SUSPICIOUS MIND by Melodie Johnson Howe I was taking my usual walk up the hill ever alert for my nemesis, my villain, the woman in the Hummer, to come barreling down at me. But the lane is quiet. Even the horse and the mule in the field ignore me. I reach the apex and my […]

THE WRITER’S COOKBOOK (Part 2 of 4) by James Lincoln Warren This week we continue with my nauseating analogy between cooking and writing while I’m off fishing in northern Minnesota. You should be aware that “cooking the books” is an entirely separate subject from what is discussed here. Part II: Flavoring Characters The first thing […]

FLORIDA BURNING by Leigh Lundin Smoke and MirrorsFor the last couple of months, central Floridians have been breathing smoke, an often annual occurrence from Florida’s version of forest fires: burning bogs, flaming stands of trees somehow overlooked by developers, and smoke from back rooms where politicians should be burning with shame. Weeks ago, we were […]

Last week, Eddy explained how he came up with the chilling refrain of “Nevermore!” in “The Raven”. This week, he explains how he came up with the final plot and illustrates directly from the poem itself. THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMPOSITION (part 4 of 4) by Edgar A. Poe Here then the poem may be said […]

THE LUCKY THIRTEEN – Part Three by Steven Steinbock The tenth title in my ongoing series of profile of favorite mystery anthologies is Death Locked In: An Anthology of Locked Room Stories edited by Doug Green and Bob Adey (1987). For now, it will be the last. (I promised thirteen, and for a while I […]

RISKING IT ALL by Deborah Elliott-Upton When my husband and I watch TV game shows where a contestant must decide whether to continue and risk losing the monies already won or walk away with cold hard cash and give up the chance of winning the jackpot, we take different paths. My husband would take the […]

THE JOY OF REWRITING. NO, REVISION. NO… by Rob Lopresti I recently had a week’s vacation with little to do but write. That’s a good thing. I wrote a four-thousand word short story in about two days, which is also good, for me. I predict it will be ready in to send out to a […]