First Line Friday #17: Fallen Sparrow

Now available from Midnight Ink, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indiebound, and your local bookseller!

Q&A with Steve Hockensmith & Lisa Falco!

This week, we sat down with Steve Hockensmith and Lisa Falco, coauthors of the Tarot Mysteries. Their latest, Fool Me Once, is out now!

Steve Hockensmith: I'm approaching this Q&A tag team style. I'll wrestle with every question I can until I find there's one I can't handle. Then I'll slap hands with my partner on the Tarot Mystery series, Lisa Falco, and she'll jump into the ring to save me.

Midnight Ink: How long have you been writing?

SH: Forever! I began creating my own (horrible) once-act plays and comic books and old-time radio-style audio dramas when I was in fourth or fifth grade. (How I pray no one ever finds those old cassette tapes.) I was very ambitious but also very lazy—great combo, eh?—so I started a lot of projects I never finished. I didn't get really serious about writing fiction until I was in my twenties. That's when I finally developed some stick-to-itiveness. I put in a few years writing bad short stories I couldn't sell, and then an amazing thing happened: The stories stopped being bad, and editors started buying them! Quite a coincidence how those two things happened at roughly the same time….

MI: What influence have other authors had on your writing?

Steve: My mystery novels get called "quirky" a lot, and I think maybe that's because my biggest influences come from outside the genre. When I was a 15 or 16, I stumbled onto a Kurt Vonnegut novel in the school library—thank you, Bridgeport High School!—and that ended up having a huge impact on me. I can't remember which book it was, but it doesn't really matter because within a few months I'd tracked down and read everything else the guy ever wrote. I completely gorged myself on Vonnegut. That'll have an effect on an impressionable young mind. Around the same time, I read Catch-22 and fell in love with the bleak, cynical, surreal humor of it. But I've always been a lover of genre, too, so I had this weird mix of influences stewing in my head: dark, strange, funny "literary" fiction simmering alongside plot-driven adventure stuff. So when I finally started serving up my own stories, they tended to be a little . . . different.

MI: If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing?

SH: Dreaming of being a writer.

MI: What was your inspiration for this series?

SH: I'm going to bring Lisa in for this one, because doing a series about a tarot reader who uses the cards to help her clients was her idea. Tag!

Lisa Falco: I LOVE reading mysteries. I always have. As a child, I’d spend my summers plowing through entire mystery series: Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew. I still read mystery series as an adult. I love how all the elements of the mystery at hand weave in and out of the main characters’ lives, each subsequent book revealing a little bit more about them—their own story advancing just enough to keep me impatient for the next book. And since tarot has always been a mysterious fascination of mine, it only made sense to marry the two.

MI: What has it been like to work on the Tarot Mystery series together?

LF: What an amazing experience. There were definitely hiccups along the way—through no fault of our own, of course. But it all worked out in the end, and winding up at Midnight Ink was a huge benefit! As far as creating the books together, thank goodness for the Internet. Even though we live in different cities, it’s easy to shoot ideas to each other. This is my first truly collaborative writing experience. I love talking through plots on the phone—winding down one path, retracing our steps, trying another. It’s great fun!

SH: Tag! I’m back in! Although I don’t really have anything to add except maybe “Yeah—what she said!”

MI: How does this series compare to your past works?

SH: The tarot element sets it apart, obviously. But it's a change of pace for me in other ways, as well. My first mystery series, the Holmes on the Range books, were historicals set mostly in the Old West. They were in first person written from the point of view of an 1890s cowboy, so the voice was both earthy and a bit old time-y. My next books were Jane Austen-inspired zombie novels set in Regency England, so I was working in a deliberately old-fashioned third person voice. After that, I moved on to a series of third person middle-grade mystery/science books (which I do with "Science Bob" Pflugfelder). Those were my first books in a modern setting. And then came the Tarot Mystery series, which is both set in the present day and written in first person. So finally I'm writing books with a modern narrator. I think that's part of the reason they feel so easy and fun for me to do. Lisa does all the research and deep thinking when it comes to the tarot, then I get to amuse myself by turning that into a story told from the perspective of a twenty-first century smart-ass.

MI: Who is your favorite mystery sleuth and why?

