IN THE NICK OF TIME by Deborah Elliott-Upton One of America’s last traditional dime novels produced one of the country’s best-loved amateur sleuth turned private investigator. On September 18, 1886 in Street and Smith’s New York Weekly, the adventures of 19th century detective, Nick Carter, made his first appearance. A dedicated master of disguise, the […]

MENTAL MONUMENTS by Rob Lopresti Beside a certain waterfall in Switzerland there is a plaque commemorating an event that never happened. I suppose that isn’t unique. There are probably many monuments around the world celebrating things that never happened — thousands if you assume that the world’s religions can’t all be historically true. The plaque […]

DEAD WRITERS by Melodie Johnson Howe Last Sunday I was walking with my friend Kathleen Sharp, a nonfiction writer. She said if I could pick any dead writer to discuss my work with, or use as a sounding board, who would it be? I immediately asked if I could have two writers, and knowing my […]

HUMORESQUE by James Lincoln Warren When I worked for Barnes & Noble several years ago, I had a young friend in the store, twenty years my junior, who was an aspiring author hard at work on a novel. To protect the innocent, by which I mean me since I’m about to be a bit critical […]

The ROMANCE of MURDER by Leigh Lundin 10 June, 1860, 1AM The Times 11 Jul 1860 The family dog barked and yipped in the night, but no one paid attention. The residents slept on. Despite the peace of the Wiltshire countryside night, all was not well. In the nursery, one little bed at Road Hill […]

FINDING NEVERLAND by John M. Floyd Have you ever been reading a book or story and completely lost track of the time? I’m sure you have — it happens to me almost every day. I’ll be reading along and suddenly realize an hour’s gone by, or maybe more. Awhile back Deborah mentioned, in her comment […]

MAGIC, MYSTERIES, AND MISTAKES by Steve Steinbock A week ago, some 780 people attended International Thriller Writers’ third annual Thrillerfest at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. Sadly, I wasn’t among them. All news I’ve read of the event suggests that it was a valuable, edifying, and fun event for all who attended. One […]