The LadyKillers

NEWS and Those Lazy Words

NEWS FLASHES!!

• Carole Price's debut TWISTED VINES is now available as an ebook on Kindle! You can get it right here.

• Join us on Monday, when we have Honored Guest writer H. S. Stavropoulos, who is also President of the Sisters in Crime, Northern California Chapter. As Helen notes, "I was born and raised in a small Greek village in the middle of Oakland, California. And that defines everything about me. I live and write at the intersection of those two vibrant and diverse worlds. The home of my forebearers and the land of my birth. Luckily, one nurtured the other and I have found my place in both." Website: http://oaklandgreek.com

• And on Friday, May 31, our second honored guest author of the week, Tricia Fields, posts about her experiences with rejection (something we've all experienced at one time or another!). Tricia's first book, The Territory, won the Tony Hillerman Award for Best Mystery. She is currently working on the fourth book in the series, Fire Break, featuring border town Chief of Police, Josie Gray. For more about the series, visit her website: www.triciafields.com

• At Orinda Books, in Orinda, California, on June 1, from noon to two, 15 Sisters in Crime will read from their books, including LadyKillers Mysti Berry, Susan Shea, and Priscilla Royal. The other authors are: Bette/JJ Lamb, Linda Steiger, Heather Haven, Jim Guigli, Helen Stavropolos, Gigi Pandian, Yves Fey, Dana Fredsi, Diana Chambers, and Cara Black.

LAZY WORDS

Next week's topic is LAZY WORDS. And what are "lazy words?" Oh, you know. Stuff. Things. All that kind of... stuff. We shall elucidate at length, so bring your cuppa with you every morning to explore the world of wonderful-and-not-so-great words!

NEWS and To the Heart of Things

NEWS FLASHES!!

• Penny Warner's The Code Busters Club, Case #2: The Haunted Lighthouse is nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Children's/Young Adult Novel! You can view the full list of nominees in all of the Agatha categories here. Winners will be announced at the upcoming Malice Domestic convention on Saturday, May 4, 2013.
• Penny also has a number of events this coming week, including Ladies of Charity on February 11, at 9:30 a.m. in San Jose, California; the Crow Canyon Club on February 14, noon, in San Ramon, California; and the San Francisco Writers Conference, February 14 – 17, in San Francisco, California.
• Michael A. Black had a very busy January with releases of his The Incredible Adventures of Doc Atlas, and short stories appearing in a number of anthologies. Lest we miss one or the other of his releases, we're pointing you to his January 2013 update, with all the latest greatest news. (The same page has some great photos of the Loop in Chicago, so you can browse the photo gallery as well while you're there...)

AFFAIRS OF THE HEART...

... Is the topic for this coming week.

WRITER'S HEART

So who has touched your heart, as a writer or a reader? The following LadyKillers offer up their own sources of inspiration:

