Sarah E. Glenn's Blog, page 16

Mardi Gras Murder interview: Meet Selina Alaniz

Art by Karrett BarbosaSelina Alaniz contributed "The Jester and the Girl" to Mardi Gras Murder . When the story begins, you think you know what's going to happen... but there's a surprise. We decided to ask her for more details.

Your story, "The Jester and the Girl", deals with an unusual meeting. Can you tell us what inspired the story without giving too many spoilers?  :)

My inspiration for "The Jester and the Girl" came from me wanting to tell a story that was a little different and a little twisted. I wrote these characters with this in mind and just allowed them to take me down this mysterious path. I also think New Orleans itself helped shape some of the elements like the tone and atmosphere. The city has a lot of history and has an allure that lends itself to telling a story like this.

We're pleased we're the ones who got to be your first short story publisher. Any more stories in the works? Novels?

I am so thankful and grateful that Mystery and Horror LLC were the ones to publish my first story. I don't have anything definitive yet but the wheels are turning so we'll see what I can come up with.

Speaking of novels... What do you enjoy reading?

I have to mention R.L. Stine because he was the author I grew up reading. I read every Fear Street and Goosebumps published. I still have most of those books and intend to keep them as long as possible. I love Charlaine Harris, Rachel Caine, and Stephen King. I also love Jane Austen and the Bronte Sisters. Right now I am reading Dystopian novels. I find it interesting to read all these different authors ideas of how people would survive in these end of the world scenarios.

Plotter or pantser?

That is a good question. I think I am a pantser with a hint of plotter. I like to have a general outline of my characters and story but I will sit at the computer and just type away. I'll let my characters do the talking and just go with it even it differs with what I initially started with.

Thank you for being with us today!

Mardi Gras Murder contains thirteen tales of crime that take place during the carnival season. It's now available at Amazon.com in print and Kindle formats. Other authors in Mardi Gras Murder include Paul Wartenberg, Nathan Pettigrew, and Debra H. Goldstein.

Mardi Gras Murder Interview: Meet Daniel Moore

Today, we're meeting Daniel Moore, the author of "Even". The tale is straight-up modern noir and I knew that I was going to be sending an acceptance before I even finished reading it. What drives an author to write noir? Moore gave me some clues.

Sarah: What inspired the idea for "Even"?

Daniel: While going through my personal backlog of books a few months back, I found myself reading all the Ken Bruen titles on the list. Bruen's a brilliant crime fiction author who once lived a criminal life alongside people who were obvious inspirations for the heroes in his books. That kind of credibility rally pulled me in. The book which got me into the drafting process for "Even" was "Her Last Call to Louis Macniece" where an aging English hood gets tangled in an affair with an American pickpocket. The idea that a seasoned crook and murderer could've been so easily crippled by a young woman paying him too much attention and wind up disrupting his entire enterprise struck me as an easy-to-understand joke that related far beyond crime fiction. It was a nice reminder of what a villain could look like to a protagonist that appears almost too capable in the face of danger.

Sarah: How did you pick the genre/setting/era you write in?

Daniel: I wrote this piece as a crime story because I think criminality and the law are the home of the modern and postmodern romances. Whether this speaks good or bad about society today I can't say, but there is, I feel, a deep fascination with what is and isn't criminal and who falls on either side of that line. I have that interest too and I think that's to blame for why the story takes place in seedy dwellings just beyond more civilized settings. I think the story reads as thought it takes place today, but I never think of my stories in the present but rather years from when I'm putting the words to paper. I think if you read the story with that in mind it'll drastically change the experience.

Sarah: Who is your favorite author and what really strikes you about their work?

Daniel: I can't give enough praise to William Gibson as being the author who speaks most directly to my imagination as a reader and a writer. If there's one external influence I'm grateful for in giving me the idea of going down the path to becoming a writer it'd be him and his work. Gibson has a way with words I don't think any other author has. Sometimes it reads as though he's perfectly translating what's in his head onto paper in a way that makes no compromises for the sake of the reader and forces you to bend to his will. And after a page, you'll do just that. Whether it’s the exploration of the mind through drugs or choice or technology, Gibson has a way to remain scarily relevant and topical after decades of writing in a way that only Vonnegut was capable of. His work has always been a source of inspiration. If one day my work were ever to be compared to his, it would be the only time a comparison wouldn't feel like an insult.

