My Weblog

A Reader's Life

On Facebook yesterday, in response to a post by Femme Fatale Toni Kelner, I posted a list of the fifteen writers who have influenced me. The challenge (though I was not actually challenged and simply did this for fun) was to list the names without overthinking and without editing. The writers on my list epitomize the kind of story-telling that I aspire to in my own work. Here is that list:

1. Mildred Wirt Benson (Nancy Drew books)
2. Julie Campbell (creator of Trixie Belden)
3. Victoria Holt
4. Phyllis A. Whitney
5. Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters
6. Agatha Christie
7. Margery Allingham
8. Ngaio Marsh
9. Dorothy L. Sayers
10. Reginald Hill
11. Robert Barnard
12. Louisa May Alcott
13. Rex Stout
14. Margaret Millar
15. Dashiell Hammett

I left names out of the fifteen, names that probably should replaces those of other writers in that group. But for most writers, who began their lives as readers, it can be difficult to narrow down a list of one’s major influences.

Thinking about the names that I didn’t include in that first fifteen got me to thinking about the various stages of my reading life. I started out as a toddler, being read to by parents and family. Once I was able to talk clearly (and according to my late mother, I was talking clearly before I learned to walk, imagine that…), I soon memorized some of my favorite Little Golden Books and “read” them by myself.

The summer I turned eight my father took me to the Elizabeth Jones Public Library in Grenada, Mississippi, and I got my first library card. Already interested in history (why/how I cannot recall), I checked out my first book, a child’s biography of Abraham Lincoln. For the next couple of years I read my way through the library’s collection of these biographies, along with some fiction, childhood classics like Little Women, for example. Then I discovered Greek and Roman mythology.

When I was ten or eleven, I discovered Nancy Drew via The Secret of Shadow Ranch (the revised version). That hooked me on mysteries, and I devoured every Nancy Drew book I could find. I ended up reading many, many juvenile series, like Trixie Belden, the Hardy Boys, the Dana Girls, Judy Bolton, the Three Investigators, and so on.

As a teenager I stumbled into romantic suspense via The Shivering Sands by Victoria Holt. The combination of mystery, romance, and history intrigued me. Fortunately for me the public library in Grenada had plenty of these books, by Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney, Mary Stewart, Velda Johnston, Jane Aiken Hodge, and many others. Around this time, Kathleen Woodiwiss published her first book, The Flame and the Flower, and set the historical romance market on fire. I devoured a lot of historical romances in my teens, everything from Woodiwiss and Rosemary Rogers to the sublime Georgette Heyer. I also read the classics, either on my own or as a requirement of schoolwork – Jane Austen, George Eliot, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, etc., etc.

In graduate school, relocated to Houston, I found the mystery bookstore Murder by the Book. I got started on Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, and other English mystery writers. I found more and more writers, both English and American, thanks to the store.

Whenever I’m asked for writing advice, I respond first with “read.” Reading is fundamental to writing. Read good books, read bad books. Learn to tell the difference between them. Analyze what makes a good book a good book, and a bad one a bad one. In your opinion, of course. Reading, like writing, is a personal journey. We are shaped by what we read as much as by what we write, based on the influences of the story-tellers who came before us.

How Do You End a Mystery Series?

 I'm delighted to introduce you to one of my favorite mystery writers, Naomi Hirahara, Edgar Award winning author of the Mas Arai and Officer Ellie Rush bicycle cop series. Put both her series in your TBR pile. You'll thank me. Elaine Viets

By Naomi Hirahara, Guest Blogger for the Femmes Fatales.

When I completed my debut mystery after 15 years of writing, marinating and rewriting, I didn’t imagine my amateur sleuth, an aging L.A. gardener and Hiroshima survivor, would have a tale that would span over seven novels.

Yet, knock on wood, that seems like what will be happening as I prepare to write the final installment of the Mas Arai mystery series.

As I recently watched the final episode of “Inspector Lewis” on PBS, I couldn’t help but to think, is this the best way to end a mystery series? Was it a satisfying coda to a character that first appeared in another series, “Inspector Morse”? And is there anything I can take away and apply to my own writing journey?

