Kathy Lynn Emerson's Blog, page 81

A Look Back

Bruce Robert Coffin checking in. I’m sitting in my attic writing nook reflecting on the past year. What a ride! January 1st, 2015 found me with the usual resolutions, eat better, lose a few pounds, workout more, you know the ones. But last year I added a goal. Get published! It didn’t matter what it was; short story, grocery list, thank you note, fortune cookie advice, I wasn’t particularly choosy. I’d even entertained the thought of contacting Salada to see if they’d allow me to write a bit of tea bag advice. Hey, I was desperate.

Of course, what I really longed for was to see my first novel in print. The loftiest of all writing goals. Truly unattainable stuff. Friend and fellow Maine writer Chris Holm gave me some great advice. He said: “If you’re gonna step up to the plate, you’ve gotta swing for the fence, every single time.” He was right, of course. But that didn’t stop me from checking my in bin to see if Salada had responded. Nope. Damn.

Last April I attended my second Maine Crime Wave, this time as a wannabe published writer (the first had been as a guess panelist). The cool thing about events like this is getting the chance to chat with successful authors, both in formal and informal settings. I’ve found them all to be very gracious and approachable. And they always say encouraging things like: “Remember, we all began as unpublished authors, too.” In my heart of hearts I knew this was true, but it all sounded a bit too far-fetched. The kind of thing an art teacher might say if you turned in a blank canvas because you couldn’t think of a single thing to paint.

“Oh, I love what you’ve done here. So minimalist. So abstract. So bold.”

Please.

Like Jim Hayman, Kate Flora, and Gerry Boyle weren’t born already published!

The evening before the Crime Wave, I attended the Friday night reading dubbed “Two Minutes in the Slammer.” A cool moniker for what was really a chance to stand up in front of a room full of accomplished writers and wannabes (like me), knees knocking, and read something you’d written. The literary equivalent of grabbing the listener by the ear and not letting go. Knock their socks off, I was told. Sure, I said, until I realized we only had two minutes in which to accomplish this. Talk about nerve-racking.

After deciding upon a passage from my one of short stories, titled Bygones, I spent the afternoon practicing my delivery in my kitchen, to a audience of a half dozen empty dining room chairs. Timed by my microwave, trying not to sound like Peter Brady (Remember the episode where his voice kept changing as he hit puberty?), I honed the abridged version of my story until it was precisely two minutes in length. It was okay, I thought. I looked at the dining room chairs. Not a naysayer among them. I took their silence as a sign of agreement.

Hours later I found myself in the lower level of the Portland Public Library. Pacing as I stared at the stage. What the hell? No one had said anything about getting up on a stage. Please, God, I thought. Don’t make me read first. Or even worse, last!

As the seats slowly filled up, I continued to wear out the floor at the back of the room. Until I saw a familiar face, Paul Doiron. You know, author of the acclaimed Mike Bowditch mystery novels, about the coolest outdoorsman since Grizzly Adams. A fan of his books, I approached Paul hoping the pass the time with a little banter about what he was up to, wanting badly to take my mind off that stupid stage. As usual, Paul was very engaging and down to earth. If he noticed my frequent nervous over the shoulder glances at the stage, he never mentioned it. Paul told me about a book he was writing, The Precipice, set in the middle of Maine’s Hundred Mile Wildness along the famed Appalachian Trail. A fan of the AT myself, I mumbled something incoherent about a mystery novel that I’d been working on, titled “Trail Magic”, about a female FBI agent trying to convince others of the existence of a serial killer stalking victims along the entire AT. Always the gentleman, Paul said he thought it sounded “cool.” Somehow, given his stature in the mystery writing community, and me being an unpublished author, it didn’t feel very cool. In all honesty, I felt more like a tool.

Again, I glanced at the stage. Any word from Salada?

Everyone took their seats as the rules were explained. Each of the thirteen readers would be given a moment to either tell the audience a bit about themselves or explain the passage from which they’d be reading. Following the intro the two minutes would begin. The two minute limit would be strictly enforced, they said. They even had a timer! Alarmed, I wondered if the timer on my microwave had ever been calibrated…

The order of the readers was announce. I wasn’t first! Yay. Tucked safely in the middle, I figured if I sucked royally no one would remember. I listened enthusiastically as the others spewed forth great prose. Some was humorous, some action-oriented, and some just plain old good writing. When it was over, each of us congratulated the others on our delivery and our prose while we awaited word from the judges.

A number of people approached me and praised my reading, among them were Jim Hayman and Chris Holm. They seemed genuinely impressed with what I had read. But I remained doubtful. What if Jim and Chris were just really good at improvisational praise? My dining room chairs hadn’t instilled a lot of confidence.

Several minutes later the results were finally tallied. The judges announced two winners, and I was one of them! I was elated. Not only had I survived my Two Minutes in the Slammer, I’d won my freedom!

Winning Two Minutes in the Slammer hadn’t been on my list of New Year resolutions, but the way I was feeling, it shoulda been.

Screw you Salada!

