Existing While Brown or Black in America by Linda Rodriguez
In all the turmoil around #BlackLivesMatter and the extrajudicial killings of Black men and women by police right now, I notice the inevitable outcries from parts of the White community that the police wouldn’t shoot and kill these people for nothing, that they must have brought it on themselves in some way by their own lawless behavior. Perhaps. But when we have stringent, trustworthy investigations, again and again we find that these people did nothing so major that it would have warranted taking their lives. Still, to many White, middle-class people who are never hassled and threatened by police as they move through daily life, it seems that surely all these unarmed African American, Latino, and Native men killed by police every year must have brought it on themselves through some fault of their own.
So, allow me to tell a little story from my own life. In Kansas City, Missouri, where I live, the police used to be as undisciplined and out of control as some of the worst of police forces we’ve recently seen. A crisis finally forced the city to crack down, bring in a strong police chief to rebuild the force, and reorganize the police force around the motto of “Protect and Serve.” It never became a perfect police force, of course, but for a while it was plagued by less racial profiling and unnecessary civilian deaths than most urban forces today before lamentably reverting to its old forms.
Back in the 1970s when Kansas City’s force was so much like the departments we’re seeing on the news right now, pointing loaded rifles and screaming obscenities and death threats at unarmed demonstrators and reporters, I lived with my late first husband, Michael Rodriguez. Mike was a decorated veteran of Vietnam, married to me with two little kids, working a white-collar, full-time job as manager of a printing supply company branch, going to college at night, and the most non-violent and non-criminal person anyone could imagine. He went through some of the worst fighting in Vietnam as a medic, refusing to carry ammunition in his sidearm because he could not bring himself to kill anyone.
A fire station stood on the corner of the block where his company offices were, and several of the firefighters who were also Vietnam veterans had made friends with him since this was when no one in this country wanted to hear what these guys had gone through. This fact later saved his life.
One cold evening in winter when twilight came early, Mike was the last one out of his office, as usual, since he locked up at night and opened up in the mornings. He found his car’s battery had died and called a cab to come take him home. While he stood outside his own offices, long-haired but dressed in a business suit, waiting for his cab to arrive, two policemen pulled up, got out of their police cruiser, and started harassing him. They shoved him back and forth between them, called him racial slurs, searched him, and found nothing but his wallet, keys, and a tube of prescription ointment for psoriasis in his pockets. One then told the other, “We could shoot this motherfucker and say we thought that tube was a gun.” Kansas City police had just shot a fourteen-year-old African American boy three days before, claiming they thought the comb in his pocket was a gun—and they got away with it.
Mike thought he would die on that spot, leaving me a young widow with a baby and a toddler and no way for his kids or anyone to know that he had never done anything to deserve it. His firefighter friends had seen what was happening, however, and came out calling his name and asking what was going on and if he needed help. The cops told them to go away, but the firefighter veterans stood there watching and witnessing until Mike’s cab came, and he got safely away. Clearly, they saved his life that night.
If you talk with people of color, you will hear story after story like this. A friend of mine who is a White mystery writer married to an African American (extremely successful) artist just went out and bought all new dress business suits for her husband who, like most artists, normally wears jeans and T-shirts to work in, in the hopes that this will keep the New York City police from stopping and harassing him as he must travel through her city from home to his workplace and back. He must dress up for the commute, only to change into jeans and T-shirt at work, and then reverse the process to go home. White people don’t face this kind of treatment by law enforcement in their own lives, and it sounds so crazy and unreal to them that they assume people of color are exaggerating or making it up out of whole cloth, understandably, but this kind of harassment, threat, and fear is a part of daily life in communities of color all over this country.
Racism is a horrible and unjust fixture of American life, but just because you are White does not mean that you are safe from its destructive consequences. If allowed to flourish openly and unchecked, it won’t stop with communities of color. With the rising militarization of the police forces of large cities and small towns, I would caution my White friends to learn from our experiences. If this kind of behavior is allowed to continue and grow, it will eventually overflow into the White communities, beginning with poor and working-class communities and eventually moving up the socioeconomic ladder. It’s a matter of power and control, even beyond the matter of race and ethnicity.
