I WRITE WHAT? by Melodie Johnson Howe This will be a short column today because I am off to be interviewed for a show called Literary Gumbo that airs on our local cable channel. I don’t usually do these things, mainly because they light these shows with a flashlight making everyone on camera look like […]

The International Herald-Tribute by James Lincoln Warren Nero Wolfe Illustration by Carl Mueller American Magazine, November 1940 I just finished a project that took several years to come to fruition, a Sherlock Holmes pastiche. I first had the idea for it when reading The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia by Peter […]

PROFESSIONAL TIPS– Israel Zangwill by Leigh Lundin I finally got around to an often overlooked classic, The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill (downloadable here or here). The title comes from its setting in Bow, England, not the American West or a cosy of Little Bo Peep in a large pink ribbon. Perhaps the story might […]

A HARD WAY TO MAKE AN EASY LIVING by John M. Floyd Last week I listed several quotes from a documentary I saw recently, called Tales From the Script. In it, Hollywood screenwriters gave their opinions on the craft, perception, disappointments, and rewards of their often-misunderstood profession. I don’t see too many documentaries, as a […]

NOVEL CONCEPTS by Steven Steinbock At the beginning of October, I had pretty well completed the first draft of the novel I’d been working on since spring. By pretty well, I admit that there were still four chapters that consisted only of bullet points, including a few questions I had yet to discover the answers […]

NANOWRIMO by Deborah Elliott-Upton National Novel Writing Month, better known as NANOWRIMO, has begun. The point of the “Writmos” who have accepted the challenge is to write a complete 50,000 word “novel” within the confines of the month of November.That averages out to 1,666.67 words a day. On Day 4, I have 2,479 words written, […]

THAT SAN FRANCISCO TREAT by Rob Lopresti Robert and Terri Lopresti at Tarantino’s, talking to the Lawtons. Charles Todd is at right, sitting at the next table and talking to Janet Hutchings and Robert Levinson. Photo by Steve Steinbock I have had a chance to recover from my trip to Bouchercon, dig through my notes, […]