Mike Billington's Blog, page 3
March 17, 2015
A couple of my characters dropped by...
I felt a hand roughly shaking me awake.
My eyes stayed closed but whoever was shaking me wasn't fooled.
"Dude," the voice said, "come on, get out of bed and go downstairs, get a cup of coffee and post something new on your blog."
I opened my eyes to find Quinn Bowman staring down at me.
"But I'm tired," I complained.
"Yeah, well, we're all tired," Quinn said.
"Mostly, though, we're tired of hanging around waiting for you to write something new on your blog. It's been like a month since you did."
I sighed, got out of bed and stretched.
"I haven't really had anything to say," I mumbled.
"Whatever," he said. "I'll put the coffee on."
Ten minutes later I came down the stairs from my 2-story apartment to find Quinn - a photographer from my mystery 'Corpus Delectable' - and Mick Church - a reporter from 'Jacks or Better' - standing in the kitchen.
"So," Mick said, "You're finally up. Well, that's something I guess."
"Why are you guys here?" I asked as I poured a cup of coffee. "Don't you have something better to do?"
Mick sighed.
"That's just it, we do have something better to do but we've had to drop everything and come here to tell you we're, well, a little annoyed that you haven't posted anything on your blog for weeks."
"Not cool dude," Quinn added.
"So not cool that Marcy Pantano, Dana Redwing and Mel Palazzo were ready to come over here and slap you silly," Mick said. "We told them we'd stop by instead."
Marcy, Dana and Mel are strong female characters from some of my books so I was actually glad that Quinn and Mick had stopped by instead of them. Fictional or not, you really don't want a trio of angry women in your bedroom in the early morning hours.
"So why are you guys so concerned that I haven't posted anything on my blog in awhile?" I asked.
Mick sighed.
"Because," he said, "we're worried that the fact you aren't updating your blog regularly means you're getting burned out."
"Burned out? Me? Come on, now that I'm retired from journalism I get to write what I want, when I want. How could I possibly be getting burned out?" I asked.
"That's just it," Quinn said. "You used to write for 10 or 12 hours a day, sometimes longer, but in the past few weeks that's dropped off to four or five hours a day and some days you don't write at all."
Mick nodded.
"Ever since you went back to the States for a week in early February you've been pretty slow off the mark. At first we put that down to jet lag because, well, you're old," he said.
"But now..." his voice trailed off.
"Now we're worried," Quinn said.
I drank some coffee and then refilled my cup.
"Well I wouldn't say that I'm burned out," I said defensively. "It's just that I'm having some trouble with some plot points and some narrative."
Quinn shook his head.
"Nope, you might try to convince yourself of that but you forget that we live inside your head dude," he said. "We know that you've been spending way too much time on Twitter and other social media platforms trying to do some marketing instead of writing."
"Well..." I said before Mick interrupted me.
"Look, we know marketing is important," he said. "Hell, we've got things to say and we can't do that if nobody reads us."
He sipped his coffee, decided it was too cold, and popped his cup into the microwave to warm it up.
"But Mike, you're a writer. Not a marketing agent, not someone who does public relations for a living. There are people who do those things every day and they're good at it so let them handle it. If you're fiddling around on Twitter and Instagram and all those other platforms you're not telling stories."
He shook his head.
"You gotta get back to what's really important in your life and that's writing," he added.
I didn't want to but I had to admit - if only to myself - that he was right.
"Besides," Quinn said, "Tweeting is a lot easier than coming up with a decent plot and posting pictures of your travels is a lot easier than writing dialogue. It's easy to fall into that trap instead of doing some real work."
I bowed my head.
"You're right," I said - well, mumbled really. "I need to snap out of this and get back to work."
"You'd better," Mick said with a smile. "Siobhan Noguerra has been waiting for weeks now for you to finish her novel and, I gotta tell you, she's been going to the gym every day and she's getting really strong. Not only that, she and her dad have been at the gun range so..."
Siobhan isn't someone I really want to engage in hand-to-hand combat or a firefight... she's done three tours in Afghanistan as an Army MP and she's tough... probably even tougher now after weeks in a gym.
I swallowed the rest of my coffee.
"Okay guys, you've made your point. I'll just wash these cups and..."
"I'll wash them, Quinn will dry them and we'll brew you another pot of coffee," Mick said.
"Your only job today is to write and then write some more," he added.
"I might get hungry..." I said.
"Then Mel will bring over some lasagna later," Mick said.
"Now you, go write," Quinn said. "If I don't hear you tapping some keys I swear I'll call Marcy and, believe me, you don't want that."
I nodded.
"You're right," I said as I walked into my makeshift office.
I booted up my laptop and started writing...
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KCABGK
My eyes stayed closed but whoever was shaking me wasn't fooled.
"Dude," the voice said, "come on, get out of bed and go downstairs, get a cup of coffee and post something new on your blog."
I opened my eyes to find Quinn Bowman staring down at me.
"But I'm tired," I complained.
"Yeah, well, we're all tired," Quinn said.
"Mostly, though, we're tired of hanging around waiting for you to write something new on your blog. It's been like a month since you did."
I sighed, got out of bed and stretched.
"I haven't really had anything to say," I mumbled.
"Whatever," he said. "I'll put the coffee on."
Ten minutes later I came down the stairs from my 2-story apartment to find Quinn - a photographer from my mystery 'Corpus Delectable' - and Mick Church - a reporter from 'Jacks or Better' - standing in the kitchen.
"So," Mick said, "You're finally up. Well, that's something I guess."
"Why are you guys here?" I asked as I poured a cup of coffee. "Don't you have something better to do?"
Mick sighed.
"That's just it, we do have something better to do but we've had to drop everything and come here to tell you we're, well, a little annoyed that you haven't posted anything on your blog for weeks."
"Not cool dude," Quinn added.
"So not cool that Marcy Pantano, Dana Redwing and Mel Palazzo were ready to come over here and slap you silly," Mick said. "We told them we'd stop by instead."
Marcy, Dana and Mel are strong female characters from some of my books so I was actually glad that Quinn and Mick had stopped by instead of them. Fictional or not, you really don't want a trio of angry women in your bedroom in the early morning hours.
"So why are you guys so concerned that I haven't posted anything on my blog in awhile?" I asked.
Mick sighed.
"Because," he said, "we're worried that the fact you aren't updating your blog regularly means you're getting burned out."
"Burned out? Me? Come on, now that I'm retired from journalism I get to write what I want, when I want. How could I possibly be getting burned out?" I asked.
"That's just it," Quinn said. "You used to write for 10 or 12 hours a day, sometimes longer, but in the past few weeks that's dropped off to four or five hours a day and some days you don't write at all."
Mick nodded.
"Ever since you went back to the States for a week in early February you've been pretty slow off the mark. At first we put that down to jet lag because, well, you're old," he said.
"But now..." his voice trailed off.
"Now we're worried," Quinn said.
I drank some coffee and then refilled my cup.
"Well I wouldn't say that I'm burned out," I said defensively. "It's just that I'm having some trouble with some plot points and some narrative."
Quinn shook his head.
"Nope, you might try to convince yourself of that but you forget that we live inside your head dude," he said. "We know that you've been spending way too much time on Twitter and other social media platforms trying to do some marketing instead of writing."
"Well..." I said before Mick interrupted me.
"Look, we know marketing is important," he said. "Hell, we've got things to say and we can't do that if nobody reads us."
He sipped his coffee, decided it was too cold, and popped his cup into the microwave to warm it up.
"But Mike, you're a writer. Not a marketing agent, not someone who does public relations for a living. There are people who do those things every day and they're good at it so let them handle it. If you're fiddling around on Twitter and Instagram and all those other platforms you're not telling stories."
He shook his head.
"You gotta get back to what's really important in your life and that's writing," he added.
I didn't want to but I had to admit - if only to myself - that he was right.
"Besides," Quinn said, "Tweeting is a lot easier than coming up with a decent plot and posting pictures of your travels is a lot easier than writing dialogue. It's easy to fall into that trap instead of doing some real work."
I bowed my head.
"You're right," I said - well, mumbled really. "I need to snap out of this and get back to work."
"You'd better," Mick said with a smile. "Siobhan Noguerra has been waiting for weeks now for you to finish her novel and, I gotta tell you, she's been going to the gym every day and she's getting really strong. Not only that, she and her dad have been at the gun range so..."
Siobhan isn't someone I really want to engage in hand-to-hand combat or a firefight... she's done three tours in Afghanistan as an Army MP and she's tough... probably even tougher now after weeks in a gym.
I swallowed the rest of my coffee.
"Okay guys, you've made your point. I'll just wash these cups and..."
"I'll wash them, Quinn will dry them and we'll brew you another pot of coffee," Mick said.
"Your only job today is to write and then write some more," he added.
"I might get hungry..." I said.
"Then Mel will bring over some lasagna later," Mick said.
"Now you, go write," Quinn said. "If I don't hear you tapping some keys I swear I'll call Marcy and, believe me, you don't want that."
I nodded.
"You're right," I said as I walked into my makeshift office.
I booted up my laptop and started writing...
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KCABGK
January 24, 2015
Do eBook characters dream of electronic readers?
I was having a small dinner party a couple of nights ago with a half dozen of the characters from some of my novels when the conversation turned to those people who buy eBooks but don't read them.
"I just don't understand it," said Dana Redwing, one of the main characters in "The Ashtabula Irregulars: Opening Gambit."
"I mean if you're going to buy a book, then why not read it?" she asked.
"What brought this on?" I asked as I helped myself to another bowl of chili.
(I make really excellent chili, even if I have to say so myself.)
