Lea Wait's Blog, page 262

Tuning The Ear

Dorothy Cannell: For the past several years I have been focusing much of my mystery reading on golden oldies in the tradition of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Josephine Tey, Georgette Heyer, Patricia Wentworth, etc.. The reason – I enjoy them and they are relatable to my memories of growing up in England. Apart from the murders that is! No one I knew got ‘done in’ with a blunt instrument, stole information from the Foreign Office to aid The Enemy, or altered great Aunt Henrietta’s will before poisoning her snuff.

I’m talking about the days of steam engines, sending telegrams, sitting by the fire listening to plays on the radio, and going down the road to the telephone box to place a call. Also I wanted to write a series set in a time when conversation involved language – words and phrases that are vanishing from common usage – and only by immersing myself in such reading could I bring some of these snippets back into my head.

Before starting on Murder at Mullings, the first of my Florence Norris books set in the nineteen-thirties, I began a notebook of ‘talk” and continued to add to it through Death at Dovecote Hatch and through the plotting of Peril in the Parish. Here are some examples:

Expostulated.

Adjured.

Knocked around the world.

He’s (she’s) good value.

Put the touch on him.

How utterly ghastly.

My giddy aunt!

A dull dog.

Puling creature.

What a filthy thing to say.

Made the most frightful scene

Don’t be beastly, darling!

Uttered a strangled cry.

Nothing of the Sahib about the Colonel.

Respectable woman of straightened means.

Handsome of you.

Completely shattered.

Coming along a treat after his operation.

None of your lip, my girl.

That one would steal from a blind man’s mug.

You say another word and I’ll knock you into the middle of next week.

‘Nonsense’, he ejaculated! (My favorite).

I don’t know that this will be helpful to anyone, but I’ve typed out two of my handwritten pages. Short of taking a time machine back to the nineteen-thirties, reading my way there was not only useful for tuning my ear but enormous fun. I recommend the trip.

Happy March.

Dorothy.

Weekend Update: March 5-6, 2016

Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Dorothy Cannell (Monday), Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson (Tuesday), Kate Flora (Wednesday), Susan Vaughan (Thursday), and John Clark (Friday).

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

from Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson: Good news from both of me this week. As Kaitlyn, I’ve just sold the audiobook rights to the next Liss MacCrimmon mystery (Kilt at the Highland Games, out in hardcover in July) to Dreamscape. They’ll bring the book out on CD, which is a first for me. No word yet on who will be narrating or when it will be available to buy. Meanwhile, as Kathy, I’ve sold another Lady Appleton short story, “Lady Appleton and the Creature of the Night” to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. This one is as close to writing a paranormal story as I get (that’s to say, not very) and features the sleuth from my Face Down series set in sixteenth-century England. It will be published some time in 2017.

From Barb Ross: Speaking of audiobooks, the downloadable version of the audibook for Fogged Inn, the fourth Maine Clambake Mystery was released yesterday. You can access it here. The MP3 version is coming in June.

 

 

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: mailto: kateflora@gmail.com

Micro-ideas from a high-definition world

Maureen here, still on a high from a three-day writing marathon that resulted in an (almost but not quite) completed first draft of the next book in the Bernie O’Dea mystery series, “No News is Bad News.”

A lot goes into getting that first draft done, big things and little ones.

First drafts are funny — don’t worry this won’t be a tortured “how I produced the first draft” post — in that, at least in my case, there’s a lot of stuff in them that may not make the final draft. People ask writers where they get their ideas. Frequently. I’ve written about that before. It’s difficult, yet easy, to answer because there are so many ways to answer it. The bottom line is that’s because there are so many types of ideas: big picture ones, themes, plot twists, plot frames. You get the picture. But one thing I thought a lot about as I got really immersed in this book are the micro-ideas.

I read once that a neighbor of one of the Wyeths (the three-generation artist family) said something like they couldn’t hang out their laundry because he’d come over and paint it. I’m too screen-fried right now to look it up on the Internet and tell you which Wyeth and what the exact quote was, but you get what I mean.

I feel kind of like that as a writer. The Wyeth not the neighbor. Everything around me is fair game. It’s not even like I’m looking for it, it’s just there. A spoken phrase, a mannerism, a moment, a feeling. I’ll see or hear or experience some little thing and — zing! — it hits me and I have to get it in my book. HAVE TO get it in there.

Here’s something you should know about me. I live in a high-definition world. Every morning the sunrise thrills me. The subtle differences, depending on the weather, are a fascination. Sunsets, too. My Facebook friends I’m sure get tired of the endless parade of the sun coming up and going down as seen through the lens of my iPhone.

