Spring is Here

I think the snow is finally gone from Chicagoland, and this weekend was the most beautiful in recent memory. Today we put up the patio umbrella and swept away the leaves that clustered in the corners of the bricks. I mowed the lawn. The boys played baseball with their dad. It was wonderful!

I thought I'd share this picture of my dog enjoying the sun.

Happy Birthday, Charlotte Bronte

On this day Charlotte Bronte was born in 1816, one of six children of a clergyman in Yorkshire. She wrote often, even as a young person, perhaps as an escape from a rather dreary life. In adulthood she wrote under the name Currer Bell. Her greatest work, of course, is Jane Eyre.

I often teach Jane Eyre to freshmen, and I would have to say that it is the most underestimated and unappreciated work of all the literature that I teach. The young people, in general (despite a few fans in every class), cannot seem to relate to Jane Eyre, and yet I wonder why. It's wonderfully Gothic, and young people still appreciate the Gothic elements in their books and movies; it has a touching love story, a strong sense of mystery, a focus on the underdog--the very plain Jane. Yet it often leaves them cold.

I suppose the difference is that many young people can no longer stomach the style--the long sentences, the formal diction (much of which they don't know and often refuse to look up), the antiquated sensibility. This is about a girl, then a woman, who is continually oppressed. What the girls don't always see, however, is the gradual journey Jane makes: from weakness to strength, from ignorance to awareness, from anger to enlightenment. It's a remarkable work, and my continuing job as a teacher is to try to make them see that.

I first discovered Jane Eyre on my mother's bookshelf when I was very young--eleven or twelve,perhaps. I wanted to read it because it looked very adult: it was big, leatherbound, and intimidating. But when I opened it and found Jane sitting behind a curtain at Gateshead, hiding from her horrible adopted family and looking out at the dreary November day, I was hooked. Bronte was a brilliant storyteller, and Jane is such a worthy protagonist that reader can't help but be drawn into her life and to root for her success.

And of course one of my favorite things about Jane Eyre is its mystery; the wonderful sense that there is something going on that Jane doesn't understand, which creates tension for long portions of the book. I don't wish to spoil anything for those of you who might now be inspired to pick up Jane Eyre in honor of Charlotte's birthday, so I'll just say that the mystery itself has made an indelible imprint on our literary culture, and Jane Eyre remains as a beloved work of English literature.

In Defense of Clytemnestra

Recently, in a night class, I read the Orestia--three short plays by Aeschylus. Clytemnestra, in Greek legend and in the play Agamemnon, is depicted as a monstrous woman, a woman who would dare to plot the murder of her husband and then carry it out in bloody triumph, even as her husband returns, victorious, from The Trojan War. Therefore, Clytemnestra is painted as an aberration, an unnatural woman.

There’s more to the story, of course: Agamemnon killed his own daughter, sacrificed her to the gods so that his ships, which were stalled, would have fair winds to speed them to the Trojan War. This entire detail is given short shrift in the play; after all, this is ancient Greece, and women are second-class citizens. If a man has to kill a female for the sake of his own glory, then he will have to make that sacrifice.

Ironic, though, that Agamemnon is not depicted as a monster, but a hero, and his wife, who exacts premeditated and bloody revenge for the loss of her child, becomes the only “evil” character. Granted, murder is horrible. But isn’t the Trojan conflict full of murder—men savagely slaughtered on battlefields, ostensibly, in debate over the ownership of a beautiful woman? Still, there doesn’t seem to be much literary defense of Clytemnestra’s motives.

Sure, I don’t suppose I would murder my husband if he killed my child, but then again, who knows? Grief itself is monstrous, and can twist a person in different ways. Certainly I did not see in Clytemnestra the horrifying creature that the men in my class did. In general, the women looked at her and saw someone consumed by loss.

It’s not fair, I suppose, to impose a modern sensibility on an ancient story. Clytemnestra is meant to be seen as a monster, and so I am supposed to look for the things that make her horrifying. I find that I just can’t do it, though, especially when I read The Odyssey, and even in Hades Agamemnon, that great egotist, can’t get over what his wife has done to him, and rails about it to every shade who floats his way, and to Odysseus, the visiting human.

What I am looking for is an Agamemnon who seeks out the dead Iphigenia, his murdered daughter, to ask for her forgiveness. That doesn’t happen, of course, nor does Clytemnestra find solace in anyone’s understanding of her deed. Her son condemns her and kills her himself to avenge his father’s death. That son, Orestes, never mentions his dead sister.

Since history will not condemn Agamemnon, I will not condemn Clytemnestra.

Image: Clytemnestra After the Murder (John Collier, 1850-1939)

Einstein and the Mysteries of the World

On this day, April 18, in 1955, Albert Einstein died. Einstein--the physicist pioneer who radically changed humanity's perception of the relationship between time, space and motion, and who won the Nobel Prize in 1921.

Like everyone, I admire Einstein's ability to think in a different way and to allow that thinking to lead him to discovery. What I admire the most, however, when I read his writings or things written about him, is his attitude toward the many mysteries of life, which is one of wonder. Einstein loved the endless possibilities posed by the universe, and because of this even death did not frighten him, since perhaps for him another cosmic mystery was being solved.

On the subject of life's mystery, Einstein said:

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity."

and

" The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science."

There are many interesting books about Einstein, but the most recent one I've read is called "Driving Mr. Albert: Traveling Across America with Einstein's Brain." It's an interesting read, and yes, Einstein's brain was in the trunk of the car.

Talk about interesting mysteries . . .

Blogging about Talking about Blogging

Sunday found me back at Centuries and Sleuths bookstore in Forest Park, where Libby Hellmann and I gave a presentation on blogging to the Midwest Chapter of the MWA. Mostly we discussed the advantages/disadvantages for a mystery writer who might wish to use the blog as a way of becoming known to potential readers.

Libby, of course, blogs at The Outfit, and I blog here. My take on blogs is that they are a good thing, a positive thing, and certainly a valid forum for expression. I've come to enjoy my own blog, and for that reason alone I would keep it going, whether it sells my books or not. Still, hope springs eternal in the writer's heart. :)

That's mystery writer and MWA Vice President Julie Hyzy standing on the left, by the way. Julie had just visited the Cook County Morgue, and was sharing the interesting details. Only in the mystery world, eh?

The New Regimen Update

It's spring, and it's time for me, the sedentary writer, to re-assess my new health regimen (you know, the one I posted about, where I was going to be in better shape in thirty days?). Here's a sad fact: I'm still pretty sedentary, thanks to my love of writing, reading, and sitting in front of this computer. We just had spring break, during which we went to restaurants and I ate like King Henry the VIII. And now I sort of look like him, too.

So it's time to re-assess, to put this body into motion before it fossilizes to the chair, and to try to pretend that I don't love food. Supporters, please come back and give me your diet/exericise tips. I have fallen off the horse and I need to get back on.

