Art Taylor's Blog, page 69
March 6, 2018
The First Two Pages: Murder in G Major by Alexia Gordon
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.
Today marks the release of Killing in C Sharp, Alexia Gordon‘s third Gethsemane Brown mystery, following 2016’s Murder in G Major and 2017’s Death in D Minor. Alexia’s debut made quite a splash: It won the Lefty Award for Best Debut Novel, was a finalist for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, and was named one of Suspense Magazine‘s Best Debuts.
Alexia and I have crossed paths and chatted at a couple of mystery conferences in recent years, including Bouchercon and Malice Domestic; we’re both authors with Henery Press; and we’re both whiskey drinkers… so how come we’ve never sat down and done a taste test of favorite bourbons? …or with a nod toward her series’ Irish setting, a bit of Irish whiskey?
Hosting her here is the first step toward arranging that get-together. (And hey, Alexia, my own favorite Irish whiskey is Green Spot. What’s yours? …just to make a good second step forward too.)
While Killing in C Sharp is the newest book in the series, Alexia looks back in the essay here to the First Two Pages of Murder in G Major—not just as setting up the novel and series but setting up the character’s introduction 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 here to read off-line.
Gordon Murder in G Major
March 5, 2018
SleuthSayers: Stories and Novels—and Never the Two Shall Meet?
In my most recent post at SleuthSayers, I reflect on some of Dashiell Hammett’s early short stories—including traces not only of his evolving artistry but also the seeds of some of his later characters, scenarios, and more. Here’s a sample from my post:
Take, for example, that scene from “The Whosis Kid” I mentioned above. The Op and a woman named Inés Almad and a guy named Billie are together in her apartment; then in comes the Frenchman Edouard Maurois and a fellow with a big chin (appropriately called Big Chin); and at our last stopping point the title character steps in, a black revolver in each hand. What everyone’s doing there—well, neither the reader nor the Op know at this point in the story, but the Frenchman seems to be looking for something that Inés is supposed to have—and that she claims she doesn’t but the title character does. And all through the scene, I couldn’t avoid thinking about Sam Spade, Bridgid O’Shaugnessy, Joel Cairo, Casper Guttman, and Wilmer Cook all crowding together in that pivotal scene in The Maltese Falcon.
February 27, 2018
The First Two Pages: Jack Waters by Scott Adlerberg
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.
Today, Scott Adlerberg writes about the first two pages of his new novel Jack Waters, released last month by Broken River Books. When he submitted his essay, Scott called this exercise of analyzing your own work enjoyable, unusual, and worthwhile: “Approach yourself with detachment, as an object of study,” he said, “and you learn a good bit about what you were trying to do and whether it worked or not.”
The essay is a fine one—a sterling example of Scott’s superior nonfiction work generally, and he contributes essays and blog posts pretty widely, for LitHub, Criminal Element, and Do Some Damage. Whether he’s writing about books or films or the writing process or about himself, his past, or his son (one of my own favorites here), Scott always proves insightful and enlightening—not only because of his keen analytical mind but also because of some warmth and enthusiasm, some generosity of spirit, that seems to animate all his work.
In addition to Jack Waters, Scott’s other books include Jungle Horses and Graveyard Love, and his short stories have appeared in the anthology Protectors 2 and in magazines including All Due Respect, Mystery Tribune, and Thuglit.
Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay here to read off-line.
Adlerberg Jack Waters
February 26, 2018
Post-Performance Chat: Baskerville at Mason’s Center for the Arts
I was recently invited to deliver a short talk on Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of the Baskervilles after this Saturday’s performance of Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts—good timing, since I just taught the course “Sherlock” last semester here at Mason, and fortunately saved all my notes!
The production, by the Walnut Street Theatre, features five actors playing more than 40 characters on “a sidesplitting caper through the Devonshire moors, crowded railway stations, foggy London streets, and gloomy baronial mansions where the duo searches for clues, runs into dead ends, and puzzles out the truth for the shockingly funny conclusion.”