SH: There are a lot that I love—Sherlock Holmes, Philip Marlowe, Jim Rockford, Nick and Nora Charles (and Asta), Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe, I.M. Fletcher, etc. etc. etc. But if I could only pick one to watch at work, it would have to be Lt. Columbo of the LAPD. He personifies the mystery genre in a really beautiful way: He's someone who thinks and thinks and thinks and can't stop thinking and thinking and thinking some more until he finally understands. He's not about flashy shows of unbelievable genius or tough-guy heroics. He's just a schlubby little guy who won't stop asking questions because the official story doesn't add up. What's not to love about that? I'll tag Lisa here not because I need help—I could obviously drone on about my favorite detectives all day—but because it's a fun question. Lisa?

LF: I’m partial to the sleuths on British TV like Inspector Lewis and Foyle’s War. The lead characters are human with just the right amount of unpolished edges. I do like the women sleuths as well, my favorite being Precious Ramotswe from the Ladies No. Detective Agency.

MI: What’s your favorite part about being an Inker?

LF: I love how Midnight Ink does the layout of our books—not an an easy feat given all the tarot card positions, etc. I’m sure Steve has his own favorite aspects of being an Inker….

SH: I love the layouts, too. And the covers. But I think my favorite aspect of working with Midnight Ink is just how easy everything is. Once we’ve submitted our final draft, the design, copy editing, proofreading, and publicity wheels turn incredibly swiftly and smoothly. A publishing company can feel like a lumbering behemoth at times, but that hasn’t been our experience with Midnight Ink at all. And it helps that so many people there have a genuine interest in tarot. You can tell they care about what goes into these books and appreciate the final product. Again—that’s something you don’t always get from your publisher. It’s a real bummer when you don’t . . . and fantastic when you do!

Fool Me Once is available online and in bookstores now!

Midnight Ink | Indiebound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Your local bookstore

Visit Steve Hockensmith online. 

Defiance: The Inspiration for "Lake of Fire"

Not since Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid had the West seen such a manhunt.

It started on the morning of May 29, 1998 when Cortez Police Officer Dale Claxton died in a flurry of gunfire when he tried to pull over a stolen water truck. 

The ensuing pursuit of Jason McVean, Robert Mason and Alan “Monte” Pilon mobilized more than 75 law-enforcement agencies and the U.S. Army’s Special Forces. The chase pitted three outlaws who had trained in wilderness survival against an entire army of officers—500 in all—and all their sophisticated tracking technology.

The outlaws won.

Well, maybe 'won' is too strong a word. They managed to avoid being captured. Their bodies were found one week later, five months later and many years later.

Dan Schultz’s gripping account, Dead Run, The Murder of a Lawman and the Greatest Manhunt of the Modern American West, is fascinating in peeling back the issues that thwarted a better search, including poor coordination and leadership among the many law enforcement agencies.

But what grabbed me about the book, when I was researching ideas for the fourth Allison Coil Mystery, was the portraits of the three individuals and their vehement anti-government stance.

Schultz’s portrayal of the three strong-willed individuals is what really got my juices going—and I started to think about all the standoffs out west, including the tense war of words between Cliven Bundy (and a militia) and the Bureau of Land Management. Bundy owed over $1 million in fees and penalties for trespassing on federal without a permit for over 20 years.

Currently, a similar type of battle has been brewing over the Sugar Pine Mine in Oregon; there are really no shortage of stories and situations like it—with underground networks of civilian militia ready to pop up and defend those they feel are being preyed upon by the government.

Of course, Dead Run was only the source of inspiration for the type of villain—villains—that I wanted to write about. Lake of Fire includes no murdered police officer, but there is (I think) a sinister plot that that requires hunting guide Allison Coil to confront those very close to her inner circle.

Anti-government extremists are everywhere including, sometimes, in your own backyard.

The west is a fascinating place. There are plenty of places to hide, plenty of places to run. Ask Butch Cassidy. Ask the Sundance Kid. But the question remains, are we a civilized society—or not?

+++

Lake of Fire comes out Tuesday, Sept. 8. Kirkus Reviews has already called it “thrilling” and “irresistible.” 

I hope you enjoy it. 

