Narrelle M. Harris's Blog, page 5

Atlin Merrick on Narrelle M Harris

My final post for the contributors to The Only One in the World is a guest post from Atlin Merrick (who wrote ‘S.H.E.R.L.O.C.K.’ for the anthology) about me, as I couldn’t really write one about myself. I would certainly have been less flattering

The Only One in the World: commissioning editor, Narrelle M Harris

Narrelle M Harris makes me throw things.

Let me clarify: Narrelle’s skill, her verve, the absolute joy that comes through in her writing, makes me fling dandelion puffs and chuck glitter. When she writes about a butterfly, Richard III, about a detective and his doctor, I fling out my arms and shout glee, because Narrelle writes with such grace that I always long as her characters do, strive as they do, I love as they do.

I’ve worked with Narrelle for nearly ten years now, we’ve written professionally for one another, we’ve edited the other’s work, and all I can say is that, if you’ve drawn the straw that means Narrelle’s your editor…lucky you.

A good editor is as invisible as glass, she is as vital as a frame. A good editor takes the picture you’ve painted and helps you make it its absolute best: vibrant, clear, yours. Narrelle is, was, and shall always be that sort of editor because Narrelle is at the very heart of her a writer. That’s important, because as a writer she understands how to put passion on the page, so as an editor she knows how to make sure your passion comes through.

That’s just one reason why I’ve loved writing for Narrelle’s Sherlock Holmes anthology The Only One in the World. Narrelle was clear from the start what she wanted for the collection, how she wanted each story to be part of a wondrous whole – Sherlock Holmes and John Watson throughout the world – and when she asked if I’d write something quite specific, it was a challenge I was delighted to accept.

I’m proud to have taken part in this marvelous collection she’s made, and like everyone else, I’m delighted to see where the other writer’s imaginations went so that I can go there, too.

I met Narrelle M Harris professionally. I met her because of her skill, her verve, her words; it’s by the greatest of luck she also became my friend.

A teeny touch of advice: do not stand too close to  Atlin Merrick  and Narrelle M Harris when they are together. They are a delight, to be sure, but they are a danger. To every stranger we’ve accidentally smacked, punched, poked, or otherwise wounded because we throw out our arms as we talk glee…we’re sorry.

Narrelle here again (somewhat blushingly). You can also read my interview with Atlin at Clan Destine Press, where I answer questions about the most interesting thing I learned while editing the stories, my favourite thing about working on the book and what, to me, makes the quintessential Holmes and Watson.

You can  buy The Only One in the World at Clan Destine Press right now.

Narrelle M Harris on Judith Rossell

The Only One in the World : cover art by Judith Rossell

I first encountered Judith Rossell’s charming art not in her children’s books, but when she designed the delicate and delightful cover for Billings Better Bookstore and Brasserie by Fin J Ross.

Soon after, CDP publisher Lindy Cameron showed me the concept art Judith had drafted for my rat character who appears in the upcoming anthology about animals solving mysteries, Who Sleuthed It? The lovely wraparound cover of bookshelves is filled with the animal sleuths – including birds, cats, dogs, a monkey, a bat and even a dragonfly and a spider!

When my original cover design concept turned out to be unwieldy, Lindy approached Judith to come on board, with a vaguer new idea of ‘doors into all the worlds’ as the prompt. The authors sent me appropriate images, and then Judith made magic.

The Only One in the World wraparound cover is full of portals – doors and windows and, for one story, a bicycle for riding your way into a new world.

I absolutely adore the shadows Judith put into some of the windows to suggest Dastardly Deeds afoot, and the beautiful reflection of blue sky and white clouds in the fanlight window above the door to 221B.

All the fine detail – the cracks in the bricks, the grain of the wood, the uneven window frames, the rich locality-specific touches, and the dark shapes through the panes – subtly suggest all the variations to be found within the book. The cover encapsulated all the drama and comedy and mystery inside. I’m even delighted beyond all reason by the gas lamp that adorns the spine, shining its little light to beckon readers near!

From the moment we revealed the cover on social media, people have been responding strongly to it. Judith’s art did exactly what cover art is meant to do – it caught the eye, enticed the reader, suggested the contents and gave all these lovely fictions a face in the world.

If you’re intrigued, take a look at Judith’s interview about her cover art on Clan Destine Press, where she answers questions about how she feels about Sherlock Holmes, the most interesting part of drawing for the anthology, the coolest things she learned while creating them and what’s next for her art.

You can  buy The Only One in the World at Clan Destine Press right now.