This bunny shall be my first cheerleader. :)

Jane Finnis on The Roman Empire, The Beauty of Yorkshire, and the Glorious English Apple Pie

Your mysteries, Get Out or Die and A Bitter Chill, are set in First Century Roman Britain. Living in England as you do, were you always fascinated by the Roman ruins in your country? Or did this setting emerge generally from a love of history?
I’ve always found history fascinating. I remember as a small child marveling at the straight Roman roads in East Yorkshire where I was brought up, and being awed by the mediaeval Minster at York, where we went every year for the Christmas Eve carol service. Then when I was about thirteen, I read Robert Graves’ wonderful pair of books, I Claudius and Claudius the God, and from then on I was hooked on Ancient Roman history, and I still am.

Your heroine’s name is Aurelia Marcella. What sort of research did you do to place Aurelia authentically in the ancient world?
I did, and still do, a mass of research on the Roman Empire in the first century AD. I love research, so it’s no hardship. I read hooks, by modern historians and also by classical writers; I use the Internet (but one needs to be cautious here, because some websites are richer in enthusiasm than scholarship;) I pick the brains of experts, and find people very generous with information.

Your home in Yorkshire, pictured so beautifully on your website, looks a little bit like paradise to me. You were born in this country, moved away from it, and have now returned. What’s it like living in Yorkshire?
In a word, great. Yorkshire is England’s biggest county (though I know it’s small by U.S. standards,) and Yorkshire people have often been likened to Texans. We don’t merely believe that our home area is the biggest and the best, we know it is! We have a big variety of countryside – dramatic peaks and moors, gentle green wolds (where I was brought up, and my books are set,) sandy beaches, tall cliffs, rich farmland. We have all kinds of towns also: the business city of Leeds, historic York, Scarborough by the sea, and any number of small market towns. And don’t forget the villages and hamlets…I’d better stop, this is turning into a tourist promotion.

But it's working! You told me that you also once lived in Wensleydale, in the Dales, which were made famous, for me, in the James Herriott books. Isn’t Wensleydale also famous for its cheese? (I learned this from watching Wallace and Gromit, mind you).
There’s a white Wensleydale cheese, and a blue version. They’re made from cows’ milk now, though long ago sheep’s milk was used. The white one is a mild cheese which goes well with apple pie; other cheeses do this too, as long as they’re not too strong. There’s a Yorkshire saying, “An apple pie without some cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze.”

Now I have the strongest desire for pie . . . You share a blog with The Ladykillers: Rhys Bowen, Cara Black, Mary Anna Evans and Lyn Hamilton. How did you all come together to begin this blog (aside from being mystery writers all)?
Rhys Bowen invited me to join the blog when it had been going some time, and another mystery Lady Killer dropped out from pressure of work . Of course I was delighted, especially as Rhys and I go back a long long way – we were at College together in London in the swinging ‘60s (we were both very precocious children, you understand!) We were writing even then – we wrote and performed comic sketches and songs together around the University. We always knew we wanted to write for a living, and here we are – though nobody then foresaw the Internet, let along blogs. What surprises await today’s young would-be writers, I wonder?

On your blog, you recently posted about the fact that you love to come to America, but that your experience going through Customs was so unpleasant that you would think twice about making the trip again. My husband had a similar experience trying to LEAVE the country when he recently went to South America on business. Do you think that the post-9/11 world has created this problem, or did airport officials always enjoy abusing their authority?
In my experience, confirmed by other travelling Brits, the rudeness and aggression of US immigration officials are a post 9/11 development. The unpleasantness of it all makes me very angry, and also very sad.

You’re working on a new Aurelia Marcella book called Buried Too Deep. What’s this one about?
Part of the book takes place near the sea, and part, as before, at Aurelia’s inn. Aurelia’s sister Albia and her family get caught up in a feud between two rich and powerful landowners, who both appear determined to acquire all the neighbouring smaller farms, including Albia’s own. The crimes of a band of sea-raiders add to the violence and confusion. Aurelia and her brother Lucius the investigator get drawn in to try to stop the feuding, as does Timaeus, a Greek doctor who lives near Aurelia’s inn. (If you’ve ever wondered about Roman medical procedures, you’ll learn some of them here.) Various killings and a missing shipment of gold combined with unforeseen consequences of a long-ago family drama make Aurelia’s effort at peace-making an extremely dangerous undertaking.

I have not wondered about Roman medical procedures, but I will now. Your mysteries have a similar setting to those written by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer (interviewed on this blog). Do you three know one another?
We’ve never met – I hope we will some day – but I feel as if I know them, especially Mary, who originates from Britain, not far from Yorkshire in fact. We’re all published by Poisoned Pen Press, and the PPP authors are a lively and supportive group, keeping in mutual touch through our own email list. Mary is a regular contributor, and I think it was she who came up with our group’s nickname – the Poisoned Pen Press Posse.

You have a red Cocker Spaniel named Copper. Do dogs ever appear in your mysteries? Did people keep dogs as pets in Ancient Rome?
I love dogs, and Copper, though a rascal, is a lovable one, who came to us from a dog rescue place. Dogs do take part in my mysteries; one plays quite an important role in A BITTER CHILL, when…well, never mind. Romans kept dogs, cats, and other creatures as pets, and Aurelia has several dogs, but hers are farm dogs really, employed for herding and guarding as much as for their company.

Do you speak Latin?
Speak it, no. Read it, yes, but slowly and with frequent dips into my dictionary.

You also have broadcasting experience. What sorts of things did you do in the broadcasting world?
I worked first as a radio producer for the British Information Service, and then went freelance as a radio reporter and documentary maker, mostly for the BBC. I still do very occasional odd reporter jobs for the BBC if they need a stringer in my area. It’s a wonderful job, though you’d never make a fortune at it; but it gives you a licence to meet fascinating people, ask interesting questions (and sometimes daft ones,) and if you’re making a documentary, you get to research in depth. Programmes I remember with special pleasure are a series about ESP, another about modern farming which took me all over the UK, and a documentary about women in history who served in the armed forces disguised as men (like the 19th-century US “marine” Lucy Brewer.)

You have a pond on your property, which is home to fish, frogs, a newt, and various butterflies who like to visit there. This seems idyllic; do you ever sit there and plot your stories?
Yes, often. I write there sometimes too, using a laptop, but the British weather isn’t always very co-operative, (and truth to tell, I’m too easily distracted by the lovely setting!) so I do most of my writing indoors in my office.

I am terrified of planes, but if I ever get on one I will fly to England. Yorkshire is one of the places I’d like to visit—where else would you recommend that I go, assuming I had all the time in the world? :)
Heavens, what a question! There’s so much choice, you’d certainly need all the time in the world! I’ll just pick five of my personal favourites for now, aside from Yorkshire, which of course contains York, one of my favourite cities because of its long history. First London, still one of the world’s great cities, a wonderful mixture of past and present; second, the woods and coastal area around the New Forest (Hampshire and Dorset, the south coast;) third, the dramatic mountain scenery of the Lake District; fourth the historic city of Bath, a special favourite of mine because of the remains of the Roman baths there; and fifth, the unspoilt countryside of the Wye Valley near the Welsh border.

You have me drooling now. I am an Anglophile who has never been to England, but someday . . .

The historical mystery is a very popular genre. What do you think draws people to this combination: history blended with mystery?
You’ve put your finger on the reason, using the word “blended”. Historical novels have always been popular, and so have mysteries, and if a writer can successfully combine these two strong elements, he or she is onto a winner. Even people who “don’t like history” (usually because of poor teaching at school) find they like learning about a different time and place, if they can do so while enjoying a good plot and interesting characters.

