New Short Story Anthologies

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by Paula Gail Benson

Three great new anthologies are on the horizon. Please add the following to your “to be read” lists:

Dark of the Day: Eclipse Stories, will be released on April 1 (in time for the April 8 total solar eclipse). The anthology is edited by Kaye George and published by Down and Out Books. Stories are by Eric Beckstrom, Paula Gail Benson, Michael Bracken, John Rogers Clark, IV, Bridges DelPonte, Cari Dublei, John M. Floyd, Kaye George, Debra H. Goldstein, Toni Goodyear, James A. Hearn, Laura Oles, Katherine Tomlinson, Joseph S. Walker, M.K. Waller, Carol L. Wright. (I’m very proud to be included with these terrific authors!)

Donna Andrews, Marcia Talley, and Barb Goffman edited Three Strikes—You’re Dead!, an anthology of sports mysteries coming out April 23 from Wildside Press. Every author in it is a member of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime. The authors are: William Ade, Kathryn Prater Bomey, Maddi Davidson (the pen name of authors Diane Davidson and Mary Ann Davidson), Lynne Ewing, Barb Goffman, Sherry Harris, Smita Harish Jain, Adam Meyer, Alan Orloff, Rosalie Spielman, Shannon Taft, F. J. Talley, Robin Templeton, and Joseph S. Walker.

Malice Domestic announces its 18th Malice Domestic anthology titled Mystery Most Devious, edited by John Betancourt, Michael Bracken, and Carla Coupe Malice Domestic and published by Wildside Press. The anthology will include stories by Mary Adler, Sue Anger, Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier, Susan Love Brown, Joslyn Chase, Leone Ciporin, P.A. De Voe, Christine Eskilson, Roberta Gibson, Hope Hodgkins, Smita Harish Jain, Jackie McMahon, Linda Norlander, Josh Pachter, Jill K. Quinn, Jennifer Slee, and Sarah Stephens. It’s due to be released with a book signing at Malice Domestic in April.

Happy reading!

 

A Historical Mystery Based On The True Story of Marie-Joseph Angélique

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This past holiday there was a special present under the tree – my new novel Conflagration! This is the seventh book in BWL Publishing’s Canadian Historical Mysteries series, and it takes us back almost three centuries to New France and an era when slavery was surprisingly and sadly commonplace. I’d like to share the opening pages with you.

Chapter 1 – Montréal
Friday, April 9, 1734

cover of book Conflagration! by donalee MoutonMud is everywhere. It defines Montréal in April. The snow continues its laborious melt, the ice in the St. Lawrence jostles the shoreline, the clouds hover relentlessly close to earth, and everywhere there is heavy, wet, sticky muck. It adheres to the sides of shoes, the bottoms of coats, and the brims of hats whipped to the ground by winds, there one minute, gone the next.

I look down. My boots are caked in grime, a primordial ooze from the earth, from under the sea, from crevices unknown. I will spend much of this evening cleaning heels, toe caps, and outsoles only to have more mud adhere tomorrow. These caked brown scars are visible reminders that I am not at home. Not at home in this town. Here I have no roots, no history.

Home is Acadie, another world away in another part of New France. My home, admittedly, has mud, but it is the mud pigs roll in to cool their skin, the mud farmers use to build dykes, the mud kids make patties with under the spring sun. Montréal mud is a nuisance, a bother, a reminder of life’s inconveniences.

I am feeling sorry for myself. I am missing my family. It happens. I accept the ache, acknowledge its origins, and move forward, literally through more mud. I remind myself of Madeleine, my wife. She makes life in here bearable. She makes life breathable.

The afternoon sun hides behind clouds. But even in disguise, its demise for the day is evident. Soon it will be dark. I need to push onward, deliver these papers, and make my way home before nightfall. Before the mud becomes invisible, and treacherous. The ground is still hard and much of it frozen; mud will not break a fall, but it will cause one. I need to be careful. For Madeleine.

