The Red and the Blue. Steve Kornacki, author (ECCO-Harper Collins, 2018). This book’s subtitle is a useful addition: The 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism. For those not yet born during that time (millennials, for example), it’s a must read if only to see that the current craziness isn’t just some kind of spontaneously generated creature spawned in the rotting vegetation of DC’s political swamps. The thesis here is that Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich created America’s bitter political divide.

There were no team colors for that divide until the 2000 election when NBC chose blue for Democrats and red for Republicans. and other networks followed their lead, in that Bush v. Gore debacle that ended with SCOTUS choosing to saddle the US with a nice fellow but incompetent dynasty member for president (our current political chaos seems tame and Dubya seems harmless in comparison to who we now have as POTUS, especially if you ignore Cheney and Rumsfeld who were really running the George Bush show). This book ends with that election. How the Clinton v. Gingrich confrontations led to that is clearly laid out in this history of an important decade in America.

While reading this book, one might be tempted to compare Bill Clinton and Donald Trump in the harsh spotlight of today’s nasty politics. Neither Clinton nor Gingrich were angels in any sense of the word. Yet, if their struggles gave rise to our current situation, Trump and Pelosi play similar roles. If we focus on the presidents in the first story and its sequel, though—perhaps the more important comparison—Clinton comes off better than Trump.

They both looked inward more than outward. For example, Clinton failed miserably in going after al Qaeda after the first attack on the World Trade Center (the book doesn’t even mention this); and Trump’s ineptitude in foreign policy knows no bounds. (What does Putin have on him that makes him say he believes that Russian monster more than his own intelligence community? Is it all just about business, i.e. the Trump Tower in Moscow?).

But I prefer to focus on morality. Here’s something the author quotes from Tom Delay: “…it is much more damaging that this president [Clinton] looked the American people in the eye and knowingly lied to us.” He was lying about Monica Lewinsky. Fast forward to the Trump administration. The Washington Post keeps a running list of all Trump’s lies—thousands of them and counting. And how do the porn star and Playboy bunny compare to Monica Lewinsky? The latter was an affair between two consenting adults; the former—well, maybe we should let Melania say what they represent? So far she’s followed Hillary’s lead in avoiding the issue, hopefully not as far as running for president one day (step-daughter Ivanka seems to have that aspiration). Isn’t politics wonderful?

Read the rest of this entry »

These are two extremes. Plagiarism has a legal definition that’s changed over time, and the crime has been punished at different levels. But it’s at one end of a linear spectrum with inspiration at the other. Authors are often inspired by other authors and their books, but actually copying their prose seems infrequent.

But consider the case of Daniel Mallory (pseudonym A. J. Finn), the fellow who wrote the bestseller The Woman in the Window. The plot has similarities with Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, and Hitchcock’s Rear Window (apparently Mr. Mallory is a fan of Hitchcock). Calling these similarities plagiarism is probably extreme, and calling those creative works inspiration for the author more appropriate.

But there are other ramifications to this case that might make one pause. Mr. Mallory is addicted to lying. He lied about having brain cancer, and he lied about having a PhD from Oxford. But did he plagiarize? I haven’t read his book (I read the New Yorker article, though), and I’m no lawyer, but I doubt it.

Plagiarism occurs so infrequently among writers that it often become a scandal when it does. I pay attention to it because of my interest in scientific ethics, a similar concern. From my own experiences, I can state that creative activity in the arts and sciences is similar—there’s pressure on creatives to succeed, and some succumb to the temptation of plagiarizing others thoughts or “adjusting” data to prove a scientific theory.

This occurs at all levels. In high school, I saw students copy sections out of reference works and magazines to make a report—in those days, a teacher didn’t have software to detect plagiarism. I also saw students fudge data on their lab reports (I was in the track called “college prep,” and the pressure was intense).

One can argue that none of that amounted to much, but I often wondered if students doing it might do worse things as adults. Doctors fudging results on prescription drug trials, for example, because the new drug is made by a company sponsoring some of the doctors’ research. In general, researchers who fudge data can mislead other researchers into culs de sac, and that can have negative repercussions that, in the worse case, might harm people.

