Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Denise Swanson | School Psychologist, Writer, and People Watcher
Uncategorized / May 14, 2008

One of the first questions I’m often asked when I speak about my writing is why I chose to write mysteries instead of romances (I assume this is because I have such an innocent, baby face). My answer is simple: after twenty-two years in public education there are a lot of people I want to kill, there are very few I want to have sex with. Seriously, although I enjoy writing mysteries because I like knowing that the bad guy is going to get caught and pay for his crime at the end, I would like to write in other genres such as romance and fantasy. On the other hand, I love the sense of justice a well-written mystery brings to its readers. One thing I’ve learned from being a school psychologist for so long is that justice rarely happens in real life, so it gives me a sense of fulfillment to have it happen in my fiction. Having worked in almost every type of school setting, from the poorest areas surrounding Washington DC to upscale suburban Chicago, and from rural to urban, I’ve heard so many stories and seen so many bizarre situations I’ll never run out of plots….

Kimber Chin | What’s In A Name?
Uncategorized / May 8, 2008

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet”. Ummm… okay, Shakespeare. That’s why Juliet fell in love with Romeo and not some guy named Fred. Yeah, somehow, I’m not buying the names are meaningless sales spiel. Why? Because names aren’t meaningless. They’re important. That’s why most parents spend the entire nine months trying to decide on one (I, on the other hand, was named after the toilet paper and one of my brothers was named after a box of tissues). They set expectations, invoking feelings and passions. For the rest of your life. I know this first hand. Who do you picture when you hear the name Kimber Chin (or, if you prefer, the Dr. Seuss version Kim Chin)? Perhaps Lucy Liu from Charles Angels and Kill Bill? Or Ziyi Zhang from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? Or… I’ll stop naming gorgeous Asian actresses now before I get depressed. You see, that’s SO not me. Even the top Photoshop expert in the world (i.e. my hubby or so he thinks) can’t make me look like Lucy Liu. I had to marry to get that last name. My background is Irish, my two…

L. J. Sellers | Taking the Plunge
Uncategorized / April 22, 2008

At the end of last year, I decided that 2008 would be different. I had several goals: 1) start a new novel 2) work on my novel first thing every day, even if I had to get up an hour earlier 3) find or create paying work that I enjoyed more than what I was currently doing to earn a living 4) sell my detective series to another publisher By March 1, I had accomplished the three things I had control over—although not the way I expected to. January first, I began to outline my new Detective Jackson novel with working title, SECRETS TO DIE FOR. I began getting up at five o’clock to write for an hour before I went to work. At the time, I worked as an editor for an educational publisher, a demanding job that left me too mentally exhausted at the end of the day to feel creative enough to fill blank page after blank page (which is how a novel comes into existence). Next, I started sending out letters to agents, publishers, and writers, announcing my services as a fiction editor. And I contacted some corporate clients and magazines about nonfiction editing as well….

Jane K. Cleland | Jane’s Time Management Strategy: Just Say No to Cookies
Uncategorized / April 15, 2008

For many years, I was the official “cookie baker” for my family’s holiday get-togethers. Chocolate chip cookies were my specialty, but I dabbled in sugar, chocolate, apple, creamy fillings, and other gourmet styles, too. As the years passed, and I became busier at work, I grew less entranced with the prospect of baking dozens of cookies under enormous time constraints. In fact, to me, baking cookies for the holidays became a duty, not a pleasure. Then came the year when I was up past midnight completing the task. I was irritated and snappy. The next day, I grumbled to my husband that this had to stop. “I’m too busy to bake all these cookies!” I complained. And, cleverly, I thought, I asked him to call my mother and tell her that I was no longer going to bake cookies. He declined. The next year, as cookie-baking time approached, I girded myself, picked up the phone and said, “Ma, I’ve made a decision. I’m just too busy. This year, I’m not going to bake cookies. I’m going to buy them instead.” I’d expected a long, sad silence, followed by, “All right, dear,” or some similar, kindly worded phrase that left me…

Emilie Richards | Finding Nemo
Uncategorized / February 11, 2008

Nemo came into our lives the way the best ideas for novels often do. One morning my husband and I had no dog. We had memories of two who had aged and died, dogs we had loved for years and mourned with a startling intensity. We also had vows that we would not get another pet while our lives were so busy. Then we got the phone call.“Mom,” our oldest son, the lawyer and country gentleman began, “we found a puppy dying in the grass off our road. Jim–” their neighbor, “nearly ran him over with a bush hog. If I hadn’t stopped to talk to him, and he hadn’t turned off the tractor. . .” We didn’t need a dog. “What kind of puppy?” I asked, because like any mom I wanted to keep the conversation going. “Who knows. Spotted, starving and sick. I’m not sure he’ll make it.” He did make it, of course–or why would I tell this story? My son and daughter-in-law carefully nursed the foundling back to health. Then puppy came to visit one afternoon and simply never left. I couldn’t bring myself to name him for days, not until my husband returned home from…

Blaize Clement | Why Pets Are In the Dixie Hemingway Mystery Series
Uncategorized / January 31, 2008

