TO EVERYTHING THERE IS AN END by Deborah Elliott-Upton This has been a year of endings. Good-bye “24”, “LOST” and “Law and Order.” I’ve said so long to many favorite characters, but I wasn’t prepared for this last one. I’ve been in a state of mourning for about nine months now though the official death […]

KEEPING IT UNREAL by Rob Lopresti A few months ago I was driving around on Saturday morning. listening to This American Life on NPR. The show always features three or four essays or reports on some theme. That week the subject was true crime. At some point, as a narrator was discussing a murder that […]

DISCLAIMER: I don’t believe in rules. But I do believe in certain practical applications that make the craft of writing if not easier, possible. Having said, that here are some rules. Notice how some resemble a construction site. —MJH RULES FOR EXCAVATING AND REVISING by Melodie Johnson Howe 1. Ruthlessness: Do not a fall in […]

I was out of town this weekend, but my absence was more than compensated by this timely essay by Ellery Queen Expert (and Author!), previous CB contributor Dale Andrews. —JLW THE ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERIES by Dale C. Andrews This week the December edition of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine hit my mail box on the same […]

Virginia Christian VIRGINIA, VIRGINIA by Leigh Lundin Thursday, the Commonwealth of Virginia executed the first woman in nearly a hundred years. Although women commit 41% of domestic homicides, fewer than 1% of people sentenced to death will be women. But, travel with me back to 1912. The Case of Virginia Christian A century ago, a […]

BOND FANS ARE FOREVER by John M. Floyd I grew up with James Bond. I read all the Ian Fleming novels as a teenager in the sixties, snapping them up from the library’s “bookmobile” that rumbled into our small town once a week, and throughout college I eagerly awaited every new movie in the series […]

STORY-DRIVEN by Steven Steinbock At the risk of repeating myself, I’m going to weigh in on the plot-driven versus character-driven debate. My conclusion, the debate itself is drivel-driven. Plot and character are two elements that fit into a balanced system that we call fiction. Comparing it to the Yin and Yang of Taoism isn’t woo-woo […]