So back to writing. I’ve been inspired by other works. What writer hasn’t? The safe haven in Christopher’s No Blade of Grass inspired me to use Yosemite Valley as one in my new book The Last Humans. Both of these books are post-apocalyptic. I certainly didn’t plagiarize Christopher (I don’t even have a copy of his book, although I’ve been looking for one in used book stores for years). Christopher’s book also inspired my No Amber Waves of Grain in a sense, because long ago when I read No Blade of Grass (high school or earlier?), I wondered about what caused Christopher’s apocalypse and whether people could have stopped it. (Yeah, I kept those plot ideas around for a long time.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Cold Pursuit. Hans Peter Moland, dir. Based on Hans’s Swedish film, this version channels the movies No Country for Old Men and Kill Bill—brutal violence plus black humor. Liam Neeson plays Nels Coxman, a snowplow driver who wins a “Man of the Year” award in a Colorado ski town. His son is killed by a drug lord.

Neeson’s promo efforts for this film led to the discussion of revenge that has created a lot of polemic in social media: Coxman looks for his son’s killer, and Neeson linked this to some events in his early life. That will be a distraction and probably hurt this otherwise good movie, which is a shame for the director and other actors who had nothing to do with the actor’s comments. (I refuse to take sides here. Readers of this blog can work it out for themselves.)

The black humor comes in many shapes and forms. One of the best moments comes when a bunch of Native American tough guys are told by a hotel clerk they need a reservation. Another comes when the main villain’s ex grabs him by the—OK, this blog is PG-13, but you get the idea.

There’s an accounting of the violence as the screen lists the demise of the bad guys with a cross, their names, and their nicknames. (Those nicknames are part of the black humor too. Watch for them.)

This isn’t a great movie, but it’s entertaining. My only other choice was that second Lego movie. I’m a fan of animation, but really! Legos?

In addition to all the polemic about Neeson’s talk of revenge on the talk shows, people might shy away from this because of the winter scenes. This winter’s been bad! Then again, what else can you do on a 25-degree Saturday when you want to take your wife out for a movie and dinner. You certainly don’t go to a Lego movie! People might also shy away from this one because of the violence. It’s extreme, but no more so than The Bourne Identity, Star Wars, or even some animated features.

Just don’t boycott this because of what Neeson said on talk shows. You’ll be missing a good movie and doing a disservice to the other good actors. Their list even has Laura Dern, that lady from Jurassic Park! She’s only involved in the violence indirectly. And Tom Jackson was excellent as the Native American chief/drug lord known as White Bull—his son is also killed by the same drug-dealing group that killed Coxman’s son, so, in a crazy way, he’s one of the good guys!

***

Comments are always welcome.

The Last Humans. Although this novel mostly takes place in deserted and desert-like ruins of SoCal, there’s one winter scene here too. This post-apocalyptic thriller begins near Malibu with Penny Castro on a forensic dive for the LA County Sheriff’s Office. When she surfaces, all her fellow deputies are dead from a bioengineered plague. Her main goal becomes survival in a world gone mad. In the process, she acquires a family of other survivors and must defend them all against starvation, attacks by feral humans, and a government out for revenge against those who launched the bioweapon attack. Coming in March from Black Opal Books! And please check out the Black Opal Books catalog—lot’s of good reading there. There’s an ebook sale going on for a limited time.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

Writers often worry about them: how many words did I write today? How many books did I sell this month? How many reviews have my books received? Even, how many “likes” or retweets did I get on Twitter?

Science is all about numbers, and business now emphasizes them too. In a sense, econ 101 for publishing doesn’t differ from econ 101 in general. Metrics! Everything is about metrics these days.

I contend that this focus on numbers is antithetical to good writing. We writers shouldn’t worry about numbers, especially fiction writers. We should just tell our stories and be done with it. But can we do that?

