Tag Archive for: Debra H. Goldstein

The Importance of Pre-Orders by Debra H. Goldstein

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The Importance of Pre-Orders by Debra H.
Goldstein

Until I
became an author, the only time I thought of pre-ordering a book was when I
knew a new Harry Potter was being released. Once I was published, I heard from
other authors that pre-orders were extremely important. Knowing that the first
book in my Sarah Blair cozy mystery series, One Taste Too Many, releases on December 18, but is available for
pre-order now, I decided to research what the importance of pre-orders is.

 It turns
out there are several reasons to encourage (beg) for pre-orders:

1)   
If publishers see books are receiving numerous
pre-orders, they will increase the print run. More books being printed means
the publisher will put more advertising help toward the book because it doesn’t
want to get stuck with unsold books. More promotion translates into additional
sales.

2)   
Pre-orders are reported in first week sales. People
often have a surge during their launch parties, but the additional numbers
created by pre-sales may help a book make a national or local best-seller list.
Word of mouth and recognition again translates into more sales.
3)   
Whether Amazon, other online sources, big box stores
or independent booksellers receive numerous pre-orders, they will tend to stock
more copies of the book. Often, the booksellers will check out and potentially
promote a book that customers are showing an interest in.
4)   
Authors want publishers to accept their next
books. Publishers want to sign authors whose books sell. Pre-order numbers serve
as an indicator to a publisher as to whether there is interest in additional
works by an author.

5)   
Pre-orders are especially important when a
series is debuting its first book. Few know of the existence of the series, so
it is important to use any means possible to build excitement and interest immediately.
One of the best ways to do this is through high numbers of pre-orders which
catch the eye of booksellers and readers.

Now that
I know how important pre-orders are, I hope you will consider spending $7.99 (paperback)
or $4.99 (e-book) to pre-order One Taste
Too Many from one of buy links listed below.

About One Taste Too Many:

For culinary challenged Sarah Blair, there’s only one
thing scarier than cooking from scratch—murder!

Married at eighteen, divorced at twenty‑eight, Sarah Blair reluctantly swaps
her luxury lifestyle for a cramped studio apartment and a law firm receptionist
job in the tired town she never left. With nothing much to show for the last
decade but her feisty Siamese cat, RahRah, and some clumsy domestic skills,
she’s the polar opposite of her bubbly twin, Emily—an ambitious chef determined
to take her culinary ambitions to the top at a local gourmet restaurant.

Sarah knew starting over would be messy. But things fall apart completely when
her ex drops dead, seemingly poisoned by Emily’s award-winning rhubarb crisp.
Now, with RahRah wanted by the woman who broke up her marriage and Emily wanted
by the police for murder, Sarah needs to figure out the right recipe to crack
the case before time runs out. Unfortunately, for a gal whose idea of good
china is floral paper plates, catching the real killer and living to tell about
it could mean facing a fate worse than death—being in the kitchen!

Pre-Order/Buy Links:

Books-a-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/One-Taste-Too-Many/Debra-H-Goldstein/9781496719478

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Dancing for You – the Magic of Red Shoes by
Debra H. Goldstein

Red
shoes have always had a magical place in literature and film. Whether dancing,
as in The Red Shoes fairytale by
Hans Christian Anderson and the classic movie, The Red Shoes, or being how Dorothy gets home in the Wizard of Oz (the ruby red slippers), red
shoes were accorded magical powers. In each story, the protagonist must change
and grow before the curse associated with the shoes is lifted and the shoes can
finally be removed.

Mysteries
traditionally use red blood to signal the occurrence of criminal acts.  Whether pools of blood, blood spatter
patterns, or ooze from a wound, readers immediately conjure up images of
violence.

When I
joined the Stiletto Gang, the logo was a red stiletto heel fashioned with a
dagger. It immediately charmed me. I’d found a group of like-minded writers of
mystery and romance.

Keeping
up with fashion, a few years ago, we updated our heel to a more golden tone
with a wider toe box. It was an elegant logo that reflected the composition of
the Stiletto Gang, but I missed the internal excited sensation stimulated by the
red coloring.

Styles
change every season. Authors come and go, but one thing is constant – our
relationship with you.

Like
fashion, the members of the Stiletto Gang also have evolved.  Our writing is more diverse, sharper, and
whether comical, romantic, or pure mystery, more defined. Together, we agreed
to modify our shoe to be more reflective of the times and us. 

I was
thrilled when our resident graphic guru, Bethany Maines, proposed a red
stiletto logo. To me, our new logo is magical. 
I hope it will keep you looking for it every day. You see, without you
supporting and enjoying our writing, our efforts are for naught. For you, we
will gladly dance in the wind indefinitely. Do you like our new red shoes?

Meet the 2018 Anthony Short Story Author Nominees!

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by Paula Gail Benson

 

What a true pleasure to host the 2018
Anthony nominees for best short story! Here for your reading pleasure is the
list with links to each story. [Please note: You’ll need to scroll down at some of the links
below to get to the stories.]

