Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 286

Clambakes — Who’s Been to One?

Winslow Homer, 1873

Still celebrating the release of Boiled Over, we’re talking about clambakes we might or might not have partaken of.

Liz: I’ve never been to a real clambake. I think I was at a party once where there were clams and mussels cooked (or whatever you call it) outside but I’m not sure it was official. I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, being from New England, but I had no idea there was such a thing as the clambake experience Barb’s series is built on until I read Clammed Up. It sounds so amazing!

Edith: My friends Karen and Mike were married in a church, but their reception was on

Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society. 1880. From a trade card advertisement, Melville Garden, Hingham, Massachusetts

their own basin beach in Newburyport at low tide nine years ago. And the meal was a clambake of sorts. Except it wasn’t cooked on the spot. And I was having such a bad allergy day that I couldn’t taste a thing. Between the antihistamine I’d taken and the couple of glasses of champagne, I’m surprised I even remember that it was a clambake menu. I’m thinking the Wickeds are going to have to take a road trip to Maine this summer…

Julie: I would love to go to a clambake like the one in the series. I’ve never been to one with that level of detail. I have been to beach clambakes with corn and clams, maybe some fish. There is a place on the Cape that makes a “clambake to go”–lobster, clams, and corn in a netting bag, which makes do when I need a fix. And I have a friend who did a Portuguese clambake, which is clams, potatoes, onions, corn, and clams in layers and all cooked together. Delish.

Sherry: I’ve been to one clambake — in Wyoming. And doesn’t everyone associate clambakes and Wyoming? Some friends of mine decided they could throw one. They dug a hole in the backyard — I’ll bet their neighbors loved that — threw some coals in, followed by the food, covered it and cooked it all day. That evening a group of us gathered. Unfortunately, unlike in Barb’s series, there were no magic eggs to tell them the food was done. The potatoes were like rocks, the clams suspect, and only the corn was somewhat done. Clammed Up taught me the fire is key and I would never attempt to do one at home.

Jessie: I’ve never been to a clambake. The closest experience I ever had was aboard my great-grandparents’ lobster boat when I was four years old. My mother, who never had any luck at all fishing, felt something particularly heavy on her line. When my grandfather hauled it in they found she had hooked an orphaned lobster pot. It was full of lobsters and for the first time ever my mother had the best catch of the day. Grandpa and my father rowed a dinghy to a nearby island and dug clams to go with the lobsters and the whole meal was steamed up in the galley of the boat. I don’t really remember eating any of it but I do remember how pleased everyone was by all the excitement.

Round Pond

Barb: I’d had plenty of clambake meals before I wrote Clammed Up. One of our family’s favorite things to do is to go to the Muscongus Bay Lobster Company in Round Pond, Maine. They serve chowder, lobster, steamers and corn. The view is stupendous and the atmosphere informal and lively as families arrive bearing wine, salads and desserts to add to the meal. However, before I wrote Clammed Up, I’d never been to the Cabbage Island Clambake. Because we live in Boothbay Harbor in the summer, I’d heard of it, of course. And Maine author Lea Wait told me one of her daughters had her wedding reception there. I wrote my proposal in November, got the verbal go ahead in January and signed my contract with Kensington in March. As a result, I had to write the whole first draft before I could go out to Cabbage Island when they opened in June. But I’m glad for that, because it gave free rein to my imagination. When I finally did get out the the island, the Moore family were incredibly generous about answering my many questions.

Edith: Sounds like none of us has been to a real Maine clambake, except for Barb. Barb, when would you like to expect us so we can all go out to Cabbage Island?

Readers: Who has had a good clambake? Or a bad one? Have you even been to Maine?

Filed under: Group posts Tagged: Barbara Ross, boiled over, clambake, clammed up, maine, Winslow Homer

Wicked Wednesday: Why we love the Maine Clambake series!

To celebrate Boiled Over‘s release, we’re talking about all things Maine Clambake series this week. Today, the Wickeds are reflecting on what we love most about Barb’s Agatha-nominated series.