Were you a fan of Ellis Peters?
Yes, especially of the Brother Cadfael books. I think my favourite is probably Monkshood.

What are you reading now?
I’m between books as I write this: an unusual situation for me, and it won’t last long. I’ve just finished The Empty Chair by Geoffrey Deaver, and enjoyed it, especially the mounting tension towards the end. I’m about to start The Last Precinct by Patricia Cornwell. I haven’t read any of hers before, so I can’t say yet whether it will be my cup of tea, but I’ll enjoy finding out. After that, coincidentally, will be a book by another Cornwell – Bernard this time. I love his Peninsula War novels about the riflemen Richard Sharpe and Sergeant Harper, and bought Sharpe’s Havoc just the other day.

What sorts of interesting details have you pulled up about life in Ancient Roman Brittania? What did they eat? What games did they play? Are there any other curiosities you’ve uncovered?
Heaps and heaps of them. The details of food, clothing, and home life in general which I put into my books are as accurate as I can make them. For the book in progress now, I’ve been finding out about Roman medicine, which was surprisingly sophisticated, considering they didn’t have microscopes, didn’t know about germs, and had no anaesthetics of course. Their doctors could successfully mend skull fractures, set bones, and stitch up wounds. Some of this I describe in the book, but I try to keep a balance between telling it how it was, and making it too gory.

That would be a delicate balance, I fear. As a lover of history, do you ever wish you could travel in time? Do you enjoy reading time travel stories?
I’d love to travel in time; first to – you’ve guessed it – Roman Britain, but then to almost any other era and place, as long as I was certain I could get back to my “home” period. Perhaps Restoration England for starters, then France at the time of the 1789 Revolution, then back to Britain for Victorian times. I enjoy time travel tales: among my favourites are Wells’ The Time Machine, and Daphne Du Maurier’s The House on the Strand.

People sometimes criticize English food, suggesting that it is bland. Is this true?
No it isn’t, although we do have our fair share of tasteless “junk food” here. But English food at its best is a world-beater. You won’t find anything tastier than a joint of roast British beef or lamb…roast duck with orange sauce…a good rich game pie…or for simpler fare, fish and chips, freshly fried and still sizzling. Round off the meal with sherry trifle, or apple pie (ours is just as good as the American kind!) And if I can broaden my answer to include Scotland, smoked salmon from there is wonderful, and they grow the best raspberries you’ll ever eat.

I should know better than to ask a writer about food--they always make it sound so good! You refer to Yorkshire as “God’s Own Country,” so it’s obvious that you find it beautiful; but if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I’ve been lucky and have traveled fairly widely, but there are still so many places left to explore, or to re-visit: Italy, the French Alps, northern Spain; Arizona and the south-west of the USA, Hawaii, perhaps on the way to Australia and New Zealand.. And if I live long enough, I’d like to travel in space, to see the Earth as a blue ball floating against the stars. Now that would be something!

It really would. Thank you so much for chatting with me, Jane!

In Praise of the Wonderful Jill McGown

Jill McGown won my heart way back in 1983 or thereabouts, when she published her first novel, A PERFECT MATCH. I read that mystery compulsively, turning pages as fast as I possibly could while still devouring every word written on them. The plot was so clever, so seemingly complicated--and yet so simple in its resolution--that it reminded me of the work of Agatha Christie. Except that I thought Jill McGown was better than Agatha Christie.

Christie's talent was undeniable, especially for plotting, but McGown's clever plots were matched by her gift for characterization, and from the start I loved her characters, Inspector Lloyd and Judy Hill, and I've loved them for more than twenty years as they have grown and changed over a number of mysteries--and I've read ALL of Jill McGown's mysteries.

It wasn't just that McGown created a memorable romantic mystery; in fact, she has attested that she never set out initially to write a mystery at all, much less a love interest between her main characters. She was of that school of writers, though, who sat down and started writing and waited to see what came out. I admire this sort of writing, which I see as brave, even adventurous. McGown's books, though, are very carefully plotted--there's nothing of a haphazard feeling about them.

I can't even define what makes her books so compulsively readable. Of course the mystery is dominant, and she leaves enough unanswered questions that the reader is compelled to keep turning pages, just to find some answers; but in the process of pursuing that mystery, the reader also finds that they've grown to like her characters so much that the resolution of their problems is equally important. McGown always found that perfect balance.

I was horrified to learn of Jill McGown's death, and a part of me refuses to believe it. Here is the effect that writing can have. I have never met Jill McGown, but I came to rely upon each new book (and I hope that one more Lloyd and Judy book will be forthcoming), and through her author newsletters I came to love her voice, her real voice, which came through as she chatted about her life in Corby, England and the house in which she had lived since she was a child. I loved her posts about her cat George and about her beloved niece and grand-niece, and I felt, somehow, as though Jill were a sort of neighbor of mine--a neighbor in a far away and beautiful place.

Now she is in a far away place, (and I hope it is beautiful), and she will not be writing here again; but what a splendid lifetime of work she has left behind, and how I will enjoy re-reading every volume!

Thank you, Jill McGown.

We Suffer a Reversal

As promised, we went off for our two day spring escape, into the beautiful wilds of Michigan (but near to resorts) :) This first photo was the view from our cabin window.
And this was the driveway to our little retreat. Things couldn't have been going better: beautiful woods, great directions that got us there quickly, the excitement and anticipation of us all.
We even had idyllic moments like this, where the boys fed ducks in the little resort town. We were all running around in sweatshirts or fleece jackets, and we planned to hike and shop and wander all the next day. And then, THIS:
Same driveway, one day later, but a whole different season. And though you can't tell from this photo, it's still coming down, and it came down ALL DAY LONG. The roads were so obscured that we were unwilling to go too far from our remote cabin, for fear that we would be snowed OUT--that is, away from our luggage. So we went boldly into town, ate a quick meal, and then made our slow and mostly blind way back. We holed up in the cabin for the rest of the day and night. Not exactly the plan, but it was a sweet little cabin.
So our spring break photos look like this.

Did I get any writing done? About two pages, which I suppose isn't bad. I'm guessing that very few successful writers ever had children, at least not children they didn't lock in the cellar or attic. Graham got a slingshot as a souvenir (his choice) and he spent almost the entire time launching little spongy balls around the house. Not the most inspirational environment for a writer, unless my book were to be called CUT IT OUT!

Still, I can't say it wasn't a fun vacation. And we're hoping to check out the cabin again in summer.

Check Me Out

I have a new website that is not entirely completed, but I'd love to get some feedback. It actually has nothing to do with the visual here, but I just hate to post without a picture; I'm a visual learner. :)

Check out the site at www.juliabuckley.com

Happy Tuesday!

Julia

A Rejuvenating Jaunt

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and to be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion."

So said Thoreau in his book Walden, and I recently sent this quote to Bill Cameron when he went to on his own woodsy retreat to do some intensive writing.