Consider word count. Do you have a plot or character idea and just start writing? Or do you fret about writing at least a certain number of words each day? The number of words doesn’t matter. What you’re writing will either turn into a short story, novella, or novel. That word count is a metric to be used in the end game to decide which, so how many words you write each day is irrelevant. (I only keep word count in mind for blog posts, aiming for about 500, but I don’t fret much if I go over that.)

How many books you sell is another metric, but the more important one is: How many readers have you entertained with your fiction? That’s hard if not impossible to measure (do we count all those pirated books and readers sharing our books with family and friends, an acceptable type of pirating?). I just measure success for a book by saying if each one entertains at least one reader, it’s a success.

I have the luxury of doing so because I don’t have to make a living writing. I love to spin a good yarn, and I strive to make each one exciting and entertaining, but I know the chances that readers even know it exists are small (that’s another metric we don’t have access to). If you’re starting out, I don’t recommend that you think you’ll become rich with your writing—not financially, anyway. And, if you don’t think writing is its own reward, I wonder why you’re doing it!

Read the rest of this entry »

[Note from Steve: While these reviews are often lengthier than what you’ll find on Amazon, they’re shorter than those I’ve written for Bookpleasures or archived in the “Book Reviews” category of this blog, so please also refer there for reviews of books you might want to read.]

Pure Gold. Theodore P. Durch, author. (Black Opal Books, 2018.) Joe Gold is an ex-cop turned PI. Here the reader can follow three successive cases as he morphs from a deadbeat to a famous PI, accompanied by Jenny, a Della Street for his Perry Mason (or pick your own PI/platonic-or-not-so-much-girlfriend combo). These three hard-boiled stories are novellas in a sense, but they really form parts of a novel that is both in the hard-boiled tradition and entertaining for mystery and crime enthusiasts.

In the first case, Gold’s ex-squeeze is murdered—she make the mayor a widower, but Gold thinks the mayor’s involved—and his daughter with that ex is kidnapped. The mayor hires Gold to find the daughter. Plenty of interesting twists here.

Satanical rites almost make Gold’s second case into a paranormal mystery. Insane fanaticism is the general theme. Hard-boiled creepiness, let’s say. Gold’s cop friend and mentor when Gold was on the force begins to play a more important role.

Cases #1 and #2 establish the PI’s rep, but he’s still a johnny-do-good who takes on a case where Jenny’s cousin says someone’s trying to murder him. His demise confirms those suspicions. The cousin is a physicist (as an ex-physicist I can relate to this story!), and the internet (invented by physicists!) plays a role. Lots of surprises, and the media steps forward now that Gold is famous.

I grew up reading hard-boiled mysteries and crime stories and sci-fi that was also hard-boiled in style (ever read Asimov’s Caves of Steel or The Naked Sun?). Given that background, readers of this blog can understand why I thoroughly enjoyed this book. You will too, if you’re a fan of mystery and crime stories.

Get 1000 Readers for Your Self-Published Book. X, author. Like many authors, I’m always looking for new ways to reach out to readers and let them know about my books. It has nothing to do with whether a book is self-published or traditionally published because both forms require marketing efforts by the authors (unless they’re someone like Stephen King).

Guess what? Authors will rarely find these new ways in the many books written on the subject. Writers of these marketing books claim to offer great ideas—“Just use my methods to make your book a success!” (some of these books cost $10 or more!)—but they don’t, only repeats, so don’t waste your time or money. (If you’re a newbie to book marketing, just get Mark Coker’s Book Marketing Guide and/or Penny Sansevieri’s 52 Ways to Sell More Books—last time I looked, they’re free on Amazon! You can also download my free PDF “Writing Fiction” that also contains marketing advice—see the “Free Stuff & Contest” web page at this website.)

