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The Value of Politics. Yes, Really.

by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Super Tuesday. No, this is not about this year’s election. But it got me thinking about politics, and how my career started there. And how what I learned as a campaign staffer at age, oh, 20 or so, has taught me so much.

Blazing out of college, I was all about changing the world, and decided politics was the place to start. I worked in several political campaigns back home in Indiana, beginning as a low-level lackey.

One of my first tasks, I remember, was to fold, stuff and seal about fifty million envelopes. I began by folding one, and stuffing it, and licking then envelope flap, and sealing it. Forty-nine million, nine hundred ninety nine to go.

I could not face it. This was changing the world? But I had to do it. How could I—thinking about Tom Sawyer and the fence—convince someone else to do it? But there was no one. Then I decided the only way to handle it was to make it easier.

What if, I thought, I folded more than one at a time? After experimenting, I learned it was faster to fold about ten letters at a time, then separate them. Okay. Done.

Then I saw I could, by using two hands and keeping the envelopes in the box, insert the letters into the envelopes without taking them out of the box. Stuff stuff stuff. Okay, done.

Then I smoothed out all the stickum-ed flaps, ran them over with a damp sponge, and zoop zoop zoop, they were all sealed. What a triumph, figuring out how to do it more efficiently, faster, and perfectly. And be done so quickly! They campaign got their folded, stuffed and sealed envelopes, in record time, and I became obsessed with making things work.

It sounds like a little thing, but now, 46 years later? I still remember my satisfaction.

One of the candidates, a many-term US Senator, taught me something else I always use. Senator Hartke’s three rules were:

Always use the bathroom whenever you have a chance

 Always keep food handy, you never know when you’ll be stranded and starving

 Always keep the car filled with gas.

That certainly still works for me. As a reporter, and in my other life on book tour, its practically gospel.

Senator Hartke had a pretty great way of handling the press, which I noticed and tucked away years before I began working the other side of the microphone. When he was asked a difficult question in a news conference, he’d nod, smile, point to he reporter as if they were a genius, and say “I’m all right on that! Next question. “ Worked every time. That’s where I learned the value, too, of the journalist’s followup question. Senator Hartke never took those.

And I really think those political campaigns were where I started to earn the value of persuasive writing. And, certainly, the power of an editor. And the writers’ pride of authorship.

I had wrangled my way into the press office ,finally, and kept asking to write press releases. Finally they let me write the Daily, a handout the campaign issued at the end of each day. Deadlines were a lot different back then, and so was reporting, and in Indiana, often the Dailys were reprinted word for word in little newspapers. (There was no internet, of course.)

So with much delight, I summarized Governor Welsh’s week, trying to (subtly) emphasize his energy and enthusiasm. I remember—so clearly—the campaign’s visit to the Indiana State Fair.

On my manual typewriter, I happily banged out my closing paragraph: “With barely time for a quick corn dog, Governor Welsh jumped into Campaign One as the engines revved, and he flew off to greet his next crowd of cheering Hoosiers.” Well, I forget the rest.

But when Jim Greene, the press secretary, read that line, he bellowed across the campaign office: “Hank!”

And I dashed over, ready for my atta girl and certain promotion.

“’With just time for a quick corn dog’?” He actually sneered. “What kind of writing is that?”

“I thought it kind gave the flavor,” I said. “Wrong,” he said. I forget what happened next, except I still remember that interaction, and I still think he was wrong.

Still, sadly, not one candidate I ever worked for actually won the election. When the last guy entered the loser’s circle, I was out of a job. And went to apply at the local radio station for my first job as a reporter.

Huh.

And I have politics to thank for that. And hey, if you can vote today, you’ll do it, right?

A Coupon for Everything

By Elaine Viets

I'm a big fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar, especially her "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" TV series. I didn't realize the vamp killer and I had something in common:
We both clip coupons.
Sarah told a reporter, "I clip coupons all the time. Why should you pay more for something that someone else is paying less for?"
Put a stake through those high prices, Sarah.