"Well, I was on LinkedIn a few days ago and some woman was ranting about how she'd never pay more for an eBook than a 'real' book. That was bad enough but then she said that she hasn't read 90 percent of the eBooks on her Kindle," Dana replied.
Her mother, Elizabeth Thompson, chimed in at that point.
"I saw the same rant," she said. "Now, mind you, we're Steampunk Victorians so we didn't have eBooks and Kindles when we were trying to save the world but when we bought a book, it was because we wanted to read it."
Melanie Palazzo, a reporter who is the heroine in "Jacks or Better," jumped into the conversation then.
"And what is this prejudice people have against eBooks?" she asked as she reached for another piece of French bread.
"They seem to think that just because an author decided to publish electronically that somehow the books aren't real... come on, that's just stupid."
Cpl. Dani Smith, a cop from "Murder in the Rainy Season," nodded in agreement.
"I started off in a short story but then Mike decided to make it into a novel. That took nearly two years of work and I was there every minute of the writing process. I can tell you that he worked just as hard on it and sweated out the details just as much as if the book was going to be published as a paperback or a hardcover."
I blushed a little at what almost sounded like it might be a compliment. She was right, though: It didn't take me any less time to write "Murder in the Rainy Season" than it would have if instead of publishing it electronically I'd opted to bring it out in paperback.
"So why didn't you bring it out as a paperback?" Dani asked.
I looked around the table and saw the same question on the faces of all the people seated there.
"Well," I said, "there were a couple of reasons for that.
"First of all, I wanted my books to be easily accessible. You don't have to get in your car or take a bus someplace to find them. You don't have to order them online and then wait days or even weeks for them to show up in your mailbox. You just point and click and two minutes later they're ready for you to read. Heck, these days you can even do that on your phone," I said.
"And," I said, "I wanted my books to be affordable. As you all know, I read upwards of a hundred books a year. I'm retired now and my pensions are my main source of income and all of you know that those pensions are only about half what I used to make as a reporter. Reading eBooks, which are really cheap, cuts my book-buying bill about 80 percent and that's a significant savings."
I looked around the table again.
"For people like me, mostly older people who prefer reading to having our stories spoon-fed to us by television producers, the comparatively low cost of eBooks means we can enjoy more mysteries, more adventures, more memoirs and, well, more of everything and still be able to pay the rent," I said. "As an eBook author I can keep the prices down, thus making them accessible to a greater number of people."
"I hear people complaining that there are too many bad writers publishing eBooks these days and that's why they refuse to pay regular prices for them. Do you think that's true?" Melanie asked.
Before I could answer Beverly Gray, another one of the Ashtabula Irregulars, snorted and then apologized for what she considered unladylike behavior.
"First of all," she said when she regained her composure, "just because a book comes out in paperback or hardcover doesn't guarantee it's any good. That's always been the case."
She sipped some water and then continued.
"We've all read paperbacks and hardcover books that were, well to put it bluntly, little more than trash. That includes bestsellers," she said.
"Secondly, especially on Kindle, you can read the first few pages of a book BEFORE you buy it. If it doesn't grab and then hold your attention then you don't make the purchase," she added. "That's not rocket science."
Elizabeth nodded.
"I remember reading a book called 'Naked Came the Stranger' many years ago. It was supposedly written by someone named Penelope Ash but it was really written by a bunch of authors who decided they'd pull a prank on everyone. It was trashy because it was meant to be and yet it not only got published it was a bestseller."
Heads nodded around the table.
"And eBooks, good or bad, are pretty convenient," Melanie said. "With eBooks you can carry 50 or more novels around with you when you travel. You can't really do that with paperback and hardbacks... the extra-baggage fees alone would kill your budget and can you imagine what your back would feel like after lugging them around? But you can load all 50 onto your Kindle and put it in your backpack and off you go. Heck, I'd pay a little extra for an eBook just to be able to have that convenience."
Dana put down her spoon and used a napkin to wipe her lips.
"Look, we're characters: It's in our nature to want to be read whether it's in an eBook, a paperback or a hardcover. If you aren't going to read us we really don't have a purpose in life," she said.
"Buying a book and not reading it is, well I think it's akin to kidnapping us, locking us away in a cellar somewhere and then throwing away the key. That's just wrong."
Beverly applauded and soon the whole table - me included - was clapping.
When that burst of applause quieted I said the same thing applies to writers.
"We have stories to tell," I said. "They may not appeal to everyone but they are stories that we think are important. If you buy one of our books and then casually ignore it, you're saying that you really don't care that we might have spent months, years even, crafting a novel that we think will not only entertain you but that might also help you to better understand the world because you're seeing it through a pair of eyes that are not your own."
I started to say that reading is important for many reasons but I stopped and looked around the table.
"I'm just preaching to the choir here," I said. "You all know, perhaps even better than I do, how important reading is. So, how about some dessert?
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KCABGK
"I just don't understand it," said Dana Redwing, one of the main characters in "The Ashtabula Irregulars: Opening Gambit."
"I mean if you're going to buy a book, then why not read it?" she asked.
"What brought this on?" I asked as I helped myself to another bowl of chili.
(I make really excellent chili, even if I have to say so myself.)
"Well, I was on LinkedIn a few days ago and some woman was ranting about how she'd never pay more for an eBook than a 'real' book. That was bad enough but then she said that she hasn't read 90 percent of the eBooks on her Kindle," Dana replied.
Her mother, Elizabeth Thompson, chimed in at that point.
"I saw the same rant," she said. "Now, mind you, we're Steampunk Victorians so we didn't have eBooks and Kindles when we were trying to save the world but when we bought a book, it was because we wanted to read it."
Melanie Palazzo, a reporter who is the heroine in "Jacks or Better," jumped into the conversation then.
"And what is this prejudice people have against eBooks?" she asked as she reached for another piece of French bread.
"They seem to think that just because an author decided to publish electronically that somehow the books aren't real... come on, that's just stupid."
Cpl. Dani Smith, a cop from "Murder in the Rainy Season," nodded in agreement.
"I started off in a short story but then Mike decided to make it into a novel. That took nearly two years of work and I was there every minute of the writing process. I can tell you that he worked just as hard on it and sweated out the details just as much as if the book was going to be published as a paperback or a hardcover."
I blushed a little at what almost sounded like it might be a compliment. She was right, though: It didn't take me any less time to write "Murder in the Rainy Season" than it would have if instead of publishing it electronically I'd opted to bring it out in paperback.
"So why didn't you bring it out as a paperback?" Dani asked.
I looked around the table and saw the same question on the faces of all the people seated there.
"Well," I said, "there were a couple of reasons for that.
"First of all, I wanted my books to be easily accessible. You don't have to get in your car or take a bus someplace to find them. You don't have to order them online and then wait days or even weeks for them to show up in your mailbox. You just point and click and two minutes later they're ready for you to read. Heck, these days you can even do that on your phone," I said.
"And," I said, "I wanted my books to be affordable. As you all know, I read upwards of a hundred books a year. I'm retired now and my pensions are my main source of income and all of you know that those pensions are only about half what I used to make as a reporter. Reading eBooks, which are really cheap, cuts my book-buying bill about 80 percent and that's a significant savings."
I looked around the table again.
"For people like me, mostly older people who prefer reading to having our stories spoon-fed to us by television producers, the comparatively low cost of eBooks means we can enjoy more mysteries, more adventures, more memoirs and, well, more of everything and still be able to pay the rent," I said. "As an eBook author I can keep the prices down, thus making them accessible to a greater number of people."
"I hear people complaining that there are too many bad writers publishing eBooks these days and that's why they refuse to pay regular prices for them. Do you think that's true?" Melanie asked.
Before I could answer Beverly Gray, another one of the Ashtabula Irregulars, snorted and then apologized for what she considered unladylike behavior.
"First of all," she said when she regained her composure, "just because a book comes out in paperback or hardcover doesn't guarantee it's any good. That's always been the case."
She sipped some water and then continued.
"We've all read paperbacks and hardcover books that were, well to put it bluntly, little more than trash. That includes bestsellers," she said.
"Secondly, especially on Kindle, you can read the first few pages of a book BEFORE you buy it. If it doesn't grab and then hold your attention then you don't make the purchase," she added. "That's not rocket science."
Elizabeth nodded.
"I remember reading a book called 'Naked Came the Stranger' many years ago. It was supposedly written by someone named Penelope Ash but it was really written by a bunch of authors who decided they'd pull a prank on everyone. It was trashy because it was meant to be and yet it not only got published it was a bestseller."
Heads nodded around the table.
"And eBooks, good or bad, are pretty convenient," Melanie said. "With eBooks you can carry 50 or more novels around with you when you travel. You can't really do that with paperback and hardbacks... the extra-baggage fees alone would kill your budget and can you imagine what your back would feel like after lugging them around? But you can load all 50 onto your Kindle and put it in your backpack and off you go. Heck, I'd pay a little extra for an eBook just to be able to have that convenience."
Dana put down her spoon and used a napkin to wipe her lips.
"Look, we're characters: It's in our nature to want to be read whether it's in an eBook, a paperback or a hardcover. If you aren't going to read us we really don't have a purpose in life," she said.
"Buying a book and not reading it is, well I think it's akin to kidnapping us, locking us away in a cellar somewhere and then throwing away the key. That's just wrong."
Beverly applauded and soon the whole table - me included - was clapping.
When that burst of applause quieted I said the same thing applies to writers.
"We have stories to tell," I said. "They may not appeal to everyone but they are stories that we think are important. If you buy one of our books and then casually ignore it, you're saying that you really don't care that we might have spent months, years even, crafting a novel that we think will not only entertain you but that might also help you to better understand the world because you're seeing it through a pair of eyes that are not your own."