Let’s just say that the remainder of the year exceeded my wildest hopes and expectations. In November my very first short story, “Fool Proof”, was published in the Best New England Crime Stories 2016 anthology, Red Dawn. I obtained an honest-to-god literary agent, Paula Munier of the Talcott Notch Agency. And with Paula’s help I’ve just recently managed to fulfill my lifelong dream of having a novel published. In fact, not just one novel but three! I’m happy to announce that HarperCollins will be publishing my John Byron Mystery Series under their Witness Impulse imprint. The debut novel will be released in early fall.

And finally, as if all of this wasn’t enough, the genie popped out of the lamp one more time in February (Yeah, I know it’s a different year, but this is my blog.), handing me an email from Mr. Mystery himself, world renown publisher, editor and New York bookstore owner Otto Penzler, informing me that “Fool Proof” had been picked as one of the twenty best mystery stories published in North America during the 2015 calendar year! Holy moly! My story will now appear in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Best American Mystery Stories, 2016.

In retrospect, my diet may not have improved much, my appearances at the gym are somewhat sporadic, I’ve actually gained a few pounds (muscle I imagine), but as far as my writing goals are concerned, I somehow managed to put one over the fence.

Grab that would you, Chris? I’d like to keep it as a momento.

I’m not sure if Clarence was right about there being sone correlation between bells and angels getting their wings (trust me, I’m no angel), but I can now say with certainty, if you want something bad enough, and you’re willing to work hard to get it, really hard, dreams really do come true.

What Am I Up To?

Thank you for asking.

Hi. Barb here.

Fogged Inn, the fourth Maine Clambake Mystery launched last week.

Here’s the description.

An autumn chill has settled over Busman’s Harbor, Maine, but Julia Snowden is warming up the town by offering lobster stew at the local diner. When her landlord discovers a dead body in the walk-in refrigerator, Julia must figure out who ordered up a side of murder.

Early reviews have been good, which is fun and gratifying.

“I started reading and I just couldn’t stop.”

Escape with Dollycas Into a Good Book, February 2016

“This is the 4th book in her Maine Clambake Mystery series and I have to say they just keep getting better.”

Cozy Mystery Book Reviews, February 2016

“An entirely surprising conclusion wraps up this smartly-plotted mystery whose heroine is intelligent and as appealing as the gorgeous Maine coast.”

King’s River Life, February 2016

“Quite honestly, there is not one thing I would change about this book…”

mjbreviewers, February 2016

Read More about Fogged Inn

You can purchase Fogged Inn in paperback and e-book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, iTunes, Kobo, and other fine retailers including your local, independent bookstore. The audiobook is coming soon and just yesterday I heard there will be a large print version. Not sure of the release date for that yet.

My editor signed off on my novella for Eggnog Murder

Here’s the description.

It’s Christmas in Maine! This holiday season, join New York Times bestselling author Leslie Meier and Lee Hollis and Barbara Ross and cozy up with a glass of eggnog and enjoy the spirit of murder and mystery in a Yultide treat perfect for those winter holidays…

(Or as Amazon calls it, by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and one other, which makes me laugh.)

I’m calling my contribution to the collection Maine Clambake Mystery 4.5, because it fits neatly between Fogged Inn, which takes place the week after Thanksgiving, and Maine Clambake Mystery #5, Iced Under which takes place in the end of February.

Here’s the description my novella, “Nogged Off.”

Julia Snowden’s tenant Imogen Geinkes seems to be jinxed. First, her poorly named “Killer Eggnog” gives all her co-workers food poisoning at the holiday party, then her boyfriend’s body shows up in Julia’s moving truck as she’s headed back to Busman’s Harbor. Now Julia has to get moving to catch the cold-hearted culprit.

You can pre-order Eggnog Murder at Amazon, Books A Million, Kobo, and other select retailers.

News from Level Best Books

Bruce Coffin is a Maine Crime Writer, and we’ve already announced that his story, “Foolproof,” in Best New England Crime Stories: Red Dawn was chosen as a Best American Mystery Story of 2015 by Otto Penzler and guest editor Elizabeth George. It will appear in the Best American Mystery anthology when it is released in the fall. In past years, Level Best has had stories recognized as “Other Distinguished Stories” and listed in the back of the book, but this is our first “Best.” It’s a great way for the former editors to go out.

Three Red Dawn authors’ stories made the Derringer Award short lists, announced by the Short Mystery Fiction Society today. Vy Kava for “Hero,” Best Flash, and Chris Knopf for “Kill Switch” and Shelly Dickson Carr for “Words Can Kill” for Best Short.

We’re very proud of all of them!

You can buy Best New England Crime Stories: Red Dawn in paperback and for Kindle at Amazon, for Nook at Barnes & Noble and in paperback from Level Best Books.

And I’m hard at work on Maine Clambake Mystery #5, Iced Under

I am hard at work on Maine Clambake Mystery #5 now. It will be published December 26, 2016.

In other news…

In other news, while you’re reading this, my husband and I are driving back from Key West to New England and are happily working on the Wedding of the Century, our daughter’s, taking place in Portland, Maine in May.

So it’s a busy, crazy time.

Death and Taxes; or, The Author and the IRS

Before I start writing: I am Lea Wait. I’m a writer, not an accountant.

But a few days ago Maine Crime Writers reader Ann Hough asked how I — and other Maine Crime Writers – set up the business side of being a writer. (MCWers  and other authors — please comment!)

I know a few writers, generally very successful ones (think: always on the New York Times best seller list) who have incorporated themselves for tax and legal reasons.

