Art Taylor's Blog, page 81

SleuthSayers: Diversity in More Than One Direction

For my bi-weekly post at SleuthSayers, I reflect on the final texts and discussions from my “Women of Mystery” course at George Mason University, which had its final classes this week (with essays and grading and exams and more grading still ahead). We finished our classwork looking at Sue Grafton’s A Is For Alibi and Sisters in Crime’s recent Report for Change, focused on questions of diversity, equity and inclusion in the genre. Surprisingly even to me (who put the syllabus together), there was a direct transition from Grafton’s book to the SinC report—as my students helped me to see. (I learn as much as they do from these classes sometimes.)

Here’s a key excerpt from my post:

This semester marks the first time I’ve taught a course in “Women of Mystery” and the last couple of classes brought some interesting discussions and left me with plenty to think about myself. The final book we studied was Sue Grafton’s A Is For Alibi, a novel I’ve taught before in the context of hard-boiled detective fiction—how this novel builds out of that tradition and shifts its focus. This time, obviously, we were looking at the history of women crime writers and female detectives, which offered a different context. In one class discussion, for example, we charted the great diversity of female characters represented in the book: from young to old, from working class to upper class, from single women to married women to divorced women and with a mix of mistresses in between, and from the domestically minded to the fiercely independent; as students pointed out, while Kinsey Milhone is always jogging and keeping an eye on her health, we also have a character saying that “Fat is beautiful” and arguing for special rights for the “grossly overweight.”

But amidst all the diversity of women’s experiences catalogued in the book, there was a key bit of diversity missing: As my students pointed out, nearly all the characters here are white.

Read the full post here.

Two Stories at Great Jones Street

“The short story is a perfect match for the mobile phone. We believe it and we’re out to prove it. It’s personal for me, a mission for us, and rewarding for you.” So wrote Kelly Abbott, founder and CEO of Great Jones Street, a relatively new app that already boasts a “1000 stories in your pocket” and those numbers are growing by the day, as the award-winning writers already featured recommend other award-winning stories to be considered for inclusion as well.

I’m honored that Abbott has chosen two of my stories for inclusion on the app: “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” which originally appeared in PANK, and “A Voice from the Past,” which originally appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Both are linked here to the app itself, but you’ll need to download it in order to read them. Downloading is free and use of the app is free—no better deal out there.

“Mastering the Art of French Cooking” was named a Notable Story of 2011 by storySouth; earned first place in the flash fiction category of the 2012 Press 53 Open Awards, and was a finalist for the 2013 Spinetingler Award for Best Short Story on the Web.

“A Voice from the Past” was named among “Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2009” in the 2010 edition of Best American Mystery Stories.

Thank to my friend R.T. Lawton for having recommended me to Great Jones Street—and be sure to check out his own stories on the app, including “The Bond That Keeps,” “The Bond Market,” “The Big Bail Out,” “The Bond Servant,” “On the Edge,” “The Little Nogai Boy,” and “The Delivery.”

And looking forward to introducing my students at George Mason University to the app—a great resource for teaching as well as reading!

Sisters in Crime Author Extravaganza

On Saturday, December 3, the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime hosts the second of its seasonal author extravaganzas—great opportunities for our members to share news about their latest releases and for readers to check off some holiday shopping, since signed books always make the best gifts!

The December 3 event takes place at the Reston Regional Library, 11925 Bowman Towne Drive, Reston, VA, with the official program beginning at 1 p.m. (come as early as 12:30 for snacks and mingling). Sixteen authors will be participating, including Donna Andrews, E.A. Aymar, Maya Corrigan, Ellen Crosby, Barb Goffman, Sherry Harris, Eleanor Cawood Jones, Kim Kash, Eileen McIntire, Susan O’Brien, Alan Orloff, KM Rockwood, Colleen Shogan, Shawn Reilly Simmons, and Robin Templeton, and I’m thrilled to be joining them. Book sales are provided by Mystery Loves Company.

For my own news: I’m pleased to have a few recent publications to share, including my story “Parallel Play” in Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning, my story “The Great Detective Reflects” in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, and then the inclusion of my story “Rearview Mirror” in this year’s Best American Mystery Stories. And it’s been a great year generally, with an Agatha Award for Best First Novel and other award recognition for On the Road with Del & Louise and an Anthony Award for Best Anthology for a collection I edited, Murder Under the Oaks.

Hope to see folks in Reston this Saturday!

SleuthSayers: A Guest Post from Tara Laskowski

At SleuthSayers, as part of a short series about mystery writers writing for non-mystery publications, my wife Tara Laskowski takes a contrasting view: as a writer primarily working in literary circles but also finding some success in mystery magazines. I’m pleased to host her guest post, taking my slot in the SleuthSayers rotation.