Now, because it is our spring break and for once our whole family finds itself together, we are taking a couple of days in the woods, as well. Our budget is about $10.75, so we won't be able to do much more than pay for gas and sit around looking at trees, but the NOTION of being somewhere else, somewhere beautiful and different, is sometimes all it takes to feel refreshed. These photos come from a different visit to a different forest, in days of yore, but I think they still get the point across. :)

Soon I shall be able to post photos from our new hideaway, where I hope to do some writing on my latest book. However, there will be children who want to take walks and find gross things in the dirt, and naturally that must take precedence.
Perhaps, though, the act of investigating the physical world will help to stimulate my cerebral world; I have found in the past that the best ideas came to me when I was relaxed and not inundated with workday stresses. But quitting my job to relax and write is a long way off--after all, I just spent my $10.75.

Happy Easter

"Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there."

~Clarence W. Hall

Travel Post 2: The Hula Girl Visits South America

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the single most commonly photographed part of my husband's trip was this lovely and mostly-naked young woman. If I had to guess the location of this resort, I would of course have said Hawaii, but this is in good ol' Argentina, which Evita told not to cry for her.
Jeff tells me that at each vineyard/estate they visited, local entertainers would perform for the tourists, and these costume-clad people were demonstrating some of the local customary dances.
The gentleman who hired them, it seems, is a wealthy landowner with vineyards on both sides of the Andes Mountains and palatial estates to prove his success.
Naturally, Jeff enjoyed all of the entertainment, but the preponderance of cute young girl photos reveal that men, in general, are not mysterious at all. :)

Travelogue Post One: Wine and Leisure in The Andes Mountain Region

As I posted yesterday, my husband just got back from a trip to Chile and Argentina, which are premiere wine regions. Jeff had the onerous task of touring vineyards and wineries and being fed lots of free food and wine. When I looked up the grape in my flower symbolism manual, I found that it was the "flower of drunkenness." Naturally, the grape is connected with Bacchus and all of his love of pleasure, but of course the true connosseiur cannot swallow the wine during a tasting, so Jeff remained (perhaps to his regret) sober throughout the trip.
He was able to take these remarkable photos, though, so that I can live vicariously through him--and now you can, too, if you wish. Here are some pictures of the Montes Winery in Chile, with the mighty Andes range in the background. The weather was sublime, I'm told, while here in Chicagoland it reached a new April low of 28 degrees and snow flurries scampered past the windowpanes.
As a writer, I'm impressed by all the potential for description here: the lush vineyards, the rich purple of the grapes, the musical dialogue of my husband's tour guide, who sounded, Jeff insists, "exactly like Ricardo Montalban."
In addition to that wonderful potential for dialogue study, he was traveling with a group of New Yorkers who had their own colorful way of commenting on the tour. Jeff had a terrific trip, although he had nothing but bad things to say about the airport and one airline in particular. More on that later--that will come under the heading of "characterization." :)

More gorgeous pictures to follow!

Visual Splendor

My husband returns today from a one-week trip to Chile and Argentina. He toured wineries and vineyards and was treated to some amazing meals (he said he ate a lot of seafood). Among other memorable events, he flew (in a plane, of course) over the Andes Mountains.

Naturally, pictures will be posted soon. :)

If I Have Made A Farthing . . .

Happy Literary Birthday to the great Washington Irving, author of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Irving was born on this day in 1873, and was named after General George Washington, whom his parents particularly admired.

My favorite work by Irving is a story called "The Devil and Tom Walker." While it has the same folk tale tone as his other famous works, it delves more deeply into the notion of human corruption; Tom sells his soul for the sake of greed. When he famously says "The Devil take me if I have made a farthing," the Devil does.

As a morality tale, it's entirely satisfying.

Lev Raphael on Identity, Social Commentary, Civil Rights, Jesus, and Keith Carradine

Lev, thank you for agreeing to chat on my blog.

First, I must say that you have a terrific name. Did you always have a sense that it would look great on the spine of a book?
You know, I thought less of my name on a book than of some book of mine being on a shelf with other books in a library, part of the great conversation. I felt this way as far back as second or third grade when I started writing fiction and was endlessly borrowing books from our local library which was a turn-of-the-century Gothic-style building and awed me every time I walked in.

Your website tells me that you are “widely sought after as a keynote speaker, panelist, moderator, and conference speaker.” Which is your favorite? And when you are sought, are you found?
There’s something special about keynoting, because you help set the mood for what follows. It’s an honor, and quite a responsibility. But I recently did an after dinner speech for a literacy foundation and that was a whole new challenge—and exciting. What I like best, I guess, at this point after having done hundreds of talks and readings, etc., is something I haven’t done before--if possible! As for being found—most requests come via email through my web site, and I always reply, even if I won’t be able to do the event due to scheduling or some other reason.

You have your own radio show and have been a commentator for NPR. How did you get involved in radio?
I actually gave up the show because it was too much work, but it was wonderful to do while it lasted. I got to interview authors like Salman Rushdie, Erica Jong, Julian Barnes, Linda Fairstein. Now I understand why there’s a lot of burnout in radio, which I started in as a reviewer for a show in Ann Arbor. That got syndicated by NPR and then I also did work for two public radio shows in the Lansing, MI area, one of which was interested in my doing a weekly book show. It was fun and I think the authors enjoyed being interviewed by an author who had actually read their books and done research. Because I wanted to make sure the interview reflected me and the author correctly, I did the production, too, and that was sometimes mind-numbing, sitting there editing the tracks, timing everything, listening to some bits over and over. And then there were the occasional technical problems I had no control over--

Aside from seven Nick Hoffmann mysteries, you’ve authored fiction and non-fiction, and your “stories and essays are on university syllabi around the U.S. and in Canada; [your] fiction has been analyzed in books, scholarly journals and at scholarly conferences, including MLA.” Do you have a work that you consider your best? Or do you have an “I don’t love one child more than another” philosophy?
Because I write so many different kinds of things, I have lots of favorites. I think the new mystery,Hot Rocks, has the best plot. I think the story “The Tanteh” in my collection Secret Anniversaries of the Heart is my best story. I’ve done hundreds of reviews, and I know the one I did of an Alan Furst book, a very long one, for Boston Review, was my best. Then there’s the literary historical novel I recently finished that really still blows me away—I never expected to work in that genre, but when the idea hit me last April, it wouldn’t let me go. I’ve never written anything this complex, and it’s definitely the strongest novel I’ve done.

You have written some critically acclaimed works about the Holocaust, including your book of short stories called Dancing on Tisha B'Av. As the son of Holocaust survivors, did you always feel it was your destiny to write about this event in history?
I came to that late, that is, in my twenties, when I started claiming a positive Jewish identity since I’d grown up without one, and realized that I had something special to share with people as the son of survivors. I started with teaching, then writing about it. But that’s just one side of my work, as you know. I see the mysteries as offering entertainment, and then there’s my best-selling children’s book, which has been translated into a dozen languages, which focuses on self-esteem. Everything’s written for some kind of purpose or other.

Did your parents’ survival story tend to inspire you as a young person, or did it make you sad? Or angry, perhaps? And did those feelings compel you to write, or would you have become a writer regardless of your family history?
I sought refuge in books from my angry, unhappy family, and loved the myriad worlds I discovered there. But even in a different family, I would have been a writer because I loved storytelling from a very early age. I still do. Or I wouldn’t be writing.

