A Place Called Spring Hollow by Radine Trees Nehring

For more than 20 years, Radine Trees Nehring's magazine features, essays, newspaper articles, and radio broadcasts have shared colorful stories about people, places, events, and the natural world near her Arkansas home.

In 2002, Radine's first mystery novel, A VALLEY TO DIE FOR, was published, and in 2003 became a Macavity Award nominee.  Since then she has continued to enthrall her original fans and attract new ones with her signature blend of down-home Ozarks sightseeing and amateur sleuthing by lovable active retirees Henry King and Carrie McCrite King.

This blog post is taken from an essay in my non-fiction book DEAR EARTH: A Love Letter from Spring Hollow.  It tells a bit about why John and I live in the Ozarks, and has nothing at all to do with my mystery writing--other than the enormous fact all my "To Die For" mysteries are set in the Ozarks that I love.  (The book is available a multitude of places, including for Kindle.)
                                                                               Radine

    
    
A Place Called Spring Hollow
by Radine Trees Nehring

        It didn't happen because we were planning an escape. We didn't know we needed one.

        I did believe what Grandpa told me. He said it was important to love the land. He lived that love. He owned a farm.

        Most people in the city would have said Grandpa was poor, at least if you were counting money. I noticed, though, that his chickens had a bigger yard to run in than his city grandchildren did. On Grandpa's farm there were pastures, woods, and a creek. Playing at the farm on weekends, I began to think like Grandpa: "The land is wealth."

        When I was five, my father dug up part of our backyard and planted a vegetable garden. I followed behind him in the freshly turned dirt and helped push bean seeds out of sight. A few days later I saw the bent stems of bean sprouts backing up out of the ground, pulling casings and embryo leaves behind them. Even in the city the earth was full of miracles.

        I think the real reason it happened, though, is because John and I are dreamers. We have known that for a long time.

        When we were first married, many people were talking about going back to the land. John and I read books about homesteading. The idea of living in the country sounded romantic, but homesteading made us think of cutting firewood with an ax and milking goats. Neither of us wanted to milk goats, and we were trained for city jobs. How could we live in the country?

        I compromised. We dug up a square in the backyard and I planted tomatoes. My few tomato plants, protected and fed by chemicals in bottles, eventually expanded to two hundred square feet of organic garden with all kinds of vegetables growing in manure and compost.

        One summer when vacation time came, John and I drove east. We were looking forward to L.L. Bean and all the lobster we could eat. We found a log cabin on the coast of Maine, and sat on its porch dressed in jeans and T-shirts, looking out at acres of forest and a patch of wild blueberries. As we sat there we began talking about owning a log cabin and living in it, and about what kind of jobs we might find. Two weeks later we drove two thousand miles so we could put on our oxford-cloth shirts and go back to work in the city.

        And we kept doing that. Every summer during vacation we found a remote spot, and before we had been there a week we were pretending we belonged. We always talked about buying land, and building a cabin, and moving. We talked about jobs we might find. Then we went back to Tulsa, our city in the center of the United States, and to the same jobs we had returned to the year before, and the year before that, and ....

        When I think about it now, the three weeks each summer when we were pretending are clearer and more real to me than any of the other forty-nine weeks of the year ever were.

        One April we went on a weekend camping trip in the Ozarks highlands, one hundred twenty-five miles from our home city.

        We came to the campground after dark on Friday. In the morning we woke up in a grove of dogwood trees in full bloom. We sat together in the open back door of our van looking out at acres of dogwood blossoms, and we began talking about buying land, and about building a cabin, and about what kind of jobs we might find. When we went back to work on Monday we were still only one hundred twenty-five miles from the dogwood grove.

        Four weeks later, an Ozarks real estate agent showed us the tree-covered hillside that tilted down into a hollow holding a spring and a tiny creek. The hollow was filled with dogwood trees.

        The following Saturday we were signing papers at the bank. On the first of June our place had a name. We called it Spring Hollow.

