Welcome

Thanks for stopping by the offical website of Midnight Ink!  http://www.midnightinkbooks.com/  Here you will find all things Inky.

What are Inky things you ask?  Primarily any information that has to do with Midnight Ink, our authors, our books, new signings, awards and nominations, conventions, sales and promotions, the publishing process, interesting crime fiction tidbits, LOL cats, baseball commentary - you know, the good things in life!

This will be brought to you by me, Terri.  I am the acquiring editor at Midnight Ink.  I love crime fiction.  Before landing here at Midnight Ink, I owned and operated Booked for Murder in Madison, WI.  My two favorite parts of  the job were 1) talking to customers about crime fiction books and 2) looking through the catalogs to see what books would be coming out in the upcoming months.  In many ways, that is my life here.  I get to talk about mysteries all the time.  And while I don't have "customers" to talk to, I have a stable of incredible authors to work with.  As for looking through the catalogs...  I now have pride and fondness for every title listed in our catalogs.  Of course there is a lot more that goes into my job and I will talk about that along the way, but those are two great perks!  In many ways, I feel like I have the best job on the planet.

So I hope you'll come back and visit.  I don't know yet what I will talk about tomorrow.  In the meantime, enjoy a cute LOL cat!

Welcome!

Hi everyone!  Welcome to Midnight Ink's official blog.  I am very excited to be started on this blogging adventure.  Here is the one place you can learn about all things Inky.  I intend to blog Monday thru Friday.  My plans include:

Justice is Served

Readers of mysteries, like those of romance novels, expect a certain type of ending. Romance readers expect the hero and heroine to be together in the end, living "happily ever after." In mysteries, readers expect justice to be served. The killer meets a fitting end, be it death itself, arrest and conviction, or some other suitable punishment for taking a human life. In that way, readers experience closure and its accompanying sense of satisfaction.

Closure is a psychological term. In the European Review of Social Psychology, cognitive closure was defined as "a desire for definite knowledge on some issue and the eschewal of confusion and ambiguity." So, people have an innate desire for a firm solution as opposed to enduring ambiguity. People's need for closure varies. Those with a high need for closure prefer order, clear rules, and predictability.

I know that I personally have a strong need for closure, and I suspect the same is true of most mystery readers. This need is what drives us to solve the puzzle of "whodunnit" along with the sleuth. We're struggling to close the gaps in our understanding of the situation by looking for clues, interpreting the behavior of suspects, etc.

Sometimes that driving need for closure can cause us to reach a conclusion too early that is erroneous, as described in this article in Psychology Today. And there are plenty of mystery authors that use that to their advantage in devising plots. They plant "twists in the tale" in their stories to drive readers into make one or more false conclusions before finally revealing some new information that leads to the real killer or the real explanation of what's going on.

But knowing "whodunnit" isn't enough for those of us who love reading mysteries. The murderer also has to be punished for their misdeed(s) so justice is served. That is true closure. We understand what happened and the characters receive their rewards and punishments as they deserve them. As I said before, sometimes a punishment is delivered within the legal system, and sometimes it occurs outside the legal system, but it's always fitting. And most mystery authors I know spend a lot of time devising an ending that is fitting and satisfying for their readers.

In my recent release, Deadly Currents, my protagonist, whitewater river ranger Mandy Tanner, is faced with a decision near the end. She has discovered who the killer is and has a choice on how justice should be served. She makes that choice based on her character--her upbringing, ethics, beliefs, and training. Her choice brought a satisfying closure to me, and I hope it does for my readers, too.

What about you? Do you have a strong need for closure, to not only understand what happened and who the killer was, but also to see that justice is served? Have you ever been disappointed in the ending of a mystery that didn't provide that satisfying closure to you?

Is Once Enough?

I generally don’t read books more than once. Gone With The Wind was an exception as well as a few of Jane Austen’s and William Faulkner’s novels, mainly because teachers chose them over the years. Oh, and sometimes I pick books at the library more than once, but that’s a whole different issue: failing memory. I know I read one book in college twice; in fact, paid for it twice. It was book of poetry—-a thick, expensive one—-and I don’t ever want to discuss Ode On A Grecian Urn again.

I did re-read the first Harry Potter book to my son. As expected, he loved it. Then I put my husband in charge of reading the next three books in the series to him. After that time, he was ready to finish the series on his own.

It’s not that all the books aren’t wonderful in their own way. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy them—-except the poetry. It’s just with so many books out there and a limited amount of time, I can’t see reading one twice.

I know others see it differently. Some people read and dissect to learn how to write better. Some people read for inspiration. Some people just love one author and can’t get enough.

So, I’m curious. Do you often read a book more than once? Or do you have a select few favorites you return to over and over? Or are you like me, always looking for a new story?

IT’S MAGIC!

Darrell James

Storytelling is an art. It’s also maybe a science. Stephen King has related the relationship between writer and reader as a kind of mental telepathy, where thoughts and ideas are exchanged through words and word pictures. A means of lifting imaginings from one psyche to imprint them emotionally on another.