* * *

map of Montreal 1734

Map of the St. Lawrence River, 1781 Joseph F.W. Des Barres, River of St. Lawrence, from Cock Cove near Point au Paire, up to River Chaudière Past Quebec, 1781. London: I.F.W. Des Barres. Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

A heavenly aroma greets me as a walk through the front door. We live several streets away from the merchants’ quarter, on rue Saint-Antoine, closer to where I work as a court clerk. Madeleine knows somehow today was a long day and a hot beverage will be welcome. The tea, a Bohea blend infused with orange peel, is a special treat. It helps to warm my chilled bones and reassure my feet they will work tomorrow. Madeleine places my boots at the front door. I will tackle them later.

Supper is hot and satisfying, smoked ham with potatoes, cabbage, and onion. More tea follows the meal. As does conversation. This is our time. Madeleine listens with her ears and her heart. This is my favorite time of day.

And I talk about mud. My wife knows I am not really talking about mud but about Montréal, this town that is my home and not my home. “There is mud in Acadie,” she says gently. She pats her stomach, almost absently, and reminds me that soon this town will also be the home of our first child.

“I’m sorry.” It’s the least I can say. What I can do is make our conversation what it should be and what it usually is: meaningful.

“I was in the lower town today.”

Madeleine smiles. “I bet it was muddy.”

“I saw a Panis slave. My guess, she is from the Fox Nation. Sold to someone here.”

“You see slaves every day. Yet you remember this one.”

“You are, as usual, right. I saw several slaves today on rue Saint-Paul alone. And a young servant girl. It all disconcerts me still.”

I am familiar with slaves. We have slaves in Acadie, but they work the farms, the field, the land as we all do. They seem part of the landscape. Perhaps they do not feel that way. I say this out loud to Madeleine. She does not dismiss the notion as odd as it may be in this town of 3,000 people that includes hundreds of slaves, maybe more.

“Do these slaves look differently to you? Do they act differently?”

They do not, and they do. “It is the vacant stares, the abbreviated eye contact. It does not sit well in my heart.”

“Another cup of tea will solve that.”

I will come to realize that what I see is the look of those imprisoned. It is the face of those who have no means of escape. Later I will associate it with the wall that surrounds Montréal.

I hate that wall. It closes me in. It is supposed to make me feel safe. It doesn’t.

Learn About The Author

Learn more about donalee on her author website: https://donaleemoulton.com/

Dreaming of the Perfect Writing Tool

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By Barbara J Eikmeier

I wrote an entire novel in my dreams the other night. It was a suspense thriller with a mysterious murderous. The plot was riveting and the characters vivid in my dream world imagination.

When I woke, I knew I’d dreamt a novel but didn’t remember a single detail. How frustrating is that?

Whenever I have a clever idea for a story, I make notes. If it’s for a current project I prefer 3 x 5 cards, a holdover from my college days where I learned to write nursing care plans on little cards. In novel writing I use them for scenes – it’s easy to shuffle them around as the narrative is coming together. And I’m a big fan of spiral notebooks, although it’s sometimes hard to find my notes when I need them, and it takes extra time rewriting as I type into the computer. If only there was a tool that would convert my hand written notes to digital text.

I went so far as to buy a second hand gadget without really understanding what I was buying. (Oh the woes of buying second hand!) It had a small tablet sized screen and an electronic pen. Surely, it would work. I asked my techno-savvy daughter to teach me how to use it. Alas, it was a graphic design tool, not intended for text at all. A graphic designer herself, my daughter happily took it off my hands.

Like most writers, I conduct informal research in airports. I’ve observed the introduction of all sorts of gadgets by watching what people are using on flights. Do you remember the short lived series of Samsung phones that were the size of an Ipad? The only place I ever saw anyone use that phone was on an airplane. Then there was that time I thought a lady had left her dental floss on the seat. Her visual relief at noticing the small white case seemed out of proportion for dental floss. Come to find out they were $100 ear buds, common place now, but cutting edge at the time.

