Art Taylor's Blog, page 53

How Do I Love Thee? And—More Importantly—Why?

In my latest column at the Washington Independent Review of Books, I reflect on books I love—not only warmly, but also critically, because what does that word love really mean when it comes to books.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Two bits of fun over the last week led me to think about the idea of books we love — think about it both warmly and critically.

The first was a Facebook challenge: Post photos of seven books you love, one each day for seven days, no explanation needed, and pass the challenge along to someone else. More on that in a moment.

The second was my wife, Tara, and me showing our son, Dash, our wedding video for the first time — sparked by us celebrating our 10th anniversary this past Thursday. Most weddings feature readings — Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians topping the list, surely, though poems by Shakespeare and Browning are also favorites.

But our ceremony featured three readings from classic and contemporary fiction. (Our minister, the wife of my high school English teacher, joked that Tara and I had thought about getting married in a library.)

Read the full column here.

July 13: Chesapeake Writing Workshop, Arlington, VA

I’m pleased to be one of the presenters for this year’s Chesapeake Writing Workshop—an all-day program taking place Saturday, July 13, at Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA. With a focus on “How To Get Published,” the event features sessions on both the craft and the business of writing, one-on-one critique sessions, opportunities to meet with agents and editors, and more.

I’ll be meeting one-on-one for up to five critique sessions (sign-up early!) and then leading a full session on “killer openings and spine-tingling suspense.” Here’s the program description:

2019 Edgar Award winner Art Taylor offers both genre writers (mystery/thriller/crime) and literary writers tips and tactics for heightening tension, escalating conflict, tossing in the unexpected left turn, and generally keeping readers turning page after page.

The event features a great line-up of authors and presenters and an equally fine group of editors and agents.

Register here—hope to see you in mid-July!

The First Two Pages: “Flamingo Bingo” by Terrie Farley Moran

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.

Terrie Farley Moran and I first met at a party hosted by Dell Magazines the afternoon before the Edgar Awards many years ago, and we became fast friends. When I accepted this year’s Edgar a few weeks back, Terrie was at the banquet as well. In between those times, she and I have cheered along one another’s publications and successes and more—both writerly news but also personal news: children, grandchildren, what’s going on in our lives. Terrie’s not just a fine writer, but a fine friend too.

Terrie won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel for Well Read, Then Dead, the first book in the Read ‘Em and Eat mystery series, and she won the Derringer Award for Best Novelette for “Inquiry and Assistance,” originally published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. (And Terrie: Still waiting for more in that series!) She’s also the co-author of Laura Childs’ New Orleans scrapbooking mystery series, and other stories have appeared in both Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine as well as numerous anthologies. You can find out more about Terrie at her website or connect with her on Facebook here.

Today at the First Two Pages, Terrie talks about her story “Flamingo Bingo” from Alfred Hitchcock’s May/June issue—the cover story, and what a cover it is!

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.

Moran-Flamingo

“Loose Strands,” A Dark Thread—First Version, En Français

My new story “Loose Strands” was written in response to a photograph by Henry Wessel in his 2012 collection Incidents. While the story’s first English-language publication is still ahead in the full collection A Dark Thread (Mack Books, forthcoming), a French translation appears in a small advance version of the anthology, produced in conjunction with an exhibition of Wessel’s work at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. The exhibition, also titled A Dark Thread, opens June 5, 2019, and runs through August 25, and this first edition of the book, also features stories by Ivy Pochoda and Alexander MacLeod.

I first became involved with A Dark Thread by invitation of one of Wessel’s long-time friends, Mark McCain, the two of them devoted fans of noir and suspense fiction. McCain had read my story “The Care and Feeding of Houseplants” in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and thought my writing would be a good fit for the anthology. He directed me to a few of Wessel’s photographs online and mailed me a copy of Incidents so I could browse through and consider which photograph to claim. But I’d been drawn irrevocably to one image from the start:“Incidents 006,” now part of the collection of London’s Tate Gallery.

Incidents 006 2012 Henry Wessel born 1942 Purchased with assistance from Artworker’s Retirement Society (Tate Americas Foundation) 2014 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P80509

I’ll share more about the story when it’s published in English, but in the meantime, if you speak French or happen to be in Paris this summer….

