Magna Cum Murder Touches Many Topics

Mary Monica Ferris & Albert Bell

The Magna Cum Murder Conference in Muncie, Indiana was a great opportunity for authors and readers to mix as a number of mystery writers talked about topics including the competing roles of imagination and research in historical crime fiction, writing the cozy mystery in an age of 'noir and gore,' and alcohol as a poison.

It would take a notebook to give even a quick summary, so I'll pass on a few of the ideas that grabbed me.  Paraphrasing of course.

If you want to describe a place through the eyes of a character, it matters how familiar your character is with the setting. Unfamiliar eyes will see it very differently than a native.  (Terry Faherty)

What's the antitode for most alcohol poisoning?  Vodka.  (Luci Zahray)

A mystery is a hunt, a thriller is a roller coaster ride.  (John Billheimer)

Our brains are wired for stories. From the time people were writing on cave walls, we've been using stories to remember and pass along ideas.  (Michael Dymmoch)

Authors were a diverse group.  The photo shows Mary Monica Ferris about to sign one of her crewel mysteries.  Next to her is Albert Bell, who writes a series set in ancient Rome, which features Pliny the Younger.  S.J. Rozan was the guest of honor. Among her many books is one in which the books feature alternating points of view (Lydia Chin and Bill Smith).  It was interesting to hear her talk about what each character brings to the work.

One piece of memorable advice came from paranormal investigators Shelly and Andy Gage.  As part of their very professional overview of hunting in haunted places, they suggested that if you want to determine if a ghost is actually a hallucination, the first place to investigate is the medicine cabinet.
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Jolie Gentil in Large Print

I have put the Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series into large print paperbacks.  My mom lost most of her  vision in her early 50s, so I have been slowly working on this.  The prices are only one dollar more than the paperbacks, and I wish they could be the same.  There are so many more pages the sellers literally cannot permit me to sell them for less. Large print editions are only available via Amazon and Create Space -- if I opt for additional sales channels the price goes up a lot.  The two covers displayed are by Patty G. Henderson. Enjoy!

Large Print Editions

Appraisal for Murder
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1475278578/

Rekindling Motives
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1475297483

When the Carny Comes to Town
https://www.amazon.com/dp/147939856X

Any Port in a Storm
https://www.amazon.com/dp/147934253X

Trouble on the Doorstep
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1484866266

Behind the Walls
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1500255149

Vague Images
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1507586221

Ground to a Halt 
 https://www.amazon.com/dp/150586805X

Holidays in Ocean Alley
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0986338095

The Unexpected Resolution
(coming soon in large print)

A page on my web site also has information on all large print books and another on the audio books and the wonderful narrators who read them.
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The Hardest Way to Write a Short Synopsis

Try to condense a long one.  That was the comment of  Tony Perona at an Indy Author Fair, in Indianapolis.  He, S.M. Harding, and Terence Faherty led a session on marketing the mystery.  Harding suggested telling yourself you have to summarize your story in something like 300 words, no matter what.  Her advice was met with skepticism, and there was a time I would have been skeptical, too.

How can the complexity of your mystery, the depth of the characters, the beauty of the setting be told in a few hundred words?

Try. If you can't make your point cogently, it will be hard for someone to want to read your book.

The synopsis is your hope to hook a potential agent or publisher. These busy people need to be able to capture the idea of your story quickly (including the ending). You want to surprise your readers, not your publisher.

What finally helped me learn the art of condensing something I was very close to was to force myself to write what I thought should go on the back cover of a paperback.  That's the chance to convince a bookstore to stock your book and a reader to plop down the money to buy it. True, the purpose is to entice rather than inform, but the rigor of condensing is similar.

I looked at the initial  synopsis that I wrote for Appraisal for Murder, first in the Jolie Gentil series. It read more like a summary. Once I wrote the lengthy piece, it was hard to part with some of the words, and took a long time to cut the length. 

Now, I start with the book flap version, so to speak, and add as few words as possible.

The more you practice writing brief synopses, the easier it becomes.

Keep in mind that there is a difference between a product description (the blurb you write for Amazon or BN to promote you book) and the synopsis for a potential agent or publisher. As with all writing, audience is everything.
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No Pulitzer -- You Decide!

There were three finalists for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction:  Train Dreams, by Dennis Johnson; Swamplandia, by Karen Russell; and The Pale King, by David Foster Wallace.  No prize was awarded.  Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes, said that, "The three books were fully considered, but in the end, none mustered the mandatory majority for granting a prize, so no prize was awarded."  That's the only explanation.

This has not happened since 1977.  Prior to 2012, the longest time between nonselections was between 1920 and 1941.  In 1941, the committee recommended For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway.  However, the president of Columbia University (which administers the Pulitzers) said the book was offensive, so there was no award that year. 

The Muncie (Indiana) Public Library wants to pick up where the Pulitzer jurors left off.  The Kennedy Book Club is reading the books (one per month in September, October, and November) and we'll vote.  It's the least we can do.

We just finished Train Dreams, one of the most memorable books I've read.  And it's a novella.  We're on to Swamplandia.

I'll keep my friends posted.  All advice is welcome as we make this very weighty decision.  And we will decide.
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"Any Port in A Storm" Coming September 17

Jolie Gentil and friends are busy putting the finishing touches on the 'Talk Like a Pirate Day' fundraiser for the food pantry and trying to figure out who's breaking into some of the houses Jolie appraises. When Jolie realizes a new face in town is leading high school kids into trouble in those houses, she's mad and lets him know it.  But Hayden offers to help her mind her own business, and a lot of people at the fundraiser hear her give him what for.  A hurricane's on the way to disrupt the fundraiser, and when a corpse turn up under the pirate ship the next day, Jolie's looking like a suspect.

