BANDERSNATCHES by Steve Steinbock The Truth about Myths (And the Myth about Truth) As a recovering theologian and an armchair philologist, I have a gripe about the way the word MYTH has been maligned in popular speech and writing. Words change. Meanings evolve. I’m the first to admit it. When Queen Anne allegedly told Sir […]

LOVE ’EM OR ’HATE ’EM, IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN by Deborah Elliott-Upton Dear Abby hates them. Geneologists and historians love them. As a self-confessed snoop, I adore them and as long as Aunt Mac Elaine still wants one, I write an annual Christmas newsletter. My newsletter doesn’t go out en masse, just to a select […]

YOU CAN LOOK IT UP by Rob Lopresti I have just spent the better part of a week in distant and mysterious parts (mostly L.A.) doing research on what I sincerely hope will be my next novel. It occurred to me that since most of us maker-uppers occasionally have to ferret out some facts to […]

BORDER MADNESS by Melodie Johnson Howe I met my friend, Kathleen, for coffee and to exchange books. She’s a nonfiction writer who is published in major newspapers, magazines and has written two books. She’s interested in writing fiction now, possibly a mystery. We tried Starbucks first but there was no place to sit so we […]

MINDING YOUR Ps OR NOT Qs by James Lincoln Warren The first medieval university curriculum consisted of three subjects: Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic, known together as the Trivium, or “three roads”. (The succeeding curriculum, necessary to complete what was then called a “classical education”, was the Quadrivium, comprising Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy.) Grammar is […]

TECHNOLOGY BUZZ by Leigh Lundin Publishing is undergoing a fundamental shift. The shift is ePublishing, the progenitor of eBooks. If this shift is to become paradigm, Amazon wants to be a player. Professional writers associations are trying to grapple with the phenomenon, which has become a divisive issue. Proponents contend that eBooks are cheaper, easier […]

THE CORNERSTONES OF CRIME (Part 3) by Barry T. and Angela Zeman Our last installment reviewed many of the best and most famous books on the Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone list. Now we will look at some books that were key to the development of detective/mystery fiction, but perhaps little known to the general reader not familiar […]