The performance is Saturday, March 3, and the post-show reception honors the Friends of the Center for the Arts and the Friends of Theater at Mason. I’m pleased to be part of the program—and to be able to attend the production myself, one I’d very much wanted to see!
February 24, 2018
Mystery Scene & Black Cat Mystery Magazine
The latest Mystery Scene includes a review of the debut issue of Black Cat Mystery Magazine—and coincidentally, Mystery Scene arrived in my mailbox on the same day as issue two of Black Cat.
In the Mystery Scene column “Short & Sweet,” critic Ben Boulden reviewed several great new collections, including Realm of the Impossible and The Big Book of the Continental Op, and called Black Cat Mystery Magazine a “welcome addition to the market,” praising its “nice mixture of styles, settings, and stories.” In particular Boulden praised Alan Orloff’s “Getting Away” and Michael Bracken’s “Dixie Quickies”—great stories each!—and I was pleased to be labelled a “genre stalwart” myself for my story in the issue. (I’m trusting that’s a good thing, generally speaking!)
The issue promises some fine articles overall, including a profile of Anthony Boucher and his career; a celebration of Mickey Spillane’s centennial; a feature on John Hart, with his latest novel, The Hush; and an appreciation of Sue Grafton—really too many interesting articles to list here.
The new Black Cat is promising as well—with B.K. Stevens leading the line-up of authors listed on the cover. I also appreciate editors John Betancourt and Carla Coupe including a shout-out inside the issue about Bonnie’s blog series “The First Two Pages,” which I took over running after her death last year.
Much to enjoy in each magazine—hope you’ll check out both!
February 20, 2018
The First Two Pages: “A Nice Pair of Guns” by Nick Kolakowski
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.
When Nick Kolakowski reached out about contributing a “First Two Pages” essay, I assumed he’d want to write about his new book Slaughterhouse Blues, just released from Down & Out Books’ Shotgun Honey label. But instead, he’s focusing today on an older story, “A Nice Pair of Guns,” originally published in ThugLit.
His reasons for the choice are good ones—and give their own behind-the-scenes glance at how writers think about craft. As he told me in our email chat about this: “I tried to do Slaughterhouse Blues, but it opens with a very straightforward (and gruesome) WWII flashback. Although I love it, and I’m happy with it, it didn’t provide as much material for dissection as I initially thought; so after a couple of attempts, I shifted to a noir story whose opening gave me some real trouble.”
I appreciate so much how Nick’s essay addresses that trouble and how he overcame those challenges by bucking some traditional writing advice. But I also want to add how much I appreciated our conversation about another aspect of the story—that “nice pair of guns” themselves, two AR-15s, a type of firearm which have been very much in the news given their continuing role in too many mass shootings. Nick offered these comments as a preface to his essay:
Following the Parkland school shootings, America is in the midst of an intense discussion about gun control. The short story discussed below, “A Nice Pair of Guns,” features a character hunting for his lost AR-15 rifles; he wasn’t the most responsible gun owner, and he pays for that fact. However you feel about firearms, it’s important that gun safety remains a paramount consideration. If you’re interested in exploring this issue further, the Council on Foreign Relations has a great primer on gun policy in the United States and its influence on the homicide rate; the Giffords Law Center also analyzes the nation’s rates of gun violence.
In addition to his essay and the story here, do check out Nick’s other work, including the first book in the series that Slaughterhouse Blues continues, A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps, also published by Down & Out. Nick’s crime fiction has appeared in Thuglit, Shotgun Honey, Crime Syndicate Magazine, Mystery Tribune, and various anthologies, and he tweets at @nkolakowski.
Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay here to read off-line.
Kolakowski Nice Pair of Guns
February 16, 2018
Mystery Playground: Drinks With Reads
The Drinks With Reads series at Mystery Playground is one of my favorite columns. What could be better than pairing cocktails with crime fiction?
Deborah Lacy at Mystery Playground has been kind enough to host me for the series a couple of times already, and I’m thrilled to be up again this week talking about my story “A Necessary Ingredient” and offering up a drink recipe with its own necessary ingredient, the Black Manhattan.