• Priscilla Royal:  There are many who inspire me by their work or have offered encouragement when I lost confidence. Teachers Katherine Forrest, Judy Greber, and Michael Nava enlightened me on craft. From the "golden age of the medieval", I bow to the stars: Paul Doherty, Margaret Frazer (may she be sharing a goblet of celestial wine with Richard III), Sir Bernard Knight, Sharan Newman, Sharon Kay Penman, Ellis Peters, Candace Robb, Peter Tremayne. And I can never thank friends enough...
• Pat Morin: Who has touched my writer's heart? My grandfather. We lived in Newark, NJ during the race riots. My grandfather was my friend, my confidant, and although I had to get him a beer when he damanded it, because he could only walk baby steps down to the basement to his beer refrigerator, my TV buddy. I would let him watch "The Life of Riley" with William Bendix, and he would allow me to watch "Astro Boy" with Astro Boy. :) He went out to bring in the American flag one night in the rain. The police were never sure whether he fell and hit his head on a brick, or one of the angry African American boys threw a rock and hit him in the head and killed him. His shop was already burnt to the ground, but he had built the house they lived in and refused to move (He was a carpenter). A neighbor was killed by stones the week before. I wrote about him. I wrote a poem. I wrote an essay about hatred. And my short story, "Pa and the Pigeon Man" in my first story collection, Mystery Montage, was for Grampa. Hatred was the murderer. It was nominated for a Pushcart. No matter how corny it sounds, I was crazy about him and missed him for many years. With him more than anyone else, I wrote from my heart.
• Michael A. Black: Let's see, there are so many people who've inspired me, I'd be hard pressed to come up with only one or two. How about: My parents, who always encouraged me to read and write.
• Susan Shea: Award-winning author Louise Ure, who mentored me with plain talk and kindness; agent Kimberley Cameron, who stunned me by saying in her sweet voice, that she liked my 20 pages so much she wanted to take me on; and best-selling author Cara Black, who shares everything she knows about this business (which is a lot) with such generosity and encouragement.
• Ann Parker: Well, it's hard to narrow down the names down to just a few... When it comes to encouragement to write fiction, Camille Minichino and Penny Warner are top of the list. When it comes to sparking a fierce appreciation for the flow of the written language and to bestowing a passion for the "message behind the words," I would need to reach back several decades to UC Berkeley English Lit professor Janet Adelman. Upon searching the Internet, I was saddened to read that Professor Adelman died of cancer a couple of years ago. She was an amazing teacher and lecturer, who brought Shakespeare in all his nuances to life in a way that lives with me to this day. In this posthumous article about her, another professor noted that Adelman had the ability “to bring the immediate experience of a text to life, to show you how word and affect and sound and tone and meaning and communication are all wrapped up together. She made reading and thinking about literature, for those of us who don’t do it professionally, into something that is just part of you, part of being human, rather than being something that you do.” I agree, one hundred percent.
• Terry Shames: There are almost too many to mention. But a few stand out. First was my seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Kelly, who read my first "real" short story aloud to the class. Then there was Marilyn Wallace, who encouraged more than one aspiring writer, and Judy Greber, with the famous "Price Club talk." I will explain that one in a future post. My favorite, though, is Susan Shea, who insisted that I join the writers' group that she was forming and kept up a constant drumbeat of praise and encouragement. And finally, my agent, Gail Fortune, who confessed to me that her colleague at Talbott Fortune Agency had urged her to drop me after the big six passed on my book. But she insisted that she believed in me, to fine results.

NEWS and KEEP IT REAL

NEWS FLASHES!!

It's a changing of the guard at The LadyKillers this week... We bid adieu to Mary Anna Evans, who has been a LadyKiller since way-back-when. We'll miss Mary Anna and her insightful Monday posts, but wish her well with all the exciting things going on in her life! You can catch up with Mary Anna at her own personal blog—It's like making sausage— and through her website.

A bit of shuffling around brings LadyKiller Mysti Berry to the Monday slot, and introduces a new blogger to our merry band of scribblers, Pat Morin! And now, a bit about Pat...

Besides being a writer of short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction books, Pat is also a psychotherapist with a Masters in both Counseling Psychology and Clinical Social Work. Pat is on the board of several organizations, and created and facilitated the Literary Project, an after-school program that helps middle-school students (interested in becoming authors) learn about the different writing genres. She has two collections of crime fiction short stories—MYSTERY MONTAGE and CRIME MONTAGE—from Top Publications, Ltd. You can read more about Pat and her writings on her website, http://www.patricialmorin.com. Pat's first post will be this coming Saturday, January 19.

Now, to other news...

• On Tuesday, January 15, we will be hosting honored guest author Lois Winston here at the LadyKillers. Lois writes the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series featuring magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack.
• Wednesday, January 16, please be sure to drop by to see what author Carole Price has to say in her very first post as an official LadyKiller.
• On Saturday, January 19, at 2 p.m., Priscilla Royal will be signing THE SANCTITY OF HATE at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona. 
• Same time, but different place: Ann Parker will join mystery authors Camille Minichino and Janet Dawson at the San Leandro Library, San Leandro, California, on January 19, at 2 p.m.

KEEP IT REAL

Keep it real -- that's our upcoming topic. So, just what does this phrase mean, anyway? The Online Slang Dictionary provides some definitions:

• to stay true to one's self; to resist the temptation to be fake.
• to be true to "the game," whatever the game happens to be.
• to stay cool.

