You Know I’m Watching

A “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” Homicide Case

Copyright 2018, Steven M. Moore

Chapter Three

I had some luck at the little coffee shack near Sharon Hill’s workplace. Old guy there named Joseph had a drooping gray mustache and thick eyebrows—maybe the owner?—and he knew the vic as a frequent customer.

“Came in on her way to work most days,” he said. “I’m not always here. Kerri, Ralph, and I rotate shifts, but two of us try to overlap in the morning and at lunch time.”

Kerri’s pic showed me she was a happy, gray-haired woman who needed some dental work. Ralph was much younger than Kerri and Joe—maybe thirty—so I used my special NYPD apps to see if we had info on him. Not ex-military, but ex-cop—better said, an Academy washout who never graduated to patrol duty. Not a bad thing in itself. A lot of wannabe cops don’t make it for many reasons. His reason sent off a mental alarm: he’d harassed a female cadet.

Called Chen.

***

Met my partner at the intersection closest to the coffee house about twenty minutes later. I’d spent the interim time window shopping for a Mother’s Day gift for Pam from the kids and me. No luck there, but I’m a terrible shopper. Seemed like we should graduate beyond the usual breakfast in bed for Mom with lots of hugs, though.

Showed Chen Ralph’s record.

“There’s a lot between harassment and murder,” she said, handing my smart phone back to me. “But you like Ralph for the crime?”

“Knows guns.”

“What about the other two employees?”

“Joe’s the grandfatherly type. Kerri’s the grandmotherly type. Not bright blips on my radar screen right now.”

“Let’s see if we can talk to Ralph.”

By the time we reached the coffee bar, there was a closed sign. “That’s weird. I just chatted with Joe.” Knocked and then rattled the door knob. Peered inside. “Maybe he had to go to the bank. We need another source for Ralph’s address.”

Chen whipped out her own phone. “Last address is in the Village. Probably has roommates. He couldn’t afford the rent otherwise.”

We met the manager of the building outside; he was trying to remove some graffiti that decorated the entrance to the building. “That was fast,” he said.

“Excuse me?” I said.

“I just called the police about this. You’ve got to catch these punks. They’re driving me nuts.”

“We’re not here for that,” said Chen, showing her creds. I showed mine too. “We want to talk to one of your tenants. Ralph Ericson.”

“Haven’t seen him today. Maybe he’s still sleeping. Try ringing at his apartment.” The manager opened the door for us. “What’s the little weasel done now?”

“We just need to talk to him,” I said. “Thanks. What’s his number?”

“3C. Shares it with three other jerks. I just don’t care anymore, and I know the owner don’t either. Just wants his huge rent payment every month. Can’t have decent families living here anymore, he wants so much.”

Nodded, thanked him again, and then I followed Chen up the stairs. They creaked all the way. There was an elevator sporting a sign that said “In Repair.” There was a bit of garbage piled up against its door. Figured it hadn’t been used in a while. Reminded me of that sitcom in some apartment building near Cal Tech. Who could imagine that physicists were so much fun?

Chen knocked on the door to 3C. We heard a groan. “I’ll get the manager to let us in,” said Chen, turning toward the stairs.

Held up my hand like a traffic cop. “Just cause.” Kicked the door open on the second try.

Ralph Ericson was in bad shape. Saw the bottle of oxycodone with most of its contents spilled out over the cot and floor. Didn’t have my kit with its Naloxone dose; neither did Chen. Called for an ambulance.

(To be continued….)

***

Comments are always welcome.

Teeter-Totter between Lust and Murder. #3 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series,” this mystery/thriller novel starts with Chen accused of a senator’s murder. She was romantically involved with the victim, so her partner knows she couldn’t have committed the crime and goes about proving her innocence. But once again the case expands to one with national repercussions when the detectives find its connection with the illegal arms trade.  Who are the players? And what are their intentions? Answering these questions leads readers to heart-pounding roller coaster ride with a lot of twists and turns in a story that is as current today as when it was written. Available in ebook format on Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s associated retailers (Apple iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc). This ebook is on sale now at Smashwords for $0.99, but only for a week.