Judith Rossell’s full wraparound cover art for The Only One in the World

More about Judith

Judith, a former government scientist and thread-maker for a cotton spinning company, has followed her heart as an illustrator and writer of children’s books for 20 years now. She has illustrated over 80 books, written 16, and has created some stunning cover art, including the lovely Billings Better Bookstore and Brasserie by Fin J Ross, the striking wraparound covers for The Only One in the World and Who Sleuthed It?, an upcoming anthology about animals solving mysteries!

Follow Judith on Twitter or visit her website.

Narrelle M Harris on Andrea L Farley

The Only One in the World : internal art by Andrea L Farley/Altocello

I first discovered the artist known as Altocello when Atlin Merrick waved at Andrea’s stunning portraits of Adam Driver, almost speechless with glee at the glory she beheld. So yeah, we knew from the start that Andrea had mad skills. Just look at that self-portrait that appears on the post image to the left.

Originally, we thought Andrea’s photorealistic style would be great for my idea of a wunderkammer-style cover image, but that idea didn’t really pan out (I should stick to words) and was in any case too similar to a cover for another upcoming CDP anthology.

But Andrea’s work on the items for the ‘cabinet of wonders’ – one to reflect each story – were too stunning to give up. Instead, they were perfect to illustrate the title for each of the stories.

I’d asked the authors to select one or two things to represent their tale, and they sent me a fabulous ideas. Andrea rendered them all in exquisite detail, from a pair of high heeled shoes and a champagne bottle, to musical instruments and books, to a nasty little wasp and a fuzzy little bee.

I was charmed to see in her interview at Clan Destine Press that Andrea, like me, first fell in love with Holmes and Watson through the Granada TV series with Jeremy Brett.

If you’re intrigued, take a look at Andrea’s interview about her art on Clan Destine Press, where she answers questions about how she feels about Sherlock Holmes, the most interesting part of drawing for the anthology, the coolest things she learned while creating them and what’s next for her art.

You can buy The Only One in the World at Clan Destine Press right now.

More about Andrea

Follow Altocello on Twitter or visit her website, where her detailed essays on the portraits she creates are as fascinating and insightful as the pieces themselves,

Narrelle M Harris on JM Redmann

The Only One in the World : “A Study in Lavender” by JM Redmann

I was so fortunate and delighted that several very well-known and highly respected crime authors agreed to take part in this anthology, sharing not only their wonderful writing and elements of their own backgrounds and experience but, in the case of JM Redmann, one of their own creations.

Making a cameo appearance in ‘A Study in Lavender’ is Jean’s New Orleans private detective, Micky Knight, who has featured in ten novels since 1990. In her Clan Destine interview, Jean notes that she enjoyed having fun with this story, since her novels tend towards seriousness – and a lot of fun is being had here.

‘A Study in Lavender’ is set during Mardi Gras and has the exuberance to match. Sherrod Locke (Shirle-Locke) Holmes – as much at home in drag as in a flash suit and with all the flamboyance, focus and sharp intelligence we expect from a Holmes in any guise. His friend-and-colleague (and co-home-owner) is teacher-turned bartender Jane Watson, who narrates with some of canon Watson’s “pawky humour”.

Their reimagining in the LGBTQ community of New Orleans is incredibly vivid, full of the kind of colourful oddballs that populated Conan Doyle’s stories.  It’s an absolute treat!

If you’re intrigued, take a look at Jean’s interview about her story on Clan Destine Press, where she answers three questions about writing her story – the most unexpected thing she learned while writing it, her favourite thing about writing it, and what is quintessentially American about her Holmes and Watson.

You can buy The Only One in the World at Clan Destine Press right now.

More about Jean:

Jean has published 10 novels featuring New Orleans PI Micky Knight. The first Micky Knight book, Death by the Riverside (1990) was one of the early hard-boiled lesbian detective novels. The latest in the series is Not Dead Enough (2020).

Her books have won many awards including three Lambda Literary awards, which highlight  works which celebrate or explore LGBT themes. Jean has also co-edited three anthologies with Greg Herren (who wrote ‘The Affair of the Purloined Rent Boy’ in The Only One in the World).

Narrelle M Harris on Raymond Gates

The Only One in the World : “The Enemy Within.” by Raymond Gates

I knew I wanted a story with an Indigenous Australian viewpoint for this anthology and naturally turned to Raymond Gates to see if he was interested. Raymond and I both had stories in Sherlock Holmes: The Australian Casebook so I knew he could deliver on the Holmesian mystery front as well.