And then, there's the (ahem) decidedly mathematical definition of "keep it real":

Drop in with your favorite cuppa this week and see what the LadyKillers have to say about keeping it real!

NEWS, CHANGES, NEW BLOGGERS, and HOPE

NEWS

• Priscilla Royal's THE SANCTITY OF HATE is reviewed in this Sunday's The New York Times Book Review! Here's the link (scroll down), and if you don't feel like clicking and scrolling, here's the review itself: "Aside from the castle of your father, the king, the safest place for a woman in the Middle Ages was a well-run religious institution like the one that figures in Priscilla Royal’s enthralling medieval mysteries. Tyndal Priory has long thrived under the progressive policies of the aristocratic Eleanor, so there’s no accounting for the murder and mayhem that seem to plague this holy retreat — except for the opportunity they offer for Royal’s insights into the upheavals of the period. The vividly drawn characters in THE SANCTITY OF HATE (Poisoned Pen, cloth, $24.95; paper, $14.95) enlighten us on many details of monastic life. But it’s the harrowing scene of a Jewish woman suffering the agonies of a difficult childbirth while a howling mob threatens violence that sums up Royal’s two dark themes: the lowly status and cruel treatment of women, and the persecution of England’s Jewish population."
• Publisher's Marketplace announced Terry Shames's KILLING AT COTTON HILL and THE LAST DEATH OF JACK HARBIN, a debut mystery series featuring the only decent lawman the town of Jarrett Creek, Texas, has ever had, to Dan Mayer at Seventh Street, in a nice deal, by Gail Fortune at Talbot Fortune Agency (World).
• Rita Lakin has two Ebooks up and live this coming week on amazon: THE FOUR COINS OF THE KABBALLAH and A SUMMER WITHOUT BOYS.
• Camille Minichino (aka Ada Madison) has a launch party at Towne Center Books, Pleasanton, California, SUNDAY JANUARY 6 2 PM, for A FUNCTION OF MURDER, #3 Sophie series. -- games! prizes! food!

 

UPCOMING CHANGES

At the first of the year, we have changes a-coming at The LadyKillers...

• Camille Minichino will be moving on, but you can still find her posting at her own The Real Me and monthly at the Perseverance Press authors blog. We will miss her dearly and hope she comes back to guest-post often. Her last official LadyKillers' gig is this coming Wednesday... please stop by and leave her a bazillion comments!
• Stepping up to the open Wednesday position is author Terry Shames, whose debut book THE LAST DEATH OF JACK HARBIN, comes out in 2013. More about Terry below.
• Debut author Carole Price will also be joining our jolly group, sharing the "other Wednesday" spot with Penny Warner. More about Carole below.

Now, a little about Terry and Carole...

Terry Shames grew up in Texas, but couldn't take the heat, so now makes Northern California her home where she lives with her husband, two terriers and a long-suffering cat.  In August 2012, she received a two-book contract from Seventh Street Books/Prometheus for her series set in the fictional town of Jarrett Creek, Texas, featuring ex-Chief of Police Samuel Craddock. A KILLING AT COTTON HILL, will be released in July 2013. Terry's website is http://terryshames.com/

Carole Price is a Buckeye! Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, she attended The Ohio State University, and currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. After retiring from a national laboratory, she wrote her first mystery, went through the Citizens Police Academy, and is a police volunteer.

TWISTED VINES is the first book in her Shakespeare in the Vineyard mystery series published by Five Star. Carole's website is: http://carolepricemysteries.com/

 

HOPE

Following hard on the heels of last week's topic of Best Holiday Gifts, we have HOPE. Here is a YouTube of "surpise gifts" to give you hope and make you smile along with your favorite cuppa this morning. (Watch out for the screams of joy! ;-) )

News and Next Week: TV

News:

