Writer Unboxed - The "Connect Kitty" Approves
AAC can't help but deliver the best bloggish content that will inspire writers to new leaps of imagination. This one is mostly new releases, bestsellers, literary fiction historical fiction, mysteries, popular non-fiction, memoirs and biographies.
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Please give a warm welcome to our dear Sonja Yoerg today as she discusses her forthcoming novel The Family Ship, releasing February 23rd. Thank you for joining us today, Sonja, and congrats! Sonja Yoerg grew up in Stowe, Vermont, where she financed her college education by waitressing at the Trapp Family Lodge. She earned a Ph.D. in biopsychology from the University of California, Berkeley and wrote a nonfiction book about animal intelligence, Clever as a Fox (Bloomsbury USA, 2001). She has also authored six novels, including the Washington Post and International bestseller, True Places. Sonja lives with her husband in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. “Families, li…
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Please welcome WU’s newest contributor, Kelsey Allagood, whose powerhouse guest post–What Gandhi Taught Me About Telling Stories that Mean Something–you may recall! Kelsey’s background as a political analyst specializing in the genesis of war and oppression informs her writing, which is part of the reason today’s post is so interesting: What does a writer who focuses on war and oppression in some parts of her life do when she can’t seem to bring conflict to the page? Welcome, Kelsey! We’re so glad to have you join the team. I have a confession: I have been a writer for more than two decades, but it was not until the last year that I understood conflict. “But Kelsey,” yo…
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Image – iStockphoto: Al Kane ‘The Darkness Calms Down in Space’ A podcast is not many journalists’ favorite medium. Why? You can’t search it. If you know that a person has said something in a podcast but you have no time code to tell you when in the tape that comment popped up, you’re left scrubbing back and forth, trying to find the quote you need. So it is that I’m looking forward to the release today at noon of the transcript of a new podcast conversation with Ezra Klein at The New York Times. He’s talking with the author George Saunders who, at 62, is out with a new book, A Swim in the Pond in the Rain from Penguin Random House. The book is based in Saunders’ 20 yea…
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Trained by reading hundreds of submissions, editors and agents often make their read/not-read decision on the first page. In a customarily formatted book manuscript with chapters starting about 1/3 of the way down the page (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type), there are 16 or 17 lines on the first page. Here’s the question: Would you pay good money to read the rest of the chapter? With 50 chapters in a book that costs $15, each chapter would be “worth” 30 cents. So, before you read the excerpt, take 30 cents from your pocket or purse. When you’re done, decide what to do with those three dimes or the quarter and a nickel. It’s not much, but think of paying 30 …
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Like firstborn children, debut novels get a lot of attention. I’m a firstborn myself, as well as the first grandchild in a cohort of twelve, and I’ve always liked the role. But what about second novels? I’d heard about the “sophomore slump”—the letdown and diminished interest, from friends as well as the media, in a second book. I’d also heard that a second book is easier because the process isn’t quite so unknown; experience can bring clarity, confidence, and manageable emotions. Both descriptions of the sophomore novel made sense to me. Since I was about to launch my own second novel, I was curious to know what others had to say—writers who had “gone before” and could…
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One of the more baffling problems I see with my clients is that they’re not keeping their writing real. Their stories might be full of tension and clever plot twists, their characters people I might like to know, but their writing is not rooted in life. This problem most often shows up in descriptions. Their characters’ hair is “silky,” or wool socks “scratchy.” Hearts “pound,” muscles “ripple,” eyelids “flutter.” Sunsets “glow” or rain “pours.” They are simply writing the sorts of things that other writers have written, time and time again. It’s just as damaging when they go generic. Rooms are “large” or “opulent,” gardens are full of “flowers” surrounded by “trees,” …
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Well, I just finished another revision pass on my WIP. This one was for the final edition of a trilogy, and revising the ending has really gotten me thinking. Not just about the story. It’s also made me take a look at myself—at who I am as a storyteller, and how this process has changed me. As well as how my story and I reflect the times and fit into the world around me. Before I go on, I’m going to offer a mild potential spoiler warning to anyone who plans on someday reading my upcoming trilogy…. Hey, stop laughing. Honest, it’s coming. Oh, I see—you’re laughing because you think it’s cute that Roycroft is worried about some dubious future audience. I suppose I deserve …
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Are you looking for a quality conference that helps writers on all levels move closer to their publishing goals? Do your objectives include instruction from respected professionals within the industry, an opportunity to pitch to agents and editors, and discussions with successful writers who have experience and knowledge? How about options to participate either in-person or virtually? Look no further! The Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference—May 30 through June 3 is for you! Directors Edie Melson and DiAnn Mills work year-round to ensure this conference soars beyond writer’s expectations. Often referred to as the premier conference of the south, the BRMCWC …
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Please welcome new Writer Unboxed contributor Desmond Hall to Writer Unboxed today! Desmond pitched a drops-of-wisdom-via-videos idea to us that we just loved, and we think you will, too. You’ll see him here once a month from now on, and each of his posts will offer three of Desmond’s “drops.” Desmond’s debut YA novel, YOUR CORNER DARK, released just a few weeks ago. He has a rich history as a teacher, a counselor, an award-winning playwright and filmmaker/director, Superbowl-commercial writer, and creative director for Spike’s Lee’s ad agency — and that’s just a sampling. Learn more about Desmond on his bio page HERE, and enjoy his drops of wisdom! Welcome, Desmond! Thi…
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Given that Valentine’s Day is this Sunday, I thought I would post something I use in my Litreactor classes concerning how to stage the conflict in a love story. I find the usual gladiatorial implications of the word “conflict” all too often lead writers astray, making them think of the loved one as the opponent or antagonist in the conventional sense, which creates more confusion than clarity. So, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, allow me to offer you this little gift… Love stories have a unique structure because, though the protagonist and the loved one are in conflict, it is not adversarial. One character is not seeking to defeat the other in the sense we find in c…
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photo adapted / Horia Varlan Imagine if Dickens began A Tale of Two Cities: It was the best of times and the worst of times—and sometimes, something else altogether. Or if Melville opened Moby-Dick: Call me Ishmael, or, if you like, Ishy. Or if Ellison extended his iconic first line: I am an invisible man, except for when it’s sunny, when you are bound to see something of a shadow. My versions don’t pack the same punch, do they? Yet while drafting a still-developing story, we writers tend to explore all options. There comes a time, though, when it behooves us to weed out roads not taken and focus our characters’ intentions. This sounds easier than it is. Addres…
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Flickr Creative Commons: soomness I started a new novel recently and found, even without expecting it, that the pandemic was part of my new story, so inextricably woven into the fabric of my life now that I can’t create a fictional world in which it doesn’t exist, or never happened. But oh, my God, once this pandemic is over is anyone really going to want to read a novel that takes us back to this time? I doubt it. So what to do? What I realized is that the heart of this pandemic isn’t about what we’ve all been doing during these endless days of isolation and quarantine, how we’ve filled our time, who we’ve squabbled with or longed for or avoided. It’s about who we’ve be…
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I got a worrying email from an author last week. He had contacted me about a year ago for a free sample edit. He mailed me back after I’d returned the revised text to say he was happy with my work, appreciated my insight, but he had decided to go with another editor because they charged less. His recent mail details a list of issues he then had with the other editor, including missed deadlines, errors introduced into his manuscript and basic errors missed. Most troubling of all, however, was that the cheaper editor had entirely changed the first two pages of one chapter. The author had originally written the narrative in retrospect—a common technique to fill the reader i…
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Earlier this month, Greer Macallister wrote a post for WU entitled, All the Things I Don’t Know, which struck a chord. In this day and age of double-masking, remote learning, and where should I get my COVID test today, I often wake up less with the Carrie Bradshaw “I couldn’t help but wonder” mindset, and more of a “how in the [insert expletive] am I going to answer that?” You see, I spend a good portion of each day answering questions. There are the mom questions…”what did you pack me for snack?” There are the wife questions … “do I have 10 minutes to finish up this deck before dinner?” While the dog can’t speak, his eyes, tail wags, and door scratches are just loaded w…
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Please join in on extending our warmest congratulations to beloved contributor Nancy Johnson on the release of her debut novel The Kindest Lie. A native of Chicago’s South Side, Nancy Johnson worked for more than a decade as an Emmy-nominated, award-winning television journalist at CBS and ABC affiliates in markets nationwide. A graduate of Northwestern University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she lives in downtown Chicago and manages brand communications for a large nonprofit. The Kindest Lie is her first novel. Nancy tells us, “I did a fun interview with Entertainment Weekly talking about my inspiration for the novel and how it fits into our cur…
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Warning: Hacks for Hacks tips may have harmful side effects on your writing career, and should not be used by minors, adults, writers, poets, scribes, scriveners, journalists, or anybody. It seems like only yesterday you woke up with an idea. That idea metastasized in your mind into something grander, something that screamed to be written down lest it sit and fester inside your brain a moment longer. Each day, your book ruled your life, either by cracking the whip as you sat at your writing desk, or haunting you like a phantom on the days you dared take time to relax. You skipped parties, blew off friends, and alienated your family in service to your craft until one day …
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Flickr Creative Commons: Cheryl Foong Everything we write whether it’s literary fiction, memoir, or science fiction, comes from the influence of our own lives. Those parts of our lives might be written in metaphors or vague references. Some of us are more direct, we write stories based on actual events in our life. We write to play and make sense of our reality. The question I’ve been playing with? Well, what is reality? In context, especially, to us writers. Reality is our perception of the world, the priorities we arrange in our day to day existence that become most notable. For example, someone who is caught up in the intricate details of the mundane may take note of…
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True story: When I was seven or eight years old, I found my calling. I was inspired to become a drummer by Micky Dolenz, the drummer for The Monkees. Or so I thought. It turns out the music on the early Monkees albums was not actually played by Micky, Davy, Mike and Peter. Instead, like the vast majority of rock and pop albums in the ’60s and early ’70s, it was played by a group of professional studio musicians who became collectively known as the Wrecking Crew, which included drummer Hal Blaine, whom many consider “the most recorded drummer in history.” Seriously, if you listened to an hour of music on the radio in the ’60s, you probably heard about 40 minutes of Hal o…
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What are your hopes and dreams? What are you most afraid of? Search online for common fears and phobias, and you will quickly find that whatever terrifies you also terrifies others. Do you, for instance, suffer (as so many do) from Koumpounophobia, Alektorophobia, Sidonglobophobia, or Hippotomonstrosequippedaliophobia? Those are the paralyzing fears of buttons, chickens, cotton balls and long words. No? Phew. Glad to hear that. However, I would not be surprised if you have a phobia—or a phobia’s lesser cousin, a fear—related to the animal world: spiders, snakes, dogs, birds, cats, butterflies, ducks, frogs, sharks, fish, horses, mice, wasps, or ants. (Butterflies…
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A Couple KDDs, Witches, & More