Let’s go back to Nick Hoffmann. What drew you (and continues to draw you) to the Mystery genre?
I love the mix of crime, puzzle, and social commentary. Mysteries these days are a lot about exposing some kind of corruption in tandem with the exploration of the what and why of the crime, and they take us into different worlds. As for the series, I love coming back to some familiar characters in between working on other books in other genres—it’s like a vacation for me at an all-inclusive resort. I actually set my previous mystery, Tropic of Murder, at a Club Med, because I’d attended a mystery conference at one, and done research at another, and thought it would be a perfect setting for crime. Both trips were paid for, by the way, in a lucky turn of events. Leaving Michigan in mid-winter for the Caribbean was lovely.

I'll bet. What is the premise of Hot Rocks, your new book?
Nick is at his palatial health club and discovers a body in the steam room. He’s a prime suspect, of course, and driven to find the murderer, he discovers a whole web of secrecy and deceit among members and employees of the club. It’s got sex,fitness, and conspicuous consumption.


Oh, and as Henslowe says in Shakespeare in Love, “and a bit with a dog.”

Dogs sell. :) There’s a beautiful piece on your website called “Writing a Jewish Life,” which was both a published article and a keynote address that you gave not long after September 11th. It details some of the confusing emotions of your childhood as the child of Holocaust survivors, then your struggle to emerge as a young man and a young writer in college. You wrote, poignantly, that writing is “a hazardous enterprise at best, an arena of life where it would be best to inject your self-esteem with novocaine if such a thing were possible.” Wow, what a great way of putting it. After all the acclaim, do you still feel this way?
I don’t think rejection ever stops stinging. I don’t think you ever forget the lost opportunities or the most savage reviews. The pain fades with good news, but failure and false starts are wounds that can start throbbing quite easily. Between my first and second published short stories I lived through a blizzard of rejections that lasted over five years.

That stays with you. And then there are further disappointments of all kinds. To be a writer, you need more than just patience on top of your talent, you need a high tolerance for hard knocks.

Now, I've had a lot of great things happen in my career, like one book selling over 250,000 copies; getting two European book tours; winning a prize where the contest was judged by D.M. Thomas who wrote The White Hotel; having people teach my work in colleges and universities; getting invited to places like Oxford University and the 92nd St. Y. But I've also had a lot of terrible things happen in my career, like when one publisher purged all its mystery authors and I found out via email rumor, or another publisher canceled a contract the day before Thanksgiving. The list could go on. That's the reality of a writer's life.

You also quoted Janet Malcolm, who said, “Art is theft. Art is armed robbery. Art is not pleasing your mother.” Again, that seems to be a universal truth. Did your mother come around in terms of your writing career?
I think it’s a Hallmark Card fantasy that our parents will like what we write—why should they? In my life specifically, my mother fell ill before she could read my mysteries, a genre she loved. That’s very sad to me.

What are you reading now?
A book about the Spanish Civil War; a mystery set in 1947 Egypt about the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Gospels; and The Utility of Force by a British general writing about the nature of war vs. insurgencies. I didn’t used to read more than one book at a time, but now I find it almost impossible to stick to just one, unless it’s riveting. Or short!

I’m also reading a few German language guides because I’m doing a two-week book tour in Germany next month for my third book published in German and I need the brush-up.

Sounds exciting! You have an M.F.A in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in American Studies; you once taught, but left academia to write full time. When were you busier—then or now?
I left almost twenty years ago, which amazes me. I loved teaching, but knew I could never do more than publish stories and articles because I only had summers off and that wasn't enough time to do a book. I suppose it’s a different kind of busy now, perhaps? When you teach writing, for instance, you’re bombarded by all those different student voices, not of your own choice (as opposed to when you pick your reading material). You have endless grading to do, and student conferences, and lessons to plan (plus meetings to attend). I didn’t write as much then, because I didn’t have the time. I’ve been much busier as a writer and reviewer since I quit teaching.

You need a tremendous amount of time around the time you write, so to speak, time to not feel pushed and pulled. And then writing doesn’t just happen at the computer or wherever—the subconscious is always working. I frequently have ideas or work tangles out in something while I’m walking the dogs, working out, grocery shopping, showering, falling asleep.

So you're busy writing without looking like you're busy writing. And when I was reviewing, sometimes I'd have to read 3-5 books a week just to keep up, so the ten years I did that were truly hectic.

Wow. You are in Michigan, and you credit the finding of your Jewish identity to the fact that you left New York and moved to Michigan. Is this because Michigan is a Jewish place, or because it’s not?
The latter, but then writers often find themselves away from home. It worked for James Baldwin when he left Harlem for Paris. He saw himself and America much more clearly. Leaving New York helped me develop a better sense of my audience and what I had to say in my fiction, at least to begin with, and it broke the dry spell I spoke about earlier.

Do people ever tell you that you resemble Jesus?
I wish those twelve guys would stop following me around. It’s embarrassing.

I have in the past been taken for Keith Carradine, which is more fun. Especially if I was flying first class. Or in New York when staying at a ritzy hotel and my hair was cut a certain way.

Well, I would think that Jesus would get his room comped. But I suppose Keith Carradine is a more likely sighting. :)

You married your partner in Canada. Do you think America will ever re-define its notion of marriage? Perhaps to encompass the “marriage of two minds” rather than only of two genders?
I hope so, though I don’t care what it’s called. Western Europe has moved that way, even South Africa! Who would have thought the U.S. would be behind the former apartheid state in a question of civil rights?

One last plug: should people start with your first mystery, or should they buy Hot Rocks and work backwards?
Read something, anything, I need a new toaster!

Seriously, I’ve written the series so that it can be picked up anywhere, though Nick does change over time. People should approach the series however they like to read a series: obliquely, from behind, ambush, whatever works.

Good advice. I need a new toaster, too--I don't think they make them as sturdy today as they once made them.

Lev, thank you so much for talking with me. Now that I’ve read the beautiful pieces on your website I will certainly be seeking out your mysteries.

A Writing Lesson: James Bond Is My Boyfriend (and Other Exciting Fiction)

I finally saw Casino Royale, and I found it to be an enjoyable flick. However, it wasn't because of the plot (which I couldn't really follow unless I rewound a few times), and it wasn't necessarily because of the new James's charm or his amazing Greek Godly physique. (Although those were nice, and my husband glared at me during the entire "walking out of the ocean" scene).

What I found, in fact, was that I was in total agreement with my sons: the appeal was in the action. Granted, this has always been a James Bond staple, so it wasn't surprising that the most compelling parts of the movie were the chase scenes. But I found, when we dissected the film after viewing it, that we weren't saying, "That was a clever line that he said to the bad guy at the poker table." None of that really stayed with me, and I can't even remember what he said to the pretty woman as he flipped her around in the bed as if she were an attractive pancake.

What I remembered was what my boys remembered: that the guy Bond was chasing was really fast, and James was really fast, and it was exciting to watch two fast guys running. Then the bad guy did this amazing launch of his body through a tiny window, but James came barreling right through the wall in a most unexpected (and satisfying) way, and we all cheered like groundlings.

In the process, I learned a lesson which I want to apply to my writing: description and narration are necessary and can be beautiful, frightening, fun. But action will raise the reader's blood pressure, action will make them turn those pages, and action might be the only thing they remember when they close the book.