But I suspect most of us file, as I do, on a Schedule C (“Profit or Loss From Business”). My husband and I actually file three Schedule Cs — one for my writing, one for his art, and one for our antique print business.)

On mine I list my occupation as “writer” (code 711510) and include income and expenses for both writing and speaking, since most of my speaking fees are related to my writing.

And before I go any further: the key to establishing yourself as an author with the IRS is having records of everything you declare, in any category, both income and expenses, in case the IRS questions whether your writing is a business or a hobby. It used to be understood that a business needed to make a profit on a fairly regular basis — some said every 3 years. My accountant has said that, with documentation, the IRS is more flexible about authors these days. But the key is always documentation. You have to be able to prove you tried seriously to make money from your writing.

OK. Income. That includes advances and royalties from book sales. (The percentage paid to your agent is listed under “commissions”.) Income includes on-line or bookstore sales from self-published books. It includes every dollar you earned from free-lancing, or writing short stories. It includes honorariums or payments from libraries or schools or conferences, or money from editing. I make copies of any checks I’ve earned during the year, no matter how small, so I can just add them up in January or February, when I’m doing my taxes. You didn’t have any income from writing this year? Be prepared to provide proofs that you actively tried to make money: letters (and rejection letters) from agents and editors. Query letters you submitted. Attendance at writing seminars or conferences.

Expenses? Again, having records is critical. I suspect authors do this differently, but I save receipts for every magazine and book I buy during the year. When I’m doing my taxes I divide them into “books I read to learn more about writing or publishing,” “books I read to keep abreast of the market,” “books I read for research,” and  “other.” “Other” books are not deductible. The others are. I go through the same exercise with magazines, since they’re on a separate IRS line.

Dues to writing organizations are deductible, and they add up. This year I’m a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, The Author’s Guild, Novelists, Inc., the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.

Did you hire someone to design or maintain your website? Format your e-book? Design a cover? Edit your book? Publicize it? Do you have a post office box you use just for writing (so you don’t list your street address on your website)? Did you buy any equipment used just for writing (e.g. a tape recorder for interviews)? Writing software, e.g. Scrivener? Did you enter any writing contests or pay fees for critiques?

Your can also list marketing expenses (advertisements, printing postcards or other promotional materials), postage (to send those postcards to people on your mailing list or send books to potential reviewers,) the cost of writing classes or conferences, and office supplies (printer ink, paper, notebooks, envelopes, index cards)  — again, supplies used just for your writing career. Giveaways – magnets, tee shirts, bookmarks, whatever, advertising your book(s) — yes. Deductible

Travel expenses can be dicey. I keep a record of every mile I drive related to writing … driving to events I’m attending or speaking at, visiting bookstores, going to historical associations or libraries or museums to do research, attending conferences, etc. If the trip involves an overnight stay, the hotel room is deductible. (The late night movie you paid for on your hotel bill isn’t.) Airline tickets, luggage fees, parking expenses, tolls, taxis — all are legitimate expenses when your trip is purely for business reasons. If you add on a day for vacation, you have to deduct that per cent of the expenses. Meals are also questionable. My choice is to list very few — the argument being that even if you’re at home you were going to eat anyway. I wouldn’t want to be called in by the IRS about a restaurant or bar bill. And don’t forget that if you’re lucky enough to be reimbursed for any of these expenses, you can’t declare them. Makes sense.

Although writers often buy clothes they only wear when they’re speaking or attending conferences (occasions that tend to require outfits a bit dressier than the sweat pants we may wear when we work at home), no — sorry — those clothes are not deductible.

Neither are taking your significant other with you on a trip (deduct 50% from expenses) or having your hair done for an awards banquet (you would wash it anyway, right?) or buying souvenirs. Unless, of course, the souvenir is a book on birds in the state where your next book is set, in which case it falls under “Books: research”.

Home offices are only deductible if the space is used exclusively for writing. I’d advise checking with your accountant on that one. If you do take a home office deduction, it has tax implications when you sell your home.

This all sounds more complicated than it really is. The key is recording every time you spend money on something related to running your business. To being an author.

It doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Every time I speak, say, at a library, I keep at least one or more emails from the library proving the event was scheduled, plus copies of any publicity about the appearance. After I return home I list the mileage I drove, any tolls or parking, any honorarium I might have received, a copy of the check, and any profits I might have made from book sales after my talk, clip it all together, and stick it in my “writing” file.  Oh, yes: business mileage is deductible at whatever rate the IRS approves. For 2016 it’s $.54 a mile. (Good to know when deciding whether you want to drive 200 miles to speak at a small library.)

As a side — but important — note: If you sell your own books directly to customers you need a “resale” or sales tax number from any state in which you do business. Each state has its own rules. In some states you pay sales tax every month, in some it’s every quarter or six months or yearly. Not complicated, but sometimes the paperwork is a pain.

That’s the way I do it. Any comments, fellow Maine Crime Writers or other authors? Have I forgotten anything? April fifteenth is on the horizon …

—–

Lea Wait writes the Shadows Antique Print Mystery series (latest: SHADOWS ON A MAINE CHRISTMAS) and the Mainely Needlepoint series (latest: THREAD AND GONE,) and historical novels for ages eight an up (latest: UNCERTAIN GLORY). Her LIVING AND WRITING ON THE COAST OF MAINE is about her life as a writer, living with her artist husband.  