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

Some are about the business of writing. Others are about marketing books. Some are actually about writing. Still others are inspirational with posts written by cheerleaders.

I don’t know how to classify mine. A bit of all of the above is offered here. Book and movie reviews. Free fiction. Author interviews. Posts on reading, writing, and the publishing business.  Guest posts are allowed—I’ve had none, maybe because I don’t pay for them? I give my time willingly to run what amounts to a little online newspaper that’s called a writer’s blog. Time I have; money I don’t.

This weekly presence of mine on the worldwide web started over ten years ago with a lot of op-ed articles about current events. I made a 2018 New Year’s resolution to stop spending time on those because they usually needed a lot of research, so everything now has something to do with writing. This blog isn’t unique, but it covers a lot of ground.

Every author should have a blog. Even if authors stick to how-to articles about writing, publishing, and marketing, their blogs add to their brand. And, because every writer is unique, most of their blogs are also unique too. Moreover, they all add to communications between readers and writers if comments are allowed, giving meaning to “Join the Conversation!”

And that’s a sticking point. To make a comment, the wannabe commentator has to hurdle several barriers. The “I am not a robot” tests are ubiquitous and often hard for the visually impaired, and often made more difficult many times because there are tiny pics where you’re supposed to look for something but its description is off the page! Other websites require a login or subscription to a newsletter. I often resist these encumbrances, although I’ve had to subscribe to several unwanted newsletters as a result of this practice.

The reason for the barriers is obvious, of course: spam! There are many types, the worst being for sex toys, ED drugs, and porn. That’s why there are often two barriers for commentators, the “I am not a robot” test and a confirmation via email response from the wannabe commentator. (This also often occurs when one actually wants to subscribe to a newsletter.)

Because I use WordPress in this blog, only patience is required to comment: I have to approve your first comment! After I do so, you become a trusted commentator, but be advised I can zap you if you betray that trust. And be advised that I’m smart enough to figure out, often by the email address, whether the commentator should be trusted. I’m definitely not a robot, and key words a spammer often uses to get by the bots are like red flags waved at a bull in my case.

Authors should add new content to their blogs, at least an article per week. The articles don’t have to be long; use the “more” button (if you have one) for longer articles. Once an author gets the hang of it, it’s easy to come up with something to say once per week. Authors should consider writing blog articles just another writing experience they can enjoy. In other words, it’s not a chore. Best of all, it gives their readers more perspectives beyond the books, a peek into this writing life.

***

Comments are always welcome!

Goin’ the Extra Mile: “My husband Mario sometimes thinks I have a death wish. As I sprawled on the hood of a Honda Accord, left-hand fingers hooked into the windshield gutter and hanging on for dear life, I decided he has a point.” The U.S. made the MECHs, Russia stole them, and now China wants them…and will kidnap Mary Jo Melendez and her family to get them! If you have blood pressure problems, this mystery/thriller novel could be dangerous. Available on Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc). “I was captivated by the end of the first chapter and I couldn’t stop reading.”—Valerie Padrnos in hr Amazon review.

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

Reciprocal Evil. Scott Dyson, author (2018). Horror? Romance? Thriller? Fantasy? The reader will also find lots of very interesting philosophical questions in this novel. The premise of this story might make even a priest shudder, although Dante might have had it right: Hell is real. It exists in another dimension, and you can get there via portals that are usually found in churches. That’s never explained in this book, but it’s an interesting concept.

With the title as clue, the reader can guess that heaven is also real, although it’s not as clear how to get there. The novel’s protagonist Chris Jones has become obsessed with the reciprocals good and evil, heaven and hell, and thinks by studying evil and hell that he can understand good and heaven. But he starts hearing a voice in his head from someone who seems to be reading his thoughts, and the voice is not heavenly.

That’s an introduction to the horror. Romance enters when Chris starts getting serious about Rachel. The thrills start when the voice takes on human form. And the adventures that follow, while pure fantasy, are fantastic with a lot of hidden meaning found between the lines.