I started to say that reading is important for many reasons but I stopped and looked around the table.
"I'm just preaching to the choir here," I said. "You all know, perhaps even better than I do, how important reading is. So, how about some dessert?
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KCABGK
January 7, 2015
So, I overheard two of my heroines talking about me...
Marcy Pantano, the heroine of my novel "Corpus Delectable," and Siobhan Noguerra, who is due to make her debut later this month in my newest book, were having coffee and chatting as they sat at one of the outside tables at the Pi del Cugat cafe near the Placa Llibertat.
They didn't see me as I sat nearby on a park bench and since I didn't want to intrude on their conversation I didn't say anything to them.
Besides, I was reading the eBook version of Eric Czuleger's "Immortal L.A." on my tablet and enjoying the hell out of it. I am a writer but I am also a reader and when I'm really into a book... Well, if you're also a reader you'll understand why I didn't want to disturb them or be disturbed myself.
That all changed, however, when I heard my name mentioned. Being a former reporter, I started taking notes. Here's what Marcy and Siobhan had to say about me, authors in general, the writing process and some of what they like and dislike about their characters.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
MARCY: So, has Mike finished writing and rewriting your story yet?
SIOBHAN: It's kind of hard to tell. I mean, you know how he is... Just when you think he's finally done with a chapter he jumps up in the middle of the night, goes downstairs and starts making changes. It's annoying because, you know, I'd like to get a full night's sleep now and then.
MARCY: He was the same way when he was writing "Corpus Delectable." I finally had to put my foot down and tell him he had to quit rewriting and just finish the damn book.
SIOBHAN: Did that work?
MARCY: Yeah, though every now and then I'd catch him sneaking a look at a chapter we both agreed was already finished. When I caught him doing that I'd just give him "The Look" and he'd go back to doing what he was supposed to be doing.
SIOBHAN: I think I'll try that because there are days when I could cheerfully strangle him. Are all authors like him, do you suppose?
MARCY: Probably, though some are likely to be more inclined to rewrite than others. I think authors get it into their heads that every sentence has to be worthy of a Nobel Prize in Literature. I don't think they're giving Nobel Prizes to people who write crime novels, though, so who knows why they develop this obsession with writing and rewriting the same chapter over and over again.
SIOBHAN: I'm beginning to think that all authors are at least a little crazy... What I don't understand about him is that he was a reporter for almost 50 years. I know he didn't get to do eight or nine rewrites of his news stories, especially because there were many times when he had to pound out three or four in a day.
MARCY: Yeah, I know... It's a mystery all right.
SIOBHAN: Speaking of mysteries, do you have any idea why he seems to have this fascination with Buffalo? I mean, in "Corpus Delectable" you were born and raised there though you now live in Delaware. In my book he's got me living and working there. Heck, we even went to the same Catholic high school. How weird is that?
MARCY: I'm not sure exactly why he seems to like Buffalo so much. I know he worked there for the old Courier-Express before it closed and then worked for a while at the Buffalo News. I think he likes the city and I also think he didn't want to pick the same old places for his books. You know what I mean: So many books are set in places like New York, Chicago, Boston and L.A. that I think he wanted to do something a little different.
SIOBHAN: Well that makes sense, I guess.
MARCY: I had lunch with Dana Redwing and Elizabeth Thompson recently and their novel is set in a place called Ashtabula, Ohio; probably for the same reason.
SIOBHAN: Dana Redwing and Elizabeth Thompson? I don't know them.
MARCY: They're characters in his Steampunk novel "The Ashtabula Irregulars: Opening Gambit." I think you'd like them. Dana is an inventor and her mother, Elizabeth, is a widow who heads the family.
SIOBHAN: Why are they called "Irregulars?"
MARCY: Well, in addition to the other things they do, they're spies who work for Mycroft Holmes.
SIOBHAN: Cool. I know I want to meet them now.
MARCY: I'll get in touch with them. Maybe we can all do dinner sometime next week.
SIOBHAN: That would be great. They sound fascinating.
MARCY: They are that, and they're both really strong characters.
SIOBHAN: Well for all his obvious faults, I have to admit that Mike doesn't shy away from strong female characters in his books.
MARCY: No, that's for sure. We may have some insecurities but all of us are pretty strong, especially when it counts.
SIOBHAN: So, is there anything you'd change about "Corpus Delectable" if you could?
MARCY: Well I'd like to have spent more time with my boyfriend, Quinn Bowman. He and I get together a couple of times in the book but I'd like to have had a few more chapters devoted to our time alone... Especially the time we spent in bed.
SIOBHAN: I don't know Marcy, those scenes of you and Quinn in the bedroom were kinda hot.
MARCY: Spicy maybe but not really all that hot I don't think. I mean, have you browsed some of the erotic literature out there? Wow. I'm no prude but, really...
SIOBHAN: Well at least you got to have sex with Quinn. In my book I don't have a husband or a boyfriend and I don't even date casually.
MARCY: Is that because you lost part of your right leg in Afghanistan?
SIOBHAN: Partly that, partly because I'm tall and, I guess, partly because I'm pretty self-contained. The way he's written me I never really did date, even in high school or when I was in the Army. We're going to have a story conference tomorrow and I'm going to bring up the fact that I'd like to at least snuggle with somebody.
MARCY: Well, he's pretty open to suggestions from his characters.
SIOBHAN: I hope so... Right now I'm a little worried because I don't have a title for my book. His working title is "The Case of The Disagreeable Dog" but I've told him as plainly as I could that he needs to come up with something better. "The Case of the Disagreeable Dog" just isn't going to fly.
MARCY: There's a disagreeable dog in the book?
SIOBHAN: Well, there is and there isn't. In the book The Disagreeable Dog is the name of a bar on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo. It's owned by a friend of mine and that's how I get involved in trying to solve the mystery of a missing rare book.
MARCY: Don't tell me, he got the idea because there are some disagreeable dogs in his neighborhood here in Reus.
SIOBHAN: You got it... they bark all the time and it sometimes gets on his nerves.
How he went from that to a mystery novel is beyond me.
MARCY: I know. He came up with "Corpus Delectable" because he was covering a murder trial and, for some reason, one day he couldn't say the words "corpus delecti." It kept coming out as "corpus delectable." He wrote that down in one of those notebooks he always carries around and, one day, he just started writing about the murder of a fashion model - a real delectable corpse.
SIOBHAN: Authors... Really, who knows how their minds work? It's as though they just don't think like normal people.
MARCY: Well, they can't... I mean, authors aren't normal people. Not really.
SIOBHAN: I guess you're right. Look, I hate to break this up but I've got to get to the gym.
MARCY: I should be going too. Mike's been working on a sequel to "Corpus Delectable" for almost a year now and if I don't nag him he'll start a dozen new projects and never finish it.
SIOBHAN: You got that right... He was working on my book early this morning when he suddenly decided that he wanted to put together a collection of his short stories.
MARCY: God, I hate when he does that.
SIOBHAN: I know, right? It's really frustrating and really, really annoying... Hey, thanks for the coffee and conversation. Give me a call about dinner with Dana and Elizabeth.
MARCY: Will do, and remember, you're a strong female character so at your story conference tomorrow make sure he listens to you.
SIOBHAN: Count on it... see you.
MARCY: Later...
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KCABGK
They didn't see me as I sat nearby on a park bench and since I didn't want to intrude on their conversation I didn't say anything to them.
Besides, I was reading the eBook version of Eric Czuleger's "Immortal L.A." on my tablet and enjoying the hell out of it. I am a writer but I am also a reader and when I'm really into a book... Well, if you're also a reader you'll understand why I didn't want to disturb them or be disturbed myself.
That all changed, however, when I heard my name mentioned. Being a former reporter, I started taking notes. Here's what Marcy and Siobhan had to say about me, authors in general, the writing process and some of what they like and dislike about their characters.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
MARCY: So, has Mike finished writing and rewriting your story yet?
SIOBHAN: It's kind of hard to tell. I mean, you know how he is... Just when you think he's finally done with a chapter he jumps up in the middle of the night, goes downstairs and starts making changes. It's annoying because, you know, I'd like to get a full night's sleep now and then.
MARCY: He was the same way when he was writing "Corpus Delectable." I finally had to put my foot down and tell him he had to quit rewriting and just finish the damn book.
SIOBHAN: Did that work?
MARCY: Yeah, though every now and then I'd catch him sneaking a look at a chapter we both agreed was already finished. When I caught him doing that I'd just give him "The Look" and he'd go back to doing what he was supposed to be doing.
SIOBHAN: I think I'll try that because there are days when I could cheerfully strangle him. Are all authors like him, do you suppose?
MARCY: Probably, though some are likely to be more inclined to rewrite than others. I think authors get it into their heads that every sentence has to be worthy of a Nobel Prize in Literature. I don't think they're giving Nobel Prizes to people who write crime novels, though, so who knows why they develop this obsession with writing and rewriting the same chapter over and over again.
SIOBHAN: I'm beginning to think that all authors are at least a little crazy... What I don't understand about him is that he was a reporter for almost 50 years. I know he didn't get to do eight or nine rewrites of his news stories, especially because there were many times when he had to pound out three or four in a day.
MARCY: Yeah, I know... It's a mystery all right.
SIOBHAN: Speaking of mysteries, do you have any idea why he seems to have this fascination with Buffalo? I mean, in "Corpus Delectable" you were born and raised there though you now live in Delaware. In my book he's got me living and working there. Heck, we even went to the same Catholic high school. How weird is that?