One of my aims with the anthology was to discover what aspects of other cultures and backgrounds might manifest in the stories, without any (probably stereotypical) expectations being laid on them by me. The general brief was ‘using your knowledge and experience, create a Holmes and/or Watson – any time period, any gender, any sexuality – and show the reader what they’d be like with those different cultural influences’.  

Raymond delivered to that brief beautifully. As he said in the Critical Mass zoom meeting in April, his characters’ Aboriginality is part of their identity without that being the crux of the mystery.

‘The Enemy Within’ has more of a horror tilt to it, which is Ray’s usual writing milieu, and nods towards some of the more horror-flavoured canon stories like ‘The Creeping Man’ and The Hound of the Baskervilles. But just like canon, although there’s a shade of horror, the story is set firmly in reality – as Holmes said in ‘The Sussex Vampire’, “This agency stands flat-footed upon the ground, and there it must remain. The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply”.

If you’re intrigued, take a look at Raymond’s interview about his story on Clan Destine Press, where he answers three questions about writing his story – the most unexpected thing he learned while writing it, his favourite thing about writing it, and what is quintessentially Australian about his Holmes and Watson.

You can buy The Only One in the World at Clan Destine Press right now.

More about Ray

Raymond is an Aboriginal Australian writer living in Wisconsin, USA, whose childhood crush on reading everything dark and disturbing evolved into an adult love affair with horror and dark fiction. He is a writer of multiple short stories and is working on a novel. Check out more of his work at http://www.raymondgates.com/

Follow Raymond Gates on Twitter

Quintette of Questions: Pamela Hart

Today I ask Pamela Hart five questions about her new book!

1. What’s the name of your latest book – and how hard was it to pick a title?

Digging Up Dirt. Originally this was known as Current Affairs, but after discussion with my publisher, who felt that it gave the wrong emphasis to the story, I came up with Digging Up Dirt, which I quite like.

Titles are hard. I often change them in the process of writing the book, and publishers also often change them. For example, the second book in the Castings trilogy was originally Still Water, but the publisher was bringing out another book by that title in the same month, and thought it would be confusing for booksellers, so we changed it to Deep Water (which I actually think is better!).

2. If you could choose anyone from any time period, who would you cast as the leads in your latest book?

This is tough! For Poppy, I’d love Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night – she has so much humour and spunk! Oh, no, I know: Carrie Fisher! That would be so cool.

For Tol, her love interest…James Masters in his Buffy days but with his original dark hair. But my husband (who might bear a passing resemblance to Tol) wants Leonard Nimoy in his younger days. Tol can raise one eyebrow…

3. What five words best describe your story?

Whodunnit. Light-hearted. Intriguing. Romantic elements.

4. Who is your favourite fictional team/couple?

How could I go past Phryne Fisher and Jack Robinson?

5. What song reflects a theme, character, relationship or scene in your book?

There are two main houses in this book – Poppy’s family home, where she is staying while she renovates, and her little house, where the murder happens. So I’ve chosen Madness’ ‘Our House’ – the house in the video is the same size and type as Poppy’s little house, but the lyrics are much more like her family home!

About Digging up Dirt

When your builder finds bones under the floor of your heritage home, what do you do? For TV researcher Poppy McGowan, the first step is to find out if the bones are human (which means calling in the cops and delaying her renovations) or animal (which doesn’t).

Unfortunately, ‘help’ comes in the form of Dr Julieanne Weaver, archaeologist, political hopeful, and Poppy’s old enemy. She declares the bones evidence of a rare breed of fat-tailed sheep, and slaps a heritage order on the site. The resultant archaeological dig introduces Poppy to Tol Lang, the best-looking archaeologist she’s ever met – and also Julieanne’s boyfriend.

When Julieanne is found murdered in Poppy’s house, both she and the increasingly attractive Tol are considered suspects – and so Poppy uses her media contacts and news savvy to investigate other suspects. Did Julieanne have enemies in the right-wing Australian Family party, for which she was seeking preselection, or in the affiliated Radiant Joy Church? Or at the Museum of New South Wales, among her rivals and ex-boyfriends? And who was her secret lover?

Can Poppy save herself, and Tol … and finally get her house back?

Digging Up Dirt is the first in a new series: the Poppy McGowan Mysteries.

Buy Digging up Dirt

BooktopiaBooktopia ebook iBooksAmazon AUAmazon US

About Pamela Hart

Pamela Hart is a best-selling author of more than 40 books. Digging Up Dirt is her first full-length mystery, and is the first book in the Poppy McGowan Mysteries series. Her last book was The Charleston Scandal, set in London in 1923, where the world of theatre and aristocracy collide (featuring Fred Astaire and the Prince of Wales). Prior to that, her ANZAC novel series told the stories of women living through the changing times of WWI.

