What's coming to Meanderings and Muses . . .

 

I know many of you have not missed my political rants.

Well - I'm sorry, but I've been holding too much in for too long.

So be prepared.  Or - don't peek in until after November's election.  Possibly, not even then.  I understand.

My friend, and occasional blog advisor, Bill Crider, more than once, reminded me that Meanderings and Muses belongs to me.  It is, in many ways, my conscience.  What I share is up to me, and me alone.

Well.

I'm gonna be sharing  some things some of you are not gonna want to read.

So be it.

There will still be some book chats, some poetry, some recipes, some music and some art.

You'll still see and hear about me, Donald, and Annabelle, and our life here in the Meat Camp, NC mountains

But because all these things - things I hold dear - are affected by the state of our country, which affects the state of the world, politics is, sadly, a part of those things I hold dear.  A part of ALL our lives.

Don't ever believe your life isn't touched by politics; that's naive at best.

And never has it touched our lives more than at present.

Never.

We are at a crossroads.   

The November elections could possibly change our lives in ways we never imagined.

We're in a time in which we need to pay closer attention than ever before regarding what we know about those running for office - local and beyond.  We need, more than ever, to learn about, and pay attention to, the issues of their platforms and the truth about where they stand.  

Who's supporting them financially.

Broaden our knowledge.  Know how to separate the truth from the lies.  Recognize misinformation.

Understand that there are people who will gladly destroy the very foundations upon which this country has been built.

Besides my own opinions that I'll be sharing here, I'm going to share links to a number of political posts.  Some of those posts will be opinion pieces in many forms.  

Some will be lengthy pieces written by historians, constitutional law experts, politicians I believe to be knowledgeable and who have the good of our country in mind.

There will be public opinions from journalists, from political cartoonists, and from you, if you wish.

You're welcome to leave comments, but I'll warn you up front, hatefulness will not be tolerated and will not be published here.  

Additionally, if you have some favorite links that you subscribe to on a regular basis which you think will be pertinent and of interest,  please share them with me.

If you have something you personally wish to add, and would like me to publish it here, please let me know.   Your opinions are of interest to me.  Facts must be cited.

It the spirit of transparency, in case you didn't already know my political/moral standing, it can easily be summed up my statement that I believe Trump to be a monster; a dangerous man who instigated an insurrection in an attempt to overthrow the government of The United States of America.

 Here's a little refresher of that timeline from the Associated Press news

And i feel the need to talk about that, and so much more.

Beginning with this important reminder -

 1

That IS, by damn, a fact

1  https://www.usa.gov/branches-of-government

Bill Crider - RIP, Dear Man

Several years back, I played around with a theme centering on author friends' work spaces.

Several were gracious enough to send pictures, but Bill Crider did one better.  He sent a video.  Take a look -





When Bill told the mystery community about his cancer, knowing he didn't have much longer, the news was met with an enormous amount of sadness.

I think it's fair to say there's not another person in the mystery community as well loved, or as well respected as Bill Crider.


People started posting stories about him.


Pictures.


Sharing remembrances.


We all wanted to share our own Bill Crider stories.


I immediately went to my Meanderings and Muses archives to pull out pieces Bill wrote for me over the years.


I share them with you here.


http://www.meanderingsandmuses.com/2010/08/how-one-thing-leads-to-another-by-bill.html

http://www.meanderingsandmuses.com/2011/07/wild-hog-murders-by-bill-crider.html

http://www.meanderingsandmuses.com/2012/08/bill-crider-and-sheriff-dan-rhodes-two.html



He has always been one of the most generous of souls.  You would be hard-pressed to find a single word Bill Crider wrote in praise of himself, but you'll find plenty of words in which he's praising and supporting and helping others.  Including me and Meanderings and Muses.

http://www.meanderingsandmuses.com/2010/01/me-and-ellery-queen.html



When Bill first shared the news of his cancer, I wrote this.http://www.meanderingsandmuses.com/2016/07/dear-dr-crider.html

Goodbye, Bill.  You left the world a better place by virtue of  your very gentle presence.  Oh my - you will be missed.

Bill Crider - One of the best

I think it's fair to say that there isn't anyone in the mystery community as well loved and respected as Bill Crider. 


Yesterday he reached out to keep us all updated on his health.


December 5 - "Dear Facebook friends, tomorrow I enter home hospice care. It's only a matter of time before I won't be posting again, and as some of you have noticed, I haven't been posting much. I love you all and have valued your virtual friendship for a long time. I'm sorry to be leaving, but that's the way things go, sometimes."