There are a few nits to pick: Both Rachel and the cop Chavez seem too accepting of Chris’s story; their internal struggle isn’t realistic enough here. The main characters were well done, although I would have liked to see them more developed because they’re so interesting. There’s certainly room for all this; in other words, the author could do a lot more with this interesting tale.

The author with this short novel channels early Stephen King. The plot is direct, elegant, and horrific. It’s also very original—no killer clowns or slighted wannabe prom goers involved here. While I always say that human beings make their own hells on Earth, this novel describes an interesting alternative. Is it a serious one? Readers will have to make that decision on their own as they enjoy this book.

I can’t write horror stories, so take what few negatives I’ve included in this review with a grain of salt. I enjoyed the story; that’s what counts. And, if I could write horror stories, I’d emulate Scott Dyson who seems to have a knack for spinning a good yarn that will challenge readers and make their skin crawl. I’ll be looking for more novels from this writer.

The author provided a free copy of his book for this review.

***

Comments are welcome!

Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape. I’ve made some attempts at writing horror and fantasy, all short fiction; modesty aside, they’re not bad. You’ll find a few of them in this collection of speculative fiction. Also a sci-fi novella and several Dr. Carlos stories. (A second volume in this series is available as a free PDF download. See the entire list on my “Free Stuff & Contests” web page.)

Around the World and to the Stars! In libris libertas!

Ralph Breaks the Internet is a funny movie about a serious topic. It’s not a movie for little kids, by the way. I’m sure they’ll have no idea what a TED talk is, and young computer users will also have no idea about the many references to general culture, social media, and websites contained in the movie (have they seen King Kong?) Maybe the movie is for computer-savvy young adults from a certain age on to where we find elders who aren’t computer users beyond email and maybe Skyping with family and friends. The mix of real and fake internet companies can be confusing to most of us computer savvy people too. But breaking the internet is a moot point—it’s already broken!

Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t attend an EU meeting about excesses in social media—doesn’t even bother to cancel. Sheryl Sandberg launches a secret campaign against George Soros to investigate his finances—he committed the sin of attacking Facebook. And Facebook has been caught using the information it’s gathered to favor friends and punish enemies.

Google is fined by the EU for a multitude of reasons. Facebook and Twitter put profit over morality by letting real fake news be plastered on everyone’s feeds, including that from the Russians designed to disrupt the U.S. electoral process. Wikileaks releases thousands of emails Russians hacked from DNC servers. At this writing, the RNC is claiming some unknown hacker invaded their databases.

Data mining firms collect information from your social media presence, text messages, and emails, and that list of data mining firms includes big names like Facebook, Google, and Twitter, who also sell your information for profit. In fact, that’s their general business model; all those annoying ads flashing on your screen represent only a small part of their profits.

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[Note from Steve: Today is Pearl Harbor Day. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese fascists attacked the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. entered the war against fascism against the Axis powers. We must never, never give into right-wing fascism, here or abroad. “Nationalist” is just another name for fascist, and autocratic demagogues use that term to justify all kinds of crimes, including ethnic cleansing and genocide. We must always be vigilant!]

You Know I’m Watching

A “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” Homicide Case

Copyright 2018, Steven M. Moore

Chapter Two

At the vic’s workplace, we both interviewed her manager, an older bald man with squinting eyes behind coke-bottle glasses who couldn’t stop wringing his hands. Put a collar on him and he could pass as a priest from my childhood.

“Sharon had no enemies,” said Marvin Dunn. “She was a brilliant, beautiful soul who wouldn’t hurt a fly. She kept to herself, but everyone liked her here.”

“How about outside the office?” said Chen.

“She never talked about her social life. I tried to ask her to lunch once, but she always brought something from home. She seemed to be a true New Yorker, but I know she’s from Nashville. She was always listening to music while she worked, but it wasn’t country music. She liked that classical stuff.”

Wasn’t sure what Marvin meant by “classical stuff,” but he seemed to question Sharon’s musical tastes. “Orchestral or opera?”

“I think it’s called chamber music. There are a lot of free recitals here in the city. I think she attended many of them.”

“That’s a social life. Did she meet someone special at one?”