Whether we know it or not, all of us in the United States have a vested interest in this situation of extrajudicial killings by police forces. Americans need to have a thorough reorganization of every police force in this country. We also need a national discussion of the growing militarization of our police departments, large and small, and what we as citizens want to do about this growing threat. The stakes in this situation are high, and the costs of failure for us as a nation and individually will be unimaginably horrific.
Linda Rodriguez’s 13th book, Unpapered: Writers Consider Native American Identity and Cultural Belonging, was published in May 2023. She also edited Woven Voices: 3 Generations of Puertorriqueña Poets Look at Their American Lives, The World Is One Place: Native American Poets Visit the Middle East, The Fish That Got Away: The Sixth Guppy Anthology, Fishy Business: The Fifth Guppy Anthology, and other anthologies.
Dark Sister: Poems was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award. Her three earlier Skeet Bannion mystery novels—Every Hidden Fear, Every Broken Trust, Every Last Secret—and earlier books of poetry—Skin Hunger and Heart’s Migration—received critical recognition and awards, such as St. Martin’s Press/Malice Domestic Best First Novel, International Latino Book Award, Latina Book Club Best Book of 2014, Midwest Voices & Visions, Elvira Cordero Cisneros Award, Thorpe Menn Award, and Ragdale and Macondo fellowships. She also published Plotting the Character-Driven Novel, based on her popular workshop. Her short story, “The Good Neighbor,” published in Kansas City Noir, was optioned for film.
Rodriguez is past chair of the AWP Indigenous Writer’s Caucus, past president of Border Crimes chapter of Sisters in Crime, founding board member of Latino Writers Collective and The Writers Place, and a member of International Thriller Writers, Native Writers Circle of the Americas, Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers, and Kansas City Cherokee Community. Learn more about her at http://lindarodriguezwrites.blogspot.com or follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/rodriguez_linda or on Mastodon at https://mastodon.social/rodriguez_linda.
The Places We Go
/in Barbara J Eikmeier, Novels/by Barbara EikmeierBy Barbara J Eikmeier
One of my favorite things about reading is “going to new places” when the setting in the story takes me away. Sometimes I unintentionally read several books set in similar places, such as WW2 Europe. Or, I end up reading books where the setting is either not well developed or not important to the story. Recent book choices have taken me far away to unique environments. For example, Lucy Foley places her creepy stories in creepy places like remote Irish islands or desolate lodges in the Scottish Highlands. David Baldacci put his newest FBI superstar in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The unusual settings made for interesting reading.
This past summer I hit a “great setting” jackpot with three books in a row with settings that quickly took me into the story and kept me there for the duration.
Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate (2022) is the tragic tale of orphans under the care of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in the 1930s. The story alternates between present day South Carolina and in the past near Memphis, TN. The protagonist in the past lived with her family on the Arcadia, a shanty river boat.
As I read Wingate’s words I felt the sun and heard the sparrows sing and saw the “fat bass” jump out of the water. She paints a picture of white pelicans flying over, headed north, indicating that summer has just begun. Later in the orphanage May gets her hands on a copy of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn which makes her long for her home on the river.
The story isn’t about the river so much as it is the people who lived on that shanty boat, but the setting of the river is so beautifully developed that it has stayed with me long past the horror of the orphanage and the final pages of the novel.
One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow by Olivia Hawker (2019) is set in the shadow of the Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming in 1878. This book captivated me at page one. My mother lived until age 14 on a homestead in Wyoming so novels set there pique my interest. Twenty miles from town is not hard to imagine if you’ve ever driven across the Wyoming plains.
The story meanders along and although there are some great climatic moments it is the way the young couple work in harmony in the every day setting of their homestead just to survive that kept me reading. Young Beaulah, ‘a little light in the head’ is fascinated with all aspects of nature and I never tired of her teaching Clyde to notice the neat rows of seeds in a pod, or the shimmer on a bug’s wings or how the river sounds and the grass swishes.
I said to my sister-in-law, who loaned me the book, “That story isn’t in a hurry to get anywhere, and surprisingly, it doesn’t bother me. I sort of don’t want it to end.” Rich in sensory detail I now want to visit the Big Horn Mountains myself.
Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls (2023) is set in the hollers of Virginia in the 1920s. Walls masterful storytelling places young Sallie Kincaid in charge of collecting rent from residents of the county, most of whom live up in the hollers. The story touches on many social topics, is filled with rich characters and plenty of tragedy all placed in a specific setting in rural Claiborne County of Virginia.. The setting is so well described that when the bootleggers turn their headlights off and move through the county under moonlit it’s as if we can see as well as the drivers.
I read every night before going to sleep. It often takes me 2-3 weeks to finish an average length novel but I flew through these books and I’m hoping the next one I pick up will have just as rich a setting as these past three.
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.
Love-Hate Relationship with English Grammar by Saralyn Richard
/in Detective Parrott Mystery Series, Saralyn Richard, Uncategorized/by Saralyn RichardLove-Hate Relationship with English Grammar
by Saralyn Richard
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
I taught high school English for many years in the days when students had to write ten mandatory papers per quarter, or forty papers per year. According to my estimates, I’ve graded over seven thousand papers, not counting major assignments, where I graded several drafts of the same paper. I graded papers day and night in every location you can imagine. With all that practice, I became a walking encyclopedia of grammar, able to recite every rule, chapter and verse.
Here are a few of the most common mistakes my students made:
When my son was in ninth grade, his English teacher offered five points extra credit whenever a student could find a mistake in the “real world,” take a photo of it, get the person in charge to change it, and photograph the correction. You wouldn’t believe how many errors came to light. My son even had the local park district take down and redo a huge sign at the entrance to a nearby subdivision, costing taxpayers approximately nine hundred dollars.
Today we have online (AI-based) grammar tutors, and we are still plagued with grammar infractions everywhere we go, including in edited and published media. As a reader, I find mistakes distracting, but I no longer carry the weight of responsibility for marking each one in red ink and making sure the writer knows better for next time.
As a writer and editor, I’m not let off the hook so easily. While I recognize there is no such thing as a perfect piece of writing, I can’t let go of wanting anything with my name on it to be as clean as possible. For me, an error-free, clearly stated, well-ordered paragraph practically sings from the page.
How about you? Do you have a love-hate relationship with English grammar, too?
Saralyn Richard is an educator and the writer of six mystery novels and a children’s book. Connect with her at http://saralynrichard.com and subscribe to her monthly newsletter for interesting and fun content and opportunities.
The-saga-of-the-thought-stolen-purse/
/in Author Life, Donnell Ann Bell/by Donnell Ann BellHappy Monday! Because I’m traveling today, I thought I’d leave you with something that ideally will brighten your day. Note: My thought-stolen-purse saga happened some years ago, and yes, I’m still married to the guy. For the record, I didn’t even change the names to protect the innocent.
My day starts out great. I have Toastmasters at seven-thirty; and at ten till seven, amazed I’m well ahead of schedule, I gather my books, prepared to grab my purse off the counter, which is tucked inconspicuously inside my gray Adidas gym bag. After Toastmasters, I’m off to the gym.
Only problem is when I scan the counter on this start-to- a-perfect day, my bag is missing. I can swear I left it right there. Obviously mistaken, I search my usual places—my office, bedroom, the car. My gray Adidas gym bag is nowhere to be found.
The minutes tick by and I start to sweat. Now I’ll be late for Toastmasters. I call my husband at work. “Have you seen the gray gym bag I left on the counter?”
“No, honey, very busy,” he says.
I hang up on the verge of hyperventilation. The gym bag in itself doesn’t worry me; it’s my drivers’ license and the valuables inside. Where can it be? I know I left it right here. But now I’m not so sure. Could I have left it at the gym? I must have. I pick up the phone.
“No, ma’am,” an employee says at my query. “It’s not in the lost and found and we don’t see it in the locker room, either.”
My great day continues to dwindle.
With no other choice, I search my house a second time, and when I’m positive it isn’t anywhere inside, I phone my husband again. “Les, are you sure, you haven’t seen a gray Adidas gym bag? I know you’re busy, but it’s really important. My purse was inside that bag.”