Have I ever seen a sunset I didn’t like? Do you have to ask? A million photos of them taken from my front steps.

The world itself is a fascination. What people are doing. What they’re saying. What the thing is out the window. I can’t go in Target or Pier 1 because there are too many bright colors and I want to buy everything. Because they’re bright colors. Yeah, I know, okay? Smells, colors, sounds, feelings, impressions — they’re all popping out and zipping around, orbiting and dodging. I’m rarely bored. Some of things are just distractions, others irritations. Lots of them are momentary delights. Others land and take up residence, either as obsessions that I have to take a zillion photos of — sunrises, sunsets, the railroad bridge behind my workplace — or details that end up in my books.

Is this all a bad thing for a writer? Not if it becomes part of the process.

For instance, Trudi Knoedler, the producer of the audio version of “Cold Hard News,” the first in the Bernie O’Dea mystery series, mentioned to me recently she’s narrated German paranormal erotica. I couldn’t get the phrase out of my head. Boom! I worked it into the book. It’s just a moment, one tiny one, but it’s there.

I recently read the word exsanguinate. I had to have it. Not only for the look and sound of it, but what it means. Completely drained of blood. I’m sure I’ve heard it before, but we were only acquaintances. We didn’t know at the time how much we loved each other. Now we do. Again, couldn’t get it out of my head until I typed it on a page.

Here’s another one. This fall, when hunting season started, a line from the Talking Heads song “Life During Wartime” kept going through my head: The sound of gunfire, off in the distance, I’m getting used to it now… It got to the point that I not only had to listen to the song, I had to put it in my book.

I may get a variety of vibes from other people, but my kitty and doggie always make me feel good.

Another one: I realized at some point in my life, that almost everyone I come in contact with makes me feel something physically. Once I realized it, I knew it had always been there. I found it very interesting. I started noting the feelings, how strong they were, who triggered what. I don’t know if everyone has this or not. The feelings run the gamut. I’m not always thinking about them, but they’re always there and now that I know it’s going on, it adds another dimension to life. That got into the book, too.

So what happens, though, when all this stuff goes in a book? There’s a writing rule everything in a book needs to advance the story, whether it’s plot, character development, theme. I agree with that. Too many random things confuse and distract readers and can make for a slow, boring read.

But I don’t have total control, at least initially, over this. The book is taking shape even when I’m not writing. It’s feeding on all that stuff swirling and popping around me, grabbing it, stuffing it in. Some of it’s really good and healthy, like kale or carrots. Some of it’s Snickers bars and Giffords chocolate ice cream. So the first draft or two can end up being flabby, with bad skin and sticky hands. I won’t torture the metaphor further, you get what I’m saying.

So my rule with these things is that if they end up making the final cut, they have to be there for a reason.

German paranormal erotica? It’s already doing it’s job as a tiny bit of insight into a character.

Exsanguinate? Oh my yes. How could I not?

The bridge behind my office. Another obsession.

The Talking Heads song? As long as I can get permission to use the lyrics, it underlines some of what’s going on in the protagonist’s head. I don’t know if it was listening to the song or if the muse sent me the song, but there are a lot of lines in it that fit while I was writing. If it’s not going to work out, I’ll have to listen to REO Speedwagon or something like that for a solid month to purge my head of it.

The physical feeling from other people? My protagonist has that, too. I just have to fine-tune the writing so it works and is convincing to readers instead of being this weird thing that will just make her (and me) seem a little, um, creepy and someone to avoid.

There are hundreds of other things that landed in the book from that constant carnival that’s swirling around that may not make it. They were still fun while they lasted. I’m not sure where else a writer would get her ideas.

Maureen Milliken is the author of “Cold Hard News,” the first in the Bernie O’Dea mystery series. Follow her on twitter @mmilliken47. Like her Facebook page, Maureen Milliken mysteries, and sign up for email updates at her website, maureenmilliken.com.

A Look Back

Bruce Robert Coffin checking in. I’m sitting in my attic writing nook reflecting on the past year. What a ride! January 1st, 2015 found me with the usual resolutions, eat better, lose a few pounds, workout more, you know the ones. But last year I added a goal. Get published! It didn’t matter what it was; short story, grocery list, thank you note, fortune cookie advice, I wasn’t particularly choosy. I’d even entertained the thought of contacting Salada to see if they’d allow me to write a bit of tea bag advice. Hey, I was desperate.