        Now it was time to stop dreaming. We still had city jobs and a home and garden in the city. Spring Hollow was our future. The land was ours; it could wait. We could now tend to business in the city without dreaming.

        Until Friday.

        On Fridays, most city dwellers finish planning weekend activities. There is housecleaning, and maybe yard work. In a city full of working people, the most pleasurable diversions take place on weekends, and city newspapers have long lists of things to see and do.

        On the Saturday after we bought Spring Hollow, John and I didn't discuss weekend plans. We got out the picnic basket and made lunch. Before nine A.M. we were in our old van, heading for the Ozarks highlands.


Radine Trees Nehring
http://www.RadinesBooks.com
JOURNEY TO DIE FOR--print, Kindle, Nook, ebook
Silver Falchion winner, 2010 

The Importance of Reading . . . and Writing! by Radine Trees Nehring

For more than 20 years, Radine Trees Nehring's magazine features, essays, newspaper articles, and radio broadcasts have shared colorful stories about people, places, events, and the natural world near her Arkansas home.

In 2002, Radine's first mystery novel, A VALLEY TO DIE FOR, was published, and in 2003 became a Macavity Award nominee.  Since then she has continued to enthrall her original fans and attract new ones with her signature blend of down-home Ozarks sightseeing and amateur sleuthing by lovable active retirees Henry King and Carrie McCrite King.  With her sixth novel, JOURNEY TO DIE FOR, which continues the series' pattern of earning "Best Mystery" awards,  Nehring takes her characters and readers for a ride on a historic train line into the middle of trouble, intrigue, and murder.          ALL ABOARD!

Radine Trees Nehring
The TO DIE FOR mystery series.
http://www.RadinesBooks.com
Now boarding: Take a JOURNEY TO DIE FOR. 

The Importance of Reading...and Writing!

by Radine Trees Nehring
 
I have several friends who are school teachers, and I've have heard their gripes that, these days, teaching has become a matter of preparing students for required tests to show whether or not they have mastered basic skills.  "Alas, no more processing of ideas, no more creative thinking," one said.
       
While I don't believe for a minute this is entirely true, still the trend is worrying, especially in light of what we see around us in the United States today.  I imagine everyone reading this has lamented over the decline in reading generally, especially among young people.  Oh, they can read and transmit brief bursts of information by tweeting, texting, and so on.  They can enjoy all kinds of video games and video-led interaction, plus today's version of the comic book.  (Lots of pictures telling a story.)  But, CAN THEY READ AND THINK?  Are they able to process ideas that require more than a quick grab of "mt u DQ, 8."?          

Well, as of yet, you won't find the abbreviated language of text messaging in books, whether read electronically or from paper pages.  Real reading requires a certain degree of quiet, of concentration, and of thought processing.  Even the wildest race-through-it thrillers demand this from a reader.
       
Most mature folks certainly read when they were in school, but many of them, (us?) too, have jumped through an information time warp and now find it easier to get news from TV sound bites, and Internet and radio rants.  Reading--and thinking about what we read--seems to be old-fashioned and too time-consuming.
       
My interest in this subject was enlivened recently by an article in the Spring, 2010 issue of the "Authors Guild Bulletin."  Katherine Paterson, author of THE BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA, and other award-winning books for young people, was interviewed by Nicola Smith.  In the article Paterson is quoted as saying, "...unless people read, I don't think they are thinking deeply....  If you're going to have a democracy, you need thinking people."
       
Wow.  A link between sustaining democracy and reading?  That makes our efforts to promote what I will now call "Real Reading" doubly important.  So, what can you and I do?         

We can READ.  Newspapers, books, magazines.  (Does this seem too obvious?)        