If so, it's number three in the series following Antler Dust, Buried by the Roan and last year's Trapline, which won the Colorado Book Award in 2015 for best mystery.

Fifty Ways to Show Readers Some Love (Part 3)

Today is the final installment in my three-part series on ways writers can show their readers some love.  Check out days 1 – 20 and days 21 – 40 at the highlighted links.

·       Day 41: Write a prequel and post it on your website!  A prequel is fun because it doesn’t give away anything for readers who might not have read your entire series—yet.  And it can be like a between-book snack to keep them happy between book releases!

·       Day 42:  Help them kill off their spouse!  OK, not literally, but how about a contest in which a reader chooses the name of the next murder victim.  As long as it’s all fun and games and the victim agrees, sounds like a great idea!  Just realize Thanksgiving dinner with your mother-in-law might be a little more awkward… 

·       Day 43: Have a word challenge contest!  Have a contest in which readers come up with unusual words and challenge you to use them in your next manuscript. Pick a winner and exercise your creative brain to make it fit within your story!  It might even spark a new red herring!

·       Day 44:  Donate your books to their favorite charities!  I realize that the vast majority of authors are writing at well below the poverty level (yours truly included).  But if you can, allocate a few books each printing to donate to your most loyal readers’ charities.  Perhaps you can even work together to make a themed basket containing your books (you donate the books, they do the rest).  You support the causes they love and get a little exposure in the bargain! 

·       Day 45:  Host a fan of the month contest! If you have an official street team or fan club, why not recognize a particular fan each month?  Maybe you draw names to choose your fan; maybe you have a contest they enter.  Perhaps you give prizes or maybe you simply post a photo and thank them in your blog.  Totally up to you.  But what fan wouldn’t like to be given a little recognition?

·       Day 46:  Let them interview you on Facebook! What better way to show your readers some love than to make yourself available to them! A Facebook “ask the author” event might be just the ticket!  It can be a great way for readers to get to know you as a person while learning more about your writing process. 

·       Day 47:  Ask for their advice!  Stuck on a plot point?  Not sure which action your heroine should take next? Ask your loyal readers! Their thoughts might give your muse the kick she was looking for! 

·       Day 48:  Mention them in the acknowledgements! Has a reader truly gone out of their way to help you?  Perhaps, like me, you have an awesome street team?  Why not mention them in the acknowledgments in your book?  Let the people who help you spread the word about your work be an actual part of it!

·       Day 49:  Feed Them! I’m not at all above bribery to get people to talk to be at book signings. Show your readers you love them by providing a bowl of candy or a plate of home-made cookies at signings.  Believe me, no one wants to eat any cookies I’d make, but I’ve been known to provide vegan chocolate mousse cake and bubbly.

·       Day 50:  Let them name something in the book!  We spoke on day 31 about letting readers name a character, but that’s just the beginning.  How about letting them name a town, road or business?  They can have their place in fictional history in so many ways, and you can keep your creative hat focused on story!   

And a few bonus days…

·       Bonus Day 51: Make them feel special! Share insider-only information to members of your fan club or newsletter subscribers, such as a nugget of character back story that isn’t revealed in your books or a recipe that reflects the tastes of one of your characters. Homemade dog cookies for Bella, anyone? 

·       Bonus Day 52:  Create some downloadable swag!  Postage can get expensive, particularly if you have lots of out-of-country fans.  Why not make your swag downloadable?  Bookmarks, stickers they can print out, special for-your-fans-only photos—if you can think it up it can probably be created online. 

·       Bonus Day 53: Personally reply to their e-mails!  Auto-replies are great if you need to let someone know you’re out of the office.  No replies are well, lonely.  If a reader takes the time to send you an e-mail, reply to it!  Long before I was a writer, I sent an e-mail to Susan Conant, asking about future books.  I was over the moon when she replied.  A minute or so of your time may make someone’s day! 

·       Bonus Day 54: Tap into their inner muse!  Have your readers write an opening line to your next book. Something that creates an idea of what they think the storyline will be. Who knows?  They might even inspire a future story!