Liz: I’m in love with the setting of this book. I’ve always loved the Maine coastline, and to be able to escape into that small, seaside town with the added bonus of the clambake island is priceless. I also really enjoy Julia Snowden, the main character. I like reading about the inner struggles of people trying to balance family loyalty with independence. I’m looking forward to seeing Julia evolve as the series continues.

Jessie:  I loved the stoic realism of the characters in Clammed Up and I am looking forward to visiting with them again in Boiled Over! I really enjoy reading books that explore family relationships and that feels to me like the heart of this series. In addition, the struggles the Snowden family faces running a challenging business in a challenging economy immediately inspire my support and empathy.

Edith: The characters Barb draws intrigue me. They are small-towners, for sure, but they all have depth, and secrets, and quirks. Barb also draws the setting so you can taste the salt air and see the rough but beautiful scenery of the rocky Maine coast. I’ve spent time on a small Maine island in that area and feel like I’m right back on Great Gott’s Island. Can’t wait to read Boiled Over.

Julie: I love the challenges Barb has set up for herself as a writer, and watching her overcome them. A major setting on an island that people need to travel to and from? No problem. Food and recipes as part of the mix? No problem. Creating a world that people like to visit, but that also is affected by our economic times? No problem. Reading Barb’s work is a lesson in craft, and I love trying to figure out how she does it.

Sherry: What’s not to love? Barb can plot, create great characters and dazzle us with her sense of humor. I love Gus and his restaurant and his rules. He’s such a unique character. Gus not only provides humor but also support.

Barb: Aw. You guys! It makes me so happy everyone enjoys hanging out in Busman’s Harbor.

Filed under: Group posts, Wicked Wednesday Tagged: Barbara Ross, boiled over, clambake, Maine coast

Happy Boiled Over Book Birthday!

Barb’s latest Maine Clambake mystery is out! Congratulations to an awesome Agatha-nominated author.

For Julia Snowden, the Founder’s Day summer celebration in Busman’s Harbor, Maine, means helping her family’s clambake company to prepare an authentic taste of New England seafood. Any Mainer will tell you that a real clambake needs wood for the fire . . . so why is there a foot sticking out of the oven?

Here’s what RT reviews said: “With quick pacing and plenty of red herrings, Ross leads readers on a thrilling ride to track down a killer.”

Help us congratulate Barb!

Edith: I’m so excited to start reading this, Barb. Hope this book knocks your sales out of the park!

Liz: Clammed Up was an awesome read and I’m looking forward to Julia’s next adventures. So excited to open my Kindle today and see this!

Jessie: Congrats on your new release. I’m certain Boiled Over will be every bit as salty and sophisticated as Clammed Up!

Julie: Can’t wait to read it! So, so happy for you. I hope you enjoy this success! It is very well deserved!

Sherry: I was lucky and read an early version. It was fabulous so I can’t wait to read the final version!

Filed under: Group posts Tagged: Agatha awards, Barbara Ross, boiled over, Kensington Publishing, maine clambake mysteries

Memories

by Sheila Connolly

Memories are tricky things.

Recently I traveled to New York City with my sister and we spent a whirlwind two days there, visiting places we remembered and places neither of us had ever seen. New York occupied a special place in our lives when we were young: our grandmother lived there, in a tiny apartment with a view of Park Avenue. Visiting her was always a treat (we lived just over an hour away in New Jersey), and of course we did “special” things. We visited museum and zoos (Bronx and Central Park), we saw the Mets play at Shea Stadium once, and we shopped.  Oh, how we shopped! Always the “nice” stores—we ventured as far downtown as Macy’s only once that I can remember. But Saks? Lord and Taylor? Bergdorf Goodman? Tiffany’s? Those we covered, often.