“No,” he replies adamantly. “I haven’t seen it.”
I scour the house a third time; I miss Toastmasters, becoming more confused and agitated by the second. I think back. I came straight home from the gym yesterday. I made no stops. And now my poor little ol’ mother in law is in on the action, determined to help. She looks everywhere, including the freezer and the bathtub.
Yep, I’ve been known to put my gym bag in those places!
During our rummaging, I walk into the den and discover a navy gym bag on the couch. Frowning, I unzip it, discovering my DH’s [dear husband’s] running shoes and his workout clothes inside. Frankly, I’m ashamed of myself. I’m jealous that while my gray Adidas bag has gone missing, he still has all of his gear.
All right. My bag is not in the house, it’s not at the gym, and I went nowhere yesterday. It’s been stolen. Time to call the security company that patrols my neighborhood. The officer reports no calls of intruders, but says a few cars in our area have been broken into.
I call my neighbors, my critique partner and we connect the dots. While Les and I were out taking a walk last night, someone entered our house. Thinking it was empty, the intruder became startled when he heard my mother in law. In his haste, he took the closest thing within reach–my gray Adidas gym bag.
I spend the rest of the morning canceling my checks and my credit cards, totally creeped out at the thought of someone invading my home.
When everything is cancelled, I breathe a sigh of relief and tell myself it could have been worse. At least no one accessed my credit.
Determined to move on from this disastrous morning, I pause to answer the phone. It’s my husband. He’s on his way to his run. He’s calling to inform me he’s taken the wrong gym bag. You see, his is on the couch, while mine is in the backseat of his car!
Before you take undue sympathy and ask if my husband is colorblind, the answer is no. But he is the victim in my next murder plot.
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. Black Pearl, a Cold Case Suspense was her first mainstream suspense and was a 2020 Colorado Book Award finalist. Her second book in the series, Until Dead, A Cold Case Suspense was awarded Best Thriller Novel at 2023 Imaginarium Convention in Louisville, KY. Follow her on social media, sign up for her newsletter or follow her blog at https://www.donnellannbell.com
Holiday Reflections in Advance
/in Uncategorized/by DebraHoliday Reflections in Advance by Debra H. Goldstein
The holidays are about to overwhelm us. The TV will be taken over by warm and fuzzy advertisements. Catalogs of things I must have or give will fill my mailbox. At my local CVS, one staff member was moving Halloween candy to a sale rack and packing up the store’s pumpkin decorations while another was putting out Christmas Santas. I’m not ready for this!
Maybe I’m a grinch? I like peace and quiet. The reality is that I’m not going to find that for the next six weeks. First, there will be Thanksgiving – the entire family is dropping in this year. (I’m thinking of giving those who have little kids the house and moving to a hotel – I’ve done that in the past and really enjoyed it). Even though I’m sure there will be moments I want to retreat somewhere (that hotel sounds finer by the moment), I will enjoy seeing our kids, their cousins, and friends interacting. When they leave and I finish doing laundry, I’ll collapse.
But, not for long. There will be Chanukah and Christmas presents to buy, wrap, or send (think gifts cards might be appreciated this year?) for family, friends, and the people who are kind to me during the year. Once I clean up the mess from wrapping and make sure everything is delivered – and share a slightly quieter set of meals with family and friends, it will be time to see in 2024.
Those plans are already made. We see the year in with a group of friends we truly enjoy — especially since the women all agree that the new year is here when the ball drops in New York (we’re on central standard time, but why wait another hour?). Oh, the men, they think the evening is over when the football game ends.
What about you? Holiday Plans? Like them or want to flee?
In Defense of the Day Job
/in Author Life/by Bethany MainesA Day Job? Really?
I know a lot of writer’s for whom the dream is to ditch the day job and become a Stay-At-Home-Writer. It would be lovely to be solely supporting myself on my writing. But that’s not financial reality for most writers and I would argue that it shouldn’t be. I think the day job, while being a pain in the tuchus, also gives something valuable to the writer.
