Barbara Fradkin's Blog, page 34

Recognizing Faces

 by Sybil JohnsonI spent last week in the Seattle area visiting family. This was the first time I put the boarding pass on my cell phone rather than having a paper ticket. I know, I know, I’m behind the times. Heck, I remember when you had to go to a travel agent to buy a plane ticket and they gave you an actual physical one. E-tickets and buying directly from the airline have made it so much

Scary Things

 By Thomas KiesHalloween is tomorrow so you know I’ve got to talk about scary things.  Things that go bump in the night.  Sounds in the attic, doors that open and close by themselves, children laughing in the darkness…where there are no children.Things that make the hair on the back of your neck bristle and wake you up in the middle of the night. I cut our cable service years ago.  We still get

Just Because We Can...

NASA recently announced that a capsule from the Osiris-Rex spacecraft had landed in Utah. The capsule contained debris collected from the asteroid Bennu. For us science-fiction nerds, the scenario is all too reminiscent of the plot from Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain. Our government assures us that precautions against contamination are in place. Which begs the question, precautions

Connecting with fellow book lovers

 In my blog post two weeks ago, I wrote about the dark place I was in because of the war and the seemingly endless suffering. The bombings in Ukraine were not longer in the news because the public and the media had been captivated by a new horror. If anything, the horror is worse now than two weeks ago. Anger and violence is spreading, both in the Middle East and across the globe, where everyone

Love Locks in the News – Again

 by Sybil JohnsonBack in 2019, I wrote a post on Type M on “Love Locks and Locksporting”. You can read it here. At the time, I was doing research for book 6 in the Aurora Anderson mystery series, “Brush Up On Murder”. I included both of those things in a story that’s set around Valentine’s Day. Well, finally after way too long, “Brush Up On Murder” is out in the world! So far it’s receiving good

A Time for Weeping

 by Charlotte HingerThe Hamas/Israel War has displaced all of my thoughts about this week's post. What a tragic event. There are so many possible repercussions that I can't bear to ponder any of them. Right now, my heart goes out to the victims of this war. Donis's post last week was superb. Titled "Where is  Cincinnatus?" she revives an old quote “Comes the hour, comes the man.” She lamented the

Retirement---More Time for Writing and Marketing

 By Thomas KiesIt's a little hard to tell from that photo, but that was a toast made in my honor at my retirement party. I’m retiring from my day job as president of our county’s chamber of commerce this week. Friday is officially my last day.  About a week ago, my board hosted a very nice, well attended happy hour in celebration of this event, so this week is a bit of an anti-climax.That being

The Copyediting Process

 I was going through some documents I had saved on a thumb drive, searching for a midterm study guide for one of my classes that I thought I might have accidentally copied to the wrong drive. As I was scrolling, I came across my responses to the copyeditor's queries about The Red Queen Dies, the first book featuring my Albany, New York homicide detective, Hannah McCabe. Since The Wizard of Oz is

The plot audition

Sometimes, I ask my plots to audition. I ask them to try out for their roles as novels that will dominate my life for a year or more by writing them as short stories first. Occasionally, they succeed as both. Bitter Crossing, the first Peyton Cote novel, was “Autumn’s Crossing” in the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.Usually, if the plot is best served as a 40-chapter meal, it becomes apparent:

Hope and justice for the real world

 It's been a tumultuous week in the world. This past weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving, but many of us have been struggling with the appalling news out of the Middle East. On top of the wars in Sudan, Armenia, and the earthquake in Afghanistan. Before that the flood in Libya and the earthquake in Morocco. Thousands of people have been killed and millions more injured, homeless, and suffering.It's