Sarah and I enjoy the thrill of the bargain hunt. I keep most of my coupons in my wallet. Like Buffy, I never know when I might get a chance to save – two bucks on a new toothbrush, or fifty cents on paper towels.
I have coupons for restaurant deals, groceries and clothes. But couponning is not my life's work. I'm not a pro, like the woman who said she'd saved thirty thousand dollars in ten years, thanks to coupons.
I probably throw out more expired coupons than I actually redeem. Today, I tossed a coupon for 25% off any purchase at Walgreens because it had expired. But I'm sure I'll use that L'Oreal coupon for a dollar off eye makeup before July 1.
Florida has some bizarre coupon deals, including a $600 cremation. That's one bargain I don't want.

But Monday, I had a coupon that redeemed a mistake.
I'd done a small favor for a neighbor and she gave me a gift certificate for lunch for two. "Greek Pastries and deli," it said. "Enjoy! Right by Holy Cross!!" That's the sprawling medical complex near our home, ringed with Thai, Greek and Italian restaurants. 

Visions of baklava danced in my head. I might even order some soup, after I scarfed up the honey-drenched goodies.
Don drove us to lunch. "You're in the wrong lane," I said. "The Greek restaurant is on the right side on Commercial Boulevard, across from the hospital parking garage."

He parked, and we ordered salads and pita wraps – lamb for Don, chicken for me – with tzatziki sauce.
"Wait!" I said, when the waitress rang up our order. "I have a gift certificate."
The waitress looked at it oddly. "That's not our gift certificate. That's for Greek Pastries & Deli."
Oh. That was the restaurant name on the gift certificate, not what I could order.
"They're on Federal Highway, next to the entrance to Holy Cross," the waitress said. "We're the Greek Spice Grill. I'll cancel your order so you can go there." She said it with a smile. I eyed the fresh salads and generous platters of pita bread, loaded with grilled meat and slathered with creamy sauce on the counter.

"No, wait! I have a coupon for the Greek Spice Grill. Five dollars off!"
I triumphantly produced the right coupon at the wrong restaurant. The waitress rang up our order again, this time with $5 off. She still smiled at us.
I wish all my mistakes were that good.

                                               ***
Win Murder Is a Piece of Cake, my eighth Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper mystery. Josie will marry the man of her dreams – if she can get her meddling future mother-in-law of jail for murder one.

Go to www.elaineviets.com and click Contests.

A thousand words. All of them "Whaa - - ?"

Images to go with words have been on my mind recently, because last week not one but two jacket designs came in. (I asked if I could show them today. No deal. )

But as well as that, pictures have been bugging me because I've got Durand and Barlow's Essentials of Abnormal Psychology open on my desk while I write the new book (yep, another chucklefest of bunnies and daisies) and this is the image on the cover.

 

I'd love to think the message is "Learn psychology and help people so that all teens can be as well-adjusted as this one with her obvious thoughtfulness and excellent grooming". But I suspect the message is really "Black lips! Long fringe! Devil child!"

Things aren't much better inside. Personality disorders are amongst the most distressing and intractable of psychiatric conditions and histrionic personality disorder, like others, is associated with chaotic lives, broken relationships, lost jobs . . .

 

"vain, extravagant and seductive"

 . . . and - ye gods! - flowers in the hair. Words fail me, but you don't get to play that card when you're a writer so I'll just say I cannot imagine who thought this woman would be good visual shorthand for an out-of-control temptress.

When we turn to the subject of sex, it gets so bad it's just funny. Did you know that sexual behavior often continues well into old age? Well, it does. Look at this pair:

It's hard to say what's more hilarious: the idea that this is sex or the thought that these women are old.

Finally, let's look at a photograph of a person who is genuinely elderly, being used to illustrate the serious problem of depression in the aged. One problem: she's not depressed . . .

. . . she's just giving major side-eye to whoever chose these pictures.

 

 

A GOOD TIME HAD BY ALL

Last week, I was happy to be part of a group signing in the Dallas area. My friends (and talented writers all) Jaye Wells, Delilah Dawson, Rachel Caine, and Kevin Hearne, had a great panel and a great time, and I hope the SRO crowd enjoyed the thoughtful answers to some thoughtful questions.

