Mike Jastrzebski's Blog, page 23

Not enough time!

When I last posted, I was headed back from Ireland. I miss Dublin, but love being back in Key West. Of course, while I was gone the work of putting final touches on the inaugral Mystery Writers Key West Fest went into overdrive and now I am trying to stay up to speed.

NY Times bestselling author Heather Graham will be on a panel and so will Carla Norton, whose first book is up for Best First Book at Thriller Fest in NYC  in July. Two wonderful women and damn fine writers. In fact, Carla will not only be on the panel, Women of Mystery, she’ll moderate Writing the Series.

If you’ve been looking for a reason to visit Key West for the first time, or a reson to come back for another visit, this conference is reason enough. Check out the info at www.mysterywriterskeywestfest.com.

I thought I’d share a photo from Ireland. Not many people have seen me in my winter clothing.

Me with my pint of Guinness and Irish thriller writer Laurence O’Bryan at the Stag’s Head pub, Dublin.

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Dragon’s Triangle comes to Kindle First

by Christine Kling

Have you heard about the Amazon program called Kindle First? I hadn’t. And I thought I was pretty savvy about Amazon and publishing in general. This program offers one FREE Kindle book to members of Amazon Prime members. Actually it is a choice of one of four different books that are offered to readers one month before the actual publishing date.

You might ask why I am telling you about this. Well, my latest novel, DRAGON’S TRIANGLE, is one of the choices this month. Officially, the book’s release date is not until June 1st, but for members of Prime it is available now and it is free, or for folks who want to just join Kindle First (not Prime), they can get it now for $1.99.

It is now late in the evening of the second day of this program and already my book is ranked at #22 on the entire Amazon bestseller list. This is an amazing marketing program that Thomas & Mercer has offered to me.

There are so many reasons I can list for loving my publisher, and this program just adds one more to the list. My book just got its very first review a full month before the publication date, and it’s a great 5 star review. Add that to the way they listen to my input, the great editing, and the terrific cover, and I can honestly say I could not imagine being happier with any other publisher.

I recognize that there are folks out there who are not happy with Amazon, but I am in the business of writing books and I’m an avid reader. As a member of Prime myself, I’m trying to figure out which book to pick for my own Kindle Library tonight. Are you a Prime member? If so, click here and select your own free book for this month.

Fair winds!

Christine

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Pop Quiz…

C.E. Grundler

Q: What do you get when you mix the following ingredients?

Tide Ranges, Water Tables,Flood Maps
Rip Tides and Currents
Sneakers and Severed Feet
Disappearances/Death & Dismemberments
Columbian Mining Operations
People quite literally in Glass Houses
Passive Infra-red Motion Sensors and other security systems
Radio Controlled Drones with Streaming Video
International Smuggling Operations
Cement Trucks
Assorted humans with a multitude of personality/emotional issues.
And One Big-@ss Hurricane

A. The headlines from assorted newspapers.

B. The topics of numerous questionable online searches and bookmarked sites my computer would reveal were you to vigorously shake it upside down.

C. A great reason for the vigilant airport security folks to pull my daughter aside, search her luggage, and swipe her hands for explosives residue prior to each flight she boards. (Actually, I think that started with the first two books.)

D. The makings of a questionably viable heist.

E. Stuff I’ve come to gain a better understanding of as I write this book.

F. All of the above.

Anyone who has followed my posts should know the correct answer is F.  I think this has to be one of my favorite parts about writing — as each level of research leads to yet more, I’ll find myself learning a myriad of information I might otherwise never have known. And as I read not for research but for entertainment,this detail divides the books I’m reading into memorable and not quite so memorable. I love soaking up new concepts, and when an author weaves facts or history into their story, when the various facets of fiction blend seamlessly with facts, those are the stories I enjoy most. And when I know with each new book, that author will leave me not only entertained, but a little wiser in some unexpected way, those are the books I’ll reach for time after time.

