BURNING DOWN THE ORPHANAGE by Robert Lopresti So you are writing a book and suddenly realize that what you need to make it perfect is a little chunk of someone else’s book. There in Chapter 37 you can have Thornwell take a book off the shelf in his study and read out loud a passage […]

LIFE, IN 500-WORD SLICES by Rob Lopresti I have a cold and last night it provided a dramatic soundtrack in the form of a cough that was keeping me and probably my wife awake, so I moved to another room where I have a Barcalounger. This big, ugly chair has the wonderful ability to let […]

I wrote this column a month ago but I have been overtaken by events (as you can tell if you look at the subject of my last few entries). So I am discussing a magazine that is off the newsstands, but since all the stories I mention are part of series, you will be able […]

THE THEFT OF SOMETHING PRICELESS by Robert Lopresti Back in the 1970s I used to climb out of my playpen and toddle over to the TV to watch “McMillan and Wife,” the witty cop show starring Rock Hudson and Susan St. James. More than once I had a strange sense of déjà vu, almost as […]

SALUTE TO THE UNKNOWN NARRATOR by Robert Lopresti I have just received my author’s copies of the April issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, containing my new story “The Hard Case.” And, wow! For the first time ever my story is on the cover. And double wow, Joel Spector did a great job. It looks […]

KOSHER PIGS FLY WEST INTO THE SUNRISE: Film at Eleven by Robert Lopresti I first tried to get a story published in 1976. Since it was a mystery I sent it to the premiere publication in the field, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Since it was awful, they sent it back faster than a radioactive skunk. […]

LAST RITES by Rob Lopresti When you leave the house in the morning do you go through a mental checklist? Turn off coffeepot. Glance in mirror. Set door alarm. Wipe fingerprints off axe handle. And so on. I do the same thing when I am ready to send something out to a publisher. Before the […]