Kassandra Lamb's Blog, page 19

6 Pros for Listening to Audio Books (an Encore)

by Kassandra Lamb and K.B. Owen ~ Since Kathy (K.B.) is releasing her next audio book, Unseemly Honeymoon, this week, I figured it was a good time to do an encore of this post, on the pros of listening to audio books.

This is the 6th book in her series that is now out in audio.

I’ve now released two audio books (with two more on the way—delayed by the pandemic, sadly).

So Kathy and I put our heads together and came up with 6 pros for listening to audio books. And quite honestly we...

Modern Ways to Kill Our Characters in Crime Fiction

by Vinnie Hansen ~ Technology now offers us mystery writers some modern ways to kill our characters. I recently wrote about this on my own website. Check it out…

Perfectly Modern Ways to Die

Motives for murder have not changed over the millennium, the three common ones being the pursuit of money, sex or power. Methods, however, are a different matter. The modern crime writer has at his/her disposal a trove of new ways to kill off characters.

Photo by Hassan Ouajbir on Unsplash.com

Th...

Spin-Off Series in Crime Fiction (Plus a Kirsten Weiss Release)

by Kassandra Lamb ~ Just like on TV, we mystery authors sometimes do spin-off series in our crime fiction.

When we fall in love with a secondary character, or even sometimes a setting, we may feel compelled to start a new series based on that character or setting.

Why not just continue the existing series to keep that character alive?

Because main characters have what we writers call arcs. The character starts in a certain place—usually not a great place—and then deals with certain chal...

Special Days in February (and Last Days of Our Contest)

Wow, there are a LOT of special days in February.

We started off the month with National Dark Chocolate Day on the 1st. Did you know that chocolate was first served as a food in 350 BC?

And we had Groundhog Day on the 2nd. Sorry, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, so six more weeks of winter.

photo by Amanda, CC-BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Friday, the 5th, was National Wear Red Day, to raise awareness about women’s heart health. And today is both National Pizza Day and National Toothac...

Off Week Reminders

photo by Johntex CC-BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia Commons

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Since Valentine’s Day is not far away, it seemed like a good time to remind you all that we have several Topic Pages on relationships.

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Also, don’t forget to ENTER our Winter Wonderland Contest HERE.

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Coming up next week, a discussion of the “rules” of writing — aimed at both readers and writers. And yes, “rules” is in quotes for a reason.

The post Off Week Reminders appeared fi...

To Covid or Not to Covid in Our Fiction Stories

by Kassandra Lamb ~ There’s been a debate going on in the writerly world over whether we should include references to Covid in our fiction stories going forward.

There are three schools of thought:Ignore the pandemic completely in our fiction, because after all it IS fiction.Project our timelines slightly into the future and just refer back to the pandemic occasionally as an event in the past.Realistically include the pandemic in our writing, even develop plots around it.

Personally, I...

An “Off Week” Goodie Honoring Our Country

by Kassandra Lamb ~ The blog is “off” for the week, but I thought I’d share this video with you. It combines three things I love: Pentatonix, my country and my hometown of Baltimore, where this was performed and recorded in 2014.

The second song is not as good as the first. I adore the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, but Pentatonix is supposed to be a cappella. The orchestra drowns a couple of them out some. However, Let Freedom Ring is great!

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And Don’t Forget to Enter Our W...

Darkness and Light (and a New Release and Contest!)

by Kassandra Lamb ~ Philosophers and artists are very aware of the contrast between darkness and light. But we normal mortals go about our lives, weathering the ups and downs, without thinking about such things all that often.

photo by Mel Elias on Unsplash.com

This past year, however, has brought the contrast between darkness and light into sharp relief. I don’t know about you, but 2020 was the darkest of my 68 years on this planet. It was a major challenge to remain optimistic and hopefu...

Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021!

Never before have we been quite so happy to ring in a new year! With glee, we say “Goodbye 2020, hello 2021!”

Feeling hopeful about this coming year, we thought we’d share with you some of our goals, resolutions, and/or themes for 2021.

First up is…

Kathy (K.B.) Owen

Each new year, I reset my personal reminder to search for one aspect to appreciate whenever I’m tempted to feel stressed by something minor.

(I tend toward the anxious side…if there were a super power for it, ...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS From Misterio Press!!

photo by Jorge Dominguez on Unsplash.com

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The blog is on hiatus until January 5, 2021, but we at misterio press wish you all a wonderful holiday season!

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And here’s a little treat for you, the absolute perfect Christmas song for this year. Jon starts out slow but the build up is worth it.

And then a more light-hearted rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Pentatonix. Enjoy!

See you all in the New Year!

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We blog here at misterio press ab...