And I’ll admit, these look like they could be real fun… and also REALLY useful/scary, the more you think about it. (And this -starting around the 1;00 mark – reminds me of those dog agility competitions! )

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On Varnishing

I am thinking about the well-known saying that painting the Golden Gate Bridge is a constant. You think any of those bridge workers have an interest in buying an old wooden boat?

Each spring I walk into the boatyard shed and marvel at how close to ready good old Factor X looks. All that careful prep and finish from the previous year finally has that sailboat to the point where she’s ready to splash into the salt with nothing but a single coat of bottom paint.

Then I step closer. I see a chip on the hull here and another one there. I get my fingernail under a little crack in the paint and a few more voids are revealed. Sure, she can go in as is, but what the heck, I’ve painted those planks so many times it won’t take much to sand them down, do some quick fairing, and lay on a fresh coat.

Then I get to the varnish. This one is especially tricky. Varnishing is very satisfying. That is, until it drives you crazy. I know all about the elements of good varnishing: sanding and prep, not applying too much at a time, working in a dust-free environment, mixing the right amount of thinner to match the temperature and humidity. But let’s face reality, the chance of laying down a good coat of varnish on a spring day in a dirt floor boat shed is about as likely as Sotheby’s issuing a news release that old wooden boats will now be auctioned-off as rare collectible art.

Fortunately, with each year I get a bit more proficient with painting and varnishing. I also grow less interested in striving for the perfect finish. Sure, I take pride in the work, but it’s also about time on the water.

My dad kept a small framed copy of a Winslow Homer painting on his desk at work, probably a reminder of summer days spent sailing a catboat. I love that painting and the joy it reveals, of beauty and pleasure that require no varnish and no yacht-like finish.

Yeah, I’ll play a bit this spring, getting our sailboat ready. Just not too much, though. And as for writing? Yes, there’s likely a lesson there, as well.

John Urban

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When dealt only lemons, make limoncello

Crowds at the Vatican.

by Christine Kling

Being open to serendipity means you have to be willing to take whatever comes your way, both good and not so good. My recent research visit to Rome to look at the current home of the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta and to visit the Vatican for the first time made this fact abundantly clear.

The truly wondrous encounter occurred when Wayne and I boarded a night train to get from Salzburg, Austria to Rome. This was one of those great sleeper trains with sliding doors into a compartment and fold down seats that turned into bunks. It made you feel like you were in an old black and white European spy movie. Since the train didn’t originate in the town where we boarded it just after midnight, there was already a lady asleep on an upper bunk in our compartment. Her sheet and blanket were pulled up demurely under her chin, but she opened her eyes and welcomed us in her Austrian-accented English and offered some helpful suggestions to assist us in getting settled.

Amazingly, I slept the night through only waking a couple of times, but come morning I was the first I one up and off to find the WC. When I returned, Wayne and the little lady had folded up the bunks, and Wayne took off for his morning rituals. Alone with our new travel companion, I asked her if she traveled that route often. That was when she told me yes, she did because she worked in Rome as a visiting historian from a Salzburg University permanently attached to the Vatican Library.

Thankfully, our train was 2 hours late, and I got to spend a little more time talking to her about her job, about the collections at the Vatican, about a trip she once took to Fort Lauderdale when she brought a real Michaelangelo sketch for an exhibition there, and what sort of security measures are taken when she accompanies rare books or manuscripts around the world. My new friend had worked at the Vatican for 20 years! There I was just starting to come up with a story that has an ancient document in the story line, and I got to spend my morning train ride into Rome learning about the difference between papyrus and paper and how the ancient inks age differently depending on the material. I learned about the oldest manuscript in the Vatican Library, a bible that dates back to the 4th or 5th century. She explained about the time she took a rare Bible to some scholars in Poland and then had to stay there because the manuscript had to stay in a special case and the scholars had to call her to to come over if they needed to turn the page – only she was allowed to touch the ancient book.