Of course, what I really longed for was to see my first novel in print. The loftiest of all writing goals. Truly unattainable stuff. Friend and fellow Maine writer Chris Holm gave me some great advice. He said: “If you’re gonna step up to the plate, you’ve gotta swing for the fence, every single time.” He was right, of course. But that didn’t stop me from checking my in bin to see if Salada had responded. Nope. Damn.

Last April I attended my second Maine Crime Wave, this time as a wannabe published writer (the first had been as a guess panelist). The cool thing about events like this is getting the chance to chat with successful authors, both in formal and informal settings. I’ve found them all to be very gracious and approachable. And they always say encouraging things like: “Remember, we all began as unpublished authors, too.” In my heart of hearts I knew this was true, but it all sounded a bit too far-fetched. The kind of thing an art teacher might say if you turned in a blank canvas because you couldn’t think of a single thing to paint.

“Oh, I love what you’ve done here. So minimalist. So abstract. So bold.”

Please.

Like Jim Hayman, Kate Flora, and Gerry Boyle weren’t born already published!

The evening before the Crime Wave, I attended the Friday night reading dubbed “Two Minutes in the Slammer.” A cool moniker for what was really a chance to stand up in front of a room full of accomplished writers and wannabes (like me), knees knocking, and read something you’d written. The literary equivalent of grabbing the listener by the ear and not letting go. Knock their socks off, I was told. Sure, I said, until I realized we only had two minutes in which to accomplish this. Talk about nerve-racking.

After deciding upon a passage from my one of short stories, titled Bygones, I spent the afternoon practicing my delivery in my kitchen, to a audience of a half dozen empty dining room chairs. Timed by my microwave, trying not to sound like Peter Brady (Remember the episode where his voice kept changing as he hit puberty?), I honed the abridged version of my story until it was precisely two minutes in length. It was okay, I thought. I looked at the dining room chairs. Not a naysayer among them. I took their silence as a sign of agreement.

Hours later I found myself in the lower level of the Portland Public Library. Pacing as I stared at the stage. What the hell? No one had said anything about getting up on a stage. Please, God, I thought. Don’t make me read first. Or even worse, last!

As the seats slowly filled up, I continued to wear out the floor at the back of the room. Until I saw a familiar face, Paul Doiron. You know, author of the acclaimed Mike Bowditch mystery novels, about the coolest outdoorsman since Grizzly Adams. A fan of his books, I approached Paul hoping the pass the time with a little banter about what he was up to, wanting badly to take my mind off that stupid stage. As usual, Paul was very engaging and down to earth. If he noticed my frequent nervous over the shoulder glances at the stage, he never mentioned it. Paul told me about a book he was writing, The Precipice, set in the middle of Maine’s Hundred Mile Wildness along the famed Appalachian Trail. A fan of the AT myself, I mumbled something incoherent about a mystery novel that I’d been working on, titled “Trail Magic”, about a female FBI agent trying to convince others of the existence of a serial killer stalking victims along the entire AT. Always the gentleman, Paul said he thought it sounded “cool.” Somehow, given his stature in the mystery writing community, and me being an unpublished author, it didn’t feel very cool. In all honesty, I felt more like a tool.

Again, I glanced at the stage. Any word from Salada?

Everyone took their seats as the rules were explained. Each of the thirteen readers would be given a moment to either tell the audience a bit about themselves or explain the passage from which they’d be reading. Following the intro the two minutes would begin. The two minute limit would be strictly enforced, they said. They even had a timer! Alarmed, I wondered if the timer on my microwave had ever been calibrated…

The order of the readers was announce. I wasn’t first! Yay. Tucked safely in the middle, I figured if I sucked royally no one would remember. I listened enthusiastically as the others spewed forth great prose. Some was humorous, some action-oriented, and some just plain old good writing. When it was over, each of us congratulated the others on our delivery and our prose while we awaited word from the judges.

A number of people approached me and praised my reading, among them were Jim Hayman and Chris Holm. They seemed genuinely impressed with what I had read. But I remained doubtful. What if Jim and Chris were just really good at improvisational praise? My dining room chairs hadn’t instilled a lot of confidence.

Several minutes later the results were finally tallied. The judges announced two winners, and I was one of them! I was elated. Not only had I survived my Two Minutes in the Slammer, I’d won my freedom!

Winning Two Minutes in the Slammer hadn’t been on my list of New Year resolutions, but the way I was feeling, it shoulda been.

Screw you Salada!