• Priscilla Royal interviews Margaret Frazer, award-winning author of the Sister Frevisse mysteries and Joliffe Players mysteries, tomorrow, here at LadyKillers.
• Susan Shea's debut mystery, Murder in the Abstract, will be published in two new editions by Thomas and Mercer by the end of this year: a trade paper version and in Kindle ebook form. These are the fourth and fifth editions of the book to be published since it came out in mid-2010.
• Sharan Newman will be speaking next Sunday, Dec. 16^th, from 2-3 p.m., on the end of the world  at the Ashland Library in Ashland, Oregon.  If you aren’t in Ashland to catch this in-person event, she will also be interviewed on the Jefferson Exchange on Dec. 19^th from 9-10.  You can listen at www.ijpr.org  or through their Facebook page at  https://www.facebook.com/jeffersonexchange.
• Sharan's collection of short stories based on her medieval mystery series, DEATH BEFORE COMPLINE is now in print at http://acmrs.org/publications/catalog/death-compline.

Next Week:

Is it sweet relief after a hard day's work or bottomless maw, stealing all your free time? Is the television writing renaissance over or just beginning? Televisions exist in 99% of American homes. Cable lost 2.9 million subscribers last year, but satellite and telephone providers added nearly 2 million--and now just under half of American households have game consoles that also deliver television content, according to the folks at Nielsen. It's yet another paradigm shift courtesy of the Information Revolution.

Join us next week as the LadyKillers explore their relationships with television.

 

 

News and Oops!

NEWS FLASHES!!

• Priscilla Royal announces that the-just-released-absolutely-newest-book in her Medieval Mystery series, The Sanctity of Hate, is out in hardcover, trade paper, and audio. E-book is in the works. Also just got the OK on the premise and synopsis of next book. Sighs of relief from cats who see this approval in terms of little round cans of food...
• Mystery author Jane Isenberg is our honored guest blogger this coming Friday, November 30. Please join us in welcoming her on this special "Fifth Friday of the Month" post!
• Camille Minichino, Ann Parker, Margaret Lucke, and Susan Shea will all be in attendance at a holiday get-together at Orinda Books, sponsored by Northern California Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America chapters. The event is open to the public and starts at 1 p.m. Plenty of goodies, books, and writers will be there!

Oops!

No, it's not a comment on the blog, or the LadyKillers... It's the topic of the week! And what sort of "Oopses" will the LadyKillers discuss? Ooooh, we're all dying to hear! ;-) Please do join us with your favorite cuppa each day this week and leave a comment, if so desired.

Never say, 'oops.' Always say, "Ah, interesting." ~Unknown

News, High School, and... Thanks!

NEWS FLASHES!!

• Camille Minichino and Ann Parker will be giving a NaNoWriMo workshop for those "stuck in the middle" on Wednesday, November 14, 7 p.m., at the Livermore Public Library, Livermore, California.

HAPPY DAYS? Maybe, Maybe Not

Aren't those high school days supposed to have been the best days of our lives?  This coming week, The LadyKillers will be present when the bell rings (no tardies here!), ready to raise their hands and offer their input on the topic of high school. Grades will be on a curve, but be sure you drop in and participate! (The teacher is very strict about participation.)

Look Around and Give Thanks

'Tis the season to be thankful. We asked The LadyKillers to look around their writing spaces and tell us what, in that particular space, they are grateful for (we're all thankful for friends, family, and pumpkin pie... but do they co-exist with writing? Hmmm...).

• Priscilla - Where to start on what I am thankful for? OK, I stabbed blindly at the long list. Two cats? this was rigged! Four-footed tyrants who play soccer in the hall at 2 AM? Who find their inner Siamese when the chow bowl falls to half full? Well, they also soothe if I don't feel well and give gratuitous purrs when I hit a road block in a book. When I look into those eyes... Yeah, I am grateful...
• Camille - I'm thankful for my 20 + -year old office chair, the most comfortable in the house, $$$ recliners notwithstanding. Come see it in its duct tape glory.
• Rita - I'm thankful for the gorgeous view out my window when I work. It is a bird sanctuary. I especially love watching the pelicans dive for food. It's better looking than Camille's chair. So there.
• Margaret - Hmm. I was going to say I'm grateful for the view outside my window, right in front of my desk. It's green and restful, and looking out makes a welcome change from staring at the computer screen (which is in front of a wall; it's an L-shaped arrangement). But my view is nothing compared to Rita's wonderful lagoon vista.
• Ann - I'm thankful for the door to my office. Because, much as I love love love my family, there are times when I must close it. 