The arc of my Mas Arai series has been developed through both artistic prerogative as well as commercial interests. The second one, GASA-GASA GIRL, would not have been produced so quickly or perhaps not at all if it had not been for my contract with my first publisher, Random House. They wanted a third, SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN, which would go on to win an Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original.

Because of various corporate shake-ups, editorial changes and my own need to try something different (a middle-grade novel), I decided that I needed a break from the once-a-year mystery series schedule. But when my agent was shopping around a standalone novel, another publisher wanted to continue Mas instead. At that point I realized that I couldn’t let outside interests determine the fate of my beloved sleuth, whose creation was inspired by my father’s life. I needed a plan.

A minor criticism of my second mystery printed in a San Francisco newspaper still stayed in my mind. What was I doing to poor Mas? Was I heaping misfortune after misfortune upon him for no reason other than to continue the series? There had to be a reason for each book, and it couldn’t be just a monetary reward.

Up to that point, each one of my books carried some kind of theme. Survivors’ guilt, diaspora of family and community, and the effects of colonial rule – all aspects of a past generation’s struggles. The next three, I decided, would take on my generation’s issues: addiction, technology, and the cult of celebrity. It would end with Mas revisiting Hiroshima, the theme of the first.

Since I made that literary decision, all sorts of things have happened. The fourth Mas was published without its acquiring editor and only in hardback during the depths of the Great Recession. This was the death of Mas, I thought, as I shared my publishing woes with my local mystery bookseller, a friend.

She then told a local L.A.-based publisher that I might be interested in being part of her effort to expand her fiction titles. We met in person over drinks and the deal was sealed. Mas would get a new life with Prospect Park Books (PPB).

Since that initial meeting, the fifth and sixth Mas Arai mysteries, along with a paperback reissue of the fourth, have been published with PPB. During this period of time, Mas’s inspiration, my father, was diagnosed with stomach cancer and after my family cared for him at home in hospice, he passed away.

Through these life journeys, I’ve come to understand that writing about Mas is not only about the mystery, but also about the man and others like him. It’s for readers who have lost their elders and struggle to remember their idiosyncratic behavior. It’s for our layers of history that have been either forgotten or never been told.

I recently returned from a three-week research trip to Japan, mostly financed through a foundation that support cross-cultural activities. I spent most of that time in Hiroshima, my roots, but a place that I’ve known only through my relatives. Through this summer’s journey, I got to know the city through my own lens, but also with Mas right beside me. The photo of hand-drawn lanterns was taken there August 6. Seeds of the finale have been sown and I look forward to see what grows by the time I complete my manuscript by next May.

And in terms of  “Inspector Lewis” – yes, I think that it was a perfect end to the story of a devoted family man and journeyman police officer. The episode delivered the same kind of twisty plot (although this time I did figure who did it about halfway in) that it always had done. I’m celebrating the end by going to the beginning: watching “Inspector Morse” on Netflix when Inspector Lewis was a young man. That’s the way that a series should end, I think. It should be a continuum, a completion of a full circle.

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

Naomi Hirahara is the Edgar Award-winning author of two mystery series set in Los Angeles. Her Mas Arai series, which features a Hiroshima survivor and gardener, has been translated into Japanese, Korean and French. The first, SUMMER OF THE BIG BACHI, is being developed into an independent film. Her Officer Ellie Rush bicycle cop series received the 2014 T. Jefferson Parker Mystery Award. She has also published noir short stories, middle-grade fiction and nonfiction books. She will be one of the guests of honor at Left Coast Crime Reno in 2018. For more information, go to www.naomihirahara.com.

Here’s a great idea.

Let’s just vote tomorrow.

Really, has there ever been a more sharply divided presidential race in history?

Is there anyone in the United States who does not know by now who is running for the office, and which candidate he/she will choose?

We could save our ears, our sanity, and a lot of money for both political parties, if we got it over now.

I’m just saying.

Charlaine Harris

Here’s a great idea.

Let’s just vote tomorrow.

Really, has there ever been a more sharply divided presidential race in history?

Is there anyone in the United States who does not know by now who is running for the office, and which candidate he/she will choose?

We could save our ears, our sanity, and a lot of money for both political parties, if we got it over now.

I’m just saying.

