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BORN TO WRITE

The Femmes are happy to welcome back publisher and writer extraordinaire DEBORAH ADAMS. She may not consider the fact that she thought up and founded the FEMMES FATALES as her greatest accomplishment, but, aside from it being a very clever idea, I'm sure glad she did! Deb is a great encourager. Today she shares a story that helps us all, readers and writers, look inside to see ourselves ... and embrace the beauty of who we are.

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There’s an ancient text known as the Bhagavad Gita, which tells the story of Arjuna and his encounter with Krishna. Arjuna is a warrior, surveying the opposing armies just before battle. Behind him is the army he leads, composed of his friends and family members. But as he looks across the battlefield, he notices that the other army is composed of … his friends and family members. Being a decent enough guy, Arjuna decides that he will not kill the enemy. He likes them, he loves them, they are his own people. And so he drops his weapon, prepared to walk away.

This is when Krishna steps in to give Arjuna a wake-up call. “You are a warrior,” Krishna reminds him. “It is your dharma, your duty, your life work to fight.”

Of course, this is only a small bite of the larger meal that we get from the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna isn’t really telling Arjuna to go out and kill people; he’s simply reminding him that he has an obligation to do his job (be a warrior) to the very best of his ability, and let the chips (or bodies) fall where they may.

Like Arjuna, we all have our dharma. The baker’s dharma is to make the best possible food; the gravedigger’s dharma is to dig the best possible hole; and the writer’s dharma is, well, to write. Does that mean that we are born knowing how to form a sentence or use commas? Absolutely not! Arjuna wasn’t born with the knowledge he needed to lead an army; the circumstances of his birth and all his life experiences gave him an edge over those whose dharmas were to be healers or singers or mathematicians. Still, Arjuna had to devote many, many hours to learning the mechanics of his profession. (The bakers and singers could have applied themselves to the proper studies and learned to be good warriors, too. It’s called ‘swimming upstream,’ but it can be done.)

A born writer may love stories and books, may envision brilliant storylines or rich characters, but that alone isn’t enough to bring a writer into full realization of her dharma. Arjuna learned to use weapons and strategies, and a ‘born’ writer is also required to study the stories spun by masters in the field and to spend countless hours memorizing rules of grammar and punctuation along with techniques for structuring plot and developing characters.

Arjuna probably never questioned his dharma. He was a warrior, without doubt. Writers, too, always know that they are writers, even if it takes a long time for that knowledge to make its way to the top of our consciousness. After the universe has put so much effort into getting all the pieces in place, wouldn’t it be a shame if Arjuna had gone off to be a mediocre cobbler instead of following his true, glorious dharma? Wouldn’t it be a shame if those who are meant to be writers –and you know who you are—never sat down at the keyboard and claimed their destinies?

Ponder it. Then go write. Thanks so much, Deb! Femmes and Friends, what secret calling have you often pondered?

Resolution Redux

Toni writes:
I'm very happy to welcome Jessie Crockett to the Femmes today. The first night I met Jessie, it was my pleasure to find her body and announce to the room that she was dead. Well, not really. We were participating in a mystery dinner theater, and poor Jessie was the victim du jour. (Just for the record, I did not kill her.) When she's not playing possum or blogging great advice like this post, Jessie writes the Sugar Grove Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime. Drizzled With Death is the first.

Resolution Redux
by Jessie Crockett

By the end of January New Year’s resolutions can start feeling a little tattered. Grocery stores are displaying Valentine’s Day chocolates instead of fiber bars and there are plenty of parking spaces at the local gym. Abandoned chore charts gather dust under heaps of unopened mail.

And then, just as all hope for change seems lost, a second chance appears. Every year, sometime between the end of January and middle of February, Asian New Year comes round and offers another opportunity to start afresh.

 

On January 31 the year of the Wood Horse begins. Rather than chiding yourself over plans gone awry, you could think of that first batch of resolutions as a warm up, a practice run of sorts. You might sift through your original list for things you still want to accomplish and discard the rest. After all, you’re a whole month older and wiser now; surely you know more about what you truly want from life.

Here, in the northern hemisphere, winter is a month older too, which brings a fresh energy of its own. Days are a bit longer and ground hogs will soon gift us with shadowy predictions. It seems to me that plans made now have a better chance of succeeding, especially since the horse year is said to bring zest, vigor and enthusiasm. 