Thank you for being with us today!

See Daniel's story for yourself. Mardi Gras Murder is now available at Amazon.com in print and Kindle formats. Other authors include Harriette Sackler, Nathan Pettigrew, and Marian Allen.

Must-see news from A Strong Man's Cup of Tea

Any survivor of the USA holiday marathon MUST read this post from Keith Stewart.

A Strong Man's Cup of Tea: Holiday News You May Have Missed: 

NOW is the appropriate time for the Hallelujah Chorus to wash over our cities and towns, for the almost never-ending "Holiday Season" is finally complete. For whatever rea$ons, we have stretched and pulled what really is a 2-3 day celebration and made it into a 3-4 MONTH blowout.

Seriously, go there and read the entire article. Hilarious.

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Undead of Winter Authors: Meet James C. Simpson

Today, I'm introducing James C. Simpson, the author of "Mit Den Augen Der Toten". It's a story that involves a bad place in a turbulent time, and some very cold weather. Phenomenally cold. If it can make me feel cold in Florida, that's cold!

Q. What gave you the idea for “'Mit Den Augen Der Toten”?
A. The concept for that story was a combination of things. It was based off of some actual firsthand accounts that were told to me by German soldiers who had fought in the east. World War 2 has always held a special fascination for me. It was the most epic time in history and had a very apocalyptic feeling. This real-life horror lends itself to supernatural terror very easily and I took it from there. You can sense an obvious Lovecraftian influence, but the isolation and the cold is based off of my own experiences in the wilderness and being alone. The winter is a great setting for horror because it really is a dead period. It's cold and bleak and it's little surprise that so many horror stories are set in these months.

Q. Your story was one of the best for conveying a true sense of cold. Did you research it, or is Pennsylvania that bad in the winter?
A. Pennsylvania has had some rough winters. No one wants to lose their power, but it is genuinely frightening to lose it in the winter. I've had that happen to me and it can be an arduous experience, especially if you don't have a generator!
The winter always creeps me out the most. All I see is dead trees and hear the whistling wind. No other time of the year does it feel more desperate and lonely.
No small wonder that Frankenstein bookends in the Arctic.
Some of the accounts are based off of my experiences, but others were taken from what I heard. I guess the Russian winter was so extreme that it actually turned the oil into gelatin. That's pretty scary. Not to mention, it was so cold that the abandoned livestock would actually die from exposure and die where they stood...literally, like statues.
I have no love for the winter. I love Christmas, because I'm sentimental like that, but after that, I'm ready for the summer!

Q. How did you pick the genre/setting/era you write in?
A. I have a certain obsession with World War 2 and own several books on the subject. In fact, I have another story being published in a few months that is also set during that war and contains a supernatural element. The war in Europe was of particular interest because of the dimensions of the conflict. Hitler was in effect, the last of the conquerors and it's frightening to think how close he came to taking over the world. I remembered some of the stories I had been told and combined them with the concept of an ancient evil, relative to what the Third Reich was. I have to imagine that the forces of darkness must love something like the Nazis. The Third Reich actually were obsessed with the occult, so that's where that idea came from. I have to figure that is they knew of some supernatural power, they would undoubtedly have wanted to use it, crazy as that sounds.
I feel like this might even be a hint at something future I'll write about, perhaps something mythological. I've had a concept for a long time about Nazis uncovering an ancient evil in an attempt to derive power from it, only to have it consume them and it may return again in future stories, possibly even a novel.

Q. What was your favorite part to write in “Mit Den Augen Der Toten”?
A. The beginning on the Russian front was some of my creepiest stuff. That was certainly interesting to write, but I confess, I never mapped out the story much, I just let it flow. I wanted something strange and unnatural to be found and when it came time to write about the remains of the camp, I just imagined this elemental force that raises the dead and that was pretty strange.  I had a dream about it and it was kind of unsettling, so I jotted it down and if it seems kind of whacked out, blame it on my dreams!
The toughest part when you write something like this is the ending. How do you properly conclude these things and make your readers remember them?
I really hope my last line wasn't too vague.