MARCY: I'm not sure exactly why he seems to like Buffalo so much. I know he worked there for the old Courier-Express before it closed and then worked for a while at the Buffalo News. I think he likes the city and I also think he didn't want to pick the same old places for his books. You know what I mean: So many books are set in places like New York, Chicago, Boston and L.A. that I think he wanted to do something a little different.
SIOBHAN: Well that makes sense, I guess.
MARCY: I had lunch with Dana Redwing and Elizabeth Thompson recently and their novel is set in a place called Ashtabula, Ohio; probably for the same reason.
SIOBHAN: Dana Redwing and Elizabeth Thompson? I don't know them.
MARCY: They're characters in his Steampunk novel "The Ashtabula Irregulars: Opening Gambit." I think you'd like them. Dana is an inventor and her mother, Elizabeth, is a widow who heads the family.
SIOBHAN: Why are they called "Irregulars?"
MARCY: Well, in addition to the other things they do, they're spies who work for Mycroft Holmes.
SIOBHAN: Cool. I know I want to meet them now.
MARCY: I'll get in touch with them. Maybe we can all do dinner sometime next week.
SIOBHAN: That would be great. They sound fascinating.
MARCY: They are that, and they're both really strong characters.
SIOBHAN: Well for all his obvious faults, I have to admit that Mike doesn't shy away from strong female characters in his books.
MARCY: No, that's for sure. We may have some insecurities but all of us are pretty strong, especially when it counts.
SIOBHAN: So, is there anything you'd change about "Corpus Delectable" if you could?
MARCY: Well I'd like to have spent more time with my boyfriend, Quinn Bowman. He and I get together a couple of times in the book but I'd like to have had a few more chapters devoted to our time alone... Especially the time we spent in bed.
SIOBHAN: I don't know Marcy, those scenes of you and Quinn in the bedroom were kinda hot.
MARCY: Spicy maybe but not really all that hot I don't think. I mean, have you browsed some of the erotic literature out there? Wow. I'm no prude but, really...
SIOBHAN: Well at least you got to have sex with Quinn. In my book I don't have a husband or a boyfriend and I don't even date casually.
MARCY: Is that because you lost part of your right leg in Afghanistan?
SIOBHAN: Partly that, partly because I'm tall and, I guess, partly because I'm pretty self-contained. The way he's written me I never really did date, even in high school or when I was in the Army. We're going to have a story conference tomorrow and I'm going to bring up the fact that I'd like to at least snuggle with somebody.
MARCY: Well, he's pretty open to suggestions from his characters.
SIOBHAN: I hope so... Right now I'm a little worried because I don't have a title for my book. His working title is "The Case of The Disagreeable Dog" but I've told him as plainly as I could that he needs to come up with something better. "The Case of the Disagreeable Dog" just isn't going to fly.
MARCY: There's a disagreeable dog in the book?
SIOBHAN: Well, there is and there isn't. In the book The Disagreeable Dog is the name of a bar on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo. It's owned by a friend of mine and that's how I get involved in trying to solve the mystery of a missing rare book.
MARCY: Don't tell me, he got the idea because there are some disagreeable dogs in his neighborhood here in Reus.
SIOBHAN: You got it... they bark all the time and it sometimes gets on his nerves.
How he went from that to a mystery novel is beyond me.
MARCY: I know. He came up with "Corpus Delectable" because he was covering a murder trial and, for some reason, one day he couldn't say the words "corpus delecti." It kept coming out as "corpus delectable." He wrote that down in one of those notebooks he always carries around and, one day, he just started writing about the murder of a fashion model - a real delectable corpse.
SIOBHAN: Authors... Really, who knows how their minds work? It's as though they just don't think like normal people.
MARCY: Well, they can't... I mean, authors aren't normal people. Not really.
SIOBHAN: I guess you're right. Look, I hate to break this up but I've got to get to the gym.
MARCY: I should be going too. Mike's been working on a sequel to "Corpus Delectable" for almost a year now and if I don't nag him he'll start a dozen new projects and never finish it.
SIOBHAN: You got that right... He was working on my book early this morning when he suddenly decided that he wanted to put together a collection of his short stories.
MARCY: God, I hate when he does that.
SIOBHAN: I know, right? It's really frustrating and really, really annoying... Hey, thanks for the coffee and conversation. Give me a call about dinner with Dana and Elizabeth.
MARCY: Will do, and remember, you're a strong female character so at your story conference tomorrow make sure he listens to you.
SIOBHAN: Count on it... see you.
MARCY: Later...
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KCABGK
December 31, 2014
Readers: Help save a bookstore
I don't know Salathiel Palland.
And although I've seen a fair piece of the world in my 67 years, I've never been to Farmington, Michigan in my life.
That means, of course, that I've also never been to her Steampunk-themed Off The Beaten Path bookstore in Farmington. In truth, it's pretty doubtful that I ever will step inside it to buy a book because, well, I do live in Spain.
So why did I just send Ms. Palland $150?
I did because she's trying to keep her bookstore open and is using GoFundMe.com in an effort to raise a fairly modest amount of money - $15,000. That money will be used to pay for some renovations, pay for an expansion project and to recoup some losses she suffered during the last year.
So, why should I care if a small business in Michigan stays open or not?
Good question.
Here are my five reasons for caring about the fate of Off The Beaten Path.
First of all, it's not just any small business.
It's a bookstore.
I'm a reader and because I am that makes Off The Beaten Path special, at least in my mind, and, therefore, worthy of support.
Second, it's a bookstore with a real interest in not only its customers but also in its community. In the past it has supported a wide variety of community events ranging from food truck rallies to giving local authors, artists and musicians a place to showcase their work. I know this because there's a video on the GoFundMe.com site in which people from the community talk about how supportive Off The Beaten Path has been in the past.
Third, Sal Palland is one of only 52 black men and women who own an independent bookstore in the entire United States. If we truly believe in the whole idea of diversity and if we honestly believe in the concept of an inclusive society then it's imperative that we support minority business owners.
Fourth, Sal really has no option but to try crowd-funding her business so she can weather what is, for her, a tough time.
The reality is that she is a black woman who owns a small business. Those same banks that crashed the economy a few years back by wildly speculating on pie-in-the-sky projects and making sub-prime mortgages won't give her a loan that amounts to less money than an average CEO's annual bonus.
"People say just get a loan, but as a black woman that owns a bookstore that caters to alternative genres, banks just don't get me and aren't inclined to risk a loan on a bookstore. I'm nowhere near too big to fail," she points out.
And because she's "nowhere too big to fail" that means Congress isn't going to step in and bail her out despite the fact she's asking for less money than a Senator's annual lunch tab.
Finally, I care if Off The Beaten Path survives because it's just the right thing to do.
Politicians of every stripe love to stand on stages and proclaim their undying devotion to small businesses but we all know they don't really give a damn about them. The truth is that a small business such as Off The Beaten Path pays more in federal and state taxes than many gigantic corporations do.
And we all know why that is.
The same holds true for all those highly paid right-wing and left-wing idealogues who spend so much time ranting on radio and television about what's wrong with America. If they truly wanted to "fix" America they'd be doing something constructive, not screaming into microphones about what they perceive to be the state of the nation.
Instead of attacking each other, and everyone else who doesn't share their particular world views, they'd be writing checks to help some small business survive.
In the end, as it always does, it comes down to us; the average American living on a modest income to actually do something to help a friend or neighbor out. We're a pretty generous bunch, we average Americans, and thank God for that because if we had to rely on big shots to help us get over those humps in the road that we all encounter at some point in our lives we'd never get anywhere.
As I said before, I don't know Sal Palland.
But that doesn't mean I can sit by and watch her dream die.
So, let me end this by saying that I'm not asking you to donate $150 or even $50. I'm asking that you send what you can, even if it's only $5, to help keep her dream alive.
Because, in the end, it's the right thing to do.
If you'd like to know more about Sal and her bookstore, visit http://www.gofundme.com/OTBPBooks.
And although I've seen a fair piece of the world in my 67 years, I've never been to Farmington, Michigan in my life.
That means, of course, that I've also never been to her Steampunk-themed Off The Beaten Path bookstore in Farmington. In truth, it's pretty doubtful that I ever will step inside it to buy a book because, well, I do live in Spain.
So why did I just send Ms. Palland $150?
I did because she's trying to keep her bookstore open and is using GoFundMe.com in an effort to raise a fairly modest amount of money - $15,000. That money will be used to pay for some renovations, pay for an expansion project and to recoup some losses she suffered during the last year.
So, why should I care if a small business in Michigan stays open or not?
Good question.
Here are my five reasons for caring about the fate of Off The Beaten Path.
First of all, it's not just any small business.
It's a bookstore.
I'm a reader and because I am that makes Off The Beaten Path special, at least in my mind, and, therefore, worthy of support.
Second, it's a bookstore with a real interest in not only its customers but also in its community. In the past it has supported a wide variety of community events ranging from food truck rallies to giving local authors, artists and musicians a place to showcase their work. I know this because there's a video on the GoFundMe.com site in which people from the community talk about how supportive Off The Beaten Path has been in the past.
Third, Sal Palland is one of only 52 black men and women who own an independent bookstore in the entire United States. If we truly believe in the whole idea of diversity and if we honestly believe in the concept of an inclusive society then it's imperative that we support minority business owners.
Fourth, Sal really has no option but to try crowd-funding her business so she can weather what is, for her, a tough time.
The reality is that she is a black woman who owns a small business. Those same banks that crashed the economy a few years back by wildly speculating on pie-in-the-sky projects and making sub-prime mortgages won't give her a loan that amounts to less money than an average CEO's annual bonus.