Marvin frowned. “How would I know that? I just saw some of the programs sitting on her desk at times. I think she keeps them and has a desk drawer full of them.”

Glanced at Chen. She shrugged. “The CSU wouldn’t consider that evidence. There was no sign that she was an aficionado of chamber music in her apartment.” The last was for Mr. Dunn.

I answered but obliquely. “I’ll ask if there were pieces stored on her laptop.”

“That’s likely,” said Marvin. “I told you about the headphones.”

“So she brought her personal laptop to work?”

“The firm purchases laptops and smart phones for employees. She probably wouldn’t spend her own money for others. Many don’t.”

“And you have good security for both?” I said.

“We have a cloud for the accounts and tight security for assessing it, either with a laptop or phone. No company information can be stored on personal devices.” He smiled. “I assume that rule is often broken, but all our people are security conscious.”

We left our cards with Marvin and split up the list of the other employees, talking to them one by one. They were all sad to hear about the murder and nervous about talking to cops, but on gut instinct I didn’t like any of them for the crime. You never know, of course.

All of them were present and accounted for. Of course, the murder hadn’t occurred during normal work hours, so we still had to check out their stories.

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About the time I published my first novel Full Medical (2006—now with a second edition in ebook format), I created this website. It was an expensive process. All of today’s free website options weren’t available back then, so I paid professionals to construct it. Maybe it’s showing its age now, but I still like the look and the content. Moreover, it provides what every author’s website should have.

As a bare minimum, authors should have a welcoming “home page” that says they’re writers in X, Y, and Z genres. Other web pages should describe their books and where to buy them, and how they can be contacted. As usual, the devil’s in the details.

I’m a minimalist. Instead of a separate web pages for upcoming events and new books, I put those things on the home page too. I’m afraid people will land there, scan the home page, and leave, so I want that info visible right up front.

Some website gurus recommend a web page for each book. That would never work in my case! No one is going to peruse 20+ web pages at a website. One option is to have a different web page for each genre, but I mix a lot of genres. I’m not particularly happy that my second page, the one with a list of all my books, looks crowded, but I can’t see a real solution—authors must display their bookcovers and book blurbs and provide click-throughs to buy each book. (I provide the latter for both titles and bookcovers. Some covers aren’t displayed because I only update that web page annually—I never learned HTML, and that’s what it takes with my old website.)

While authors can place a tiny bio on the home page, they really need a separate bio page. Readers like to learn about the authors they read. Sure, we tend to be introverted people who sit at our laptops a lot, but many of us have or had interesting lives (see the “Interviews” category in my blog for a peek at some of those interesting lives!). Offering that info to website visitors provides a nice human touch. “Hey, X is a cool guy (or gal)!” should be the visitor’s response who reads the bio. To the same end, authors should add a pic of themselves, even several.

Contact info must be provided. I have a separate contact page, but that info can be pushed off to the side or at the bottom of the home page or bio page (maybe both). Info should be provided about how to sign up for the author’s newsletter, if the author has one, also maybe in several places. I don’t know how many websites I’ve visited where the contact info is impossible to find.

I left the author’s blog to last. It’s where the author writes about his craft, maybe offers reviews of other authors’ books, and interviews other authors. The goal should be to put new content on that blog frequently. Authors don’t have change the other web pages much, so the blog keeps the website fresh and current. (I include movie reviews and free short stories too.)

How frequently do you need to post new material to your blog? Whatever your schedule permits. Motivate yourself by considering those blog articles part of your writing life. Every article you write hones your writing skills.

(I’ll have more info about blogs next week.)

***

Comments are welcome!

The Secret of the Urns. Asako wants to write a thesis about the Fistians. But first she has to save them from Humans. A. B. Carolan’s new YA sci-fi mystery is full of action and intrigue and lessons about tolerance and cooperation. You can find the ebook on Amazon and Smashwords and all its associated retailers; there’s also a print version available on Amazon. The perfect holiday gift for young adults and adults who are young at heart.