And this at his blog - "Things could change, but I suspect this will be my final post on the blog. I met with some doctors at M. D. Anderson today, and they suggested that I enter hospice care. A few weeks, a few months is about all I have left. The blog has been a tremendous source of pleasure to me over the years, and I've made a lot of friends here. My only regret is that I have several unreviewed books, including Lawrence Block' fine new anthology, Alive in Shape and Color, and Max Allan Collins' latest collaboration with Mickey Spillane, The Last Stand, which is a collection of two novellas, "A Bullet for Satisfaction," an early Spillane manuscript with an interesting history, and "The Last Stand," the last thing that Spillane completed. It saddens me to think of all the great books by many writers that I'll never read. But I've had a great life, and my readers have been a big part of it. Much love to you all." 


His news was met with hearts breaking and tears shed by people who knew him well, and people who may not  have known him well, but were touched  by him in some way over the years.


People are posting stories about him.


Pictures.


Sharing remembrances.


We all love Bill Crider.


I immediately went to my Meanderings and Muses archives to pull out pieces Bill wrote for me over the years.


I share them with you here.


http://www.meanderingsandmuses.com/2010/08/how-one-thing-leads-to-another-by-bill.html

http://www.meanderingsandmuses.com/2011/07/wild-hog-murders-by-bill-crider.html

http://www.meanderingsandmuses.com/2012/08/bill-crider-and-sheriff-dan-rhodes-two.html



He has always been one of the most generous of souls.  You would be hard-pressed to find a single word Bill Crider wrote in praise of himself, but you'll find plenty of words in which he's praising and supporting and helping others.  Including me and Meanderings and Muses.

http://www.meanderingsandmuses.com/2010/01/me-and-ellery-queen.html



When Bill first shared the news of his cancer, I wrote this.
http://www.meanderingsandmuses.com/2016/07/dear-dr-crider.html

Bill Crider - if you're reading this; I love you to the moon and back, dear man.

Dear Dr. Crider

I know I usually call you Bill, but I often think I'll call you Dr. Crider just 'cause.  Just cause it seems to carry with it a bit of respect.  And I always think of you with respect.

You told someone one time during a conversation we were having at a mystery convention that you had never known me to back down from anything.

And it got me to thinking.

We're very different in a lot of ways, but also very much alike.

I tend to be loud and outspoken and brash.

You tend to be laid back and kind and gentle.

But strong.

A quiet strength people know they can count on.

You're one that we all know is always going to be there for us.

There's not a person in your world who hasn't received a quiet word of encouragement, a pat on the back, from you.

You don't do it in a way that's going to bring attention.

You do it in a way that's purely "Bill Crider."

I'm only one of many who has been on the receiving end of those kind, quiet words of care and encouragement.

And it means more than I have words to say.

This is my long, rambling "I'll get there eventually" way of saying I know you don't back down either.


And I know you won't now.


You'll fight and my money's on you.


So let's kick some cancer ass, what say?

You have about a hundred million beezillion people standing beside you while you do it.

And I think you can win.

In the meantime, here's a hug.

I love you to the moon and back, Dr. Bill Crider.

Get well so we can hang out at another mystery con and eat some more chocolate cake.


                                                  xxoo

                                                   Kaye

Bill Crider and Sheriff Dan Rhodes - Two of the best guys in the mystery world

Bill Crider (that’s me) was born in Mexia, Texas.  So were Les Baxter, Fred “Firpo” Marberry, and Don the Beachcomber.  Anna Nicole Smith was not.  You could look it up.  I went to school for a long time and eventually got a PhD.  The title of my dissertation was The Private-Eye Hero, which tells you something about my interests.  After getting my degree, I taught school and wrote books.  I’ve retired from teaching, but I’m still writing books, which is why I’m here on the blog today.  I’m married to the lovely Judy, and we have two grown offspring, Allen, who lives in Austin where he’s a recording engineer.  He also does sound for (and occasionally plays guitar in) the Cornell Hurd Band. Angela’s in San Francisco, where she’s an immigration attorney for Homeland Security.

My new book is Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen, and if I’m counting correctly, it’s the nineteenth book in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series.  Just to prove that I’m a “hip” and “with it” kind of a guy, this one has a book trailer, which you can see at this URL if you’re so inclined: http://goo.gl/yoTnh.  St. Martin’s has been doing some quite nice covers for me in the last few years, and this one for Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen no exception, as you can see in the video.  Or if you don’t care for trailers, you can see the cover at the book’s Amazon page (http://goo.gl/qKTJG).  Not that I’m asking you to order it or anything.  You can get it at many fine independent bookstores, too.