Let’s just say that the remainder of the year exceeded my wildest hopes and expectations. In November my very first short story, “Fool Proof”, was published in the Best New England Crime Stories 2016 anthology, Red Dawn. I obtained an honest-to-god literary agent, Paula Munier of the Talcott Notch Agency. And with Paula’s help I’ve just recently managed to fulfill my lifelong dream of having a novel published. In fact, not just one novel but three! I’m happy to announce that HarperCollins will be publishing my John Byron Mystery Series under their Witness Impulse imprint. The debut novel will be released in early fall.

And finally, as if all of this wasn’t enough, the genie popped out of the lamp one more time in February (Yeah, I know it’s a different year, but this is my blog.), handing me an email from Mr. Mystery himself, world renown publisher, editor and New York bookstore owner Otto Penzler, informing me that “Fool Proof” had been picked as one of the twenty best mystery stories published in North America during the 2015 calendar year! Holy moly! My story will now appear in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Best American Mystery Stories, 2016.

In retrospect, my diet may not have improved much, my appearances at the gym are somewhat sporadic, I’ve actually gained a few pounds (muscle I imagine), but as far as my writing goals are concerned, I somehow managed to put one over the fence.

Grab that would you, Chris? I’d like to keep it as a momento.

I’m not sure if Clarence was right about there being sone correlation between bells and angels getting their wings (trust me, I’m no angel), but I can now say with certainty, if you want something bad enough, and you’re willing to work hard to get it, really hard, dreams really do come true.

What Am I Up To?

Thank you for asking.

Hi. Barb here.

Fogged Inn, the fourth Maine Clambake Mystery launched last week.

Here’s the description.

An autumn chill has settled over Busman’s Harbor, Maine, but Julia Snowden is warming up the town by offering lobster stew at the local diner. When her landlord discovers a dead body in the walk-in refrigerator, Julia must figure out who ordered up a side of murder.

Early reviews have been good, which is fun and gratifying.

“I started reading and I just couldn’t stop.”

Escape with Dollycas Into a Good Book, February 2016

“This is the 4th book in her Maine Clambake Mystery series and I have to say they just keep getting better.”

Cozy Mystery Book Reviews, February 2016

“An entirely surprising conclusion wraps up this smartly-plotted mystery whose heroine is intelligent and as appealing as the gorgeous Maine coast.”

King’s River Life, February 2016

“Quite honestly, there is not one thing I would change about this book…”

mjbreviewers, February 2016

Read More about Fogged Inn

You can purchase Fogged Inn in paperback and e-book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, iTunes, Kobo, and other fine retailers including your local, independent bookstore. The audiobook is coming soon and just yesterday I heard there will be a large print version. Not sure of the release date for that yet.

My editor signed off on my novella for Eggnog Murder

Here’s the description.

It’s Christmas in Maine! This holiday season, join New York Times bestselling author Leslie Meier and Lee Hollis and Barbara Ross and cozy up with a glass of eggnog and enjoy the spirit of murder and mystery in a Yultide treat perfect for those winter holidays…

(Or as Amazon calls it, by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and one other, which makes me laugh.)

I’m calling my contribution to the collection Maine Clambake Mystery 4.5, because it fits neatly between Fogged Inn, which takes place the week after Thanksgiving, and Maine Clambake Mystery #5, Iced Under which takes place in the end of February.

Here’s the description my novella, “Nogged Off.”

Julia Snowden’s tenant Imogen Geinkes seems to be jinxed. First, her poorly named “Killer Eggnog” gives all her co-workers food poisoning at the holiday party, then her boyfriend’s body shows up in Julia’s moving truck as she’s headed back to Busman’s Harbor. Now Julia has to get moving to catch the cold-hearted culprit.

You can pre-order Eggnog Murder at Amazon, Books A Million, Kobo, and other select retailers.

News from Level Best Books

Bruce Coffin is a Maine Crime Writer, and we’ve already announced that his story, “Foolproof,” in Best New England Crime Stories: Red Dawn was chosen as a Best American Mystery Story of 2015 by Otto Penzler and guest editor Elizabeth George. It will appear in the Best American Mystery anthology when it is released in the fall. In past years, Level Best has had stories recognized as “Other Distinguished Stories” and listed in the back of the book, but this is our first “Best.” It’s a great way for the former editors to go out.

Three Red Dawn authors’ stories made the Derringer Award short lists, announced by the Short Mystery Fiction Society today. Vy Kava for “Hero,” Best Flash, and Chris Knopf for “Kill Switch” and Shelly Dickson Carr for “Words Can Kill” for Best Short.

We’re very proud of all of them!

You can buy Best New England Crime Stories: Red Dawn in paperback and for Kindle at Amazon, for Nook at Barnes & Noble and in paperback from Level Best Books.