 

“The Trial of Madame
Pelletier” by Susanna Calkins, Malice Domestic 12: Mystery Most
Historical: http://www.susannacalkins.com/short-stories.html 

 

“God’s Gonna Cut You
Down” by Jen Conley, Just to Watch Them Die: Crime Fiction
Inspired by the Songs of Johnny Cash: https://www.jenconley.net/ 

 

“My Side of the Matter”
by Hilary Davidson, Killing Malmon:

 

“Whose Wine Is it
Anyway” by Barb Goffman, 50 Shades of Cabernet:

 

“The Night They Burned
Ms. Dixie’s Place” by Debra Goldstein, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery
Magazine, May/June 2017: http://www.debrahgoldstein.com/otherwritings/night-burned-ms-dixies-place-alfred-hitchcock-mystery-magazine-mayjune-2017/ 

 

“A Necessary
Ingredient” by Art Taylor, Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea
to Shining Sea: http://www.arttaylorwriter.com/books/a-necessary-ingredient/ 

 

Thank you to the nominees, Susanna
Calkins, Jen Conley, Hilary Davidson, Barb Goffman, Debra H. Goldstein, and Art
Taylor, for taking the time to answer a few questions and share their nominated
stories!

 

(1) Where and when does your nominated
story take place?

 

Susanna Calkins
Susanna Calkins: “The Trial of
Madame Pelletier” is set in Tulle, a town in central France, in 1840. It
focuses on the court trial of a “Lady Poisoner,” a woman accused of killing her
estranged husband with rat-paste and truffles.

 

Jen Conley: The story takes place in Ocean County, New
Jersey, present day. Ocean County is considered central-south New Jersey, known
for its Jersey Shore beaches, but mostly it’s a blue collar/middle class county
on the edge or in the Pine Barrens.

 

Hilary Davidson
Hilary Davidson: “My Side of the Matter” is set in and around
Minneapolis. I’ve only had the pleasure of visiting that city once, but I felt
compelled to set the story there because the story is part of the KILLING
MALMON anthology — and Dan and Kate Malmon live in that area.


Barb Goffman: “Whose Wine Is It Anyway?” takes place in the
litigation department of a large Washington, DC, law firm. I don’t specify when
the story takes place. I expect the reader will assume it is a contemporary
story.




Debra H. Goldstein
Debra H. Goldstein: “The Night They
Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place” is set in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1960’s, in a
house where they change the sheets more than once a night. The story reflects
Birmingham’s racial, civil, and political strife and their impact on a
particular night on a boy coming of age.

 

Art Taylor: “A Necessary Ingredient” was published in Coast
to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, which covers (as that
subtitle suggests) a pretty wide geographical area. I was assigned my home
state of North Carolina, and instead of choosing an actual town, I created a
fictional one, a mid-sized Southern town drawing on several places I’ve lived
or known in Eastern North Carolina—Goldsboro, Kinston, and Richlands, among
them. The story takes place loosely in the present, but the main character,
Ambrose Thornton, has immersed himself in some ways, in a mythical past—the
world of the hard-boiled detective stories he lives to read—and the present of
this small town is also steeped at bit in some of that atmosphere, if only
because of Ambrose’s own perspectives driving the story. 

 

(2) What was the biggest challenge you
encountered in writing your nominated story?


Susanna Calkins: I adapted this
story from a real poisoning case that I had read about when I was working on my
doctorate in history. At the time I had focused on the media accounts of the case,
which were all in French, because I loved the notion of the woman being on
trial in the court of public opinion as well as in the courtroom.
Unfortunately, I had not kept my notes, so I had to go back to the original
source materials, only to realize that my reading knowledge of French has
considerably diminished over the last twenty years. Fortunately, I found a very
detailed contemporary description of the trial in a British medical journal, in
which the authors—both physicians—focused on the details of the poisoning and
the forensics they were able to use. Except for a few interesting details, I
completely changed the story, the characters, and of course provided a twist…

 

Jen Conley
Jen Conley: The biggest
challenge for me was writing a first-person male character. This choice can be
difficult to establish when you’re the opposite gender. Readers see the name “Jen
Conley” and assume the first-person narrator is female. It’s just natural for
any reader to do–assume the first-person narrator is the gender of the writer.
I must’ve re-written the first few lines of the story about twenty times. I
also found it challenging to create empathy for a murderer, especially a
murderer who killed my main character’s sister in a horrific and vile way.

 

Hilary Davidson: The premise of
KILLING MALMON was that Dan Malmon had to die in every story. (Before you
decide that we’re terrible people to do that to such a nice guy, you should
know that Dan was co-editor of the project, and it raises money to benefit the
National Multiple Sclerosis Society.) After I got over the idea of “killing” my
friend in print, I realized that the biggest challenge was building suspense
when the reader already knew that Dan was going to die. How do you keep the
reader intrigued when they know what’s going to happen? I solved that by
turning the story on its head, so that the man who killed Dan — and got away
with it — suddenly starts writing a confession. The suspense builds around what
led him to commit the crime, and the mysterious reason he needs to reveal the
truth.