On a flight a few months ago I saw a businessman using a slim notebook sized gadget with an electronic pen. When I ran into him in the terminal during a connection I asked him about it. He gave me the name, along with a glowing review. Then he surprised me by pulling it out of his carry-on and showing me a few pages during a 3 second tutorial. I wrote ReMarkable 2 in my spiral bound notebook and proceeded to my next gate where I jumped on the internet and looked it up. 5 Star Reviews across the board. I sent a text to my daughter who replied instantly, “I’ve heard it’s good.”

Using a bit of mad money I had stashed away, I order the ReMarkable 2. I’ve had it for about three weeks now. I’m still learning which features are best for me, but so far I’m loving it.

Is this the tool that will replace my towering stack of 49 cent spiral notebooks? Will it clear my kitchen counter of endless to-do lists? After all, I can still handwrite those beloved lists on its opaque paper like surface. Will the text conversion work well enough for me to cut and paste into a manuscript or in Skrivner, finally breaking me of a decades old habit of using 3 x 5 cards?

I think the answer is yes, it will do all those things. What it won’t do is capture that complete novel from my dreams.

Do you use a digital notepad? Has it increased your productivity?

Barbara J. Eikmeier is a quilter, writer, student of quilt history, and lover of small-town America. Raised on a dairy farm in California, she enjoys placing her characters in rural communities.

Reading the Same Book Twice

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Reading the Same Book Twice

by Saralyn Richard

 

 

I’m always surprised when a reader tells me he’s read one of my books multiple times. As a voracious lifelong reader, I find myself muttering, “So many books, so little time.” I’m on a personal mission to read as many new books as I can, and I don’t take the time to re-read any of them.

I feel the same way about movies. I’m stunned by the number of times my husband can watch a classic movie favorite. I recently asked him how many times he thought he’d seen “Casablanca,” and he estimated more than 100. “Do you continue to see new things in it each time?” I asked. “Absolutely,” he said, and, as a viewer, he is moved by the story in different ways each time, too.

 

That thought gave me pause. I wonder if I re-read Gone with the Wind today, would I have a whole different take on it than I did when I read it at the age of sixteen? Or how about Catcher in the Rye, or To Kill a Mockingbird?

One of my loyal readers, a dear friend, makes it a point to read my books three times. I’m honored that she spends so much time with my characters, and I’m intrigued, too. I asked her over lunch if she would elaborate as to why she does this, and what she gets out of it. Her answer was enlightening.

She said, “The first reading is a light, quick skip through the story, mainly following the plot. The second reading is more intense. That’s where I pay close attention to the clues and the path on which they are leading me. The second reading is more process oriented. The third reading is more holistic. By this time, I’m able to enjoy the whole package of the story. I can see how the setting, characters, plot, and theme work together to form a perfect whole.”

“Wow,” I said, flattered that she has taken the time to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate each of my books. Her higher-level thinking makes my heart sing.

And it makes me re-think what it means to be a reader, rather than a consumer of books. For many years I taught a literature course entitled, “Literary Tapas.” The class read short pieces of literature and analyzed them using Socratic questioning. Through the questioning, we were able to get at some incredible insights and meanings, no matter what genre or time period the literature came from. And we always read it twice.

Now that I think about it, I might enjoy reading a few favorite books again, savoring the journey as I go. How about you? Are there any books you’ve read or would like to read twice?

 

Saralyn Richard writes award-winning humor- and romance-tinged mysteries that pull back the curtain on people in settings as diverse as elite country manor houses and disadvantaged urban high schools. Her works include the Detective Parrott mystery series, two standalone mysteries, a children’s book, and various short stories published in anthologies. She also edited the nonfiction book, Burn Survivors. An active member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, Saralyn teaches creative writing and literature. Her favorite thing about being an author is interacting with readers like you. If you would like to subscribe to Saralyn’s monthly newsletter and receive information, giveaways, opportunities, surveys, freebies, and more, sign up at https://saralynrichard.com.