Even if you don’t credit horoscopes, eastern or western, with validity, with all those fiber bars are on the clearance rack you could work on your physical health and your financial wellness too. By the time you consider all those available treadmills at the gym and the fact most unopened mail is bound to be junk you can congratulate yourself for delaying work on that list. Happy Year of the Horse!

Will you be celebrating a new New Year?

 

 

Just ask, why don't you?

Catriona writes: It's my great pleasure today to welcome Terry Shames to Fatal Acres to talk about some of the eyebrow-raising questions she's had on her debut book tour (and some of the quick thinking she's needed to do to answer them!)  Terry's book THE LAST DEATH OF JACK HARBIN is newly out (and getting rave reviews) and she's giving away a signed copy to one lucky commenter today.

It's the second outing for retired small-town sherrif Samuel (not Sam) Craddock, from Jarrett Creek in Terry's native Texas and he is - as P.G. Wodehouse would say - an utter bah-lamb.  A good man, well up in years, craggy as an outcrop of granite, still devoted to his late wife - a true original, like the gal who created him. 

Welcome, Terry! 

"Thank you to the fabulous Femme Fatales for having me as a guest. I’ll be telling you about some of my favorite author questions. Most of the questions I get when I do readings at bookstores, in libraries or with book clubs are in the same vein—people want to know how you write, how you get ideas, what your plans are for the next book.

I’m not shy [couldn't possibly comment - CMcP] and I can be quick on my feet, but a few of the questions I’ve been asked have challenged me to speed up my tap dance. I don’t think people who ask them are trying to trip me up—I think they genuinely want to know. But sometimes I’m not sure what to say.

At one of my bookstore readings a man sitting at the back of the room looking amused during my whole talk. When I called for questions, he raised his hand and said, “Do you write mysteries because you think you can’t write mainstream novels?” Several people gasped. Luckily, it’s a question I had thought about myself. I replied that I think there is a mystery at the heart of every good piece of writing. Not necessarily a whodunit, but for sure the mystery of the human heart, as Carolyn Hart so succinctly put it. I am a fan of Eudora Welty’s short stories. She is not a crime writer, but in every one of her stories, there is a core of mystery about what created the situation in the story and what the characters will do to resolve things. A good writer, mainstream or genre, will create tension and mystery through the use of atmosphere.

Also, I told him, these days bookstore owners have told me they often have trouble deciding whether to shelve a book in mainstream fiction or in genre fiction because so much genre fiction is written with depth and fine writing. By the time I answered, fully and seriously, the man said, “Good reply.” 

 A bookseller recently said he thought my second book had a lot about guilt in it. What was my intention? I think that crime fiction asks and answers the question of guilt. I’m always interested when a crime writer makes his or her villain sympathetic. The killer is guilty, but by letting the reader know why the killer was desperate enough to think of murder as the only option, the writer shows the villain’s human side—unless of course the villain isa sociopath. Although I can enjoy reading a well-written book about a sociopathic person who isn’t capable of feeling guilt, what I prefer is to read about normal humans pushed to their limit—and who feel some measure of guilt about their actions. In my latest book some of the non-criminal characters also struggle with guilt. 

 My favorite question, though, was a lighter one. “Is Samuel going to, uh…get any?” The audience roared. Whooo boy, what a question! Noir fiction is full of romance and sex. Traditionally, in novels on the cozier side, the door closed firmly as soon as sex was introduced. That has changed a lot. I recently wandered into a bookstore, opened what was touted to be a “cozy”…and read one of the steamiest sex scenes I’ve ever read. Well, I’m not ready to go there—and neither is Samuel. His wife just died, for heaven’s sake. But I did tell the questioner that I would at some point introduce romance into Samuel’s life. Which, of course, immediately sparked another questioner to say, “Who? Who?”

[There is no illustration of this topic; we're not like that here -CMcP]

My last question is one I got recently at a library reading. A man came up to my signing table, picked up my book and started looking through it. He would look at a page, look at me very seriously, thumb through to another page, and then look at me again. This went on for several minutes while people came and went. Eventually everyone was gone and he said, “Can I ask you a question?” Sure, I said, bracing myself. “How do you decide how many chapters are going to be in your books?” Talk about anti-climax! I told him gently that I went to a new chapter when there was a break and a new scene started. He shrugged and wandered away.

I’d like to hear some examples from other writers of questions—serious or not serious--that made you blink. And for non-writers, I’d like to know what you might have been too shy to ask your favorite writer. You can ask here—we promise we won’t tell.