·       Bonus Day 55: Give them swag!  Lots of people mentioned swag to me in their “show some love” tip ideas.  From bookmarks (listing all of the author’s books) to pens, to coffee mugs, to…well, the sky is the limit.  Is there a non-expensive (because we all know most authors are broke) creative thing you can give readers that ties in with your book theme?  I know writers who custom make jewelry with their book covers, make one-of-a-kind book marks—some who give dog-cookie swag to their reader’s pets!  Come up with something creative, and your readers may love you forever! 

·       Bonus Day 56: Provide an audio character interview!  Give your readers a little more insight into their favorite characters by recording an interview in which you or a friend play the role of the character answering in their own unique voice.  Many writers spent hours developing character profiles and back story that never make the final page.  Let all of those juicy tidbits come out while entertaining your readers at the same time!

·       Bonus Day 57: Let them help you cook things up!  I’m no longer allowed to cook (yes, I’m that bad) and my yoga-related mysteries don’t contain recipes, but many culinary cozies do.  Why not showcase the favorite recipe of one of your readers? Or even better, have a reader recipe of the month in your newsletter? It’s a great way to “spice things up” and show your readers you love them at the same time!

·       Bonus Day 58: Skype it baby!  We talked about skyping with book clubs on Day 11, but I just realized that’s not the only reason to Skype with your fans.  Run contest for a half-hour personal skyping session…Maybe do a birthday Skype message for your most loyal fans.  Think about how to use technology to connect “in-person” any way you can!

·       Bonus Day 59: Take their suggestions!  Readers come up with great ideas.  Using them recognizes their greatness.  Do it whenever you can.

I’m sure there are many more ways to show readers some love than the 59 I came up with in this series of articles.  Keep showing the love in any way that you can.  Add other ideas in the comments.

Happy reading and writing, everyone!

Tracy Weber

And if you want to show me some love, you can preorder my newest mystery, KARMA'S A KILLER, at these outlets now!.  E-book versions available for pre-order soon!

Yee haw, yippee, and yahooey! 

First Line Friday #16: Corrupted Memory

Now available from Midnight Ink, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indiebound, and your local bookseller!

Q&A with Maegan Beaumont!

This week, we sat down with Maegan Beaumont, author of the Sabrina Vaughn Novels. Her latest thriller, Promises to Keep, is out now!

Midnight Ink: How long have you been writing?

Maegan Beaumont: Geez . . . a long time. My first real writing memory is from the third grade. I was 10 and entered a story I’d written into my school’s Young Author’s program. I lost to my cousin which stung like a mother. I still think about it.

MI: If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing?

MB: I’d be a forensic psychologist. Why is a question I’ve always wanted to be able to answer.

MI: If you have a job outside of writing, what is it?

MB: I’m a stay-at-home mom of four so, my days are pretty busy. I start at 5:30 a.m. and don’t close my eyes until sometime around midnight.

MI: What is/are your favorite thing/s to do when you’re not writing or working?

MB: Reading is at the top of the list. We spend a lot time with friends and family. It’s summer and fruit season is in full-swing so I’m canning jams and jellies like there’s no tomorrow.

MI: Who is your favorite mystery sleuth and why?

MB: I really like Brenna Spector from Alison Gaylin’s Brenna Spector series. She’s wonderfully complex and doesn’t let much stop her. I like that in a female protag.

MI: Do you have a favorite murder case from a book (either yours or another author’s)?

MB: The book I’m writing right now (Sabrina’s fourth installment) is developing in some pretty interesting way. The murders involve some religious elements that I find fascinating and there are some twists that even I didn’t see coming!

MI: What was your inspiration for this series?

MB: I think my inspiration for Sabrina and co. comes from what interests me. I’ve always been intrigued by murder—what drives a person to commit it and how it effects the people it leaves behind.

MI: How does this book compare to your past works?

MB: Promises to Keep is a different sort of book from both Carved in Darkness and Sacrificial Muse. The most obvious difference is that Sabrina isn’t my main protagonist—Michael is. PtK is very much his book. We finally get a chance to see where he comes from and the events of this life that lead up to the death of his sister and ultimately, what leads him back into Sabrina’s life. Genre-wise, I’d say PtK is more of a suspense, rather than a thriller. We know who the bad guys are—its figuring out how they all fit together that’s the mystery.

MI: Are any of your characters influenced by people you know?