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

It’s been a while. Or so it seems. I was very busy finishing three manuscripts—one, Goin’ the Extra Mile, has just been published (see below)— while expecting to receive edits and cover ideas from Black Opal Books for my new novel The Last Humans (again, see below), so that I’ve been focusing on writing blog articles and short fiction pieces rather than collecting news items for this newsletter. My apologies. Hopefully this installment will make up for that! (I’ll try to keep it short.)

Stan Lee. He had a good run, this genius who created the Marvel Universe. I think he started in 1939, but I didn’t start reading Marvel Comics until around ten or so. (I wish I’d kept all those comic books! What would they be worth now?) Of course, now new generations can watch his creations on the silver screen (I’ve reviewed some of those movies—see my blog archive “Movie Reviews” at https://stevenmmoore.com/blog ). He will be missed, and his creations will live on.

Holly Berry Show in Montclair, NJ. To all who stopped by and chatted and perused my books, thank you. This was a festive arts and crafts show, and it always puts people in a good mood for the holidays. I always say writing is both art and craft, so I was honored to participate in the show even though I was the only author there. To the raffle winners, I hope you enjoy my books!

Interviews. One good way to discover new and interesting authors is to read about them in interviews. I’ve contributed to that lately by interviewing some fantastic authors—see the “Interviews” archive at https://stevenmmoore.com/blog . Authors often discuss their motivations and how they write their stories. Most are rather candid in their answers. We’re all on spaceship Earth together, just doing our thing.

Small press catalogs. With those interviews, it became clearer to me that one can complement that discovery path to new books and new authors by perusing small press catalogs. Books get lost on Amazon and Smashwords (the latter retail site just changed their interface to join Amazon in burying “old” books—all mine are still current—and featuring “new” ones) and at other huge retail sites, whether online or at big book barns, so if you find small press authors you like, check out their publishers’ catalogs for other interesting and entertaining books. I’ve recently found a lot of entertaining books to read that way.

Bookstores. Or you can find new books at your favorite bookstore. Their books often offer access to small press books, but not always, and browsing through those stacks can be fun. Small bookstores are better. (In Montclair, NJ, check out https://www.watchungbooksellers.com/ .) If you have a book in mind and your bookstore doesn’t have it, see if they will order it. (That doesn’t work for ebooks, but if you have an ebook in mind, you can just buy the ebook online and download it.)

Libraries. We have a good one in Montclair, NJ. I’ve donated some of my books to it. I’m not sure they are all up to date about ebook borrowing, though. Ask for an ebook from a favorite author and see what they say. In any case, public libraries are great places to discover books to read. Support their programs.

Blog topics. It’s probably good to remind people about what I now feature in my blog. In addition to author interviews, you’ll find articles on reading, writing, and the publishing business. You’ll also find book and movie reviews. And you’ll find free short fiction from my colleague A. B. Carolan and me. All at https://stevenmmoore.com/blog.

Other free fiction. Besides what appears in my blog posts, archived in “Steve’s Shorts” and “ABC Shorts,” you can download any of the free fiction you find listed on the “Free Stuff & Contests” web page. There are also a few other free and downloadable PDFs of interest to readers and writers as well as book club members. If you’ve perused the list earlier, please do so again—new PDFs have been added recently.

Rembrandt’s Angel. Published in May 2017 by Penmore Press, my novel Rembrandt’s Angel was popular at the recent Holly Berry Show in Montclair, NJ, and it is still getting positive reviews.

Here’s one: “Steven Moore’s knowledge of current affairs and history is both obvious and impressive in this highly enjoyable read about the hunt for a rare missing painting stolen by the Nazi’s and now selling on a secretive dark market needing to be infiltrated. The various characters that Moore peppers us with never allow the reader to let their guard down in this winding path of intrigue. It’s part espionage and, just as enjoyably, part travel brochure as he takes us to different parts of the world for both scenic and culturally educational descriptions while simultaneously keeping his eye on the ball towards the goal of keeping us in suspense.”—Keith Steinbaum, in his Goodreads review.

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I was doing the NY Times crossword the other evening. It contained clues for the words mercurial, venial, martial, ETs, jovial, and saturnine. While today these words mean capricious, forgivable, warlike, extraterrestrials, jolly, and gloomy (except for ETs, those were the clues), their common origin can be found among the names of planets, i.e. Latin. Maybe that only appeals to a sci-fi fan like me, but in general I find such word origins fascinating.