Here’s an excerpt from my post:
In “A Necessary Ingredient,” a new chef in a mid-sized North Carolina town hires private investigator Ambrose Thornton to track down who in the area might be growing tonka beans—outlawed by the U.S. government since 1954 but a prized delicacy, especially in French cooking, for its sensual taste and aroma. Intrigued by the mission and beguiled by his client’s attractiveness, Thornton sets out on a quest to find the bean—and perhaps win her too.
But another “necessary ingredient” in this mystery’s mix is, in fact, traditional mystery fiction itself….
Read the rest of the post—and find the recipe itself!—at Mystery Playground here.
February 13, 2018
The First Two Pages: A Matter of Blood by Catherine Maiorisi
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 be hosting this week an alum of the “First Two Pages” blog series. Catherine Maiorisi first contributed an essay to the series when B.K. Stevens hosted several contributors to the anthology Where Crime Never Sleeps: Murder New York Style; you can find Catherine’s reflections on her story “Love, Secrets, and Lies” here.
Today, Catherine write about her new novel—and first full-length mystery!—A Matter of Blood, featuring NYPD Detective Chiara Corelli. Congratulations to her on this milestone publication! Hope readers here enjoy her essay, and do check out the book itself too, of course.
Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay here to read off-line.
Maiorisi A Matter of Blood
February 11, 2018
Registration Open! St. John’s Writing Intensive, June 9
Registration is now open for the 4th Annual Spring Writing Intensive at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland—Saturday, June 9, 9:45 a.m. to 6 p.m.
I’m thrilled to be part of this year’s program—presenting a workshop on writing suspense, though importantly, intriguingly, not with a focus on crime fiction. Here’s the write-up for my session, “Something Is Going to Happen”:
Hooking your readers with a killer opening—that’s a must. But how do you get them to turn not just the first page but the next too? and then the next? …and the next? Crafting suspense may seem like the special province of crime fiction writers, but literary writers and genre writers both can profit from heightening tension, escalating conflict, tossing in the unexpected left turn, and generally keeping readers focused on the idea that “something is going to happen,” (to borrow the title of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine’s weekly blog). This session draws on work by writers including Patricia Highsmith, Alice Munro, Joyce Carol Oates, and Scott Turow to illustrate various techniques for incorporating suspense into your own work.
My wife, Tara Laskowski, is also part of the program, presenting a session on flash fiction, and additional presenters include Susan Coll, Caroline Kitchener, Jeff Kleinman, and David Leite. Registration includes lunch, a coffee break, and a wine reception too—with many chances for q & a and informal chat with participating authors.
For complete information on presenters, the schedule, and more, visit the Spring Writing Intensive website, and please do register here. Looking forward to a great day in Annapolis!
February 9, 2018
SleuthSayers: “The Blank Page”
Thursday morning, the to-do list on my phone reminded me that I had a post due for SleuthSayers on Friday—and I had no idea what to write about. But then I started reflecting on several things that had happened recently involving other blank pages and anxieties about how to put something down on them or about what had already been put down there.
Then I started to write myself.
I’m not sure that this ultimately goes anywhere productive, but I hope readers might still appreciate—and maybe have some memories or insights of their own nudged. I can say I’m sure thinking about all this myself.
Here’s the opening paragraphs of my post:
Three weeks ago, I helped lead a Fiction Intensive workshop with high school students at Broad Run High School in Ashburn, VA—young writers released from their regular schedules for the day to concentrate on creative writing. We worked through a number of exercises on building character, plot, and setting, stopping at several points for the students to share their exercises aloud. The work they were doing was imaginative and exciting, even in those quick timed exercises (which I’m never good at myself). Last Friday, I returned to Broad Run for a reading in front of a large assembly—me reading some of my work and several students volunteering to read too. In advance of that reading, I offered a critique of those students’ drafts—and continued to be impressed by their work and then also by their readings in front of their peers too. Braver than I might have been at their age, I have to tell you!
But several things stood out to me along the way—things that… well, troubled is too strong a word, and puzzled too, I guess, but maybe intrigued?
A couple of things struck me, let’s say that, and my thinking about them has continued to gain momentum over the past week….