Never Entirely a Solo Act: Introducing Dick Cass

Dick Cass here and most grateful for the welcome and the chance to ramble on to the MCW blog audience. The recent thrill of joining the lively and vibrant community of crime writers in this state has been eclipsed only by my personal tail-wagging pleasure at holding the hardback of Solo Act, my first mystery novel, in my hot little hands.

This is the tale whereby an alcoholic buys a bucket-of-blood bar in the South End of Boston and tries to turn it into a respectable jazz club without losing his sobriety in the process. It would be churlish not to thank the many people who contributed to this happy event, particularly my agent, Paula Munier, and Tiffany Schofield, the acquiring editor at Five Star. (And it’s strictly a coincidence that Five Star decided to stop publishing mysteries after mine, leaving some very good mystery writers, er, twisting in the wind.) Book available in hardback and e-book all over. Etc. Etc.

With the commercial taken care of, I wanted to make a point of expressing my pleasure and wonder at the talented and committed community of crime writers that has sprung up since the last time I lived here. When I left Maine in 1978, I knew a couple of odd poets and an odd journalist or two (some of them very odd) but most of the state’s literary life seemed to be more in its heritage than current—local, folklorical, and historical. I read writers like Ben Ames Williams, Kenneth Roberts, Ruth Moore. Thoreau in the Maine Woods.

At the time, you didn’t hear too much about contemporary fiction in Maine, let alone crime fiction. Stephen King had just published The Stand (his fourth novel).

The only local crime fiction writer I knew of was Janwillem van de Wetering, a Dutch Zen practitioner who wrote police procedurals and lived in Surry. I’m sure if I’ve missed someone obvious, a kind reader will point it out. But most of the writers I hung around with wrote poetry and published small press broadsides and chapbooks.

In my peripatetics since, I’ve been lucky enough to find a literary community everywhere I’ve lived. A good community is serious, supportive, and acknowledges the joy and the difficulty of pulling your own stories out of yourself for the benefit of other people as well as for your own. What I did not find until I returned to Maine was a group of writers who’d been touched early, as I had, by the various creative geniuses of Alfred Hitchcock, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, John D. MacDonald, and Ross MacDonald and who were listening to the gorgeous dialogue of George V. Higgins and Elmore Leonard.

Your pantheon may vary, but listen to this:

Chris Mankowski’s last day on the job, two in the afternoon, two hours to go, he got a call to dispose of a bomb. (Freaky Deaky, Elmore Leonard, 1988)

Put that book down, if you can.

Writers are people who love what they read so much that against the odds, the aggravation, the need to steal time, the sneers or the indifference of family and friends (and the wider world), they spend their days and nights emulating the others who’ve created the stories they love. And so I consider it my extreme good fortune to have fallen in with this crowd, to be here in this place now, when so many fine writers are working at telling the kinds of stories I love to hear, with characters that could be walking our streets and our fields and sailing our oceans. Characters that bring order, on the page at least, out of the chaos that threatens us all. Every day seems to bring more good news about the people here writing and publishing crime fiction. I’m wicked glad to have ended up here. Again.

Richard Cass holds an MA in Writing from the University of New Hampshire, where he studied with Thomas Williams and Joseph Monninger. He’s published stories in Gray’s Sporting Journal, Potomac Review, and Best Short Stories of the American West. He’s also won prizes for his fiction from Redbook and Playboy magazines and the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Conference. He was a Fellow at the Fishtrap Summer Fishtrap Gathering – Writing in the West and he’s published a collection of stories called Gleam of Bone. His first mystery novel, Solo Act, was published in January 2016 by Five Star Publishing. He lives, writes, and teaches in Cape Elizabeth, ME.

Weekend Update: February 27-28, 2016

Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be a special Leap Day post on Monday and posts by Lea Wait (Tuesday), Barb Ross (Wednesday), Bruce Coffin (Thursday), and Maureen Milliken (Friday).

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

Kate Flora: Gosh, it looks like not much is happening at Maine Crime Writers this coming week. Does this mean we’re all at our desks, bent over our works in progress? Maybe next week we’ll give you a sneak preview of some of those works. The way MCW writers are turning out books, soon we will have filled a bookcase. Oh…silly comment, single-handedly Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kate Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett has already done that!

Barbara Ross celebrated the publication of her newest Maine Clambake mystery, Fogged In, which is debuting to rave reviews.

Dick Cass will be along on Monday to tell you about his debut book, Solo Act.

And if you like fun links, in yesterday’s post, Jessie Crockett shared a link to a social security name website, where you can look up names from every era and see how common they were. But you’ll have to skip over to Jessie’s post for that.

Got a cool website you’d like to share with us? We always like links to things Maine, writing, food, and just plain fun.

And just to prove how much crime (writing!) can be, here are some fun pics from Death and Desserts events:

Death and Desserts at the Liberty Library with Lea Wait and Dorothy Cannell

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business. Contact Kate Flora: mailto: kateflora@gmail.com

What’s in a Name?