English is a mongrel language, of course, no matter what the Queen says. It grew, and still is growing, creating new words and borrowing old ones from other languages. As a result, English is rich in synonyms because it possesses many different words for the same idea. (Hog, swine, and pig are three examples.) Some words are just borrowed without change; others are modified. The richness of the language is writers’ best friend if English is their birth language; it’s probably their worst enemy if it’s not.

Etymology (which has a Greek origin) is the study of the origin of words. The origins of English words are fascinating because they tell stories of conquests and defeats, religious and other cultural upheavals, and changing national boundaries. All languages evolve, but English is continually mutating as well. Words come and go; meanings are created and destroyed.

David Crystal’s The Stories of English focuses on how words and their usages evolved; it’s not just an erudite work focusing on etymology. You can access any good dictionary and find out about the latter, but I find the stories in the words much more interesting. Crystal tells the stories in the words and makes their history come alive.

In my sci-fi books, the ones that probe into the far future, I talk about standard this and that—standard year, standard day, and so forth—but by Standard I just mean an extrapolation to what humanity’s “official language” becomes. It’s not English at all, but a mishmash of many terrestrial languages. (Many sci-fi writers do the same thing.) I’m not too precise about it, and I don’t try to create a new language as Tolkien did with Elfian (he even had seven dialects, I believe). This is all just a recognition that, whether we colonize the planets and nearby star systems, English is bound to borrow and change so much that it becomes unrecognizable. (Of course, faraway human colonies will have their own dialects of Standard, whatever the latter is. And the common roots might not be English at all!)

Languages are fluid if they live on. Only Aramaic, Latin, and other “dead languages” remain frozen in time. Academies and their purists who try to freeze a living language have a hopeless task. And that’s as it should be. And literature will also suffer parallel changes. In the future, Shakespeare’s work will sound as foreign as Chaucer’s. Or the major languages of diplomacy, business, and science will morph into one. Maybe that’s not progress, but it’s inevitable.

***

Comments are welcome!

Goin’ the Extra Mile. The U.S. made the MECHs (“Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans”), Russia stole them, and now China wants them…and will kidnap Mary Jo Melendez and her family to get them. Returning to the globe-trotting suspense and action of #1 with many of the same actors as #2, this new and third book in the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries” is a rousing finale for this trilogy. Available on Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliates (Apple iBooks, B&N, Kobo, and so forth).

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

You Know I’m Watching

A “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” Homicide Case

Copyright 2018, Steven M. Moore

Preface

While I don’t know if there will be another Chen and Castilblanco novel, they still continue to have homicide cases to solve. This little mystery/crime novella describes one of them. Enjoy.

r/Steve

Chapter One

We stood outside the victim’s apartment, but I peered inside from time to time to see if the CSU was coming up with anything.

“Just a lot of blood so far,” said Chen, after losing patience with me and interrupting her perusal of her NYPD-issued smart phone. Useful and indispensable now, but mine was in my coat pocket.

“A shot in the neck can do that,” I said, turning my gaze from the CSIs to the starred window and broken glass on the floor. “We need to get in there and establish the line-of-sight to where the shot originated.”

“They’re looking for that too. That abandoned building across the street would be my guess.” She returned to her smart phone. “We have an ID. The vic’s name is Sharon Hill, and she’s an employee of a small accounting firm with a branch office not far from here. Thirty-two, unmarried, no roommates.”

“Good salary then in this rental market. MBA? CPA?” She nodded twice. “We’ll need to interview that branch’s employees.”

We were reduced to chatting about our kids. Ceci and Pedrito were older than the new addition to Chen’s family, so I had more young antics to talk about. But thankfully we were soon allowed to enter as the CSU packed up. Chen took the vic’s old desk; I popped two Tums and began my rounds in the tiny apartment. Knew the CSIs were thorough, but they sometimes miss little things—like something that’s out of place or hidden away. With a big family and a wife who was picky about décor, I’d leaned a bit about the first, and NYC dwellers were often security conscious.