She is also well known as Pamela Freeman, an award-winning children’s and fantasy writer published worldwide. Her most recent children’s book was Dry to Dry: The season of Kakadu, which is a 2021 Book Week Book.

Pamela teaches at the Australian Writers’ Centre, where she is Director of Creative Writing. She was awarded a Doctor of Creative Arts degree in 2006, and says the most lasting benefit  is that when people ask you, ‘Is it Ms or Mrs?’ you can say, ‘It’s Doctor, actually.’

Social Media

Website: www.pamela-hart.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/pamelahartbooksTwitter: @pamelahartbooksNewsletter: www.pamela-hart.com/newsletter (Sign up for a free novella!)

Narrelle M Harris on LJM Owen

The Only One in the World : “Prince Ha-mahes and the Adventure of the Stoned Mason” by LJM Owen

Almost as soon as I pitched the idea of The Only One in the World to Clan Destine Press, I began to pester Dr LJM Owen about the idea of a Holmes from ancient history – an area of particular expertise for a writer who also had a degree in archeology. I knew from her Dr Pimms books that she had the necessary socio-historical expertise and was skilled in spinning a cracking mystery yarn.

Stories by other writers set in the canon can be very serious, but Conan Doyle’s tales can be very funny too, especially in conversations between Holmes and Watson. People might remember that the first time they meet at St Bart’s Holmes is conducting experiments on blood stains, but few seem to recall that Holmes is utterly thrilled to report his success to the visitor. He chuckles, claps his hands and generally spends a lot of the time dragging Watson over to his worktable to joyfully share how it was done and is animated with glee.

One of the things I loved about LJ’s story is how she captures Sherlock’s rather manic, mad delight while conducting his experiments. I appreciated, too, the level of detail she put into how she named the characters, matching meanings and, when possible, phonemics, to bridge the worlds of Ancient Egypt and Victorian London. I recommend reading the notes at the end of LJ’s story to truly appreciate how clever she is!

If you’re intrigued, take a look at LJ’s interview about her story on Clan Destine Press, where she answers three questions about writing her story – the most unexpected thing she learned while writing it, her favourite thing about writing it, and what is quintessentially Egyptian about her Holmes and Watson.

You can buy The Only One in the World at Clan Destine Press right now.

More about Dr LJM Owen:

LJM Owen has degrees in archaeology, forensic science and librarianship, speaks five languages and has travelled extensively. She brings all of these skills together to write crime fiction. Her crime novels include three books in the Dr Pimms archaeological mystery series: Egyptian Enigma (2018), Mayan Mendacity (2016), and Olmec Obituary (2015). Her most recent book is the chilling The Great Divide (2019) set in Tasmania. LJ founded the Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival, a celebration of literature and literacy in Tasmania, and runs the Booklove Tuesday Bookclub on Facebook.

Follow LJM Owen on Twitter

Narrelle M Harris on Katya de Becerra

The Only One in the World : “A Scandalous Case of Poisoning” by Katya de Becerra

Only One publisher, Lindy Cameron, gave me Katya’s name to approach about a Russian-influenced story for the anthology. Katya sent me a great pitch about a female Sherlockian character – Marina Holmesova  – in post-collapse Moscow of the 1990s, featuring her medical student flatmate, Antonina Vatska, a film-maker defector and murder on a film set. You bet I loved it.

Every writer for this anthology has found a different facet of the original stories to work into their submission, and here there was the epistolary approach, similar to Watson’s letters in The Hound of the Baskervilles, though using diaries, reports, letters, transcriptions and other documents to reveal the case and its conclusion.  

The framing story – an exhibition on “The Scandalous Case of Solace Spring Poisoning” – is set in 2051, so the exhibition notes as well as interview transcripts help to tell the story of the 1990s past while giving wonderful glimpses of the ‘present’ (or should that be the future?). WE get a lovely two-for-one then: glimpses of Marina and Antonina’s future together, and the many cases they’ll help to solve, as a delectable layer while the meat of the story is in taking us through their first joint case.

Katya grew up in Russia in the 90s, but it’s also an era a little familiar to me – I was a Cold War kid who was there for the anxieties and changes of the 80s and 90s. I’d lived in Poland for a year in the early 90s as well, and have since seen various Polish and Russian films made at that time, so I was fascinated by the Katya’s Russian-eye-view of the period.

If you’re intrigued, take a look at Katya’s interview about her story on Clan Destine Press, where she answers three questions about writing her story – the most unexpected thing she learned while writing it, her favourite thing about writing it, and what is quintessentially Russian about her Holmes and Watson.