My sister is four years younger than I am, and it’s interesting to see what each of us remembers—and there are some real differences. We had a chance to compare notes on this recent trip, because we visited some places we had been to together, decades before. And I realized that there is one major distinction: she remembers the people who were there, and I remember things—where we sat, what we ate, what we bought, how we got there. I am less likely to recall the cast of characters, like who else was at the table or in the taxi.

I sometimes wonder if there is a “writer’s brain,” that declares itself long before you string words together.  In hindsight, I realized I was always watching and collecting information. I thought it was normal and everybody did it, but when I talk to others and ask what they remember about a person or a place or an incident, they fumble with the details.  Me, I go into a restaurant I hadn’t visited since I was eight and I can tell you where our table was. What I can’t tell you is whether my mother was there as well as my grandmother—I must have been too busy looking at the decorations and the other people in the room and the menu.

This time around it struck me that I had observed and retained an awful lot of details, and that many of them were visual. And I also noticed that that correlates with my picture-taking (I’m the official family recorder/historian—I’ve always taken pictures): the majority are of “things” rather than people.

The angel font

One stop I insisted on making with my sister: I dragged her to Saint Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue to look the baptismal font there. (No, I don’t remember it from my baptism—I was only a few months old.) But I recall seeing it when I was in high school—my grandmother was a member of that church, within walking distance of her home, and she took me to see it. I wanted to find out if my memory, a few decades old, was accurate.

It was. The angel I remembered wasn’t located where it was all those years ago, but I had the details right.

When we write, we strive to create characters who are convincing, and to put them in a setting that becomes real to the reader. It’s not enough to say, the woman had red hair and wore nice clothes. You have to make it more immediate: the woman’s hair was dyed an improbable crimson, and her Chanel-style suit looked as though she had bought it at a seedy thrift store.  It’s the same with the setting. You can’t get away with something like, the church was large with a high ceiling. You need to find something more vivid: a confused bird flapped and chirped its way around the high vaulted ceiling; the only other sound was the coughing from the few people scattered among the pews, more likely seeking warmth than solace on this cold day.

Maybe I was always training to be a writer.

Filed under: Sheila's Posts, Uncategorized Tagged: memories, sheila connolly

Wicked Cozy Malice Events

The Wickeds are at Malice this weekend! Want to know where we’ll be? Here’s the Wicked Cozy schedule.

Friday

Malice 2013, with Liz on a stick.

10:00-11:45—Malice Go Round. Jessie & Edith are a team. The rest of us will get pitched to for two hours. Haverford Baccarat

3:00-3:50—Agatha Best Contemporary nominees panel—Barb. Waterford/Lalique

5:00-5:30—Opening Ceremonies—Barb and Liz get their Agatha nominee acknowledgements. Waterford/Lalique room

Saturday

7:30-9:00—SinC Breakfast

9:00-9:50 Sherry moderating panel—Diplomat/Ambassador

9:00-9:50—Barb on Agatha Short Story nominees panel—Lalique

9:00-9:50—Sheila on panel—Cabinet

10:00-10:50—Agatha Best First nominees panel—Liz. Haverford

The Wickeds with our agent John Talbot

10:00-noon—Julie working the Sisters in Crime table.

11:00 Barb & Liz signing—Atrium

2:00 Kensington Open house at Hyatt Hospitality Suite

3:00-3:50—Edith on panel—Baccarat

5:00—Edith signing. Atrium

7:00 Banquet—Chrystal Ballroom. We will live tweet the event. #Malice14

Sunday

7:00-8:45—New Authors breakfast. Liz introduced. Haverford/Baccarat

9:00-9:50—Jessie on panel. Waterford.

11:00—Jessie signing. Atrium

Filed under: Conferences, High Point of the Week

One Wicked Year

Today the Wicked Cozy Authors celebrate one year of blogging, and what a year it’s been. Each of us is telling you about another’s accomplishments, plus the occasional low point we’ve managed to get through. We have much to celebrate!