Charlaine Harris

The Double Booked Tour

Today the Femmes welcome the authors of the Double Booked Tour, Shannon Baker and Jessica Lourey, and invite them to chat together. Read further on for a chance to win free books and stories!

Shannon and Jess, take it away...

Shannon here: I love me a good road trip but it’s always more fun when you get to go with a friend and especially one with a great sense of humor. That’s why I’m so tickled to be spending this month-long blog tour with Jess Lourey. I’ve been humming the Red Hot Chili Peppers Road Trippin’ for weeks now. “We’re fully loaded with snacks and supplies.”

Jess Lourey is the author of the acclaimed, award-winning, and wildly funny Murder-by-the-Month series. Among the 13 books she’s published, is a wonderful magical realism novel, The Catalain Book of Secrets. Her newest thriller is Salem’s Cipher, which is set to fly on September 6.

I’m Shannon Baker. The debut in my new mystery series, Stripped Bare, also takes flight September 6, thus the Lourey/Baker Double Booked Tour. I also write the Nora Abbott series.

So Jess, speaking of being funny (I was thinking funny, anyway), the Booklist starred review of your Murder-by-the-Month series says, “It’s not easy to make people laugh when they’re on the edge of their seats, but Lourey pulls it off.” Does the humor in this series bubble up spontaneously, or do you have to work at it?

In my writing, like in life, I always look for the humor. I am 99% positive it’s because I grew up poor, with bad teeth. Seriously! I was defensively funny because if I made other people laugh, they were nicer to me, or at least I wouldn’t be the one laughing, which would show everyone my teeth. Is that the saddest funny story you’ve every heard?

The good news is that I grew up, I got veneers, and I realized I still liked being funny, in person and in writing. I try aiming for a shotgun approach to humor in my Murder-by-Month mysteries but go for more of a sniper approach in my other books because in those, I don’t want humor to overshadow other elements. How about you, Shannon?

Shannon here: I find most things in life fairly funny and am drawn to people who make me laugh. Laughter is my stress default and often inappropriate. Jess might have that same twisted streak because when I told her about an incident at my mother’s inurnment involving butterflies, hungry crows and my horrified five year-old nephew, she laughed pretty danged hard. I think it’s natural that when situations arise for my characters, I can usually find something humorous about it. Maybe after the fact, though, not while the knife is to their throat.

Jess, is the tone of your new thriller series vastly different from the Murder-by-the-Month? How do you use humor in Salem’s Cipher?

Ohmygod, I am laughing again. That horrible, horrible story is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard, Shannon, and probably one of the things that brought us together as friends. That, and the tin of pot brownies you have ready for me whenever I fly into Colorado. (Shannon’s aside: they are legal there, people.)

But yeah, you nailed it. Salem’s Cipher is less funny, more violent than the MbM series, though those two

qualities aren’t mutually exclusive. The humor in Salem’s Cipher is situational, more of a stress reliever than a constant theme. One of the best conference presentations I’ve ever heard was at the Madison, Wisconsin, Bouchercon in I think 2006. The presenter was a forensic anthropologist, and she said that people with the darkest beats—homicide detectives, coroners, the like—have the best sense of humor. They have to, to keep sane. That’s the sort of humor I use in Salem’s Cipher.

By the way, to prove her theory that people with difficult jobs are funny, she shared one of the most darkly hilarious bits of information I’ve ever heard: she discovered over the course of her job that if you die in your house with your dog and nobody discovers it, your dog will wait up to 7 days to eat you. Like, your dog has to be starving. Cats, though, just have to be bored. She said she’s been to scenes where the kitties didn’t even wait until the body was cold.

How about Stripped Bare, Shannon? Funny?

Shannon here: I wouldn’t describe my books as funny but there are turds of humor, mostly coming from quirky characters. Early readers of Stripped Bare say: “Heroine Kate Bare is endearingly human and laugh-out-loud funny.” (Linda Castillo) “a touch of humor” (Alex Kava) “…wryly authentic voice will have you laughing out loud.” (Hank Phillippi Ryan) and that makes me happy to think I can make people laugh.