 

Barb Goffman
Barb Goffman: Plotting. Plotting
is often a big challenge for me. I’d been asked to submit a story to 50 Shades of Cabernet, so I knew my plot
had to involve mystery and wine. Consequently I did a lot of wine research,
hoping to come across an idea that awakened my muse. I can hear the “research”
jokes now, but my muse isn’t a drinker. I learned there’s a spa in Japan that
uses red wine in its hot tubs. I thought for sure I’d get a plot out of that,
but no. I also learned about festivals celebrating wine and chocolate. Surely,
you’d think I’d devise a plot from that. But no again. It wasn’t until I
learned that people can be allergic to the sulfites in wine that things really
started clicking. Thank goodness!

 

Debra H. Goldstein: The biggest
challenge in writing “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,” was getting the
voices right. Being a white Jewish Yankee middle-aged female, I knew I couldn’t
call on my own experiences and dialect to bring to life a nine-year-old black
male protagonist, his mother, and a southern madame. Each of these characters
had to have a distinct personality and manner of speaking. They also had to
reflect southern society in the 1960’s and, in the case of the child, both
innocence and the way the world was changing. Consequently, it was important
that none of these characters be written stereotypically.  Rather, each needed to be treated in a
respectful manner which demonstrated their diversity to the reader. Although the
crime is an important element of “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,”
nailing the characters’ voices is what ultimately engages readers.

 

Art Taylor

Art Taylor: Balancing that
mix of small town and hard-boiled actually posed part of the challenge—but far
from a surprise, it was a challenge that I took as central to what I was doing
here. When my friend Paul D. Marks, the anthology’s co-editor, asked me to
contribute, I almost didn’t do it. I haven’t really written many private eye
stories—and none of the ones I’ve written have been “straight,” so to speak.
But then I liked the idea of crossing the private eye story—traditionally
hard-boiled—with the kinds of regional fiction that have inspired me in other
cases. How can you draw on both effectively? What happens when those “mean
streets” of Chandler’s famous quote are actually dirt roads dotted with
roadside produce stands? And can the class struggles that so often drive
hard-boiled fiction be found in equal measure in the hierarchies of proper
Southern society? Well, that was a challenge I enjoyed stepping up to, and hope
readers have enjoyed as well.


Here’s where you can learn more about
these wonderful authors and their work. Best wishes to them all!

 

Susanna Calkins was born and raised in
Philadelphia, and lives outside Chicago with her husband and two sons. Holding
a PhD in history, Susanna writes the award-winning Lucy Campion historical
mysteries as well as the forthcoming Speakeasy Murders, both from St. Martin’s
Minotaur. MURDER KNOCKS TWICE, set in Prohibition-Era Chicago, will be out
Spring 2019. “The Trial of Madame Pelletier,” her first published short story,
appeared in Malice Domestic: Mystery Most
Historical (Wayside Press, 2017). Read more about her work at http://www.susannacalkins.com/

 

Jen
Conley’s short stories have appeared in Beat to a Pulp, Just To Watch Them
Die: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Johnny Cash, Trouble in the
Heartland: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Bruce Springsteen and
many others. She has contributed to the Los Angeles Review of Books, has
been shortlisted for Best American Mystery Stories and is one of the
former editors at Shotgun Honey. Her Anthony Award nominated story
collection, Cannibals: Stories from the Edge of the Pine Barrens, is
available now. She lives in Brick, New Jersey. Check out her website at https://www.jenconley.net/

 

Hilary
Davidson is the author of the Lily Moore series—which includes The
Damage Done, The Next One to Fall, and Evil in All Its
Disguises. She also the author of the standalone thriller Blood
Always Tells and a short-story collection called The
Black Widow Club. Her next novel, One Small Sacrifice, will
be published by Thomas & Mercer in May 2019. Visit her online at http://www.hilarydavidson.com


Barb Goffman loves writing, reading, air conditioning, and her
dog, not necessarily in that order. She’s won the Agatha, Macavity, and Silver
Falchion awards for her short stories, and she’s been a finalist for national
mystery short-story awards twenty-two times, including eleven times for the
Agatha (a category record). Her book Don’t Get Mad, Get Even won the
Silver Falchion for the best collection of 2013. Barb is thrilled to be a
current Anthony and Macavity award finalist for her story “Whose Wine is it
Anyway?” from the anthology 50 Shades of Cabernet.  She works as a
freelance editor and proofreader and lives with her dog in Winchester,
Virginia. Learn more at www.barbgoffman.com.


