Michael Stephen Daigle's Blog, page 10
May 6, 2023
May 4, 2023
Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of oft...
Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?
From the doctor who repaired my wrecked left shoulder…last thing he told me ….don’t screw it up ….applies to everything
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May 2, 2023
Have you ever been camping?Many times ….one of the most m...
Have you ever been camping?
Many times ….one of the most memorable was a time we drove to Rangley Maine and on a whim decided to stay at the state park…we had a mattress on the back of my old jeep Waggoner…along with some pots but no axe…we made a fire from dead wood by jumping up and down on it till broke…fun trip
ut no axe or sww
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May 1, 2023
Hey mystery readers, join me at these May events
I’ll be attending three outstanding book events in May, joining dozens of wonderful writers.
Thanks to the organizers for holding the events.
Thanks to Roz Lee and the volunteers for staging the 8th Annual Days of Wine and Romance and at Brookhaven Winery, 594 Rt. 94, Colombia, NJ. Had a wonderful time catching up with fellow writers. And thanks to those readers who chose to enter the world of the Frank Nagler Mysteries.
New events:
May 7: Gap-Con, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mt. Bethel Fire Station, Route 611 South, Mt, Bethel, Pa.
Artists, collectibles, toys, writers, comic books, art, posters and more.
May 20: Randolph, NJ ArtsFest, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Veterans Community park, Calais Road.
May 26 to 28: Flemington Book Festival, Local Writers’ Showcase, Sunday May 28, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 24 Central Ave., Flemington NJ.
I’ll have my award winning Frank Nagler Mysteries on display,
The Nagler mysteries – THE SWAMPS OF JERSEY; A GAME CALLED DEAD; THE WEIGHT OF LIVING; THE RED HAND, and DRAGOINY RISING – are the stories of an American city rising and falling, of a man, Nagler, broken hearted, and self-doubting, of diverse characters who band together to overcome both societal and personal circumstances.
They are a gritty as a dark street and as quiet as a graveyard.
Kirkus Reviews called Nagler, “One of modern fiction’s expertly drawn detectives.”
The Frank Nagler books can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Walmart, audible.com and Apple books.
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April 23, 2023
Four events in April and May
I’ll be attending four outstanding book events in April and May, joining dozens of wonderful writers.
Thanks to the organizers for holding the events.
April 29-30: The 8th Annual Days of Wine and Romance and More. Noon to 4 p.m. daily. Free Admission. Brookhaven Winery, 594 Rt. 94, Colombia, NJ.
May 7: Gap-Con, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mt. Bethel Fire Station, Route 611 South, Mt, Bethel, Pa.
Artists, collectibles, toys, writers, comic books, art, posters and more.
May 20: Randolph, NJ ArtsFest, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m, Veterans Community park, Calais Road.
May 26 to 28: Flemington Book Festival, Local Writers’ Showcase, Sunday May 28, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 24 Central Ave., Flemington NJ.
I’ll have my award winning Frank Nagler Mysteries on disapply.
The Nagler mysteries – THE SWAMPS OF JERSEY; A GAME CALLED DEAD, THE WEIGHT OF LIVING, THE RED HAND, and DRAGOINY RISING – are the stories of an American city rising and falling, of a man, Nagler, broken hearted, and self-doubting, of diverse characters who band together to overcome both societal and personal circumstances.
They are a gritty as a dark street and as quiet as a graveyard.
Kirkus Reviews called Nagler, “One of modern fiction’s expertly drawn detectives.”
The Frank Nagler books can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Walmart, audible.com and Apple books.
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April 21, 2023
Describe a random encounter with a stranger that stuck ou...
Describe a random encounter with a stranger that stuck out positively to you.
When I was in college in Binghamton NY…I stopped into an old bookstore..I was scanning the shelves when I heard a voice ask …may I help you? …it was an enourmous man behind a desk…I bought a book and left…later on that man became Leonard a blind man who owns a bookstore in my Frank nagler mystery series…Leonard was a street kid who helps Nagler deal with the realities of life
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April 17, 2023
What is your favorite restaurant?Barry’s diner Ironton NJ...
What is your favorite restaurant?
Barry’s diner Ironton NJ
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April 16, 2023
NAGLER’S SECRET: Writing dialogue with twists
In this scene from the work-in-progress NAGLER’S SECERT, companions Detective Frank Nagler and Ironton, N.J. acting mayor Lauren Fox find themselves together at home for the first time in a while. The separation has been driven by the complex case of missing and dead children before them.
There are three points of dialogue that wrap around each other. The goal in writing the scene was to keep each point clean while entangling them.
The multi-award-winning Frank Nagler Mysteries are: THE SWAMPS OF JERSEY, A GAME CALLED DEAD, THE WEIGHT OF LIVING, THE RED HAND and DRAGONY RISING.
A reviewer’s note: The author is an exceptional writer – inventive with words, fresh with his storyline, and in presenting a variety of characters to love and hate. I find myself bored easily with most of the new books erupting daily, but Michael Stephen Daigle knows what he is doing and is up to the task. His stories capture me, entertain and challenge me, and leave me wanting just one more of his books each time I finish one.