Book Boyfriend Book Boyfriend by Kris Ripper is $2.99! This is a bookish, gay contemporary romance. Ripper’s books have been routinely recommending in the comments and by Tara. However, this one isn’t rated as highly as some of Ripper’s others on Goodreads. A secret crush leads to not-so-secret romance in this delightful romantic comedy from Kris Ripper There are three things you need to know about Preston “PK” Kingsley: 1) He’s a writer, toiling in obscurity as an editorial assistant at a New York City publishing house. 2) He is not a cliché. No, really. 3) He’s been secretly in love with his best friend, Art, since they once drunkenly kissed in college. When Art moves in with PK following a bad breakup, PK hopes this will be the moment when Art finally sees him as more than a friend. But Art seems to laugh off the very idea of them in a relationship, so PK returns to his writing roots—in fiction, he can say all the things he can’t say out loud. In his book, PK can be the perfect boyfriend. Before long, it seems like the whole world has a crush on the fictionalized version of him, including Art, who has no idea that the hot new book everyone’s talking about is PK’s story. But when his brilliant plan to win Art over backfires, PK might lose not just his fantasy book boyfriend, but his best friend. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. The Firebird The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley is $2.99! During our RITA® Reader Challenge reviewer Malin gave it a B+, saying, “It’s a big book, which takes its time to reveal all its secrets.” I remember Aarya is also a Kearsley fan. Two Women. One Mysterious Relic. Separated By Centuries. Nicola Marter was born with a gift so rare and dangerous, she kept it buried deep. When she encounters a desperate woman trying to sell a small wooden carving called “The Firebird,” claiming it belonged to Russia’s Empress Catherine, it’s a problem. There’s no proof. But Nicola’s held the object. She knows the woman is telling the truth. Beloved by readers as varied and adventurous as her novels, you will never forget spending time in New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Susanna Kearsley’s world. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. The After Party The After Party by A.C. Arthur is $1.99! This was just mentioned in part one of November’s Hide Your Wallet and Sarah noted its 9 to 5 vibes. If you have Kindle Unlimited, I believe this one is included. Three women form an unbreakable bond in a sexy, suspenseful, and adventurous novel about empowerment and sisterhood through thick and thin. Venus McGee, Draya Carter, and Jackie Benson are coworkers with a lot in common. They’re smart, independent, driven, and deserving of recognition—certainly more than they’ve been handed by a demoralizing boss. He’s the topic of conversation at their impromptu get-together after the company holiday party, where the threesome fantasizes about a life without him. There has to be an alternative to taking a deep breath and sucking it up. There is. It’s just not the one they expected. When morning comes, Venus, Draya, and Jackie are blindsided by murder—a twist of fate that brings a startling new challenge to the table and forces them to navigate a hair-raising detour they never saw coming. For better and (unless they can help it) for worse, it’s going to turn their world upside down. What starts as a necessary bond of mutual trust soon morphs into an empowering and galvanizing friendship that Venus, Draya, and Jackie need now more than ever. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. The Age of Witches The Age of Witches by Louisa Morgan is $2.99! Sarah mentioned this one a previous Hide Your Wallet and was excited about the mention of Gilded Age witches. I’ve been so curious about Morgan’s books and their ability to blend historical settings, family dynamics, and magic. In Gilded Age New York, a centuries-long clash between two magical families ignites when a young witch must choose between love and loyalty, power and ambition, in this magical novel by Louisa Morgan. In 1692, Bridget Bishop was hanged as a witch. Two hundred years later, her legacy lives on in the scions of two very different lines: one dedicated to using their powers to heal and help women in need; the other, determined to grasp power for themselves by whatever means necessary. This clash will play out in the fate of Annis, a young woman in Gilded Age New York who finds herself a pawn in the family struggle for supremacy. She’ll need to claim her own power to save herself-and resist succumbing to the darkness that threatens to overcome them all. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. View the full article -
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How I’ll Kill You: Excerpt and Cover Reveal
“What about that one?” My sister whispers into the phone as though anyone but me can hear her. She’s excited, and I feel my own heart starting to race at the prospect of what’s about to come. I’ve only helped identify the mark before. I’ve never picked one for myself. I’m sitting alone in a booth at the roadside diner, cradling a lukewarm cup of black coffee. It’s Saturday and there’s a lunch rush. Forks and plates and laughter all around me. A little girl keeps turning in her booth to smile at me. She holds up the drawing she’s made on her paper placemat and I flash her a thumbs up. She giggles and turns back to her family. “Which?” I ask. My Bluetooth headset is hidden by my hair. When I look to the window, I catch my faded reflection. Dark curls. Small-rimmed glasses with a slender frame. They’re cheap readers I bought in a gas station six states back, and even though they’re the lightest corrective lens I could find, my vision is still blurry when I look through them. Beggars can’t be choosers. We were limited to places that wouldn’t have surveillance cameras, which meant only stopping for gas in the middle of nowhere. I don’t look like myself. It took an hour to curl my stubbornly-straight hair, the curling iron charged in the car’s cigarette lighter. I burned my neck twice, and I can feel the sore starting to rub against the collar of my blouse. My identical sister is watching from the blue sedan in the parking lot. Even with these lenses, I see everything and so does she. No one draws a breath near us that we don’t know about. (excerpt continues below image) I can’t see her from here, but she can see me. She has ways of surveying everything. Every mirror in the car is adjusted just so. She knows where to park to get the best view. I chose a seat by the only window with broken blinds. “Red jacket at the bar,” she says. I know who she means. Red Jacket has been sitting there since I ordered my first refill. He touches the straw in his half-empty glass of ice water and scrolls through his phone. It’s been a good ten minutes and he hasn’t ordered anything. I shake my head. No good. He’s waiting for someone. Probably a date. He doesn’t have a wedding band. Wives are messy but girlfriends are even messier. Worst yet—siblings. The best mark is someone who is utterly and completely alone. Maybe this diner was a bad idea. I’ve been in Rainwood for less than two days, and already I can see that it’s a family town. This place is crawling with kids. Everyone is dressed like they’re going to church. The bell rings as a new patron enters, and I raise my eyes over the rims of my glasses. He enters the diner shrouded in a beam of afternoon Arizona sun. For a moment I think he’s looking at me, but then I realize he’s eyeing the motorcycle in the parking lot through my window. His? No. He’s got car keys in his hand. No helmet, and his hair is neatly trimmed and combed. He wears it coiffed, but I can see that it would be curly if he let it out. Thick chestnut waves just starting to form before they’re cut short. He’s got a square jaw, cheeks flushed by the waxing summer heat. Muscles and a blue button-up shirt. His eyes are bright and brown, lit up like there’s a sun behind them. All of him glowing. I imagine what he will be like: He has a mom who loves him. He calls her on Sundays. He crouches down to pet dogs when they strain on the owner’s leash to sniff his shoes. He drives with the windows down and the sun beating hard on his skin, and he sings along and knows all of the words. Our eyes will meet from across the room at a dinner party and he’ll wink at me before turning back to his conversation. There’s a girl somewhere out there who broke his heart. He still feels it, a little knife twisting deep in his chest when he’s reminded of her. But he’ll never let on. He won’t tell me about his past for a long, long time. After spending the day together, we’ll sit in comfortable silence and he’ll feel vulnerable, and he’ll take a deep breath and say, ‘can we talk?’ Moments yet to come flick through my head like shutter clicks from an antique camera, and I realize that he has always been in me. An old doo-wop song is playing softly, barely audible among the din, and at once it’s as though a church choir is humming it just for us. He doesn’t see me because he isn’t supposed to. Not yet. I am just a tiny little planet in a black, black galaxy, surrounded by debris and dead stars. But I see him, and that’s all that matters. __________________________________ Excerpted from HOW I’LL KILL YOU by Ren DeStefano published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2023 by Ren DeStefano. View the full article -
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CACKLE by Rachel Harrison (BOOK REVIEW)
“Look at her. She is stunningly gorgeous. Superhuman. I should be intimidated. I should feel like a hideous troll walking beside someone so insanely beautiful, but I don’t. I’m just content to soak in her glow. And she’s so nice and open and warm and funny. It’s that rumored phenomenon I never believed in; I feel like I’ve known her my whole life. So why are these people who know her acting so weird around her?” Cackle by Rachel Harrison is a cosy, peculiar witchy tale, centred on heartbreak, friendship, and small-town drama. When I began reading this I was enveloped in a mellow warmth, captivated by a melancholic narrator, and enchanted by a close-knit, seemingly serene town. Yet as events slowly unfolded an unsettling feeling built, and it became apparent all was not as it seemed. Meet Annie Crane, an English teacher, an introvert, a woman who has separated from her long-term boyfriend and is devastatingly heartbroken. Sam had been her world, her partner in every sense, but now he’s decided to move on yet our Annie can’t. So, no longer being able to afford to live in Manhattan, she decides to start afresh in the small town of Rowan, near Main Street. Upon her arrival she’s enamoured and falls head-over-heels in love with this charming town; the people are friendly, the surrounding forest is beautiful, her new home is idyllic, and then there’s Sophie. Glamorous, carefree, almost hypnotic Sophie, who immediately befriends Annie and takes her under her wing. The closer Annie becomes to Sophie the more strange and dark occurrences manifest, starting with a spider infestation and escalating to haunting shadows and eerie presences stalking her—something is definitely not quite right. The people of the town seem on edge, their smiles are not quite genuine anymore, and Annie knows Sophie is the cause, that she wields some kind of power. The question is, should she be feared? Let’s be clear, despite Cackle being categorised as horror this is not a frightening novel, so if you’re expecting scares, blood and gore then you’re reading the wrong book. Yet if you’ve enjoyed films such as Practical Magic (or read the book, which I haven’t yet!) and the series Charmed then you’re in for a real treat because although Cackle follows an entirely different plot, the vibes from both are strong throughout. Rather than outright horror, Harrison creates an eerie atmosphere beginning with a sense of watchfulness, unexplained shadows and sounds, all whilst slowly building up the feeling of claustrophobia. However, these elements work as a backdrop and at the forefront of this novel are the characters Annie and Sophie. Harrison rather fantastically weaves a story of toxic relationships and finding out who you truly are. “It’s astonishing how normal it is to love a creature you’re not supposed to love. It’s astonishing what you’ll accept when you want love. When you need it. You’ll welcome it in any form, from anyone, anything. regardless of circumstance, however peculiar. However fantastical.” Annie’s narrative voice is filled with excellent dry humour mixed with overwhelming sadness. Her first person narration is reflective and critical and works perfectly to truly get under her skin. Broken up with her boyfriend Sam, Annie is left completely adrift. She is caught between wanting Sam back but knowing you can’t make someone love you, her world is full of regret and what ifs. Sure, her pining made my eyes roll more than a few times after a while, but Annie’s character does feel relatable, we’ve either been her or had a friend just like her. She’s an older protagonist who’s not quite sure where her path in life is leading, not even sure what she wants, she’s forever dependent on others to make her happy. Yes, she’s flawed and messy but aren’t we all in some way or another? When Harrison delves into Annie’s backstory we further realise that every compliment she receives, every ounce of someone noticing her existence means the world because she’s been deprived of both for too long. Until Sophie enters Annie’s life like a whirlwind that is. Charismatic, glamorous, Sophie, who cooks extravagant hearty meals and lives in a dreamy, if a touch haunted, mansion. At first she’s Annie’s calming presence, she affectionately calls her “pet”, instantly settles her into Rowan’s community and shows her there is more to life than men. I immediately liked Sophie, I loved her confident, carefree demeanour, but she also had me on edge throughout, that kind of intenseness is never a healthy trait to have and can lead to disastrous consequences! A friendship should always be equal, and I began to question how different was Sophie’s influence on Annie to Sam’s when they both had her revolving around them. Nonetheless, Harrison shows us that what people present on the outside is not always what’s happening inside. We soon learn that Sophie is carrying her own burdens, her own sense of loneliness, her own dark secrets. I mentioned earlier that this is not a frightening novel, however I do love the way Harrison explores the theme of fear. She takes possibly one of the most common fears, it’s actually my biggest one, that of spiders, and turns it on its head. Did you ever think a spider could be adorable and the perfect companion? No, neither did I, but here we are! Ralph, the spider who loves to wear hats and attend parties, was simply adorable! His inclusion added another layer of cosy quirkiness to the narrative, which was an actual delight. On the other hand, Harrison shows us the true fear which runs through the town is the fear of powerful independent women. This is shown in the way that a woman such as Sophie, who chose to live alone, who was not tied down to a man, who did not aspire to raise a family was automatically seen as different, strange, abnormal. That’s not to say Sophie didn’t have other reasons to warrant their fear too, but their initial aversion to her stemmed from this. Looking at history, hasn’t that always been the case? Women were too often condemned as witches merely for being different. Cackle is a delightfully entertaining story of two flawed and messy women finding a kinship in one another, a story of magic, of finding inner strength and surviving. Harrison delivers a message to all women out there – embrace your inner witch and show the world exactly what power is! “I never realized how much bullshit is bound to the bottom of your hair. How it carries with it the years and experiences, all it has witnessed, has endured. The reason you can’t let go of your past is that it’s still attached. That weight on your shoulders, the strain on your back and neck. It’s your dead ends. Cut your hair! I’m going to scream it from the rooftops and while running down the street, all across America.” ARC provided by Sarah Mather at Titan Books. Thank you for the copy! Cackle is out 23rd September from Titan Books, you can pre-order your copy HERE The post CACKLE by Rachel Harrison (BOOK REVIEW) appeared first on The Fantasy Hive. View the full article -