 

 

A Bum Rap?

by Mary Hart Perry (aka Kathryn Johnson)

Dangerous, seductive, mysterious, fascinating women have used their charms for their own purposes throughout history. The Sirens, Medea, Salome, Marie Antoinette, Mata Hari, and countless others of the female sex who appear in literature, or have led real lives, have been labeled femmes fatales. In more recent days the film industry has made frequent use of the archetype: Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice, Kathleen Turner in Body Heat, Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge, or Angelina Jolie in Original Sin.  The list goes on. For just about every “good” girl, there’s a treacherously beautiful one.

But I think they’ve gotten a bad rap. How many femmes fatales are truly evil? And how many are just stepping out of the role that was expected of them?

Mothers in particular worry about their daughters being slapped with this moniker. Or worse. In doing research for my recent series of Victorian thrillers, I’ve come upon just this sort of concern from Queen Victoria. The little queen was quite obsessed with controlling every detail of her children’s lives. Of her nine kids, five were princesses, and she often felt the need to protect them from themselves—and from their natural urges to step outside of their “proper” roles. After all, one doesn’t want scandal!

Louise wanted to become an artist and enjoyed flirting and otherwise socializing with commoners. She threw caution to the wind and went after what she wanted—a career.

Beatrice longed for physical love even though, as the youngest daughter, she was expected to remain her widowed mother’s virginal companion and never marry.

Vicky rebelled by snagging herself a willing Crown Prince and going off to live with her royal husband on the Continent.

Alice ignored her mother’s warnings and nursed wounded soldiers, thereby becoming intimately familiar with the male body. (One shudders to imagine!)

To Victoria, and many in her court, these were shockingly inappropriate behaviors. No less appalling than the more blatant seductions of their sisters in literature.

To my way of thinking, there’s a touch of the femme fatale in many of us. You’ll also find it in my female characters, at least some of the time. This is, I think, one of the most outstanding qualities of a woman—her ability to creatively use gifts, whatever they may be, to achieve a desired end. To step outside of the norm or the safety of polite society, if necessary, for her benefit or for the greater good of others. She may attract men by the dozens or be quite plain. She may be a danger magnet and take risks to achieve her end, or do her work more subtly. But that’s what makes her interesting and timeless.

Kathryn’s most recent novels, writing as Mary Hart Perry, are:
The Wild Princess—Investigation into recent bombings in London by radical Irish separatists involves Louise, the artist-princess, with one of the queen’s Secret Service agents.
Seducing the Princess—A spy attempts to win the affections of Beatrice, the last unmarried British princess, to gain entry into Queen Victoria’s court and confidence.
The Shadow Princess—Jack the Ripper ravishes London, throwing suspicion on one of the queen’s grandsons. Vicky, the eldest of Victoria’s daughters, teams up with a Whitechapel detective to search for the real killer. (Available February 11, 2014)

Here are ways to reach Kathryn, if you like. . .
www.WriteByYou.com  
www.MaryHartPerry.com
Facebook:  on.fb.me/Kj7hzU
Twitter: @Mary_Hart_Perry
www.goodreads.com/author/show/5334470.Mary_Hart_Perry
Email: [email protected]
      

The BSI Weekend

by Dana

As Fellow Fatale Mary mentioned in her recent post, last Sunday was the U.S. premiere of the third season of BBC's “Sherlock.”  I've been a fan of the show since Season One, and a fan of Sherlock Holmes' adventures since I first read them many (many!) years ago.  Which is part of the reason why, last weekend, I was in New York City for the 80th Annual Baker Street Irregulars and Friends Weekend. 

I first encountered the BSI Weekend several years ago, when I went to the dealers room to get my copy of A Study in Sherlock signed.  I realized that some of my favorite people in the world were there, discussing a topic dear to my heart.  I needed to be a part of this! (Right: BSI members Jan Burke, SJ Rozan, and Marilynne McKay)

The Baker Street Irregulars (or BSI) take their name from the street urchins employed by Sherlock Holmes to collect information; they could move throughout London and largely be ignored.  The modern group is dedicated to the study of Holmes and the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; membership is by invitation only.  The weekend (apart from the Annual Dinner) however is open to anyone interested in participating. 

Thursday I attended the Distinguished Lecture and the Daintiest Thing Under a Bonnet Charity Ball, put on by the Baker Street Babes (podcasters extraordinaire) to raise money and awareness for The Wounded Warrior Project (remember, Dr. Watson was invalided out from his service in Afghanistan).  I did some bidding, and came home with a very nice second edition of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  

Friday was the Gillette Memorial Luncheon, named in honor of the playwright and actor who defined the look of Holmes on stage.  Good food and conversation abounded! 