Agatha and Anthony nominated Judge Debra
H. Goldstein’s is the author One Taste
Too Many, the first of Kensington’s new Sarah Blair cozy mystery series.
Her prior books include Should Have
Played Poker and 2012 IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue. Debra’s short stories have appeared in numerous
periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine,
Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. She is president of Sisters
in Crime’s Guppies, serves on SinC’s national board, and is vice-president of
SEMWA. Find out more about her writings at www.DebraHGoldstein.com


Art Taylor is the author
of On the Road with Del & Louise: A Novel in Stories, winner of
the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. He has won three additional Agatha
Awards, an Anthony Award, two Macavity Awards, and three consecutive Derringer
Awards for his short fiction, and his work has appeared in Best American
Mystery Stories. He also edited Murder Under the Oaks: Bouchercon
Anthology 2015, winner of the Anthony Award for Best Anthology or
Collection. He is an associate professor of English at George Mason University.
Check out his website at http://www.arttaylorwriter.com/

Happy Thoughts for Memorial Day

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by Paula Gail Benson

Good morning and best wishes for a happy Memorial Day!

Hopefully, you can enjoy this day with some good reading. I’m going to recommend that you consider some offerings from my blogging partners here at The Stiletto Gang.

If you haven’t already begun Shari Randall’s Curses, Boiled Again!, check it out. It features injured ballerina Allie Larkin who is assisting her Aunt Gully with a lobster roll competition on Memorial Day when the judges are poisoned. Allie is spunky and delightful. The action is fast paced and the food descriptions will make you hungry!

Two of our blogging partners are celebrating Anthony nominations.The Anthony Awards, named for Anthony Boucher,
are presented each year at Bouchercon, and recognize excellence for novels, short fiction, nonfiction, and online presence. Congratulations to Dru Ann Love for her nomination for Dru’s Book Musings and to Debra H. Goldstein for her short story nomination.

Because the Anthonys have nominations for both individual and collected
short stories, they introduce readers to a variety of wonderful short fiction. Following are this year’s nominees, who will be celebrated in
St. Petersburg, Florida, this fall:
BEST SHORT STORY
·      
The Trial of Madame
Pelletier by Susanna Calkins from Malice Domestic 12: Mystery Most
Historical [Wildside Press]
·      
God’s Gonna Cut You
Down by Jen Conley from Just to Watch Them Die: Crime Fiction Inspired by the
Songs of Johnny Cash [Gutter Books LLC]
·      
My Side of the Matter
by Hilary Davidson from Killing Malmon [Down & Out Books]
·      
Whose Wine Is It
Anyway by Barb Goffman from 50 Shades of Cabernet [Koehler Books]
·      
The Night They Burned
Ms. Dixie’s Place by Debra H. Goldstein from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery
Magazine, May/June 2017 [Dell]
·      
A Necessary Ingredient
by Art Taylor from Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining
Sea [Down & Out Books]
BEST ANTHOLOGY     
·      
Just to Watch Them
Die: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Johnny Cash, Joe Clifford,
editor [Gutter Books LLC]
·      
Killing Malmon, Dan
& Kate Malmon, editors [Down & Out Books]
·      
Coast to Coast:
Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, Andrew McAleer & Paul D. Marks,
editors [Down & Out Books]
·      
Passport to Murder,
Bouchercon Anthology 2017, John McFetridge, editor [Down & Out Books]
·      
The Obama Inheritance:
Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir, Gary Phillips, editor [Three Rooms
Press]
Read and enjoy!



Interview with Agatha Nominees for Best Short Story!

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Each year, I feel very privileged to be able to host interviews with the Agatha nominees for best short story in The Stiletto Gang and Writers Who Kill. I always learn from their answers and appreciate so much what goes into the craft.

Following is a list of the nominated stories with links on the titles so you can read and enjoy. Thanks to Gretchen, Barb, Debra, Gigi, and Art for taking the time to answer the questions. And check in at Writers Who Kill tomorrow to hear more from these talented authors. Best wishes to all. — PGB

“Double Deck the
Halls” by Gretchen Archer (Henery Press)
“Whose Wine is it Anyway” by Barb Goffman in 50 Shades of
Cabernet (Koehler Books)
“The Night They Burned Miss Dixie’s Place” by Debra
Goldstein in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (May/June 2017)
“The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” by Gigi Pandian
(Henery Press)
“A Necessary Ingredient” by Art Taylor in Coast to
Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Seat (Down & Out Books)

How do you know an idea is “short story worthy”?

Gretchen Archer: If the elements
are there—story arc, strong characters, interesting setting, and a puzzle to
solve—I find the idea worthy. There are many colorful characters in the Davis
Way series, so I had a surfeit of choices for a protagonist in Double Deck the
Halls. From my character list, I chose Granny. The setting is always the
same—the Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. And the puzzle?
What could be more fun than an octogenarian MacGyver?


Barb Goffman: When considering if an idea is better suited to be
developed into a short story or a novel, I think the key is how complicated the
plot is and how early you want to bring your main character in on the action.
If your story involves multiple murders, for instance, and you want to show
that your protagonist is on the case from the beginning, then you’re likely
describing a novel. That idea seems too complicated to develop properly in a
short story. But if you have the same scenario and your protagonist comes in at
the last murder and quickly figures out whodunit, then that could be a short
story. Which way to go? I think that’s a style decision for the author. 