And I’m hard at work on Maine Clambake Mystery #5, Iced Under

I am hard at work on Maine Clambake Mystery #5 now. It will be published December 26, 2016.

In other news…

In other news, while you’re reading this, my husband and I are driving back from Key West to New England and are happily working on the Wedding of the Century, our daughter’s, taking place in Portland, Maine in May.

So it’s a busy, crazy time.

Death and Taxes; or, The Author and the IRS

Before I start writing: I am Lea Wait. I’m a writer, not an accountant.

But a few days ago Maine Crime Writers reader Ann Hough asked how I — and other Maine Crime Writers – set up the business side of being a writer. (MCWers  and other authors — please comment!)

I know a few writers, generally very successful ones (think: always on the New York Times best seller list) who have incorporated themselves for tax and legal reasons.

But I suspect most of us file, as I do, on a Schedule C (“Profit or Loss From Business”). My husband and I actually file three Schedule Cs — one for my writing, one for his art, and one for our antique print business.)

On mine I list my occupation as “writer” (code 711510) and include income and expenses for both writing and speaking, since most of my speaking fees are related to my writing.

And before I go any further: the key to establishing yourself as an author with the IRS is having records of everything you declare, in any category, both income and expenses, in case the IRS questions whether your writing is a business or a hobby. It used to be understood that a business needed to make a profit on a fairly regular basis — some said every 3 years. My accountant has said that, with documentation, the IRS is more flexible about authors these days. But the key is always documentation. You have to be able to prove you tried seriously to make money from your writing.

OK. Income. That includes advances and royalties from book sales. (The percentage paid to your agent is listed under “commissions”.) Income includes on-line or bookstore sales from self-published books. It includes every dollar you earned from free-lancing, or writing short stories. It includes honorariums or payments from libraries or schools or conferences, or money from editing. I make copies of any checks I’ve earned during the year, no matter how small, so I can just add them up in January or February, when I’m doing my taxes. You didn’t have any income from writing this year? Be prepared to provide proofs that you actively tried to make money: letters (and rejection letters) from agents and editors. Query letters you submitted. Attendance at writing seminars or conferences.

Expenses? Again, having records is critical. I suspect authors do this differently, but I save receipts for every magazine and book I buy during the year. When I’m doing my taxes I divide them into “books I read to learn more about writing or publishing,” “books I read to keep abreast of the market,” “books I read for research,” and  “other.” “Other” books are not deductible. The others are. I go through the same exercise with magazines, since they’re on a separate IRS line.

Dues to writing organizations are deductible, and they add up. This year I’m a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, The Author’s Guild, Novelists, Inc., the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.

Did you hire someone to design or maintain your website? Format your e-book? Design a cover? Edit your book? Publicize it? Do you have a post office box you use just for writing (so you don’t list your street address on your website)? Did you buy any equipment used just for writing (e.g. a tape recorder for interviews)? Writing software, e.g. Scrivener? Did you enter any writing contests or pay fees for critiques?

Your can also list marketing expenses (advertisements, printing postcards or other promotional materials), postage (to send those postcards to people on your mailing list or send books to potential reviewers,) the cost of writing classes or conferences, and office supplies (printer ink, paper, notebooks, envelopes, index cards)  — again, supplies used just for your writing career. Giveaways – magnets, tee shirts, bookmarks, whatever, advertising your book(s) — yes. Deductible

Travel expenses can be dicey. I keep a record of every mile I drive related to writing … driving to events I’m attending or speaking at, visiting bookstores, going to historical associations or libraries or museums to do research, attending conferences, etc. If the trip involves an overnight stay, the hotel room is deductible. (The late night movie you paid for on your hotel bill isn’t.) Airline tickets, luggage fees, parking expenses, tolls, taxis — all are legitimate expenses when your trip is purely for business reasons. If you add on a day for vacation, you have to deduct that per cent of the expenses. Meals are also questionable. My choice is to list very few — the argument being that even if you’re at home you were going to eat anyway. I wouldn’t want to be called in by the IRS about a restaurant or bar bill. And don’t forget that if you’re lucky enough to be reimbursed for any of these expenses, you can’t declare them. Makes sense.

Although writers often buy clothes they only wear when they’re speaking or attending conferences (occasions that tend to require outfits a bit dressier than the sweat pants we may wear when we work at home), no — sorry — those clothes are not deductible.

Neither are taking your significant other with you on a trip (deduct 50% from expenses) or having your hair done for an awards banquet (you would wash it anyway, right?) or buying souvenirs. Unless, of course, the souvenir is a book on birds in the state where your next book is set, in which case it falls under “Books: research”.