This book is also the right price—it’s free, so I downloaded it. But it’s a complete waste. Don’t spend your time downloading it! I didn’t even include the author’s name or link to the book for this reason—he should be embarrassed, and I’m not giving him any free name recognition. [Spoiler Alert] What’s his ONE special secret for book marketing success? Write something of value. Duh! The laugh is on this joker, though: he violated his own principle! This marketing book has no value, price-wise or content-wise. And Amazon should be ashamed of themselves for publishing it!

***

Comments are always welcome!

“The Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series.” I never write about all the detectives’ cases because many Castilblanco tells me about are very procedural, but the ones in this series of hard-boiled mystery/thriller novels are more interesting for their characters, themes, action, and settings. For the latter, most start in NYC but some become national and international. And almost all of them are still current, if not more so than when they were written, and can be read in any order. Subscribers to my email newsletter have access to a Smashwords sale, but all readers will find the ebooks reasonably priced and available on Amazon, Smashwords, and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc).

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

What do Melville, Orwell, Hemingway, Clancy, and Rowling have in common? You’re correct if you say they’re well known authors. But they’ve also been rejected by agents and publishers. Most of our lives are filled with good and bad events. Some of the latter correspond to rejection. For an author, rejections are especially painful.

According the NY Times, Melville was asked, “Does it have to be a whale?” Orwell’s essay on British cooking was rejected because someone didn’t like his recipe for orange marmalade. Hemingway was told his writing was “tedious and offensive.” Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Clancy’s Hunt for Red October were almost never published.

Authors have to live with rejection, of course. Even self-published authors are rejected by readers, and traditionally published authors have to run the gantlets created by agents and acquisitions editors even before their books reach readers. We must be thick-skinned about it.

Among my 1000+ rejections during the first years of this millennia—I’m counting both agents and acquisitions editors—I received the ubiquitous “Sorry, not for me” in many form emails where I probably outdid the X-Files’ “Cancer-Stick Man” (I’d stopped smoking long ago, though), yet I continued to write my stories. My old English professor at UCSB, Pulitzer Prize winner N. Scott Momaday, once said, “I simply kept my goal in mind and persisted.  Perseverance is a large part of writing.” That’s what I did. I experimented with self-publishing—first POD and then ebooks—and then added in some traditional publishing too, making myself into a mongrel. My thick skin is a bit pocked now, but I forge ahead.

Besides the form rejections, I had agents sit on manuscripts for months, only to say, “Sorry, not for me.” Sometimes their rejections were more complicated: “While your novel has promise, we have too much of a backlog right now.” One agent proved she didn’t understand that world building is essential narrative for sci-fi, saying, “There’s too much narrative in this manuscript.” (She sat on the manuscript for around six months.) Honestly, there were times I thought of throwing in the towel, but Momaday’s advice always lifted me up to try again.

Authors have to grin and bear rejections. They also have to recognize that reading tastes are subjective. This holds for agents and acquisitions editors as well as readers who do not work in the book business. For traditional publishing, a rejection is often just an expression of the book professionals’ tastes. They claim that their decision is based on marketability, but that’s often just used as an excuse for justifying their tastes. The famous cases I’ve mentioned show book professionals have no special talents they can use to predict a book’s success, i.e. its marketability. The other famous cases, and maybe all of them, also show they don’t know much about literary excellence.

There’s one other thing those famous writers have in common: they’re fiction writers. That’s also where many book professionals fail. They often can’t recognize good storytelling because they’ve rarely written a good story! Fortunately, there are many exceptions so that I have enough good books to read, but I always wonder about the good ones that didn’t make the cut.

Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone! It’s the day lovers celebrate…maybe book lovers? Enjoy it!

***

Writers should never stop experimenting. I don’t mean silliness like writing a crime story in reverse (Deaver) or a mystery where the ending comes first (Garcia Marquez). Or a horror story containing a monstrous clown who eats people (King)—OK, maybe that was fresh and new at the time, and played off on some people’s clown phobias. No, I just mean telling a story in a new way with new characters or old ones in new situations.