This is why
I tell people that a short story is about one thing. One specific tight tale.
The more complicated the idea, the more detail you need to show, the more pages
your tale will take. The plot of my story “Whose Wine Is It Anyway?”
has two inciting incidents– twice within a few days my main character, a legal
secretary, feels slighted by her long-time boss–and the resolution comes
quickly thereafter, so it was well suited for a short story. (For those who
haven’t read the story, in Myra’s last week before retirement, she learns her
boss has hired an airhead to replace her and he does something that makes her
realize he’s been taking her for granted. So Myra devises a plan to teach him a
lesson.)

Debra Goldstein: I don’t initially
know if an idea is “short story worthy.” When a story works, it flows and ends
exactly where it should. The idea of the story may come from a prompt, a phrase
stuck in my mind, or a character’s voice. In “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s
Place,” the opening sentence “I remember
the night they burned Ms. Dixie’s Place” was the first thing I thought of, but
then I realized that most of the story had to be told on that night, when the
main character was only nine years old. Once I recognized the voice would be a
child’s, the importance of the premise became evident. I write both novels and
short stories, but there was no question that this idea and the portrayed characters
and incident would only work as a tightly written short story.



Gigi Pandian: I love short
stories that have a satisfying twist. In my own short fiction, the twists that
I like to play with are seemingly impossible crimes that have a rational
explanation.


My full-length novels are adventures in addition
to being mysteries, so while my books do have twists in them, the twists and
the puzzle aren’t necessarily as important to keep the story going as the
characters themselves and the adventures they’re having.


Therefore when I come up with an idea for a
story involving an impossible crime twist, instead of an idea that centers
around a specific character or a larger plot, then I know it’s a short story
rather than a novel.

Art Taylor: I’m primarily a
short story writer, so most of my ideas seem suited to that length—it just
seems to be the form I’m most naturally drawn toward, the one I’m most
comfortable in. Ideas come from a variety of places, of course: a bit of
overheard conversation, a dream, a trip (the travel kind, not the
hallucinogenic kind!), even other short stories or novels that prompt the
imagination along. While I tend to think in narrative arcs at short story
length, I also try to fold in other threads as well to help enrich the story’s
texture and its breadth—by which I mean balancing several characters’ narrative
arc and the ways they intertwine, for example, or by layering in some thematic
arc alongside the arc of the plot, letting several things speak one to another.
I may not be able to write long very often, but I try to write dense at
least—dense in a good way, I hope!


Tell us about the publisher of your nominated
short story and how the story came to be published.

Gretchen Archer:
“Double
Deck the Halls: is a short-story companion to my Davis Way Crime Caper mystery
series published by Henery Press. I knew where Deck would land before I wrote
it.

Barb Goffman: “Whose Wine Is It Anyway?” appeared in the
anthology 50 Shades of Cabernet,
which was published by Koehler Books. This book is the brainchild of author
Teresa Inge. She came up with the idea of a lighthearted anthology involving
mystery and wine. She wanted to help promote the Virginia wine industry. So she
reached out to a bunch of Virginia authors and asked if we’d be interested in
submitting stories for the book. After doing a lot of interesting research I
came up with a workable story idea, wrote my story, and submitted it. Teresa
shopped the manuscript around and Koehler ended up picking it up. They’re based
in Virginia Beach, near where Teresa lives, so it all worked out very nicely.
Koehler gave us multiple rounds of edits and proofreading. And royalties.
What’s fun about them is for each book they publish, they put two potential
covers on their website and the general public can vote on which one they like
better. The cover with the most votes becomes the cover of the book.



Debra Goldstein: Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine not only published my first submission to it, “The
Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,”
in its May/June 2017 issue, but featured it on its cover. Neither of these
exciting events almost happened. Even though several of my short stories had
been accepted by other publications, I lacked the confidence to send my work to
AHMM or Ellery Queen. Several friends, including Art, Barb, Bob Mangeot and
Terrie Moran encouraged me to submit my work to these Dell magazines, but the
one who made me believe in myself was B.K. (Bonnie) Stevens.


When I read her story, “Thea’s First Husband,” I was so blown away
by it that I wrote her a fan email asking if she taught online classes. She
didn’t, but she sent me suggested readings and we subsequently became friends. She
encouraged me to reach beyond my fears. Last year, every Malice Domestic recipient
received the AHMM which contained “The
Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place” in
their book bags. A few weeks after Malice, I received a package and note from
Bonnie. She wrote she believed it was an award-winning story and knew, because
it was my first Alfred Hitchcock submission and acceptance, I would want extra
copies of the issue. I wish she had lived to see that her encouragement, as
well as that of so many friends, made this wonderful ride happen.