It Keeps Us From Going Feral
First there is the emotional and mental well-being that comes with being forced to rub elbows with the weirdos out there. Like having kids, having a job, means that we are forced to get along with the wider community. It rubs some of the rough edges off. Staying home means that we come to live very much in our own bubble in terms of information intake and who we talk to. Finding a wider network of people to interact with is an asset for learning to write more diverse characters who think and speak in different ways.
It Provides Ideas
The second value, I see for having a job is related to information intake. As a writer, I never know where I’m going to find an idea. Which can be frustrating if I’m supposed to come up with an idea RIGHT NOW. However, what I’ve learned over the years, is that ideas exist in every field and it only benefits me to talk to people. An AV owner who travels the state setting up for concerts, conferences, and private parties? Expensive parties and rock bands – how could there not be an idea there? A conference for estate planners? Turns out there are about 100 murder plots just littering the tax code if you can manage to stay awake long enough to find them. The front desk staff at a hotel? Oh, don’t get me started on the amazing slice of humanity that traipse in front of them. But would I know about any of these ideas without my day job? No!
So…
So if you’re a writer appreciate your job and if you know a writer then help them out by making them talk to you. Know that you’re only helping that little cardigan wearing introvert out by providing them fodder for a novel and keeping them sane. They’ll thank you for it. Or kill you off in their next novel. Whichever comes first.
**
Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of action-adventure and fantasy tales that focus on women who know when to apply lipstick and when to apply a foot to someone’s hind end. She participates in many activities including swearing, karate, art, and yelling at the news. She can usually be found chasing after her daughter, or glued to the computer working on her next novel (or screenplay). You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.
The Joy of Seasonal Reading: Why It’s Never Too Early to Dive into Christmas Books
/in Uncategorized/by Debra SennefelderThe other day while I was on Facebook, I saw a photo in a reader’s group of the member’s newest haul and they were all Christmas books. And with Hallmark and GAF airing Christmas movies since the middle of last month, it’s feeling a lot like Christmas. And there are a few compelling reasons why it’s never too early to embrace the joy of Christmas reading.
There’s no wrong time to begin your Christmas reading. The magic and joy of the season can be experienced through the pages of a book, and the earlier you start, the more you can savor the spirit of the holidays. So, don’t hesitate to pick up a Christmas book and let its enchanting tales fill your heart with warmth and wonder, regardless of the date on the calendar. After all, the love of reading and the celebration of the season go hand in hand, creating an unforgettable experience that you’ll treasure for years to come.
Now, if you’re not ready to pick up a Christmas book just yet, maybe you’ll be interested in an autumn themed book with a reportedly haunted house, a deeply buried family secret, a and a couple of yummy recipes. Last month. A CORPSE AT THE WITCHING HOUR, the sixth book in the Food Blogger Mystery series was released. I had so much fun writing the story and testing the friendship between Hope and Drew and also throwing Hope a life curveball. So. Much. Fun. Oh, yeah, there’s the dead witch outside of the haunted house who may or may not have been following Hope for a couple days.
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE
What are you reading now? Are you ready for holiday stories? Or are you a reader who doesn’t read by season?
Debra Sennefelder is the author of the Food Blogger Mystery series and the Resale Boutique Mystery series.
She lives and writes in Connecticut. When she’s not writing, she enjoys baking, exercising and taking long walks with her Shih-Tzu, Connie.
You can keep in touch with Debra through her website, on Facebook and Instagram.
Existing While Brown or Black in America
/in life, Racism/by Linda RodriguezIn all the turmoil around #BlackLivesMatter and the extrajudicial killings of Black men and women by police right now, I notice the inevitable outcries from parts of the White community that the police wouldn’t shoot and kill these people for nothing, that they must have brought it on themselves in some way by their own lawless behavior. Perhaps. But when we have stringent, trustworthy investigations, again and again we find that these people did nothing so major that it would have warranted taking their lives. Still, to many White, middle-class people who are never hassled and threatened by police as they move through daily life, it seems that surely all these unarmed African American, Latino, and Native men killed by police every year must have brought it on themselves through some fault of their own.