Okay, now that the shameless commerce department is closed, I’ll tell you a little bit about the book.  If you’ve read the other eighteen books in the series (as surely you have), you know that living in Blacklin County, Texas, can be pretty dangerous, especially in the county seat, Clearview.  They seem to be averaging a murder or two a year there, and this time the victim is a young woman who works in The Beauty Shack. There have been a few suspicious characters seen hanging around in the abandoned building across the street, and that’s the first place Sheriff Rhodes checks.  Sure enough, he runs into trouble, and this leads to some other problems in the little town, which has been experiencing a lot of thefts of copper and aluminum.  And car batteries.  As usual, aspiring amateur sleuth Seepy Benton wants in on the action.

It turns out that the murder victim had an active social life, including close friendships with a number of prominent citizens in the town.  They are not happy to have their privacy invaded by the investigation, and they want the murder solved immediately.  They also don’t want their involvement to be known.  Those things aren’t as easy to achieve as they’d like them to be, of course, and Rhodes is also dealing with other little things, including drivers who think the sheriff’s job includes changing flat tires for them.  There’s never a dull moment in Blacklin County.

To find out if the sheriff changes the tire, and to listen in on some of his conversations with the usual crew at the jail, you’ll have to read the book.  I’m hoping this will be the one that puts me on the NYTBR bestseller list, makes Sheriff Rhodes as famous as Jack Reacher, and gets me a big movie deal, though there’s not much chance of that.  The sheriff gets beaten up a lot more than Reacher does, and so far Tom Cruise hasn’t come calling about playing Rhodes.  All the actors I’d originally hoped might one day play Rhodes in a movie have gotten a bit old for the part by now.  They’ve aged, but Rhodes hasn’t.  Well, not as much as they have, at least.  He’s lucky that way.  But I digress.  You should buy the book, make me rich, and help me and the sheriff start living in the style to which we’d like to become accustomed.  As always, we thank you for your support.

 

Thanks, too, to the gracious Kaye Barley for giving me this opportunity to say a few words about my new book. It’s always a privilege and a pleasure to visit Meanderings and Musings.

The Wild Hog Murders by Bill Crider

I was borned on a mountain top in Tennessee and kilt me a b’ar when I was only three! No, wait, that was Davy Crockett. Sometimes I get the two of us confused. I’ve been in a bar or two, though, and in the winter I sometimes cover up with a kilt. Or a quilt. I’m getting confused again. At any rate, I’m pretty sure I’m the author of more than fifty published novels and numerous short stories and that I won the Anthony Award for best first mystery novel in 1987 for Too Late to Die. I was even nominated for the Shamus Award for best first private-eye novel for Dead on the Island, and I won the coveted Golden Duck award for “best juvenile science fiction novel” for Mike Gonzo and the UFO Terror. My wife, Judy, and I won the best short story Anthony in 2002 for “Chocolate Moose.” My story “Cranked” from Damn Near Dead (Busted Flush Press) was nominated for the Edgar award for best short story. Check out my homepage at http://billcrider.com/ or take a look at my peculiar blog at http://billcrider.blogspot.com/

The Wild Hog Murders

by Bill Crider

What’s all this about wild hogs?  

Well, the truth is that feral pigs are a terrible problem in Texas. For years they’ve infested the country, and now they’re moving into the cities.  There are over two million of them in this state alone, probably about half the nationwide population.  They’ve gotten so bad that the during its last session, the Texas legislature made it legal to hunt them from helicopters. 

Since I’m always ahead of the curve on these things, I’ve been featuring wild hogs in my Sheriff Dan Rhodes series since the very beginning, back in 1986.  The sheriff had a pretty serious encounter with some feral pigs in that book, and for some reason they’ve been mentioned in just about every book since.  My sister called me one day after reading an article about them and said she thought it was time for me to make them the focus of a whole book.  I was thinking about starting a new book at the time, and it sounded good to me, so that’s what I did.

Someone asked me the other day if I’d ever gotten up close and personal with any feral pigs.  The answer is that I haven’t.  I do, however, own some land that’s overrun with them.  When my father died some years ago, my brother and sister and I inherited his ranch.  My brother now oversees the property, and he’s tried just about everything (except hunting the porcine destroyers from a helicopter) to get rid of them.  

Nothing works.  They root up the fields, they carry parasites and disease, and they breed faster than rabbits. 