Friday evening, I had the very great honor of being invited to the Dinner this year as a guest.  While I didn't know what to expect, I had advice from friends to guide me as well as Lyndsay Faye's description of the toasts, rituals, songs, and memorials.  It was a splendid evening, and the highlight was definitely getting to see the new members of the BSI given their “shilling,” as they were inducted into the society.  Among these were my friends, mystery writer SJ Rozan (who was given the name “The Imperial Palace of Peking”) and Jacquelynn Morris, now known as “The Lion's Mane,” who is the organizer of the wonderful “Scintillation of Scions.”  (Right: Jacquelynn and me)

(It was at SOS that I presented a paper on the Baker Street Irregulars as a branch of the secret service in World War II; I also met the most excellent Kristina (right, one of the Baker Street Babes) and (center and left) Crystal and Heather (two of the founders of 221BCon).  I also met Michael Quigley there (below), who was also a first-time guest at this year's Dinner.  The terrific thing about the Holmesian community is how you can see friends through the year at different events.)

But when I mentioned above that my enthusiasm for Holmes and Conan Doyle was only part of the reason for me attending the weekend.  The other is the people.  At every event I attend through the BSI Weekends, everyone I meet is enthusiastic, informed, and friendly.  It is easy to be sociable with this group who can converse knowledgeably on every topic under the sun, from antique jewelry and acting, to fandoms and physics, to libraries and historical research.  And underpinning it all is a love of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.  I'm already looking forward to 2015!

If you didn't see it, there was a great piece on the enduring popularity of Sherlock Holmes--featuring some of the folks I mention (and, left, Jen, who is in her wonderful SH costume in the piece)--here.

So, readers:  What is your favorite story from the canon--or pastiche?  Favorite actor?  Favorite memory?

Lessons from Todd

Our guest today has a dual identity; some know her as mild-mannered college professor Wendy Watson; others are getting to know her as Annie Knox, mystery writer. Here is what Wendy says about her alter ego:

"While Annie Knox does not commit--or solve--murders in real life, her love of animals is 100% real.  She's also passionately devoted to 80s music, Asian horror films, and reality TV. Annie, her husband, and their spoiled cats (Todd, Iphy, and Squeak-a-doodle) make their home in a small town in north Texas, just blocks from the town’s courthouse square."

Here is what my alter ego Miranda had to say about Annie's debut, Paws for Murder: “Annie Knox has created a warm, funny, flawed, but completely endearing sleuth in Izzy McHale, and I’m already panting for the next book in the series.”

Here is Annie's contribution to the Femmes blog:

I admit to being a crazy cat lady. My husband is the voice of reason who has kept our household menagerie to three felines and insisted that we not take in every stray in our stray-filled town.

Obviously I love all my critters, but while they all give me love, our Todd Baryshnikov has given me an example of how to balance my crazy two-job life while still maintaining a certain zen. So here I share with you the top three lessons I have learned from Todd the Cat.

1. Ask for Help When You Need It

Todd had been a regular on the stray circuit for at least ten months before he joined our clan. He came to live with us when he came trotting up the porch stairs behind me, did figure-eights around my leg, and chatted up a storm. When he looked up to meet my eyes, I saw a big wound on his poor little neck.  I immediately scooped him up—he was and remains a very friendly guy—and got him to the vet that afternoon. Not only did it save Todd, but it made me feel useful, important. 

I’ve learned that I sometimes need help (I have a tendency to, uh, overextend myself). I used to think of it as a weakness to ask for help, imposing a burden on someone else, but Toddy has taught me that sometimes people like to be asked for help. It can be a win-win situation.

2. Act Like You Own the Place

As soon as I brought Todd home from the vet that first day, he made a beeline for the basket of cat toys, peed all over them, jumped up on our bed, rolled onto his back, fell asleep, and—boom—he was our cat. Not a moment of hesitation, no sniffing around or hiding.  

I suffer from terrible anxiety, made nearly crippling by new social situations. But I’ve learned from Todd. If you act like you belong, pretty soon you do. When I encounter a new situation or new people, my natural reaction is to hide, to shut down entirely. But instead, I take my cue from the cat and pretend like I’ve been there, doing that, for years. Works like a charm.