Gigi Pandian: Henery Press
publishes my Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries. The most recent book The Ninja’s Illusion, is set in Japan,
and I had an idea for a locked-room mystery twist that needed to have the
characters stranded in a remote place. I was having such fun with the
characters in The Ninja’s Illusion that
I wondered if Jaya and her friend Tamarind could get waylaid on their way home
from Japan. I came up with the idea to have them get stranded due to bad
weather, so “The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” is set at the remote inn
where they’re forced to seek shelter from a storm.



I had a lot of fun writing a
story-within-a-story, because in “The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” there’s
a ghost story about an avenging ghost that killed an unscrupulous man who was
reading an Agatha Christie novel at the hotel nearly a century ago—and now the
“ghost” is striking again while the guests are trapped. Can Jaya figure out
what’s really going on? The team at Henery Press loved the story idea, and they
published it as a short story single the month after the novel came out last
fall.


Art Taylor: “A Necessary
Ingredient” was published in Coast to
Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea. Paul D. Marks—a good friend,
fellow blogger at SleuthSayers, and co-editor of the first volume of the Coast to Coast—reached out to say he was
doing this second volume with the same publisher, Down & Out Books, in this
case focused on private eyes, and would I like to contribute something? I don’t
generally write private eye stories, but the geographical slant on the
anthology attracted me—the opportunity to explore the intersection of that
subgenre of crime fiction and my home state of North Carolina, which was the
region I was assigned. That’s also one of the things I enjoyed about writing
the story, trying to navigate the shadow of one tradition (hardboiled PI
stories) against another (traditional, regional mystery fiction, specifically
here with nods toward one of my own mentors, Margaret Maron, another North
Carolina native). An additional inspiration was the tonka bean itself, the
“necessary ingredient” of the title, which I’d first heard about from another
NC-based writer, Wilton Barnhardt—but to reveal more about that story would give away too much about the story I wrote.
 
If you could bring your protagonist as a guest
to the Agatha banquet, what shoes would he or she be wearing?
 
Gretchen Archer: Easy Spirit Happy
Feet Walkabouts. With Velcro. She’d pair them with a gold velour track suit.


Barb Goffman: Myra would choose
something stylish and practical. I’m not quite sure what that would be, but it
surely would be nicer than what I’ll be wearing. I go for comfort, so I’ll be
in the equivalent of stylish slippers.


Debra Goldstein: My protagonist
would be wearing these scuffed basketball shoes:



Gigi Pandian: “The Library
Ghost of Tanglewood Inn” has two main characters, historian Jaya Jones and her
librarian friend Tamarind Ortega. Jaya is only five feet tall in socks, so she
loves her heels. She’d dress in black slacks, a sleeveless black blouse, and
three-inch shiny black stilettos. Tamarind is tall and big-boned, with short
hair she dyes different colors (it’s blue right now). She thinks of herself as
post-punk and loves her purple combat boots, so for the Agatha banquet she’d wear
those boots with a homemade dress that looks like Molly Ringwald’s dress from Pretty in Pink.



Art Taylor: Ambrose Thornton comes from
a fairly proper Southern family, so I’m sure he could spiffy up if he needed
to: a sharply polished pair of wingtips maybe? But honestly, he strikes me as
someone who would rather be back home reading than out socializing most nights. 


Solitaire and Spider Solitaire – Trying Again by Debra H. Goldstein

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Solitaire
and Spider Solitaire – Trying Again by Debra H. Goldstein

Most of
you know that I reward myself for getting words on the page by playing
solitaire, spider solitaire and FreeCell. 
You also know, I procrastinate when the words aren’t coming by playing
solitaire, spider solitaire and FreeCell. 
In the past, I played on game and if it didn’t work out, I’d play a new
version of the same game. Recently, I’ve started hitting “Try Again” instead of
“New Game.”

“Try
Again” brings up the game I just lost. The challenge for me is to see if there
is a different choice I can make that results in the game working out.  Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. When
the “Try Again” is successful, two thoughts go through my head: “Yes, I did it!”
and “Why was I so stupid before not to have seen how I should have played this?”

When I
think about the evolution of my writing, I realize it is following the same
path as my game playing. In the old days, a rejection meant I’d hide the piece
away. Now, I examine every aspect of what I submitted. Was there a better way I
could phrase something? Did I rush the story? Did I leave a word out? Should I
leave words or paragraphs out? Almost every time, I revise and improve the piece.
Often, the result, when I try to place it again is success.  If it is rejected again, I repeat the
process. Although some pieces are too weird or not quite complete enough for a
publisher to want them, most eventually find a home.  My reaction then is very simple: “Yes, I did
it!”

If one
is to survive as a writer, one’s skin must be toughened so that rejections
become tools of learning rather than badges of shame. My heart can still be
pierced, but I’m beginning to like the process enough to play less card
games. What about you?

Why I Like the Word Send by Debra H. Goldstein

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For a writer, “end” often is
considered the most wonderful word. I prefer adding an “s” and changing “end”
to “send.” Why? Because until a story is accepted and published, I don’t
consider it to be a final piece. Rather, the story can be edited and improved.