Sometimes, it's all in the action.

Image: Yahoo Images

April Comes Like An Idiot

SPRING
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?
Not only under ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

Gaslight in a New Age

Today I rented GASLIGHT, the wonderful moody film starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. I loved it when I first saw it, and I'm going to try to make my boys look beyond the black and white (which they see as primitive and somehow not good) to the coolness of the story.

It's an appropriate choice, since I had my own GASLIGHT moment this week. The premise of the movie, of course, is that the cruel Charles Boyer is trying to make Ingrid Bergman's character appear insane, even to herself.

This week I was going to show another moody film to my writing class--the movie REBECCA. I accidentally ordered the wrong disk from Netflix (I had wanted the Joan Fontaine version), so I decided to go with my second choice, the PBS version with Emilia Fox, which we had in the library at the school at which I teach.

I went there and perused the shelves--I knew the color of the DVD, knew it was a double set, knew what was on the cover. I'd shown it before; I'd held it in my hand. Still, I couldn't locate it, so when Molly, our wonderful librarian, came by, I asked her about it.

"I can't find REBECCA," I said. "Do you know if someone took it out?"

"The novel?" she asked.

"No--the DVD. We purchased it a couple of years ago and I've shown it to my class," I said.

She looked perplexed. "I've never seen that movie before. Let me check our system."

It wasn't in the system. Only the novel was listed there. "Let me ask Sue when she comes in," she said. (Sue is the other librarian). "I'm sure she'll know something about it."

Sue didn't know when she came in; she had never seen the DVD; neither had Molly.

"But I know it was here," I said. "I could swear it was on the shelf last week! And Judy (a former librarian) bought it for my class when I created a writing assignment around it!"

It didn't ring a bell: not with the librarians, the other teachers, or the English Department Chair. It was as if the film had never been here--except that I was sure it had. I was starting to fear they would tell me that Judy had never existed.

I still have no resolution for the film that never was. We've left a message for Judy, who is retired, to see if she can shed light on the problem.

In the meantime, I am left questioning the validity of my own memory. Perhaps I'm just looking for an excuse to compare myself to the beautiful Ingrid Bergman, but I saw a parallel between the situations.

Anyone else ever had a GASLIGHT moment?

Support the Great Robert Goldsborough

Carol Flynn of the Ridge Historical Society asked me to post this information about our own local great, Robert Goldsborough, who took up where Rex Stout left off and penned several Nero Wolfe books, and now has his own popular series.

NERO WOLFE AND STEVE MALEK:
MYSTERY STORIES LIVE ON!

Join the Ridge Historical Society for an
evening with ROBERT GOLDSBOROUGH,
successor to the late Rex Stout as the author of Nero Wolfe novels. Mr. Goldsborough authored the last seven Wolfe novels that have been published.

ROBERT GOLDSBOROUGH is also the author of a series of novels starring Steve Malek, a fictional Chicago Tribune crime reporter, set in 1930’s – 40’s Chicago. These books will be available for purchase and signing.

This event will take place on:
SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 2007, at 7:00 PM
Cost: $10.00 for members,
$15.00 for non-members
Refreshments (prepared from recipes from the Nero Wolfe Cookbook) will be served.

The Ridge Historical Society
10621 South Seeley Avenue
Chicago, IL 60643
773-881-1675

Reservations are required. Call the Society on
Monday through Friday, between 2:00 and 5:00 PM,
to make reservations or for more information.

A book from Robert's latest series is:

Phil Locascio on Meeting Horror Writers, Writing Mysteries, and Dining with Edgar Allan Poe

I met Phil Locascio at Love is Murder in February. He's a nice guy, and while a newcomer to mystery, he's not at all a novice writer. Phil has published several horror titles, but his latest book is in the mystery genre. He kindly consented to chat with me about it.

Hi, Phil! Thanks for chatting with me.

How are things in the Illinois capital?
Well, I work for the State of Illinois and we haven’t had a raise in a few years. The Governor’s a real a__hole toward state employees. The good news is I only have 8 days left before I could retire if I wanted. I've got a 13-year-old, so not yet I’m afraid, but it’s good to get to that point.

You have a strong reputation as a horror writer, but now you’ve entered the realm of mystery with The Sins of Orville Sand. Can we assume that, with your bent toward horror, this is a rather dark book?
Actually I don’t consider it a “dark” book. It’s really a story about the things people “have to do," and how even if you want to do the right thing, somebody’s liable to get hurt. It’s an ongoing theme of my work. Both of my first novels revolve around it, as does the one I am working on now.

Based on what you’ve said about Orville Sand, you seem to have a sort of Stephen King sensibility in your theme: the ordinary man caught up in extraordinary events. Is this a fair assessment?
Yeah, my heroes are generally young people who find themselves entering that part of their lives when they have to start doing and figuring things out for themselves, and it is not always clear what the right course of action is. They want to choose good, because that’s what they have always been taught. But no one told them doing the right thing would be so hard to figure out.

The supernatural or horror /suspense element of the story is sometimes just a vehicle for me to deliver the message I want to.

I met you at Love is Murder, and you are a very friendly, mild-mannered person. Why do people so often think that a friendly personality is incompatible with writing horror?
Some of the nicest people I have met are horror writers. Basically I find them to be low key, very sensitive, intelligent and friendly. There are some prima donnas also, but they are everywhere. I think you have to be intelligent and sensitive to write good horror. Otherwise it turns into messy bloody slasher bullshit. Generaly good horror always has an underlying message it’s trying to tell that is apart from anything to do with horror.

You mentioned, on one of your panels, that people are always surprised when they read your books, saying, “It was actually good!” Why are people unwilling to believe in the writing ability of their friends and neighbors?
Because they can’t conceive that their friends actually could be one of those writers of great books they have read. Sometimes the anonymous nature of (reading)keeps up the illusion that some “wonderful, fabulous” writer is responsible for the work. Or that the book just “came to be” from out of the ether, like looking at a majestic mountain in the distance. No one is really responsible. It’s just there!!!!

Okay, that was two “why” questions in a row, so I’ll toss a “how” question at you. How do you go about plotting your books? Do you have a specific process?
Yeah. I sit in a chair, stare at walls, and think about possible plots. I also am constantly reviewing the short stories I wrote earlier, trying to think of how I can make them into longer pieces. I think that if I found a good story to make a short story out of, then I was convinced of the [quality of the]work in the past and therefore [could conclude] there was a good story there.

Will your next book be horror or mystery?
If it’s either, it will be as a side issue to my main point of people having to try and wind their way through a maze of decisions they must make. The one I am working on now is basically a suspense/thriller. I think that is what I really write.

What are some of your favorite books, and what are you reading now?

I am reading The Terror by Dan Simmons, who is one of my favorite authors. Ken Follett is another. Some of my favorite novels are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Call of the Wild, by Jack London, The Dead Zone by King, Intensity, by Koontz, and The Man from St. Petersburg,” by Follett.

An interesting mix. Do you find it difficult to make time for writing, or are you able to work it into your daily schedule?
It’s hard to find the time. You've got to fit it in wherever you can. Just like finding time to work out. Got to put your mind to it and always keep it in the forefront of your motivations.