I’m not the only one who’s talking about those pesky porkers these days.  You can check out YouTube if you want to see videos of people hunting them.  Or if you like more conventional television, the A&E network is about to present a new series called American Hoggers, about a family that makes a profession of hunting feral pigs.  I suppose this is more toward the “entertainment” half of the network’s name rather than the “arts” part.  Some people might even find it questionable entertainment. 

My book is plenty entertaining, though.  Trust me.  And while you’re trusting me, buy a copy and put a nice review on Amazon.  Help me to become rich and famous and to start living in the style to which I’d like to become accustomed. 

The sheriff and I thank you.

How one thing leads to another . . . . by Bill Crider

I was borned on a mountain top in Tennessee and kilt me a b’ar when I was only three! No, wait, that was Davy Crockett. Sometimes I get the two of us confused. I’ve been in a bar or two, though, and in the winter I sometimes cover up with a kilt. Or a quilt. I’m getting confused again. At any rate, I’m pretty sure I’m the author of more than fifty published novels and numerous short stories and that I won the Anthony Award for best first mystery novel in 1987 for Too Late to Die. I was even nominated for the Shamus Award for best first private-eye novel for Dead on the Island, and I won the coveted Golden Duck award for “best juvenile science fiction novel” for Mike Gonzo and the UFO Terror. My wife, Judy, and I won the best short story Anthony in 2002 for “Chocolate Moose.” My story “Cranked” from Damn Near Dead (Busted Flush Press) was nominated for the Edgar award for best short story. Check out my homepage at http://billcrider.com/ or take a look at my peculiar blog at http://billcrider.blogspot.com/

How one thing leads to another . . .

by Bill Crider


When I was getting ready to write Murder in the Air, I started off with a title and a murder victim’s name. That was about all I had. (The title was entirely different from the one that the book has now, but that’s another story.) While I was looking for something to hang a plot on, I remembered something my brother had told me about. He still lives near our old hometown, and for years he’s been on a crusade to do something about the stench that (he claimed) is engulfing the entire county because of the proliferation of factory chicken farms. He’d written letters to the newspaper, to his state representative, to the air quality control board, and to everyone else he could think of. Nothing had been done, however. “You should write a book about it,” he told me. So I did. I made the murder victim the owner of a factory farm, and the book grew out of that.

Now anybody who’s read the Sheriff Dan Rhodes books (and if you haven’t, what’s the matter with you?) knows that they’re meant to amuse and entertain. But there’s more, I think. If you collected the reviews of them written over the years, you’d find the words “laid back” and “low key” repeated often. Because of that, people never seem to think the books have serious themes. In fact, I might be the only one who thinks they do. I’ve always thought that humorous books can be just as serious as any others, and underneath the fun in my books, I usually have something more to say. So Murder in the Air isn’t so different in that respect. And of course it’s not heavy-handed. I don’t do heavy. If you want heavy, do some reading about factory poultry farms. But not if you ever want to eat fried chicken again.

As for me, I keep things light, which, of course, explains the cast of continuing characters in the Sheriff Rhodes books, including this one.. One of those characters, Seepy Benton, is a guy I was so fond of that I moved him to Blacklin County from another series after it was canceled. I had so much fun writing about him that I couldn’t let him languish on the Island of Forgotten Characters, so the rest of the people in those books will have to survive there without him. Since Sheriff Rhodes is such a down-to-earth guy, he needs people like Seepy and Hack and Lawton around.

And speaking of the sheriff being down-to-earth, in this book he has an experience that’s a little bit out of the ordinary, at least for him. It’s more like the kind of thing that would happen to Seepy. Mystical? Not quite, but something close to that. You’ll have to read the book to see what I mean.

And that reminds me. The whole purpose of this little exercise is to tempt you to buy the book. I need the sales, folks. In fact, if the book doesn’t do well, Sheriff Rhodes might have to travel off to that little island I mentioned up above. I’d sure hate that. I’ve gotten used to having him around. So help me and the sheriff out. Buy the book.

Thanks to Kaye for inviting me here! As usual, the sheriff and I thank you for your support.

and, ta DA!, here's where Bill writes all these terrific books - - -

Me and Ellery Queen

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine is the longest running mystery fiction magazine still in existence, having been launched in 1941. You'll always find first rate short story fiction by well established writers and big name authors. You'll also be able catch a glimpse of some brilliant new kids just coming into their own, as EQMM accepts and welcome any and all submissions. It has always been an honor to be included between the covers of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.

and this month you can find a little nod to me and Meanderings and Muses.

Yay!!

Thanks to Bill Crider.

Bill Crider is one of the good guys.

He is truly one of the most universally admired and respected and loved people you could ever hope to meet. He's been an integral part of the mystery/crime fiction community for a long time.