"People say just get a loan, but as a black woman that owns a bookstore that caters to alternative genres, banks just don't get me and aren't inclined to risk a loan on a bookstore. I'm nowhere near too big to fail," she points out.
And because she's "nowhere too big to fail" that means Congress isn't going to step in and bail her out despite the fact she's asking for less money than a Senator's annual lunch tab.
Finally, I care if Off The Beaten Path survives because it's just the right thing to do.
Politicians of every stripe love to stand on stages and proclaim their undying devotion to small businesses but we all know they don't really give a damn about them. The truth is that a small business such as Off The Beaten Path pays more in federal and state taxes than many gigantic corporations do.
And we all know why that is.
The same holds true for all those highly paid right-wing and left-wing idealogues who spend so much time ranting on radio and television about what's wrong with America. If they truly wanted to "fix" America they'd be doing something constructive, not screaming into microphones about what they perceive to be the state of the nation.
Instead of attacking each other, and everyone else who doesn't share their particular world views, they'd be writing checks to help some small business survive.
In the end, as it always does, it comes down to us; the average American living on a modest income to actually do something to help a friend or neighbor out. We're a pretty generous bunch, we average Americans, and thank God for that because if we had to rely on big shots to help us get over those humps in the road that we all encounter at some point in our lives we'd never get anywhere.
As I said before, I don't know Sal Palland.
But that doesn't mean I can sit by and watch her dream die.
So, let me end this by saying that I'm not asking you to donate $150 or even $50. I'm asking that you send what you can, even if it's only $5, to help keep her dream alive.
Because, in the end, it's the right thing to do.
If you'd like to know more about Sal and her bookstore, visit http://www.gofundme.com/OTBPBooks.
December 27, 2014
'I'm not really in competition with other authors'
I was writing a book review a couple of days ago when a friend asked me why I bother.
"It's not like you're getting paid anything for doing that," she said. "And when you write a review and give some other author's book five stars, well, you're telling them to buy somebody else's book, not yours."
She frowned.
"Really, Mike, you have no business sense at all," she said.
She's probably right about that.
I am, after all, a writer and have been for most of my life.
And while there are few truly eternal truths, this is one: Writers aren't known for their business acumen.
Business, however, has nothing to do with the reason why I review a lot of books and it certainly has nothing to do with the fact that I actually enjoy giving another author a five-star review for a well-written novel.
So, for the benefit of all of you with an MBA on your wall, let me try to explain.
First of all, I'm a reader. That makes me a member of a very small group of people, comparatively speaking. Most people - including the millions of them on social media platforms of one kind or another - do not read anything for pleasure. They read reports, news stories (though most would prefer that a TV anchor read it to them) and 140-character Tweets about something they are vaguely interested in.
What's that you say?
I'm wrong?
Book sales are up?
Yes they are, but that's not because a lot of people are buying novels. It's because a relatively few number of people - me included - are buying a lot of novels.
(I, for example, have bought more than 100 books so far this year - mostly eBooks because international shipping is expensive, occasionally unreliable and because it can take weeks before your book actually arrives. By contrast, I can buy an eBook online and start reading it in less than 10 minutes.)
The rest of the people on Planet Earth are buying cars, weed trimmers, food processors, potato peelers, microwave ovens, houses, condos, boats, gigantic television sets and a 1,001 other things for sale on the Internet, in stores and at yard sales.
They are not buying books.
Second: I'm not really in competition with other authors, including those who also write murder mysteries.
Really, I'm not.
Here's why.
Lee Child's fictional Jack Reacher is nothing at all like Marcy Pantano, the 40-something heroine of my novel "Corpus Delectable."
Reacher is a loner, for example, while Marcy has friends. Reacher is constantly on the move, never settling down. Marcy lives in a beachfront condo in a small Delaware town.
Oh, and she has both an ex-husband and a current (much younger) boyfriend.
That's not to say that you can't read and enjoy both a Reacher novel and "Corpus Delectable."
Heck I enjoy Reacher novels for that matter.
What I am saying is that to suggest Child and I are somehow in competition with one another would be stretching a point way beyond breaking.
Third: When I read a book that I truly enjoyed for one reason or another, I want to tell other readers about that. The same holds true when I read something that I found especially awful. Unlike the "reviewers" on Amazon.com and other sites who write one-word or one-sentence reviews, I try my best to explain to other readers why I liked or disliked a book. I write about plots and characters, narrative styles and the use of language. I do that because I feel a certain kinship with other readers; they are friends that I haven't met yet but hope to someday share a table and a cup of coffee with as we spend a few hours talking about books.
Finally: I write reviews because I am a writer. If you are also a writer you'll understand why I say that. If you aren't, well let me just say that writers enjoy writing. They enjoy writing letters, emails, even Tweets. They enjoy writing book reviews, novels and short stories.
Simply put, they enjoy the mental, emotional and physical act of writing.
A writer who took part in an online discussion I was part of once described it this way: "I write because if I didn't I would explode. That would be messy and so I write."
That pretty much sums it up for me.
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KCABGK
"It's not like you're getting paid anything for doing that," she said. "And when you write a review and give some other author's book five stars, well, you're telling them to buy somebody else's book, not yours."
She frowned.
"Really, Mike, you have no business sense at all," she said.
She's probably right about that.
I am, after all, a writer and have been for most of my life.
And while there are few truly eternal truths, this is one: Writers aren't known for their business acumen.
Business, however, has nothing to do with the reason why I review a lot of books and it certainly has nothing to do with the fact that I actually enjoy giving another author a five-star review for a well-written novel.
So, for the benefit of all of you with an MBA on your wall, let me try to explain.
First of all, I'm a reader. That makes me a member of a very small group of people, comparatively speaking. Most people - including the millions of them on social media platforms of one kind or another - do not read anything for pleasure. They read reports, news stories (though most would prefer that a TV anchor read it to them) and 140-character Tweets about something they are vaguely interested in.
What's that you say?
I'm wrong?
Book sales are up?
Yes they are, but that's not because a lot of people are buying novels. It's because a relatively few number of people - me included - are buying a lot of novels.
(I, for example, have bought more than 100 books so far this year - mostly eBooks because international shipping is expensive, occasionally unreliable and because it can take weeks before your book actually arrives. By contrast, I can buy an eBook online and start reading it in less than 10 minutes.)
The rest of the people on Planet Earth are buying cars, weed trimmers, food processors, potato peelers, microwave ovens, houses, condos, boats, gigantic television sets and a 1,001 other things for sale on the Internet, in stores and at yard sales.
They are not buying books.
Second: I'm not really in competition with other authors, including those who also write murder mysteries.
Really, I'm not.
Here's why.
Lee Child's fictional Jack Reacher is nothing at all like Marcy Pantano, the 40-something heroine of my novel "Corpus Delectable."
Reacher is a loner, for example, while Marcy has friends. Reacher is constantly on the move, never settling down. Marcy lives in a beachfront condo in a small Delaware town.
Oh, and she has both an ex-husband and a current (much younger) boyfriend.
That's not to say that you can't read and enjoy both a Reacher novel and "Corpus Delectable."
Heck I enjoy Reacher novels for that matter.
What I am saying is that to suggest Child and I are somehow in competition with one another would be stretching a point way beyond breaking.
Third: When I read a book that I truly enjoyed for one reason or another, I want to tell other readers about that. The same holds true when I read something that I found especially awful. Unlike the "reviewers" on Amazon.com and other sites who write one-word or one-sentence reviews, I try my best to explain to other readers why I liked or disliked a book. I write about plots and characters, narrative styles and the use of language. I do that because I feel a certain kinship with other readers; they are friends that I haven't met yet but hope to someday share a table and a cup of coffee with as we spend a few hours talking about books.
Finally: I write reviews because I am a writer. If you are also a writer you'll understand why I say that. If you aren't, well let me just say that writers enjoy writing. They enjoy writing letters, emails, even Tweets. They enjoy writing book reviews, novels and short stories.
Simply put, they enjoy the mental, emotional and physical act of writing.
A writer who took part in an online discussion I was part of once described it this way: "I write because if I didn't I would explode. That would be messy and so I write."
That pretty much sums it up for me.
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KCABGK
December 24, 2014
Why am I reluctant to give an eBook as a Christmas present?
I've always liked giving books as presents for Christmas, birthdays and other special occasions.
There's something very satisfying about searching for, and then finding, that one book that will bring a measure of enjoyment to someone important in your life. It's a gift that doesn't lose its value a few days later; something that will stay with the person you gave it to and can be enjoyed time and time again.
I know that and yet, despite the fact that I have seven of my own books on Kindle, I'm reluctant to give an eBook as a Christmas gift.
I honestly don't know why that is.
I have more than a hundred eBooks on my Kindle and I've read some of them two or three times so I know that they also don't lose their value a day or two later.
Then, too, I've never had a problem giving someone an eBook for a birthday or anniversary present.
But I feel that, somehow, giving an eBook as a Christmas gift is just not as personal as handing someone a hardback wrapped in colorful paper.
That could simply be a function of my somewhat advanced age. I'm a Baby Boomer (I really don't like that term but...) and so I grew up at a time when an electric typewriter was the height of technology. Only about half the families in my neighborhood in East Haven, Connecticut had television sets when I was a kid. To save money, we were on a "party line" and sometimes had to wait 20 or 30 minutes for someone in another house to hang up before we could use the telephone. Our dream was to have a dedicated telephone line all our own... the idea of a cellphone with more computing power than NASA had when it sent the first men to the moon was beyond our comprehension.