Edith: My conference roomie Liz Mugavero launched Kneading to Die, which was nominated for an Agatha award for Best First Novel (results to be announced May 3)! She turned in and celebrated the launch of A Biscuit, a Casket, and also turned in book three, Icing on the Corpse, (today!) despite a few struggles. She started a really cool new day job last June, too. She received good feedback from an agent on a thriller she’d written before the Pawsitively Organic Gourmet Pet Food series, and will be doing revisions this summer to see if she can find a home for it. [Edith: I've read a few scenes from it and loved it, so fingers crossed, Liz!] She spoke on panels at Bouchercon, New England Crime Bake, and at a bunch of other library and Sister in Crime NE events (many with Shaggy the adorable schnoodle). And she survived the year! That’s a high, for sure.

Liz: Highs and lows are a part of life, right? Barb Ross had some incredible highs this year, from launching Clammed Up to great acclaim – it’s nominated for the RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice, Best Book of 2013–Amateur Sleuth, as well as an Agatha award for Best Contemporary Novel! – to turning in Boiled Over, coming May 6. The same day as the audiobook of Clammed Up, in fact. She also celebrated the release of Best New England Crime Stories: Stone Cold (with co-editors Mark Ammons, Katherine Fast and Leslie Wheeler) in November, co-chaired the New England Crime Bake (Liz: which was fabulous!) and spoke on an also fabulous food panel at Bouchercon. And let’s not forget her short story success: her story “Bread Baby,” which appeared in Best New England Crime Stories: Stone Cold, was nominated for an Agatha for Best Short Story. (Liz: Is this an accomplished lady, or what?). Personal highs? Aside from making lots of new friends in the world of traditional mysteries, Barb became a grandmother for the first time to the fabulous Viola. Unfortunately, Barb also lost her mom during this time period. And all our hearts ache for her loss. As she so eloquently says, it’s the alpha and omega of life. But still so tough.

Jessie: We all have Sherry to thank for starting this blog in the first place. I guess that’s no real surprise since Sherry is one of those people who just has a genius for getting people together and making them feel great about the experience. When we first started this blog Sherry had signed a contract to write the Sarah Winston Garage Sale series but wasn’t able to announce her news publicly. She was hard at work writing the first book, Tagged for Death and turned it in on November 14. Now she’s working on the second in the series. Sherry traveled quite a bit this year too. She returned to New England  and joined the other Wickeds for two different writing retreats in Old Orchard Beach and she attended Crime Bake in Dedham, MA. Her wanderings took her to the other coast as well, where she appeared on the Deadly New Voices panel at her first Left Coast Crime conference, something she describes as “a fabulous, fun experience”. She also says “One of the best things about this year was building this blog with these amazing women and getting to know them all in the process”.  I’d say we are all lucky to know Sherry too!

Sherry: I had to pop in here and say while I may have had the idea for the blog, there wouldn’t be one without the rest of you. I’d still be thinking about it. You all jumped in, got it going and taught me how to blog.

Julie: A year ago (was it only a year?) Edith made the leap to full time writer. So much has happened since then. Her first Local Foods mystery (A Tine to Live, A Tine to Die) came out to positive reviews, including being on the Edible Boston recommended summer reading list. ‘Til Dirt Do Us Part was finished on time, and is coming out on May 27, already getting rave reviews. She just submitted book #3, Farmed and Dangerous, to her editor.

Edith in San Franciso at Borderlands Books, with her author-uncle’s sweetie, a cousin and his wife, a former coworker, and an exchange-student friend from Brazil, 1970!

Edith traveled–a lot. She was on panels at Malice Domestic, California Crime Writers Conference, Bouchercon, the New England Crime Bake, and Left Coast Crime on top of many bookstore and library appearances. Not one to rest on her writing laurels, Edith also had her historical mystery short story “Breaking the Silence” published in Level Best’s  Best New England Crime Stories 2014: Stone Cold, and the story won an Honorable Mention in the Al Blanchard Short Crime Fiction contest. Tace Baker, Edith’s alter ego, finished Bluffing is Murder, which will be released in late fall this year by Barking Rain Press. AND she worked on another book which is close to her heart. All of this while real life happened, including a dear friend passing away.

