Don't listen to me, listen to Salman Rushdie

Returning to my roots

My genre is mystery.
It's what I read for pleasure.
It's what I always wanted to write.
When I first started writing fiction, it was crime fiction that I wrote. Sometime the crimes were mixed with fantasy; sometimes with science fiction; sometimes even with romance. But they were always mysteries.
I wrote a long novella as my first mystery and I could not get arrested for it. Then I wrote a shorter novella in the fantasy romance vein and I suddenly started selling books. I wrote a sequel to the fantasy romance and that sold too, as did a couple of novelettes I wrote.
It's nice selling books.
And I very much enjoyed writing them.
But I'm going back to my roots for NANOWRIMO. This November I'm going to write a psychological mystery, my version of the female centric thrillers that are suddenly hot. I have a pretty good idea I think; at least and idea that excites me enough to put my heart into writing every day for a month.
And to celebrate, I bought a cover from The Book Cover Designer, my favorite "go-to" for premade covers.
The designer was Valdas Miskinis  of Book Cover Arts and at no extra charge I was provide three font variations, which was a nice surprise.
Wish me luck with this one.
Because I've missed writing crime.

Vote Early. Vote right now.

One ballot, Four Women

So yes, a woman is running for president, the nominee of a major party.
And also there's Jill Stein, who is running for the Green Party.
But I did not know that there are two other women running for President this year. There's also Gloria La Riva of the Socialism and Liberation Party and there's Alyson Kennedy of the Socialist Worker's Party. You can see Alyson Kennedy talking about a woman's right to choose here. You can see Gloria La Riva's stance on the issues here.
It's interesting looking at the platforms of the two lesser-known candidates. La Riva, for instance, shares my stance on the minimum wage. On her web site you can find this meme--which pretty much sums up La Riva's belief that there is no "lesser evil" among the two main party candidates.
Here's a site where you can download information on Alyson Kennedy and her running mate Osborne Hart.You can download their statements on police brutality and killings, as well as a statement of solidarity for the working people of Syria.

Just Another Day in Paradise has just gone wide!

Back in 2011, I dipped my toes in the indie author waters by releasing a collection of my short fiction called Just Another Day in Paradise. The cover was created by G. Wells Taylor (author of the brilliant Dracula of the Apes trilogy, as well as other horror classics, including Bent Steeple). The photograph was by retired firefighter Keith Cullom, who allowed me to purchase the licensing rights on time because he normally sells to magazines like National Geographic. for a lot more than I had in my budget. (See his amazing photos at Fire Image.)

I wanted that picture!  I'd seen it published in the paper during one of California's apocalyptic wildfires and it took me about three hours of Googling before I tracked down the photographer.

I had the book exclusive to Amazon's Kindle for  years but I decided it twas time to test the waters with other platforms as well. To celebrate going wide, I re-edited the collection, adding 45,000 words of new stories and weeding out some stories that weren't working for me. The result is, I think, a nicely "curated" collection of short fiction that represents my best work over the last decade. If you're interested, you can get it on Kobo, B&N, 24 Symbols, Page Foundry, Apple, Scribd, Tolino, and of course, Amazon.

I love mysteries that have history in them.
Throw in a little literary flare, I'm there.
And if you can tie everything to a legend, it's the trifecta.
The Tiger's Wife caught my eye today as I was scrolling past books on offer in the Monday mystery newsletters I get. I can't wait to read it. Check it out here.

Here's the blurb from Amazon:

In a Balkan country mending from war, Natalia, a young doctor, is compelled to unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. Searching for clues, she turns to his worn copy of The Jungle Book and the stories he told her of his encounters over the years with “the deathless man.” But most extraordinary of all is the story her grandfather never told her—the legend of the tiger’s wife.
 
 

Good news for fans of Gone Girl and Girl on the Train

This is a debut novel and kudos to Mary Kubica for pulling off the multiple point of view/dual time-line story. (She’s since written two more psychological thrillers, and I cannot wait to read them.) 

Here the focus is on the search for missing Mia Dennett, a young woman whose father disapproves of the way she lives her life and whose mother flagellates herself for not being more of a nurturer. The story is told from several different angles, including Mia’s mother Eve and Detective Gabe Hoffman, who finds himself drawn to Eve as he searches for clues to her missing daughter. 

The more we know about Mia, the more we sympathize with her and that’s also true of Gabe, who starts out being a somewhat generic wise-cracking cop but develops into a man whose compassion extends beyond the family of the victim in the case he’s investigating. The twists and turns are nicely handled, and even fans of the genre may find themselves surprised by the end.Yes, yes, the comparisons to Gone Girl and Girl on the Train are more than justified.