THE SCENE: Frank Nagler kicked open the door to the kitchen with a grunt and backed into the room, arms filled with two bags and a six pack of Sam Adams.
He turned, held the door open with a shoulder and said, “Oh my, Lauren.”
She was asleep at the table, head resting on a stack of papers, her right hand clutching a few sheets more with two open boxes flanking her chair.
That was her life of late, Nagler knew. Boxes of old records, secrets, clues, hoping for answers. She had become the acting mayor of paper.
He slid the bags on the counter, opened two beers and kissed her cheek.
“Hey, wake up, kid, Got something you need to hear.”
When she didn’t move he brushed her cheek with a cold beer.
She jerked upright, shook her head, dropped the papers in her hand and wiped her cheek.
“Jeez, Frank. I was awake. Was waiting for something inviting and warm, you know like a kiss, not a drippy, cold beer bottle.” She ran her hand through her hair. “Give me the beer.”
After she sucked down a long drink, she stood and wrapped her arms around his neck, shifted, then hugged tighter.
Nagler fumbled to place his beer on the table and drew her body in. It had been weeks since they had been together like this, silent as the kitchen machines hummed around them, as a cold wind scraped dead leaves across the windows; what only mattered was her head on his chest and his arm pressing her lower back. Neither breathed.
He tasted the scent of her hair as he kissed her neck.
“What’s different about your hair?”
“Well, it used to be blue. Just for a week; before that it was green. Destiny and I had a competition going.”
They separated and each reached to finish their beers.
“No. Even I’d notice that.” He ran two fingers through her hair. It felt stiff. “It’s a little…”
“Yeah, I know. I was in the warehouse digging through records. You need to see what I found. I got back to the office just before a meeting with a state AG, so I did, shall we say, a quick office shower and used one of those dry shampoo things.” She pulled at a handful of her hair. “Don’t recommend.”
Lauren leaned her back into his chest and pulled his arms around her body.
“So what’d the AG say?”
“What’s in the bags” she asked. “Dinner, I’m hoping?”
He kissed her ear and then her neck. “Maybe something to nibble on.”
She arched her back and he ran a hand over her belly then up to her breasts.
“You had something to tell me. What is it?” she asked.
“Pasta, probably cold, salad and bread sticks. If we wait long enough we can have it for breakfast.”
“Where’d you get it?” She angled her head and kissed his chin. “What time is it?”
“About one a.m. So yeah, it’s cold.” He leaned down and they shared a long open-mouth kiss. “Angelo’s. Some manicotti, chicken marsala and …”
“Love their bread sticks, long thin, drippy with butter you can barely slip your mouth around…”
“And a half a cheese cake.”
“Mmmm.” She pulled away. “Heat it up while I take a shower and wash about eighty years of dust off me. You’re going to like what the AG said.”
“The ‘missing’ video was sent from a computer at Sister Katherine’s retreat. Dawson had someone trace it,” he said.
Lauren stopped in the doorway and stepped out of her black official acting mayor’s dress. “What the hell is she up to?”
“We’ll find out.” Nagler pulled the food containers from the bags and slipped open the lids. “Better if we had the time to heat this is the oven but the microwave will have to do. Hey, look at these things. No more tin containers. Some sort of stiff paper. How sustainable of Angelo. Who knew?”
He turned to show Lauren the packaging.
She was leaning on door jamb naked, her dark eyes glowing, the dress over a shoulder. “I know who started Sunshine Farms. You’re really gonna like it.”
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April 13, 2023
Describe one positive change you have made in your life.I...
Describe one positive change you have made in your life.
I’m less judgemental…people are who they are
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April 11, 2023
Cancer free with an unremarkable spleen
It was just a shadow on a sheet of medical film.
Then it became something else.
Then it was gone.
A day for sunshine and flowers.
Four years later new medical photos show only the shadow of a hole where the kidney and its tumor once were.
The doctors will still search because of the type of cancer it was. Each new medical picture offers them a view into my cancerous past like a telescope offers a view into the history of time.
They point at little specks on the film, say it looks okay, no changes.
But it doesn’t mean it won’t change.
No one knows the future.
In six months I’ll slide back into the electronic canyon and follow the directions of the cartoon faces that say, “hold your breath” and “breathe.”
And if all is right the new pictures will show nothing new, my spleen will still be unremarkable and all the little dots will be just that, things, just as unremarkable as my spleen.
And I’ll walk into the parking lot relieved for myself but worried about those whose time with this disease is not so nearly uneventful, whose lives will be cut short, whose families will face an empty chair at dinner time, an empty room.
I’ll continue to be a member of a club no one ever volunteers to join – the cancer survivor’s club – and hope the membership grows.
Then I’ll flip through the news on my phone and learn of another shooting, and other self-serving power hungry politician patting themselves on the back for another stupid idea that will hurt people they don’t care about, find another group with a grievance demanding attention, and wish there was a medical machine with cartoony faces we could slide society through and have it come out cured.
But there’s not.
The fight instead is one step at a time, one new home, one hot meal, one less gun, one less declaration of self-importance, one less act of hate, while thinking of a day when all the things what divide us will be unremarkable.
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