When I asked her about the Knights of Malta, she told me about several sites, not the least of which was the Knights’ Palazzo up on the Travertine Hill. She told me to look through the keyhole and I would see the dome of St. Peter’s at the Vatican. I was considering asking her if we could meet her at the library the next day, but she explained that she was leaving by plane the next day to accompany another book to an exhibition. She also told us she would be glad to be gone because the upcoming weekend was going to be very bad in Rome.

So here is where we come to the not so good part one must take when trusting to serendipity. We have been wandering along through Europe trusting to what Wayne calls the “no-plan-plan” without reservations more than a few days ahead. I also had not done a ton of research about Rome. I had not realized until our new Vatican Historian told me that the Pope was going to be canonized not one but TWO former Popes on Sunday and there we were arriving on the Wednesday before. Our friend told us that some were estimating there were going to be an additional 5 million people in Rome by Sunday.

When we visited the Vatican the following day, St. Peter’s Square was jammed with hordes! The extra security was still in place from Easter Sunday a few days before and they were building viewing platforms and putting up jumbo trim screens around the square and thought the city. Nobody was going to let me go poking around.

For my last book, I flew to the Philippines and when Typhoon Bopha made me change my plans and get out of Dodge, I had to accept that turn of luck as well . In the end, however, Bopha became a part of my story. Right now the story is just developing in my head, but there’s a good chance Riley and Cole might get thwarted by the canonization as well.

I do love my Italian limoncello.

 Fair winds!

Christine

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Field Trip…

C.E. Grundler

I’d love to post pictures from the snow-covered Alps, (no, actually. I’ve seen enough snow this winter, thank you very much,) or Ireland’s countryside, (or pubs, for that matter.) But the furthest my research has taken me lately was Cape Cod, and that wasn’t so much for research as to drop in on family for an afternoon and give the dogs a run on the beach.  Loki, despite appearances, is NOT a water dog, and was not amused when one of his playmates rough-housed him right into a tide pool.

Rex, on the other hand, adores being a canine sponge, and moments after this shot was taken decided to see how much of the Atlantic he could sop up and transport to the back seat of my car. And no, the water is not that deep. The dog is that short.

There was also a stop off in Groton, Conn, to LBI Fiberglass, where I saw a lovely catboat…in a manner of speaking. It’s an “Instant Catboat Cake-Mold” (Full Size Model) Just add a whole lot of fiberglass and resin, mix well, bake… and…  OK, not so instant. When it comes to boats, nothing is instant. Nothing.  Still, the lines are unmistakable in their grace.

Now the really fun research trips are going to begin. Let’s see. Where will I be going, and what will I be researching?

1. The Jersey Shore (Again, and that sort of goes without saying.) More specifically, some of the more low-lying and hard hit areas.

2. I need to have some nice talks with some nice people designing more hurricane resistant structures.

3. Road crews. Which roads were closed when, and how far did they go under.

4. Cement trucks. (!!!) (Don’t mind the internal five year old, who is very excited by the prospect of playing around/perhaps getting behind the wheel of some giant Tonka Toys.)

5. More construction companies

6. A Cigar bar or two. No, I don’t smoke ‘em, but I’m sure I know a few people who will happily join me for that one.

7. Bahrs Landing, in Highlands, NJ. I haven’t written anything that has to do with anything Bahrs related, but I’m sure I can figure a scene where my characters need to tie up and grab a bowl of what I consider the best clam chowder in NJ. And just to be safe, I really should drop by and have a bowl or three… for research, you know.

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The Importance of Research

Michael Haskins

I am am on way back to the States from Ireland today. I’ve been researching parts of Dublin and Kerries for my next book. I’d Googled and Google Earth the areas before I arrived in Ireland. I got Dublin pretty much right in my story. It’s a big city and has all the good and bad of any big city anywhere.

I did get to see the celebration of the Easter 1916 uprising and that alone was worth the trip.