Here’s an excerpt from Tara’s essay:

While I’ve had a few stories published in crime magazines and anthologies, they were never stories I had intentionally written for those audiences. I am, for the most part, considered a literary writer, and most of the publications I have on my resume are in literary and general fiction journals, books, and magazines. My stories tend to hover on the themes of family, friendships, and women’s issues. I write and edit flash fiction, which is often experimental and focused on language and rhythm over plot—closer to poetry in some ways.

But I also love the dark side. I grew up reading Nancy Drew and The Three Investigators and Stephen King’s novels and stories. I was born on Halloween and am obsessed with horror movies. I love a good scare, a good creep-out, a wicked villain….

Read the full essay here.

Club Hen House: Holiday Traditions

At the Henery Press blog, I chat about holiday traditions: taking down the Halloween decorations, looking toward the Christmas decorations, and trying not to rush past Thanksgiving in the process! Here’s a glimpse at my post.

I still remember with a rush of nostalgia certain ornaments from when I was a child—a pair of tweedy elves with felt hats (one green, one red), a trio of mice each with its own musical instrument—and I loved our tradition then of keeping the tree lit up all night on Christmas eve (and yes, I realize now the electrical hazard there). This year, as our son was talking about decorating plans, I caught a glimpse of the bits that will likely stick with him: a glitter-speckled house with gumdrop lights that twinkle in time with a holiday tune, for example, or the electric Polar Express train that circles through the presents under tree. When we told him we had to wait on all that until after Thanksgiving, he drew a picture of the tree and the train instead—reveling in the anticipation since he couldn’t get the actual thing.

That’s our son’s picture above, of course—and we’ll be putting up the real thing on Sunday!

Read the full post here—and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Thanksgiving Trials and Troubles at the Washington Independent Review of Books

My column this month for the Washington Independent Review of Books looks at the troubling proximity between Election Day and Thanksgiving, particularly in the wake of a historically divisive campaign and voting season. How are any of us to survive a Thanksgiving in what might literally be a house divided against itself? I offer seven tips, beginning with lessons from Sarah L. Kaufman’s terrific book The Art of Grace…though some readers might think I fail to maintain that sense of grace myself as the column unfolds. At the very least I hope it’s an entertaining read.

Check it out here.

Reading Reading Reading

Here just past mid-semester and in the midst of both the build-up to the election and the election’s aftermath—plus with a series of events dominating October and early November, I’ve been writing only sporadically. But I’ve been reading lots.

Among the books that I’ve been working through are Ian McEwan’s Nutshell and Anthony Berkeley’s Poisoned Chocolates Case, the latter presented by Martin Edwards, and I listened to Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock en route to North Carolina and back for the NC Writers’ Network’s Fall Conference. And then for one of my classes, I’ve been rereading Agatha Christie’s A Murder Is Announced and stories from Sarah Weinman’s collection Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives. Oh, and War and Peace—just over a month to go!

Additionally, here’s a sample of stuff online that’s caught my eye—both fiction and then an essay useful for fiction writers:

My wife Tara Laskowski’s story “Statements, Rumors, and Other Particulars About the 1971 Ice Man Disappearance” at People Holding…
Kara Oakleaf’s story “The Astronauts’ Baseball League” at MonkeyBicycle
B.K. Stevens’ post “Camoflaging Clues” at SleuthSayers—with tips on folding clues into mystery stories

And then, speaking of the election above, I contributed a couple of pieces writing around that topic (so I did write something):

“9 Dystopian Novels To Take Your Mind Off the Election” in the Washington Independent Review of Books (my pick was Stephen King’s The Stand)
“On NOT Talking Politics on Social Media” at SleuthSayers

That latter post was meant as a critical examination and exploration and of my own reasons for not talking politics on social media and a question about why others do talk politics on Facebook and Twitter, but some readers took it as an advocacy piece—encouraging others to stay silent themselves. That wasn’t at all my point, and as a counter to that, here’s a couple of other pieces reacting to the election and definitely speaking out, posts that I found fascinating—one specifically about the importance of standing up for beliefs and values and a second about the importance of art in troubling times. I’ll recommend both here:

“Hate Crimes in Canada, Eh” by Melissa Yi at SleuthSayers
“We Need Good Art” by Renee Asher Pickup at Do Some Damage

Finally, to end on a more celebratory (and less political) note, here’s some great news from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine: the magazine will be honored for “Distinguished Contribution to the Genre” at next year’s Bouchercon in Toronto, “Passport to Murder.” Check out that full story here at EQMM‘s blog, Something Is Going to Happen.