Sherry: Getting to interview Julie was special for me since she is the first of the Wickeds I met — read about that in my networking post. Julie’s big writing news this year is that she became a new woman! Julianne Holmes will be making her debut in 2015, writing the Clock Shop Mystery Series for Berkley Prime Crime. This year, Julie is writing the book, which is due in September. There will likely be blog posts about that. She also started her second one-year term as Sisters in Crime New England president (from now on they will be two year terms), and joined the national board of Sisters in Crime. And this year she is really excited to be the co-chair of the New England Crime Bake. Her other lives (as the Executive Director of StageSource, and an adjunct faculty member at Emerson College) also kept her busy.

Jessie Crockett holding DRIZZLED TO DEATH! How thrilling is that?

Barb: So many wonderful things have happened for Jessie since last May 1. She released Drizzled with Death which went on to become a national bestseller. She turned the second manuscript in her Sugar Grove series, Maple Mayhem on time despite kids being home for summer break as the deadline loomed. She sold the German rights to her first mystery, Live Free or Die, which will be releasing in Germany in time for Christmas this year. Jessie attended Bouchercon for the first time along with all the other Wickeds except Sherry, who attended on a stick. She had a wonderful time back in November serving as a panelist at Crime Bake for the first time.  (Barb: Jessie’s too modest tell you she’s the hostess with the mostest who hosts the Wicked annual retreat, so I will. She’s an amazing host and organizer who makes the retreat the highlight of the Wicked calendar.) Jessie’s met a lot of new booksellers, librarians and readers over the past year at book events and other sorts of talks. She especially enjoyed being a presenter at the New Hampshire Writers’ Day Conference. Even with all that fun in mind, she says creating and maintaining this blog with the Wickeds has been the most enjoyable experience of the year.

We are very lucky to have two wicked awesome monthly columnists. Sheila Connolly joined us in July and her column appears on the first Monday of each month. Sheila has three ongoing and very successful series, plus several recent standalone novels. What’s next, Sheila?

 

Kim and Julie

Kim Gray started writing The Detective’s Daughter column in January. You can find it on the third Tuesday each month. In it she shares her stories of growing up with her father, a detective in Baltimore City. Kim won the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant for Unpublished Writers for her novel Ghost of a Chance.

So we’re all thrilled and challenged by our year together. Delighted to have found a support group, and delighted for each others’ successes. Part of the thrill has been getting to know you, our cherished readers. Please keep stopping by and let us know what kinds of posts you’d like to see in the future. Be well, and keep reading!

Filed under: Group posts Tagged: 'Til Dirt Do Us Part, A Biscuit A Casket, A Tine to Live a Tine to Die, Agatha awards, Barbara Ross, Barking Rain Press, Berkley Prime Crime, Best New England Crime Stories Stone Cold, Bluffing is Murder, boiled over, bouchercon, Bread Baby, clammed up, Clock Shop Mystery Series, Drizzled with Death, Edith Maxwell, Farmed and Dangerous, Icing on the Corpse, Jessie Crockett, Julianne Holmes, julie hennrikus, Kensington Publishing, Kim Gray, Kneading To Die, Left Coast Crime, Live Free or Die, Liz Mugavero, maine clambake mysteries, Malice, Maple Mayhem, New England Crime Bake, New Hampshire Writers Day Conference, Pawsitively Organic Pet Food Mysteries, RT Book Reviews, Sarah Winston Garage Sale Series, sheila connolly, Sherry Harris, Sisters in Crime New England Chapter, StageSource, Sugar Grove Mysteries, Tace Baker, Tagged for Death

Wicked Wednesday: Looking forward to Malice

No, we’re not looking forward to wreaking malice on unsuspecting readers. Or maybe we are! All the Wickeds are heading to the Malice Domestic conference in Bethesda, Maryland tomorrow. Here’s what we’re looking forward to, along with bringing Reine Harrington on a stick.