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Filling Your Writing Life
photo adapted / Horia Varlan Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could pick up a manual on “Best Writing Practices” and follow its advice all the way to publishing success? Reality is, though, we writers are each wonderfully and necessarily unique, and how we spend our days will reflect that. Because new opportunities and changing priorities have caused me to revisit the components of my diminished writing life, a recent episode of THE HAPPINESS LAB, a podcast hosted by Dr. Laurie Santos, clarified my issues by offering up a commonsense image of how to envision time in my overfull life. I share it here in case it might help you, too. A professor placed a big, clear jar on his desk and then filled it with golf balls. When he asked if the jar was full, the students nodded. Then he poured pebbles into the jar, which filtered in between the balls. When he asked if the jar was now full, the students nodded with knowing smiles. Then he poured sand into the jar, which filled in even smaller gaps. When he asked if the jar was now full, the students said yes. He said, “This jar is your life. The golf balls are the things that really matter to you. The sand is all the thoughtless ways we spend our time. If we put that in first, the important things won’t fit.” This image wasn’t new to me, as Stephen Covey used a similar rocks-gravel-sand anecdote in his 1994 release, First Things First. With so many of our lives upended during Covid—I’m imagining rocks and golf balls spilled all over the place—it’s now a great time to reassess what we put back into our jars. Ideally, you will fill them with activities that will enrich your writing life and therefore increase your sense of fulfillment. If you could spend your day exactly how you wanted, what would you do to be happier? The podcast guest who shared the golf ball story, social psychologist Cassie Holmes of UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and author of the forthcoming Happier Hour, had something to say that will be relevant to the writer who has fantasized about clearing eight hours day to finally nail their novel: psychologically, that might not be the best solution. For an optimal sense of fulfillment, Holmes’ research suggests we seek a sweet spot of 2-5 discretionary hours per day to invest in activities that will make our lives feel fulfilling. So while there is such a thing as having too little discretionary time, there is also such a thing as having too much: on the regular, her data shows that having more than 5 hours per day of discretionary time results in a decreased sense of life satisfaction. If you were to dump the contents of your jar, which activities would you add back in to foster the most fulfilling creative life? Our answers will have much in common, since writers have little discretionary time. Writing itself requires a handful of golf balls right off the bat. Publication adds more. Many golf balls may well be devoted to the reliable paycheck that supports our writing habit. We must continue our education, be that reading novels or craft books, researching, or giving/receiving critique. What many of us may be missing in our jars altogether, though, is enough time to observe and process the life around us—what our teachers and parents might have pejoratively called daydreaming, yet which is an important component of the writing life. Imagine even a half a golf ball for that! The stories of the great writers of the past—Hemingway, Faulkner, and Vonnegut among them—always sounded so romantic to me because these men wrote in the morning and then walked in the afternoon to allow their ideas further time to cure. That’s what I’m missing. The cure. Allowing for it and planning to include time for it is, in this era, a mad skill. Three years ago, while tracking the hours I spent on various endeavors with the goal of freeing up more time to write, I learned that under the guise of promotion, I was spending way too many discretionary hours on social media. I’d gained some visibility as an author, sure, yet gained no visible boost in sales. Pulling back, I realized that chatting about myself to an invisible audience had long ago lost its allure. My feed was like endless snacking when what I needed was more nourishing meals. It brought distraction, but never happiness. (Hmm, was I just talking about social media in the past tense? Yes, lately, I’ve even toyed with closing all my social media accounts, but that might take bravery I don’t quite yet possess.) What could make me happier? Well, I’m not quite done relating that jar demonstration. When we left off, the jar now had the golf balls, the pebbles, and the sand, and the students thought the jar was full. Then, the professor poured in—and the jar accepted—the contents of two bottles of Corona. So what was the beer about, his students asked. His answer: “No matter how full your jar is, you always have time for a beer with a friend.” Whether over coffee, lunch, or a beer, significant interactions with other people always make me happy. When I had to move my Your Novel Year program online, I sorely missed hosting its writers in my living room. Lack of interpersonal interaction is without question one of our great Covid losses, but even before 2020, I’d often forsaken time with family and friends to chase my writing dreams, thinking that this is simply the tunnel vision/laser focus/sacrifice that the writing life demands. But what if my writing might actually be better for the interactions I was denying myself? While investing time in my characters, with the hope that further publication would help me leave a legacy, what if I was failing to invest in the real-life relationships that would be guaranteed to keep my memory alive? These are the golf balls I want to place in my jar: writing, client editing, reading, teaching, daily exercise, and continuing to learn French. All of these things bring me joy. Daydreaming and new experiences in new places will be the pebbles that will fit in around everything else. If I stay on social media, it will be the sand lightly sprinkled in last. And then, I’m going to pour in a healthy dose of meeting up with the family who loves me, the friends who appreciate me, and interesting strangers who will inspire new thoughts. My final step will be to put a lid on my jar and protect its contents. Its volume is limited, after all, and the life I’ve built to support my writing is diminished when I allow random golf balls to displace my writing time. Instead of sharing moments of joy, beauty, and sorrow on social media, I long to hoard my life experiences and let them cure without the overwhelming influx of everyone else’s ideas to dilute them. I sense that from this, my best writing ideas will grow. One thing’s for sure: if it’s possible to create my ideal writing life, I’m the only one who can make it happen. Having written or not, in the end, how I’ve chosen to invest my hours each day will add up to the life I’ve lived. Please share: Which golf balls do you add to your jar that meaningfully impact your writing life? Is social media in your jar, and if so, is it golf ball, pebble, sand, or a beer with friends? And speaking of beer with friends, I hope to “meet up with you” at the Writer Unboxed OnConference! Meeting up with others in the Writer Unboxed community always enriches my life. About Kathryn CraftKathryn Craft (she/her) is the author of two novels from Sourcebooks, The Art of Falling and The Far End of Happy. A freelance developmental editor at Writing-Partner.com since 2006, Kathryn also teaches in Drexel University’s MFA program and runs a year-long, small-group mentorship program, Your Novel Year. Learn more on Kathryn's website. Web | Twitter | Facebook | More Posts [url={url}]View the full article[/url] -
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Pages Upon Pages: 5 Favorite Books-Within-Books
Metafiction is the ultimate analog binge-reading experience, and we love literary inception in our reading diet, and a lot of it. As unapologetically obsessive bookworms, we will take all of the stories we can get stuffed into a single volume. And nesting doll stories about writers and writing, the horrors of the creative process, and the mental toll of making shit up for a living (or stealing it) is so rife with satisfying plot twists and questionable character behavior, we find ourselves returning to the proverbial well time and time again. In our latest novel, The Rule of Three, we had a blast crafting our own contribution to this category. In our case, the story features a wildly popular book club pick that may or may not be directly linked to a double homicide. There are so many books that we adore that fall into this category, but for the sake of getting back to our TBR piles quickly, we picked a handful of our favorites. This list could easily be much, much longer. More Than You’ll Ever Know by Katie Gutierrez In her dazzlingly lyrical first novel, Gutierrez deftly explores the malleable nature of truth as she asks a fundamental question: who gets to tell – and thereby shape – those narratives that unspool before the public eye? Cassie Bowman, a young true-crime devotee and aspiring author, stumbles upon the story of Lore Rivera, an international banker who had, decades earlier, managed to lead a double life juggling two families, until the fateful, fatal day when one husband tragically confronted the other. Cassie initially sees the sordid tale as the perfect opportunity to make a name for herself in the literary world, and manages to earn the trust of the media-wary Lore. But as the women grow closer, and Cassie begins to sniff out details that run contrary to the widely-accepted news coverage around the scandal, she’s confronted with a moral dilemma: sacrifice her integrity for the exposure she craves, or do right by the woman who’s taken Cassie into her confidence? Hello, Transcriber by Hannah Morrissey Morrissey’s gritty, atmospheric and gorgeously rendered debut follows Hazel Greenlee, a police transcriber and aspiring novelist living in Black Harbor, a hardscrabble Wisconsin city. A natural writer, Hazel is given to assessing the textures of words and reading punctuation marks in people’s facial expressions. As her work with the department – and her proximity to the brooding detective Nikolai Kole – entangle Hazel in a spate of drug-related deaths, the young woman takes the mantra “write what you know” to heart, exploring on the page the myriad threats facing her in Black Harbor – an abusive, heavily-armed husband; potentially dangerous and dishonest figures on both sides of the law; and the seemingly insidious pull of the town itself – in the hopes of penning a story that can establish her as an author and help take her far away from the pitfalls of her current life. Who Is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews Florence Darrow is a low-level publishing employee who dreams of literary success. Desperate to leave behind her humdrum Floridian upbringing and the lack of sophistication she equates it with, the young woman has moved to New York City in pursuit of her dream. Yet Florence can’t help but feel like an outsider, and harbors frustration at being stuck in what she considers a menial job. So when an opportunity presents itself to work as the assistant to a wildly successful yet anonymous author, the driven young woman jumps at the opportunity. Florence feels a kinship with the acclaimed writer, and something about the plotline of her wildly successful debut resonates with the determined young upstart’s sense of ambition. What follows is a diabolically twisty, acid-penned meditation on the ultimate costs of aspiration and opportunism as Andrews delivers a gleefully sinister morality tale for the ages. Hell of a Book by Jason Mott In his genre-bending, National Book Award-winning novel about a disassociated-from-reality author on a bestselling book tour, Jason Mott has crafted a brilliantly braided tale that is as intoxicatingly disoriented as the protagonist at the center of it all.The story’s mysterious elements, unreliable characters, and distinct surrealism paint a deeply unsettling backdrop to this beautifully layered tale. Opening with a three a.m., high-speed pursuit of the nameless and naked protagonist by a cuckolded husband, this propulsive book doesn’t let up much from there. Front-loaded with all of the hallmarks of great suspenseful storytelling – and a third wall-breaking, unreliable, unlikable, and oft-inebriated main character – Hell of A Book evolves into three intersecting storylines about racial violence, self-identity, and love and grief. What comes into focus throughout is a deeply impactful exploration of imagination and mental illness, race and identity politics, and friendship and family. It is a book within a book title that lives up to its name many times over. The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz A deliciously sinister take on the ‘those who can’t, teach’ trope, Korelitz’s literary thriller dives into the life of struggling novelist and professor Jacob Finch Bonner. Unable to follow up on his first novel’s considerable success, Bonner finds himself toiling away at a middling MFA program, surrounded by starry-eyed writing students looking to him to shepherd them into dream literary careers. All except for the insufferably cocksure Evan Parker, who makes no secret of his creative brilliance. He doesn’t need Jacob or the program; he already has an idea for a guaranteed blockbuster. Jacob writes Evan off as hubristic, until he privately hears the novel’s setup. Captivated by the idea, and crippled by his own creative inadequacy, Bonner spirals, until he learns that Evan Parker has died without ever publishing his book. Jacob’s resulting decision to craft his own novel around Parker’s inspired plot unfurls into a delicious cat and mouse mind-bender when the book vaults him toward a meteoric comeback. Then, he receives a cryptic message; “You are a thief”. The ensuing mystery about who knows the truth, and how far they will go to punish him, culminates in a twisty revenge tale that strips bare all of the self-doubt and insecurity inherent in an imposter syndrome heavy creative career. *** View the full article -