Home offices are only deductible if the space is used exclusively for writing. I’d advise checking with your accountant on that one. If you do take a home office deduction, it has tax implications when you sell your home.

This all sounds more complicated than it really is. The key is recording every time you spend money on something related to running your business. To being an author.

It doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Every time I speak, say, at a library, I keep at least one or more emails from the library proving the event was scheduled, plus copies of any publicity about the appearance. After I return home I list the mileage I drove, any tolls or parking, any honorarium I might have received, a copy of the check, and any profits I might have made from book sales after my talk, clip it all together, and stick it in my “writing” file.  Oh, yes: business mileage is deductible at whatever rate the IRS approves. For 2016 it’s $.54 a mile. (Good to know when deciding whether you want to drive 200 miles to speak at a small library.)

As a side — but important — note: If you sell your own books directly to customers you need a “resale” or sales tax number from any state in which you do business. Each state has its own rules. In some states you pay sales tax every month, in some it’s every quarter or six months or yearly. Not complicated, but sometimes the paperwork is a pain.

That’s the way I do it. Any comments, fellow Maine Crime Writers or other authors? Have I forgotten anything? April fifteenth is on the horizon …

—–

Lea Wait writes the Shadows Antique Print Mystery series (latest: SHADOWS ON A MAINE CHRISTMAS) and the Mainely Needlepoint series (latest: THREAD AND GONE,) and historical novels for ages eight an up (latest: UNCERTAIN GLORY). Her LIVING AND WRITING ON THE COAST OF MAINE is about her life as a writer, living with her artist husband.  

Never Entirely a Solo Act: Introducing Dick Cass

Dick Cass here and most grateful for the welcome and the chance to ramble on to the MCW blog audience. The recent thrill of joining the lively and vibrant community of crime writers in this state has been eclipsed only by my personal tail-wagging pleasure at holding the hardback of Solo Act, my first mystery novel, in my hot little hands.

This is the tale whereby an alcoholic buys a bucket-of-blood bar in the South End of Boston and tries to turn it into a respectable jazz club without losing his sobriety in the process. It would be churlish not to thank the many people who contributed to this happy event, particularly my agent, Paula Munier, and Tiffany Schofield, the acquiring editor at Five Star. (And it’s strictly a coincidence that Five Star decided to stop publishing mysteries after mine, leaving some very good mystery writers, er, twisting in the wind.) Book available in hardback and e-book all over. Etc. Etc.

With the commercial taken care of, I wanted to make a point of expressing my pleasure and wonder at the talented and committed community of crime writers that has sprung up since the last time I lived here. When I left Maine in 1978, I knew a couple of odd poets and an odd journalist or two (some of them very odd) but most of the state’s literary life seemed to be more in its heritage than current—local, folklorical, and historical. I read writers like Ben Ames Williams, Kenneth Roberts, Ruth Moore. Thoreau in the Maine Woods.

At the time, you didn’t hear too much about contemporary fiction in Maine, let alone crime fiction. Stephen King had just published The Stand (his fourth novel).

The only local crime fiction writer I knew of was Janwillem van de Wetering, a Dutch Zen practitioner who wrote police procedurals and lived in Surry. I’m sure if I’ve missed someone obvious, a kind reader will point it out. But most of the writers I hung around with wrote poetry and published small press broadsides and chapbooks.

In my peripatetics since, I’ve been lucky enough to find a literary community everywhere I’ve lived. A good community is serious, supportive, and acknowledges the joy and the difficulty of pulling your own stories out of yourself for the benefit of other people as well as for your own. What I did not find until I returned to Maine was a group of writers who’d been touched early, as I had, by the various creative geniuses of Alfred Hitchcock, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, John D. MacDonald, and Ross MacDonald and who were listening to the gorgeous dialogue of George V. Higgins and Elmore Leonard.

Your pantheon may vary, but listen to this:

Chris Mankowski’s last day on the job, two in the afternoon, two hours to go, he got a call to dispose of a bomb. (Freaky Deaky, Elmore Leonard, 1988)

Put that book down, if you can.

Writers are people who love what they read so much that against the odds, the aggravation, the need to steal time, the sneers or the indifference of family and friends (and the wider world), they spend their days and nights emulating the others who’ve created the stories they love. And so I consider it my extreme good fortune to have fallen in with this crowd, to be here in this place now, when so many fine writers are working at telling the kinds of stories I love to hear, with characters that could be walking our streets and our fields and sailing our oceans. Characters that bring order, on the page at least, out of the chaos that threatens us all. Every day seems to bring more good news about the people here writing and publishing crime fiction. I’m wicked glad to have ended up here. Again.