Edith: I always look forward to seeing author friends from around the country, like the Detective’s Daughter, Kim Gray (Maryland), James Montgomery Jackson (Michigan), and Kaye George (Tennessee). I also really enjoy sitting in

Sheila Connolly and Barb Ross speed dating in 2013.

panels next to fans I don’t know and talking with them, since Malice is primarily a conference for readers who love the traditional mystery. This year Jessie and I are a pair for the Author Speed Dating event, in which we have five minutes at twenty different tables of eight to talk about our books. It’s noisy and fast and should be a lot of fun (at least when it’s over…).

Liz: I’ve never been to Malice and I’m so excited! This is going to be an amazing conference – seeing old friends, meeting new ones, hanging with the Wickeds. We’re all going to be there this year. And Kneading to Die is an Agatha nominee for Best First, so the banquet will be quite an experience! And being on a panel with my other Best First noms should be a trip. It’s going to be a great conference.

Barb: This is my fourth Malice and I am thrilled to be going. I’m looking forward to seeing so many writer and reader friends who I track (stalk?) via listservs and Facebook through the year but rarely get to chat with in person. I’m on Simply the Best: The Agatha Best Contemporary Nominees panel on Friday at 3:00 and Make It Snappy: The Agatha Best Short Story Nominees panel on Saturday at 9:00. I “speed dated” last year, Edith. You and Jessie will have a blast!

Jessie: I’ll be attending Malice for the third time but this is the first time I’ll be a panelist. As Edith and Barb have mentioned I’ll be at Malice-Go- Round on Friday morning at 10:00. And I’m thrilled to be participating in a panel on Sunday morning at 9:00 called Cooking Up Murder with Kaye Barley, Connie Archer, Daryl Wood Gerber and Mary Ellen Hughes. I love Malice because the attendees are so passionate about traditional mysteries. Everyone you run into feels like an old friend. Attending is one of the high points of my year!

Sherry: This will be my sixth Malice. I’m really excited this year because my two writing worlds will collide and I’ll get to introduce the Wickeds to the awesome members of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime. I’m moderating a panel Saturday morning at 9:00. It’s called Here Comes the Corpse (Barb Goffman comes up with such great panels). I’ll be chatting with Beverly Allen aka Barbara Early, Clare O’Donohue, Nancy J Parra aka Nancy Coco, and Ilene Schneider. Their books are fabulous.

Edith: Oh, damn. Sheila Connolly’s panel is ALSO Saturday at 9. Three conflicting panels! Will have to run back and forth to catch bits of all. Hope they are all in the same area.

Julie: Malice Domestic was my first mystery conference, back in 2003 I think? Maybe 2002? What an interesting journey it has been for me as a writer. As a reader, it has always been a perfect fit. I love the traditional mystery. And the bag of books you get when you sign in? First thing I do is unpack it, and see what’s what. And then create piles for my sisters and my mother, so we can switch it up. Thanks to Barb, I have a good grasp on where I am going to be when to support my fellow Wickeds. I am working a shift at the Sisters in Crime table (Saturday  from 10-noon, stop by and say hi!) I have a couple of conflicts, but will try and make it all happen. REALLY looking forward to it!

Readers: Have you been to Malice? Do you follow the proceedings from afar? Who do you wish you could see, chat with, hoist a glass with?

Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: Agatha awards, Barb Goffman, Bethesda, Beverly Allen, Clare O'Donohue, Here Comes the Corpse, Ilene Schneider, Malice Domestic, Nancy J. Parra

Opening Lines

Write an opening line for the picture below:

Liz: I would’ve made it out of town if it weren’t for that stupid headlight blowing out.

Edith: Whew. Got the bloody knife hidden in that ground cover just in time. Long as this cop can’t read minds…

Barb: Uh-oh.

Jessie: I can explain.