He's the well-known author of the much loved Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mystery Series - the latest of which, MURDER IN FOUR PARTS, was published in 2009. The next, MURDER IN THE AIR, will be published this year. In addition to writing novels and short stories, he also pens the Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine.

But shoot - that's enough about that guy! You get the picture, right? He's great and he's one terrific writer, so if you're not familiar with his work, I encourage you to check him out. You will thank me.

Anyhoooooo0 -

Back to me and Ellery Queen.

Bill Crider is an Ellery Queen monthly contributor with his "Blog Bytes." And here's some of what he has to say about moi . . . "Kaye Barley seemed to be having more fun than just about anyone at Bouchercon. Her blog is Meanderings and Muses . . . . Besides her excellent Bouchercon report, filled with pictures of just about everybody who was there (except me), you'll find book give-aways, lots of guest blogs by crime and mystery writers from all over, and, of course, a few meanderings and muses. Check it out."

Y'all. How lovely is that?!

I couldn't believe it though when I read that there was not one single picture of Bill Crider in my Bouchercon 2009 piece! How could that be? I remember running into him in the book room and having a little chat. What on earth happened that I didn't grab the nearest soul and insist they take our picture? Everyone was pretty much onto me by then, I'm thinking, knowing to give me a wide berth or be pressed into "photo duty."

BUT.

I do have a picture I'm quite proud of from Bouchercon 2008. Why lookie here . . .

Judy & Bill Crider, and me - ta da!

And of course, I expect you all to hang around and check back as often as you can, but do plan on a visit right here with our Mr. Crider in August.

Patti Abbott's "Friday's Forgotten Books"

Looking through Kaye’s wonderful archives, I see my story of coming to writing fiction late in life has been done by several other people. No sense boring you with another tale of being a latecomer. Briefly, I was born in Philadelphia, married at nineteen and moved to Michigan where my husband took a university teaching position, raised two wonderful children (Megan and Josh), did all the motherly things. One day I took a writing class, began to write poetry (awful) and then short stories (better). At this point I have published more than sixty stories in various publications and won a Derringer Award last year for a flash fiction piece. I love writing short stories and am so glad I found something I could do—even if it came late.

What I’d like to talk about on Meanderings and Muses is a project near and dear to my heart—and one I hope some of you might join. Friday’s Forgotten Books. How did it begin?

My husband and I like to spend winter Saturday afternoons scavenging in antique stores. We have no expensive collections—we just like junk. Often these shops would have cases of dusty books. And the books on their shelves were ones I remembered from my youth, the ones no one reads today. There they would sit, begging for someone to spend a dollar or two on them: A.J. Cronin, Sloan Wilson, Patricia Moyes, Nicholas Blake, John Marquand—well, you know the list if you’re of a certain age. All of them were well- regarded forty years ago but forgotten today. I wanted these books to be saved from the scrap heap. I couldn’t buy them all-or even more than a few— but I wanted to.

And then it occurred to me—I had a blog. A blog that was linked to a lot of other blogs. Maybe a few of those bloggers would join me in talking about a book they remembered but feared others had forgotten. So I asked a few people I had gotten to know a little on the Internet to write a short review. I posted links to their blogs and my own first review (Desperate Characters by Paula Fox) on my blog in April, 2008. I figured the project might last a few weeks because I would run out of people to ask for help very quickly.

Bill Crider saved the project. I didn’t know it at first but he wrote a second review the next week and a third review the week after. I’d never considered that some people might be willing to write more than one review. If it weren’t for Bill, the project would have died a quick death. For eighteen months, Bill has written a review every week. And a number of other bloggers have nearly matched him in this feat. Each week, I try to find a few new people to feature on my blog and post links to the rest of the crew. We average 15- 20 reviews a week. The Rap Sheet and J. Kingston Pierce joined in with their similar project-“The Book You Have to Read” early on, too. This added some heft to the idea that we would talk about old books—every Friday. It became more than just my project.

Occasionally, we talk about short stories, or kid’s books, movies, or non-fiction, but mostly I leave the genre up to the reviewer. Once or twice, I had to scramble to find a new review to post on my blog, but on the whole, it’s been a pleasure and a joy for me. And I hope anyone reading this that hasn’t done one (or those who have) will get in touch with me. The lists of books and reviewers are available at
http://patti-fridaysforgottenbooks.blogspot.com/
And the original reviews are in my archives at http://pattinase.blogspot.com.

Thanks to Kaye for inviting me to write this. And thanks to the more than 200 people who have written a review.