Q. What's your current project?
A. I have another story coming out in early 2014. That should be out in an anthology called “Luna's Children: Stranger Worlds.” I also have a few more writings on my plate, including another trip back to Nazi Germany, this time involving an ancient vampire, and I am trying to write a western horror, as that's another genre I am very fond of.

We look forward to seeing them!

Undead of Winter is available in print and Kindle format at Amazon. You can enjoy James' story there, along with other fine offerings from authors like Alex Azar, Stephanie Stamm, and D.J. Tyrer.

Paul Wartenberg: Serious Ways To Celebrate Saturnalia

You Might Notice a Trend: Serious Ways To Celebrate Saturnalia

From Paul Wartenberg: author, NaNoWriMo 2013 winner, and author of a well-received story in Strangely Funny. You may find his post strangely funny as well.

Undead of Winter Authors: Meet Tom Wescott

Now available at Amazon.Tom Wescott is an American criminologist specializing in the Jack the Ripper mystery. He's authored numerous original research pieces for journals such as Ripperologist, Ripper Notes, The Whitechapel Society Journal, Casebook Examiner, and The New Independent Review. In 2014 he will publish two full-length investigative works related to the Ripper case: The Bank Holiday Murders and The Berner Street Mystery.

With the story 'Coffin Dirt', though, he creates a story, not a research article. And what a powerful story it is! I write notes about each anthology submission in my spreadsheet to refer to later. Next to his, I wrote: "F---ing near literary." It's horror, but it's not just horror. Learn more about the story, and Tom, now.

Q: What gave you the idea for 'Coffin Dirt'?

A: Winter itself gave me the idea. It's my least favorite holiday. Very dangerous. And much of the stuff in the story happened to people I know. That was the true inspiration for the story. The rest of it just came as I was writing it. I didn't know where it would go until I got there, but I knew that I didn't want to write an identifiable 'monster', such as a ghost or vampire. I'm not sure what Tyson is at the end, but I know he's not an illusion.

Q: You have an interesting day job: criminologist. Could you tell us more about that?

A: Unfortunately, that's a hobby and not a day job. I have a passion for unsolved crimes and like to try and solve them to my own satisfaction. The Jack the Ripper mystery is my personal favorite.

Q: Tell us about your Ripper research.

A: I've studied the Ripper case since the late 90's and have published around 20 essays on the subject. I have two books coming out in 2014. The first (due in January or February) is called The Bank Holiday Murders: The True Story of the First Whitechapel Murders and will include new evidence that I believe will cause quite a stir in 'Ripperology'. The second book, due later in the year, is called The Berner Street Mystery and focuses on the murder of Elizabeth Stride, one of the victims. Lots of myths and mysteries surround this woman and her murder and the book is intended to provide as many answers as possible. Following these I'll produce a larger, more mainstream book on the Ripper case.

Q: What made you decide to start writing your own stories?

A: Like most writers I don't think I had a choice. I was compelled to write and so write I did and will do.

Q: Who is your favorite fiction author and what really strikes you about their work?

A: At this moment I really like Dan Brown and Steve Berry. Popular novelists with a historical bent. Authors who like to explore historical mysteries intrigue me because I like to do that myself. I also love reading horror short stories and buy anthologies as well as journals. I don't like most short stories I read, but when I find ones I like they're often more powerful than a good novel. A novel is like a good nap, but a good short story is like an energy shot.

Thanks for talking to us today!

If you'd like to learn more about Mr. Wescott's Ripper research, he recently did an interview on the subject for the Jack the Ripper Investigations Blog. Click here to whet your appetite for his upcoming publications.

Goodreads Giveaway: Undead of Winter

You may wonder what I've been doing between posting interviews. Well, I was editing and helping format Undead of Winter, the newest offering from Mystery and Horror, LLC. As part of our launch, we're giving away three copies on Goodreads.

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Goodreads Book Giveaway Undead of Winter by Sarah E Glenn Giveaway ends December 13, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win
This book is darker than our previous offerings. Some of the stories have a little warmth or humor, but the majority of them are best described as... chilling.