  

News, How-Tos, and Halloween (2)

NEWS FLASHES!!

• Margaret Lucke will be leading a *free* workshop called "Seven Keys to Creative Writing" at the Hercules Library, 109 Civic Drive, Hercules, CA, on Thursday, October 25. at 2 pm. Come and learn about the seven secrets of great storytelling, and come away with tools for developing your story, from the first inspiration to the final polished draft.

HOW-TO IS THE THEME

Whether it's how to make a miniature lamp or how to craft a cupcake, "how-to" hints and suggestions are a big deal in mysteries these days. Taking a step back and an out-of-the-box approach, this week's "how-to" theme can even include "HOW did they DO that?" (as in, how did the sleuth solve the mystery). Stay tuned and you may find a How-To perfect for the upcoming holidays! :-)

HALLOWEEN FUN (2)

We had so much fun with candy last week that we're moving on to costumes. The question posed to the LadyKillers: What was your favorite Halloween costume as a child?

• Susan - When we were kids, we lived for several years in New City, New York, in rural upstate New York and then an exciting arts community. There were playwrights and painters, writers, and famous puppeteers among them and the adults dressed up fabulously - the scariest witches I have EVER seen. Hallowe'en was bigger than Christmas! 

• Staci - Back in the 80s, California used to run a series of commercials to promote California raisins. One year, my best friend and I dressed up like those raisins, complete with the sunglasses and white hats.

• Margaret - When I was little, my mom and my best friend's mom got together to create amazing costumes for us. We were the King and Queen of Hearts one year, Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy another year. When my younger sister became old enough, she joined us and we were the Three Bears and the Three Blind Mice. We won the top prize in the neighborhood costume contests every year until finally the judges awarded the moms a lifetime achievement award and disqualified us from further competition. I can't remember liking one costume over another, but we loved showing off our costumes each year.

• Camille - No costumes as a kid, but this year at a family costume party: pinning a 50-year collection of BIPARTISAN political buttons to a shirt: all the way back to my first vote, for JFK, and including Clint for mayor, Harvey Milk, Barry Goldwater, Ferraro, Jesse Jackson, Wallace (!) and one with -- you may remember --"Nixon's the one; it's perfectly clear."

• Priscilla - My favorite costume was a horse. My poor mother (whose talent with
  thread and needle did not move on to her daughter) stayed up all hours
  making that head... [Wow! We need pictures! :-)]

• Ann - It's a toss-up between the gypsy costume my mother pulled together for me in the third grade (complete with tambourine!) and the "Voting Booth" costume I devised for myself in 1960: the year Kennedy and Nixon ran for president.

• Mysti - I don't remember any of my childhood costumes, but as an adult I had fun as Pippi Brando (or Marlon Longstockings). I wore a leather motorcycle jacket, and put my long hair in braids with a wire hanger woven in to make them stand out. Driving for miles on my motorcycle like that to the party was fun! I like mashup costumes. Mostly I remember the Castro celebrations before there was so much violence--being packed in with a sea of people celebrating together, not caring who was what gender. I felt so safe (I'm usually a little claustrophobic in crowds).

• Michael - [note: Ray was Michael's buddy "way back when."] Ray's dad told us to escort Ray's little sister to their grandmother's house several blocks away so he and I accompanied her. She was dressed like a fairy and went to several houses trick-or-treating on the way. We took our bags along and got some candy at each stop. One woman gave us a hard stare and said, "Aren't you two a little old for this?" We told her we were "fairy godfathers." Other than that, I can't remember may of my costumes. My mother was a real good seamstress and usually fixed me something real neat...

 

 

News, Tales from the Road, and Halloween (1)

NEWS FLASHES!!