You might wonder why this would be so great. Don’t we all want the spotlight? Don’t we want to tout our own books? Sure! But it’s more fun to have the group support and safety net. If a reader is rude (rare, but it happens) there’s someone to jump in. If you’re stuck for an answer to a reader question, again, another writer will take up the slack.

Plus, there’s the Bambi effect. If you’re in line for one writer, and the poor writer to the left has nothing to do, many readers will kindly buy a book from that writer. I like to think that the big sad eyes have something to do with it!

But pity buying aside (because who really wants pity?) the really important factor is that we can cross-pollinate. You might have come to hear Kevin Hearne (who has a great following, and different from mine) but if you enjoy what I say on the panel, you’ll try my books. Or if you come to hear Rachel, who produces about twenty books a year, maybe you’ll pick up Delilah or Jaye.

Looking back on all the signings I’ve had with other writers, and that’s looking back over quite a few years, one or two stand out clearly. Many tours ago, the west coast reps of my paperback publisher rented a motor home and drove four of us – Tony Dunbar, Lynn Hightower, a wonderful older woman whose name has completely escaped me (because now I am probably her age!) and myself.

By the time we’d gotten to the 15th bookstore, after days of being together on the motor home (though we slept in hotels), we were punchy. Some of the stores didn’t have the books and had forgotten we were coming. At a signing in Washington state, one of the last ones, Lynn (who had been taking painkillers for a bad back) actually exchanged heated words with an inebriated audience member about the Spanish police system. We were ready to throw ourselves between them.

At least Tony taught us how to play bourre on the motor home.

What was your most memorable group signing, either in the panel or in the audience?

Charlaine Harris

Let Them Introduce You To--A FREE DOWNLOAD!

HANK: This is SUCH a clever idea! Just wanted to make sure you know about it!  xoxo

 

An Eight-Variable Mystery Experiment

By Jaden Terrell

 When Michael Guillebeau invited me to participate in Eight Mystery Writers You Should be Reading Now (free on Amazon on February 20-21!), I knew it would be a terrific adventure.

I’d read Michael’s poignant and beautifully written short story “The Man in the Moon” and his clever debut novel, Josh Whoever, so I knew he had some serious writing chops. No lightweights in the rest of the lineup either.

He chose eight very different writers, with very different styles—and personalities. Privately, he began to call us by nicknames: Excitable Girl, Old Pro, Miss Persnickity, Really Nice, Bat-Shit Crazy and so on. (I know which one I pick; don’t spoil my illusions.)

So our book is out there now, and we think it’s a pretty good way to find a new favorite book. And, for the rest of today (February 21, 2016), and on February 29, it’s actually free for download!

We began to wonder if our differences extended into how we see our own writing. If asked what fascinates us about our main characters, would we find eight completely different viewpoints or some underlying convergence? We’ll let you be the judge.

 

Lisa Alber: I love that my detective, Danny, doesn’t always toe the line. He’s trying to juggle too many things and his impulses get the better of him sometimes. As I get to know him, I’ve learned that he’s more vulnerable than he lets on. I love torturing him, sad but true!

 

 

Kathleen Cosgrove: Maggie Finn may not be crazy, but those who are attach themselves to her like sand on suntan lotion. Her comfort zone hovers somewhere between mayhem and calamity, so of course she’s right at home in SW Florida. She overcomes the dangers with a host of oddball accomplices, and a lot of humor.

 

Michael Guillebeau: I like that my character Josh is driven by the tension of wanting to save the world, and wanting to walk away from it. The only way he has to deal with his disappointment in the crazy world is to laugh at it and do his best with no expectation of success.

 

 

Chris Knopf: Sam Acquillo reads Cicero in the original Latin, drinks too much Absolut vodka, sees nothing wrong with fighting dirty, is loyal to his friends, dog and old car (not necessarily in that order), and believes fervently in avoidance, rationalization and denial. He hates trouble, but when it comes, he doesn’t know how to back down.

 

 

Jessie Powell: Noel is the best friend with whom I have only a few commonalities. She’s a primatologist, an activist with a dark past and a sense of humor. I only learn about her by spending time with her on the page. And she throws me plot curveballs that send me running for expert help.