Jessie: Thinking thoughts of spring and keeping an eye out for robins, crocuses and skunks

Do you have a dream job? I don’t necesarily mean something glamorous or that even would pay the bills, but rather the sort of thing that intrigues you or makes you smile? For me, one that always makes my list is that of a color namer. I think I would love to be in charge of naming lipsticks and paint chips and richly dyed yarns.

I have no idea how anyone would get such a job besides starting one’s own line of yarns or paints or lipsticks. Until I figure it out I’ve found that being a writer is at least as good. I get to name all sorts of people, places and businesses. I can even give characters products to name if I so choose.

Naming feels magical. I’m not sure how other writers end up doing it but names often come to me fully formed with a character attached. I’ll be trudging along, minding my own business, when it is as if someone simply appears next to me without warning, sticks out a hand and introduces herself. It’s happened that way with every single one of my main characters and many of the more minor ones.

Other times I have a sense of what the character is like and I need the right name to solidify what all that means. That’s when I like to turn to the government for inspiration. Like so many other writers I make frequent use of the . It allows you to search by decade, gender and even by popularity. When I know what a character is like, I usually have an idea what sort of parents he had and whether or not they would be likely to choose a popular or more unusual name for their child.  In case you’re curious, in 1880 the 1000th most popular name for boys was Layton and girls was Euna.

Lately, I’ve also needed to name myself. I have a new historical mystery series set in Maine launching in September and it needed a new name to distinguish it from my contemporary series. It is surprisingly agonizing to choose author names. It feels like so much is involved. A signature, remembering to respond when someone speaks to you at an event, feeling like it is a match for you as a writer and as a person. Luckily for me me I had my married name waiting in the wings for just such an occasion.

Readers, do you like to name things? Writers, do you have a naming process either for your characters or for yourself?

Grail Quest

John Clark sharing a series find in young adult fiction. Years ago, I deliberately avoided reading any of the Harry Potter books until I finished the second book in my own YA fantasy series. Once I got into them, I understood why there was so much interest. (I even listened to all of them on unabridged audio, something I strongly suggest if you want a darker take) Not only were they extremely well written, but they got kids, parents and even grandparents hooked on reading. As a librarian I’m convinced it was the best thing to happen in terms of literacy in the past fifty years. When the series ended, I felt a sense of withdrawal, but soon found other YA fantasy worth reading. In fact, the whole YA market exploded after Harry Potter and continues to this day, something I both bless and curse.

However, series comparable to the Potter books don’t come along very often, but I stumbled on one worthy of comparison completely by accident. I trade books on Paperbackswap and have four saved searches I run regularly, one of which looks for any teen books published after 2009. I’ve discovered several hundred titles that way, many self-published or issued by small presses. Last month, I claimed one called Legacies written jointly by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill. It was the first in a four part series called the Shadow Grail Quest. I had never read any of Mercedes’ books, but remembered something musician David Arkenstone wrote in his liner notes for a CD I got years ago. Mercedes was quoted in it as saying that she listened to his music for inspiration while writing. I was using Medwyn Goodall’s music for similar creative energy at the time and liked the validation.

Book One

I read it in a couple days and borrowed the second one, Conspiracies, through MaineCat. No copies of the last two were available when I neared the end, so I bought Sacrifices and Victories. As I read the remainder of the series, I couldn’t help but think about some of the similarities to the Harry Potter books (all quite favorable).

The story begins with Spirit White in a hospital, recovering from serious injuries suffered in the car crash that killed her parents and younger sister. Faced with pain and grief, Spirit isn’t sure what will happen when she’s well enough to be discharged because she has no living relatives. Even more distressing, the family farm located in a remote area, burn. Lightning is the official cause, but the more things happen, the less Spirit believes this to be true and she has recurring dreams where something huge and evil appeared in the road just before the crash.

Book 2

She’s whisked off in a fancy car after being informed that she’s destined for magical greatness at a private school called Oakhurst in the middle of a remote section of Montana. The party line is that her parents went there and as a legacy with mage ability, she’s getting a full ride which starts as she and another boy are flown to Montana by private jet. Odd that her parents never mentioned anything about magic or having attended the school.

Her first experience with the headmaster, Dr Ambrosius, it traumatic as he turns her into a mouse while morphing into an owl. Despite being assured she has one of the magical powers derived from earth, air, fire or water, every time Spirit is tested, nothing shows up. All the other students, including her small circle of friends (friendship is discouraged, while competition and mistrust are promoted at Oakhurst), Burke, Loch, Addie and Murin, have at least some measurable level in one of these.

Book 3

When the teens realize that students are disappearing, including some who were supposedly hospitalized in Billings, but never return, they start investigating and discover two frightening facts. First, there are records in a basement storage area where students have ‘Tithed’ on their folders. Each is among the missing as far as they can tell. Second, someone inside Oakhurst seems to be disarming the magic wards surrounding the campus when teens vanish. The first book ends in a slam bang battle.

Just when Spirit and her friends think they’ve been successful in defeating the extremely scary band responsible for the vanished kids, the school is infiltrated by ‘graduates’, under the direction of Mark Rider, head of a very lucrative gaming company. He and his henchmen ramp up the distrust level among classmates by instituting some really scary new classes, survival riding (think Hunger Games like surprises while riding on a horse over an endurance course) and ‘almost have to kill the instructor to pass’ defense/martial arts classes.