The first time somebody asked why my Dixie Hemingway Mystery Series includes pets, I was a little taken aback. I mean, Dixie Hemingway is a pet sitter, for gosh sake, so there had to be pets. But when I thought about it, I realized it had been my choice to make the pets equal in importance to the human characters. Not with human characteristics or psychic abilities or super strength, but just regular pets like regular people have. So I gave it some thought, and finally came up with an answer. Every culture has mythic tales of a golden age when humans and animals lived as friends. In The Illiad, when a warrior was killed, his horse hung his head and wept. In The Ramayana, an army of brave monkeys rescued Princess Sita from an evil kidnapper. When the Buddha left his father’s palace to seek enlightenment, his horse wept too, when he had to return to the palace alone. And then there’s that serpent in the Garden of Eden who told Eve the truth about eating of the tree of knowledge. In all those old stories, animals represented wisdom and courage and loyalty, and the friendship between humans and…

Hank Phillippi Ryan | Keeping Mom Happy
Uncategorized / January 23, 2008

My mother is so mad at me. She’s in the midst of reading Face Time, the newest Charlotte McNally Mystery. It’s just been named a Book Sense Notable Book, and it’s on the Boston Globe Best Seller list. I say: Hooray. And I expected the same reaction from my mother. But Mom, who has only read the first ten pages or so, actually said: “I’m sure that’s lovely, dear.” You have to imagine the “Mom” tone. Maybe you’ve used it a time or two yourself. Or perhaps, you’ve heard it. I’m thinking all daughters have. Turns out, Mom is unhappy with Face Time. To be sure: Mom is terrific. She’s almost 80, and is absolutely beautiful. An artist, a reader, a wonderful intellect. (She doesn’t have a computer, so she’s not reading this.) I’m her oldest daughter, and any psychologist will tell you that can cause some friction. So anyway. Why is Mom mad? She thinks I’ve “used her for art.” It’s true: Charlie McNally’s mother in Face Time is a bit—persnickety. She’s opinionated. She thinks, for instance, that Charlotte might want to give up her very successful 20-year TV career to marry some tycoon and become a tycoon wife….

Sheila Lowe | Between the Lines – Forensically Speaking
Uncategorized / January 9, 2008

Are you a CSI buff? Do you watch every episode of Cold Case, Forensic Files, Law & Order and all the spinoffs? Then you are one of the people who have turned forensics into a hugely popular field. These days, DNA, fingerprints, and all that technical stuff makes fantastic (or more correctly, realistic) fodder for fiction. So what better time to introduce a new kind of forensic expert? I’ve been in the field of handwriting analysis for forty years and occasionally, I testify in court cases as an expert witness. My practice includes working on cases of forged wills, anonymous letters, and all sorts of legal chicanery, as well as behavioral profiling. And my clients have never been as savvy or as interested in what their handwriting says about them as they are today. At the same time, there are some who believe that in an age of Ipod, BlackBerry, and text messaging, handwriting has lost its relevance. But the truth is, your handwriting–chicken scratch though it may be–remains an important form of personal expression, and it paints a true portrait of your personality. The way you arrange your handwriting on the page, the style you use, and the rhythm…

Clea Simon | Kitty Cornered
Uncategorized / January 4, 2008

What is scarier than losing your pet? Okay, I guess I should have put that question in context. There are many things scarier than losing your pet. Losing your child or your spouse. Losing your own life. Colonoscopies. Spiders. But for me, for a period of about two months last year, I had to face one of my own particular fears. What’s worse, I had to make that fear come to life for my heroine, Theda Krakow, her pampered and beloved housecat, Musetta, and for any reader out there.You see, I was working on what became my third Theda Krakow mystery, “Cries and Whiskers,” and I wanted to ratchet up the tension and suspense. But it had to be on my terms – for my readers. And my readers love their pets. So although I have long promised my readers that I would never hurt or kill any animals in my books (humans don’t count), I needed to put Musetta at risk. I needed to have her disappear into a blinding winter storm. And I needed on suspicious phone call to hint that maybe that disappearance wasn’t entirely voluntary. So what’s the problem? Well, Musetta is based on my own…

Nancy J. Cohen | VANILLA SPICE
Uncategorized / December 6, 2007

Did you know that vanilla is the only edible fruit of the orchid family? It’s an extremely valuable crop. Vanilla rustling has always been a concern to growers Thus beans may be branded when they are still green. While the plant stock is native to Mexico, beans are also grown in places like Indonesia, Madagascar, and Tahiti. Variations in soil and climate account for the differences in flavor. Legend says coffee originated in the Land of the Resplendent Moon. The ruler was blessed with a beautiful daughter, who dedicated her life to serve the goddess of crops. One day while gathering flowers in the forest, the girl came upon a young prince. They fell in love and ran away together. The priests caught them and beheaded the doomed couple. In the spot where their blood spilled, a bush grew. A vine sprang from the earth and twisted around the bush like a pair of embracing lovers. Orchids sprouted on the vine, and when the flowers died, slender green beans developed. Thus vanilla was born from the blood of a princess. Ninety-seven percent of the vanilla used today is synthetic. Vanillin is the organic component mimicked in synthetics, but natural beans…