You can buy The Only One in the World at Clan Destine Press right now.

More about Katya:

Russian-born Katya studied in California, USA, before moving to Melbourne where she earned a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Melbourne. She works as a social scientist and higher education lecturer, while writing – she is the author of What the Woods Keep and Oasis. Ever-busy, Katya is also the co-founder and co-host of #SpecLitChat and is a writing mentor with the 1st5pages

www.katyadebecerra.com

Follow Katya on Twitter @KatyaDeBecerra.

Narrelle M Harris on Lisa Fessler

The Only One in the World: “The Problem of the Lying Author” by Lisa Fessler

When Lisa sent me her submission, I was struck at once by how easily Holmes as Holms fit into the world of Wilhelminian Germany in 1893. As the story unfolded, it was also pleasing to see how some canon-esque themes, technology and character quirks slotted in so nicely.

Violet Hunter’s passion for the bicycle (‘The Solitary Cyclist’) becomes Holms’ new cycling passion; we see Watson’s occasional attempts to get ahead of his clever friend – and how well that turns out; we have an occasion where a client tries to be a little sneaky in their approach; and we have the egalitarianism of Holms thinking less of any individual’s social status than of justice for his client.

(I love that the client is Watson’s fellow man of letters, Karl May, is a real figure whose early delinquency forms part of the story.)

Lisa said in the Critical Mass zoom meeting in April that, for her, interpreting Holmes and Watson as a gay couple was canon. I’ve myself explored and written that relationship in the context of Victorian London, and its laws and social implications. As a result, I appreciated the way in which queer life and the social mores of 1893 Berlin played out.

If you’re intrigued, take a look at Lisa’s interview about her story on Clan Destine Press, where she answers three questions about writing her story – the most unexpected thing she learned while writing it, her favourite thing about writing it, and what is quintessentially German about her Holmes and Watson.

You can buy The Only One in the World at Clan Destine Press right now.

More about Lisa:

Lisa is a German translator, editor, and writing coach (with impeccable English). She grew up in South Germany and now lives in Berlin, and has studied history in the US. Lisa has been active as a Sherlock Holmes fan writer and has reworked all 60 Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle into 60-word microfics. She’s currently writing an alternative history fantasy novel set in the Wilhelminian Era.

Narrelle M Harris on Kerry Greenwood and David Greagg

The Only One in the World: “The Saga of the Hidden Treasure.” by Kerry Greenwood and David Greagg

You cannot imagine my excitement when Kerry Greenwood and David Greagg suggested they could write an Icelandic Viking Holmes for the Sherlock Holmes The Only One in the World anthology. (Or perhaps you can!)

David and Kerry co-plotted ‘The Saga of the Hidden Treasure’ and in the recent Critical Mass zoom interview, David credited Kerry in particular with coming up with the denouement. David and I had some interesting discussions about naming conventions to see whether we could make the protagonists’ names closer to ‘Sherlock’ and ‘John’ while staying true to the Viking cultural context (we couldn’t) and other ways to more clearly Sherlockify ‘The Saga of the Hidden Treasure’ (which we could!).

Once more, the characters in a new cultural context still echo their canon origins and I love that in their interview, Kerry and David list Holmes’ characteristics as “highly intelligent, chivalrous, intellectually curious, and well-versed in law” – despite the occasional person (or Estate) claiming that Holmes is canonically rude, he really isn’t. Blunt, sometimes, and mostly to Watson (who is patient but can give as good as he gets!) but he is very kind to many clients and even, from time to time, gallant!

Kerry and David’s Viking saga-era ‘Sherlock’ (here named Ófeig) really captures the ideal that Holmes really could exist in any time and place, no matter how a culture or time shapes him.

If you’re intrigued, take a look at Kerry and David’s interview about their story on Clan Destine Press, where they answer three questions about writing their story – the most unexpected thing they learned while writing it, their favourite thing about writing it, and what is quintessentially Viking about their Holmes and Watson.

You can order The Only One in the World at Clan Destine Press right now.

More about Kerry and David

Kerry Greenwood, OAM, is known for her Phryne Fisher and Corinna Chapman crime novels and with Lindy Cameron wrote ‘A Wild Colonial’ for Sherlock Holmes: The Australian Casebook.  Her self-described consort, David Greagg, has written the charming Dougal books for Clan Destine Press and kids books, It’s True! Bourke and Wills Forgot The Frying Pan and It’s True! The Vikings Got Lost. He has brought his considerable Viking expertise to their wonderful Holmes-as-Viking tale!