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Lisa Jewell: How I Accidentally Wrote a Detective Into My Psychological Thriller
Between the ages of twelve and thirteen I read the entire Agatha Christie oeuvre in under a year. They were like crack for me, my first addiction, I couldn’t get enough of them. I read four a week, under the bedcovers, by torchlight. Then I discovered indie music and that became my next obsession and I forgot about reading books entirely. I rediscovered reading in my early twenties when I read widely and eclectically, but oddly, given my earlier predilection for Agatha Christie’s detective novels, one thing I did not read was crime. I did not read Raymond Chandler, PD James, Ruth Rendell, Patricia Cornell, Patricia Highsmith or Elmore Leonard. I did not read Lee Child, Val McDermid or Ian Rankin. I was not familiar with Inspector Morse, Jack Reacher, John Rebus, Adam Dalgleish nor Vic Warshawski. The only literary detective I have read over the years, and purely by accidental dint of the fact that I was reading the author’s literary novels before she moved across to her detective series, was Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie. There is a certain commitment involved in becoming loyal to a literary detective or investigator, a certain element of fandom that makes you want to keep returning to the world of a man or woman whose foibles, tics, traumas, habits and techniques you have become familiar with over a thousand or more pages. It’s not a commitment that I have wanted to make and I am aware that as a crime writer, this a something of a failing. A Facebook Book Group of which I am a member had long been extolling the virtues of MW Craven’s Washington Poe detective series and to try to rectify my lack of experience of reading detective novels, I decided that I would order the whole series and read it one fell swoop. That was two years again and to this day the series sits unread on my reading pile, mentally filed away in my ‘books I intend to read when I retire and all I do all day is read’ folder while I return to my teetering pile of standalones. My taste in fiction is tilted more towards psychological thrillers, where all the drama, all the tension, all the terror is filtered through criminal and victim, where the criminal may not be murderer but a stalker or an abuser, where the victim may not be dead body, but a living breathing human being who feels under threat in some way, where there is no third party in charge and the players have to resolve the stories by themselves. Not only have I failed to read any detective novels since I was thirteen, but in my own writing I have assiduously avoided creating any sort of official police or private detectives. This isn’t because of any personal vendetta against detectives, but simply because I have been too lazy to read the book I bought myself when I started writing crime about ten years ago called The Crime Writers’ Guide to Police Practice and Procedure, which is still sitting on my bookshelves covered in a fine layer of dust. I did read the first page and then stopped. Too much to learn! Too difficult! I decided that it would be easier simply to write crime without detectives, and consequently most of my crime novels use civilian characters to solve the crimes whilst the police bumble around vaguely in the background, being too slow, too underfunded, or too late to the scene to do anything effective. But in my latest book, The Family Remains, something strange happened. He came from nowhere, my first detective. DC Samuel Owusu was meant to appear fleetingly in the prologue, alongside his colleague DI Saffron Brown. They were meant to find some bones, identify the bones and then disappear through a back door somewhere leaving my characters to do the rest of the work. But Samuel just sort of stuck around and demanded that I work alongside him as he cracked the case. I still had no knowledge of police procedure and no desire to acquire any, so I wrote him with a very light touch, using the bare basics that I have gleaned over a lifetime of watching police dramas, avoiding anything that might require more depth. I focused down deep into his brain and stayed there. He was too busy thinking about clues and visual tics and tells to spend any time filling in paperwork or having acronym packed conversations with colleagues. He was too in-the-moment for a complicated back story or bad habits. He was too pure for professional skulduggery, rule breaking or inappropriateness. I boiled him down to the purest essence of detective. A brain on legs. A genial sweetheart with a laser eye for detail and the patience of a saint. I have no idea if any such detective exists anywhere in the world, I just know that if I ever needed someone to crack a case on my behalf, I would love it to be a real-life Samuel Owusu. And yes, I might bring him back for round two. And who knows after that, maybe a series. But first I really do need to get around to reading somebody else’s. *** View the full article -
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Six Musicals That Are Top-Tier Crime Fiction
Musical theater and crime aren’t typically thought of as concepts that go hand-in-hand, outside of dad jokes about Broadway ticket prices. But the two have been interwoven for longer than you might guess. For centuries, the theater scene was considered separate from polite society, a refuge where groups like queer people, sex workers and people of color were frequently creative pioneers and, if still not all the way accepted, more accepted than they’d be in the light of day. Less importantly, but more importantly for the purposes of this article, the musical genre in its varied splendor has given us a wealth of great crime stories. Here are six of the best, as well as where you can listen or watch if you don’t have dad-joke money. West Side Story Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein’s masterpiece obviously has its roots in Shakespeare, but even in America its dynamics are a tale as old as time—the two originally conceived it as “East Side Story” and its clashing gangs and star-crossed lovers as Jewish and Italian. And while the cynical-beyond-their-years Jets may have an entire musical number mocking the notion that society created them, the play itself clearly understands they didn’t come from nowhere, and that they have loved ones who notice when they don’t come home. Steven Spielberg’s 2021 adaptation is even more explicit, deliberately setting the turf war against the backdrop of slum clearance to build Lincoln Center. Lives are lost and ruined over the course of these two nights, but to the bigger, meaner crooks who actually control New York, the central players may as well never have existed. Where to watch/listen: Spielberg’s film is streaming on Disney+ and HBO Max, while the Best Picture-winning 1961 version is on HBO Max as well. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Sondheim (get used to him) again delves into an existing story, this time the Victorian penny dreadful/proto-urban legend of a barber who cuts his customers’ throats, sending them down a chute to the pie shop next door. In his 1979 collaboration with Hugh Wheeler, Sondheim’s sympathy for the devil comes through again; here, pulling from an earlier stage play, Todd is actually Benjamin Barker, a young family man framed and transported by the judge who covets his wife. Back in town and bent on revenge, Todd teams up with piemaker Mrs. Lovett, and the two lay out their mission in one of Sondheim’s lyrical high-water marks, “A Little Priest” (“The history of the world, my love/Is those below serving those up above”). Sondheim would never be interested in just a serial killer yarn; he’s fascinated by what makes even a seeming complete monster tick. Where to watch/listen: Tim Burton’s 2007 film adaptation, available on HBOMax, is… fine, but the original 1979 cast recording, with Len Cariou as Todd and Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett, is the gold standard. A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder The most recent selection on our list, “Gentleman’s Guide” cleaned up at the 2014 Tonys, but like a lot of other selections, it’s got much deeper roots: the 1907 novel “Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal,” also the basis for the 1949 British film “Kind Hearts and Coronets.” Our protagonist, Montague Navarro, discovers his mother was disowned by the D’Ysquiths, her family of loathsome aristocrats, for marrying for love. After he accidentally dispatches one through inaction, Navarro realizes how easy it would be to work his way up the line and avenge his mother. The kicker, of course, is that as in the 1949 film, all the D’Ysquiths are played by a single actor-masterful American theater actor Jefferson Mays, in the original Broadway cast. Mays shows almost preternatural range in no fewer than nine roles, ranging from a eugenicist bodybuilder to a sanctimonious philanthropist. Where to watch/listen: It’s never been filmed but the original Broadway cast recording is available on major music streamers. Little Shop of Horrors The musical adaptation of Roger Corman’s 1960 comedy obviously owes much to the low-budget B-movie creature features of the era, but it’s also got a classic noir setup. After all, think about how many classics of the genre begin with a wuss psyching himself up to kill a woman’s abusive boyfriend (to be fair, the number gets smaller if you add “…who is a Harley-riding dentist.” ). As the murderous plant Audrey II takes center stage, the story becomes far more of a straight horror/sci-fi, but the scenes where poor Seymour’s boss threatens to expose him and he realizes his only option could have been lifted straight out of a James M. Cain book. Where to watch/listen: Frank Oz’s 1986 adaptation of the musical (it’s a movie based on a musical based on a movie, got that?) is streaming on HBOMax. Les Miserables Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel is of course about far more than just crime. But one of its biggest looming themes is the arbitrary cruelty of the law as an institution, and how that defines what we think of as crime. While the musical emphasizes the gap between the haves and have-nots as the central impetus for the historical June Rebellion, it’s hard not to view the criminal justice system—a system that treats those who break the law to survive like Jean Valjean and Fantine as moral equals to scumbags like the Thenardiers—as equally worthy of dismantling. And while Valjean’s fanatical pursuer Inspector Javert is Hugo’s creation, his influence echoes throughout crime fiction, from Tommy Lee Jones’ iconic U.S. marshal in “The Fugitive” to Hank Schrader in “Breaking Bad.” Where to watch/listen: The less said about Tom Hooper’s 2012 film adaptation, the better, but the best bet for cast recordings is probably the 10th Anniversary concert recording. Assassins Of course we’re ending with Sondheim, his best musical and one of his last. Sondheim takes direct aim, no pun intended, at the American dream from the beginning, as the proprietor of a liminal gun shop urges all the real-life assassins (and would-be assassins) of American presidents to seize their ambitions by… killing the president. From there the show emphasizes just how desperately lost each of those figures was, and how, except for John Wilkes Booth, just how unconnected their rage and violence was from the actual presidents they targeted. Sondheim’s humor comes out even in such a grim subject, as in “I Am Unworthy of Your Love,” a back-to-back duet by John Hinckley Jr. and Squeaky Fromme addressed to Jodie Foster and Charles Manson, respectively; or the best song in the show, “The Ballad of Guiteau,” the story of James Garfield’s assassin, who believed James Garfield, a complete stranger, had promised him the French ambassadorship. Later productions, however, add the song “Something Just Broke,” a reaction by normal Americans to the JFK assassination that shows just how the far the impact of these broken people’s actions reached. Where to watch/listen: This one’s also never been filmed, and frankly I’m not sure how you would, but three cast recordings, from the 1991 off-Broadway production, the 2004 Broadway production and the 2021 revival are available to stream. View the full article -
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These Novels Shuffle Tropes Like Cards