 

 

 

Larissa Reinhart: In Halo, Georgia, classical portraitist Cherry Tucker’s known as big in mouth, small in stature, and able to sketch a portrait faster than kudzu climbs telephone poles. With an uncle who’s sheriff, Cherry’s fostered a strong sense of justice but her redneck roots often has her challenging her small town’s social hierarchy.

 

 

 

Jaden Terrell: Jared is both a tough-guy detective who meets adversity with a flying spin kick and an everyday guy who just wants to be a good man and a loving father to his disabled son. His world is often dark, but he doesn’t let it make him dark. I love that about him.

 

 

 

Lisa Wysocky: To others, Cat Enright is dedicated, hardworking, a bit impulsive––and then there’s that teensy anger-management problem. To those who know her well, however, Cat is a fiercely loyal friend and a person who cannot let an injustice lie unnoticed. She also has a harried past, some of which she’s only now revealing to me.

SO--tempted? You can vote--it's a theme these days right?--and our book is out there now!  And,if you click here,  for the rest of today (February 21, 2016), and on February 29, it’s actually free for download!

February Reads, Podcasts & Space Cats

 

by Mary Saums

 

Have you seen any of the Cats In Space merchandise? Not the most intellectually stimulating artwork yet I can't look away. :)

So silly. I've ordered two t-shirts. No text, just images of cats somewhere in the galaxy fighting evil.

Here, evil gets in the first bite:

 

 

 

Just two books to recommend this month:

 

 

I was absolutely thrilled when I saw THE LIFERS' CLUB by Francis Pryor. Mystery and Archaeology! Hurray!! What could be better. And written by a distinguished archaeologist and author of many acclaimed books on British history.

Alan Cadbury works as a freelance dig supervisor around England. While on a job near his hometown in the Fens, he sees a newspaper clipping about a young man he knew years earlier. Ali had been a teenager at the time, working on a class project at a dig. He was intelligent and well-liked. Now, Cadbury is astonished to see Ali's photo and the news that he has been charged with the murder of his sister. Cadbury doesn't believe Ali to be capable of such a thing and sets out to help the boy if he can.

Loved it and hope there will be many more.

 

 

 

THE URBAN MONK by Pedram Shojai is a delightfully different self-help book. I like the subtitle - Eastern Wisdom and Modern Hacks To Stop Time and Find Success, Happiness and Peace. Fantastic. I'm all over helpful hacks and ways to stop time or at least stretch it a little bit. 

Shojai does a wonderful job of showing us how to navigate our too-busy lives and still have the time and energy to work on our inner selves. He's funny and very personable, like a friend helping you out. Highly recommended.

 

 

Do you listen to podcasts? I got a new phone recently and have discovered the joy of listening to really cool people who talk about interesting stuff. Here are my tops at the moment:

 

 

BULLETPROOF RADIO! Dave Asprey, founder of Bulletproof Coffee, is awesome and so are his shows. He's on top of the latest health breakthroughs, interviews intelligent people in many fields.

 

 

 

 

STAR TALK hosted by Neil deGrasse-Tyson features news stories in astronomy. He's adorable. He's fun. He's super-stellar.

 

 

 

MYSTERIOUS UNIVERSE is not about astronomy unless there's a woo-woo element involved. :) The hosts are funny Australian guys who cover stories about unexplained phenomena and weird stuff in general. Excellent production and lots of fun.

 

 

 

STAGGERING STORIES PODCAST

 

Well, well, what have we here? Just happened across this and will definitely be checking it out.

From the website: "A fortnightly podcast, featuring random thoughts from the Staggering Stories team. Mainly featuring discussion on television Science Fiction such as Doctor Who, Torchwood, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Blake's 7 and so many more. Also general randomness on MMOs and all manner of other geek topics! Come and join in on the insanity!"

HOT. DAWG. I guess I'll be needing one of those extra battery packs for the phone while I catch up on this little bunch of podcasts.

 

Okay, so that's me this month. What are you reading/listening to?

 

 

 

Murder in the Past

I became fascinated with medieval England as a teenager after having read historical novels by Roberta Gellis and Anya Seton. Their books were filled with color and excitement and described a world that entranced me. So much so that I devoted five years of my life to earning a Ph.D. in medieval history. Specialty? Medieval England, naturally. I also love mysteries, having become fascinated with those as a pre-teen, thanks to Nancy Drew and other juvenile mystery series. How better to combine my two interests than in historical mysteries?