In those days Christmas presents were solid - something you could touch. The fact that you could feel the cover of a book or the cool metal handle bars of a new bike made them all the more real, all the more precious.
You can't really touch eBooks, however. You can read them, enjoy them, even love them but you can't actually touch them.
So maybe that's part of the reason why I'm reluctant to give them as presents. Maybe they, somehow, just don't seem real to me the way a hardback does.
I know, weird...
If I'm honest with myself, however, I have to also admit that there may be a more selfish reason for my reluctance to give someone an eBook for Christmas.
The truth is, I like to see the look on people's faces when they tear off the wrapping paper and find a book they've wanted to read inside.
I just can't imagine that same look on their faces when they see an electronic message from Amazon or some other bookseller telling them that they have been "gifted" an eBook.
I wonder if anyone else feels the same way.
There's something very satisfying about searching for, and then finding, that one book that will bring a measure of enjoyment to someone important in your life. It's a gift that doesn't lose its value a few days later; something that will stay with the person you gave it to and can be enjoyed time and time again.
I know that and yet, despite the fact that I have seven of my own books on Kindle, I'm reluctant to give an eBook as a Christmas gift.
I honestly don't know why that is.
I have more than a hundred eBooks on my Kindle and I've read some of them two or three times so I know that they also don't lose their value a day or two later.
Then, too, I've never had a problem giving someone an eBook for a birthday or anniversary present.
But I feel that, somehow, giving an eBook as a Christmas gift is just not as personal as handing someone a hardback wrapped in colorful paper.
That could simply be a function of my somewhat advanced age. I'm a Baby Boomer (I really don't like that term but...) and so I grew up at a time when an electric typewriter was the height of technology. Only about half the families in my neighborhood in East Haven, Connecticut had television sets when I was a kid. To save money, we were on a "party line" and sometimes had to wait 20 or 30 minutes for someone in another house to hang up before we could use the telephone. Our dream was to have a dedicated telephone line all our own... the idea of a cellphone with more computing power than NASA had when it sent the first men to the moon was beyond our comprehension.
In those days Christmas presents were solid - something you could touch. The fact that you could feel the cover of a book or the cool metal handle bars of a new bike made them all the more real, all the more precious.
You can't really touch eBooks, however. You can read them, enjoy them, even love them but you can't actually touch them.
So maybe that's part of the reason why I'm reluctant to give them as presents. Maybe they, somehow, just don't seem real to me the way a hardback does.
I know, weird...
If I'm honest with myself, however, I have to also admit that there may be a more selfish reason for my reluctance to give someone an eBook for Christmas.
The truth is, I like to see the look on people's faces when they tear off the wrapping paper and find a book they've wanted to read inside.
I just can't imagine that same look on their faces when they see an electronic message from Amazon or some other bookseller telling them that they have been "gifted" an eBook.
I wonder if anyone else feels the same way.
December 9, 2014
Pastor: 'Veterans have no right to expect...'
Not long ago I wrote that this holiday season I would donate 50 percent of the royalties from the sale of my historical novel 'The Third Servant' to Home of the Brave, a shelter for homeless veterans in Delaware, and a clothing/food bank run by volunteers in cooperation with St. David's Episcopal Church in Englewood, Florida.
In that post I noted that, regardless of how many books I sold in the time period Nov. 20 to Dec. 31, I would guarantee that each of these two very worthy non-profit organizations would receive at least $1,000 from me.
I have to admit that when I said I would do this I did not expect to sell a huge number of books. That's why I guaranteed that each charity would receive at least $1,000 even if it meant I had to use my savings to make that happen.
Why didn't I think there would be a rush to buy this book?
Well, for one thing,'The Third Servant,' which is based on the famous parable in the Gospel of Matthew, is, after all, a book with a strong religious theme. Books like this one just don't appeal to everyone.
Then, too, it's also kind of expensive - a little under $10 - and that certainly doesn't appeal to a lot of folks who will gladly pay $20 to park at a football game and spend another $40 on beer and hot dogs but want their books for free.
And, finally, 'The Third Servant' is kind of long - 408 pages - so I figured that a lot of people who are used to 30-second sound bites would be scared off by its length.
All well and good. As I said, I didn't expect that 'The Third Servant' would skyrocket to the top of the NY Times bestseller list. That's not why I wrote it in the first place.
And that's not why I wrote about this holiday season project of mine. I did because, essentially, I wanted people to think of ways that they could also give back to those who need - deserve - our help.
I got some nice comments about this project from folks I know after they read about what I'm doing. They wished me luck and some of them even bought the book, which I appreciated very much.
What I was unprepared for, however, was the truckload of negative comments that I got in emails and messages from social media platforms such as Twitter.
I was accused, for example, of 'riding on the back of veterans for your own selfish reasons' in one memorable email.
In another I was told, in no uncertain terms, that giving only 50 percent of the book's royalties was 'disgraceful' and that if I 'really wanted to help veterans' I'd donate 100 percent of those royalties.
The one that shocked me most, however, came from a man who identified himself as both a veteran and a pastor. He berated me for my 'cheap sales trick,' told me that I needed to 'get right with Jesus' and then wrote that 'veterans knew what they were getting into when they enlisted and have no right to expect that they should be supported when they get out.'
Really? A veteran and someone who calls himself a Christian would actually believe that?
I was fortunate when I came home from my second tour in Vietnam to walk out of the Army and into a job.
I was even more fortunate to remain employed as a journalist for nearly 50 years despite the fact that I am 40 percent disabled.
But as I wrote in my previous post, not everyone who comes home from a war is that lucky.
And, my friends who also served can attest to this, no one goes into military service knowing just what they are 'getting into' when they enlist.
Your dad or mom can tell you about their time in the service, can even try to scare the pants off you with their stories of how tough it can be, but you can't know what you're 'getting into' until you've sworn the oath, put on the uniform and served out your enlistment.
And that's especially true if you serve part of that enlistment in a combat zone. No amount of talk can prepare you for the first time someone tries, in earnest, to kill you.
As I said, I was a journalist for nearly half a century and in that time I received a lot of hate mail from people who didn't like some of the stories that I wrote. Once, when I was working at a newspaper in Delaware, a guy I wrote about even posted signs along the highway denouncing me.
In the United States that's a right we all have. The right to freely speak your mind is, in fact, one of the linchpins of our democratic society and I spent most of my life defending that right.
I have a pretty thick skin as a result so these emails, DMs and IMs don't bother me all that much.
But they do make me go 'hmmmmm...'
In that post I noted that, regardless of how many books I sold in the time period Nov. 20 to Dec. 31, I would guarantee that each of these two very worthy non-profit organizations would receive at least $1,000 from me.
I have to admit that when I said I would do this I did not expect to sell a huge number of books. That's why I guaranteed that each charity would receive at least $1,000 even if it meant I had to use my savings to make that happen.
Why didn't I think there would be a rush to buy this book?
Well, for one thing,'The Third Servant,' which is based on the famous parable in the Gospel of Matthew, is, after all, a book with a strong religious theme. Books like this one just don't appeal to everyone.
Then, too, it's also kind of expensive - a little under $10 - and that certainly doesn't appeal to a lot of folks who will gladly pay $20 to park at a football game and spend another $40 on beer and hot dogs but want their books for free.
And, finally, 'The Third Servant' is kind of long - 408 pages - so I figured that a lot of people who are used to 30-second sound bites would be scared off by its length.
All well and good. As I said, I didn't expect that 'The Third Servant' would skyrocket to the top of the NY Times bestseller list. That's not why I wrote it in the first place.
And that's not why I wrote about this holiday season project of mine. I did because, essentially, I wanted people to think of ways that they could also give back to those who need - deserve - our help.
I got some nice comments about this project from folks I know after they read about what I'm doing. They wished me luck and some of them even bought the book, which I appreciated very much.
What I was unprepared for, however, was the truckload of negative comments that I got in emails and messages from social media platforms such as Twitter.
I was accused, for example, of 'riding on the back of veterans for your own selfish reasons' in one memorable email.
In another I was told, in no uncertain terms, that giving only 50 percent of the book's royalties was 'disgraceful' and that if I 'really wanted to help veterans' I'd donate 100 percent of those royalties.
The one that shocked me most, however, came from a man who identified himself as both a veteran and a pastor. He berated me for my 'cheap sales trick,' told me that I needed to 'get right with Jesus' and then wrote that 'veterans knew what they were getting into when they enlisted and have no right to expect that they should be supported when they get out.'
Really? A veteran and someone who calls himself a Christian would actually believe that?
I was fortunate when I came home from my second tour in Vietnam to walk out of the Army and into a job.
I was even more fortunate to remain employed as a journalist for nearly 50 years despite the fact that I am 40 percent disabled.
But as I wrote in my previous post, not everyone who comes home from a war is that lucky.
And, my friends who also served can attest to this, no one goes into military service knowing just what they are 'getting into' when they enlist.
Your dad or mom can tell you about their time in the service, can even try to scare the pants off you with their stories of how tough it can be, but you can't know what you're 'getting into' until you've sworn the oath, put on the uniform and served out your enlistment.
And that's especially true if you serve part of that enlistment in a combat zone. No amount of talk can prepare you for the first time someone tries, in earnest, to kill you.
As I said, I was a journalist for nearly half a century and in that time I received a lot of hate mail from people who didn't like some of the stories that I wrote. Once, when I was working at a newspaper in Delaware, a guy I wrote about even posted signs along the highway denouncing me.
In the United States that's a right we all have. The right to freely speak your mind is, in fact, one of the linchpins of our democratic society and I spent most of my life defending that right.
I have a pretty thick skin as a result so these emails, DMs and IMs don't bother me all that much.