Jess, sense of humor can be subjective. I saw a post on Facebook where you said, “I believe all fact-finding missions should begin with ‘poking it with a stick.’ I laughed out loud at that and then saw others commented as if you were serious, advising a peaceful path. How do you deal with readers who don’t share your sense of humor or, in fact, don’t seem to have one?

Haha! See, you’re making me laugh just by reminding me how funny we both are. Here’s my deal: I treat everyone as if they either share my sense of humor, or as if they would, if they just knew how funny I was. So, I keep trying, always being me, and I leave it up to the readers (or any other audience) to self-select themselves out of pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down.

Do you think humor is subjective, Shannon?

Shannon here: I think threat of violence can be funny. Using phrases like “smack-down” and “shoot me now” aren’t meant to be literal. I often have Kate fantasizing about strangling someone or punching them in the face, but she’d never do it.

I’ve only ever hit one person (we aren’t counting brothers and sisters, but even then it was more of a slap and run thing). I was in college and the dude deserved it. Well actually, his evil identical twin deserved it—my bad. That incident cured me of using violence for good. But I got a funny story out of it.

We’re each giving away a copy of our new books, Salem’s Cipher and Stripped Bare. For a chance to win, tell us a funny story or leave a comment.

And if you’re into the whole bonus thing:

If you order Salem's Cipher before September 6, 2016, you are invited to forward your receipt to [email protected] to receive a Salem short story and to be automatically entered in a drawing to win a 50-book gift basket mailed to the winner's home!

If you order Stripped Bare before September 6, 2016, you are invited to forward your receipt to [email protected] to receive a Kate Fox short story and be entered for a book gift basket mailed to your home.

The Lourey/Baker Double Booked Tour continues on Monday, August 29^th with a visit to the ever-exciting Sirens of Suspense, where we’ll be getting down and dirty with our favorite cocktails and talking about life outside of writing.

Jessica (Jess) Lourey is best known for her critically-acclaimed Murder-by-Month mysteries, which have earned multiple starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist, the latter calling her writing "a splendid mix of humor and suspense." She is a tenured professor of creative writing and sociology, a recipient of The Loft's 2014 Excellence in Teaching fellowship, and leads interactive writing workshops all over the world. Salem’s Cipher, the first in her thrilling Witch Hunt Series, hits stores September 2016. You can find out more at www.jessicalourey.com, or find her on Facebook or Twitter.

Shannon Baker writes the Kate Fox mystery series (September 2016 from Tor/Forge). Stripped Bare, the first in the series, features a sheriff in rural Nebraska and has been called Longmire meets The Good Wife. Baker also writes the Nora Abbott Mystery Series, a fast-paced mix of murder, environmental issues and Hopi Indians published by Midnight Ink. Baker was voted Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ 2104 Writer of the Year. She writes from the Colorado Rockies to the Nebraska Sandhills, the peaks of Flagstaff and the deserts of Tucson. Visit Shannon at www.shannon-baker.com.

 

 

Home-Made Memories

By Elaine Viets of the Femmes Fatales.

Canned peaches, strawberry jam, and grape jelly. The summer canning season has started and my friends with gardens are busily putting up their bounty. They're also making memories.
Some of my best memories are of my grandmother canning in her kitchen. She was a small, round woman with curly gray hair. Her white enamel Magic Chef – that gas stove really lived up to its name in her kitchen – held steaming pots of water.

The porcelain drain board was piled with freshly washed and cut fruit, and the gray Chromecraft kitchen table held stacks of clean Mason jars, canning paraffin, and other paraphernalia.

Her grape jelly was superb. No Welch's grape juice shortcut for Grandma. She grew her own Concord grapes. We grandkids helped pick the blackberries for her jam, and probably more berries made it into our mouths than into the blackberry baskets. Her strawberry jam set the standard for all future homemade jams, and no one else's has ever measured up to hers.

Grandma's canned vegetables were less thrilling. I had a hard time getting excited about home-grown canned green beans and tomatoes. Home-canned tomatoes made excellent sauces, but stewed tomatoes sprinkled with soggy bits of bread were wretched – a waste of canning shelf space. This was "no dessert until you eat your vegetables" territory, and you won't find me getting sentimental about canned tomatoes.