Sherry: Are you the one that called 911 saying his wife was up a tree and wouldn’t come down?

Filed under: Opening Lines

The Agatha Best Short Story Nominees

by Barb

I know it seems impossible, but still waiting for spring on a cold, rainy day

It all started with Leslie Budewitz and the great blog post she wrote about the Agatha-nominated books for Best First Novel. I thought it was such a good idea, I “borrowed” it and blogged about the Agatha-nominated Best Contemporary Novels over on Maine Crime Writers.

Today I’m going to continue a good idea and blog about the Agatha-nominated Best Short Stories. As a lover of short stories, and one of the co-editors of an annual anthology of crime stories, it’s easy for me to share my enthusiasm about these wonderful tales. There are links to all the stories here on the blog. My best advice is, try them, you’ll love them!

The Agatha Awards honor the “traditional mystery.” That is to say, books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie as well as others. The are given in six categories: Best Contemporary. Best Historical, Best First, Best Short Story, Best Nonfiction and Best Children’s/Young Adult. The winners will be announced at the 2013 Agatha Awards banquet to be held at the Malice Domestic conference on Saturday, May 3, 2014.

And the Agatha nominees for Best Short Story are published in 2013 are:

“Evil Little Girl” by Barb Goffman

Barb Goffman has not one, but two stories nominated for Agatha Best Short. Both appear in her powerhouse collection Don’t Get Mad, Get Even: 15 Tales of Revenge and More, published by Wildside Press.

About “Evil Little Girl” Barb says:

I went to a wonderful sleep-away camp in Connecticut as a kid. I remember the smell of the grass, the songs, the sports, the friendships…That was the world I wanted to recreate for “Evil Little Girl.”

You can read the complete short story “Evil Little Girl” by clicking here.

“Nightmare” by Barb Goffman

Barb’s second Agatha-nominated story is “Nightmare.”

About “Nightmare” Barb says:

Sometimes I wake up in the night hearing voices in my head. Characters fully developed, telling me their story. On good nights, I get up, grab a pen and paper, and write down what they say. That is how “Nightmare” was born.

You can read the complete short story “Nightmare” by clicking here.

The Hindi Houdini by Gigi Pandian

“The Hindi Houdini” debuted in Fishnets: The Second Guppy Anthology, published by Wildside Press.

About “The Hindi Houdini” Gigi says:

In “The Hindi Houdini,” magician Sanjay Rai, aka The Hindi Houdini, solves a locked room mystery at the Napa Valley winery theater where he performs. A magician and escape artist, Sanjay chose the moniker “The Hindi Houdini” because it paid homage to his Indian heritage and his favorite illusionist—and because he liked the rhyme better than Hindu Houdini.

You can read the complete short story “The Hindi Houdini” by clicking here.

The Care and Feeding of House Plants by Art Taylor

“The Care and Feeding of House Plants” was published in the March/April 2013 issue of Ellery Queen Magazine.

About Art Taylor, Ellery Queen says:

Art Taylor is becoming one of the most distinguished short-story writers of his generation. Since his debut in 1995, he’s sold nearly three dozen short stories, several of which have received critical recognition.

You can read the complete short story “The Care and Feeding of House Plants,” by clicking here.

Bread Baby by Barbara Ross

I am thrilled to have my story “Bread Baby” in such distinguished company. “Bread Baby” was included in Best New England Crime Stories 2014: Stone Cold published by Level Best Books.

Here’s how I describe “Bread Baby.”

“Bread Baby” somehow combines an Oprah-like figure, a powerful cartel of Manhattan executive assistants, and tantawawa, bread figures made by the Andean Indians and offered to their ancestors on the Day of the Dead.

You can read the complete short story “Bread Baby” by clicking here.

I can’t wait for next week and our panel at Malice Domestic (9:00 am Saturday in the Lalique Room.)