I have a few friends here, but one, journalist Gary Quinn showed me around his town, Skerrie. A 30-minute train ride from Dublin, but a world away. I needed a graveyard for an important scene. We walked all over Skerrie and at his friend’s newsstand, we found out about the Celtic crosses at one graveyard. What a trip! I couldn’t have imagined a setting like this and it’s real!

Most people reading the book won’t know about Skerrie’s graveyard, but those that know or have been there will see that I got it right. It is important that writers get facts right because readers are better educated and don’t want to be misled.

My graveyard scene takes place at night, so I could’ve faked my way through it, but now I can accomplish much more in the scene because I’ve been there, I know how high the wall around it is. I know there’s a housing complex on one side, a church on another. I have more knowledge than will be needed to write the few chapters, but now they are going to be better chapters than I could’ve done without the research.

Research, make it part of your writing routine. In fact, when it’s important for the story line, do the research early, if you can.

Of course, it’s not a bad idea to do the research in the place that brews Guinness!

michaelhaskins.net

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Be Careful What You Wish For

 

The alpine experience I thought I was getting (from the train en route)

As a part of this research trip through Europe, we are also visiting friends and family and we have spent the last 3 days visiting Wayne’s cousin who lives in Biel, Switzerland. We need to move on to Rome where I intend to do more research, but we ran up against Easter weekend. Easter is not a time to be in Rome. But it’s spring, right? So I suggested that we might visit some place up in the Alps – you know, I was thinking Julia Andrews and The Sound of Music. In my life since the age of 5 I have only lived in California, Hawaii, the US Virgin Islands and Florida. So when Wayne asked me if I wanted a real alpine experience, I assured him yes, that’s what I wanted. So we asked Wayne’s cousin Lynda to suggest a real Swiss location. This is how I now find myself in Engstligenalp — a place that resembles the North Pole complete with igloo but without jolly Santa or elves.

I know, be careful what you wish for. See, I thought April 18, Easter weekend would mean green pastures, brow spotted cows, and distant snow-covered mountains. Noooooooo. Not in the Alps it seems.

So we took two trains, two buses and a cable car and we arrived at this place where it is actually snowing! There is white stuff falling from the sky and my nose and ears feel like they are about to fall off. And Wayne is laughing at me.

We are staying at the Berghaus Bärtschi, a little place with bunk beds and the bathroom down the hall. In the shoe room where you change out of your boots, there is an entire rack full of helmets from the skiers. And there is not a brown spotted cow in sight.

I had very intention today of writing a blog about the incredible Swiss transportation system and making this clever comparison between connections in writing and transportation, but now my fingers are frozen, there is no Internet – only a weak cellular data connection – and I intend to head for the bar as soon as I finish this blog.

I had been thinking about the beauty of the Alaskan inland passage and how great it might be to sail the fjords of Scandinavia. I now think I am going to adopt Wayne’s rule – we only sail between 20 degrees north and 20 degrees south. It’s much easier to type with thawed fingers.

The real thing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fair winds!

Christine

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It’s all coming back to me now…

C.E. Grundler

…In bits and pieces, I mean.

A little while back my father mentioned that he’d come across my old sailing dinghy, or at least what was left of it. It wasn’t pretty, he admitted. The boat was history.

*sigh*

I suppose it stood to reason. It had to be somewhere around 35 years old, and constructed as if a Sunfish and an Igloo ice chest had a few too many drinks together and couldn’t recall the rest of the night. In the time I’d had it, I’d done my best to bring it up to Laser level performance, which included a tiller extension, a hiking rig, and what ever other odd modifications my allowance could afford. The snottier the weather, the more fun it was to sail, which I’m certain left my parents with their share of grey hairs.

