation, I often find myself hearing parts of one and stitching bits of another onto it with delightfully strange results.

The daily newspaper provides more story fodder, particularly the obituaries. I have a morning ritual that starts with fresh coffee and the print edition of The Bangor Daily News. I tend to read at least half the obituaries completely and find some really fascinating stuff that can be woven into a good Maine tale.

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Other stories have their germination in something I see while driving. One story I sold to Level Best, Tower Mountain, was inspired by a distant hill sprinkled with communication towers I saw every morning when getting on I-95 in Pittsfield. I took the liberty of moving it north of a scenic lookout on the Airline that overlooks a big bog.

I wrote one inspired by the Nigerian Oil email scam combined with the punch line from one of Tim Sample’s jokes. Another followed Kate and I discovering someone had stolen the flat rock wall our father had spent an entire summer building back in the 1970s, while three were inspired by Pine Grove Cemetery and the cement plant on opposite sides of the road approaching Hartland from the south.

One trend in competitions for anthologies is the requirement to write a story around a featured theme. One such that has been offered on and off for the last few years is The Killer Wore Cranberry. All submissions must feature a thanksgiving dish. I wrote one about a greedy lawyer who screwed his sister and her adult children out of their house and blueberry fields. It wasn’t accepted for this competition, but was included a couple years later in a Level Best anthology called Noir At The Salad Bar.

As my writing has progressed, I’ve realized more of my stories stray into horror than mystery. While the market for such stories isn’t as robust as that for mystery, I like my frequent excursions into the dark side of humanity a lot. Having grown up in a small town on a poultry farm at a time when everyone who did so was going into debt big time, I can easily tap into the sense of desperation and insecurity having little money creates, and can develop characters wounded or driven by that mindset. Likewise, my years of active alcoholism, coupled with going to AA meetings for 39 years also lets me go to the dark side easily.

One intangible aspect of the creative process for me has been finding what I call, for lack of a better description, places of power. Those of you who remember Carlos Castanada’s books about Don Juan, the Yaqui Sorcerer, will understand what I mean. I discovered my first such place of power when I was the library director in Boothbay Harbor. I was writing my first book and every time I was stuck on where to take it, the answer came to me while driving past Edgecomb Pottery.

When we lived in Hartland, my power spot became the kitchen sink. I’d be washing dishes and looking into the back yard when a new story idea would start growing in my head. I was a bit worried when we moved to Waterville, but I have found one that’s a dandy. I have generated half a dozen such ideas while enjoying the 93 degree water in the pool before my morning aquatic exercise class. What better spot could there be.

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