So, allow me to tell a little story from my own life. In Kansas City, Missouri, where I live, the police used to be as undisciplined and out of control as some of the worst of police forces we’ve recently seen. A crisis finally forced the city to crack down, bring in a strong police chief to rebuild the force, and reorganize the police force around the motto of “Protect and Serve.” It never became a perfect police force, of course, but for a while it was plagued by less racial profiling and unnecessary civilian deaths than most urban forces today before lamentably reverting to its old forms.
Back in the 1970s when Kansas City’s force was so much like the departments we’re seeing on the news right now, pointing loaded rifles and screaming obscenities and death threats at unarmed demonstrators and reporters, I lived with my late first husband, Michael Rodriguez. Mike was a decorated veteran of Vietnam, married to me with two little kids, working a white-collar, full-time job as manager of a printing supply company branch, going to college at night, and the most non-violent and non-criminal person anyone could imagine. He went through some of the worst fighting in Vietnam as a medic, refusing to carry ammunition in his sidearm because he could not bring himself to kill anyone.
A fire station stood on the corner of the block where his company offices were, and several of the firefighters who were also Vietnam veterans had made friends with him since this was when no one in this country wanted to hear what these guys had gone through. This fact later saved his life.
One cold evening in winter when twilight came early, Mike was the last one out of his office, as usual, since he locked up at night and opened up in the mornings. He found his car’s battery had died and called a cab to come take him home. While he stood outside his own offices, long-haired but dressed in a business suit, waiting for his cab to arrive, two policemen pulled up, got out of their police cruiser, and started harassing him. They shoved him back and forth between them, called him racial slurs, searched him, and found nothing but his wallet, keys, and a tube of prescription ointment for psoriasis in his pockets. One then told the other, “We could shoot this motherfucker and say we thought that tube was a gun.” Kansas City police had just shot a fourteen-year-old African American boy three days before, claiming they thought the comb in his pocket was a gun—and they got away with it.
Mike thought he would die on that spot, leaving me a young widow with a baby and a toddler and no way for his kids or anyone to know that he had never done anything to deserve it. His firefighter friends had seen what was happening, however, and came out calling his name and asking what was going on and if he needed help. The cops told them to go away, but the firefighter veterans stood there watching and witnessing until Mike’s cab came, and he got safely away. Clearly, they saved his life that night.
If you talk with people of color, you will hear story after story like this. A friend of mine who is a White mystery writer married to an African American (extremely successful) artist just went out and bought all new dress business suits for her husband who, like most artists, normally wears jeans and T-shirts to work in, in the hopes that this will keep the New York City police from stopping and harassing him as he must travel through her city from home to his workplace and back. He must dress up for the commute, only to change into jeans and T-shirt at work, and then reverse the process to go home. White people don’t face this kind of treatment by law enforcement in their own lives, and it sounds so crazy and unreal to them that they assume people of color are exaggerating or making it up out of whole cloth, understandably, but this kind of harassment, threat, and fear is a part of daily life in communities of color all over this country.
Racism is a horrible and unjust fixture of American life, but just because you are White does not mean that you are safe from its destructive consequences. If allowed to flourish openly and unchecked, it won’t stop with communities of color. With the rising militarization of the police forces of large cities and small towns, I would caution my White friends to learn from our experiences. If this kind of behavior is allowed to continue and grow, it will eventually overflow into the White communities, beginning with poor and working-class communities and eventually moving up the socioeconomic ladder. It’s a matter of power and control, even beyond the matter of race and ethnicity.
Whether we know it or not, all of us in the United States have a vested interest in this situation of extrajudicial killings by police forces. Americans need to have a thorough reorganization of every police force in this country. We also need a national discussion of the growing militarization of our police departments, large and small, and what we as citizens want to do about this growing threat. The stakes in this situation are high, and the costs of failure for us as a nation and individually will be unimaginably horrific.
Linda Rodriguez’s 13th book, Unpapered: Writers Consider Native American Identity and Cultural Belonging, was published in May 2023. She also edited Woven Voices: 3 Generations of Puertorriqueña Poets Look at Their American Lives, The World Is One Place: Native American Poets Visit the Middle East, The Fish That Got Away: The Sixth Guppy Anthology, Fishy Business: The Fifth Guppy Anthology, and other anthologies.