• Priscilla Royal's latest Medieval mystery, The Sanctity of Hate, received a **starred review** from Publishers Weekly! Read the review here, then mosey on over to here, here, or here to pre-order your copy for the December release.
• Camille Minichino will facilitate a discussion of Sara Paretsky's "Hardball" at Towne Center Books, Pleasanton CA, on Tuesday, October 16, 7 PM.
• Staci McLaughlin, Penny Warner, and Ann Parker join Carole Price at the Lafayette Public Library, Lafayette, California, to chat about mysteries and mayhem with all and sundry, on October 18, 7:30 p.m., as part of their on-going Murder in the Valley Tour.
• On Thursday, October 18, LadyKillers will host honored guest posters Joanne Dobson and Beverle Graves Myers, who are co-authoring a new historical mystery series titled New York in Wartime. First book, just out, is Face of the Enemy.
• Sharan Newman will be speaking speaking and teaching at the Surrey International Writers Conference in Surrey BC (part of Vancouver), October 19 - 21.
• Ann Parker will be attending the Women Writing the West conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 19 - 21, as a finalist of the Willa Award for Historical Fiction for her latest Silver Rush mystery, Mercury's Rise.
• Margaret Lucke is reluctantly adjusting to this time zone and getting back to work after returning from a three-week trip that took her to Amsterdam, Rome, Florence, Venice, Madrid, and Barcelona.

TALES FROM THE ROAD

LadyKillers harken back to events past to relate Tales from the Road this next week....

HALLOWEEN FUN (1)

... Just for fun, we asked around The LadyKillers: What's your favorite Halloween candy?

Answers:

• Camille - "We called them chicken bones: a thin butterscotch shell with peanut butter filling! The only place I know to get them is the Vermont Country Store."
• Priscilla - "I think they were called Mars Bars: dark chocolate with a white (nougat?) filling. Dating self and these may have only been in Canada. As for chicken bones, Camille, I remember those! They were high on my mother's favs..."
• Sharan - "I vote for Snickers.  I would trade my siblings all the Pez dispensers for them."
• Ann - "Smarties ... those little sweet/sour candies that come in a roll. I always make sure to include them in the Halloween candy dish."
• Susan - "Passing over Tootsie Rolls and Kit Kats was hard, hard, but I finally settled on a remembered treat from childhood: Mary Janes. Mustard colored wrapping with a red band around the middle, insanely bad for teeth, lasts in the wrapper in the paper bag under your bed for a full year. I googled the name and, voila, it's still being made."
• Staci - "I really like those pumpkins that come in the bag of candy corn (probably because I only eat them once a year)."
• Michael - "When I was a kid I used to like the chocolate bars, but to tell the truth, I haven't been trick-or-treating in so long that I don't really have much of a preference anymore. But perhaps your e-mail will stimulate my interests again and there'll be reports of a hulking, costumed figure disrupting the festivities." [Look out for the Hulk on Halloween! ;-) ]
• Margaret - "The first candy that popped into my mind, and probably the first that I'd pop into my mouth, is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups."

News and Writer's Image

NEWS FLASHES!!

• Rita Lakin was interviewed by Ed Robertson of the TV Confidential radio show, out of Los Angeles, about all of her years writing for TV as well as about her Gladdy Gold mystery books.
• Camille Minichino/Margaret Grace's short story, "Majesty in Miniature" made the centerfold in the October issue of the UK's The Dolls' House Magazine.

• Camille will be teaching a Writing Workshop through Emeritus/Diablo Valley College (Pleasant Hill, California) this fall, starting Monday September 17. To register: (925) 685-1230 ext. 2388.
• At the first MWA/SinC Conference in San Francisco, California, on September 22:
  • Priscilla Royalwill be on the panel "Make Yourself Irresistible" with Lisa Blackman and Sheldon Siegel at 1:30 p.m.
  • Camille Minichino will be on a panel "White Water Rafting: Career Navigation for a Writer" with Simon Wood and Cara Black at 3:30 p.m.
• Murder in the Valley tour continues with Staci McLaughlin, Penny Warner, Ann Parker, and Carole Price at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California, on Sunday, September 23, 4:00 p.m.

WHO AM I?

This coming week, the topic is "Writer's Image." So is the face that stares back at you from a mirror or the back of a book flap the image of "the writer" or someone else???