Filed under: Barb's posts Tagged: Agatha awards, Art Taylor, Barb Goffman, Barbara Ross, Best New England Crime Stories Stone Cold, Bread Baby, Don't Get Mad Get Even, Ellery Queen Magazine, Evil Little Girl, Fishnets the Second Guppy Anthology, Gigi Pandian, Malice Domestic, The Care and Feeding of House Plants, The Hindi Houdini

Be Prepared — My Writing Journey

By Sherry Harris

In northern Virginia where spring has arrived in all of its glory

My writing journey is a long one but I learned some things along the way.

I went to my first writers retreat at Asilomar while we were stationed in Monterey, California. It was sponsored by the Cambria Writer’s Workshop — a small group perfect for a first timer. I signed up to read from my mystery featuring a gemologist. It was something like read the first five pages or for five minutes. I got up, faced fifty some strangers and started to read. I’d like to tell you there was a lot of applause, praise for my creative genius and people begging to represent me.  But as I read, I realized I’d brought pages of description and backstory.

I really can’t believe I’m going to share what is probably the worst opening paragraph ever written but here goes:

On Friday morning, the June sun almost blinded me as I walked downstairs into our shop. It radiated through the faceted glass of our antique front door. The walnut and glass door was one of two French doors from a mansion in Magnolia Bluff that succumbed to a mudslide. The doors were heavily damaged when we found them at the flea market in Fremont but we managed to restore them with a lot of hard work and good luck. The second door leans up against the wall of our office waiting for a chance to be useful.

WAKE UP! You can’t say I didn’t warn you it was awful. (If you ever need a detailed description of french doors, I’m your gal.) When I finished reading I said, “Thank God that’s over.” At least people laughed. Fortunately, they were kind, said I showed some promise. The keynote speaker told me I had talent (she must have nodded off during my reading) and would love to hear more of my rousing story about two sisters. Um, that’s not what the story is about.

After Monterey we were stationed in northern Florida. There I attended Florida International University’s Writers Workshop. It’s a wonderful conference run by the MFA Creative Writing professors and I kept listening, writing, and revising.

This is the opening from the same novel I turned in there:

Most of us go through life without ever being truly, gut-wrenchingly terrified. Usually we experience fear in little jolts cause by near misses on the highway, turbulent airplane rides or phones ringing in the middle of the night.

Not much better, but again just enough encouragement to keep me going.

Next came our assignment to the Pentagon. That led me to Malice Domestic, which is a fan conference, not a craft conference but it was a great opportunity to meet authors and agents. One year I checked in at the same time as literary agent, Meg Ruley. As we commiserated about our reservations being messed up, she asked if I wrote and  told me to send her my manuscript. She loved it and signed me immediately. Not — that was the fantasy version. I received a lovely rejection letter. Back to the drawing board.

Next we were stationed at Hanscom AFB outside of Boston. I’ve talked before about meeting Julie Hennrikus at Malice and how that meeting eventually led to this blog — read all about that at How We Met. I attended New England Sisters in Crime meetings and went to Seascape Writers Retreat. I kept working at the craft and the latest version of that novel goes like this:

I didn’t want to tell Camille her diamond was fake. I studied the necklace for the third time with my loupe, willing the damn thing to change. Maybe one of Seattle’s triple threat natural disasters–earthquake, tsunami, volcano–would occur so I could yell: duck, swim or run instead of what I had to say. I paused a moment, then two, but no luck.

When we moved back to northern Virginia I joined the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Like the New England chapter, their support and friendship has been phenomenal. I haven’t sold the gemology novel. I hope to some day. What I did was continue to work on the craft of writing. I met people. I pitched at every opportunity. I collected rejection letters — I have them filed by year. So when the chance to write the garage sale series dropped into my lap (thank you Barbara Ross) I was prepared.

Filed under: Sherry's posts Tagged: Asilomar, Chessie Chapter of Sisters in Crime, Florida Internation University MFA Creative Writing Program, Malice Domestic, Monterey CA, New England Chapter of Sisters in Crime