Grandma's generation had a love for relishes and pickles. China cabinets held infinite numbers of pressed glass, cut-glass and china pickle dishes and relish trays. Grandma's was no exception.
She made cha-cha, which in her part of the country was green tomato relish, and chow chow, another old-fashioned recipe. Her chow chow was mostly red and green tomatoes and onions. Her bread and butter pickles, made with her home-grown cucumbers, were sweet and splendid.
By the time the summer canning season was over, Grandma's basement shelves glowed like jewels with her home-canned handiwork. We enjoyed it until the next canning season.

One of the most poignant scenes in Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series is after Sookie's grandmother is murdered. Sookie wonders whether she should eat the last of jar of her grandmother's grape jelly.
I faced that same dilemma after Grandma died. If I ate that last jar, then I would lose that connection.
Like Sookie, I ate Grandma's grape jelly.
Sure, it was gone. But I still have the memories.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Win the BRAIN STORM MP3 CD audio book. Performed by Tanya Eby. Go to http://www.elaineviets.com and click Contests.

The Skeleton Takes a Vacation - Pensacola, FL

by Leigh Perry / Toni L.P. Kelner

I'm been kind of slack on my blogging this summer, but I have a good reason. I've been traveling a lot with Sid, the titular character of the Family Skeleton series. So if we use the formula that a picture equals a thousand words, this photographic record ought to bring me closer to quota. In fact, Sid traveled so much that this will only be the first edition, covering a June trip to Pensacola, FL for a family wedding. (That would be my family, not Sid's.)

There wasn't much time for touring Pensacola, but Sid got a chance in the airport to climb onto one of the planes belonging to the Blue Angels, the Navy's crack flying team.

He later snuck into the wedding, even though he wasn't invited.

I'm afraid he may have drunk a bit too much.

He may also have gotten a little fresh with my one of my sisters.

However, the bride welcomed him just the same.

Later in the weekend, he took a quick trip to Pensacola Beach, which has sand so white he'd have been lost for sure if I'd dropped him. (Don't worry. He put on plenty of sunscreen.)

 

That brings us to the end of our first trip this summer. More to come in a couple of weeks!

 

 

An Idiot Abroad

Catriona writes: I first met Matt Hilton at  . . . I want to say San Francisco Bouchercon. It was certainly a Bouchercon somewhere. I heard the warm rumble of a northern English accent and drifted over, sensing a source of teabags and deadpan humour. I got the humour, but had to go to Starbucks for a cup of tea. I don't see Matt nearly enough, but I'm delighted to welcome him to Femmes Fatales today, to talk about a subject I know inside out (see above).

 

 

I’m British, and worked for many years in the private security industry, and as a police officer in the UK. Readers are surprised my books aren’t police procedurals, and that I don’t write about my law enforcement experiences. Instead, I write the kind of books I enjoy reading: action-packed crime thrillers. Many British crime novels are cerebral, whereas I aim for visceral with my Joe Hunter thrillers. I enjoy the buzz that comes from a fast-moving thriller, and if I don’t get the sensation when I’m at my keyboard, my writing doesn’t flow. I like my writing to be cinematic, allowing readers to picture the action…hopefully giving them a similar buzz.

 

To allow the scope for continuous action, and a series of diverse arenas to move through, I chose to send Hunter off to the USA, still a land of mythic proportions in many British readers’ minds, where adventures as large as those Hunter has could possibly happen. I simply didn’t feel that the UK could plausibly contain them.

 

 

Although I’ve set the Joe Hunter thrillers in the USA, I aimed to develop a British hero who appealed to an international readership. I’m British, with a British mentality, and part of the fun for me is placing Hunter in situations and places that are totally alien to him. From this ‘an idiot abroad’ mentality, I show the USA through Hunter’s eyes, making for an interesting culture clash at times.  To offset Joe’s Britishness, I paired him with Jared ‘Rink’ Rington. Rink is an anomaly: he is part Japanese, part Scottish-Canadian, but all-American. I enjoy the interplay between the two, from which comes the humour necessary to leaven some of the darker aspects of the books.

