Art Taylor's Blog, page 35

The First Two Pages: “Fake News” by Larry Light

In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.

Last week at the First Two Pages, I hosted Meredith Anthony‘s reflections on “Reader, I Killed Him,” her latest story for Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. This week, Anthony’s husband, Larry Light, steps up to discuss his story in the same issue, “Fake News”—and such a rare delight to have both husband and wife celebrating stories in AHMM at the same time. Such a delight too for me to host both of them here.

In her essay last week, Anthony spent some time talking about how much work a title can do—in her case deliberately echoing a well-known line from Jane Eyre—and Light’s title “Fake News” clearly carries some cultural weight of its own. Does that make the story? polemical? How about personal, given Light’s own background as a journalist? He’ll address all those questions and more in the essay below.

Speaking of Light’s journalistic background: He’s currently the markets editor for Chief Investment Officer magazine, building on a career that includes stints as investing editor of the Wall Street Journal, finance editor of Forbes and Money, economics reporter at CBS MoneyWatch, and the corporate finance reporter for Business Week. And on the fiction side, his latest novel is Crash, a thriller co-written with David Hagberg. You can find out more about that book and all Light’s fiction at his website here.

Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.

Light-Fake-News

“The Short Mystery” in New MWA Handbook

I’m thrilled to have an essay on writing short stories in the new collection How to Write A Mystery: A Handbook by Mystery Writers of America, edited by Lee Child and Laurie R. King and now available for pre-order from various online outlets—and likely through a bookseller near you too!

I’ve turned often to Edward D. Hoch’s essay on short stories in an earlier, similar book from MWA—and I’ll admit I was a little intimidated when asked to contribute the essay to this new book. Big shoes to fill there indeed.

And I’ll admit too to being more than a little awed now by the other contributors I’ve found myself alongside, as you’ll see on the table of contents here.

All in all, this promises to be a great handbook—an honor to be part of it.

The First Two Pages: “Reader, I Killed Him” by Meredith Anthony

In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.

Several things drew my attention to Meredith Anthony‘s latest story for Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine—including both the title, “Reader, I Killed Him,” and the opening paragraph. Spoiler alert: Meredith talks about each of those in her essay below, and she’s right on all counts about how and why they grab the reader! Additionally, however—and outside of the story itself—I was drawn to the fact that both Meredith and her husband, Lawrence Light, had stories in this latest issue, since my own wife, Tara Laskowski, and I are both writers, and spouses who each write (and get along well!) seem a rare breed. I’ve known Meredith and Larry for many years now, and frankly, I relished the opportunity of having both of them contribute First Two Pages essays for stories in the same publication—and I’m thrilled that they agreed.

Meredith’s stories have appeared in both Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, among other publications. But as you’ll see in her author’s bio on the essay below, that’s only the beginning of who Meredith is. Not only is she a terrific writer, but she lives well. Find our even more at her website here.

And stay tuned next week for Larry Light talking about his story, “Fake News”!

Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.

Anthony-Reader-I-Killed-Him

A New Semester: Short Story Collections

This week begins the new semester at George Mason University—another semester of virtual teaching, but with a new twist: my first time teaching a new course in “Short Story Collections.”

This course rises from the interest that many former students have had in gathering their undergraduate short stories into a collection. Over the past decade or so, several students have requested and worked with me on independent studies to plan a collection, gather and revised old stories, and write news one with both purpose and strategy. More than a dozen students will follow the same path this semester, but this time as part of a cohort studying and supporting one another’s work.

I’m grateful to several writers whose books we’ll be studying this semester—writers the students will be meeting with as well! Karen Russell is one of the Creative Writing Program’s Visiting Writers this semester, and our class will be reading her collection Vampires in the Lemon Grove before her virtual event on Thursday, February 11. Additionally, we’ll be reading Jennifer Egan’s novel in stories A Visit from the Goon Squad and Rion Amilcar Scott’s Insurrections—and I’m thrilled that both Egan and Scott have agreed to zoom into our class to talk about their work.

Additionally, back when I was planning the course, I asked on Facebook for suggestions of single-author collections that seemed to cohere particularly well, and I got more than 100 suggestions! Students in the course will need to choose one additional collection from that list to read, study, and present to the rest of the class. For folks here interested in that list, I’ve included it below—with many books and authors new to me as well!

Happy first week of the semester to all. May your reading—and writing—be as interesting as mine ahead.

Short-Story-Collections-to-Choose-From

The First Two Pages: “The Murderer’s Paradox” by David Corbett

In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.

Rounding out our series on Sherlock Holmes stories from the new anthology In League with Sherlock Holmes, edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger, I’m pleased this week to welcome David Corbett, reflecting on his story “The Murderer’s Paradox”—written from the perspective of Moriarty! Corbett has talents in more directions than I can count. His short fiction has twice been selected for the Best American Mystery Stories anthology, and he’s an accomplished novelist as well; his latest, The Long-Lost Love Letters of Doc Holliday, was a finalist for the Lefty Award for Best Historical Mystery, and earlier award nominations include the Edgar, Anthony, Barry, Macavity, and Shamus. And not only is he a master craftsman, he’s also a master of talking about craft, with two writing books to his credit: The Art of Character and The Compass of Character.