Richard Cass holds an MA in Writing from the University of New Hampshire, where he studied with Thomas Williams and Joseph Monninger. He’s published stories in Gray’s Sporting Journal, Potomac Review, and Best Short Stories of the American West. He’s also won prizes for his fiction from Redbook and Playboy magazines and the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Conference. He was a Fellow at the Fishtrap Summer Fishtrap Gathering – Writing in the West and he’s published a collection of stories called Gleam of Bone. His first mystery novel, Solo Act, was published in January 2016 by Five Star Publishing. He lives, writes, and teaches in Cape Elizabeth, ME.

Weekend Update: February 27-28, 2016

Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be a special Leap Day post on Monday and posts by Lea Wait (Tuesday), Barb Ross (Wednesday), Bruce Coffin (Thursday), and Maureen Milliken (Friday).

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

Kate Flora: Gosh, it looks like not much is happening at Maine Crime Writers this coming week. Does this mean we’re all at our desks, bent over our works in progress? Maybe next week we’ll give you a sneak preview of some of those works. The way MCW writers are turning out books, soon we will have filled a bookcase. Oh…silly comment, single-handedly Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kate Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett has already done that!

Barbara Ross celebrated the publication of her newest Maine Clambake mystery, Fogged In, which is debuting to rave reviews.

Dick Cass will be along on Monday to tell you about his debut book, Solo Act.

And if you like fun links, in yesterday’s post, Jessie Crockett shared a link to a social security name website, where you can look up names from every era and see how common they were. But you’ll have to skip over to Jessie’s post for that.

Got a cool website you’d like to share with us? We always like links to things Maine, writing, food, and just plain fun.

And just to prove how much crime (writing!) can be, here are some fun pics from Death and Desserts events:

Death and Desserts at the Liberty Library with Lea Wait and Dorothy Cannell

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: mailto: kateflora@gmail.com

What’s in a Name?

Jessie: Thinking thoughts of spring and keeping an eye out for robins, crocuses and skunks

Do you have a dream job? I don’t necesarily mean something glamorous or that even would pay the bills, but rather the sort of thing that intrigues you or makes you smile? For me, one that always makes my list is that of a color namer. I think I would love to be in charge of naming lipsticks and paint chips and richly dyed yarns.

I have no idea how anyone would get such a job besides starting one’s own line of yarns or paints or lipsticks. Until I figure it out I’ve found that being a writer is at least as good. I get to name all sorts of people, places and businesses. I can even give characters products to name if I so choose.

Naming feels magical. I’m not sure how other writers end up doing it but names often come to me fully formed with a character attached. I’ll be trudging along, minding my own business, when it is as if someone simply appears next to me without warning, sticks out a hand and introduces herself. It’s happened that way with every single one of my main characters and many of the more minor ones.

Other times I have a sense of what the character is like and I need the right name to solidify what all that means. That’s when I like to turn to the government for inspiration. Like so many other writers I make frequent use of the . It allows you to search by decade, gender and even by popularity. When I know what a character is like, I usually have an idea what sort of parents he had and whether or not they would be likely to choose a popular or more unusual name for their child.  In case you’re curious, in 1880 the 1000th most popular name for boys was Layton and girls was Euna.

Lately, I’ve also needed to name myself. I have a new historical mystery series set in Maine launching in September and it needed a new name to distinguish it from my contemporary series. It is surprisingly agonizing to choose author names. It feels like so much is involved. A signature, remembering to respond when someone speaks to you at an event, feeling like it is a match for you as a writer and as a person. Luckily for me me I had my married name waiting in the wings for just such an occasion.

Readers, do you like to name things? Writers, do you have a naming process either for your characters or for yourself?

Grail Quest

John Clark sharing a series find in young adult fiction. Years ago, I deliberately avoided reading any of the Harry Potter books until I finished the second book in my own YA fantasy series. Once I got into them, I understood why there was so much interest. (I even listened to all of them on unabridged audio, something I strongly suggest if you want a darker take) Not only were they extremely well written, but they got kids, parents and even grandparents hooked on reading. As a librarian I’m convinced it was the best thing to happen in terms of literacy in the past fifty years. When the series ended, I felt a sense of withdrawal, but soon found other YA fantasy worth reading. In fact, the whole YA market exploded after Harry Potter and continues to this day, something I both bless and curse.