I have devoured many over the years, set in numerous historical eras. There are many outstanding writers of historical mystery, and many outstanding books. This list contains perhaps my favorite books and authors in the genre.

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters. This is the book that introduced Amelia Peabody to the world, and it is one of my all-time favorite books. The combination of wit, history, and mystery is delicious. I've read it at least five times and will no doubt read it numerous times in the future, along with subsequent books in the series.

The Virgin in the Ice by Ellis Peters. Sixth in the series featuring the twelfth-century Benedictine monk, Cadfael, one of my great favorites along with Amelia Peabody as an historical series sleuth. Cadfael's combination of humanity and love for his fellow human beings, be they villain or angel, makes this series a standout for me.

Catilina's Riddle by Steven Saylor. Rome in the waning years of the republic proved a fertile ground for this series featuring Gordianus the Finder. This is the third in the series, based on real events, and shows Saylor's depth of knowledge of the period.

The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry. This book launched the series featuring policeman William Monk and nurse Hester Latterly, set in mid-nineteenth century England. It's a fascinating exploration of identity. What if you woke up one morning and had no idea who you were? And when you begin to find out, you don't like what you are discovering. Can you remake your life?

The Devil in Music by Kate Ross. The fourth, and sadly final, book in a series featuring a Regency dandy of mysterious origin, Julian Kestrel. Kate's life was cut brutally short by cancer, but this book remains as a wonderful tribute to her skill and passion.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. This book introduced a most unusual heroine, a young woman scarred by her experiences as a nurse in World War I. Each book in the series demonstrates in many ways the after-effects of the Great War, and Winspear's knowledge of, and passion for, the period shines through.

The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly. This is the first in a series featuring Joe Sandilands of Scotland Yard set in the 1920s. In the first four books in the series, Joe is in India, on secondment to the police there. Cleverly brings the setting and the era vividly to life, and the motive for this crime is one that would not work in any other setting.

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn. This book introduced Lady Julia Grey and her oddball family, the Marches. The time period, Victorian England. The combination of humor, suspense, and romance is beautifully done. If the first paragraph doesn't hook you into the story, well, it's your loss.

A Test of Wills by Charles Todd. It's hard to pick a particular book in this series, but I'll go with the first. Set in England right after World War I, the books feature Scotland Yard detective Ian Rutledge. Haunted by the voice of a young soldier whom he had to order executed for desertion, Rutledge is a brilliant detective. Todd (a mother-and-son team) also started a second series featuring WWI nurse Bess Crawford, and these books are terrific as well.

A Mortal Bane by Roberta Gellis. After years of writing historical romance, Gellis turned her hand to historical mystery, set in twelfth-century England. Her heroine is Magdalen la Batarde, proprietess of a brothel in London. Gellis always gives readers a vivid sense of the period, and her characters are unfailingly interesting and well-drawn.

Hearts and Bones by Margaret Lawrence. Set in Maine in 1786, this is the first in a trilogy that features midwife Hannah Trevor. A tour-de-force in its way, this book was nominated for several major awards. The author also wrote a wonderfully quirky contemporary series as M.K. Lorens.

I'm sure I have forgotten other books and authors that should go on this list, but caffeine can only do so much to stimulate the memory early in the morning. If you love historical mysteries and have not yet encountered these writers and their books, then you should consider doing so immediately.

It's What the Lion Wanted!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yes. Absolutely. We work and work, and focus and worry and tweak and revise and change and think think think , and it’s wonderful, it really is. But there’s one thing we may have forgotten, and I am so grateful to the wonderful Sybil Johnson for reminding me. Reminding all of us. We have:

Courage

by Sybil Johnson

I’ve been told I’m courageous for creating a protagonist who is a computer programmer, an occupation some people consider unusual for cozy mysteries. Someone else told me I have courage when I mentioned I’d changed the process I was using to write my third book.

I don’t consider either of these things particularly courageous, but it did get me thinking about courage—what it is and how important it can be to a story.