MB: I think most of my characters share personality traits with people I know. There are parts of Sabrina, that if I look at them objectively, I can see in myself… but if you want blatant personality hijacking, there is a character in Sacrificial Muse based on a friend of mine—name and everything. When mutual friends read SM, they always call or message me to say, holy cow, you nailed him!

MI: Do you have a pet? Tell us about him/her.

MB: So. Many. Pets.

We have six dogs—the smallest being a 4-pound toy poodle named Sadie and the largest being a 70-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback named Jade. We also have chickens—last count at 15—and yes, they all have names. We live on a few acres so, there’s plenty of room for everyone.

Jade and Zoe

Sadie

Some of Maegan's chickens...

MI: If you don’t have a pet, do you have a favorite animal?

MB: I’m a dog person for sure. If you’re talking exotic animals, I’m partial to lions. We have a big cat park here in Arizona called Out of Africa. In high school, I was set to enter into their volunteer training program but before I could start, there were some land issues and they had to re-locate to a northern part of the state. A thirty-minute drive had suddenly turned into a 3-hour trek so, I had to drop out. I’m still bummed about that one.

MI: What food could you live off of for the rest of your life?

MB: This is probably really boring but I love a good sandwich. They’re easy to make and the possibilities are endless.

MI: Do you have a favorite recipe?

MB: It’s a toss-up between my pumpkin squares and my sautéed Brussel sprouts. Both recipes have been published, so you know they’re good! I also make and can my own BBQ sauce from a recipe I developed a few years ago.

MI: What’s your favorite part about being an Inker?

MB: My favorite part of Inker-hood is being affiliated with such a fantastic bunch of writers. So much talent and such a willingness to share what they know. I wear my ink spot proudly!

Promises to Keep is available online and in bookstores now!

Midnight Ink | Indiebound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Your local bookstore

Visit Maegan Beaumont online.

What Does My Research Say About My Novel?

By Lisa Alber

I'm about 15,000 words (~60 pages) into my work in progress (WIP), and it occurred to me that you might be curious about what novel research looks like for one author.

My novels take place in Ireland, so I have an extra level of research. For example, I can't just research, say, coma patients in hospitals. I'd need to know the particularities about coma patients in Irish hospitals.

I start with research here in the States -- this gives me a baseline -- but then I need to do the groundwork in Ireland. (Lucky me!) As I'm writing my first draft I keep notes about everything that I'll need to check into in Ireland.

It may seem odd, but I prefer to do my Ireland research after I've written the first draft. I can get away with this because I already have a feel for the country from previous research trips, and I have a world that I've already created. And there's so much I can find out online to get me started anyhow.

And frankly, at this stage in my progress, when the story is a tender thing with shallow roots, I'd prefer not to let reality get in the way of the storytelling. I know, I know -- that may sound bass-ackwards, but I truly believe that knowing too much reality could limit my creativity.

I can just hear my big old editor brain bossing me around like it alway does: Oh no, character X couldn't possibly do that because that's not realistic.

So, yeah, I like to steer clear of reality as much as possible while writing the first draft. Here's my equation:

ignorance = writing bliss

I'm exaggerating somewhat, but you get my drift. And, just to contradict myself, in my initial  research forays I often stumble onto quirky, odd, and interesting factoids that rock my novelist's world, things I could never have thought of on my own.

So maybe research is a balance, after all. Enough research to get me started but not so much that I get bogged down trying to cram my story into what the research tells me reality it supposed to look like.

So here I am, 15,000 words into my first draft, and here are some of the topics I've looked into thus far:

• Psychiatric nursing as a career
• Sociopathy
• Night terrors
• PTSD
• Bible quotes related to resurrection
• Butterflies as symbols
• Easter/Spring rites
• Private nursing homes
• Lung cancer misdiagnoses
• Raku pottery
• Objectivity

You can probably tell a few things about the story from this list. Or may not. Give the same list of prompts to 100 writers and you'll end up with 100 vastly different stories.

So what do you think of when you read my list of research topics? What's the last thing you researched online, related to anything?

