CASTING CALL by James Lincoln Warren One of the indispensable skills of an effective story-teller is creating good characters. As with coming up with plots, this is may be regarded as a matter of mixing invention with convention, a blend of novelty and familiarity. I usually “design” a character to fit the circumstances I wish […]

SEPARATION of CHURCH and STATE by Leigh Lundin Last week, I wrote about the police raid of the private home of the Gizmodo editor who obtained Apple’s lost iPhone and returned it to Apple. Prosecutors acted on the presumption that news blogs don’t enjoy the same First and Fourth Amendment rights as newspapers they are […]

THINK YOU USED ENOUGH DYNAMITE THERE, BUTCH? by John M. Floyd Just a thought: how many times have I read a long novel and wondered why it was so long, or read a short novel and wondered if it should have been a short story instead? Sometimes I even think a long novel should have […]

YOUR INTREPID TRAVELLER by Steven Steinbock Colleen Spall, Doug Greene, Laurie Culligan, Janet Hutchings, Steven Steinbock. Colleen and Laurie are Ed Hoch’s nieces. I’m back from my adventures at the Edgars and Malice, and I’ll use this brief lull in my wordy discussions1 to tell you of some of my encounters. I arrived in New […]

A FORTUITOUS INTERMESHING OF EVENTS by Deborah Elliott-Upton My family and friends have been telling me I need to learn to say no more often. I am overextended, but who isn’t? I do have a tough schedule that has gotten tighter every year for the past decade. “Whose fault is that?” my daughter asks. (She’s […]

LOADED FOR BEAR by Rob Lopresti Today’s sermon has nothing to do with mysteries, or short stories. But it is all about literature. In fact, it is about one of my favorite old books and a newish sequel I just got around to reading. Way back in 1963 Frederick C. Crews was an up-and-coming young […]

In honor of last week’s Edgar Banquet, I offer up the following bit of history of an organization I love, even if it can be a cruel mistress. This account was cribbed from the website of Mystery Writers of America, but the website’s navigation makes it a little hard to find. There, it looks kind […]