Me? I’m a wimp. I don’t like heights. I’m deathly afraid of the water to the point where I even dislike hot tubs. I won’t be in the same room with a snake, and I hyperventilate every time I need to send email to someone I don’t know.

Bystanders who pull people out of crashed cars, firefighters who run into burning buildings, police officers who patrol the streets are all courageous people. But there’s a less obvious kind of courage that we all to a certain extent exhibit every day—at a less dramatic level. It’s courage nonetheless.

Something as simple as giving a presentation in front of a large group or driving in an unfamiliar city takes courage if those things frighten you.

As mystery readers and writers, we want our protagonists to have courage, to brush aside their fears and discover the truth. Minor characters can be total wimps and cower in a corner, but our main characters need to display courage. They don’t have to be superheroes. We want them to have faults and fears like real people. But don’t we root for a character a little more when she takes action despite her fears?

And what about writers? Aren’t all writers courageous? We send our words out into the sometimes cruel world not knowing if they’ll be accepted or rejected, if a reviewer will pan our book or praise it.

No matter how experienced the writer, for must of us I think there’s that niggling doubt in the back of our minds that the last book was a fluke and that we’ll never be able to do it again.

Yet, we still keep on writing and submitting stories despite that. I guess I do possess courage after all. So does every other writer, whether they think of it that way or not. The next time you read a book, even if it’s not your cup of tea, applaud the courage of the person who wrote it.

HANK: I am giving you a standing ovation! Thank you, Sybil! Readers and writers—we do courageous things every day, right? (I used to think my mom was courageous for reaching in to the garbage disposal and getting out the gunk. It’s all about perspective.)

Have you overcome any specific fears? Do you feel courageous when you are writing?

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

Sybil Johnson is the author of the Aurora Anderson Mystery Series set in the world of tole/decorative painting (FATAL BRUSHSTROKE and PAINT THE TOWN DEAD). A past president of the Los Angeles chapter of Sisters in Crime and co-chair of the 2011 California Crime Writers Conference, Sybil wields pen and brush at her home in Southern California. Visit her online at www.authorsybiljohnson.com

My first writing marathon

by Donna Andrews.

Last Saturday--February 6, 2016--the Chessie Chapter of Sisters in Crime held its first writing marathon. I'm saying first because while attendance was modest, most--if not all--of us who participated found it a very useful experience, and we're hoping to hold others in future. (The illustrations here were not taken at the marathon, alas--I focused on writing and forgot to turn on my camera.  But what's a blog without a few photos?)

The idea of a writing marathon--or writeathon--is just that.  To write. You find a room with tables and chairs and enough space for a bunch of people with laptops or legal pads. You round up a few power strips to keep the laptops going.  And you invite anyone who's interested to show up and spend a few hours--or all day--writing.

I'd never done a writing marathon before, and I wasn't sure I'd really find it useful--normally my most productive writing time is at home, on my desktop, in relative quiet--but I wanted to participate for two reasons.  One was, of course, to support the Chessie Chapter and help make the day a success.  And the other was that several writer friends have found writing marathons to be very useful, and I'm a big believer in trying new things to help your writing.

Why take the time and trouble to drive someplace to do something you can do at home, some might ask.  I confess, I was originally of that mind.  But when I thought about it some more, I realized that the writeathon would eliminate, for one day, at least, the million and one distractions that lie in wait to ambush us at home.  The things we want to do--the TV, the books, the games, Facebook.  The things we ought to do--dirty dishes, dirty laundry, bills that need paying, papers that need filing.  We could feel virtuous at turning out backs on the temptations--"I'm going to spend the day writing!"--while at the same time reveling with guilty pleasure in all those undone chores. And then there's the possibility of gaining energy from the shared experience.

Josh Pachter, a chapter member who teaches at Northern Virginia Community College's Loudoun campus, provided the room, and about a dozen of us showed up to participate for some or all of the day.  Several attendees, including Alan Orloff, reported that they easily met their goals for the day (in Alan's case, 2000 words).  Josh finished a short story and did two translations.  I finished polishing the story I plan to submit for Fur, Feathers, and Felonies, the eighth volume in the ongoing Chesapeake Crimes series, and then made significant progress in planning my as-yet unnamed next Meg book.