Scoobie's pirate limericks can't solve a crime, so Jolie and her sometimes buddy local reporter George Winters look for the murderer and try to figure out who's trying to frame Jolie.  They need to stay ahead of whoever's mad at her and off the radar of the local police who tell Jolie -- for the hundredth time -- to butt out. For a cozy mystery with a dose of humor and a touch of romance, join Jolie and friends in Ocean Alley.

September 19th is the annual Talk Like a Pirate Day -- check to see if your local community has a fun event to celebrate.  If you can't find one (and even if you can!) join the celebration in Ocean Alley.

Book cover design by Patty G. Henderson. 
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Unique Beard Blue-Ribbon Winner at Iowa State Fair

By Elaine L. Orr

Creativity comes in many forms.  Some people write books.  Some people enter their best calf in the state fair, others bring super-sized tomatoes.  Not Don Larkin.  For three years running his creatively decorated beard has won the blue ribbon for most unique beard at the Iowa State Fair.

This year's beard was a triple-decker ice cream cone, which he says is Fairlicious.  It's also patriotic -- note the red, white, and blue flag on the cone.

The beard decorations began in 2010, with a nod to the product the state is most famous for -- corn.  Larkin deemed that year's remarkably realistic ear-of-corn beard as "Hick on a Stick."  He and hair stylist Lori McNew of E-Clips salon in Newton, Iowa spent a lot of time designing his ear of corn, which was created with beads and bottomed off with a corn husk.

The state may be recognized for corn, but the Iowa State Fair is perhaps best known for its butter cow.  Never one to dodge an opportunity for attention, since 2011 was the 100th anniversary of the butter cow, Larkin and McNew created "Butter Beard."

Larkin puts a lot of thought into his beard entries.  "No one in my immediate family has ever won a blue ribbon at the Iowa State Fair, and I wanted to end that non-streak.  I don't grow corn or make butter or ice cream, but I can sure can wear them."

The fair has always been a family event for the Larkins, with siblings coming from Michigan, Missouri, and Indiana to experience it again and son Joe taking photos.  And what does Larkin do with those blue ribbons?  He gives them to his mom.

Copyright 2012 by Elaine L. Orr.  Don Larkin is her brother-in-law.

Ice cream beard photo by Joe Larkin
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Family Reunion Yields Writing Projects

I returned yesterday from my annual sojourn to southwest Missouri for the annual Orr Reunion.  It celebrates a group of families that came to the U.S. between 1832 and about 1890 and had the foresight to begin getting together in 1937. I've written about the many diverse descendants in Orr, Camptell, Mitchell and Shirley Families: Descendants of Paul Orr and Isabelle Boyd in Ireland and America..  The best part is collecting the stories.

The book flap notes: From linen weavers and grain mill operators of Aghadowey Parish in Northern Ireland to the cities and plains of North America came the descendants of Paul Orr and Isabelle Boyd. While some did stay in Ireland, many came to America between 1832 and 1864, some in the mid-1880s. They worked in steel mills in Pennsylvania, helped build churches in Massachusetts and Missouri, farmed throughout the Midwest, taught school everywhere, and fought in two world wars on behalf of their country. Some died in the U.S. Army or its Air Corps, others in the RAF. The grain mills on rivers and creeks became flour companies in Missouri and they moved from one-room school houses to universities. The index of nearly 2,400+ names and many locations tells you how to find them, the stories told by their descendants bring the people to life. They began life in America in Lawrence and Jasper Counties in Missouri, Allen County, IN, and the Philadelphia, PA and Boston areas. The Ozark Prairie Presbyterian Church of Mount Vernon, MO is modeled after Aghadowey Presbyterian Church.

Wilma Baker with her late husband Bill, 2004

For many years two of our our attendees have been Wilma (age 93) and Mary Isabel (97).   Mary Isabel always gets the flowers for being the oldest attendee.  Mary Isabel has identified dozens of people in unmarked photos, and Wilma has been sorting through the historical info her late sister (Mary Eleanor Coffield) collected.  Mary Eleanor was a dedicated teacher, active civic volunteer, and collector of family and local history materials.  Wilma kept telling her to sort through her many books, articles, and family history documents, but Mary Eleanor seemed to always have something better to do.  Really, who wouldn't?

Mary Lou Orr gives flowers to Mary Isabel Matteson.

Each year, Wilma gets more sorting done and brings photos and newspaper clippings to the reunion. At first she did it out of a sense of duty, but she soon saw how much some of the materials meant to others in this large family.  For the first time, after the reunion I went to her house, about forty miles away.   Laying across a double bed were neatly organized piles of historical information.  I carefully scanned a number of things, assuming she would not want to part with them.  Wrong!

I wasn't sure what she had should leave Southwest Missouri, but her final point was compelling.  She has no children and was the last of five siblings.  "When I go, this will all be thrown away."  Not on my watch.

It's more important to look ahead than behind, but it is rewarding to find out that a great grandfather and his daughters made some of the finest linens in their part of Ireland, or that a distant cousin is credited with many of General Electric's first advances in refrigeration technology.  Not that they would have used the word technology.

Much of Wilma's material relates to the Stemmons family of Jasper and Lawrence Counties, MO, and some is handwritten from the late 1800s.  It details family history back to the 1700s.  Accepting such materials creates an obligation to share it, so I see more family history books in my future -- they will be shorter!

Note: Wilma Coffield Baker died in December 2012. It appears she was right to insist that I take the materials. She was a neat woman and wonderful musician.
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