We can carry a Kindle (or one of its cousins), or a printed-on-paper book in public as frequently as possible., and read on subways, airplanes, in waiting rooms, and while waiting in line.  (Might help create interest in reading if we aren't afraid to laugh or exclaim or even make comments while reading.  Honestly, no one will call the cops.  And, didn't you always want to be seen as  a bit different, and definitely above average?)        

READ TO KIDS.  (And ham it up if possible.)  If there are no kids in the home, how about volunteering to read anywhere kids gather.  In Christian Sunday School classes read entire stories directly from the Bible in book form.  (Basic Jewish and Muslim teachings require mastery of religious text by young people.)  Ask about volunteering to read children's books aloud in libraries, day care centers, clubs for youngsters.        

Broaden your reach!  PROMOTE TEACHING WOMEN AND GIRLS in far-away countries TO READ.  Donate to organizations supporting this.
       
GIVE BOOKS AS GIFTS.  Honor friends and family by picking books you're sure they'll enjoy.        

TALK ABOUT READING:  "Oh, is that what he said?  It's quite an idea, but just last week I read..."
       
Or maybe:  "I just finished a book about (fill blank--maybe taking care of your car?) and now I can change my oil with confidence."  (Perhaps more impressive:  "I just read this book and now I understand the International Monetary System--I think.")
       
OR:  "Have you read JOURNEY TO DIE FOR by Radine Trees Nehring?"  (Well, it could be ANY novel.)  "Loved the story, it seemed real, and the characters were like real people.  I was interested in seeing how they worked through problems."  Or:  "Great adventure."  Or, perhaps:  "Learned a lot about (again, fill the blank)." And so on.         

VOLUNTEER TO TEACH READING to young people and adults in your area who are struggling with this skill.  

WRITE.   If you're a writer, for heaven's sake keep doing it.  Let people know what you do and that you enjoy it.  (You do, don't you?)  Join a local writers' group and read your work aloud for critique.  If possible, meet in public places where your presence, as REAL writers, might draw passers-by to see what's going on.  And be sure others can tell what fun you're having!

Here's something else Katherine Paterson said during Smith's interview:   "If you don't read and you don't think about what you read, your ability to see other people's points of view is diminished, as is the ability to process complicated information or opinion."
        
Doesn't  this sound like something we really, truly need today? 

Doesn't Everyone Love Getting a Book for Christmas?!

Well, of course they do!

At least, it's a darn good bet that all of you do.

And 'tis the season for all us bloggers to tell you what we recommend, right?!

And you pay very close attention to what we say, right?!

We're the experts, right?!

Well, some are - but not me.

In my case - although no expert, I am fairly opinionated (yes, yes, yes - I know you know that by now).

I've read a ton of books this year, and many of them made a strong enough impression that I'm able to easily and fondly remember them months later. For someone like me who has a hard time remembering last night's supper, this is a true test. Some of my favorites this year were by writers on my "auto-buy authors list." Some were by some new kids on the block, and some were by "new to me" authors. Here's the thing. While reading my favorite blogs over the past week or two, what I saw were recommendations for mystery/crime fiction novels that I would also recommend (which tells me all those other blogger people have terrific taste! Right?!). So. Instead of repeating what all those other ultra smart blogging friends of mine are saying, I'm going to recommend only one book.

Not a mystery.

Not a thriller.

Not even in the crime fiction genre.

Not even fiction.

But it's a book I am SO proud of I cannot shut up about it.

Have you figured it out yet?


Let me tell you what some other people are saying . . .


Julie Parker, Western North Carolina Woman Magazine - - " . . . We are so excited about this book because it is, like WNC WOMAN, a superb vehicle for collecting and sharing tales of the strength, wisdom and grace of the women of these beautiful mountains." (WNC Woman also reprinted several of the pieces from the book - including mine! What an honor, and a huge thrill. Yay, me!!!)

The Laurel of Asheville gives Clothes Lines a half page ad! "Wheeeeee" says one of our editors. And rightly so!

From Rob Neufeld, The Read on WNC - - "To see all these writers well represented in a single volume is a treat and a service."