Weekend Events: Leesburg, VA & Raleigh, NC

This weekend, I’ll be appearing in two states in a little less than 48 hours!

First, on Friday, November 4, at 7:30 p.m., I’ll present the program “Build Your Characters” for this month’s edition of Leesburg First Friday, a program sponsored by The Writer’s Center. The program is held in the Lower Level Meeting Room of the Leesburg Town Hall, 25 West Market Street Leesburg, VA. Registration is required.

Then Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be at the North Carolina Writer’s Network’s annual Fall Conference. This is a real thrill for me for a number of reasons. As a former board member of the NCWN and having chaired two previous Fall Conferences myself, I’m thrilled now to be appearing as one of the presenters. While I’m sad to miss the opening ceremonies of the conference on Friday night and the keynote address by Margaret Maron (I’ll be in Leesburg, of course!), I’m looking forward to being in Raleigh by mid-afternoon Saturday, November 5, joining the faculty reading at 4:30 p.m. and attending the banquet with guest of honor Shelby Stephenson. And hoping to get a good turn-out for my Sunday session too, of course: “Sharp, Succinct, and Suspenseful: Crafting the Mystery Short Story,” Sunday morning, November 6, at 11 am.—plenty of things to talk about for folks interested in writing suspense fiction. Pre-registration is closed but still time to register on-site.

Look forwarding to seeing old friends and meeting new ones at each event!

Weekend Events: Leesburg & Raleigh

This weekend, I’ll be appearing in two states in a little less than 48 hours!

First, on Friday, November 4, at 7:30 p.m., I’ll present the program “Build Your Characters” for this month’s edition of Leesburg First Friday, a program sponsored by The Writer’s Center. The program is held in the Lower Level Meeting Room of the Leesburg Town Hall, 25 West Market Street Leesburg, VA. Registration is required.

Then on Sunday morning, November 6, at 11 am.., I’ll host the session “Sharp, Succinct, and Suspenseful: Crafting the Mystery Short Story” at the North Carolina Writer’s Network’s annual Fall Conference. This is a real thrill for me for a number of reasons. As a former board member of the NCWN and having chaired two previous Fall Conferences myself, I’m thrilled now to be appearing as one of the presenters. While I’m sad to miss the opening ceremonies of the conference on Friday night and the keynote address by Margaret Maron (I’ll be in Leesburg, of course!), I’m looking forward to being in Raleigh by mid-afternoon Saturday, joining the faculty reading (I hope!), and attending the banquet with guest of honor Shelby Stephenson. And hoping to get a good turn-out for my Sunday session too, of course—plenty of things to talk about for folks interested in writing suspense fiction. Pre-registration is closed but still time to register on-site.

Look forwarding to seeing old friends and meeting new ones at each event!

Sisters in Crime Author Showcase

This Saturday, October 29, I’ll be joining 15 other members of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime at The Writer’s Center in Maryland for the first of two Author Showcases on our fall schedule. This Saturday’s event begins at 12:30 with mingling and snacks, and the formal program begins at 1 p.m. The Writer’s Center is at 4508 Walsh Street in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and book sales will be provided by Mystery Loves Company.

Near the end of each year, the chapter hosts two such events—one in Maryland and a second in Virginia—to give members the opportunity to share news about publications over the past year: stories, books, or other news. Participants in this Saturday’s event include Donna Andrews, John DeDakis, Barb Goffman, Mary Ellen Hughes, Eleanor Cawood Jones, Kim Kash, Debbi Mack, Eileen McIntire, Alan Orloff, KM Rockwood, Colleen Shogan, Shawn Reilly Simmons, Marianne Wilski Strong, Robin Templeton, and Rebecca York. I’m pleased to have a few recent publications to share, including my story “Parallel Play” in Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning, my story “The Great Detective Reflects” in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, and then the inclusion of my story “Rearview Mirror” in this year’s Best American Mystery Stories. So there’s my news, but come out to hear everyone’s else’s as well! And these events provide good opportunities for early holiday shopping as well for all the book lovers on your list.

The Virginia event will be Saturday, December 3, at the Reston Library in Reston, Virginia. Stay tuned for the list of participants there!

In other news, my latest post at Criminal Minds is also my last there—posted on Friday about how writers write (or don’t) under stress. So there was a nice segue into an exit—and a chance too to celebrate the writer taking my place: Danny Gardner, who will step in on Friday, November 4. Stay turned for great posts by him!