CB x 3

by James Lincoln Warren, Rob Lopresti, Deborah Elliott-Upton, Steve Steinbock, John M. Floyd, and Leigh Lundin

Preface

Friday marked Criminal Brief‘s third anniversary. Leigh had the idea of doing a commemorative column, John suggested that we each write a paragraph, and Rob suggested that it be retrospective, including one link to our favorite column by ourselves and one link to a column written by one of our colleagues. Consequently, this past week we’ve all looked nostalgically back on the last thirty-six months, and begun the difficult process of sifting through all the offerings—I should mention in passing that both Melodie Johnson Howe and Angela Zeman wanted to participate, too, but were unable to do so. Finally, we made our choices and placed our bets, and here they are.

But before we get to our recommendations, let me simply mention that in our first month, May of 2007, Criminal Brief had 1,185 visits. In April of 2010, we had 46,910 visits from 11,511 individual readers. Not bad, huh? But back to business.

JLW

I don’t have a personal favorite among my own columns, but the Gentle Reader may find “A Short Year After” mildly informative—it was the column I wrote to commemorate our first anniversary in 2008, and describes how the website was conceived and subsequently evolved. The only thing out of date about it is the reference to the manila folder wallpaper, which has since been replaced with something a little more noirish.

As to a favorite column by another contributor—utterly impossible to say. There are far too many. Among guests, we’ve had an embarrassment of riches: Edward D. Hoch, Doug Allyn, R. T. Lawton, Charles Ardai, Jas. R. Petrin, and many others should be duly noted. But for the sake of posterity, I can do no better than to direct the Gentle Reader’s attention to Melodie Johnson Howe’s “Leopard Shoes”, not only because it showcased Melodie’s luminous prose, but also because it introduced the Hummer Lady, who made two or three subsequent appearances and became an object of fascination to our readers.

Rob Lopresti

Last year I tried to write a column about definitions for various parts of our field. What’s the difference between hardboiled and noir? That sort of thing. I was looking for interesting or amusing definitions by other people (hey, you expect me to do all the work?) and I realized you could use what happens in one scene, say a car crash, to distinguish between the sub-genres. Then it sort of got out of hand. “Cliffhangers” is one of my favorites because I think it worked, and because several other blogs linked to it. Still need to finish the definitions column, though.

I’m very fond of “Writing On The Fourth,” which Steve Steinbock published on Independence Day, 2008. One reason is that he plugged my song “Nachshon,” but another is that he taught me something I didn’t know about the Nachshon story. And I looked his metaphor of writing as the act of going forward, because only slavery lies behind.

Deborah Elliott-Upton

Everybody remembers their first time — sometimes fondly, sometimes not so much. My first time with Criminal Brief is the one I remember most vividly, “Take A Seat”, and appeared on May 10th, 2007. “Take A Seat” referred to my teaching days and how after a few classes I noticed the best students always chose the same seats as those in the class before. The troublemakers also chose the same seats as the former class troublemakers.

As for my favorite column written by a Criminal Brief colleague, that one is tougher to choose. I believe we have one of the best blogs available online. The first article that came to mind was written by John M. Floyd, the gentleman from Mississippi. I adore his article, “Outside Assistance” which appeared on January 2 of this year. Maybe because it was January and colder than cold has a right to be in most of the country and John’s picture of his backyard swing accompanying his article looked so inviting to someone wearing short sleeves. He spoke of using the swing to rock grandbabies to sleep, hide there when he’s supposed to be mowing the lawn, but mostly using the swing as a writer’s aid. John’s columns are always a writer’s aid for me as his writing makes me want to be just as good a writer – or at least tryout that swing for inspiration.

Steven Steinbock

When choosing a favorite from among my own columns, I couldn’t resist searching by the number of comments. I’m still shocked that my April 9 column (“Oh Snap”) garnered so much discussion. But in the final analysis, I vote for my May 29, 2009 column “Man of the (Whole) Cloth” in which I discussed religious sensitivity, my first meeting with Doug Greene, a structural analysis of the “Tower of Babel” story, and in a comment I mentioned the joke inserted in the King James translation of Psalm 46.

Of others’ columns, rather than play favorites with my officemates at Criminal Brief Corporate Headquarters, I have chosen Dick Stodgill’s April 20, 2009 guest-piece, “Loss for Words”. It was funny, insightful, and sadly, in a way, it presaged Dick’s final chapter.

John M. Floyd

I had trouble selecting a favorite CB column of my own. Among my favorites are the two that Leigh and I did together, when he and I took one of my short stories and changed the names of the characters and places to make it a two-part Criminal Brief “Valentine’s Day” story. But I think the column I had the most fun writing was “Dialogue Is Like a Box of Chocolates.” It was a tribute to film “quotes,” and I attempted to justify it by saying that we as short-fiction writers can learn from all kinds of stories, including those that appear on the big screen. (The truth is, I just wanted to do a piece about film quotes.)

My favorite column written by a colleague was even harder to choose, but I suppose it was probably “Cliffhangers” by Rob Lopresti. That one was a joy to read, and informative as well—but since Rob chose it for himself, I’ve selected another favorite of mine written by him in its place: “One Man’s Opinion.”

Leigh Lundin

I’ve written more than 150 articles in the past three years, missing one posting thanks to local internet glitches. I experienced fun, bemusement, irony, and outrage. I began to hit my stride in September 2007, but from a pure detective standpoint, my most intriguing article was about Tom Dooley, the result of following a story mentioned by Rob Lopresti. The more I dug into the evidence, the less likely it seems Tom Dula killed his girlfriend, leaving a conclusion a rival for Tom probably killed her.

For sheer hours of entertainment, I credit Deborah Elliott-Upton. From her, I learned about characters like Nick Carter, which moved me to discover the radio programs. Sometimes when I take a break for lunch, I follow Deborah’s link to one of the old time radio archives and listen to radio in its golden age. Of those I’ve listened to, I find Nero Wolfe extremely sophisticated, hardly surprising since he’s played by Sidney Greenstreet.

It’s been fun. Thanks, Deborah!

Editorial Postscript

For all of us, writing for Criminal Brief is a labor of love, and like love, it can be frustrating, infuriating, heartbreaking—but ultimately fulfilling. That’s because ultimately, it’s not about us as writers, but about you as readers. Thank you all for making Criminal Brief a success.