Closely Observed!...

I'd love to hear about your favorite "closely observed" book passages.

by Helen Currie Foster When you read a passage and experience words that strikes home forcefully–so forcefully that you almost gasp–what did the writer do that moved you so? I’m collecting examples. For my husband it’s John Steinbeck’s tide pool in Cannery Row: “…When the tide goes out the little water world becomes quiet and lovely. The sea is very clear and the bottom becomes fantastic with…

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THE POWER OF THE UNKNOWN

by Francine Paino, a.k.a. F. Della Notte Readers, what’s your pleasure? Do you prefer romance, adventure, family sagas, historical fiction, or fantasy? The list goes on and on, but in most cases, the mystery of not knowing what will happen is a strong underlying driver of any story.   Revelations in any genre can be uplifting or not. It may be frightening, too, but the power of the unknown…

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I've Been Waterin' the Yahd

By M. K. Waller The following post appeared on my personal blog, Telling the Truth, Mainly, in April 2022. But the story of my writing process is always worth a retelling. Please read on. ************* Sometime back in the 1930s, my grandmother picked up the telephone receiver just in time to hear the Methodist minister’s wife, on the party line, drawl, “I am just wo-ahn out. I’ve been waterin’…

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THE NAME OF THE ROSE IS—wait, how do you pronounce that?

BY HELEN CURRIE FOSTER April 1! It’s spring, with a riot of bluebonnets this year. Plus paintbrush! Winecup! Verbena! Prairie celestials (so lovely)! And within the fence, safe from our marauding burros, the roses are opening their petals and sharing their beauty.  Humans have been growing and hybridizing roses for millenia. I favor those with deep rose fragrance. This year the sniff prize…

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ALL THE MAGIC IS NOT ON STAGE

by Francine Paino, a.k.a. F. Della Notte I love movies, and I’m sure there are plenty of difficulties for actors to keep the emotions required of a scene fresh from take to take and working out of the order the story.  But it’s live theater that hold a magical universe for me, beginning with the fact that the actor on stage doesn’t have the benefit of do-overs. If he/she makes a mistake, he/she…

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True Crime: Update on the Poff Case

by Kathy Waller In November 2019, a Texas woman was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for mailing explosive devices to President Barak Obama and Governor Greg Abbot.  The crime had occurred in October 2016. The break: Investigators found a cat hair under the address label on one of the packages and matched it to one of the suspect’s cats. The following post, reprinted from the blog Telling…

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A Little Burro Therapy

By Helen Currie Foster The three burros who live with Alice MacDonald Greer, lawyer/amateur sleuth protagonist of my Texas Hill Country legal thrillers, bear a strong resemblance to the three burros who rule our patch of the Hill Country. We manage our small piece of the planet for native grasses and birds under the county Wildlife Management Program. Today I received our spring box of blue…

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MY CREATIVE KITCHEN - Conversations with My Muse

Francine Paino, a.k.a. F. Della Notte I sat with my cup of café e latte and looked around. The paper with the picture on the kitchen table intrigued me. No, I thought. Gotta clean this place first. I chugged my cup of coffee, grabbed my cleaning supplies, and began. While I twisted and turned, scrubbing granite countertops to a gleam, something whizzed past my eye – a cup of espresso splashed…

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A New Story Coming Soon and Updates

By N.M. Cedeño I have a couple stories pending publication right now. One of the publishers revealed an author list and book cover this month. My story “The Ghostly Lady’s Curse” is scheduled to be published in an anthology entitled Detectives, Sleuths, and Nosy Neighbors from Inkd Publishing. The publisher announced the author line-up for the anthology this month. You can see the announcement…

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A WRITER'S RESOLUTIONS

Helen Currie Foster, January 15, 2024 “But at my back I always hear time’s wingèd chariot drawing near…” (Andrew Marvell, 1621-1678)   Today in pre-dawn darkness, the house quiet except for the murmuring furnace, my characters were already at me, barking orders: “More! More smells, tastes, experiences! More about me! Tell people what I’m thinking, what I’m experiencing, what I’m worrying…

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A CHRISTMAS WISH

FRANCINE PAINO A.K.A. F. DELLA NOTTE So this is Christmas – And what have you done?  So begins the first verse of John Lennon’s 1971 hit song. His good wishes toward wo/mankind had a political message wrapped in the lines. But politics aside, it was and still is a good message. But the question, What have you done? requires some thought. What have you done to keep the Christmas spirit alive…

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Thanksgiving--for Books Reread

by Helen Currie Foster Now and then, when I sneak a book off the shelf, glancing around to be sure no one notices it’s a children’s book…or pick up an old LeCarré…I’m grateful for the joy of rereading. Rather like upcoming Thanksgiving dinners! Think of their literary content! Suspense, of course–is that turkey really done? Imminent peril–are the drippings sufficient for decent gravy? Strong…

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My Dirty Little Secret

by K.P. Gresham Up to now, I’ve avoided a particular phrase in describing my Pastor Matt Hayden Mystery Series. And the secret is…I write Christ-centered mysteries. To me, this term is more accurate in describing my books than calling it Christian fiction. Of course, it is Christian fiction. However, a lot of folks who read Christian fiction expect there will be no swear words, no blood on the…

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THE WITCHING HOURS OF HALLOWEEN

It’s time…for ghosts, goblins, witches, warlocks, and, of course, the dead. It’s Halloween.But what was it about in ancient times, and where did it begin? The customs of Halloween can be traced back to the Druid priests of the Celtics. It was the second most significant holiday of their year. The first was Beltane – the growing season celebrated from April 30– May 1. The second, October 31, was…

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THE PULL OF EMPTY SPACES

by Helen Currie Foster~October 17,2023 Last week, trudging up a rocky trail to an abandoned abbey high above an Italian valley in the Sabine Hills, I heard another walker ask this: after the Romans defeated the Sabines, were any Sabine ruins left? “Yes,” said the guide. “A temple to the goddess of empty spaces.” The goddess of empty spaces? Her name? “Vacuna.” Even in fourth year Latin at…

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The Good, the Bad, the Cleanup

by N.M. Cedeño First, some good news! My story entitled “A Matter of Trust” was published in Black Cat Weekly #110 on October 8 via editor Michael Bracken. The story features genetic genealogy private investigator Maya Laster who first appeared in “Disappearance of a Serial Spouse” in Black Cat Weekly #79 in March 2023. In this, her second published case, Maya is working to help her client, Bob…

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Mystery Tomorrow. Comedy (& Some Tragedy) Tonight.

Thinking today about Anais Nin’s statement, which she attributed to the Talmud–“We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are”–I decided to write about how the idea applies to the way I read Donna Leon’s Inspector Brunetti mystery series. Then I remembered a post I wrote for Telling the Truth, Mainly, which serves as a lead-in. It isn’t really about R&J. I’ll get to Brunetti next…

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