3. Relax

Todd Baryshnikov. Toddy B. The snuggle pirate, the cuddle cowboy, the love ninja, the nap hero. He goes by many names around here, but he’s earned every moniker. Todd’s favorite thing to do is nap, and napping with a friend is the best of the best. He’s fond of tummies and creeping up them until his head is nearly in your mouth. He surrenders to a good belly rubbing with complete abandon, tucking his front paws beneath his chin, sometimes losing track of where he is and stretching himself right off the couch or bed.

This gift of complete relaxation, abandonment to love and comfort, is something we can all learn from.  When I get wrapped up in deadlines, swamped by students, overwhelmed by the chaos that is our house, I take a look at Todd, eyes squinted in an expression of wise contentment, and I think, “that’s where I need to be right now.” I stretch out on the bed, the couch, even the floor of my office, close my eyes, take a few deep breaths and let all the tension drain out of me. When I get up (after a minute or thirty), I feel wildly refreshed and able to take on the day.

After years and years of neuroses, I finally learned to cope by watching this wondrous cat. Do you have pets? What have you learned from them?

Changing HIstory--Just a LIttle

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Someone asked me once if I could write a romance without a mystery. I thought about it for a second—then answered—well, if there’s no mystery to solve, what would the people DO?   (I know, I know. I laughed, too, after I said it.)

They followed up by asking—could you write a mystery without romance?  The fabulous Liz Zelvin faced a similar question—and in her inimitably clever way, she figured out an answer.

 

Romance in a Doomed Paradise

                   

 

by Elizabeth Zelvin

As a reader, there's nothing I like better than a love story with a happy ending. Since Jane Austen invented the novel in which the heroine doesn't die or screw up her life irreparably, but ends up with the perfect mate, some of us have preferred to close the book on our favorite fictional characters with a smile of satisfaction--or a gush of sentiment, depending on how cynical you are. My favorite couples in genre fiction appear in series, so they get to live happily ever after...and after...and after. I'm not complaining.

I'm always ready to hear more about Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell in Laurie R. King's feminist addition to the canon, Margaret Maron's Judge Deborah Knott and Deputy Sheriff Dwight Bryant, and Julia Spencer-Fleming's Rev. Clare Fergusson and Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne in mystery; Claire and Jamie Fraser in Diana Gabaldon's stupendous time-travel historical romance series; and Miles Vorkosigan and his wife Ekaterin in Lois McMaster Bujold's brilliant blend of space opera, mystery, and comedy of manners. 

As a writer, not so much. Having chosen--or rather, been chosen by, which is how it feels--two very different male series protagonists, I've given them so many problems that they haven't had a lot of time to think about love. Recovering alcoholic Bruce Kohler is so busy getting sober in Death Will Get You Sober and dealing with his addiction to his crazy ex-wife in Death Will Help You Leave Him--not to mention falling for a couple of prime suspects in that book and my novella Death Will Save Your Life--that he doesn't meet a potential partner till the third book, Death Will Extend Your Vacation.

Diego Mendoza, my young marrano sailor on Columbus's first voyage, is busy staying alive, between the Inquisition and a dangerous enemy aboard the Santa Maria, in his first appearance in "The Green Cross." There were no women on the second voyage either, though settlers for a trading colony sailed on the fleet of seventeen ships in 1493, along with sailors, soldiers, gentleman volunteers with horses, and ship's boys. Voyage of Strangers is the true story of the first two years of that expedition, with fictional embellishments.

I was not about to spend a year of my life writing a novel with no women in it. In fact, the first half of Voyage of Strangers takes place in Spain. Of the eighteen historical characters in my cast, the only woman was the one you've heard of: Queen Isabella of Castile. But I could create as many fictional women as I wanted. Diego's sister Rachel appeared in my brain unsummoned, delightful personality, distinctive voice, and all. But I actually made up her converso Aunt Marina, a gypsy queen and her granddaughter, and a merchant noble's household in Seville that included a lady and four daughters.

I could have given Diego a flirtation with one of the latter. But Voyage of Strangers is not a costume drama, and it tackles some serious subjects. Diego is well aware that the Espinosa family's kindness could dry up if they realized that he and Rachel are secret Jews. So he doesn't have to suffer a change of heart when the family attends an auto da fe, the public burning of Jewish "heretics," in the same spirit we'd bring to a movie or parade. He also has his hands full between his role in the outfitting of the fleet and his plan to send Rachel to safety in Firenze, where the rest of the Mendoza family has fled, while Rachel is equally determined to disguise herself as a boy and take part in the voyage. Guess who wins.