I encourage you to enter the giveaway, and to check the lengthier description of the book on Amazon. It might be the blast of cold air you're looking for!

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Hoosier Hoops and Hijinks: Brandt Dodson

Please allow me to introduce you to another author from  Hoosier Hoops and Hijinks . The tales in Hoosier Hoops, the newest anthology from the Speed City Indiana chapter of Sisters in Crime, all involve one of Indiana's greatest obsessions: basketball.

Today, we're meeting Brandt Dodson, author of "Requiem in Crimson". Brandt is a man of many talents. Among his previous jobs: working for the Indianapolis office of the FBI, serving as a Naval Officer in the United States Naval Reserve, and even getting a doctorate in Podiatric Medicine. His passion, however, is for his writing.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for "Requiem in Crimson"?

A: Like most things in my life, it was happenstance. I stumbled into it.
I was in the process of beginning a new Colton Parker novel.  I did not have a title, but I knew the story would have to involve Colton doing a personal favor for Mary Christopher, his former FBI colleague and developing love interest.  Like most of the time when I write, I tend to put the piece down so that I can come back to it at a later time and see it with fresh eyes. While I was waiting for this novel to brew a little, I was approached by a member of the Indianapolis chapter of Sisters in Crime about doing a short story for the Hoosier Hoops and Hijinks anthology.  I was honored to be asked, so I dusted off the first chapter of the new Colton Parker novel and developed it into a shorter piece. I've never been a greater outliner when writing, preferring the 'seat-of-the-pants' approach.  I adopted that approach here, too.

Q: On your Web page, you say that your English teacher encouraged you to write. Tell us more about that.

A: I've been fortunate in that I've had a lot of encouragement in life. My parents were the kind that revered education and reading and read to me when I was a child. Their encouragement led me to the world of books. I'm convinced that my love of reading led me to writing.
At several points along my early school career, I had a succession of teachers who saw in me something that I didn't see in myself. Consequently, whenever we wrote short stories or essays in English class, the teacher would invariably pull me aside and encourage me to pursue writing. This happened in grade school, high school, and in college. In the latter case, my writing instructor knew I was looking at medical school but took the time to tell me: "If you don't write, you'll live to regret it." I didn't listen as well as I should have, but it's never too late. I'm writing now and have been blessed with the opportunity to traditionally publish several novels and short stories and to see a play adapted by a dinner theatre. I continue to write because I don't know how I could stop. It's part of my DNA.

Q: What do you know now that you are published that you wish you'd known before?

A: Oh, my. Where do I begin?
I wish I knew that marketing is as important as writing a good book. In my early years I was writing under the delusion that my publisher would produce the book I'd written and get it to the stores and libraries and organize publicity tours and all the rest.  They didn't. If I had known that, I would have started marketing the book while I was writing it. Nevertheless, it still did pretty well and has led to several others.
I wish I'd known that publishing was going to change as radically as it has.
I wish I'd known that editors and agents want to find writers as badly as writers want to find them. It would have saved me a lot of grief.

Q:  If you could ask your readers one question, what would it be?

A: What kind of story would you like to read, but can't seem to find?

Q: Okay, so you're an author. What do you enjoy reading?

Published by Blue River Press.A: I read a great deal of non-fiction, particularly biographies. I'm reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography on Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, No Ordinary Time. But I also read a great deal of fiction. I just finished reading Michael Connelly's The Brass verdict (great book) and I am reading two other novels simultaneously: Black List by Brad Thor and Silent Night by the late Robert B. Parker and his agent, Helen Brann. I've even just started Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It's outside the genre I normally read, but so what? It's good.

Q: What is your current project and can you share a little of it with us?

A: I am writing Chicago Knights, the second in the Sons of Jude series. The series debuted last year with the first novel, The Sons of Jude, for which the series is titled.  The novels feature a rotating cast of characters in the Chicago Police department. Chicago Knights is a character-driven story that tells a tale of sacrifice and redemption.

