The following piece is a shortened version of an article I sold in 2003 on researching short mystery stories. It’s of course geared to writers, but I’m hoping it might be interesting to readers as well. FACTS IN FICTION by John M. Floyd The most important thing I can say about research is this: you […]

THE KABBALAH OF CRIME FICTION by Steve Steinbock If you look in the spice cabinet of crime writing, you’ll find a variety of ingredients: action, character, plot, emotion, witty banter, intellectual challenge, and cats. A story that uses all of these will taste pretty nasty. But some authors and their readers, like chefs and diners, […]

THE GAME’S AFOOT by Deborah Elliott-Upton One hundred forty-nine years ago, a baby boy was born on this date in Edinburgh, Scotland. Before his death July 7, 1930 at age 71, he would change the world with his writing. “Come, Watson, come!” he cried. “The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and […]

GIVING IT AWAY by Robert Lopresti When I first started peddling my little masterpieces to paying magazines, I swore a mighty oath never to write for free. I believe that certain documents were signed in blood and goats sacrificed, but that could just be the flashbacks. Anyway, I have stayed true to my pledge so […]

WORDS by Melodie Johnson Howe Words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words words, words, words words. (God, I love it when the writing flows.) Hope. Morally bankrupt. Flag. Flag pin. Move forward. Continue on. Change. Words. Sexist. Racist. Ageist. Bitter. Low-class. America, Un-American. Guns. Ducks. Health Care. Surge. Pant suit. Double-down. Maverick. SUVs Words. […]

Here’s an essay I wrote a couple of years ago, but which is immortal. All right, I admit it, I lied—it’s not immortal, merely undead. SO YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT VAMPIRES by James Lincoln Warren AMERICAN FASCINATION WITH VAMPIRES Americans have shown a significantly increased interest in vampirism over the last twenty years […]

NUMB3RS, Part 1: LIKE, DUDE! by Leigh Lundin The factors that first drew me to mysteries were the puzzles, the clues, picking out the salient elements and making sense out of them. Those were the same reasons that drew me into writing operating systems software: A computer is a big, complex puzzle, and I enjoyed […]