Protecting our environment is not a radical idea; it is a moral responsibility.—Bernie Sanders

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On sale: The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan. This sci-fi thriller will be on sale at Smashwords for $0.99, reduced from $2.99 (67% discount), from now until September 1. Use the coupon code FU54W. First question: what will the U.S. in the future do with retirees who possess Top Secret information? Second question: how do you prevent the assassination of a presidential candidate? Third question: is there room for romance in the life of an old agent? This fast-moving story’s main character is a woman who shows perseverance and strength to survive while unmasking a terrible conspiracy. Don’t miss the thrills!

In libris libertas!

Ebook prices. Maybe it’s time to increase mine? Up to now I’ve followed most people’s cost-of-living increases in salaries, Social Security, and pensions—in other words, my prices haven’t gone up because they don’t, in general! All ebooks save one (soon to change, I hope) are $3.99 or less, a tremendous bargain. Why? OK, you might want it for free or $0.99, but consider this: I just noticed the newsstand price for the Sunday NY Times is $5. Granted that they have all the news that’s unfit to print, but I guarantee you the total time they spend putting together that NY Times is much less than the average time I spend writing and publishing a complete novel (I’m discounting all those ads in the Times, of course, which seem to dominate every newspaper today). Because I don’t have many readers anyway, would higher prices make any difference?

The prices of my books have been permanently low—always on sale, if you will, so maybe discounts of a few dollars don’t seem like much. J. C. Penney tried that tactic when the CEO put all store merchandise “permanently on sale.” Didn’t work there. Customers look for large discounts, so many merchants have high prices so they can offer 30 or 50% discounts on select items, knowing that customers will probably buy other things at the full, inflated price. It’s a well-known marketing strategy. Should I use it? Dunno. Something to think about. My goal is to have a larger readership because I think the stories I tell are entertaining and relevant. I’d much prefer that every reader who has read one of my books tell ten or twenty friends, “Hey, I discovered this great storyteller!” That doesn’t seem to work, though.

I flunked the Strand’s hiring test. Speaking of the Times, one of those stupid articles they obviously throw together without much thought was the 7/19 one about the Strand Book Store (guess someone flunked spelling—bookstore is one word). The article offers examples the bookstore uses to screen applicants in order to determine whether they could perform well as future employees; they test your ability to match up books with authors. I flunked them all. I’m an avid reader, so what’s my problem?

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The beginning and end, two very important parts of a novel. I work and rework them. Every author should. Readers expect good ones and are disappointed when they don’t get them. An author wants his readers to continue with her or his novel; s/he wants the reader to say, “I want more,” when the book is finished. Readers want to feel that way too.

The beginning is often called the hook. That’s a bit insulting to the reader—s/he’s not a fish, after all. But the author shouldn’t wait too long to grab your reader’s attention. While Howey’s Wool is a wee bit too disconnected (he published the different parts separately at first), his opening line is great: “The children were playing while Holston climbed to his death; he could hear them squealing as only happy children do.” I would only change that semicolon to a period. Although I began to lose interest when the book became a treatise on potato farming, Weir’s beginning of The Martian gets your attention: “I’m pretty much f&*^$ed. [This is a PG-13 blog—sorry, Andy.] That’s my considered opinion. F&*^$ed.” I would only omit the word “considered” here—it’s superfluous. In each case, your curiosity is piqued.

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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.—Robert Heinlein

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Last week! The “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries” are on sale. Mary Jo is inviting you to celebrate with her for leaving Amazon exclusivity and appearing on Smashwords too. She’s an ex-USN Master-at-Arms who manages to get into a lot of trouble as a civilian; she also manages to beat the odds and survive, though. Muddlin’ Through (Smashwords coupon code KY27A) is an international thriller where she works to clear her name and pay back the group that framed her. In the process, she discovers the MECHs, Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans, and romance as she runs around the U.S., South American, and Europe. Silicon Slummin’…and Just Gettin’ By (Smashwords coupon code VT64E) takes place almost exclusively in the Silicon Valley where she has two government groups pursuing her, one U.S., the other Russian. She also has a stalker on a revenge mission. Both books, normally $2.99, are $0.99 on Smashwords, using the coupon codes, until August 1—lots of entertaining summer reading for $2!

In libris libertas!

No, this isn’t about either political candidate—the whole election thing is getting to be a drag anyway. (I’ll be voting Green this year, foregoing the usual “vote for the lesser of two evils” that has made my entire electoral life miserable—so that’s settled.) This post is about editing. Yeah, I know. If you’re a reader, you just expect what you read to be well edited. “Skip the details and just do it,” you say. If you’re a writer, it’s one of those things that must be done as part of your job, but you’d rather just be writing. That reader is like your boss in the day-job; s/he doesn’t care how or when you do it, s/he just wants it done. Readers rule; so does your boss. Whether you’re indie and do it all, or traditionally published and just getting that next MS ready for an agent or editor when s/he asks for it, you have to edit.