The opposite of experimentation is to put yourself in a rut: You’re enamored with one of your stories, so you write more like them. Writers of series often fall into that trap (it often seemed that Grafton just copied and pasted sections in going from A to whatever letter she ended on, but maybe I shouldn’t knock success?). Sometimes that’s no fault of the author; the publisher wants more books just like that first one, especially if that first one is successful.

Sci-fi might be the one genre where experimentation is essential. I might have shocked some readers with the experimental sex scenes in Rogue Planet, for example, but who knows how sexual mores will change in the future? And it’s all tame compared to Heinlein’s Friday and some of his other books, for example. (The old master became quite ribald in his later years.)

If space is the last frontier, sci-fi goes beyond that frontier and provides infinite possibilities for experimentation. But mysteries and thrillers also allow that; we just have to work a bit harder. For mysteries, how many ways can I kill a person? For thrillers, how many conspiracies can I create?

Aristocrats and Assassins was another experiment, for example. When I had the initial idea long ago and much later started the story, I thought I might be in legal trouble—most of the aristocrats are real ones! Outside of writing mode, I studied that legal problem a bit. It turns out that if we don’t say anything bad about persons, we can put them in our books. (The aristocrats in my book do some really great things.) I remembered that Clancy did that with Prince Charlie (Patriot Games), so I felt safe. That whole book was an experiment. Maybe some readers don’t think so, but I liked the result—Aristocrats and Assassins is my favorite Chen and Castilblanco book. (By the way, Bastiann van Coevorden from Rembrandt’s Angel first appears there in a cameo.)

Every Chen and Castilblanco book is an experiment, of course. They all start with a murder—the two cops are homicide detectives, after all. But I cheat: I don’t write about their boring and routine cases! I create new ones, experiments that often leave the NYC area to go national or even international, like Aristocrats and Assassins (that tale begins with Castilblanco and his wife on vacation in Europe—no NYC at all). Angels Need Not Apply is another example of that.

Is this the way to write a series? Maybe not for you, but it worked for me. Better still, as a reader, it seems to work for the fiction authors I read the most. They experiment, even within their series. Consider Clancy’s oeuvre. Every Jack Ryan book is an experiment, a refreshing, new story that entertained many people (Red Storm Rising is an exception). He might not have been a great writer, but he was an entertaining one because he experimented. Same for Heinlein. Every book in Asimov’s Foundation trilogy is also an experiment.

The desire for experimentation might cause writer’s block, I suppose. If a writer has fallen into a rut, it’s hard to come up with something new and bold. It’s probably advisable to avoid those ruts. Publishers don’t often understand that; authors should.

So, readers, enjoy all the experiments in writing out there—they will keep you reading. And writers, sit down and write some experiments. Your readers will thank you.

***

Comments are always welcome!

The Last Humans. Ex-USN and LA County Sheriff’s diver Penny Castro surfaces from a forensic dive and finds the apocalypse. Can she survive the post-apocalypse? Follow Penny’s adventures as she creates a new family and then strives to protect them. This post-apocalyptic thriller is coming soon from Black Opal Books! A sequel is already in the works. (By the way, check out the Black Opal catalog. Lots of good reading there.)

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

The roller coaster. I don’t know about where you are, but here in Montclair, NJ, we had three days of subfreezing weather, a few days like spring, and then back to winter—up and down we went, confusing all the flora and fauna and making people sick. Mother Earth seems fickle some times, so be careful, everyone. Extreme weather conditions aren’t to be trifled with.

Hemingway and Orwell. According to an article in today’s NY Times, they had works rejected by agents or publishers. Melville was asked, “Does it have to be a whale?” I’d add Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling to the list of many thousands of authors who have had to face rejection. Readers might be oblivious to this part of the publishing business, but writers just have to shake it off and go on, especially fiction writers (all the authors named were storytellers).

It’s a tough publishing world nowadays. Readers, please support the authors who provide you with good stories. And, when you’re done reading a book, write a review. It doesn’t have to be an MFA thesis. Just say what you liked or didn’t like and why. That helps other readers; it also helps that author.