But they do make me go 'hmmmmm...'
November 27, 2014
The inconvenient truth about Twitter...
Like all authors, I want people to read my books.
That's why I write them, why I publish them as eBooks and why I keep the cost of buying them pretty low.
But with literally hundreds of thousands of books on Amazon.com alone - and thousands upon thousands more on B&N, Smashwords and other Internet sites - how do I reach them?
How do I, sitting alone in my apartment in Spain, convince readers in Cleveland, Dublin, London and Miami to at least take a look at the first four or five pages of my novels - something they can do for free on Amazon.com.
Five years ago the answer to that question would have been to spend all day on the Internet telling people about my books.
That's no longer true.
Today, the answer, at least the one that I've found most helpful, starts with the premise that we have to stop spending hours at a time on Twitter and other social media platforms. The reason: The inconvenient truth about them is that they just aren't very effective sales tools for writers who want to sell books.
"What?"
"That's heresy!"
"Millions of people use the Internet daily and if you don't spend hours marketing your books on sites like Twitter you'll never sell any... blah, blah, blah..."
It's certainly true that there are millions of people on the Internet every day.
But what's also true is that most of those people aren't out there cruising the Web because they want to buy books.
Let's examine some reasons why I'm making what will be to some of you an outrageous claim.
First of all, a huge percentage of the people who spend hours a day on the Internet are teenagers. They are on the Web to watch videos - many created by kids pretty much just like themselves; to learn about new games; to get the latest gossip about their favorite entertainers and to stay connected to other teenagers.
They are not on the Internet because they want to find a good book to read.
In fact, most of them do not read any book that some teacher hasn't ordered them to... and we all know that, even then, most of them won't read what they've been assigned.
Another large percentage of those people who are on the Internet for hours every day are there solely to push some kind of agenda.
Right-wingers, left-wingers, religious fanatics, conservationists, ecologists, industrialists, those who favor government and those who abhor it, oil companies and just about anyone who has a bone to pick with someone (or something) else is online blasting messages across the planet several times a day.
They aren't on the Web to buy books.
Who else is on the Web daily?
Well, the porn industry draws a big percentage of Internet users and many of them, despite the proliferation of "free" sites - spend a lot of money catering to their desires.
They aren't out on the Web looking for an historical novel or a good murder mystery.
Lonely people are out there on the Web as well. They're looking for friends or lovers or both and, as a result, Internet dating sites are literally loaded with members.
They aren't looking for a good book to snuggle up with.
They are looking for a person to snuggle up with.
I could go on but you get my point. The Internet is a good place to sell electronics, jewelry, even cars and houses. It's a good place to buy an airline ticket, book a vacation or find a nice cozy restaurant.
It's a convenient way to BUY a book - especially an eBook - but it is not, however, a great place for an independent author to SELL a book.
So, again, how do I - as a member of that ever-growing army of independent authors - reach potential readers?
The answer is something we independent writers need to know because the readers are out there.
And they are out there in large numbers if both fiction and non-fiction sales numbers and the slow but steady rise in the number of independent book stores is any indication.
To reach them in today's marketplace I think we have to look backward, not forward.
What I'm saying is that I think the answer lies not in the Digital Age but in the days when the printed page and radio waves were our major means of advertising.
Simply put: Newspapers and radio seem to me to be a much more effective means for writers to reach readers than the Internet is.
Newspapers because anyone with a subscription to a daily or weekly these days is - by definition - a reader.
Used to be you could buy a newspaper for a nickel, not a huge investment even in pre-inflationary times.
These days a yearly subscription can easily run to $300 or more. Anyone willing to spend that amount of money on a daily paper is not just a reader but a COMMITTED reader.
Radio advertising is also an effective tool, but for a different reason.
Personalities.
Those men and women who have successful radio shows have been able to cultivate a large number of extremely loyal listeners.
The result: Spending a few bucks buying air time on a local radio station for an ad that is broadcast during a popular program will pay much bigger dividends than spending eight hours a day being ignored while you are trying to convince people to buy your books on social media platforms.
Now I'm not saying you shouldn't spend any time on social media platforms. You'd be silly not to. I certainly spend time Tweeting and using other social media platforms and will continue to do so.
What I am saying is that you need to do a cost-benefit analysis in which, in this case, "cost" equals your time
If you do, I think you'll agree that for most of us spending more than 60 minutes a day posting on social media sites is a waste of time.
Time that you could have better spent writing.
For another take on this, take a look at Kristen Lamb's recent blog at https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/...
That's why I write them, why I publish them as eBooks and why I keep the cost of buying them pretty low.
But with literally hundreds of thousands of books on Amazon.com alone - and thousands upon thousands more on B&N, Smashwords and other Internet sites - how do I reach them?
How do I, sitting alone in my apartment in Spain, convince readers in Cleveland, Dublin, London and Miami to at least take a look at the first four or five pages of my novels - something they can do for free on Amazon.com.
Five years ago the answer to that question would have been to spend all day on the Internet telling people about my books.
That's no longer true.
Today, the answer, at least the one that I've found most helpful, starts with the premise that we have to stop spending hours at a time on Twitter and other social media platforms. The reason: The inconvenient truth about them is that they just aren't very effective sales tools for writers who want to sell books.
"What?"
"That's heresy!"
"Millions of people use the Internet daily and if you don't spend hours marketing your books on sites like Twitter you'll never sell any... blah, blah, blah..."
It's certainly true that there are millions of people on the Internet every day.
But what's also true is that most of those people aren't out there cruising the Web because they want to buy books.
Let's examine some reasons why I'm making what will be to some of you an outrageous claim.
First of all, a huge percentage of the people who spend hours a day on the Internet are teenagers. They are on the Web to watch videos - many created by kids pretty much just like themselves; to learn about new games; to get the latest gossip about their favorite entertainers and to stay connected to other teenagers.
They are not on the Internet because they want to find a good book to read.
In fact, most of them do not read any book that some teacher hasn't ordered them to... and we all know that, even then, most of them won't read what they've been assigned.
Another large percentage of those people who are on the Internet for hours every day are there solely to push some kind of agenda.
Right-wingers, left-wingers, religious fanatics, conservationists, ecologists, industrialists, those who favor government and those who abhor it, oil companies and just about anyone who has a bone to pick with someone (or something) else is online blasting messages across the planet several times a day.
They aren't on the Web to buy books.
Who else is on the Web daily?
Well, the porn industry draws a big percentage of Internet users and many of them, despite the proliferation of "free" sites - spend a lot of money catering to their desires.
They aren't out on the Web looking for an historical novel or a good murder mystery.
Lonely people are out there on the Web as well. They're looking for friends or lovers or both and, as a result, Internet dating sites are literally loaded with members.
They aren't looking for a good book to snuggle up with.
They are looking for a person to snuggle up with.
I could go on but you get my point. The Internet is a good place to sell electronics, jewelry, even cars and houses. It's a good place to buy an airline ticket, book a vacation or find a nice cozy restaurant.
It's a convenient way to BUY a book - especially an eBook - but it is not, however, a great place for an independent author to SELL a book.
So, again, how do I - as a member of that ever-growing army of independent authors - reach potential readers?
The answer is something we independent writers need to know because the readers are out there.
And they are out there in large numbers if both fiction and non-fiction sales numbers and the slow but steady rise in the number of independent book stores is any indication.
To reach them in today's marketplace I think we have to look backward, not forward.
What I'm saying is that I think the answer lies not in the Digital Age but in the days when the printed page and radio waves were our major means of advertising.
Simply put: Newspapers and radio seem to me to be a much more effective means for writers to reach readers than the Internet is.
Newspapers because anyone with a subscription to a daily or weekly these days is - by definition - a reader.
Used to be you could buy a newspaper for a nickel, not a huge investment even in pre-inflationary times.
These days a yearly subscription can easily run to $300 or more. Anyone willing to spend that amount of money on a daily paper is not just a reader but a COMMITTED reader.
Radio advertising is also an effective tool, but for a different reason.
Personalities.
Those men and women who have successful radio shows have been able to cultivate a large number of extremely loyal listeners.
The result: Spending a few bucks buying air time on a local radio station for an ad that is broadcast during a popular program will pay much bigger dividends than spending eight hours a day being ignored while you are trying to convince people to buy your books on social media platforms.
Now I'm not saying you shouldn't spend any time on social media platforms. You'd be silly not to. I certainly spend time Tweeting and using other social media platforms and will continue to do so.
What I am saying is that you need to do a cost-benefit analysis in which, in this case, "cost" equals your time
If you do, I think you'll agree that for most of us spending more than 60 minutes a day posting on social media sites is a waste of time.
Time that you could have better spent writing.
For another take on this, take a look at Kristen Lamb's recent blog at https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/...
November 23, 2014
We need to give back to those who served
When I came home from my second tour in Vietnam I was asked if I wanted to reenlist and after saying that, no, I did not I was issued a clean dress uniform, given a 2-minute briefing from someone who represented the Veterans Administration, and sent on my way.
I went to work for the Geneva Free Press three days after landing in Cleveland.
I was fortunate in that I worked continuously from that day in October, 1969 until I retired in 2012.
But many of my fellow Vietnam veterans were never that lucky.
And many of the men and women we sent off to war after 9/11 haven't been either.
As a consequence, many of them - too many of them - wound up living on the streets in conditions that were worse than they'd lived in while serving their country.
I'm not going to rant here about ungrateful politicians who wear American flag lapel pins and gleefully send young men and women off to war then refuse to provide for them and their families when they return home.
What I am going to do is urge those of us who are fortunate enough to have a roof over our heads every night to think about these homeless veterans.