 

Prior to writing Dead Men’s Dust, the first in the Hunter series, I’d failed to find a publisher. For twenty-two years I sent my works to agents and publishers, but received the standard rejection slip that most aspiring authors are familiar with. Taking a step back I tried to figure out where I was going wrong. Taking note of the big sellers in my genre – Lee Child, Robert Crais, Michael Connelly – I quickly realised I had to come up with an ongoing series, featuring the same characters, in an international setting. My older works were all standalone, set in the UK, with no scope for follow-ups: they weren’t internationally commercial or marketable. I needed a character that had the background, skills and the opportunities to keep falling into life and death situations. I chose to make Hunter a retired soldier and vigilante. Comparison to Lee Child’s Jack Reacher was inevitable, but unlike Reacher, who is a thinker and tactician, I made Hunter more reckless, who acts first and thinks later.

 

By amalgamating my reading influences - David Morrell, Don Pendleton, Dean Koontz and Robert E Howard - I penned Dead Men’s Dust and sent it off alongside a plan for further books in the series. On the back of this I was able to secure an agent and the elusive publishing agreement I’d been aiming for. Actually not only did I get picked up by a UK publisher, but also by Harper Collins in the USA. I was stunned. And not a little worried. I was fearful that US readers wouldn’t accept me. Saying that, my editor was great, and helped Americanize my books, although some of the British irony, let alone terminology sometimes caused problems in translation.

 

I recall having one telephone conversation trying to explain the term ‘wind your neck in’ to my editor – we finally settled on ‘chill out’ – and explaining that ‘I feel like crap’ (I feel awful) doesn’t mean ‘I feel like a shit’ which translated back to UK English as needing to take a dump. Americanizing the books caused some confusion with some US readers: my editor dropped most references that Hunter was British, and gave him a background with the CIA instead of the British Armed Forces, so some readers thought it was my Briticisms slipping in when in fact they were Hunter’s and intentional. [Gahhh - that must be infuriating, - CMcP]

 

Over the course of writing the series I purposefully wrote the Hunter books with a distinctly Mid-Atlantic flavour, so that less editing was required on both sides of the pond. After a six books run with Harper, I switched US publishers to Down and Out Books, and working with Eric Campbell has been a joy. Eric is all for releasing the books with my original author’s voice intact, so his red pen has been more judicious, and I think the books are better for the leeway Eric has shown. Down and Out Books recently published The Devil’s Anvil, and are soon to publish No Safe Place – book eleven in the Joe Hunter series.

 

Catriona again: with two questions for readers.

1. when you read a British (or Irish or Aussie or anywhere) book, you want all that stuff, right? Right? All the red buses and royal highnesses. What do you think of editors who water it down?

2. What's the hardest thing to get right /funniest thing you've seen wrong?

 

Matt Hilton quit his career as a police officer to pursue his love of writing tight, cinematic American-style thrillers. He is the author of the high-octane Joe Hunter thriller series, including ‘The Devil’s Anvil’ – Joe Hunter 10 - published in June 2015 by Hodder and Stoughton and Blood Tracks, the first in a new series from Severn House publishers in November 2015. His first book, ‘Dead Men’s Dust’, was shortlisted for the International Thriller Writers’ Debut Book of 2009 Award, and was a Sunday Times bestseller, also being named as a ‘thriller of the year 2009’ by The Daily Telegraph. Dead Men’s Dust was also a top ten Kindle bestseller in 2013. The Joe Hunter series is widely published by Hodder and Stoughton in UK territories, and by William Morrow and Company (Harper Collins) and Down and Out Books in the USA, and have been translated into German, Italian, Romanian and Bulgarian. As well as the Joe Hunter series, Matt has been published in a number of anthologies and collections, and has published novels in the supernatural/horror genre, namely ‘Preternatural’, ‘Dominion’, ‘Darkest Hour’ and ‘The Shadows Call’. He has recently published the next Joe Hunter novel, No Safe Place, in May 2016, and is gearing up for the release of his next Tess Grey novel, Painted Skins, in August 2016.  www.matthiltonbooks.com

 

 

Just Write It!

The Femmes Fatales welcome guest blogger Judy Penz Sheluk . . . plus a Kindle copy giveaway of Skeletons in the Attic: A Marketville Mystery (#1)

Recently, I spent a couple of hours with a local creative writing group. The invitation came with the hope that I’d give the members some insight into writing and getting published. I was happy to accept. My blog is largely devoted to the writing life, and I’ve been very honest about my own journey, from hope to heartbreak to happiness.