Lisa Alber is the author of KILMOON, A COUNTY CLARE MYSTERY, which has been called "utterly poetic" and "a stirring debut." The second novel in the series will be published by Midnight Ink in 2016 (more information to come!). Ever distractible, you may find her staring out windows, fooling around online, or drinking red wine with her friends. Ireland, books, animals, photography, and blogging round out her distractions. Visit her on Facebook and Twitter.

First Line Friday #15: Bite the Biscuit

Now available from Midnight Ink, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indiebound, and your local bookseller!

Looking for Names

Edith here, always searching for names.

True, I have trouble remembering names. But that's not why I'm searching. Any author can tell you that discovering names for characters isn't always straightforward. The name has to fit the character. If I'm writing a tough strong woman, I'm unlikely to name her Susie or Tiffany, for example. I'm also unlikely to name a male villain after one of my sons.

And then there's keeping names distinct. If I have a continuing character named Kevin, I shouldn't name a new character Keith or Ken. To avoid this I try, within a book, to have only one character whose name begins with the same letter of the alphabet, at least within the gender. I think readers
won't be confused if I include Katie along with Kevin. And thus the importance of the character bible, my list of series characters and their characteristics. When I'm naming a new personality, I scan the list to make sure there isn't overlap.

But with the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, I also have to have period-appropriate names. How do I

know what people were named in 1888 New England? One great resource is the Social Security Administration database of names. Here's what the page I use says:

The following table shows the 200 most popular given names for male and female babies born during 1880 - 1889. For each rank and sex, the table shows the name and the number of occurrences of that name. The 200 most popular names were taken from a universe that includes 1,177,184 male births and 1,399,591 female births.

Edith, which essentially no one is named these days, is number 31 in frequency! Other older-sounding names include Flossie, Matilda, Etta, and Winifred for girls, and Otis, Silas, Tobias, Felix, and Sylvester for boys. I'm gonna bet you won't hear most of these in this year's kindergarten class.

Another great resource is cemeteries. I've found first names like Urania, Jabez, Alpheous, Fanny, Willard, Frelove, and Zilla, just by checking headstones for the 1800s.

In the Union Cemetery here in Amesbury, where the series is set, there is a Quaker section. Members of the Religious Society of Friends name the months and days of the week with numerals instead of the traditional names, so you know you're looking at a Quaker headstone when it says the person died on Fourth Day, Ninth Month, 1873. And from these stones I've learned that some of the Quaker family surnames were Huntington, Breed, Winslow, Latting, Stillwell, and Cartland.

Readers, what's your favorite old-fashioned name? Writers - where do you find inspiration for character names?

Three New Mysteries Are Available Now!

Don't miss Midnight Ink's latest Releases!

"Winning."

—Publishers Weekly on Fool Me Once

"Satisfying . . . Smooth prose will keep cozy fans turning the pages."

—Publishers Weekly on Murder Comes Calling

"Reads like the transcript of a breathlessly bloody computer game."

—Publishers Weekly on Promises to Keep

Now available from Midnight Ink, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indiebound, and your local bookseller!

New Midnight Ink releases for July and August!

By: Maegan Beaumont

 

 

Check out these cool summer reads!

 

  

 



Hidden Vices
By: C.J. Carpenter
A Megan McGinn Novel #2

“Quick, engaging . . . Megan is a feisty, multitasking homicide detective.”—RT BOOK REVIEWS 

Murder on the Bucket List
By: Elizabeth Perona
A bucket List Mystery #1

“Bubbly characters keep this cozy debut lively as you search through the red herrings for the big fish.”—KIRKUS REVIEWS

Fool Me Once
By: Steve Hockensmith & Lisa Falco
A Tarot Mystery #2

“Readers who adore the women detectives of Dorothy Cannell and Maggie King will be pleased by this quirky series.”—LIBRARY JOURNAL

Murder Comes Calling
By: C.S. Challinor
A Rex Graves Mystery #7

“Nicely mixes procedural detail and village charm and will appeal to fans of Deborah Crombie and Anne Cleeland.”—BOOKLIST

Promises to Keep
By: Maegan Beaumont
A Sabrina Vaughn Thriller #3

"Edge-of-the-seat-plotting will keep readers’ attention late into the night. Sabrina’s third outing (after Sacrificial Muse) is a solid choice for Chevy Stevens and Taylor Stevens fans." —LIBRARY JOURNAL