And, then, to find a way to help them.
There are many ways to support these men and women who swore the oath, put on the uniform and went where their country sent them without regard to their own safety.
For me, however, the best way seems to be to donate money to those organizations that are already in place, have a proven track record of helping veterans and are woefully underfunded.
That being the case, I'm donating 50 percent of the royalties that I earn between Nov. 20 and Dec. 31 from the sale of my novel 'The Third Servant' to an organization in Delaware and another in Florida.
I've guaranteed that the donation will be at least $1,000 to each organization regardless of how many books I sell during that time period. I, of course, hope it will be much larger than that but whether it is or not isn't the point, really.
The point is that these men and women deserve our support, not just our thanks or our prayers.
They deserve a safe place to lay their heads at night; a chance to eat good, healthy food and an opportunity to receive the counseling and training they need to return to society as productive human beings who can be justly proud of their service.
So, how about it?
Will you find a way to help out someone who, especially at this time of the year, deserves our support?
I hope so.
I went to work for the Geneva Free Press three days after landing in Cleveland.
I was fortunate in that I worked continuously from that day in October, 1969 until I retired in 2012.
But many of my fellow Vietnam veterans were never that lucky.
And many of the men and women we sent off to war after 9/11 haven't been either.
As a consequence, many of them - too many of them - wound up living on the streets in conditions that were worse than they'd lived in while serving their country.
I'm not going to rant here about ungrateful politicians who wear American flag lapel pins and gleefully send young men and women off to war then refuse to provide for them and their families when they return home.
What I am going to do is urge those of us who are fortunate enough to have a roof over our heads every night to think about these homeless veterans.
And, then, to find a way to help them.
There are many ways to support these men and women who swore the oath, put on the uniform and went where their country sent them without regard to their own safety.
For me, however, the best way seems to be to donate money to those organizations that are already in place, have a proven track record of helping veterans and are woefully underfunded.
That being the case, I'm donating 50 percent of the royalties that I earn between Nov. 20 and Dec. 31 from the sale of my novel 'The Third Servant' to an organization in Delaware and another in Florida.
I've guaranteed that the donation will be at least $1,000 to each organization regardless of how many books I sell during that time period. I, of course, hope it will be much larger than that but whether it is or not isn't the point, really.
The point is that these men and women deserve our support, not just our thanks or our prayers.
They deserve a safe place to lay their heads at night; a chance to eat good, healthy food and an opportunity to receive the counseling and training they need to return to society as productive human beings who can be justly proud of their service.
So, how about it?
Will you find a way to help out someone who, especially at this time of the year, deserves our support?
I hope so.
November 13, 2014
I'm not ashamed to write murder mysteries
I write murder mysteries.
And I'm not ashamed to say so.
I note that because I have several friends who think I should abandon what they call my "crime story fixation" and, instead, concentrate on writing "serious" novels. I may try to do that one day, if I can ever get someone to explain to me just what a "serious" novel is, but for now I am quite content to write - mostly - murder mysteries.
There are two very good reasons why.
The first reason has to do with that old cliche: "Write what you know."
The simple fact is that because I was a journalist for a long time and covered a lot of cop stories during my career, I know a lot about crime, especially murder.
I learned during the years I spent on the police beat how cops investigate crimes, for example. I also learned that while there are some similarities in how an investigation is run, investigative techniques vary - often dramatically - from department to department depending upon the availability of resources, the relative age of the cops doing the investigations and the amount of pressure detectives must cope with from the public, the press and elected officials. I learned, too, that federal, state and local law enforcement agencies approach a crime scene differently and why. (You might be surprised to learn just how much those approaches differ.)
I also got to know a lot about how cops of every stripe think and live because I bought them an awful lot of beer and coffee over the years. In addition - after spending four years as a volunteer counselor inside Attica - I know a lot about criminals and what motivates them to do what they do.
Second: I like writing murder mysteries because it gives me an opportunity to explore other issues in the context of an eye-catching event.
In "Murder in the Rainy Season," for example, I used the story of a serial killer in a Fort Lauderdale suburb to delve into the influence of small town politics on police procedure, the subtle racism practiced by the media and religious fanaticism.
In "The Session" I tried to show readers how state Legislatures actually work, how cops and journalists sometimes cooperate at the risk of their respective jobs, the collateral damage of revenge and to examine some different aspects of loyalty while telling a story about the murder of an undercover detective.
I think that may be one of the biggest changes in crime fiction these days and I daresay that it has elevated this genre to the realm of "serious" fiction.
Let me explain.
Like many people who enjoy murder mysteries, I started out reading Sherlock Holmes and Dashiell Hammet, progressed through Ed McBain and Rex Stout, Dorothy Sayers, Dame Agatha and a host of others. Sayers dealt with some social issues in her stories - her amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey suffered from what we'd now call PTSD, for example - but most of those earlier stories concentrated on the crime, the criminal and those people trying to catch the criminal and solve the crime.
The previous generations of crime writers were able to write those kinds of stories because to most readers the world of cops and robbers was exotic, something they knew very little - if anything - about. Because of that, writers did not have to go into great depth about their characters or the investigations themselves.
The fact is that in the days before television and the widespread availability of reliable radios, only a relatively few number of people knew a cop and even fewer knew a crook.
That. however, is no longer the case. Television, the film industry and radio - not to mention the Internet - have exposed millions of people to both real crime and to crime fiction. As a result, today's readers are far more sophisticated than their parents and grandparents were and they are demanding much more from crime writers than the old "Jack shot Jill and Officer Smith arrested him" kind of story.
Today's readers want to know about the lives of the characters in crime fiction: Who is ambitious and why; who drinks too much on the job; who is going through a divorce; why did Jack shoot Jill and how the heck did Officer Smith figure that out?
This isn't to say that murder mystery writers don't focus a lot of the attention in their novels on the crime itself - well, I mean we pretty much have to if we're going to call it "crime fiction" and not "a serious novel."
Despite the need to do that, however, an increasing number of us are also using our novels to offer thoughtful commentary (at least I hope it's thoughtful) on social issues that affect us all in one way or another.
Frankly, I think that's a good thing.
(amazon.com/author/billington)
And I'm not ashamed to say so.
I note that because I have several friends who think I should abandon what they call my "crime story fixation" and, instead, concentrate on writing "serious" novels. I may try to do that one day, if I can ever get someone to explain to me just what a "serious" novel is, but for now I am quite content to write - mostly - murder mysteries.
There are two very good reasons why.
The first reason has to do with that old cliche: "Write what you know."
The simple fact is that because I was a journalist for a long time and covered a lot of cop stories during my career, I know a lot about crime, especially murder.
I learned during the years I spent on the police beat how cops investigate crimes, for example. I also learned that while there are some similarities in how an investigation is run, investigative techniques vary - often dramatically - from department to department depending upon the availability of resources, the relative age of the cops doing the investigations and the amount of pressure detectives must cope with from the public, the press and elected officials. I learned, too, that federal, state and local law enforcement agencies approach a crime scene differently and why. (You might be surprised to learn just how much those approaches differ.)
I also got to know a lot about how cops of every stripe think and live because I bought them an awful lot of beer and coffee over the years. In addition - after spending four years as a volunteer counselor inside Attica - I know a lot about criminals and what motivates them to do what they do.
Second: I like writing murder mysteries because it gives me an opportunity to explore other issues in the context of an eye-catching event.
In "Murder in the Rainy Season," for example, I used the story of a serial killer in a Fort Lauderdale suburb to delve into the influence of small town politics on police procedure, the subtle racism practiced by the media and religious fanaticism.
In "The Session" I tried to show readers how state Legislatures actually work, how cops and journalists sometimes cooperate at the risk of their respective jobs, the collateral damage of revenge and to examine some different aspects of loyalty while telling a story about the murder of an undercover detective.
I think that may be one of the biggest changes in crime fiction these days and I daresay that it has elevated this genre to the realm of "serious" fiction.
Let me explain.
Like many people who enjoy murder mysteries, I started out reading Sherlock Holmes and Dashiell Hammet, progressed through Ed McBain and Rex Stout, Dorothy Sayers, Dame Agatha and a host of others. Sayers dealt with some social issues in her stories - her amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey suffered from what we'd now call PTSD, for example - but most of those earlier stories concentrated on the crime, the criminal and those people trying to catch the criminal and solve the crime.
The previous generations of crime writers were able to write those kinds of stories because to most readers the world of cops and robbers was exotic, something they knew very little - if anything - about. Because of that, writers did not have to go into great depth about their characters or the investigations themselves.
The fact is that in the days before television and the widespread availability of reliable radios, only a relatively few number of people knew a cop and even fewer knew a crook.
That. however, is no longer the case. Television, the film industry and radio - not to mention the Internet - have exposed millions of people to both real crime and to crime fiction. As a result, today's readers are far more sophisticated than their parents and grandparents were and they are demanding much more from crime writers than the old "Jack shot Jill and Officer Smith arrested him" kind of story.
Today's readers want to know about the lives of the characters in crime fiction: Who is ambitious and why; who drinks too much on the job; who is going through a divorce; why did Jack shoot Jill and how the heck did Officer Smith figure that out?
This isn't to say that murder mystery writers don't focus a lot of the attention in their novels on the crime itself - well, I mean we pretty much have to if we're going to call it "crime fiction" and not "a serious novel."
Despite the need to do that, however, an increasing number of us are also using our novels to offer thoughtful commentary (at least I hope it's thoughtful) on social issues that affect us all in one way or another.
Frankly, I think that's a good thing.
(amazon.com/author/billington)