Like a horoscope, everybody has a trope. For you, there’s a word, a phrase, a trope that makes you pick up a book every time. “Unreliable narrator.” “Death in a locked room.” “Gaslighting.” “Madman on the loose.” “Unjustly accused.” You know what works for you, and it doesn’t matter how often you read it, you love seeing how a skilled author crafts the time-worn trope into a new, fresh story. As a writer, the fun comes in my current release, POINT LAST SEEN, when I shuffle tropes like a tarot deck. On a wild, rugged Big Sur California beach a woman washes in on a wave, not breathing, no heartbeat, a ring of bruises around her throat. She’s revived by a “tortured protagonist,” Adam, isolated and tormented by his past actions (and inactions), but she has no memory of her past other than part of her name, Elle. “Amnesia!” you say. Exactly. Elle doesn’t know who tried to kill her. It could be anyone in nearby Gothic, the “quaint, isolated village where everyone is a suspect,” a classic trope Agatha Christie many times employed to perfection. But what to read when you finish POINT LAST SEEN? Dip into this marvelous list of tropes and suspense: THIN ICE by Paige Shelton I met Paige while autographing with her at Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Arizona, and I was instantly drawn to her mystery THIN ICE. It’s set in Alaska (like my suspense WRONG ALIBI), and it embraces every small-town trope readers love: isolation, unpredictable weather, everyone knowing everyone else’s business. There’s also a superfan’s obsession driving the heroine to hide out in Benedict (and underpinning the story with fear and flashbacks), and the mystery of a suicide that isn’t convincing the police chief. A writer with a head injury hiding out in a tiny town in Alaska combined with great character development made this a page-turner. WHEN STARS COLLIDE by Susan Elizabeth Phillips This “opposites attract” story is a lighthearted romantic comedy with a mystery to keep us all grounded, and I finished it in one sitting. Olivia Shore is a standoffish opera singer; Thaddeus Owens is a hardworking jock. Paired together against their will to promote a luxury brand, the sparks fly – not always in a good way. I’ve read all of Phillips’s novels in the Chicago Stars series (this one is number 9, but this could easily be read as a standalone). A frothy beach read! GREEN DARKNESS by Anya Seton Maybe it’s wrong for someone who has written some form of romance for this many years to enjoy a doomed romance this much. But GREEN DARKNESS ticks so many boxes for me. There’s reincarnation and past lives (taking us to Tudor England in the reign of Edward VI) and the kind of twist you never see coming. But will the protagonist get her happy ending? An oldie but goodie! GUILD BOSS by Jayne Castle The fourteenth novel in Jayne’s super successful Ghost Hunters series, GUILD BOSS was amazingly fun! It’s futuristic romantic suspense set on the colony world of Harmony in Illusion Town, a western set in space or as Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek “Wagon Train to the stars!” Lucy Bell may well be a damsel in distress, but she doesn’t need saving, even from Guild Hunter, Gabriel Jones. GUILD BOSS hits the high notes with kidnapping, murder, and chemistry between the lead characters that leaps from the page. ONE BY ONE by Ruth Ware I’m a sucker for any reworking of an Agatha Christie story, and ONE BY ONE is no exception. A retelling of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, the claustrophobic, trapped feeling kept me turning the pages long into the night. A corporate group staying in a ski chalet is snowed in after one of their group doesn’t return from the last ski run. As more members die and everyone at the chalet is a suspect, the whodunit aspect combines with a battle against the elements to escalate the tensions to a breaking point. THE HOMEWRECKERS by Mary Kay Andrews A summer read that made me laugh out loud more than once, THE HOMEWRECKERS turns the trend of flipping houses on its head. Mary Kay pulls you in with her descriptions of the swampy Georgia weather and the historic homes of Savannah. And she keeps you turning the pages with a fish out of water Hollywood producer and spine-tingling danger when someone works to derail the project. Combining a dangerous mystery with a will they/won’t they trope? Yes, please! HER DARK LIES by J.T. Ellison A pitch perfect reworking of Daphne Du Maurier’s REBECCA (with a twist!), HER DARK LIES has a heroine with a troubled past, a hero with a dark secret, and a storm that isolates all the guests of their wedding on a remote island off the Italian coast. I was hooked from the start. Scandal, suspense, a mystery surrounding the first wife’s death. Skeletal remains and someone who wants to stop the wedding at any cost. Another amazing thriller from the incomparable J.T! There you have it, a marvelous list of suspense novels to entertain you in the summer’s heat. Embrace your trope. Exalt your trope. Find the stories that appeal, grab a fan, a tall glass of iced tea, and enjoy heart-pounding tales of megalomaniac villains, amateur detectives, attempted murder, cozy and sinister villages, and read your way from summer to autumn…and beyond. *** View the full article -
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The Rec League: More Action Adventure Romance
This Rec League comes from Catherine: Saw the trailer Lost City of D and so excited for an adventure rom-com. It looks awesome! Curious if there are any comedy-adventure-romance books out there people would recommend? Amanda: We did a similar Rec League back in 2014, but maybe there’s something new since then! Sarah: Roxanne St. Claire’s FBI/Bullet Catchers ( A | BN | K | AB ) after often big on the world travel/adventure aspects. A | BN | K | ABThe Last Mile by Kat Martin ( A | BN | K | AB ) seems to fit (I haven’t read it yet). And Partners in Crime by Alisha Rai ( A | BN | K | AB ), which is coming out in October: Vegas heist! Lara: There’s a lot more action in the later novels of Laura Griffin’s Tracers series but the cop stuff is still present. Sarah: Oh! Something Wilder by Christina Lauren Amanda: I’d also say maybe anything by Janet Evanovich. Which books would you recommend? View the full article -
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The Happy Wanderer (Or How I Follow the Hybrid Method of Writing)
When Libby and I are at the beach, we take a walk down our gravel road for her…er, constitutional. On one side, there’s a tidal creek, and at high tide, there may be six or seven feet of water. We might chase a few fiddler crabs or see minnows darting, but mostly, it’s floating sticks or the occasional clump of marsh grass. A perfectly innocent, picturesque tidal creek. But at night, it’s a different story. In the gloomy shadows, it’s a creepy, downright scary stream of doom. Who knows what lurks in those tidal creek depths? Sharp-toothed alligators?! (Yes, there are alligators around here, once seen swimming in the ocean!) Rabid otters? Maybe even a junior sea serpent, or a selkie, or the creature from the marshy Black Lagoon! The point is, my imagination runs wild when the environment changes and that triggers different, not to mention exciting stories as I mentally wander in the darkness. Which brings me to all the stories we write and how a bit of wandering might change everything. I know writers never tire of the pantser vs. plotter writing approach but the longer I create stories, the more I wonder if there are any writers who truly follow one method over the other? It’s not so much a pantser OR a plotter as it is somewhere in between. A pantser/plotter hybrid if you will. At least for me, and at least for fiction. And I’m pretty okay with mixing it up. Some of my best stories come from a bit of mental wandering in the middle of the firmest plot notes. It’s exciting when I stop for a moment and think, “What if?” When I dutifully check my carefully enumerated points and know what I’m supposed to be writing but I pause…and then say to myself, “Cathy, old girl, what if you just mosey down this interesting trail?” And once that happens, I sigh and wave a fond farewell to my painstakingly-written plot notes. I swallow the red pill and fall down the rabbit hole to something entirely different from what I meticulously planned. Sometimes, it can be glorious writing that brings out surprising truths in my characters and story, truths I didn’t know were lurking right there, under the surface! And sometimes, it can be a colossal waste of time and energy and a big, fat clump of dead-end sticks. But as you can probably guess, only the writing of the wandering will tell. In my latest manuscript, I had—as I almost always do—a fairly firm plot all worked out. A wonderful plot. Really. But somewhere along the way, I strayed off the track. Honestly, I don’t remember exactly where or what made me pause, sit back in my chair, and ask, “What if?” I only know, to paraphrase the famous Frost poem: Two plots diverged in a manuscript and I— I took the one I wandered by, And that has made all the difference. (So what do you think? Do you mix it up with your writing methods or will you stand by your style, no matter what? Also, bonus points if you recognized the song alluded to in the title of this post!) ~Cathy C. Hall(C) Copyright wow-womenonwriting.com Visit WOW! Women On Writing for lively interviews and how-tos. Check out WOW!'s Classroom and learn something new. Enter the Quarterly Writing Contests. Open Now![url={url}]View the full article[/url] -
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Links: Paddington, Beyonce, & More
Hey hey! It’s Wednesday! I’m currently listening to a chunky fly buzz around my room, while my cat Linus does not give two single fucks about it. The heat is about to break in New England (yay!) and just in time for me to attend an Emo Night concert. Gonna bust out the spiked jewelry and band t-shirts and I’m really excited. Sometimes, your girl just has to dance. I’m sure some of you get it! Monday night, I took an edible before bed to help with some sleep troubles. Tuesday morning, I woke up with an Uber Eats notification. Apparently, high Amanda planned ahead and scheduled for McDonald’s hashbrowns to be delivered in the morning. Also Linus loves his chicken-flavored thyroid meds, for which I am so thankful. … Thank you to S. who sent me this link! Monday was International Cat Day and Google had something cute to celebrate. As of Tuesday night, it still works! … Saturday, August 20th is Bookstore Romance Day! I’m running a virtual panel that afternoon, if any of you are available and want to attend. (Register here!) I’d love to have ya! You can also check to see if your local independent bookstore is doing something in celebration. … Beverly Jenkins and Courtney Milan were on WBUR’s Here & Now to talk about diversity in historical romance. You can listen to the 11-minute clip here! … Beyonce’s new album dropped and Tara shared this link in our Slack. The New York Public Library paired together reading recommendations with each track. Have you listed to Renaissance yet? What do you think of the reading recs? … Need a wholesome boost? How about a Twitter account that photoshops Paddington Bear into movies? … Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way! View the full article -
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Graphic Novels, Holiday Romances, & More
Scandal Never Sleeps RECOMMENDED: Scandal Never Sleeps by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake is $3.99! Elyse read this one and really enjoyed it, though she did find it hard to classify in terms of genre: I was pleasantly surprised by Scandal Never Sleeps. It was the hot contemporary I wanted but with a side of delicious mystery, and I’m looking forward to finding out what happens next in Seduction in Session. They are the Perfect Gentlemen of Creighton Academy: privileged, wealthy, powerful friends with a wild side. But a deadly scandal is about to tear down their seemingly ideal lives . . . Maddox Crawford’s sudden death sends Gabriel Bond reeling. Not only is he burying his best friend, he’s cleaning up Mad’s messes, including his troubled company. Grieving and restless, Gabe escapes his worries in the arms of a beautiful stranger. But his mind-blowing one-night stand is about to come back to haunt him . . . Mad groomed Everly Parker to be a rising star in the executive world. Now that he’s gone, she’s sure her job will be the next thing she mourns, especially after she ends up accidentally sleeping with her new boss. If only their night together hadn’t been so incendiary—or Gabe like a fantasy come true . . . As Gabe and Everly struggle to control the heated tension between them, they discover evidence that Mad’s death was no accident. Now they must bank their smoldering passions to hunt down a murderer—because Mad had secrets that someone was willing to kill for, and Gabe or Everly could be the next target . . . Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. The Prince and the Dressmaker RECOMMENDED: The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang is 99c! I adore this graphic novel so much. A genderfluid prince seeks out a seamstress to make beautiful dresses. The artwork is gorgeous and it’s a hefty graphic novel, which I liked because I wanted to prolong the reading experience as much as possible. I will issue a warning for a a very public outing scene. Paris, at the dawn of the modern age: Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride—or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia—the hottest fashion icon in the world capital of fashion! Sebastian’s secret weapon (and best friend) is the brilliant dressmaker Frances—one of only two people who know the truth: sometimes this boy wears dresses. But Frances dreams of greatness, and being someone’s secret weapon means being a secret. Forever. How long can Frances defer her dreams to protect a friend? Jen Wang weaves an exuberantly romantic tale of identity, young love, art, and family. A fairy tale for any age, The Prince and the Dressmaker will steal your heart. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. Hood Feminism RECOMMENDED: Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall is $1.99! Tara gave it an A: If anyone is looking for a way to step up their conversations about race, taking them beyond surface level, I highly recommend it. It will equip you with a better understanding of the various systems of oppression currently in place so you’ll not only be able to say “that’s racist,” you’ll also understand and be able to explain why, and do the work of being an accomplice. A potent and electrifying critique of today’s feminist movement announcing a fresh new voice in black feminism Today’s feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. That feminists refuse to prioritize these issues has only exacerbated the age-old problem of both internecine discord and women who rebuff at carrying the title. Moreover, prominent white feminists broadly suffer from their own myopia with regard to how things like race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender. How can we stand in solidarity as a movement, Kendall asks, when there is the distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others? In her searing collection of essays, Mikki Kendall takes aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women. Drawing on her own experiences with hunger, violence, and hypersexualization, along with incisive commentary on politics, pop culture, the stigma of mental health, and more, Hood Feminism delivers an irrefutable indictment of a movement in flux. An unforgettable debut, Kendall has written a ferocious clarion call to all would-be feminists to live out the true mandate of the movement in thought and in deed. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. The Holiday Swap The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox is $2.99! This is a contemporary holiday romance that features one of my least favorite tropes: the twin switcheroo. But hey, your mileage may vary and I’m not here to yuck anyone’s yum. A feel-good, holiday-themed romantic comedy about identical twins who switch lives in the days leading up to Christmas–perfect for fans of Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze and Josie Silver’s One Day in December. All they want for Christmas is a different life. When chef Charlie Goodwin gets hit on the head on the L.A. set of her reality baking show, she loses a lot more than consciousness; she also loses her ability to taste and smell–both critical to her success as show judge. Meanwhile, Charlie’s identical twin, Cass, is frantically trying to hold her own life together back in their quaint mountain hometown while running the family’s bustling bakery and dealing with her ex, who won’t get the memo that they’re over. With only days until Christmas, a desperate Charlie asks Cass to do something they haven’t done since they were kids: switch places. Looking for her own escape from reality, Cass agrees. But temporarily trading lives proves more complicated than they imagined, especially when rugged firefighter Jake Greenman and gorgeous physician’s assistant Miguel Rodriguez are thrown into the mix. Will the twins’ identity swap be a recipe for disaster, or does it have all the right ingredients for getting their lives back on track? Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. View the full article -
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New York Pitch and Algonkian Pre-event Assignments - 2022
Monterey Writers' Retreat 2022 Nell Sweeney Story Statement Maura, a struggling PhD student in her late twenties, must discover the truth about her sister’s death after receiving a flash drive full of neurological research. Did Clare, an artist and socialite with a history of mental illness, kill herself, or is a deeper conspiracy at play? The Antagonist Lazer Labs, a corrupt pharmaceutical company, is the main villain. A history of exaggerated data and employees who went missing abroad in the 1980s and 1990s is inherited by the current CEO, Peter White, who is continuing the tradition of illegal acts in the relentless pursuit of wealth. The missing research Maura receives via flash drive is the golden goose that would seal a merger and allow Mr. White to retire fabulously wealthy. Thus, he sends his fixer after Maura with instructions to secretly procure the research. The lab’s illegal activities have been successful because they have flown under the radar, so the fixer’s initial directive is to steal the research non-violently at first. When this proves difficult, he begins to employ more sinister means. Title Entomology Comparables The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian: this book is an excellent blend of thriller meets speculative fiction with a touch of literary sensibility. Bohjalian’s lead character stumbles upon a major conspiracy surrounding a drug company while dealing with her inner demons. This is strikingly similar to the main elements of my novel, Entomology. The Push by Audrey Audrain: this book captures the almost claustrophobic closeness to the main character and her inner thoughts that I have attempted in my novel. Audrain’s narrator is plagued by her own doubts and insecurities surrounding several “accidents” caused by her daughter; similarly, Maura is unsure of her suspicions surrounding her own sister’s death. Hook/Logline After receiving a flash drive full of mysterious neurological research, Maura begins to suspect that her sister’s supposed suicide was foul play. As she investigates Clare’s death, she must confront her own inner demons and a possible conspiracy – one that may cost her life. Inner Conflict Maura faces two main inner conflicts throughout the narrative. The first is her own depression and insecurity, which has been triggered both by a recent breakup and burnout in her PhD program. As a result, she relies heavily on drugs and alcohol following Clare’s death. We see this at Clare’s funeral as Maura becomes progressively drunker, ending the evening as a sobbing mess in bed. The second is her relationship with her father, who is a serial philanderer and left Maura’s mother while Maura was a child. Maura has a lot of unhealed resentment towards him for his absenteeism and unfaithfulness, but faces her own moral quandary when she falls in love with a married detective. Setting Most of the novel takes place in a snowy, noir version of New York City. Clare’s apartment (where Maura is staying) is a gorgeous pre-war condo that is beautifully furnished with marble, brass, and velvet textures, but feels “un-lived in.” Whenever Maura ventures outside, the streets are full of menacing shadows and the sound of footsteps just behind her. Cold pervades the story, and Maura often visits large, frigid churches as a place of reflection although she is not religious. The homes she visits – that of a neighbor, as well as her father – all echo her internal feelings of not belonging, either to a certain social set or the general happiness she seems unable to attain. -
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DENIAL by Jon Raymond, reviewed by T.O.Munro
The phrase climate fiction and its abbreviation cli-fi was coined by journalist Dan Bloom[i] in a 2011 Press release for a novel Polar City Red (2012). Since then, the appellation has expanded to encompass a genre-transcending sprawl of works addressing the theme of anthropogenic climate change. Both authors and activists may still hope for that single silver bullet of a novel which will focus and energise public attention in the way that Nevil Shute’s On The Beach (1957) did to stimulate a drive for nuclear disarmament, or Anne Sewell’s Black Beauty (1877) moved people to address the cruel working conditions of horses in Victorian times. However, the wicked complexity of climate change and its geopolitical context means its totality lies beyond the power of any single work to address. Instead, cli-fi continues to advance on several fronts and in different forms of literature. Like comedy, cli-fi also draws heavily on its context. As the effects of climate change become more obvious and the climate change deniers pivot to climate inactivism, there is a shift in focus within cli-fi from the consequences of climate change to the causes of climate change, or more specifically the causers of climate change. The Australian academic Stewart King (2021) [ii] Coined a new term of crimate fiction to capture that subset of works within cli-fi which use crime fiction’s approaches to address the global criminality behind climate change. As King puts it, “crimate fictions frame the causes of human-induced climate change as a criminal act of which there is a victim and for which those responsible should be held accountable”[iii] King applied this concept to an analysis of Antti Tuomainen’s Finnish noir novel The Healer (2013) in which the poet protagonist is searching for his wife who has been kidnapped by a serial killer – the eponymous Healer. Tuomainen’s future Helsinki is gripped by crises of flooding, refugees and social disorder as society succumbs to the now unavoidable outrun of climate change. The Healer is on a mission of vigilante justice, setting out to murder corporate executives (and their families) who, through their actions and inactions, he holds responsible for climate change. Both Ross Clark’s The Denial (2020) (which I reviewed in my previous post) and Jon Raymond’s Denial (2022) – reviewed below – address this notion of climate change as a criminal act requiring an enforcement of accountability. Both books depict a near future world where climate activism has control of the levers of political power. Fossil fuel executives have been criminalised and, if not imprisoned, have fled to take refuge under aliases in South or Central American. For Ross Clark in The Denial, the Nazi parallels are implicit and – given the rest of the text – somewhat uncomfortable. Clark’s inferences appear to be that the executives stand unjustly accused where the fascist sobriquet would be more properly levelled at Clark’s imagined future environmental activists with their thuggish wing of Greenshirts – a none too subtle parallel with Hitler’s Brownshirts and Moseley’s Blackshirts. However, the flight of the executives is only one quickly forgotten strand as The Denial tracks back and forth across Clark’s favourite climate journalism themes espousing climate change inactivism in a rather messy and exposition laden polemic. For Jon Raymond in Denial, the parallels with the pursuit of Nazi war criminal are absolutely front and centre explicit as Raymond’s protagonist – the journalist Jack Henry – tracks down fugitive climate criminal Robert Cave to his hideaway in Guadalajara in Mexico. The Toronto climate trials of 2032 are widely recognised within the text as being modelled on the post-war Nuremberg trials. The prosecutor’s legal arguments embracing a concept of “crimes against life” are set up to rival Nuremberg’s “crimes against humanity”[iv]; the rejection of the defence of ”ignorance” or “the never-acted-upon conscience” mirrors Nuremberg’s rejection of the defence of “only obeying orders.”[v] Cave was an “empty chair” at the Toronto trials, one of eight who evaded capture and were tried and convicted in absentia. The extent to which Raymond draws inspiration from the pursuit of fugitive Nazis is clear in the text’s detailed reference to the 1994 exposure of Erich Priebke who was found hiding in plain view in Argentina by American reporter Sam Donaldson. Raymond’s protagonist and his boss even make frequent references to “the Donaldson” for the planned big reveal moment – referencing Donaldson’s candid camera interview of Priebke caught by surprise as he was just about to get into his car (seen here). Furthermore, Raymond’s Cave echoes Priebke in working in a school, wearing a fedora and – in what feels anachronistic in a climate changed future Mexico – a camel coat. With its focus on three main characters (Henry, Cave and Sobie – Henry’s romantic interest) and utilising the greater intimacy of its first-person point of view, Raymond’s Denial is a deeper and richer novel than Clark’s The Denial. Raymond’s writing is fluid, his imagery powerful and the elegant lines of prose are full of thought-provoking moments. I had many marginal notes of “nice line” and, aside from any cli-fi agenda, this was a very enjoyable read. For example When Henry, undercover as ‘Jake’, meets Cave, under his alias of ‘Bob’, they find a shared affection for the writing of Mark Twain which unlocks the companionship of conversation. We shook hands, two readers far from home, two liars who’d found a magnet of truth. (p. 67) When Henry, experiencing a health scare about a debilitating brain disease tries to conduct a self-assessment of his condition by rifling through memories “I roamed every year, every season, picking up impressions and checking them for damage.” (p. 124) Despite the inner and outer conflicts faced by his characters, Raymond was determined to avoid the dystopian visions of the future that characterised much – even the majority – of early cli-fi.