By the time they reach book three, our heroes are dismayed because many of their fellow students think the second round of baddies has been vanquished, but instead, these Shadow Knights have infiltrated the faculty. At the same some of the good students are beginning to have odd dreams that seem to go back to Arthurian times, ones where they’ve become a person involved in the battle between Guinevere and Mordred. At the same time, Breakthrough, Mark Rider’s gaming company, has set up shop in Radial, the nearest town and seems to be glamoring the citizens so they don’t have the slightest inkling that something evil is overtaking the town and Oakhurst. Even when the town library is destroyed by monsters, the damage and the student deaths are attributed to bad weather. It’s clear to Spirit and her friends that it’s time to flee Oakhurst and regroup elsewhere so they can figure out how to defeat the evil presence at Oakhurst. Sadly, one of their group is killed while creating a distraction that allows the other four to escape.

The final book involves the four survivors finding the mysterious online entity QUERCUS who befriended her after she found a mysterious thumb drive in a bag after going shopping in town and made it possible to bypass the school wide block on outside internet access while proving to be evasive and elusive whenever asked a direct question. As he/she gives them periodic instructions, leading to another, older escapee from Oakhurst, Spirit finally comes into her own magic which is derived from a fifth school, one extremely rare, but essential to defeating the person Mordred became before Oakhurst was opened. I was particularly intrigued by who/what QUERCUS turned out to be and where he was hiding. The final battle is a dandy one that involves the mastery of four ancient artifacts the surviving heroes found.

Book 4

I understand this series won’t be for everyone, but I really enjoyed getting lost in it and relating to the main characters. There are many details I needed to leave out in order to preserve a decent level of unknown. All four books are available from member libraries in MaineCat.

Help! The Well’s Gone Dry

Kate Flora: I don’t know about you, but I look forward to each day’s new posting here at Maine Crime Writers. The subject matter is so diverse—real Maine crimes, the challenge of balancing book deadlines and a loved one’s illness, what writers read when they’re not working. The writing is so good and I usually come away with something new to read, or to think about, or a new slant on the work that we do every day. But suddenly, after more than thirty years in the writer’s chair, when it’s my turn to blog, I stare at a blank page and think: I have nothing new to say.

This is not a case of writer’s block. On the writing side, I have a huge book project to work on and three books I need to revise. I’m writing a short story that’s evolving in fascinating ways, beginning with a comment made on Facebook when I inquired about making gumbo that described the moment when the cook knows the roux is perfect as a “rouxgasm.” [Here is the quote from Ramona DeFelice Long: There is a very precise moment when a roux base (oil and flour) is dark without burning. At that moment, you add the vegetables (onion, celery, bell pepper aka the Holy Trinity) and there is a loud sizzling sound, fantastic smell, and the feeling the cook has if the timing is right is called a rouxgasm. (I am not making this up.)]

On the blogging side, though, I feel like I don’t have anything interesting, entertaining, or useful to say. I think you must be weary of my posts about observing the world and about the writer’s life.

Is it interesting that I have a sheet of paper taped to the wall with lists of words for cold? For pain? For fear? That my Rodale’s Synonym Finder comes off the bookshelf many times a week? That I used to keep a notebook where I copied out other author’s actions scenes to figure out how to do it well?

Is it interesting to note that my copy of Practical Homicide Investigation, which I believed was lost, has suddenly reappeared in my office? I often wonder if the way things happen is a sign. Am I now supposed to open the book and become re-enlightened about some aspect of homicide investigation? Finding it there on the shelf reminds me of my local librarian’s reaction to the book. I had been trying to decide which reference book to buy as I was embarking on my Joe Burgess series. Joe was going to investigate homicides and I wanted to know what he would know. Reference books and textbooks are very expensive, so I previewed this one through an interlibrary loan. The pictures in the book are, quite frankly, horrible and graphic and most of them are of women. Before the male librarian handed it over, he inquired with quiet concern whether I was sure I wanted to see it.

Rediscovering this book, which was an essential reference when I was working on my first true crime, Finding Amy, many years ago, send me looking around my office at other forgotten books and reminded me that I want to reread M. Lee Goff’s book A Fly for the Prosecution: How Insect Evidence Helps Solve Crimes. That reminded me of the role that entomology played at Russ Gorman’s trial. And that last year I met a forensic entomologist at a conference, and thought she’d be a riveting conference speaker. I wonder what I did with her card?

Oh. Forensics. I’ve got Criminalistics. I’ve got Criminal Investigation. For a scene where Joe Burgess encounters a house rigged with bombs, I’ve got Bomb Squad. For interrogation and interviewing, I’ve got The Truth About Lying. We Get Confessions. I have a book about cops and PTSD. And one called Inside the Criminal Mind. Sometimes I wonder what a nice girl like me is doing in a place like this?

When I go to people’s houses, or rent a condo or apartment, I always want to know what’s on the bookshelf. In my case, way too much. Along with all the forensics reference books, I have lots of poetry. Maybe in part because I love epigraphs. (I have a whole book where the epigraphs are all from Paradise Lost and The Scarlet Letter.) So yesterday my about-to-be-retired husband said he wanted to reread some poetry, and was looking for a Norton Anthology. I said, “Hold on a minute,” and found two Nortons and three other college poetry textbooks. I left him to decide which was “the one.”