However, series comparable to the Potter books don’t come along very often, but I stumbled on one worthy of comparison completely by accident. I trade books on Paperbackswap and have four saved searches I run regularly, one of which looks for any teen books published after 2009. I’ve discovered several hundred titles that way, many self-published or issued by small presses. Last month, I claimed one called Legacies written jointly by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill. It was the first in a four part series called the Shadow Grail Quest. I had never read any of Mercedes’ books, but remembered something musician David Arkenstone wrote in his liner notes for a CD I got years ago. Mercedes was quoted in it as saying that she listened to his music for inspiration while writing. I was using Medwyn Goodall’s music for similar creative energy at the time and liked the validation.

Book One

I read it in a couple days and borrowed the second one, Conspiracies, through MaineCat. No copies of the last two were available when I neared the end, so I bought Sacrifices and Victories. As I read the remainder of the series, I couldn’t help but think about some of the similarities to the Harry Potter books (all quite favorable).

The story begins with Spirit White in a hospital, recovering from serious injuries suffered in the car crash that killed her parents and younger sister. Faced with pain and grief, Spirit isn’t sure what will happen when she’s well enough to be discharged because she has no living relatives. Even more distressing, the family farm located in a remote area, burn. Lightning is the official cause, but the more things happen, the less Spirit believes this to be true and she has recurring dreams where something huge and evil appeared in the road just before the crash.

Book 2

She’s whisked off in a fancy car after being informed that she’s destined for magical greatness at a private school called Oakhurst in the middle of a remote section of Montana. The party line is that her parents went there and as a legacy with mage ability, she’s getting a full ride which starts as she and another boy are flown to Montana by private jet. Odd that her parents never mentioned anything about magic or having attended the school.

Her first experience with the headmaster, Dr Ambrosius, it traumatic as he turns her into a mouse while morphing into an owl. Despite being assured she has one of the magical powers derived from earth, air, fire or water, every time Spirit is tested, nothing shows up. All the other students, including her small circle of friends (friendship is discouraged, while competition and mistrust are promoted at Oakhurst), Burke, Loch, Addie and Murin, have at least some measurable level in one of these.

Book 3

When the teens realize that students are disappearing, including some who were supposedly hospitalized in Billings, but never return, they start investigating and discover two frightening facts. First, there are records in a basement storage area where students have ‘Tithed’ on their folders. Each is among the missing as far as they can tell. Second, someone inside Oakhurst seems to be disarming the magic wards surrounding the campus when teens vanish. The first book ends in a slam bang battle.

Just when Spirit and her friends think they’ve been successful in defeating the extremely scary band responsible for the vanished kids, the school is infiltrated by ‘graduates’, under the direction of Mark Rider, head of a very lucrative gaming company. He and his henchmen ramp up the distrust level among classmates by instituting some really scary new classes, survival riding (think Hunger Games like surprises while riding on a horse over an endurance course) and ‘almost have to kill the instructor to pass’ defense/martial arts classes.

By the time they reach book three, our heroes are dismayed because many of their fellow students think the second round of baddies has been vanquished, but instead, these Shadow Knights have infiltrated the faculty. At the same some of the good students are beginning to have odd dreams that seem to go back to Arthurian times, ones where they’ve become a person involved in the battle between Guinevere and Mordred. At the same time, Breakthrough, Mark Rider’s gaming company, has set up shop in Radial, the nearest town and seems to be glamoring the citizens so they don’t have the slightest inkling that something evil is overtaking the town and Oakhurst. Even when the town library is destroyed by monsters, the damage and the student deaths are attributed to bad weather. It’s clear to Spirit and her friends that it’s time to flee Oakhurst and regroup elsewhere so they can figure out how to defeat the evil presence at Oakhurst. Sadly, one of their group is killed while creating a distraction that allows the other four to escape.

The final book involves the four survivors finding the mysterious online entity QUERCUS who befriended her after she found a mysterious thumb drive in a bag after going shopping in town and made it possible to bypass the school wide block on outside internet access while proving to be evasive and elusive whenever asked a direct question. As he/she gives them periodic instructions, leading to another, older escapee from Oakhurst, Spirit finally comes into her own magic which is derived from a fifth school, one extremely rare, but essential to defeating the person Mordred became before Oakhurst was opened. I was particularly intrigued by who/what QUERCUS turned out to be and where he was hiding. The final battle is a dandy one that involves the mastery of four ancient artifacts the surviving heroes found.

Book 4

I understand this series won’t be for everyone, but I really enjoyed getting lost in it and relating to the main characters. There are many details I needed to leave out in order to preserve a decent level of unknown. All four books are available from member libraries in MaineCat.