Brandt Dodson is the creator of the Indianapolis-based Colton Parker mystery series and is the author of several crime novels and short stories as well as play he developed for the Great Smoky Mountain Murder Mystery Theatre in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The play - The Bradley Bunch - opens on March 23rd and runs through the end of the year.
Brandt comes from a long line of police officers spanning several decades and was previously employed by the Indianapolis office of the FBI.
The Sons of Jude is his most recent novel and was published in September 2012.
You can find Brandt at: www.brandtdodson.com

Hoosier Hoops and Hijinks

Today, we're meeting Diana Catt, author of "The Art of the Game", the opening story in Hoosier Hoops and Hijinks . Hoosier Hoops is the newest anthology to be published by the Speed City Indiana chapter of Sisters in Crime, and focuses on one of Indiana's most popular pastimes: basketball. I asked her about her story, writing, and reading habits.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for "The Art of the Game"?
Published by Blue River Press.A: When I sat down to write a story with a basketball theme, I knew I was competing with many talented Indiana authors who were also writing to the basketball theme and I wanted a story line that would be unique.  I decided I would try focusing on a basketball fan. But a normal fan wouldn’t do, I needed a creepy, obsessed fan, right?  And I wanted to illustrate how the player was happily going along with her life and had no idea this fan had focused on her.  That’s the creepy part to me - that someone could be out there with a distorted view of reality and no one knows.  Of course, problems come when the two cross paths.
I set the story at Purdue because when I was my daughter’s little league coach I took the girls to a women’s game at Mackey Arena for some exciting and intense basketball.
The art portion of the story?  That just popped into my head.

Q: When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
A: I’ve been an avid mystery and sci-fi reader since 3rd grade when I discovered Nancy Drew and later Isaac Asimov.  But at that time I didn’t want to write mysteries, I wanted to be Nancy Drew.  Ultimately, I discovered I’m not nearly brave enough.  So I became a scientist.  About twenty years ago, I attended a seminar where the speaker described the first successful cloning of mice and I was inspired to write a sci-fi novel.  I had so much fun with it and I’ve been writing in my spare time ever since.

Q: Who is your favorite author (or current fave) and what really strikes you about their work?
A:  I like a wide variety of authors and genres.  There’s no one favorite, but some authors I’m always sure I’ll enjoy include: Tami Hoag’s thriller/suspense, Tony Hillerman’s Navajo mysteries, Dean Koontz’s scary stuff, Zoe Sharp’s mystery/thriller and J.A. Jance’s mystery/horror.  Right now, I have new releases by other favorite authors in a pile waiting to be read: William Kent Krueger, Terence Faherty, Hank Phillippi Ryan, just to name a few.   I want good character development, an interesting setting, and suspense that keeps me turning the page late into the night.

Diana Catt has the following short story publications: “Photo Finish” in Racing Can Be Murder, Blue River Press (2007); “Evil Comes” in Medium of Murder, Red Coyote Press (2008); “Slightly Mummified” in A Whodunit Halloween, Pill Hill Press (2010); “Boneyard Busted” in Bedlam at the Brickyard, Blue River Press (2010); “Au Naturel” in Patented DNA, Pill Hill Press (2010); “And Through the Woods” in Back to the Middle of Nowhere, Pill Hill Press (2010); “Salome’s Gift” in Murder to Mil-Spec, Wolfmont Press (2010); “The Art of the Game” in Hoosier Hoops and Hijinks, Blue River Press (2013). Diana is married with three kids.  She enjoys her laid-back cat and accepts the challenge of her stubborn dog.  Diana is an environmental microbiologist who mainly hunts for mold in homes but she is also an adjunct professor teaching microbiology at a university in Indiana.

Hoosier Hoops and Hijinks by Speed City Indiana Sisters in Crime

Hoosier Hoops and Hijinks is a project Gwen and I have been involved with that is not a MAHLLC production. It's the latest anthology from the Speed City Indiana chapter of Sisters in Crime, and features something dear to the hearts of Hoosiers and Kentuckians alike: basketball.



Our story, "The Odds Are Always Uneven", stars two retired WWI nurses, one elderly inventor, and a clockwork wildcat. These same characters are the detectives in the novel we're writing together, so consider this a taste of fun to come. And hey, it's basketball with gangsters and speakeasies; what could be better?

Check out Hoosier Hoops and Hijinks on Amazon!