I read recently in the Bangor Daily News about a crew taking ten tons of stuff out of a Maine hoarder’s house. In my case, the books alone probably weigh that much. But as a writer, I want to surround myself with books. I’ve even clipped pictures of the book Christmas tree and the book chair, in case someday I have time, and books, on my hands. Here are some great ideas for using books: http://mentalfloss.com/article/58407/15-pieces-furniture-made-out-books or perhaps this: http://www.inspirationgreen.com/index.php?q=books-as-furniture.html

And so. Another case of the rambling writer’s mind comes to an end. And the page isn’t so empty after all.

 

 

How to Write Animals in the Modern Mystery

Young Einstein — aka Riley, a golden-doodle who won the Einstein Cover Model Contest in 2012.

Jen Blood here, delving into a post about my favorite people on the planet: animals. When I was first in grad school in the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast MFA program, I had the stellar novelist/playwright Michael Kimball as a workshop leader. I handed in the opening pages of an early draft of All the Blue-Eyed Angels for critique that week. Mike was generous with his praise on most aspects of the story: plot, setting, character, prose, he said, were all good. Which was very nice of him, considering what I see when I look at those pages now. He did, however, have one big suggestion:

Ditch the dog.

For those who haven’t read my Erin Solomon mysteries, Erin is a thirty-something reporter working to solve the mystery of an alleged cult suicide that’s haunted her since childhood. Einstein, described in the first book as “part Muppet, part terrier,” is Erin’s faithful companion.

Mike’s reasoning was sound: You don’t have dogs in books any more than you have kids in books, because it can limit your character’s movements and means everyone always has to worry about where the dog (or kid) is. He added something that has become a touchstone for me ever since (because I, of course, refused to get rid of the dog): “If you’re going to keep the damn dog, your reader better know where he is at all times.”

From that point on, it became a mission of mine when writing. Where is the dog? If it’s ninety degrees out and Erin’s driving somewhere, what does she do with him while she’s inside? Obviously, she can’t leave him in the car. It’s a pet peeve of mine when I see other writers do this – introduce a beloved family pet in one chapter, and then only mention him again when it’s convenient to the plot.

With five Erin Solomon/Einstein mysteries under my belt (and one prequel that pre-dates Stein), I’m now starting a new series. This one revolves around search and rescue dog handler Jamie Flint. Instead of just one dog, there’s a whole cadre of them. As I’m fleshing out the canine characters and writing the first draft, I’m revisiting a few of the tricks I learned with that first go-round. Here, in no particular order, are my tips for effectively incorporating four-leggeds in your fiction.

Give your pooch (or favorite feline, chameleon, or wayward pachyderm) personality. Anyone who has pets knows, the fuzziest members of society have serious charisma. Delve beyond stereotypes of the breed (the noble German shepherd, the finicky feline, the loyal retriever), and really get to know these characters as…well, characters. In fact, it’s great fun to play around with those stereotypes. A cat who fetches; a pit bull too lazy to play; a spider with a heart of gold (I believe that last one may have been done before, however).

Keep tabs. As I mentioned before, it’s critical to know where your fictional pets are at all times. If you’re not an animal lover, it might not make much difference to you whether your pup is alone in the kitchen with a freshly basted turkey or your kitten is playing by a busy highway. I guarantee, though, that there will be readers who are tracking your pet’s every move. I’ve gotten a lot of email from readers who express fervent appreciation for the fact that Einstein is always either present or accounted for.

Know your endgame.

The death of the much-beloved Brian in the animated series Family Guy spawned an entire Twitter campaign — with miraculous results.

Particularly if you’re writing a long-running series, it’s good to keep in mind the future of your beloved. More often than not, our human characters age as we write them… It’s an unfortunate fact of life that animals age even faster. If you’re writing a series that spans several years, that gawky Great Dane pup you started out with is inevitably not going to be so spry over time. Are you prepared to handle that? And, perhaps more importantly, are your readers? True, it’s a device diabolically abused among writers the world over, but it’s bound to have repercussions. There’s even a Goodreads page called The Dog Dies… A Cautionary List!

Use your non-human characters to flesh out your humans. One of the major reasons I was so invested in keeping Einstein in the Erin Solomon series is because, particularly at the beginning of the series, Erin is often… well, kind of a pain in the ass. She’s caustic, stubborn, and, frankly, often selfish and a little unlovable. A lot of that is surface stuff and you get to know her better and she mellows considerably over the course of the first few novels. In order to give readers a glimpse of what lies beneath before that, however, I needed something that would humanize her and show her softer side. Einstein became the perfect vehicle to do that. He is, in essence, her heart.

Genre dictates the role animals play in the proceedings. These days, as most everyone visiting this website probably knows, there are whole genres devoted to crime-solving cats and dogs. There are horse cozies, pet-sitting cozies, and cozies for the bird watchers among us. (For a great list, visit Mystery-Cozy.com). Even if your central sleuth is of the human persuasion, though, there’s no reason you can’t use the resident finned, furred, or four-legged friend to help the story unfold. A pet in danger amps up tension dramatically, and there are innumerable stories out there where the dolphin, snow leopard, or Scottie (Kaitlyn Dunnett, I’m looking at you) comes to the aid of their human companion in her hour of need. Naturally, though, you need to understand the boundaries of your genre or sub-genre. Lovers of the supernatural cozy might not think twice about having a psychic cat solve the mystery; fans of police procedurals, however, will expect their K-9 cops to be a little more by the book.