Dark Sister: Poems was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award. Her three earlier Skeet Bannion mystery novels—Every Hidden Fear, Every Broken Trust, Every Last Secret—and earlier books of poetry—Skin Hunger and Heart’s Migration—received critical recognition and awards, such as St. Martin’s Press/Malice Domestic Best First Novel, International Latino Book Award, Latina Book Club Best Book of 2014, Midwest Voices & Visions, Elvira Cordero Cisneros Award, Thorpe Menn Award, and Ragdale and Macondo fellowships. She also published Plotting the Character-Driven Novel, based on her popular workshop. Her short story, “The Good Neighbor,” published in Kansas City Noir, was optioned for film.
Rodriguez is past chair of the AWP Indigenous Writer’s Caucus, past president of Border Crimes chapter of Sisters in Crime, founding board member of Latino Writers Collective and The Writers Place, and a member of International Thriller Writers, Native Writers Circle of the Americas, Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers, and Kansas City Cherokee Community. Learn more about her at http://lindarodriguezwrites.blogspot.com or follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/rodriguez_linda or on Mastodon at https://mastodon.social/rodriguez_linda.
Characters, Holidays, and Changes
/in Author Life, Cozy Mysteries/by Mary Lee Ashfordby Sparkle Abbey
Do you love all the holiday books that are coming out? We certainly do!
We’re working on our new series, the Shady Palms Mysteries, which is set in a 55+ retirement community. And we’re realizing that holiday celebrations change as our characters go through new phases in their lives.
Much like what happens in real life, our characters have experienced various events and turning points: a big move, the loss of a family member, meeting new family or friends, and shifting roles. Some people feel pressure to maintain tradition and others are better at embracing change. And relationships are complicated. Right? And it doesn’t help that there’s just more stress in general around the holidays. So much stress! Some may love the chaos around a bit group gathering and others may just wish for a quiet celebration at home.
Our characters, MJ and Cass, are working through a lot of life events… as well as solving a murder. (We do write mysteries after all.) Though these life changes may find them changing up their holiday traditions, we know they’ll get through it. These are some smart and resilient ladies! They may have to let go of some long-established traditions, but they are making new ones. And they’re finding that the thing is – sometimes new traditions can actually honor the past.
So as we head into this busy holiday season, we’re thinking about traditions – old and new – and about how life changes can change our celebrations.
Do you have a favorite holiday tradition? Has it continued through the years or is it new one? Or is it one that has morphed over time? We’d love to hear your favorites and your advice for our characters who are going through changes in their holiday plans.
They love to hear from readers and can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, their favorite social media sites. Also, if you want to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website
CLICKING OUR HEELS – What We’re Reading and What We’d Recommend
/in Uncategorized/by DebraDru Ann Love – I’m reading UNDER THE COCOON MOON by Kathleen Bailey. It’s the third book in her Olivia Penn cozy mystery series. I like her work and writing.
Lynn McPherson/Sydney Leigh – I’m reading A FATAL GROOVE by Olivia Blacke. The Record Shop Mystery series is so much fun!
Kathryn Lane – THE AMERICAN PROMETHEUS, the Pulitzer Prize winning novel that the Oppenheimer film was based on. I highly recommend it!
Lois Winston – My Stiletto Gang post on September 27th was all about the books I checked off my TBR pile while dealing with my own bout of Covid. Since then, one book I’ve enjoyed is LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus.
Saralyn Richard – Recently, International Thriller Writers hosted a first line contest, and I entered the first line of my book, BAD BLOOD SISTERS. I was delighted when it won, and the prize was a critique of my next book’s opening pages by mystery writer, Clare Mackintosh. I loved her critique and read her latest, THE LAST PARTY, which was a fun read.
Bethany Maines – I’ve been on a rom-com bing lately and I can tell you a couple NOT to read. When you pick books based on Facebook ads, I suppose there are bound to be a couple of duds. I just started Debra Sennefelder’s MURDER WEARS A LITTLE BLACK DRESS and I’m loving it.