 

The Difference Between a Shamrock and a Four-Leaf Clover

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by Paula Gail Benson

On March 1, Terrie Farley Moran, author of the Read Em and Eat mystery series and current author of the Jessica Fletcher novels including Murder She Wrote: Death on the Emerald Isle, posted the following on Facebook: “Welcome to March, the month of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Please remember that the SHAMROCK has THREE leaves and decorate accordingly. This is my annual public service announcement.”

 

I’ve thought a lot about Terrie’s PSA, particularly since noticing several companies offering jewelry that had four-leaf clovers instead of shamrocks.

For instance, Talbots features a pin with a lady-bug perched on a four-leaf clover:

Talbots Jewelry

 

Betsy Johnson has a necklace that has a four-leaf clover and horseshoe:

 

Betsey Johnson Jewelry

The shamrock, as Terrie mentioned, is associated with St. Patrick, who is said to have used it to demonstrate the concept of the Holy Trinity, three persons in one God, when teaching the Irish about Christianity.

According to his biography in Britannica, Patrick was born in Britain, captured, and sold into slavery. The six years he worked as a herdsman in Ireland made him turn strongly to his religion. In a dream, he saw a means of escape, but encountered more servitude before being reunited with his family. After his return to Britain, he received a letter asking that he come back to Ireland. Although concerned about his abilities and safety, he did go and is now recognized as Ireland’s patron saint and national apostle.

In her article, “Four Leaf Clover Symbolism and Good Luck Meaning,” Dani Rhys provides a quote from John Melton, written in 1620, as the first mention of how people viewed four-leaf clovers: “If a man walking in the fields find any four-leaved grass, he shall in a small while after find some good thing.”

Rhys also notes that the four-leaf clover is likely connected to the “luck of the Irish” because it grows more often there than in other countries. “Abundance in this case means there is about 1 four-leaf clover in every 5,000 regular three-leaf clovers in the European Island, whereas there is only 1 four-leaf clover in every 10,000 three-leaf ones outside Ireland.”

I’ve been fortunate to have kept a shamrock plant alive in my office for several years. It looks a bit straggly but continues to thrive.

Also, my uncle had an amazing capacity to find four-leaf clovers in a field of green grasses. When he passed away, his wallet contained a collection of many pressed four-leaf clovers.

Whether you seek luck or symbolism, may you have the clover that suits you best! Happy day after St. Patrick’s Day!

On Naming Names

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In my first stint as a magazine editor, I looked up from my desk one afternoon to see a young deliveryman at my office door, carrying a flower arrangement. He looked lost. “Can I help you?” I offered.

“Are you Gay?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said.

He grinned broadly and proudly declared, “So am I!”

We shared a laugh for a good minute before he set the flowers on my desk, wished me a great day, and disappeared down the hall.

In my twenty-four years on earth at that point, it was the first time I realized that, as a name, mine had become an anachronism. When I told my mother about the humorous encounter, she revealed that she and my Dad had debated among three names for me—Joy, Merry, or Gay—before they settled on the one I have.

Ever since the flower guy’s visit, I’ve always tried to avoid startling any new person I’m about to meet with what might sound like a sexual identity announcement. So, instead of the usual “Hi, I’m Gay,” I say, slowly and distinctly, “Hello, my name is Gay.”

“Gay?” one might repeat.

I nod. “That’s my name.

Naming a fictional character

Choosing names for fictional characters is tricky, too, because the name has to fit. What might it communicate about them and their story?

I first pondered this when I helped write the thriller Five Minutes to Midnight. The author was an international expert on terrorism, and not a native English speaker. To start with, he asked for help in naming the main character, who plied the same profession as he did. The hero was bold and dangerous. After playing with possibilities, I came up with Sartain. To my ears, it sounded like a good cross between the word “certain” and the ultimate tough guy, Satan. The author loved it.