Often, a writer thinks a
story is ready for publication, but when it is rejected, the writer realizes
there are ways to make it better. For example, I recently submitted a story,
Day After Thanksgiving Soup, to an open anthology call. The story received fair
consideration, but ultimately was rejected. After receiving notice of the
rejection, I read the story again and several things jumped out at me. Even
though I had thought the story was written and edited to perfection before I
submitted it, I now saw several flaws. There was an instance of poor word
choice and several places I could tighten the tale. I revised the piece and sent
it to Mystery Weekly. A few days later, I received word Mystery Weekly wanted
to purchase it. Last week, not only did Day After Thanksgiving Soup appear in
the paperback version of Mystery Weekly, it was featured on the cover.

This isn’t the first time
I’ve written a short story, submitted it, had it rejected, rewritten it and
found a home for the “new and improved” version. In fact, in a few instances,
the rejection step occurred multiple times, but the final published piece was
always far better than the one I started with. The same has held true with my
novels.

Whenever they were
rejected or criticized by an agent, publisher, or beta reader, I carefully
reviewed their comments and looked to see if there was a way to make the
manuscript better. There almost always was.

Writing is an ongoing
process. If one willingly revises and is flexible, one’s writing is going to
improve. The consequence of improvement is more acceptances – even if it isn’t
at the first point of submission.

How many times was your typed “end” really “send?”

B.K. “Bonnie” Stevens, True Friend and Good Writer

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My first panel at Malice with Sally Goldenbaum, Liz Stauffer, Bonnie, me, and Wendy Tyson

by Paula Gail Benson


“It
is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.”
― E.B. White,
Charlotte’s Web
When
we learned last week about B.K. “Bonnie” Stevens passing, Shari Randall
(writer, librarian, blogging partner, and friend) reminded me of E.B. White’s
novel and his description of the barn spider Charlotte who, by weaving
carefully chosen words into her web, saved Wilbur the pig’s life.
Bonnie
embodied the phrase, “true friend and good writer.” Her life was a testament
to the importance of constantly reaching out to others, eagerly opening your
mind to learn, and joyously communicating.
Like
Charlotte, Bonnie spoke truthfully, honestly, and with respect for the
complexities of the world. She also understood the power and wonder of
individuals sharing their lives with each other.
Chronologically,
I did not know Bonnie for a long period of time, but our connection and friendship
is enduring. I know that her inspiration, advice, and encouragement are part of
my life forever.
Maybe
one thing that drew us together, besides my great admiration for her prose, was
our backgrounds in and appreciation of education. Bonnie spent a good portion
of her life as an instructor and I came from a family of teachers. From that environment,
you realize how delightful discovering new facts and information can be.
As
I read Bonnie’s longer biography on her website, I realized that her philosophy
of remaining open to whatever life brought her continued to enrich her own experience.
Through her fiction and nonfiction, she passed that joy along to her readers.
While
reading Bonnie’s stories or being able to discuss writing with her were
incredible treats, experiencing her generosity of spirit was truly humbling. I
once got up the nerve to ask if she would read one of my stories and give me
feedback. She did so promptly with excellent suggestions, but also asked what
others had told me about the story. All perspectives of the writing process
were fascinating to her. Later, she asked me to read and react to a play she
had written. I hesitated, wondering if my comments possibly could be of any
help to her. After all, she had won an award for this play. She assured me that
she wanted to hear from me because I wrote plays and directed them for a drama
ministry, and my view, as someone who had staged a play, would give her
valuable insight.
One
of the kindest and most incredible gifts that Bonnie and her husband Dennis
gave me was a phenomenal birthday celebration during Bouchercon in New Orleans.
In advance, Bonnie sent me a list of possible venues, each sounding more
wonderful than the last, and asked me to pick the location. She gathered good
friends Art Taylor, Debra Goldstein, and Riley Miller to join us. By the end of
the blissful evening, we had a table full of desserts (including the most
delicious jalapeno lime cheesecake as well as an Almond Joy chocolate cake) and
the great satisfaction of an unforgettable time spent in lovely conversation. [Please
look for Art Taylor’s “Remembering Bonnie Stevens” message and other tributes by fellow bloggers on SleuthSayers.org
and Debra Goldstein’s “In Memory of Bonnie (B.K.) Stevens” to be posted on
Friday, August 25, 2017, here on The Stiletto Gang.]
Bonnie
gave selflessly to so many. Just recently, I saw Kaye George’s remembrance of
meeting Bonnie when she came to Kaye’s book signing at Malice Domestic. Kaye
asked, “Are you the B.K.
Stevens?” Bonnie said she was and asked Kaye, then President of the Guppies,
the online chapter for Sisters in Crime, how she could join. From the time she
became a member, Bonnie was constantly sending out words of welcome and
congratulations.
When
she began her blog “The First Two Pages,” Bonnie set out to highlight other
writers’ work by allowing them to analyze the beginning of a short story or
novel. Her initial post came from Kaye George and the latest messages are from
the contributors to Kaye’s anthology to celebrate the solar eclipse, Day of the Dark (Wildside Press), some
of whom are making their debut publication.
As
I prepare to post these words on Monday, August 21, 2017, the day our country
experiences the eclipse from coast to coast, I’m reminded of a special theatre tradition
to recognize the passing of well known members of the Broadway community — the simultaneous
dimming of all the marquee lights for one minute at the 8:00 pm curtain hour.
When the lights come back up, the shows go on.