I'm glad I went.  I'm much, much farther along on my synopsis than I would have been if I'd stayed home. And although 90% of the time we were all working quietly, it was a curiously satisfying social event.

So yeah, I'm up for another writing marathon.  Anyone else planning one? And since this new (to me, at least) technique worked out so well, anyone else have any good ideas to reenergize the often all-too-solitary life of a writer?

Smoke 'Em if You Got 'Em

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: One of the things “they” always tell you is that you can’t write just dialogue. Your characters must be DOING something while they talk. I mourned the loss of flip phones, you know? Because snapping a phone shut was such a nice subtext-y gesture. Smoking was another good bit of business...so much you could do with a cigarette. (And sometimes it was actually about smoking.)

In real life, I never smoked. I tried, in college, Jan Roche and I went out and got the coolest packed ones we could find—Montclair, in a navy package with a gold crest. Jan smoked proficiently. I coughed, and hacked, and burned a whole in my dorm room bedspread the first day, so I stopped, never to return.

The wonderfully talented David Burnsworth (Did you see the reviews for his new BURNING HEAT? Whoa.) had a different experience.

Smoke 'em If You Got ‘em

By David Burnsworth

The femme fatale in black and white lounging on the couch with the mesmerizing eyes caught my attention. It was another “Noir at the Bar” post on social media. And cradled between two long, elegant fingers was the ever present cigarette, its thin smoke trail rising above her to suggest an atmosphere of sin. Right or wrong, what is it about smoke and noir paired together that just hits all the right buttons, Surgeon General warnings aside?

I confess that I’m a reformed smoker. Joe Camel and a couple of delinquent high school friends hooked me on the coolness of lighting up and sticking it to the man which at the time was most likely my parents. Camel Lights got me through high school. College meant the usual warped sense of maturity and a move up to cigars. I was equally happy with Hav-a-Tampas and cigarillos as I was with six dollar Dominican Republicans.

With the millennium came a sense of needing to do more than a few things differently. And so I became smoke free.

That is, until my protagonist, Brack Pelton, showed up in my life. While I haven’t flicked a Bic or snapped open a Zippo and caught fire to some tobacco in over twelve years, Brack fought his way onto my laptop screen in 2007 and filled my manuscript pages with enough secondhand smoke to threaten a visit from the EPA. His choice of vice was mine from college: Dominican cigars.

And his sidekick, Mutt, fires up a Kool every chance he gets. Riding together, you can bet the windows of their car are down and the smoke escaping its confines can be seen by any big brother satellite a thousand miles up.

 

 

My noir characters aren’t the only smokers. Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe were there long before. So were the hard hitting Mike Hammer and elegant James Bond. Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins loves his Chesterfields. Mosley’s other gumshoe, Leonid McGill, has the coolest rule for smoking I’ve come across. Leonid’s an ex smoker, but if he falls into temptation of the nicotine temptress he gives himself a twenty-four-hour smoke-filled window and then he stops again. James Lee Burke’s ever-licentious Clete Purcel has been lighting up since the eighties. Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salandar can be found nervously puffing away as can Jo Nesbo’s methodical Harry Hole.

Burgeoning healthcare costs aside, it seems there will always be a percentage of the population that smokes. You can experience Brack and Mutt and all their vices in my latest book, Burning Heat, the second in the Brack Pelton series.

But who’s your favorite literary? Or cinema cigarette aficionado?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Does Sherlock Holmes count? Not cigarettes, of course. (Or wait. Dana, did he smoke cigarettes? WERE there cigarettes?) The famous two-cigarette ritual in Now, Voyager. And when –wait, who is it? Puts out her cigarette in a grapefruit? Or am I confused? (Don’t answer that…) Authors, do you use smokers in your books? Readers, do you wince when people smoke? Or do you even notice?

 

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David Burnsworth became fascinated with the Deep South at a young age. After a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and fifteen years in the corporate world, he made the decision to write a novel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Southern Heat is his first mystery and the sequel, Burning Heat, debuted in January. Having lived in Charleston on Sullivan’s Island for five years, the setting was a foregone conclusion. He and his wife call South Carolina home.