In my own Samantha Newman Mystery Series, I chose Sam’s last name because it reflected her unlucky habit of having to reinvent herself in each book. Now, after the first three books, she’s  in a good place. But given her history, who knows how long it will last?

Do you have a favorite fictional character name? Please share it in the comments below.

Gay Yellen writes the award-winning Samantha Newman Mystery Series, including: The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and The Body in the News.

Just Be Professional

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Every once in a while I like to revisit one of my articles that I believe has a timeless message. If I had a superpower and could change the world I would fight against bullying.

By Donnell Ann Bell

Years ago, I had the opportunity to participate in my local sheriff’s office citizens’ academy. After sitting through six weeks of law enforcement opinion and demonstration, I believe the experience brought realism to my writing. Out of all the personnel I met during this time, there was one sergeant who impressed me above anyone else. Her words still resonate with me to this day.

Just be professional, it’s not that hard.

Sadly, I can’t remember her name, but I took note of her words. She was a beautiful Hispanic woman and when she stood before the class and explained that she worked in the jail—unarmed—among male inmates, I thought, Holy cow, this lady won’t live long. My mistake. She’d worked among them for years. What’s more, she was required to turn her back on this criminal element— often.

For anyone who’s been in a jail, you know there’s intense security and surveillance, and the deputies can call upon immediate assistance. But knowing this didn’t make me feel better. I kept thinking she could be injured or dead before help could arrive.

Turns out she hadn’t made sergeant for nothing and understood the risks. What’s more, she carried herself with amazing grace and an even more amazing sense of who she was. She didn’t look tough on the outside, but as she called one six-foot naysayer to the front and brought him down with such ease, she filled me with a whole new appreciation and respect for who she was and what she did for a living.

After she dropped my classmate to his knees, she modestly helped him up and shook his hand. Then she turned to the class and said, “Just be professional, it’s not that hard.”

She also went on to explain that as a Hispanic female charged with watching over incarcerated inmates, it oftentimes presented problems. Particularly, when many of those inmates were Hispanic and grew up in households in which men did not take orders from women. So not only did the sergeant face an authority issue, she encountered a cultural barrier.

Source: Daniel Vanderkin, Pixabay

How did she handle it? By treating everyone with respect. “Those men don’t know me,” she said. “Their slurs and insults can’t reach me. When my shift ends I go home to my family whose opinions do count.”

So why do I tell you this story? Because today I’m seeing exactly what she talked about — a reduction in professionalism. Worse, we are not inmates. I’m seeing dry wit replaced by so-called snark (I have another term for it). What’s more, this type of behavior is applauded. In an on-line society, where we are faceless individuals behind a computer screen, it’s so easy to react and push send and forget there’s a real live, flesh and blood human being on the other side.

I once heard a radio ad in which two actors portrayed school-aged girls, one of whom said the most horrible things to her peer. I sat back stunned. Then at the end of the message, the voice over said, “You wouldn’t say it to their face, why would you say it on line?”

I don’t know about you, but for anyone to even feel the need to air such a public service announcement made me incredibly sad. As for me, I think I’ll follow the sergeant’s example. I’ll take her words to heart. I’ll strive for professionalism. I learned from the very best that it’s not that hard.

About the Author:  Donnell Ann Bell writes both romantic suspense and multi-jurisdictional task force plots, keeping close tabs on her theme SUSPENSE TOO CLOSE TO HOME. Her single-title romantic suspense novels, The Past Came Hunting, Deadly Recall, Betrayed, and Buried Agendas, have all been Amazon e-book best sellers.

Black Pearl, a Cold Case Suspense was her first mainstream suspense and book one of a series, and a Colorado Book Award finalist. Her second book in the series, Until Dead, A Cold Case Suspense, was voted best thriller in 2023 at the Imaginarium Conference in Louisville, Kentucky.  Sign up for her newsletter or follow her blog at https://www.donnellannbell.com

 

 

 

Earworms by Debra H. Goldstein

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Earworms by Debra H. Goldstein

Last month, I wrote a blog, “Let’s Go Fly a Kite,” for Booklover’s Bench. Besides reacting to the content of the blog, several people “thanked” me for planting the earworm of that song in their minds. For fun, I started doing a little research on musical earworms and wondering why certain songs that may be earworms for me, aren’t for you.