The First Two Pages: Borrowed Time by Tracy Clark

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.

Tracy Clark has plenty to celebrate—and I’m thrilled for the opportunity to celebrate with her. Not only is today the launch of Borrowed Time, her second Cass Raines PI novel and the subject of her First Two Pages essay today (find the new book at Amazon and Barnes & Noble or at your local independent!), but the first novel in the series, Broken Places, has just been named a finalist for this year’s Anthony Award for Best First Novel. And this recent nomination is only the latest in a string of accolades that her debut has earned—among them, finalist for the the Lefty Award for Best Debut Novel, a starred review from Publishers Weekly, a stellar review from Kirkus, a TOP PICK selection by Romantic Times, and a spot on Library Journal’s list of the Best Crime Fiction of 2018.

Discover more about Tracy and her work at her website and be sure to connect with her on Facebook or Twitter. In the meantime I hope you enjoy her essay here on Borrowed Time—and the glimpse at the opening scene that we don’t get. Now I want to read that too!

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.

Clark-Borrowed-Time

The First Two Pages: “Better Days” by Art Taylor

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.

I’m indulging myself a bit today by featuring a First Two Pages essay on one of my own stories, “Better Days,” in the new May/June 2019 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. As I mentioned in my introduction to last week’s essay—by Mark Stevens on his story “A Bitter Thing” from the same issue—this EQMM features an extraordinary line-up, including David Dean, Brendan DuBois, Martin Edwards, Janice Law, William Burton McCormick, Josh Pachter, Mark Stevens, Marilyn Todd, and Dave Zeltserman, and I’m honored to have my own story featured alongside theirs.

“Better Days” is the follow-up to an earlier story that appeared in EQMM‘s pages: “A Drowning at Snow’s Cut,” from the May 2011 issue, which won the next year’s Derringer Award for Best Long story. Both stories focus on a journalist and his father—both on their investigative teamwork (the father leading the way ultimately!) and their relationship, sometimes prickly but equally warm when it counts the most. And both are set along the North Carolina coast, a place where my own family has visited, vacationed, and lived for much of my own life—and which I’m so thrilled to revisit in my fiction (feels like home).

I hope you enjoy the essay below and check out the full story in the new EQMM.

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.

Taylor-Better-Days

“English 398: Fiction Workshop” Named Anthony Award Finalist

I’m so thrilled to have my story “English 398: Fiction Workshop” from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine listed among this year’s finalists for the Anthony Award for Best Short Story—and in such fine company with short fiction by Shawn A. Cosby, Barb Goffman, Greg Herren, and Holly West. Much to celebrate in Dallas in October!

Congratulations as well to all the finalists, including so many friends throughout the categories here! The full list of nominees is below—hooray!

BEST NOVEL

Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown and Company) November Road by Lou Berney (William Morrow) Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier (Minotaur Books) Sunburn by Laura Lippman (William Morrow) Blackout by Alex Segura (Polis Books)

BEST FIRST NOVEL

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday) Broken Places by Tracy Clark (Kensington) Dodging and Burning by John Copenhaver (Pegasus Books) What Doesn’t Kill You by Aimee Hix (Midnight Ink) Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin (Ecco)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL

Hollywood Ending by Kellye Garrett (Midnight Ink) If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin (William Morrow Paperbacks) Hiroshima Boy by Naomi Hirahara (Prospect Park Books) Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day (William Morrow Paperbacks) A Stone’s Throw by James W. Ziskin (Seventh Street Books)

BEST SHORT STORY

“The Grass Beneath My Feet” by S.A. Cosby, in Tough (blogazine, August 20, 2018) “Bug Appétit” by Barb Goffman, in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (November/December 2018) “Cold Beer No Flies” by Greg Herren, in Florida Happens (Three Rooms Press “English 398: Fiction Workshop” by Art Taylor, in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (July/August 2018) “The Best Laid Plans” by Holly West, in Florida Happens (Three Rooms Press)

BEST CRITICAL OR NONFICTION WORK

Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession by Alice Bolin (William Morrow Paperbacks) Mastering Plot Twists: How To Use Suspense, Targeted Storytelling Strategies, and Structure To Captivate Your Readers by Jane K. Cleland (Writer’s Digest Books) Pulp According to David Goodis by Jay A. Gertzman (Down & Out Books) Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s by Leslie S. Klinger (Pegasus Books) I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara (HarperCollins) The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World by Sarah Weinman (Ecco)

The First Two Pages: “A Bitter Thing” by Mark Stevens

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.