Years ago I’d passed the little boat along to some family friends in Maine with two younger children who wanted to sail, letting go of a chunk of my own childhood in the process. I had bigger boats, and the little orange-sailed vessel had been gathering dust for years. The boat had given me countless wonderful memories and taught me much about independence and self-reliance, even if it was on a 11 foot scale. It was someone else’s turn; it was doing no one any good tucked away in storage, so off it went. From time to time I’d wondered what ever became of it, and the older I got, the more complicated my boats and their accompanying work grew, the more fondly I recalled the simple happiness of sailing that little boat. So I’ve promised myself once the mothership is complete, I’ll be turning my attention to that little Puffin, restoring that dinghy and bestowing her with a proper sailing rig. All I needed was some fiberglass and resin, (got plenty,)free time, (insert maniacal giggles here,) a halfway decent centerboard, rudder, mast and sail.

Well, I’m a little closer to that end now, at least on all aspects except a sail and that issue of free time. It seems that my father, who happened to be in Maine, heard that what remained of the boat was going to be carted away as scrap. He told me he wasn’t sure whether I’d be upset or delighted, but he collected up what you see pictured here, including the spars (not pictured here,) the now shredded sail, and mast step, which he removed as a unit via chainsaw.

While I’ll admit it’s strange to see my first boat reduced to a basket case, and while I had planned on creating a new centerboard and rudder for the Puffin, the idea of using these old parts makes me smile. It’s as though I’ve gone full circle.

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Word of Mouth

The saying goes Don’t judge a book by its cover. Of course, we all do. It’s one of the ways books sell. Readers also tend to buy what’s familiar. But there’s another powerful force in selling books and that’s the strength of word-of-mouth recommendations.

We’ve all experienced this, acting on the trusted recommendation of a friend. Sometimes the word-of-mouth sales cycle is a long one. About fifteen years ago a friend and co-worker recommended Michael Connelly’s books. Every once in a while this would come up, and each time I passed. Then, while on vacation, I picked up City of Bones. I blazed through that book, burned through every other Harry Bosch tale, then the stand-alones. All initially triggered by a word-of-mouth recommendation.

E-books and the Information Age have altered publishing drastically, but Amazon’s algorithms are essentially a sophisticated statement of word-of-mouth recommendations, and sites like Goodreads are very much word-of-mouth.

Recently, a friend sent me a text asking if I had heard of the Matt Royal mystery series by H. Terrell Griffin. You’d like them, my friend said, the protagonist lives by the water down in Florida. I checked-out the Matt Royal books. I hadn’t heard of Terry Griffin, but I figured I’d try one and I ordered Blood Island.

There was a great deal to enjoy. Excellent pacing, a number of plot reversals, and strong depictions of the Florida Gulf Coast and the Keys. It turns out that Mike Jastrzebski and Christine Kling know Terry, and perhaps I even once met him at a Sleuthfest writers conference. Still, for me it was a new find courtesy of a word-of-mouth recommendation. I was glad to make the purchase, find someone new, and I’ll be happy to buy some more Matt Royal books.

The Matt Royal character lives on Longboat Key, not far from Siesta Key where John MacDonald wrote. As I thought about the comparisons between Matt Royal and MacDonald’s Travis McGee, I did some searching on the Internet. In the process, I saw a comparison between Travis McGee and Donald Hamilton’s protagonist Matt Helm.

Hamilton’s series ran from 1960 to 1993, very close in time to the Travis McGee books. Helm is government agent trained as an assassin. Several books were made into movies featuring Dean Martin, and a Matt Helm TV series ran in the mid-70s.

I had forgotten all of this, but the magic of the Kindle made for an easy purchase. The story I read was written in 1964 – 50 years ago for those keeping count. Hamilton is an amazingly even writer who is able to maintain suspense without having to amp up the action through peaks and valleys. If you enjoy spy or crime fiction, you might want to give Hamilton a try.

And if you find that you like Griffin’s Matt Royal or Hamilton’s Matt Helm, don’t keep it to yourself. Tell a friend, pass it along word-of-mouth.

by John Urban

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