Diego and Rachel are both in their teens, and if Voyage of Strangers is not quite a marketable YA novel (not fantasy, paranormal, or dystopia, not about kids dealing with divorce, drugs, or sexual orientation), it is certainly a coming-of-age novel. And of course, the major rite of passage from boyhood or girlhood to adulthood is falling in love. I had a convenient--though not at all suitable--lover for Rachel at hand: Hutia, the Taino youth whom Diego met on the first voyage and with whom he has become close friends. While Rachel spends months living in a Taino village, playing batey with the girls and learning several ways to cook a hutia (a rodent of which a few species still exist in the Dominican Republic), the Spaniards have become violent in their obsession with gold. It's obviously going to end badly for the Taino, who have never before seen horses or metal weapons and have a culture based on generosity. Once again, Diego is bound to fail to save Rachel from herself. He and Hutia talk about it.

“She is happy here,” Hutia said.

“Nonetheless,” I said, “it is my responsibility to restore her to her intended life.” 

“A life in which she cannot run or play batey or go where she chooses.” Hutia pitched a pebble at the trunk of a nearby tree with such force that it broke the bark.  “She has told me.”

I opened my mouth to say, A life in which she can count on being warm and fed and clothed. But the Taino lived in a land that was always warm and offered food in abundance. As for clothing, they saw no need for it.

“It is her life,” I said. “She belongs with her people. Our family longs to see her.”

“She must go where Adonai can hear her voice,” Hutia said. “But Rachel says Adonai is everywhere.”

“I fear there may soon be no more happiness among the Taino,” I said. “Truly, Hutia, I wish it were not so.”

“I fear you are right,” he said. “And I do not blame you.”

Considering the Spaniards were murdering and enslaving the Taino right and left--some took cyanide to avoid these fates, a third of the population was gone by 1496 (forget the comforting explanation that most died of European diseases), and eventually the Taino were wiped out completely, it would be a huge challenge to devise a happy ending for this pair. You'll have to read Voyage of Strangers to find out if I did it and to hear all about Diego's romance with a beautiful young Taino widow.

 HANK:  Are there any books with absolutely no women?  There must be, right?LIz, was it fun (or stressful?) to mix real people with fictional ones?

************************************* 

Elizabeth Zelvin is a New York City psychotherapist and mystery author best known for her series featuring recovering alcoholic Bruce Kohler. Voyage of Strangers, her first historical novel, is the sequel to the Agatha-nominated short story "The Green Cross," which first appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and introduced the young marrano sailor Diego Mendoza and Admiral Columbus. Liz is a three-time Agatha  nominee and a Derringer Award nominee for Best Short Story. She has also released a CD of original songs, Outrageous Older Woman.

 

 

 

READING BINGES

Since New Year’s Day, I’ve been on a binge. Not a drinking one, but a reading one. I’ve been rereading Barbara Pym novels as if they were going to vanish tomorrow. For those of you unfamiliar with Barbara Pym, she was a British novelist whose heyday was 1950-1961. She did not write mysteries, and she was never an international sensation that I can discover; so there’s a good chance you will never have heard of her or read her.

Pym was very much like a (fairly) modern-day Jane Austen, in that her area of expertise was narrow and intense. She specialized in women who were being left on the shelf in post-war England, worthy spinsters with interesting inner lives. Pym also loved anthropologists and clergymen, and many of her characters are church-goers. Just as Austen observed the minutiae of social interaction in the society of her time, Pym observes and laughs about the foibles of men and women who are seldom, perhaps never, frank with each other.

Pym’s characters are, by turn, amusing, exasperating, clever, and frivolous. Wilmet Forsyth in “A Glass of Blessings” is definitely one of the latter. She’s married and bored, but she makes no huge effort to become more than decorative. She learns a life lesson when she falls into a flirtation with Piers Longridge, a translator. Just at the moment she’s convinced she loves Piers, she meets his roommate, and learns that Piers is “not a man who should marry.”

Dulcie Mainwaring (“No Fond Return of Love”) and Jessie Morrow (“Crampton Hodnet”) are my favorites. There’s something in these excellent women that resonates with me. Dulcie’s life, so dull on the surface, is a positive cauldron of delight when she becomes interested in someone. Jessie, a lowly companion, has a delightful sense of the ridiculous that helps her get through the drab days of servitude.