Found nothing of consequence, though, so I returned to the main living area, parked on one of the stools at the counter of the galley kitchen, and watched Chen.

I soon detected a strong odor. The CSU had taken the kitchen garbage, but the odor came from there. Olfactory memories are generally not reliable, but I knew this one. My wife Pam drank a lot of tea. Checked cupboards. Sure enough, Sharon Hill was a tea addict. Saw some types that I’ve never heard of. My meditation guru wanted me to start drinking green tea, which was only a bit better than the slimy smoothies Chen drinks, but that type of tea wasn’t present in the cupboard. But there were many labeled glass jars filled with imported teas. I made a mental note about the quirky addiction—people’s habits are sometimes useful in a homicide investigation.

Chen, without looking in my direction, interrupted my thoughts. “We’ll have to check with the crime lab about the phone and laptop. I assume the IT people are working on them. But I found something interesting.”

I put on a new set of rubber gloves and took the sheaf of papers Chen offered. The very first one had letters snipped out of magazines that formed the following message: “You know I am watching.” I flipped through about a dozen or so more sheets. Some explicitly described what the sender was going to do to Sharon Hill. Others were just generally threatening. Still others promised to be faithful to her for the rest of the sender’s life.

“She had a stalker. Curious. I thought no one read paper magazines anymore. Maybe the perp’s an older fellow. Why didn’t the CSU find these?”

“Secret compartment,” said Chen, flashing her Asian Mona Lisa smile. I glanced at the desk, one of those old louvered models you might find at an auction or estate sale—I’d attended some with my wife Pam. “Eric loves them.”

Figured. Her husband, ATF agent Eric Kumala, was too uptight and prissy for my taste. Good father, though. “Maybe goes with the job.” Was referring to the fact that, although Eric wasn’t CIA, he was a bit of a spook and worked undercover a lot. Thought a moment. “Perp could be a co-worker. But with all these descriptions of what he wanted to do to her, why shoot her through a window?” Punched a number in my call list to connect to the other half of the CSU. “Find the origin of the kill shot yet?”

“Empty building across the street.” Chen’s guess was correct. I nodded to her. “Third floor. No shell casings, but the dusty floor shows footsteps and kneeling at the broken window. About size 11 shoes, detective. Probably a big man.”

“Take lots of pics, Jamie,” I said, “and send them to Chen and me. Check for partials and DNA too.”

“Already done. We didn’t find anything.”

***

After we finished at the crime scene, decided I wanted to see the sniper’s nest, so we walked across the street. Like many abandoned buildings in the area, I guessed greedy landlords had raised rents so high that no one could afford them. They now sat on decaying buildings waiting and hoping a developer would come along, buy the lot, and put up a highrise. City was constantly changing that way.

The third floor apartment in question would have been a nice place once upon a time. It was similar to Sharon Hill’s, but the lack of building occupants, discounting the rats and cockroaches, had led to its general state of decay.

Saw the footprints and kneel marks on the dusty hardwood floors. Ignored them because we had pics. Went to the window and kneeled, sighting across to the vic’s apartment.

“Vic might have been at her laptop,” I said, “or getting ready to use it. Straight line-of-sight to someone sitting there.” Paused to think. “About a hundred yards or so.”

“They didn’t find the bullet,” Chen said. “I’m guessing a rifle, though.”

“Agreed. Torso’s a bigger target, so the perp might have gone for the kill with a head shot, and it was a little low.”

“Ex-military?”

“Maybe. Or someone who does a lot of target practice.”

(To be continued….)

***

Comments are always welcome.

The Midas Bomb. #1 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series,” this mystery/thriller novel brings together the detectives for the first time as they try to solve two homicide cases. The first victim is an old SEAL buddy of Castilblanco; Chen’s case involves a Wall Street banker as victim and her fraternal twin brother, a doctor, as near victim. Discovering the connection between the two leads to a conspiracy involving a hedge fund owner and a dirty bomb. This is where it all started, and the story is more current today than when it was written. Available in ebook format from Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s associated retailers (Apple iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc) as well as in a print version available on Amazon. The ebook version is on sale now at Smashwords for $0.99, but only for a week.