Tell me about it. How are you promoting Orville Sand?
Any way I can. Just had an article published about me in the latest issue of Springfield’s Own Magazine. It is a Springfield, Illinois hometown magazine, but very well done, all color. And they sell them at Barnes and Noble. I have done signings, been on radio interview shows, had a newspaper article written about me, etc. I also had made up color bookmark-type postcards that I mailed to everybody in the Horror Writer’s Association, and I give them out everywhere I go, to everybody I know.

Good tips. I'm writing those down. There’s some discussion about unusual names on DorothyL this week. Your character’s name is, in fact, unusual. How did you come up with it?
I wanted a name that would portray a guy with a kind of a semi-nerd first name but dominant second. Both intellectual and driven. I think I accomplished that.



Is your wife also a horror or mystery fan?
Nope. She wonders what goes on in the head of that man next to her in the bed.

I was recently in Springfield, and I visited Lincoln’s tomb, where I witnessed a moving 21-gun salute to the 16th president. What other sites would you recommend?
The brand new Lincoln presidential Museum is an absolute must see. State of the art, like a Disney attraction type thing. Outstandingly done. Well worth the trip. Also Lincoln’s home, his office, etc.

If you could have lunch with any writer, living or deceased, who would it be? Why?
Edgar Allan Poe, my favorite. Did I forget to mention him earlier?????

What’s the best part about being a writer?
Going to Barnes and Noble, seeing a friend there who doesn’t know I am a writer, drag him over to the book shelf and say to him “Have you ever read anything by this guy?”

That's good. I'll have to try that. :)

Thanks for talking with me, Phil. Good luck with the promotion.

Gypsy Rovers and Other Romantic Notions

When we were little our mother used to sing us a song that went like this:

The Gypsy Rover went over the hill,
And down through the valley so shady--
He whistled and he sang
Till the green woods rang,
And he won the heart of a lady.

My mother had a whole basket full of those songs, and somehow she knew all the words to them, verse upon verse. Somehow I know them all now, too. I can't help but wonder if it was these songs, as much as the books I read, that spoke to my little imagination. I always wondered about the Gypsy Rover: what did he look like? Did he win the lady with his whistling? His singing? His roving? I would lie in bed and think about him, picture him as a dashing, gentlemanly character who swept the lady (who was rich, by the way) off of her feet.

We all tend to romanticize the gypsy--look at the Manet painting above and you see how artists, writers, singers, all wanted to capture something that they felt the gypsy stood for: perhaps it was freedom.

My grandparents, who hearkened from gypsy country, would have told you a different story. I recall, also back when I was a tike, and both of my Hungarian grandparents had come out for some event in our church hall, that my grandfather looked at me, his blue eyes twinkling, and pointed at a woman who looked as if she had applied her make-up with a trowel.

"Tell you Grandma," he said in his beautiful accented English, "that lady looks like a gypsy."

My grandmother had heard him, though, and leaned across me to give him a fierce look. "You watch your mouth!" she said.

Grandpa just smiled. He lived to bait her; it was the nature of their relationship. But they both knew that gypsies, where they came from, didn't have good reputations.

Still, I think that there's nothing lovelier than the notion of a happy wanderer, and some of the most beautiful songs in the world are Gypsy Aires, played on a weeping violin.

What is it about the gypsy? Do we all dream, every once in a while, that we could leave our belongings behind, put a little pack on our backs, and walk off into some beautiful scenery? Or has that notion become less appealing in our modern world?

IMAGE: A fragment of the painting Les Gitanes, by Manet (Yahoo Images)

The Inkspot is the Place to Be

I am lucky, as a writer published by Midnight Ink, to be in the company of many other talented mystery writers who share that publisher. We decided, after an idea by Jess Lourey to get together and blog about the mystery biz, to do just that, and our group blog, or GROG, is now viewable at http://midnightwriters.blogspot.com/

Check us out! I think this will be worth adding to your blog list, because it's a big group of writers who share a great genre. There's a lot of talent packed into the Inkspot page.

Okay, that's my commercial for the day. Now on with our scheduled programming.

Henrik Ibsen and Realistic Dialogue

Today is the birthday of the great Henrik Ibsen (1828). Aside from sporting some of the finest mutton chops in literary history, Ibsen wrote plays that changed the world of literature, and we revere him as the "father" of the modern prose drama.

For years I've taught Ibsen's play A Doll's House, and each year I find it a bit more satisfying, simply because Ibsen's powers of observation make it a timeless study of human foibles. What impresses me even more is the way that Ibsen's writings from the latter part of the 19th Century can still have such an impact on young women of today. There are always a few girls who are simply bowled over by A Doll's House and what it suggests, not only about relationships between men and women, but about the notion of justice.

Ibsen once wrote:

"... And what does it mean, then, to be a poet? It was a long time before I realized that to be a poet means essentially to see, but mark well, to see in such a way that whatever is seen is perceived by the audience just as the poet saw it. But only what has been lived through can be seen in that way and accepted in that way. And the secret of modern literature lies precisely in this matter of experiences that are lived through. All that I have written these last ten years, I have lived through spiritually." ('Speech to the Norwegian Students, September 10, 1874, from Speeches and New Letters, 1910)

Ibsen changed drama in many ways, and one important one was in his use of realistic dialogue. Ibsen felt that drama should reflect the conflicts of humanity, and therefore he wrote words that sounded human, that made his characters come alive in a way that dramatic characters had never been expected to come alive before. Previous to Ibsen, there were tragic heroes with tragic flaws. With Ibsen, characters had real flaws and were not necessarily heroic at all.

image: http://stadt.heim.at/london/162236/literaturwelt/ibsen.jpg

What a Difference a Word Makes

Mark Twain was so right when he made the analogy (and I'm paraphrasing here) that the difference between the right word and the wrong one was the difference between lighting and a lightning bug. The right word can change everything.

An illustration of this point occurred yesterday, when I looked out my back door and saw my elder son holding a garbage can lid and my younger son smacking the lid with a baseball bat. I sighed and went about my business, but soon they were clustering around the door, telling me that Graham had been injured and as a result had lost his memory.

"Who's that?" asked Ian, pointing at me.

"Mom," said Graham, memory intact.

That issue settled, I asked how he came to put his memory in jeopardy.

"It happened while we were jousting," he said. "I struck Ian's shield, and my sword missed and I smacked into it with my head."

This got my attention, not because he almost brained himself, but because of his noble choice of words. I hadn't realized they'd been jousting. I thought they were just playing with bats and garbage can lids. Now the whole thing had a much more Arthurian flavor, a gallant struggle on a legendary battlefield (rather than our muddy yard).

Not only did I realize, in that moment, the power of a well-chosen word to win over an audience, but I saw the world through the eyes of childhood, which I sometimes, as a mother, have the privilege to do. For a child at play, anything is possible, and the worlds he creates are as real as he'd like them to be. It's a beautiful reminder of limitless imagination.

A few minutes later Graham approached me wearing giant ski goggles. He was metamorphosing now from a knight into something else--a superhero or a giant bug, I wasn't sure which. He did it with such enthusiasm, though, that I knew I'd buy into it.