The May/June 2019 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine features an outstanding line-up, including some of my own favorite short story writers: David Dean, Brendan DuBois, Martin Edwards, Janice Law, William Burton McCormick, Josh Pachter, Mark Stevens, Marilyn Todd, and Dave Zeltserman, just to name the ones whose stories I’ve already read.

I invited Mark Stevens to write about his story, “A Bitter Thing,” for several reasons. The story’s first two pages focus more on building the the two main characters than on pushing the plot ahead (at least explicitly, as you’ll see if you read the whole thing), and in the process, the opening lays the groundwork for their partnership, for the investigation, and for some revelations about character even through the story’s last line.

In addition to short stories like this one, Mark is the author of the Allison Coil Mystery Series, including Antler Dust, Buried by the Roan, Trapline, Lake of Fire and The Melancholy Howl. And he was the 2016 Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Writer of the Year. You can find out more about him and his work at his website.

I hope you enjoy the essay below and check out the full story in the new EQMM. If you want more of Wayne Furlong’s adventures, check out the story “Shaky Ground,” mentioned by Mark in his essay and linked 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.

Stevens-Bitter-Thing-

Drinks With Reads: “Better Days” and a Sun Stealer

The Drinks With Reads series at Mystery Playground is one of my favorite blog series—pairing cocktails with stories and novels by some of today’s best mystery writers.

I’ve been pleased to be included in the series a few times before, and I’m especially fond of the pairing this time out—since the cocktail plays on a drink mentioned within the story itself!

Here’s my essay on the Sun Stealer, paired with “Better Days” from the May/June issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.

I should’ve mentioned this in the essay, but in making my own at home, I actually relied on two North Carolina products as a tribute to the story’s setting on NC’s Crystal Coast.

For the Fernet Branca, I substitute the Appalachian Fernet from Eda Rhyne, a small craft distillery in Asheville, NC.And for the orange bitters, I used the “Sycophant” orange & fig bitters from Crude Bitters in Raleigh, NC.

In any case, it’s a delicious cocktail—with both direct ties to the story and thematic ones too, as you’ll see.

And hope you enjoy the story too!

The First Two Pages: “Please See Me” by Deborah Lacy

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.

I’m pleased to welcome Deborah Lacy to the First Two Pages for the second time in my tenure here. She previously appeared with an essay about her story “Taking Care” from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine‘s May/June 2018 issue, and today she talks about “Please See Me” from the new anthology Fault Lines: Stories by Northern California Crime Writers, edited by Margaret Lucke and produced by the Northern California Chapter of Sisters in Crime—the first anthology produced by the chapter!

“Please See Me” has a fascinating structure, which you’ll get a glimpse of in the essay below—proof of both Deb’s ambitions and her prowess as a short story writer. In addition to the two stories she’s written about at this blog, she’s also had short fiction published in Mystery Weekly Magazine and in the anthologies Blood on the Bayou and Shhh…Murder!, among other places. And Deb is a dedicated blogger too—editor-in-chief of the website Mystery Playground.

Check out Deb’s essay below and the full story in Fault Lines, which also features contributions by Ana Brazil, Jenny Carless, Diana Chambers, David Hagerty, Vinnie Hansen, Katherine Bolger Hyde, Judith Janeway, Mariah Klein, Mariella Krause, Susan Kuchinskas, Bette Golden Lamb, J.J. Lamb, Margaret Lucke, Susan C. Shea, Robin C. Stuart, Nancy Tingley, CJ Verburg, and C.M. West.

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.

Lacy-Please-See-Me