Some time ago I was collaborating with some researchers at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. My four weeks in that city represented the best “working vacation” I ever had. I really got involved in Spanish culture. Together with the cook at a coffee shop near my pension (boardinghouse), for example, I even left my mark on their culture—a grilled cheese and egg sandwich with a hole in the top where the yolk can wink at you.
Our social and political rhetoric these days is more of a mindless rant with mostly zero content—emotional, irrational, angry, and bitter. Perhaps those tweets on Twitter, those writings on the Facebook Wall, and the forums provided by the internet for any blogger with a chip on his shoulder have made it too easy. We succumb to the notion that we are free to express our opinions, and do we ever!
(Leona Bodie, Shadow Cay, WRB Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9844198-1-4)
There is no mystery here. Shadow Cay is a thriller and the subject is revenge. The plot details are intriguing and complex enough that you have an interesting read that will last you through the rest of your summer trips to the beach—the book is longer than your average thriller and the characters suffer a lot before all is resolved. There is no subtlety here. Ms. Bodie’s graphic scene constructions and characterizations are raw and gutsy, but they are an integral part of the story, not just for shock value. I recommend the book with one important caveat: it’s not for the squeamish.
Edit Red for this writer, and probably many others, was the first place where I had a presence on the internet. I have just received an e-mail saying that Sean, Alan, and Chris are closing down the site. I’ll have to confess that I neglected it as it became more and more a social networking site (and as FaceBook took more and more of my time). The internet is a continuously evolving beast, but Edit Red, the old version anyway, will be missed.
As some of my readers and writer colleagues know, I have several short stories posted to Edit Red. These will be eventually moved to the “Steve’s shorts” category in this blog–still free and perhaps more conveniently available.
So, let’s wish the Edit Red founders and their collaborators luck on all of their future enterprises.
Ever since the Nixon-Eisenhower White House wedding in 1968 I have wondered about America’s need for royalty and royal weddings. While old George showed his sanity and humility by not allowing the rest of the colonials to make him king (I’m speaking of our first President, not the inept British king the colonials defeated), it seems that many of my compatriots feel short-changed. Many of them go after the gossip, intrigues, and photos by the paparazzi like ants at a pastry makers’ picnic, all in their haste to find a truly American substitute. And when the Lohans and the Pitts just don’t do it, there’s always a White House wedding.
The Wylie Agency’s creation of Odyssey Editions is a new slap at traditional book publishers and the usual writer/agent/publisher minefield that authors traditionally face. Here is an agency that decided to publish its own eBook versions of works by its clients, works previously unavailable in eBook format, like Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man. Wylie’s argument is that digital rights to these works were not conveyed to publishers since the book contracts were signed before eBooks existed. At least one big time publisher, Random House, sees a future lawsuit, claiming that Wylie’s action may be illegal.
Steve: I have reviewed both of John Betcher’s novels, The Missing Element and The 19th Element, for Book Pleasures (see my blog category “Book Reviews”). John is a lawyer/writer living in Red Wing, Minnesota (great name for a town). I thought that the readers of this blog would enjoy hearing opinions from him about his novels and writing in general. He offers a different perspective and background than yours truly. You’ll find his answers interesting.
(Note: This is the first interview to appear in this blog. I’ll probably limit these to authors, agents, editors and publishers, but not necessarily. Hey, it’s my blog!)
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Steve: Your book The 19th Element is a thriller; The Missing Element is a mystery. Which genre is easiest to write in? Are there any special quirks of either genre?
John: I don’t consider one genre or the other easier to write in. They are significantly different, though. In a typical mystery, you’re not sure who the bad guys (or maybe even the good guys) are until the climax. In a typical thriller, the reader follows the bad guys and the good guys on separate courses toward the same destination – an intended calamity. I like writing both.
(John L. Betcher, The 19th Element, 2010, ISBN 9781451521016)
Do you need an entertaining and action-packed book for your summer reading? This is it! A very realistically portrayed terrorist attack in an unusual setting provided me with a nerve-wrenching adrenalin rush. If you’re into suspenseful thrillers, try this one on for size.
I know my inadequacies. I just can’t write about vampires and werewolves. I can’t do dungeons and dragons either. I can’t write fantasy period. While I’m in awe at the millions of dollars this stuff generates for writers, screenwriters, and Hollywood film companies, my inadequacy and awe don’t translate into admiration. On the contrary, I loathe the stuff, more now than ever.
Just when you thought a good Le Carre spy novel was a thing of the past, we’ve got Russian spies again. Le Carre’s books never translated well into movies (e.g. The Spy Who Came In from the Cold)—they were tales focused on the dark inner workings of the U.S. versus U.S.S.R. spy networks, more character-driven than action-driven. Sure, movies were made (I liked The Russia House best), but they weren’t blockbusters. Compare his tales to Ludlum’s, if you will, where there was plenty of action that translates well to the screen when you allow Hollywood to modernize the plot (and change it beyond recognition as in the Bourne trilogy).
Yet, here we are, smack in the middle of a real life Le Carre novel with a lot of Boris and Natasha thrown in for good measure. To summarize the characters so far: there are the Murphys, Richard and Cynthia, of Montclair, NJ; there are Vicky Pelaez and Juan Lazaro of Yonkers, NY; Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills of Arlington, VA; Donald Heathfield and Tracey Lee Ann Foley of Cambridge, MA; Anna Chapman of NYC; Mikhail Semenko and Christopher Metsos of who knows where. Metsos is the Boris-like fellow and was apprehended in Cyprus on his way to Budapest; he may be the paymaster. Chapman is the Natasha-like bomb shell that moved around the NYC night club circuit. At least the first two couples have kids that say they had no idea their parents were spies and neighbors of the various couples are dumbfounded.
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