I hope I can remember that the next time I'm writing fiction.

Writer/Reader Challenge

There's a downside to writing, and to the writing life. I've always been a relatively sedentary person. Before I was a writer I was a reader, and even as a teen, my favorite sport was lying around and reading books--often whole books in one day.

Now I've graduated to writing books, which requires hours at a keyboard on a regular basis. When I'm not writing I often have to catch up with reading, both for business and pleasure. I'm a teacher, which means more reading and more computer time--handouts, tests, quizzes. Added to all of these tasks that require sitting, I enjoy watching television. We are a big tv family--we have our favorite sitcoms, and then we enjoy watching DVDs that we get from Netflix.

You get the idea. Both my husband and I have come to the realization, between looking at photos of ourselves and listening to stern warnings from our doctor, that we need to make some changes. We need to move, before our bodies freeze or fossilize, and we need to eat less fat. We're not thrilled about either of these things, but we've committed to make wiser decisions, to be more abstemious for the sake of health.

So I thought I'd extend the challenge to any blog readers out there. Who would like to join me for a one-month how-much-better-shape-can-you-get-in-by-April-17 challenge? We can support one another through those chocolate craving times, those times when we think "You know what would be fun? Sitting in this chair for hours."

By April 17 we'll know just how much self-discipline we have, and we can share tips with one another. Community support helps, and it's free (at least here it is).

And if we do well in that one month? It will encourage us, of course, to sign on for another month, and get used to the new habits that we're forming. The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, and all that.

Who's with me?

Some Words of Advice from a Master of Mystery

"The first thing is to get your idea. Having got that key idea one's next task is to conceal it and lay emphasis on everything which can make for a different explanation."

--Arthur Conan Doyle, Memories and Adventures (A Memoir)

And from Sherlock Holmes himself:

"To a great mind, nothing is little."
(Holmes to Watson, A Study in Scarlet)

"Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth."
(Holmes to Watson, The Sign of Four)

"I never guess. It is a shocking habit--destructive to the logical faculty."
(Holmes to Watson, ibid.)

"Women are never to be entirely trusted--not the best of them."
(Holmes to Watson, ibid).

"Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is on logic rather than on crime that you should dwell."
(Holmes to Watson, "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches")

(image:http://shop.com.edgesuite.net)

I am a Victim

My bank sent me a letter a week ago saying that my debit account may have been "compromised" in a recent computer glitch, and therefore they were sending me a new card. I should destroy the old card when the new one arrived. As another security precaution they locked me out of my online access, so it wasn't until yesterday that I got back on and was able to see that someone had been using my number to make all sorts of purchases--chiefly electronics and liquor. Someone has been having a glorious party with my hard-earned dollars (and my husband's).

Naturally, I feel victimized by the nameless people who are somehow wielding my number (I still have the old card) with great success in a wide variety of suburbs. But I'm concerned about the bank, that Goliath that takes in all of my money electronically and then sends a letter saying "Oops--someone may have gotten access." This is especially vexing because they now tell me that I will have the right to "dispute" the charges; this terminology makes it sound like I'm somehow taking this to court, which should be unnecessary. The bank should say, "This is our fault, and we'll take care of it."

But maybe I'm thinking of a time when banks were littler, and the people you dealt with had faces. However, I plan to make myself such a nuisance that they'll have to deal with me one way or the other. But again, why should I have to take time out of my day? None of this was my fault. I didn't leave my card lying around for someone to steal; I don't allow other people access to my online banking. This was simply a gigantic bank error, and I'm paying about 1000 dollars in damages.

Crocus Means Mirth

Earlier this month I blogged about the rhododendron, plant of danger. But because the weather was so lovely today here in Chicago (despite recent snow!), I could smell spring, and I knew that the crocus and tulips would be just around the corner. So I consulted my Language of Flowers tome once again; the tulips mean love, of course (although the yellow tulip means hopeless love, which is rather sad), and the crocus stands for mirth.

According to Pamela Todd, "They moved Homer to declare, 'The flaming crocus made the mountain glow,' and Greek myth tells of a beautiful youth, named Crocus, who was consumed by the ardency of his love for the shepherdess Smilax, and was afterwards metamorphosed into the flower."

That's all for today, although I also blogged at Poesdeadlydaughters.blogspot.com about psychology in mystery.

Congratulations to a Fellow Inker

Hurrah for Bill Cameron, who got his author's copies of his book in the mail for his very first mystery novel! Huzzah, Bill!

What a wonderful feeling that is, to touch the glossy cover and marvel at your name on the side. Bill, how will you celebrate? Are you going to Disney World?

The Good Garbage of Mickey Spillane

“I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends.”


“ My work may be garbage, but it's good garbage.”

Mickey Spillane

Today is the date on which Mickey Spillane was born in 1918. (He died last year).

Spillane was always a controversial figure in the mystery world because critics tended to hate his work. But as Spillane himself pointed out, his "garbage" sold well: Wikipedia says that he can boast of "seven titles among the ten best-selling American books of the 20th century."

Spillane was said to have a feud with Hemingway, who had publicly criticized his writing; however, when asked by an interviewer if he had read Hemingway's review, Spillane said, "Hemingway who?" This earned him a huge laugh from the audience and the permanent dislike of Hemingway.

The debate of books as products versus books as art still goes on today, often within an individual author. There's no doubt that authors would like to earn fine reviews for their work; there's also no doubt that authors would like to make money as much as the next person would. There's a certain wild appeal, therefore, in Spillane's claim that he had plenty of "customers" even if his books were considered trash.

Not everyone disliked Spillane, of course, which was why he had all those customers. His books were raw, different, new, in a time when the world was still recovering from war and was ready for heroes who were a bit larger than life, a bit more violent and a bit sexier than heroes had been before. Mike Hammer was as much of an icon as was Mickey Spillane, and in fact Spillane played his own character in the film Ring of Fear. (No, wait--my friend John Dandola has corrected me. He says Spillane played Spillane in that movie, and "He played Mike Hammer in the equally dreadful The Girl Hunters." :) Thanks, John).

There's no doubt that Spillane influenced the modern world: its literature, its film, even its perception of heroes. And of course he remains an icon in the world of the hard-boiled mystery.

Mary Stewart, My Idol

I've always loved Mary Stewart, ever since I was about fourteen years old and my mom handed me one of her romantic suspense novels--probably MADAM, WILL YOU TALK?--and I read it almost all in one sitting (or lying, as I tended to read while draped across our couch), amazed by the thrill ride that was a MS novel.

But what made her special? Lots of people have written suspense, and lots more have written tales with romantic storylines. But Mary Stewart's greatness lay not only in her plots, nor was it found only in her strong, loveable heroines or her sweetly old-fashioned heroes. Her special skill, her ineffable Stewart-ness, was in her literary sensibility and her sophisticated tone. One understood, reading her books, that she was smart, ladylike, but ready for adventure, if only between the pages of her mysteries. And her settings--the estates of England, the elegant French chateaus, the wildly beautiful Greek islands--they were like little vacations for the reader. Vacations, I might add, that I rarely wanted to end, despite my desire for denouement.

So Mary, wherever you are, and in your 90s now, I salute you. You have always been my favorite, and I will happily re-read your books forever.