I’ll let both readers and writers off easy. After 19 novels and 3 short story collections, I could write a whole book about editing, all kinds of editing—content and copy editing and proofreading, even if we don’t delve into the details of each one. Editing is a wee bit like that recurring nightmare where, night after night, you fall overboard from a cruise ship and become food for sharks. I do so much of it that I edit those streaming news tickers on newscasts, restaurant menus (I tend to avoid Chinese and Thai menus—can’t blame them really because English is so weird), and spoken speech on movie soundtracks. I catch many errors now, but here I’ll just talk about apostrophes. You’ll see the reason for the title of this post in a moment.

Guides to the proper use of apostrophes are legion, and most differ. Writers should pick one and be consistent about using it, at least throughout a novel. (That’s a meta-law about editing, by the way: be consistent!) What guide do I use? Not one recommended by writing gurus! As much as I criticize the NY Times, I use The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. They make their own rules for “All the news that’s fit to print.” I follow their rules because I think journalism is the best thing to study if you’re going to become a writer (OK, that’s a stupid reason)—if you feel that you need to study something specific.

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Your Past Will Find You

Copyright 2016, Steven M. Moore

Part Three

A knock on the kitchen door jerked Rena awake.  The half-filled coffee mug went flying.  She grabbed the gun.

“Rena, you in there?  I wanted to thank you for sending Gadfly’s papers.”

Will Richardson!  Or Richard Wills?  She put the gun on the table.  “Just a minute.”

She hurriedly collected the shards of the coffee cup, wiped up the spill with a paper towel, and trashed it all.  When she opened the door, she realized she was hanging out of her robe a bit.

“Sorry,” she said, covering up.

“That’s certainly one of the nicest good mornings I’ve had.”  She saw him stare at the gun.  “Anything wrong?”

“He said he’s coming for me!  You’ll remember I went to the bank to make a transfer.  Somehow he spotted that and sent me an email to the new email account.  I was afraid that ‘coming for me’ meant he’s already here and on his way.”

“You’re trembling.  I think it’s time to go see Sheriff Jolly.  You should tell him about this.”

She went to the table, sat, and hugged herself.  “I don’t know.  Everyone will start talking.  The stalker will only have to walk into Big Mike’s, have a coffee, and listen to the gossip.”

Will smiled.  “That’s a pretty good description of Big Mike’s ambiance.  It’s like that old TV show.  Everyone knows your name.”

“Do they know yours?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you Richard Wills, ex-NYPD detective?”

He took a seat at the table and frowned.  “The wallet.  I forgot it was in that file box.  I didn’t really have any other place to put it, though.  Mama Dora often straightens things up in my room.  I’m neat, but she’s obsessive.  It’s not nice to snoop, you know.  I only wanted the papers.”

“I know.  Mea culpa.  But you didn’t answer my question.”

“It’s a long story, but here’s the summary: I put the mob’s hitman into the car in my place.  I made it look like I was a victim and ran for my life.  Not only did I kill one of theirs, but I made them look like cop murderers.  My life wasn’t worth a dime.  Still isn’t if they find me.”

“Why were they after you in the first place?”

“I was in narcotics working undercover.  I cost them a lot of profits when I told my buddies about a warehouse with hundreds of pounds of heroin ready to hit the streets.”

“So it was payback?  And NYPD wouldn’t back you up?”

“They would have gone through the motions, but that kind of grudge is held a long time.”

“I’m glad you told me.  I won’t say a word.  You’re still Will Richardson.”

He smiled.  “OK.  Now let’s see that email.”

***

“I hate to learn this reason for you coming to our little town, Ms. Edmunds,” said Sheriff Jolly, tapping the copies of the emails.  Rena had explained why she had fled New York and come west.  He had read the emails.  “I can increase patrol frequency out by you, but there’s not much else I can do.”

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The Innocents. Anne Fontaine, dir. This is one of those movies where you see the worst in humanity and also the best. It has violence, but it’s mostly a noir history of women as victims of men inspired by Red Cross doctor Madeleine Pauliac’s war memories.

A young female French intern Mathilde (Lou de Laâge), working with the Red Cross in Poland in December 1945 as World War Two is drawing to a close, is asked to help deliver some babies in a convent. It turns out the Nazis went through there three times raping the nuns. Many struggle even to accept the doctor’s help, who has promised not to divulge their secret. The Mother Superior takes the newborns and…well, that’s her secret. The French woman’s boss Samuel, who’s also Mathilde’s lover (workplace romances are always trouble) ends up helping too.

Samuel has the best two lines in the movie when he meets the Mother Superior for the first time: “Yes, I’m Jewish. There are still some of us left.” (This isn’t from the subtitle—by this point I was remembering a lot of my French.) The actors don’t have many notable lines, though, because so much is said via facial expressions and other body language, where they give some understated but masterful performances. Watch for the Mother Superior’s confession at the end, though, although her face telegraphs the words too.