By definition, a musical earworm is a song that sticks in one’s mind, playing over and over, even though the song is no longer being heard in real time. Usually, the song has repeated rhythm and word usage, but it may also have an unusual riff or musical combination of notes. If you Google “earworm songs,” you will find several lists of the top 100. Although not identical, many of the songs overlap – examples include Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, Mary Poppins’ Let’s Go Fly a Kite and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Adele’s Hello, Disney’s It’s a Small World, and Baha Men’s Who Let the Dogs Out.

All of these may appear on the various the top 100 earworm lists, but not all of them are personal earworms. For example, while I enjoy the two songs from Mary Poppins, it is Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag) that resonates with me. According to research, my mind may be one that must tie an image or memory to a song for it to become an earworm.

The same holds true with books I read. Although I may remember a book for its characters or plot, it won’t become a visual earworm unless it produces an image or evokes a personal memory.

What about you? Do you have a musical or literary earworm?

Aerial photo of winding road

Plot Twists in Life and Books

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by Mary Lee Ashford

Somehow there’s a lot going on in March. We are preparing for a discussion of our writing process and publishing paths – a program for our local Sisters in Crime chapter. And then at the end of the month, I’m moderating a panel at Only Books in the Building: A Writers Retreat on paths to publishing. So, I’ve been thinking a lot about the joy of writing and the twists and turns in the crazy and ever changing publishing business.  Like a twisty road where you don’t quite know what’s around the next turn, it can be both exciting and nerve-wracking at times.

Aerial photo of winding roadAs a part of the writing process the plot twists are, for me anyway, usually planned. Though there are those times when I’m deep into a project that the story takes a turn and I have to decide if that’s a road I want to go down or not. In most cases when I’ve taken that road it has ended up a better book in the long run.

In publishing, you’re not always in the driver’s seat and so the decisions are not always yours. In fact in the publishing world, sometimes the twists and turns are wonderful surprises and other times they are not exactly what you had planned. And sometimes what’s around the corner, much like in the writing process, ends up better than what you had planned.

When faced with one of those crazy turns, I always think about the John Steinbeck quote about writing. “The profession of book writing makes makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business.” But also, when there’s an unexpected twist, I find I have to remember why I started down this road in the first place and for me it’s all about the love of writing and the sharing of stories. So when my publisher decided not to continue the Sugar & Spice mysteries series and I was able to get the rights back to those stories, I didn’t know for sure what was next, but I kept writing. Sugar Calloway and Dixie Spicer still had stories to tell!

And now I’m very excited to share some news about what’s next on my publishing journey…

Three book cover for Sugar and Spice mysteries.

I am thrilled to be working with Oliver Heber Books and happy to announce the re-release of Game of Scones, Risky Biscuits, and Quiche of Death.  Book four is on its way soon and there will be more Sugar & Spice Mysteries coming. What do you think of the new covers?

And as 1/2 of Sparkle Abbey, I’m also continuing to work on the new series that we’ve talked about here – Shady Palms Mysteries.

Yes, somehow there really is a lot going on in March!

 

Photo of author Mary Lee Ashford

Mary Lee Ashford is the author of the Sugar & Spice mystery series from Oliver Heber Books and also half of the Sparkle Abbey writing team who pen the national best-selling Pampered Pets series. She is a lifelong bibliophile, an avid reader, and public library champion. Prior to publishing Mary Lee won the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. She is the founding president of Sisters in Crime – Iowa as well as a member of Mystery Writers of America and Novelists, Inc. She lives in the Midwest with her family and her feline coworker.

She loves to connect with readers and other writers. You can find her on social media at Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest or email her via her website at: MaryLeeAshford.com