Ebook sales. From now on, they’re only offered to my email newsletter subscribers, and they’re all on Smashwords. Right now the entire “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” (7 novels) is on sale for $0.99 each. If you’re not a subscriber, sign up using my contact page. Subscribers can share the sales info with family and friends, of course, but you’ll only have access to the required Smashwords sales codes by subscribing. And, for those who don’t want to subscribe, you can still take advantage of my low ebook prices.

Posts for writers. I’ve been publishing my stories for more than ten years (my first book Full Medical appeared in 2006–there’s now an ebook second edition). It’s natural that I have opinions about writing and publishing, some of them unusual. You’ll find them archived in the blog category “Writing.” There’s also a short course in PDF format you can download for free—see my website’s “Free Stuff & Contests” web page.

ITW. That’s International Thriller Writers. I’ve just received the honor of being accepted into this authors’ group. As you know, I write mysteries, thrillers, and sci-fi, but even the sci-fi stories have thriller elements. What does this mean for you? Probably not much, but I still feel honored.

The Last Humans. I’m in final edits for this post-apocalyptic thriller soon to be published by Black Opal Books. Ex-USN and LA County Sheriff’s diver Penny Castro surfaces from a dive and finds the apocalypse. Can she survive the post-apocalypse? A sequel is already in the works. (By the way, check out the Black Opal catalog. Lots of good reading there.)

Son of Thunder. Penmore Press will publish this sequel to Rembrandt’s Angel. Ex-Scotland Yard Inspector Esther Brookstone and Interpol agent Bastiann van Coevorden meet Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli and Christ’s disciple St. John the Divine—and there’s no time travel! Also, Esther and Bastiann’s romance continues. (The Penmore catalog also has lots of good reading. Check it out.)

***

Comments are always welcome.

“ABC Sci-Fi Mysteries.” These are books for young adults and older ones who are young at heart. The Secret Lab and The Secret of the Urns, written by A. B. Carolan, take place in my sci-fi universe. The first follows the adventures of Shashibala Garcia and the Fearsome Four kids as they try to discover the origins of a mutant cat on the International Space Station in the future (the cat “writes” the story!). That leads them into a lot more trouble. The second tale follows the adventures of Asako Kobayashi as she tries to become the first scientist who studies the ETs who live on a satellite of a Jovian-style planet. In the process, she must battle human hatred, bigotry, and greed. Both books are available in ebook and print format on Amazon, and ebook format on Smashwords and all its affiliated retailers. And watch for a third book in this series—coming soon!

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

Previously I’ve avoided them, putting them in the same class as contests. Most authors don’t have much money to spend, and most orgs and contests cost money! Besides, I’ve had an APS professional membership for years, and at least that membership includes Physics Today, a glossy pop-sci ‘zine that’s loaded with all sorts of science and technology info (name me one author org with a ‘zine like that!). (By the way, that ‘zine and Science News provides a lot of background material for my sci-fi oeuvre.) And forget Authors Guild that’s no union for authors–it’s just a front for the Big Five and its authors pretending to be a service organization.

All that said, I’ve now joined ITW, short for International Thriller Writers. Unlike other author orgs (and APS), ITW doesn’t charge any dues (they charge plenty for their events, though). As a result, I didn’t expect much from them—like the American Kennel Club, many of their members will look down on mongrels like me, an author who self- and traditionally publishes. No matter, I’m proud to be a mongrel, and I will have access to a lot of freebies where I might find some new ideas for marketing my books and so forth…as well as meet a few other mongrels…or authors in general?

Frankly, I have no idea why they accepted me. My new post-apocalyptic thriller The Last Humans is due out this year from Black Opal Books (we’re in final edits); hopefully Son of Thunder, the sequel to Rembrandt’s Angel, will be available this year too. Or maybe they actually paid attention to all my mysteries and thrillers (most of my sci-fi stories even have thriller elements). Who knows?