It’s magic really. And awesomely wonderful to boot. It inspires questions from readers and aspiring writers alike about how the process of creating a story takes place. And what makes a story work? The most often asked question is “Where do you get your ideas?” The answer is always “anywhere” and “everywhere”. (A truthful but not very helpful response.) My answer is that I usually start with an idea that simply intrigues me. Something that I find personally fascinating, a tickle of curiosity. My goal, in starting, is to tell myself a “really great story”. And do so in a way that fills my imagination. My assumption is that if I can thrill myself beyond belief, then others will thrill as well.

From there, the work begins. Characters must be imagined and brought to life. Relationships are defined. Conflict must arise. (Good is almost always pit against evil.) And a hero or heroine, with much to lose, must emerge to right the wrong, and do so against all odds. (Or at least that’s my approach.)

My forthcoming novel, NAZARETH CHILD, was conceived in just this manner. An idea that has always fascinated me (the idea on which this book is founded) is the idea of charismatic power. That found in the likes of Jim Jones and Marshall Applewhite (You remember, Do, the Haven’s Gate guy?), self-proclaimed prophets and messiahs. Who are these dominant types? From where does their power to influence come? What motivates them? What secret of life do they possess (or believe they possess)? And, why… seemingly against all reason… do thousands, sometimes millions, follow?

The story introduces Del Shannon, a young female investigator who works for Desert Sands Covert in Tucson, a firm that specializes in finding and recovering missing persons. She’s smart and tough, but mostly she’s determined. A woman in a man’s world. Del enters this debut novel already well acknowledged as being good at what she does. Ironically, despite a lifelong search, the one person Del has never been able to find is the mother she’s never known. Secrets surround her mother’s existence. And her father, Roy Shannon, has guarded those secrets with vengeful determination. Even the family Bible’s genealogy pages have been torn away to conceal the past.

Whatever became of Ella Shannon?

When a seemingly unrelated federal investigation, into the infamous, faith healer, Silas Rule, brings authorities to her door, Del learns of an abandoned property in the clannish hill community of Nazareth Church, Kentucky— surprisingly still owned by her father. There, Del’s quest takes her into confrontation with this charismatic leader, who seems to hold the key. Is her mother alive or dead? And what secrets does the healer work to conceal? Only through Silas will Del find the answers. But can she survive the truth?

It’s an emotionally charged tale of love and retribution. I thrilled to writing it. I hope you’ll thrill to reading it.

NAZARETH CHILD is scheduled for release, from Midnight Ink/Llewellyn Worldwide Publishing, in September. It is currently available for PRE-ORDER on Amazon.

"James cranks up the tension while spinning a classic tale of good versus evil.” —Paul Levine, author of Lassiter.

www.darrelljames.com

Inkspot News - April 2, 2011

We've been asked to spread the word:

The Wolfe Pack/Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine's annual Black Orchid
Novella Contest is underway. The deadline is May 31, 2011. The winner
receives $1,000 and publication in AHMM. Details are at

http://www.nerowolf e.org/htm/ neroaward/ black_orchid_ award/BO_ award_proc. htm

=====
Also, the Al Blanchard Award Contest closes for entries April 30 (by midnight). Don't miss this opportunity to win:

--$100 cash prize
--publication in Level Best Books' ninth anthology of crime stories by New England writers, Dead Calm.
--free admission to the Crime Bake conference in November (you do not have to attend to win)
--a handsome plaque

Your submission should be:
--story by a New England author or with a New England setting
--no more than 5,000 words
--previously unpublished (in print or electronically, including on your website)
--may include the following genres: mystery, thriller, suspense, caper, horror (with no killing or torture of children or animals)

For details on how to submit, visit the Crime Bake website: www.crimebake.org

April Fool!

I write humorous dialogue one-liners, but in real life, I’m one of those curmudgeonly writers. Leave me alone in my corner with coffee, lots of paper, and my fountain pen, and no one gets hurt. My husband, however, makes jokes all the time, and loves puns. I would love to write a character that drops puns that easily, but my brain simply doesn’t work that way.

I’m a Marx Brothers fan. I love their subtlety and lightning-fast wit.

My father, husband, and sons are huge fans of the Three Stooges. Should I say “Of course”?

Nearly every male I know is a Three Stooges fan. Sometimes I think it’s genetics.

And, since today is often about practical jokes, I’m forcibly reminded of this:

My sons got one of these things when they were in grade school. Nothing on the planet was funnier to them than that farting sound. That’s when it hit home: Humor is a very personal thing. My entire family loves The Muppet Show, but the boys like Family Guy (we don’t) and no one else shares my Monty Python addiction.

So, writers and readers: What’s your style of written humor? PG Wodehouse? Pearls Before Swine? Elmore Leonard? Doonesbury? Scott Adams? I'm a die-hard Pearls fan. In honor of today, I’ll be hiding in my house, avoiding the practical jokers and watching Muppet Show reruns.