As is the case with most groups, there was one member (herein fictitiously named Gilda) who overshadowed the rest with questions, comments and running dialogue. I like to categorize these people as “Well, enough about me. Here’s more about me.” Here’s how it went:

Gilda: I’m writing a novel about my uncle during the Second World War. He escaped POW camp by being taken in by nuns and living in a convent.

Me: That sounds interesting. How far have you gotten with it?

[Other members shift in their seats and study their hands.]

Gilda: I’ve written the first chapter.

Another member (let’s call him John): Gilda has been writing and rewriting that first chapter for six months.

Gilda (defensive): The first chapter has to be perfect, or no agent or publisher will read on.

Me: That’s true. But you need to have a finished novel before you can start querying agents and publishers.

Gilda: But I have the entire book written in my head.

[More seat shifting. Clearly this group has heard it all before.]

Me (trying to be tactful): Here’s the thing, Gilda. No one can read the book inside your head. You have to just write it.

That stopped Gilda, but only for a moment. Her next worry was whether or not to use her uncle’s real name, or make one up.

Me: Is this a biography?

Gilda: No, I’m using things that happened in his life, but he’s dead now, so I have to make most of it up.

Me: So it’s going to be a work of fiction?

Gilda: Yes, but I’ll be including some real facts.

John: We’ve all told her to change his name. You always see that at the front of a novel. That the names and places are from the author’s imagination.

Me: I have to agree with John. It’s better to make up a name. You can always credit your uncle in the acknowledgements. Besides, real incidents and people influence authors all the time.

Gilda: I don’t think I can write the book without using his real name. That’s the name I’ve been using all along.

Me: In the book that’s been written inside your head.

Gilda nodded.

Thankfully our time was up.

Do you have a writing group story you’d like to share? Comment below for a chance to win a Kindle copy of Skeletons in the Attic. One winner will be selected at random on August 29^th.

More about Skeletons in the Attic:

What goes on behind closed doors doesn’t always stay there…

Calamity (Callie) Barnstable isn’t surprised to learn she’s the sole beneficiary of her late father’s estate, though she is shocked to discover she has inherited a house in the town of Marketville—a house she didn’t know existed. However, there are conditions attached to Callie’s inheritance: she must move to Marketville, live in the house, and solve her mother’s murder.

Callie’s not keen on dredging up a thirty-year-old mystery, but if she doesn’t do it, there’s a scheming psychic named Misty Rivers who is more than happy to expose the Barnstable family secrets. Determined to thwart Misty and fulfill her father’s wishes, Callie accepts the challenge. But is she ready to face the skeletons hidden in the attic?

Find Skeletons in the Attic: http://www.imajinbooks.com/skeletons-in-the-attic

Judy Penz Sheluk escaped the corporate world in 2003 and settled into her new life as a freelance writer and editor. Her debut mystery novel, The Hanged Man’s Noose, was published in July 2015. Skeletons in the Attic, the first book in her Marketville Mystery Series, will be published August 21, 2016.

Judy’s short crime fiction appears in World Enough and Crime, The Whole She-Bang 2, Flash and Bang and Live Free or Tri.

Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Canada, International Thriller Writers and the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

Find Judy on her website/blog at www.judypenzsheluk.com, where she interviews other authors and blogs about the writing life.

The Publishing Game: Are Men Really Writing and Reading Thrillers?

Today, I'm thrilled to have Rogue Women Writers blogger and international thriller writer Chris Goff challenge your perceptions about who reads -- and writes -- thrillers. Welcome, Chris. -- Elaine Viets.

   By Chris Goff for the Femmes Fatales.

At the Rogue Women Writers’ panel at ThrillerFest on July 8, Steve Berry (panel master) raised the curtain on the gender disparity in writing International Espionage & Geo-political Thrillers. It was a great discussion with audience participation and everyone could see that there are differences—in treatment of men and woman AND in their approach to writing. The disparity in the mystery/thriller/crime fiction genre is the primary reason Sisters in Crime (SinC) exists. And while the industry has come a long way, a recent article by Allison Breen, "Is Progress Being Made in Publishing", published in Forbes magazine in July 2016, cites some interesting examples that seem to prove the publishing industry in general still favors men.