While I experience
this solar eclipse, I’ll remember Bonnie, my true friend and good writer, and
think about all that she has done for the many lives she has touched. Thank you
Dennis and daughters Sarah and Rachel for sharing her with us.

My New Orleans Bouchercon Birthday

Not a Happy Camper

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Not a Happy Camper by Debra H. Goldstein

Ripped off!  Violated!  Pissed. All emotions and thoughts going through my mind this morning when I picked up my Mah jongg change purse and discovered it was significantly lighter than when I put it in my car’s console Friday morning.

It was only four dollars in quarters lighter, but I was bummed.  Was the culprit the clean-cut valet who parked my car when I met my daughter in Atlanta for brunch on Sunday? Was it the nice duo who vacuumed my car and its mats at the carwash? Could it have been the industrious young man who spent so much time wiping and polishing my car when it rolled out of the wash?

I don’t know. 

What I do know is how much money should have been there for next week’s game. 

I don’t count my Mah jongg winnings every week, but instead of transferring it from my purse to the car’s console and leaving it there until I play the next week, as I did until this morning, I accidentally carried it into the house last Thursday.  Understand, I stake myself $5 every January and watch it go up and down throughout the year. Occasionally, the stake runs out before year’s end, but most of the time it is enough to entertain myself once a week for the year.  When I took it into the house and out of my purse last Thursday evening, I realized it was heavier than usual.

I counted it.  I was up.  There was $9.75 in the change purse.  Happiness.

After the car wash today, I opened the place in the car where I keep my mah jongg card, change purse, coupons, a few quarters for parking, parking passes, and sunglasses.  It wasn’t in its usual neat order.  All but two of the six parking quarters were missing and the change purse was skewed out of its normal location. I picked it up and discovered the purse felt thinner and lighter.  It was.

I counted it. There was $5.25.  Bummer.

In the future, the maj money will come out of the car – the six parking quarters will remain.  I’ve learned my lesson thanks to someone who is up $5.50 in quarters.  What’s even more frustrating, I tipped each of the suspects.  Sign me, Not a Happy Camper.

Are Blogs Passe?

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Are
Blogs Passe? by Debra H. Goldstein

When my first book, Maze in Blue, a mystery set on the
University of Michigan’s campus in the 1970’s was about to be published, I was
advised to quickly create a website, social media presence, and a blog. The
result was:
Website: www.DebraHGoldstein.com
Twitter: @DebraHGoldstein
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debra-h-goldstein-72473a11/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DebraHGoldsteinAuthor/
Personal blog, “It’s Not
Always a Mystery” – www.DebraHGoldstein.com/blog
I was set, or so I
thought. What I discovered during the time that elapsed between the original
publication of my 2012 IPPY award winning Maze
in Blue, its reissuance by Harlequin Worldwide Mystery as a May 2014
selection, and Five Star’s 2016 publication of Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players
Mystery, was that technology changed what was needed to attract readers. Websites
had to be more interactive and mobile friendly, pictures and crafts demanded a
presence on Instagram and Pinterest, and besides having a personal blog, it was
beneficial for emotional support and reaching other readers to be part of a
group blog, like The Stiletto Gang.
Of course, even though it
meant redesigning my website, devoting more time to social media, and writing
three blog posts a month (I write the
Stiletto Gang blogs posted on the 2nd and 4th Fridays
of the month and alternate having a guest post or one by me every other Monday
for It’s Not Always a Mystery), I
complied. In my free time, I enjoyed life, produced twenty short stories that
have been published and a few still looking for a home, and wrote the first
book for a new series that will soon be shopped by my agent.
In five years, both the
world of publishing and suggested means of connecting with readers has

changed
significantly. One of the most discussed things is the role of the blog. Some
argue, there are simply too many, so none are being read. Others contend blogs
are the only thing giving readers a consistent way of interacting with an author
by providing an opportunity to read and comment on their thoughts and
activities.

Personally, making blog
deadlines is sometimes onerous, but I’m always glad when I complete one. I like
sharing a bit of myself with you. I also enjoy reading blogs written by others.
I always read everyone’s postings on The Stiletto Gang because we are all so
different. Although I may not always write a comment on the blog itself or when
it is reprinted on our Facebook page, I respect and value the different views
we express.
But, what do you think
about blogging? Do you think they have served their purpose? Do you look
forward to them? Do you prefer ones written by individuals like It’s Not Always a Mystery or group blogs
that appear more often, but are written by more authors like The Stiletto Gang?