In libris libertas!

Every soldier risks his life on the battlefield. Every NFL player risks doing damage to his body and his brain.  Not long ago, a group of young men in a bachelor’s party; four of them and a guide lost their lives in a raging river in Costa Rica. We can argue about the logic of taking those risks, one for country and two for sport.

Although it’s not nearly in the same category as those listed above, every fiction author must face risk too. It’s the risk any creative person takes: the risk of rejection. Will the agent or acquisitions editor like my manuscript (MS)? Will readers like my published book?

The first step is to finish the MS, of course. There’s a risk there, but the potential failure is more personal and not so public. I don’t think NaNoWriMo helps much there, unless a writer takes some comfort that a lot of other writers are sweating and suffering (sounds a bit sadistic). There’s an analogy between novel writing and running a marathon: the main risk is giving up. The failure is mitigated by putting that story aside and working on a different novel or turning it into a short story or novella. The writer has still failed to finish a novel, but it’s not too terribly embarrassing.

Rejection is harder to take. Authors who self-publish don’t have to worry about this prior to publication, so I’ll return to them later in this article. Authors who want to traditionally publish have to either risk rejection with an acquisitions editor or with both agents and editors. Some publishers only “read” an MS offered by an agent, and, even then, the publisher’s editors still might not accept the MS.

Entering into the traditional publishing process are ancillary criteria like marketability and genre popularity, not just the quality of the MS (i.e. a good story well told). And because fiction reading tastes are always subjective, agents and editors’ choices are too. Of course, rejection at this level might also occur because the quality just isn’t there. And part of the author’s pain is often not knowing why the rejection occurs.

Authors keep risking these bruises to the egos, or they self-publish. Now comes the second question above: Will readers like the published novel? Every author, self-published or traditionally published, risks rejection by readers. Again, there are ancillary factors beyond the quality of the storytelling: editing, formatting, and cover art are the most important, but blurbs and reviews are other ones. Sometimes everything is perfect, but readers just don’t know the book exists. After all, more new books are published every year than can fit in a B&N book barn.

Again the pain is not knowing the reasons for failure. That pain’s intensity depends on our definition of failure, of course. I saw one stat (it might be worse now) that said most books, no matter how they’re published, sell fewer than three hundred copies. (I think that stat came from Amazon, so maybe they’re only counting sales on Amazon. No matter.) Whatever the stat currently is, most writers trying to live off book sales would be below the poverty level!

We have to take these risks and learn to live with our failures. In the early years of this century, I received over one thousand rejections from agents and acquisition editors. I kept honing my skills and self-published with POD publishers (many are still around, trying to survive—they have stiff competition from Amazon’s Create Space, now part of their KDP, although it has nothing to do with Kindles). I then went the ebook route with Carrick Publishing—I received lots of good TLC from them. But the upfront costs of editing, formatting, and cover art caused me to add traditional publishing with a small press to my business model (and to continue the TLC).

While I’d like to think I’ve improved since my first novel, modesty aside, those first books still look good and are current as ever, maybe more so now than before. With every new book I continue taking a risk. That’s part of the fun! Maybe publishing isn’t warfare, but it’s a contact sport. And I consider every book I write to be a success if at least one reader is entertained by it.

***

Comments are always welcome!

Goin’ the Extra Mile. #3 in the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries,” this novel returns to the heart-pounding action of #1 and the intrigue and suspense of #2. The U.S. created the MECHs (“Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans”), Russia stole them, and now China wants them…and will kidnap Mary Jo and her family to get them. Available on Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (Apple iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc).

Reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are all five-star ones so far. Here’s one: “I was captivated by the end of the first chapter, and I couldn’t stop reading. The author did an incredible job with character development and storyline. The twists and turns of this suspenseful read will have you turning pages as fast as possible. I was trying to guess what was going to happen next, but the author kept surprising me. I enjoyed every chapter of this book and look forward to reading more from this author”.—Valerie, in her Goodreads five-star review

In libris libertas!