I’ll tell you what I really love about Barbara Pym’s writing: it’s the undercurrent of strong emotion that runs just under the surface of her overtly conventional characters. No matter how repressed and drab on the outside, underneath her people are battered to and fro by curiosity, love, longing, anger, or simply the desire to be noticed.

If you want to dive into Barbara Pym, you can start with any book except “Quartet in Autumn,” her last novel. You should read that one later; it’s her final word.

Do you binge read, too? If you do, who’s your writer of choice?

Charlaine Harris

Countdown To Sherley

 

from Mary

 

It has been a l-o-o-o-o-n-n-g wait for the new season of Sherlock on PBS. Now we're less than TWO AND A HALF days away (yip yip mmrr-eeoW-WOOF ba-OOOOOOH!) from the Sunday night season 3 premiere.

 

There's so much to love about this series - the clever screenplays, the BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH humor, the great MARTIN FREEMAN actors, the little geek-y squiggles onscreen, the twisted nods to familiar bits of the Sherlock canon. It's all great.

 

So far, my favorite from seasons 1 and 2 is SCANDAL IN BELGRAVIA. Can the new Sherlock team ever top it? I don't think so but they're a clever bunch. My favorite scenes are:

 

Command Performance at Buckingham Palace

 

... or should that be Commando ...

  

and

 

Tears At The Door

 

in which poor innocent Father Sherlock delivers the most pitiful bunch of crap trying to get in Irene Adler's house.

 

They get my votes for Most Hilarious Scenes That Get Even Funnier Every Time You Watch Them. :)

 

To help get in gear for Sunday, last night I watched an old Holmes movie, THE SEVEN PERCENT SOLUTION. I don't think I'd seen it before but do remember how excited I was when the book came out back in the '70s.

 

 

The movie has an incredible cast. Sherlock is played by Nicol Williamson and Watson by Robert Duval. 

 

Sorry, don't know the dog's name. Moriarty was a lovely surprise ... Sir Laurence Olivier!

 

 

 

As was Alan Arkin's performance as Sigmund Freud. Wunderbar.

 

 

Vanessa Redgrave and Joel Grey didn't have the big parts in this one, but it was good to see them in action again. Even with very little dialog and screen time, Joel Grey was just fabulous. He moved in a way that makes the viewer want to watch him. All that Broadway dancing experience showed here, even though he wasn't dancing. Masterful and a joy to see.

 

Between now and 9PM CST Sunday, I think I'll pull out some Nigel Rathbone and Jeremy Brett DVDs to tide me over. Maybe get in the spirit of things with some tea and biscuits. But Sunday ...

 

Sunday there will be champagne! :)

 

 

Mary and the Femmes want to know: What is your favorite Sherlock moment? Sherlock actor? Will you be celebrating the triumphant return of the new season Sunday?

 

 

 

 

Keep That Love Alive.

Catriona says: "At my first Malice Domestic, for which I had offerred to moderate a panel (not actually knowing what that meant particularly), the pixies sprinkled me with some of luckiest dust of my life so far.  The moderatees were: sassy Sandra Balzo, even sassier Clare O'Donohue, our very own Donna Andrews and my guest today and one of my favourite people ever, Jess Lourey.  The panel was a hoot and instead of being a newbie, suddenly I had a gang of friends. 

I couldn't be more delighted to welcome Jess to Femmes Fatales and help her celebrate the latest in her Lefty-noimnated humourous mystery series - out just last week - JANUARY THAW.  Jess is giving away a copy and if you win you're in for a treat. 

Boy-oh-boy, I love these books.  The heroine, Mira James is a small-town librarian in Battle Lake Minnesota who stumbles over a fresh corpse (it seems) every time she steps out of her lakeside double-wide.  “It’s not easy to make readers laugh when they’re on the edge of their seats," said Booklist, in a starred review, "but Lourey pulls it off.”  She certainly does.  As well as Mira, there's Mrs Berns, her octogenarian side-kick; (Ms) Kennie Rogers, the entrepreneurial mayor; a love triangle (I think); and of course Chief Wenonga (you wouldn't believe me if I told you . . .)

 And now, as they say on the audiobooks, Jess Lourey."

 

Being a writer has always been my dream, and I’m lucky to be writing February Fever, the 10^th in my Murder-by-Month mysteries. I was that five-year-old kid who gave poems as gifts (“grandpas are full of love, grandpas are full of tickles, but grandpas are especially full of pickles”). I started a neighborhood newspaper when I was 12 (which would be more impressive if the nearest neighbor hadn’t lived 1.9 miles away, forcing me to be the sole reporter, editor, and reader of said paper). In high school, I entered every short story contest, preened for my creative writing teacher, read books like other kids, well, played with other kids. I mean it when I tell you that I’ve always dreamed of being a writer.