There are graphic scenes in the French field ER and during the births at the convent—not for the squeamish. The languages are French and Polish with good subtitles (first time I’ve seen the subtitlist recognized, but this is a European film). This movie should do well in the foreign film categories—it’s dark and broodin and much better than your average summer fare. It definitely leaves a lasting impression.

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The “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries” are on sale. Mary Jo is inviting you to celebrate with her for leaving Amazon exclusivity and appearing on Smashwords too. She’s an ex-USN Master-at-Arms who manages to get into a lot of trouble as a civilian; she also manages to beat the odds and survive, though. Muddlin’ Through (Smashwords coupon code KY27A) is an international thriller where she works to clear her name and pay back the group that framed her. In the process, she discovers the MECHs, Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans, and romance as she runs around the U.S., South American, and Europe. Silicon Slummin’…and Just Gettin’ By (Smashwords coupon code VT64E) takes place almost exclusively in the Silicon Valley where she has two government groups pursuing her, one U.S., the other Russian. She also has a stalker on a revenge mission. Both books, normally $2.99, are $0.99 on Smashwords, using the coupon codes, until August 1—lots of entertaining summer reading for $2!

In libris libertas!

[Don’t miss the movie review that follows.]

America becomes a greater nation, a stronger nation, when we stand together as one people and in a very loud and clear voice, we say “no” to all forms of racism and bigotry.—Bernie Sanders

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The “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries” are on sale. Mary Jo is inviting you to celebrate with her for leaving Amazon exclusivity and appearing on Smashwords too. She’s an ex-USN Master-at-Arms who manages to get into a lot of trouble as a civilian; she also manages to beat the odds and survive, though. Muddlin’ Through (Smashwords coupon code KY27A) is an international thriller where she works to clear her name and pay back the group that framed her. In the process, she discovers the MECHs, Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans, and romance as she runs around the U.S., South American, and Europe. Silicon Slummin’…and Just Gettin’ By (Smashwords coupon code VT64E) takes place almost exclusively in the Silicon Valley where she has two government groups pursuing her, one U.S., the other Russian. She also has a stalker on a revenge mission. Both books, normally $2.99, are $0.99 on Smashwords, using the coupon codes, until August 1—lots of entertaining summer reading for $2!

In libris libertas!

“Summertime, and the livin’ is easy….” Less happening too for my newsletter. Gershwin’s classic song is hardly appropriate for modern lifestyles, though. Many people are heading off to vacation. Those can be hectic—the vacations, not the people (although people tend to live hectic lives these days, which is why they need vacations). The best vacation I can imagine? Sitting under a shade tree or under an umbrella on the beach or in a Paris café on the Left Bank reading a good book. Some people flock to theme parks where kids can ride crazy rides and puke up their hot dogs afterwards. Not my idea of fun. Been there; done that. Take my advice: pick a vacation away from the chaos in your life and get some quiet R&R.

Sure, visit Mother Nature (scenery, not Johnny peeing on your shoe) in our wonderful national parks; take a cruise; tour Civil War battlegrounds; visit Monet’s home outside of Paris; whatever…and wherever you can find some peace and quiet. And take some books along. (OK, all hard to do if you have small kids, but if they’re older, dump them in the amusement park and do your own thing. Or leave them with their grandparents. They’re always on vacation and are supposed to love their grandkids, right?)

Now that all parents are mad at me…. Kids too, I suppose, if they read this blog (it’s basically PG-13, with the exception of some short stories that are still less risqué than TV’s cable channels). Parents, what’s the best thing you can do for your children? Start them reading. It’s not easy to do today with all the passive distractions kids (and adults!) have, not to mention hectic lifestyles (softball, soccer, and hockey games, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, hang-gliding, and whatever for the kids with the parents carting them around while living on their cell phones because the boss expects you to be there for him 24/7) but language and the written word are important because they define us as human beings—losing them means losing our humanity.

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Authors have many choices these days, but the end result is always the same: if you want readership, you have to (1) let people know you write books and (2) promote individual ones wherever you can. With notable exceptions, you won’t win the lottery, rise to prominence, and receive fantastic marketing like Higgins Clark, Patterson, Grafton, King, and other old mares and stallions in the Big Five’s stables. Big publishers only bet on sure horses as far as PR and marketing money goes. The majority of indie or traditionally published writers need to push their books out to readers—no one will do it for them.

Given this current state of affairs in the publishing world, most fiction writers have a lot in common JUST BEFORE AND AFTER their books are published. They are all looking to win that lottery, a bestseller, by whatever definition you want to give (selling 10,000 copies of a book? A million? Appearing in the NY Times book review?). IT IS A LOTTERY, no matter how much you wish it to be or delude yourself in thinking otherwise, and it obeys the familiar rule: you can’t win if you don’t play. In that sense, buying that lottery ticket or tickets is where the hard work lies, no matter how you publish. But this post isn’t about what happens after a book is published. It’s about rethinking traditional publishing and its one unique advantage which is a tremendous disadvantage in the indie world.

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