The bottom line in all this is that my old friend and mentor Mike Kimball was right: just as it’s no small matter to give your seven-year-old a puppy, you should give equal weight to deciding whether or not your main character — and you — are ready for that kind of responsibility. What about you? Do you have a favorite book or series featuring pets, or do you prefer your human sleuths to keep to their kind?

Jen Blood is a freelance writer, editor, and author of the bestselling Erin Solomon mysteries. To learn more about her and the Erin Solomon mysteries, visit http://jenblood.com. 

Escape to Another Time and Place

Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett here, today with a blog about books.

When I read, I am almost always seeking to escape from reality, both the real world of the nightly news and whatever reality I’m inhabiting to work on the book I’m currently writing. To do that, I frequently choose to read in a genre many mystery aficionados avoid like the plague. Yes, I’m talking about historical romance.

Keep in mind that I once wrote romance novels for a living. I wasn’t terribly good at it, but that phase in my career taught me a lot about developing relationships between characters, both romantic and otherwise. As part of the learning process, I read widely in the genre. I’ll leave comments on contemporary romance, in particular contemporary category romance (Harlequin, Silhouette, Loveswept and the like) for another day, but in reading many many historical romances, set in a variety of eras, I discovered quite a number of authors who went on my automatic “buy” list and are still there all these years later.

Yes, I will admit that there are far too many writers of historical romance (and of historical mystery, too) whose disregard for historical accuracy is appalling. Some do no more than put modern characters in fancy dress. I also avoid reading other writers who set their novels in Tudor England, because I am far too likely to spot errors and get annoyed, even when the mistakes are tiny details that no one else in the world is likely to notice. Eliminate all those novels and I am still left with a wonderful selection of historical romances.

I have a particular fondness for historical romances set in the Regency period. Part of the attraction is that there are often connected books to read. It’s not quite like getting hooked on a mystery series and following the adventures of the same sleuth through several books, but reading one book for each sibling in a large family has a similar appeal, especially when continuing characters appear. In some cases, there is a continuing antagonist or series of antagonists. You see, as in so many historical mysteries, my own included, a good number of historical romances have a subplot involving spies, intrigue, and/or treasonous plots.

One objection to romance novels that I often hear from mystery readers has to do with their dislike of love scenes. They are unnecessary, they argue. They slow down the plot. They are all the same. Maybe. Well done, they reveal a lot about the two characters involved. But, yes, if you feel that way, skim them or skip them. In a romance, there is going to be lots of sexual attraction and sexual tension. That is part of life and part of the definition of romance, just as dealing with a crime is part of the definition of a mystery novel.

There is much more to a well-written romance novel than just sex, however, just as there is much more to a murder mystery than a blow-by-blow description of the crime or a detailed autopsy scene. Following the adventures of a seemingly mismatched couple as they find a way to overcome the odds can be every bit as fascinating as sharing a detective’s journey to the solution of a murder.

So, who do I read? I’ve included a sprinkling of covers throughout this post. I haven’t just read these books. I’ve re-read them. In fact, I’ve recently finished re-reading all of Jo Beverley’s Malloren series (five books, one for each sibling), set early in the reign of George the Third. They provided the perfect escape from the real world and from the world of Elizabethan England, where I’m currently killing off numerous people in my third Mistress Jaffrey mystery.

I also recommend Jo’s Company of Rogues series, set in Regency England, Mary Jo Putney’s Fallen Angels series and Lost Lords series, Joanna Bourne’s Spymaster series, Eileen Dreyer’s trilogy (Always a Temptress, Once a Rake, Twice Tempted), Loretta Chase’s trilogy (Silk is for Seduction, Scandal Wears Satin, Vixen in Velvet), and for those who prefer less history rather than more, anything by Amanda Quick, who is also Jayne Ann Krentz (contemporary romantic suspense) and Jayne Castle (futuristic romance). Some of the Quick/Krentz/Castle novels also link together to form the Arcane Society series, tracing families who belong to a secret organization to do with paranormal abilities through past, present, and future generations.

When historical romance doesn’t appeal as a way to refresh my reading palate, I often turn to books that contain a mixture of genres. I enjoy the occasional steampunk novel, and mysteries with a dollop of fantasy, such as Laura Resnick’s Esther Diamond series, Jim Butcher’s books about Harry Dresden, and Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse novels.

So, how about you? Yes, you—the person reading this post. I’d love to hear what you read when you want to take a break from crime.

 

 

Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett is the author of over fifty books written under several names. She won the Agatha Award in 2008 for best mystery nonfiction for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2014 in the best mystery short story category for “The Blessing Witch.” Currently she writes the contemporary Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries (The Scottie Barked at Midnight) as Kaitlyn and the historical Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries (Murder in the Merchant’s Hall) as Kathy. The latter series is a spin-off from her earlier “Face Down” series and is set in Elizabethan England. Her websites are www.KaitlynDunnett.com and www.KathyLynnEmerson.com