People, I know how lucky I am.

I need you to believe that before I start whining, because here it comes: I’m finding it challenging to keep the love alive. Specifically, how do other people write book after book in a series without losing their passion and originality? How many dead bodies can one woman stumble across in a Minnesota town, population 783 and dropping? Is it possible to orchestrate one. more. original way for Mira James to just barely almost sleep with Johnny Leeson? Is there any way to create another crazy costume for Kennie Rogers that is one frog’s hair shy of being over the top?

Yes. Yes to all of that. Do you know why? Because I love writing, and because I have a contract, and because I don’t want to disappoint. But it won’t be easy. And that’s the focus of this blog post: keeping the love alive in an extended mystery series. Below, I’ve offered up the results of my extensive research on the subject. You’ll find it a blend of pop psychology and guidance from the greats who have gone before.

 

YOU ARE NOT ENEMIES

(I pulled these headlines from marriage websites, but I think they apply.) First, it’s important to not see the book you need to write as your enemy. Remember why you got into writing in the first place, and celebrate.

When asked about keeping her series fresh, Sue Grafton, the queen of the serial (and one of my favorite writers), says, “What was I thinking? I ask myself that to this day.” But ultimately, she sees Kinsey Millhone as her partner, and they work together to get the project done, even when the last thing they want to do is sit down together. (Full, amazing interview with Ms. Grafton is here: http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/improve-my-writing/sue-grafton-advice-for-writers.)

 

 WE ARE ALL KIDS AT HEART

This one is about being playful. It’s easier for me because I write a humorous mystery series, but I think it’s important for writers of extended series to remember how to play like a child, i.e. write like it’s their first book. It’s just me and my computer, and I get to make mistakes, giggle at my own jokes, and generally dance like no one’s looking, even though I know they will be down the road.

 

INTRODUCE COSTUMES AND TOYS

I’ll admit this one was a stretch, but I’m interpreting it as, “step out of your comfort zone.” In other words, even though your series will have repeating characters, don’t keep putting them in the same situations. New York Times best-selling author William Kent Krueger kills off major characters with cold regularity, and readers love it (me included—his writing is brilliant). You see it in TV, too. According to Jeff Simon’s article in The Buffalo News, “Shonda Rhimes…has figured out in ‘Scandal’ that one way to keep a terrific TV series going with suitable attention is to threaten to blow it up every week.” This doesn’t mean I have to literally put a bomb on the train. Rather, I have to be willing to sacrifice beloved relationships and tropes to keep the passion in the story, ie, step out of my comfort zone. (and potentially wear a fuzzy bear costume while doing it, but that’s between me and my computer)

 

SLEEP TOGETHER—LITERALLY

If my book and I were married, this tip would be all about revitalizing that physical connection. Since I have a fear of commitment, I’m instead taking it to mean that I have to carry the book around in my head all the time. I get my best ideas when I least expect them, so I need to push aside my worries and make a nice bed for them to slide into.

When asked about keeping her series fresh, Janet Evanovich writes, “I think that you have to continue to live and get new experiences that relate to the people you are writing about. I spend a lot of time in bars and shopping centers, and I go to NASCAR races, and I hang out with my crazy relatives, and I prowl South Beach. I think that stuff kind of gets moving around in your head and helps to give you new ideas.” So carry your book with you when you go, mentally speaking!

  

 CHANGE THE SCENERY

Ah, a trip. That’d be awesome. Since it’s not in the budget at the moment, however, I’ll instead consider writing in a new space, maybe the local library or coffee shop. New space, new ideas, new book. Sigh. That will never happen. I like my comfy chair at home, and the smell of dirty hair is crucial to my creative process. Here’s what I can do, however: write another book, one outside of the series, between writing series books. Literally, I can change my mental scenery, so when I come back to my series book, I am fresh!

It feels good to have a plan, yes? Wish me luck. 

And thank you to the brilliant and stunning Femme Fatales for having me, and to you, for reading through to the end.

                                                           J.

(Catriona again) "So, readers and writers, what keeps a beloved series fresh?  Drop a comment to be entered into Jess's giveaway of a signed copy of JANUARY THAW.  You can also check out May-December at www.jesslourey.com."