Linda Rodriguez – I’ve just finished reading Thea Harrison’s AMERICAN WITCH and am just starting Catriona McPherson’s THE MIRROR DANCE. I would recommend the first, and I’m sure I will recommend the second, because I love her books.
Debra H. Goldstein – I recently read and enjoyed Ann Patchett’s TOM LAKE and Bonnie Garmus’ LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY.
Joyce Woollcott – I’m reading an advanced copy of Lou Berney’s DARK RIDE. Fantastic. He is simply wonderful. I have just finished Charlie Donlea’s book, ‘THOSE EMPTY EYES.’ He’s a great mystery/suspense writer. And any of Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie books. I reread them constantly.
Barbara J. Eikmeier – I’ve been on a roll with reading great books. DR. TAN’S CIRCLE OF WOMEN by Lisa See is excellent and stayed with me long after I finished it. I also enjoyed HANG THE MOON by Jeannette Walls, I love her unapologetic style of writing. And, although they creep me out a bit, I recently flew through two of Lucy Foley’s books: HUNTING PARTY which is set in Scotland and WEDDING GUESTS which is set on a remote Irish island. I can’t put Lucy Foley’s books down but I also can’t read them when I’m home alone!!
Mary Lee Ashford – I’m loving The Thursday Murder Club books and looking forward to the new release in that series. At the moment I’m reading VERA WONG’S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS by Jesse Q. Sutanto and really enjoying it.
T. K. Thorne – Just finished ALABAMA AFTERNOONS by Alabama journalist and novelist, Roy Hoffman. The book isa collection of interview-portraits of remarkable Alabamians, famous and obscure. I felt I had actually met these engaging people . . . and was much the better for it.
Paula G. Benson – I’ve been reading short story collections. In particular, I found EDGAR AND SHAMUS GO GOLDEN to be very interesting. It contains an Anthony nominated story by the author of the Lupe Solano mysteries, Carolina Garcia-Aguilera, as well as stories by Doug Allyn, O’Neil De Noux, John Floyd, Lia Matera, Art Taylor, and Martin Edwards.
Who are We?
/in T.K. Thorne, Uncategorized/by TK ThorneWho are We?
Nothing was more tedious for me as a student than the requirement to memorize dates and events of the past. What’s so important about the past, anyway? As an avid reader of science fiction, I was much more interested in the future.
No one has been more surprised than I, here in the latter part of my life, that I have written two history books.
Events of the past, I have decided, are important, but they are the surface of history. Depth of understanding what happened comes with examining the people of the time, the decisions they made, the actions they took or didn’t take, and the situations/beliefs that formed them.
Events are sterile. We are hard wired to care about people.
The people of our past are stories that we can identify with and connect to even across time. We need to understand what made them who they were. Hearing their experiences, their wisdom, and even their mistakes teach us what is important and possible.
Women’s stories are particularly valuable because women seem to slide through the cracks of history. A circle of women in Birmingham’s 1960s braved their fears and the intense pressures of society to break through racial barriers and effect real change. They were not the power players in their world. It was (and to some extent, still is) a man’s world. Learning how they created leadership roles inspired me. Today, women are again being constrained. It is especially important that young girls, struggling to understand who they are and who they could be, hear these stories.
Both of my history books are about civil rights days in Birmingham, Alabama. Writing and researching them has changed me in profound ways I can’t articulate yet.
But it has become too clear that I am living days that will be studied by future historians. Already, many books have been written. But the historical events and the people influencing them are still in play. And we have no idea what will happen.
Too many people have not heeded the warning that ignoring history dooms us to repeat it. That we are repeating it seems very clear.
The past is echoing.
Loudly.
Heartbreakingly.
Right now.
Deciding who we are in this moment is difficult because things are (as usual) complicated.
But we will be called on to decide anyway. This moment is tenuous (or exploding if you live in Ukraine or the Middle East), but even here in the US, the place that is supposed to be safe and a refuge for all, we must decide who we are and who the terrorists are.
Our president recently said, “You can’t give up what makes you who you are. If you give that up, then the terrorists win. And we can never let them win.” –
So, who are you? Who are we?