[vi] Dystopias have been a fertile vista for speculative fiction in general and sci-fi in particular from the early days of John Wyndham with The Day of the Triffids (1951) and The Kraken Wakes (1953) or J.D.Ballard’s The Drowned World (1962). Climate change gave authors a new perspective – one rooted more in contemporary scientific reality – from which to explore the defamiliarizing effect of an end of civilisation era. However, Raymond deliberately sets out to portray a familiar setting to show that a world as we know it has not ended with the outrun of the climate crisis. As Raymond said in a recent (22/7/2022) interview with Conner Reed for Portland Monthly “The goal was to avoid the dystopic and the apocalyptic, which are narrative modes that maybe at one time served a purpose, but at this point, have come to seem just like a wish fulfilment fantasy to me, or some sort of death trip. It doesn’t really take that much imagination. It seemed like a much more difficult project was to imagine a future that maintains human and animal life in some way. I’m so tired with that eschatological way of thinking where there will be some Year Zero that occurs, some absolute break. I was much more concerned with the continuities that would probably occur.” (Raymond, 2022) Consequently, Raymond gives us much that is recognisable, people still shop, attend optometrists, fly away on holidays – cultural activities like Basketball leagues and bull fighting continue. Denial is, in many ways, a more encouraging vision of the future than we see in Ross Clark’s the Denial with its cold, poor and hungry UK population suffering under the incompetence of a dysfunctional government (which sounds a bit too contemporaneously familiar tbh). However, just because climate criminals have been identified and prosecuted in the wake of a popular 2030s movement called “the upheavals,” that doesn’t mean Jack Henry is living in some utopia where all the climate problems have been resolved. The revolutionary zeal has not carried forward into uniform action. Raymond differs from Clark in how he attributes blame for global society’s failure to properly capture and “capitalise” (forgive the unfortunate term!) on this moment in history. Rather than accuse poor science, extravagant activism, or government cowardice and incompetence, Raymond references the inexorable power of the status quo. The news that Henry scans is full of extreme weather events and rogue government actions that continue to undermine action and taint the potential fruits of the awakening that came with the upheavals. “Toronto had been one of the many fronts in the war of re-imagining the future. Twenty years later we still didn’t know if we’d won that war or not.” (p. 25) Through my first cup of coffee I checked the news, tracking the horrors unfolding around the globe. Megafires in South America, cyclones in Oklahoma, refugee riots in India. (p. 17) “I’d read that morning about a junta in Africa secretly fracking its mountain ranges. The global coalition’s satellites had discovered the sites, and there was nothing anyone could do.” (p. 154) Detail abounds with how the world has turned and yet, not just culturally but politically, all remains the same. “So many new villains to keep track of, so many compromises to swallow.” (p. 25) The portrayal of the settings of Portland and Mexico are exquisitely detailed, but there is a strong sense of scenes and settings that Raymond wanted to work into a novel, be it the bullfight at end or the José Orozco murals, or indeed the whole Cave-Priebke analogy. It as though an artist had found some different but characterful pieces of wood that they wanted to combine into a single sculpture. To that extent it does at times feel as though the story has been led by the need to incorporate those scenes and settings, rather than letting the narrative finds its own path. As a piece of cli-fi, there are couple of elements which might raise an eyebrow or a hackle or two. The first is the strangely incomplete projection into the future – part old, part new. Amy Brady, reviewing Denial in Scientific American noted that “storytelling plays such a crucial role in the fight to find a way out of the climate crisis,” but felt that Denial “does not go far enough.”[vii] The reviewer found anachronisms and perceived a failure not simply to show the cultural transformation that would have occurred but to project contemporary technology forward “the fact that Raymond missed this opportunity to imagine a future with realistic details is one … glaring distraction.” Raymond, in interview, responded that the reviewer, ”seemed all pissy because the book was so not interested in the futurism of technologies.” (my emboldening) (Raymond, 2022) That approach may originate in Raymond’s desire to focus on the study of characters, setting and set piece interaction rather than world building, and world building is an aspect of the book where one should not look too deeply for scientific fidelity. Not only do people continue to fly to Mexico on holiday but, apart from the smoke of wildfires, there is little indication that Mexico’s climate has become any more uncomfortably hot. There were a couple of apparent scientific faux-pas around ozone layers and eclipses which threw me out of the narrative in the same way that Piggy’s glasses in Lord of the Flies (among other science glitches) did. It’s probably more of a niche annoyance from my Physics teacher background so I will save it for a footnote.[1] However, one should definitely not scratch too deeply on how Robert Cave eluded detection for so long. Here the homage to the Priebke-Donaldson case does Denial a disservice. In a pre-internet era, Priebke escaped discovery until someone by chance stumbled across an Argentinian local history in a second hand-book shop that alluded to Priebke’s past Nazi connection. However, for Cave – a well-known face, sheltering only under a change of name – to have escaped notice for 20 years until a friend of Henry’s holidaying in Mexico just happens to be the very first person in two decades to notice and recognise him does stretch credulity, especially as Henry’s entire work as a journalist involves sifting through the tide of freely available internet style information to draw connections and compose stories. The second issue that one might take with the book is the sympathetic treatment of the fugitive climate criminal Cave. The Scientific American review again notes a dissatisfaction in the way that Henry “grapples in the abstract with the ethics of sentencing a kind old man to die in prison while acknowledging that the man deserves to be punished.” (Brady, 2022). Raymond, however, has not shied away from Cave’s criminality – particularly around his past activities in misinformation and bogus statistics as he made ‘“the moral case for fossil fuels” at colleges and pseudo-academic symposia.’ (p. 26) Furthermore, in a fascinating interaction between Henry and Cave that precedes the intended “Donaldson” moment, Raymond has Cave reflect on the Toronto accused and their crimes, without revealing his own identity, or realising Henry’s. “That’s the lesson of Toronto isn’t it. Wilful ignorance is no defense. Denial is an act of will. The Toronto gang was engaged in a systematic assault on life on earth. They were profiteering from it, sowing disinformation. It was a death cult” (p. 153) Cave also talks about the transformation in energy use as he admires his electric car with its two thousand mile range. “They said we couldn’t break the fossil fuel habit,” he said… “but they were wrong. The car is a wonder. It’s remarkable how humanity can adapt. Thank god for the Upheavals, I say.” (p. 151) And looking back “I look back and it’s incredible to think how we used to function. We once blocked rivers and burned gas and coal to run our grids…That seems so crude now, so stupid, when you can just harvest energy anywhere in little packets.” (p. 153) In portraying Cave’s damascene conversion, a realisation of the iniquity of the fossil fuelled past and the reality of better alternatives, Raymond is perhaps acknowledging that the most powerful voices are of those who have changed their minds rather than those who always believed. (In a similar vein a UK Leave voter who now appreciates the mis-sold con-trick nature of Brexit may have more hope of being listened to than anyone from the “always Remainer” contingent.) Another epiphany on the process of pursuing Cave comes in a conversation between Henry and his romantic interest Sobie. “He isn’t hurting anyone right now. He doesn’t have any power. Why do it?” “It’s about setting an example.” “I suppose,” she said. “You don’t think it’s just a way to make everyone else in the world feel innocent?” (p. 184) This notion of making others feel innocent touches on a theme addressed by Sarah Dimick[viii] in her essay ‘From Species to Suspect: Climate Crime in Antti Tuomainen’s The Healer.’ Dimick notes that there is a continuum of guilt in the climate crisis. For example, Toumainen’s poet protagonist is less guilty than the executives that the Healer targets, but more guilty than the refugee Hamid who taxis him around Helsinki. At the same time Hamid is complicit in the climate crisis in continuing to use diesel. As Dimick notes “if human agency in an altered climate is inherently collective, what happens to the idea of crime—a concept that gains much of its ethical force through the dichotomy between the guilty and the innocent?” (Dimick, p. 22) This idea of acknowledging a place along the continuum of guilt, rather than imposing responsibility in its entirety on a few individuals, underpins Cave and Henry’s interactions. It also, inevitably has its parallels in the Nuremberg trials that Raymond references so explicitly. The trials in compressing guilt onto the shoulders of a few individuals excused, elided, acquitted even, the complicity of wider social and economic leaders. It wasn’t until 1970 with Willy Brandt’s genuflection at the Warsaw Memorial that a discussion and acceptance within Germany of wider national guilt for the atrocities of the second world war became possible.[ix] Much as Sobie sees the pursuit of Cave as a way “to make everyone else in the world feel innocent” so too Cave sees the Toronto accused as placeholders for wider humanity’s guilt. “That’s how justice works. We choose someone and we make an example so we know the limits. Those people stood for many. Someone had to be the representative.” (p. 152) And when asked about the ones that got away “What about them.. the people on trial represented organisations. The names were arbitrary…You can’t indict everyone. And anyway, they’ll all be judged someday. Even the consumers.” (p. 154) The last phrase there – “Even the consumers” – is a sharp observation on those of us at the bottom of the Ponzi scheme that is late-stage capitalism. It takes a shot at the growth delusion, the notion that we must endlessly buy more products to sustain the economy even as the built-in obsolescence accelerates the turnover in iPhones and other trappings of western luxury. It reminded me of Russell T. Davies’s excellent series Years and Years[x] and another such poignant moment – Anne Reid as the matriarchal grandmother delivering a monologue to her family where she asserts that the dire state of the world is “all our fault.” We have been seduced by the allure of the £1 T-shirt and the depersonalised convenience of supermarket self-checkouts, (here is a link to the speech on facebook.) It also made me think of Buffy Sainte Marie’s anti-war ballad, the Universal Soldier[xi] which asserts individual responsibility with its line “He’s the universal soldier and he really is to blame.” Perhaps the lyrics could be rewritten to indict “The universal consumer.”?! As Raymond observed in interview, One of the interesting things about the climate problem is that it’s hard to draw lines of guilt and innocence or virtue and non-virtue, (Raymond, 2022) This is not to say that all are equally guilty. Cave, in discussing the conquistadors depicted in Orozco’s murals, wonders whether any other nation would have been any less cruel a coloniser if an accident of technology had given them the opportunity. Innocence, in this argument, is more a matter of never having had the opportunity to be guilty. “No one is not guilty on earth. No one is not implicated in the crime of living… Granted,” he said, gazing on the vile Cortes, “some are more guilty than others.” (p. 85) While its portrayal of the future may not ring entirely true, Denial is a characterful interrogation of the entangled themes of collective guilt and climate change. Raymond deliberately avoids both the simplicity of a villain who is just some evil guy with a lap cat who had performed horrible deeds. (Raymond, 2022) and also the suggestion that the battle to address climate change can be won in a single moment of social and political upheaval. However, as misinformation swirls around the climate crisis – and Cave’s fictional advocacy of “the moral case for fossil fuels” echoes Alex Epstein’s book of the same title[xii] – it is interesting to reflect on this quote attributed to Mark Twain (for whom Cave and Henry share an affection which sparks their unlikely companionship). “It’s easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they have been fooled.” The writers of cli-fi will doubtless continue striving to illuminate the foolery of fossil fuel addiction and try to convince the fooled to keep the fossil fuels in the ground. [1] Ozone In a relatively rare acknowledgement of an impact of climate change, Raymond has Henry’s informant Jeff appear very sunburnt after a holiday in Guadalajara, which Jeff attributes to having lost his hat and “I think the ozone layer is closer in Mexico or something.” (p. 22) Possibly this is intended to reflect Jeff’s ignorance, but the hole in the ozone layer as an environmental issue that is both entirely distinct from Global warming and which also has been resolved by international co-operation. This is a point I found myself making in too many classrooms to be able to gloss over this line. Eclipse Later in the book when Henry and Sobie are witnessing a total eclipse, Raymond describes them watching “the pale moon emerge over the horizon, climbing towards the sun’s trajectory.” (p186) However, eclipses occur when the moon is “infront” of the Earth with its dark, unlit side facing us. The moon would be simply invisible at that point, totally unseen until it impinged on the sun’s disc which heightened the terror of eclipses for ancient peoples. Piggy’s glasses – suffering from short sightedness, Piggy’s spectacles would have diverging/concave lenses which would spread the sunlight out rather than focus it in. This would make them useless for focussing sunlight to start fires. If Piggy’s lenses had been convex focussing lenses, then that would mean he was longsighted and would easily have seen the rock coming – spoiling another plot point. [i] (Bloom, 2018) [ii] (King, 2021) [iii] (King, 2021, p. 1237) [iv] (Goda, 2021) [v] (Holocaust and Human Behavior, Obeying Orders, n.d.) [vi] As Adeline Johns-Putra put it “overwhelmingly, climate change appears in novels as part of a futuristic dystopian and/or postapocalyptic setting. In such novels, climate change is depicted … often as part of an overall collapse including technological over-reliance, economic instability, and increased social division.” (2016, p. 269) [vii] (Brady, 2022) [viii] (Dimick, 2018) [ix] (Hille, Romaniec, & Bosen, 2020) [x] (Davies, 2019) [xi] (Sainte-Marie, 1964) [xii] (Epstein, 2014) References Ballard, J. (1962). The Drowned World. New York: Berkley Books. Bloom, D. (2018, November 2016). The future for cli-fi: interview with Dan Bloom. (B. McBride, Interviewer) Liverpool: Literature and Science Hub, University of Liverpool. Retrieved from https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/literature-and-science/archive/blog/ecologyandenvironment/danbloom/ Brady, A. (2022, June 16). Climate Destroyers Go to Jail, Martian Travel Guide, Bee Interiority, and More. Retrieved August 1, 2022, from Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-destroyers-go-to-jail-martian-travel-guide-bee-interiority-and-more/ Clark, R. (2020). The Denial. London: Lume Books. Davies, R. T. (2019, June 18). Years and Years. (A. Reid, Performer) BBC, United Kingdom. Dimick, S. (2018). ‘From Species to Suspect: Climate Crime in Antti Tuomainen’s The Healer’. Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, 51(3), 19-35. Epstein, A. (2014). The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. Goda, N. (2021, September 15). Crimes Against Humanity and the Development of International Law. Retrieved from nationalww2museum.org: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/crimes-against-humanity-international-law Hille, P., Romaniec, R., & Bosen, R. (2020, December 6). Poland and Germany: 50 years since Willy Brandt’s historic gesture. Retrieved from dw.com: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-poland-reconciliation-willy-brandt/a-55828523 Holocaust and Human Behavior, Obeying Orders. (n.d.). Retrieved from Facing History and Ourselves: https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-and-human-behavior/chapter-10/obeying-orders Johns-Putra, A. (2016, March/April). Climate change in literature and literary studies: From cli-fi, climate change theatre and eco-poetry to ecocriticism and climate change criticism. (M. Hulme, Ed.) WIREs Climate Change,, 7, 266-282. doi: 10.1002/wcc.385 King, S. (2021). Crimate Fiction and the Environmental imagination of place. The Journal of Popular Culture, 54(6), 1235-1253. Laughter, J. (2012). Polar City Red. Deadly Niche Press. Raymond, J. (2022). Denial. New York: Simon & Schuster. Raymond, J. (2022, July 22). Denial Presents a Compellingly Low-Key Vision of Post-Revolution Portland. (C. Reed, Interviewer) Portland: Portland Monthly. Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://www.pdxmonthly.com/arts-and-culture/2022/07/denial-jon-raymond-portland-author-interview Sainte-Marie, B. (1964). Universal Soldier [Recorded by B. Sainte-Marie]. Sewell, A. (1877). Black Beauty. Norwich: Jarrold & Sons. Shute, N. (1957). On The Beach. London: Heinemann. Tuomainen, A. (2013). The Healer. (L. Rogers, Trans.) New York: Henry Holt & Company. Wyndham, J. (1951). The Day of the Triffids. London: Penguin. Wyndham, J. (1953). The Kraken Wakes. London: Penguin. The post DENIAL by Jon Raymond, reviewed by T.O.Munro appeared first on The Fantasy Hive. View the full article -
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To Tell the Truth
What was the last lie you told? Who did you lie to? Why? Even though the truth can be difficult to discern these days, most of us tell the truth the majority of the time, and when we lie it’s usually to say “I’m fine” when we’re really not or “it was delicious!” when it really wasn’t. A University of Alabama study last year showed that most people tell 1-2 lies a day, and 90 percent of those are of the little white lie variety. Yet what people lie about, who they lie to, and why they lie is one of the deepest and most revealing things about character. Lying, as Martha Beck points out in her book The Way of Integrity (Viking, 2021), is “the most important of all the vices, because without lying you can’t practice any other vice consistently.” Fiction is filled with famous liars, from Odysseus to Obi Wan Kenobi to any one of the main characters in more current best-sellers (remember the pathological liar(s) in Gone Girl?) There are lies that are actual untruths, lies that omit the full truth, and gray lies, the half-truths we all deal in more frequently than we’d like to admit. And the most interesting and most revealing lies are the lies we tell ourselves. While we often think of integrity as being honest, what it really means is being whole. People with integrity tell the truth to themselves as well as to others; their inner lives and outer lives match. The ultimate betrayal after all, is not the betrayal that wounds a friend, a lover, a spouse, or even a child—it’s the betrayal of the part of ourselves that is honest, noble, and kind. For the vast majority of us, living with a lie is uncomfortable or even agonizing. It’s a difficult way to live, but it also is exactly the kind of difficult that adds layers of depth to fictional characters and makes for great reading. As you get to know the characters you’re creating in your WIP, think about the lies they tell. Consider: What lies does your character tell and to whom? Think about a lie your character has told. What are they hiding with the lie? What are they afraid might happen if the person they’re lying to knew the truth? We lie for myriad reasons, from wanting to impress others to wanting to protect ourselves or someone else. Who we are lying to tells a lot about the motivation behind the lie. How much does your character care about fitting in? Behavioral economist Dan Ariely conducted studies on cheating. He found that when people see someone in their “in group” cheat, they’re more comfortable with cheating and more likely to cheat. Is your character a basically honest person who might be willing to lie or bend the rules if their close friends were? How far would they go in lying or cheating before they decided there’s a line they won’t cross, even if it alienates someone close to them? Who do they want to be? Deception expert Pamela Meyer, who wrote the book Liespotting (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2011), says lying is an attempt to bridge the gap between our wishes and our fantasies about who we wish we were with who we really are. Who hasn’t shaved a few pounds off when talking about our weight, added a few inches when discussing height, or exaggerated the danger inherent in something we did to make ourselves sound bolder? Dan Ariely also found in his studies that when researchers reminded people of a moral code—say by asking them to swear on a Bible (even if they were atheists)—those people were less likely to be dishonest. How important is moral behavior in your character’s value system? What do they hunger for? At the bottom of all deception is a hunger for something we desperately want and don’t have—love, admiration, success. Dig deep into the lies your character tells and you’ll find their deepest desire which is, as we all know, the secret to every great story. What’s the biggest lie your character tells? What lies do they tell themselves? What does that reveal about who they are and what values they hold dear? About Kathleen McClearyKathleen McCleary is the author of three novels—House and Home, A Simple Thing, and Leaving Haven—and has worked as a bookseller, bartender, and barista (all great jobs for gathering material for fiction). A Simple Thing (HarperCollins 2012) was nominated for the Library of Virginia Literary Awards. She was a journalist for many years before turning to fiction, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, and USA Weekend, as well as HGTV.com, where she was a regular columnist. She taught writing as an adjunct professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and teaches creative writing to kids ages 8-18 as an instructor with Writopia Labs, a non-profit. She also offers college essay coaching (http://thenobleapp.com), because she believes that life is stressful enough and telling stories of any kind should be exciting and fun. When she's not writing or coaching writing, she looks for any excuse to get out into the woods or mountains or onto a lake. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband and two daughters and Jinx the cat. Web | Twitter | Facebook | More Posts [url={url}]View the full article[/url] -
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Meg Gardiner: What It Was Like to Write a Prequel/Sequel to the Classic Film ‘Heat’ with Michael Mann
If I can pinpoint the moment when I knew that writing a novel with Michael Mann was different than working on one solo, it’s the day I got on the phone with a bank robber. Michael and I were doing research for our thriller Heat 2. Heat 2 is Michael’s first novel, my first time collaborating on a book, and this was my first experience asking a retired robber how to pull off a bank tunnel job. I’ve written more than a dozen thrillers. I’ve done extensive research for every one. But nowhere close to this. I was diving into the Michael Mann world, exploring this story, these characters, and his way of working, alongside him. Daunting? Michael is my favorite filmmaker, an icon, who wrote the screenplays for Heat, The Insider, Manhunter, Last of the Mohicans, and Ali. He was the executive producer of Miami Vice and Crime Story. A four-time Academy Award nominee. Two-time Emmy award winner. I knew that writing this novel would be challenging. Heat 2 is both a prequel and sequel to his classic film Heat, which starred Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, and Natalie Portman. Heat is about bank robber Neil McCauley (De Niro) and the relentless cop who pursues him, Vincent Hanna (Pacino). It’s a cat-and-mouse story that explodes into bone-rattling action, with two protagonists on opposite sides of the law: master thief and LAPD Robbery-Homicide detective. It’s about their intense conflict but also their rapport, and—after a bank robbery turns downtown Los Angeles into a warzone—their deadly showdown. The novel would expand on the world of that film, with a brand new standalone story. Daunting—certainly. But then we started writing. Michael and I knew each other’s work. We had to navigate how to work together. Heat 2 is Michael’s original story, with characters he created and has known for decades. It’s his premise. The novel is our joint conception and execution. Michael’s vision, his grasp of story and character, his work ethic, exacting standards, and his commitment to immersing himself in the world he’s writing about are legendary, and the legend is accurate. Michael is also a generous and openminded collaborator. All of that challenged me, in the best way, to bring my A Game every day. To get it right—whether that was an action sequence, the voice of a character in dialogue, or the tech available in the years when the book is set. Entering the world of Heat carried the weight of responsibility. Michael put his indelible characters into my hands, and expected me to dive deep into their world. And he expected me to understand them. Fortunately, he gave me the space to figure out who they are, where their limits and moral lines are, and how that guides the story. He sent me character biographies he’d written before filming Heat—material that didn’t make it into the film, written as background for the actors. He knew these people. I needed to get inside them. And to bring new characters onto the scene who were equally compelling. To work out their fates, and the most thrilling, suspenseful way to lead them to that point. Novels and screenplays are different creatures. For a writer, moving from screenplays to novels is like jumping from a Formula 1 Ferrari into an F35 fighter. We hoped our skills would complement and amplify each other’s. Michael’s Heat script is electrifying. Propulsive, vivid, exciting. And the film hits you like an explosion. I have experience telling a story by putting 100,000 words down in print. Knowing how to pace that story. How to build suspense, how to maximize close third person point-of-view to give readers an emotional experience. How to dive deep into a character’s mind with interior monologue. When to show, when to tell. How not to get tangled up in long passages of exposition. How to drive that 400 page story forward. For Heat 2, I wanted to create the same immersive experience on the page that audiences get when they watch one of Michael’s films. A great movie hits you on multiple levels simultaneously—and viscerally. The story. The direction. Cinematography. Music. To replicate that in the novel I used language, rhythm, dialogue, jump cuts between scenes, sentence fragments—all those writer tricks—to submerge readers in tense action. Above all, I knew that no matter the form your story takes, what grips the audience is concern for the characters. Will they accomplish their goal? Is disaster looming? What will they do? Who will live? Who will die? And of course, because Michael Mann was creating this story, we delved deep into research. He immerses himself into the culture of the subject he’s writing about, and the people in it. Their work, attitudes, family life. He searches for an authenticity that will ring true with audiences. So for the novel, we interviewed that retired bank robber. We rode out with two LAPD sergeants late one night through Los Angeles streets the Disneyland tourists avoid. The research was always in the service of giving power to the story. It was about immersing readers in what feels like real, lived drama. Because of COVID, initially we had to write from a distance. We worked out big plot points via phone and email, and sent outlines and chapter drafts back and forth. We juggled time zone differences when I was in Austin and Michael was in Japan, filming Tokyo Vice. We wrote for a year before we finally sat down across from each other at his desk (face to face, like the coffeeshop scene in Heat). By then we had a first draft. We each knew how the other worked. We could write with confidence, sensing when we were on track, and knowing that if we veered off, by hashing out the story we could correct course. And we didn’t hesitate to be frank about calling for revision. This scene needs another pass. The action doesn’t hold up. (Yes, that was Michael’s note to me. He was right.) By the time we reached the final draft, we were swapping chapters back and forth. Editing each other’s scenes. Dividing up individual pages or topics or paragraphs we needed to strengthen or tighten. To get it all the way there. To stick the landing. Heat 2 opens one day after the end of the film, with a wounded Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) holed up in Koreatown, half delirious and desperate to escape LA. Vincent Hanna is hunting him. Hours earlier, Hanna killed Neil McCauley—Chris’s brother in arms—under strobing lights at the foot of an LAX runway. Now Hanna is determined to capture or kill Chris, the last survivor of Neil’s crew, before he ghosts out of the city… Writing this novel was work, hell yeah. But it was exhilarating. And when you trust your co-author, you buckle up and put the pedal down and write until you get it done. What a ride. *** View the full article
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