But one thing he didn’t know about, as you’ll learn in the essay below, is Sherlock Holmes… which makes his success with this tale all the more impressive.

Find out more about Corbett at his website here. And please do check out as well two earlier essays by other contributors to In League with Sherlock Holmes: James W. Ziskin on “The Twenty-Five-Year Engagement” and Naomi Hirahara on “Infinite Loop.”

Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.

Corbett-Paradox

The First Two Pages: “Infinite Loop” by Naomi Hirahara

In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.

This week continues our focus on the recent anthology In League with Sherlock Holmes, edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger. Last week, James W. Ziskin offered a crisply analytical breakdown of his approach to echoing the language, style, and other elements of the canon for his pastiche, “The Twenty-Five-Year Engagement,” and this week Naomi Hirahara explores a different approach, drawing on her own past as a student at Stanford in the 1980s to inform her story “Infinite Loop,” featuring Shel Rock and Joann Wat. (I’m gonna have to draw on both of these essays next time I teach my Sherlock course at George Mason University—tremendously insightful and inspiring in each case!)

Naomi Hirahara won the 2007 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original for her novel Snakeskin Shamisen, the third book in her Mas Arai mystery series, which features a Los Angeles gardener and Hiroshima survivor. Her first historical mystery, Clark and Division, set in 1944 Chicago, will be released by Soho Crime in August 2021. Her short fiction has been included in Los Angeles Noir, Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics, Santa Cruz Noir and A Beast Without a Name. And she has an essay on writing amateur sleuths in the upcoming How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook by Mystery Writers of America, edited by Lee Child with Laurie R. King. Find out more at her website.

And stay tuned next week for David Corbett on his story “The Murderer’s Paradox” in the same anthology—this one in the voice of Moriarty!

Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.

Hirahara-Infinite-Loop

The First Two Pages: “The Twenty-Five-Year Engagement” by James W. Ziskin

In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.

Sherlock Holmes pastiches have been much on my mind lately, thanks to the Sherlock Holmes course I taught at George Mason University in the fall semester—especially since one of the final assignments for the course gave students the option of writing their own Sherlock Holmes stories, applying what they’d learned about how such stories work. Not only did the class read many of the original Sherlock Holmes stories and novels, but they also sampled adaptations, pastiches, and parodies, and I was grateful that Laurie R. King joined us virtually to discuss her own work, including the story “Mrs. Hudson’s Case,” which the students read, and to offer some quick advice to the class about composing their own stories. And coinciding with the last week of our class, Laurie King and Leslie Klinger released the latest in their anthology series of stories inspired by the Holmes, In League with Sherlock Holmes, with a terrific group of contributors.

So when it came time to plan the start of the new year for the First Two Pages blog series, I reached out to some of those authors about reflecting on their stories the anthology—and as a first reward of the new year, I got an even richer understanding of how a master craftsman approaches the art of pastiche, as you’ll see below in James W. Ziskin‘s reflections on his story “The Twenty-Five-Year Engagement.”

Jim and I have been friends for a long while (though only seeing one another at conferences, sad to say!) and also blogmates for many years at 7 Criminal Minds (where he continue to contribute), and I’ve long admired and respected him both as a writer and a person. He’s the author of the author of the Ellie Stone Mysteries, novels which have won both the Anthony and Macavity Awards and been named finalists for the Edgar, Barry, and Lefty awards. And he’s had a fascinating life beyond his writing career too, as you’ll see on the bio at the end of his essay—and do check out his website for more information on his work.

I hope you’ll enjoy Jim’s essay on his story—and on the art of pastiche. (So much to learn!) And stay tuned for more contributors to In League with Sherlock Holmes in the next two weeks, including Naomi Hirahara on her story “Infinite Loop” and David Corbett on his story “The Murderer’s Paradox.”

Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.

Ziskin_25-Year-Engagement

“The Boy Detective” Winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered my newsletter giveaway for copies of the January/February 2020 Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine with my story “The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74 and Other Tales of Suspense.” The winners are… drumroll, please!

Marcia A.James B.Cindy B.Larry C.Shari H.Joan L.Jane L.Todd M.Kathleen R.Sterling S.Jacqueline S.Jeff S.J.B. S.Gary U.Laura W.

I hope everyone has enjoyed happy holidays and wishing you all good tidings for New Year’s Eve and 2021 ahead!

December Newsletter & Holiday Giveaway

I just published my December newsletter, including a look back at 2020 (focusing on the highs, not the lows) and a special giveaway: 15 signed copies of the January/February 2020 issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, featuring my story “The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74.”

For details on how to enter, check out the newsletter here.

And happy holidays to all!

Criminal Minds: Short Story Gift Guide

Thanks to Cathy Ace for inviting me to return to Criminal Minds this week for a gift guide focused on short mystery fiction.

Shout-outs here to The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries, to several anthologies by Martin Edwards and the British Library Crime Classics Series, to Crippen & Landru (my own publisher!), to various anthologies I’ve appeared in this year, to this year’s Bouchercon and Malice Domestic anthologies, to a brand-new collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, and to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

Read the full post here!