But that aside, I think it's worth exploring the issue strictly from the reader standpoint.

In my genre there exists a perception that men are the predominate readers of International Espionage & Geo-political Thrillers AND, that said, that those same men don't like reading books written by women.

A quick, fact check shows that may be a misperception.

While every source I found did seem to support the allegation that International Thriller readers are predominately men, I could find no statistics to back up the claim. An interesting blog posted on criminalelement.com, Linda Rodriguez (author of the Skeet Bannion novels) addressed the issue. She postulates that, looking back to the origins of thrillers and mysteries, they did split along gender lines. "Thrillers were originally written by, for and about men [and] shared elements of idealized male protagonists braving physical danger and escalating threat that built to cathartic endings of explosive violence.”

She goes on to say—and I paraphrase—that mysteries were written by, for and about women, and predominately read by female readers. She ends by claiming that things have changed, alleging that "women are the majority of readers throughout the spectrum [of thrillers and mysteries]...and that women [also] write roughly half the books in the combined genres."

She's right.

According to a 2015 US Media Audience Demographics report by MarketingCharts.com, female fiction readers read mystery/thriller/crime books at a much higher rate than male readers (57% compared to 39%), though crime fiction was given as the most popular genre for both genders. If you look at the lists for the top mysteries and thrillers of 2015, there is a good gender mix among the authors. But when you drill down into categories, another picture emerges. I scanned close to a thirty "bestsellers" lists—broken down by reviews, publications and sales. A recap shows that in the psychological thriller genre the women authors seem to have an edge. In action and spy & espionage thrillers the men dominate.

If women are the primary book buyers, the conclusion one must draw is that women are putting these male authors on the lists. So maybe it's the women's perception of International Espionage and Geo-Political Thrillers that needs to change.

It's also interesting to note that the same authors' names come up again and again across the lists, so maybe the question should be: How does an author get her books into the hands of the right readers?

All of us from authors to agents to editors and publishers are looking for answers.

Is it the content of the male authors' books versus the content of the female authors' books that draws the readers? I don't think so. My fellow Rogue Women Writers write just as kick-ass action scenes and can be compared with the most popular writers in the genre.

Is it the way the books are marketed? Possibly. I have published with Berkley (Penguin), Crooked Lane Books (a small publisher) and Astor+Blue Editions (a smaller publisher), and they all have different approaches to marketing. An argument could be made that I've received more attention for my books from efforts made by the small publishers, but it's no secret that having a publisher put some money and muscle behind a book can make a difference.

So what can an author do to get on the radar?

We can solicit reviews and book blurbs from the bigger players in our genres. It's not always easy. There are a lot of authors vying for limited review space and for the time other authors can give to endorsing another writer's work.

We can promote through bookstore and library appearances, reminding ourselves that it's just as important to meet the booksellers and librarians as it is to pack a signing—maybe more important. Big books are often made through word-of-mouth, and having the opportunity to meet the people with a direct line to the readers is an important first step.

We can reach out through social media. It's one reason we (myself and seven other women who write International Espionage & Geo-political Thrillers) formed the Rogue Women Writers blog; the reason the Femme Fatales are in existence—to reach the audience for our books.

We are all looking for the next thing that will help garner attention for our work. We all hope for award nominations and starred reviews. But all we really can do is write great books—and keep knocking on the door. From now on, I'm adopting a new mantra. If they read me, they will love me! I'll let you know how it works.

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Chris Goff is the award-winning author of six environmental mystery novels and a new international thriller series. DARK WATERS (Crooked Lane Books, September 2015) her thriller debut, is a nominee for the 2016 Anthony Award for Best Crime Fiction Audiobook. Dark Waters features Diplomatic Security Service agent, Raisa Jordan, and set in Tel Aviv amid the Israeli-Palestine conflict and is said to be “a sure bet for fans of international thrillers.” (Booklist)  The second in the series, RED SKY, is due out in 2017. Check out her website at www.christinegoff.com.