In any case, I’m honored. I’ve been reading thrillers all my life (decades ago, they were called “adventures”—the term “thriller” is relatively recent), so it’s an honor to be in the same org as Baldacci, Child, Deaver, and so forth. I’m torn, though. One part of me says that I’ll be a lost soul like Ed Norton in the Raccoons Club; another part says that I should make the most of the honor and enjoy what ITW has to offer. But does such an org really help authors?

I decided it was best to look at this honor philosophically. In life, I’ve learned that you have to take advantage of what life offers. ITW will be painless—no dues—and a possible source for improving my writing life. (They also have a free newsletter The Big Thrill where members can hawk their books, among other things, but frankly trying to sell books to other authors doesn’t work too well—writers need to do that with readers, who are the ones who buy the books for the most part.)

I live close to NYC, the publishing capital of the world (ITW’s words—both my small press publishers are out west, though, and many publishers are not in NYC), so I can go to their events by train or by bus (if one of my books takes off so I can afford the events). Maybe my membership will validate me in the eyes of some readers too. Writers need recognition and validation—my bar is set low and comes from at least one reader being entertained by one of my books, so I’m not too concerned about ITW’s.

Author orgs can complement critique groups if an author is into that sort of thing. ITW might be the biggest critique group ever! Who knows? You can bet I’ll explore all the possibilities associated with my new ITW membership in any case. There must be something ITW offers that I can use, right? The answer to that question is postponed for now.

If you’re a reader, do you care about author orgs? Do you pay attention to “International Thriller Writers Member” listed by an author’s name? If you’re a writer, do you feel the need to belong to an author org? Being new at this, I’d like to put my membership in context, so let me know. I’ll still always take my membership in ITW as an honor, of course.

***

Comments are always welcome.

The Last Humans. Ex-USN and LA County Sheriff’s diver Penny Castro surfaces from a forensic dive and finds the apocalypse. Can she survive the post-apocalypse? Follow Penny’s adventures as she creates a new family and then strives to protect them. This post-apocalyptic thriller is coming soon from Black Opal Books! A sequel is already in the works. (By the way, check out the Black Opal Books catalog. Lots of good reading there.)

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

Many of us start our work day with coffee. Let’s forget about whether there are any health positives or negatives for doing so. Everything in moderation, yada yada yada, makes it a harmless addiction with mental benefits—that jolt of caffeine is a pleasant way to jumpstart our brains.

Of course, there’s coffee and then there’s great coffee. I’ve waged war against Starbucks coffee in these pages because their coffee is mediocre at best and tastes like burnt toast at worst. (Go ahead and sue me, Starbucks. The adage “any publicity is good publicity” applies, and it might be bad publicity for the ex-CEO who’s out to ruin Dem chances in 2020, a gift for “he who shall not be named”). Dunkin’s tastes like dirty water. (A personal opinion, just like my opinion about Starbucks coffee, but honest opinions are often attacked in litigious America. You can’t post a negative review of a business establishment anymore. And forget about writing one about  a doctor who leaves a surgical instrument inside you.)

Our local Montclair diner (where Mikie Sherrill breakfasted on election day) serves a decent cup o’ joe. Good restaurants often do the same (my qualifier “good” depends on that, of course). I prefer the coffee I make at home, though—always good Colombian Arabica roasted just enough to pop out that rich flavor during the brew, and not too much to make it burnt-toast-flavored slop. I don’t drink that much (everything in moderation, yada yada yada)—just two mugs in the morning with a few additional smaller cups if we go out (decaf if it’s late).

I had the wonderful and interesting experience of teaching and doing research in Colombia for many years. The Colombians always told me they exported their best coffee. Didn’t seem like it. Maybe just jerkin’ this gringo’s chain? The coffee there was always good, and that tinto was served everywhere—you couldn’t talk business with anyone unless you started with tintos served in those dainty little cups, smaller than our coffee cups but bigger than espresso cups. (The word tinto is used for coffee in Colombia, not wine. For the latter, one must be more explicit and use vino tinto or vino rojo.)

Read the rest of this entry »