Former North Carolina Poet Laureate and contributor to Clothes Lines - Kathryn Stripling Byer at her blog "Here, Where I Am", - - - ". . . This anthology of work about clothes and how we women get tangled up in them has just been published and its cover looks like a writer's shawl, don't you think? One she'd throw around her shoulders before heading out for the cafe, the salon, the bookstore, the poetry reading! The 75 western North Carolina women in this book would probably love to fling such a shawl round themselves and head out to make the literary scene in style."

Radine Trees Nehring, Author of the "Something to Die For" mystery series wrote this at the well known, long lived, much loved, on-line mystery forum; DorothyL - - - "Just finished CLOTHES LINES, edited by Celia H. Miles and Nancy Dillingham. WOW, every woman here on DL should read this, though it is not a mystery. It's a collection of essays, little stories (true) and poetry by 75 women from western North Carolina. Kaye Barley is one of the authors, with her "Needing a Little Something Red in My Life." I loved Kaye's thoughtful opinion piece and tell-all about wearing red (and indeed, it seems wearing red, especially red shoes, cheers many women here and in the general population). I think all female readers will find many things that cause them (sure caused me) to click their tongues, smile, and say "Yesssss!" A couple other favorites of mine were "Let's Talk Bras" by Nancy Purcell, and "Sixty-Something," a poem by Janice Townley Moore. And...oh shoot, I loved it all. Poignant, funny, REAL. Enjoy!"

And with permission from the authors, I offer you these little samples of the loveliness to be found between the covers of "Clothes Lines, from 75 western North Carolina women writers." (Catawba Publishing Company, ISBN 978-1-59712-355-6)

"Too-Tight, Just-Right Jeans"
by Gwendie Camp

It has been a long time since I tried to put on a tight pair of jeans (I value comfort way too much), but, from what I remember, here's how it's done. You start by carefully inserting each of your legs a little way into the appropriate pants leg, and then you need to immediately lie down, preferably on a soft bed, because otherwise the rest of this will hurt.

Keep one hand on the waistband so the jeans don’t fall off onto the floor, because then you’d have to start over, and once you start this, there’s no going back.

OK, now you’ve got yourself lying on the bed, holding on for dear life to these too-tight, just-right jeans. Slowly start inching the waistband up your legs, covering up more and more skin. This part should be easy, otherwise you’re never gonna get these suckers on. And I’m assuming you’ve already got your underpants on, if you wear underpants, that is. Underpants can leave a tell-tale line when you’re done, but your crotch will thank you for them.

Now, you’re lying there wiggling and tossing and turning and inching those jeans up toward your waist. Everything is going good until you get to your crotch. Here you might want to pause and reconnoiter. You need to have every inch of your legs inside those jean legs, or else this is not gonna work. In fact, if you can pull the pants legs up a little bit onto your bottom, so much the better. You’re gonna to need every inch of fabric you can get.

Here comes the hard part. You’ve got both legs in the jeans. You’re lying on your back. Now you push your heels down into the mattress and raise your fanny off the bed a few inches—if you can. If you can’t, you can’t wear these jeans.

And then, as fast as you can, you snake that fabric up as far as it will go. Then you collapse for a minute until you get your strength and your breath back. I forgot to mention that you’d probably be holding your breath through this last part, and it can get pretty tiring in a hurry.

If you are in luck, the jeans are up near your waist, but they aren’t zipped or buttoned. I hope you thought ahead and got jeans that zip, because you you're never going to get them buttoned.

So now you’ve rested up a bit. For the coup de grace, you take in a big breath, blow it out as hard as you can, and suck that belly in farther than you’ve ever done before. And AT THE SAME TIME (this is the tricky part) you pull like crazy on that little zipper tab. You may have to get some help here if you’re not real strong.

Let’s say you got the zipper most of the way to the top. Now you stand up—on the floor, not the bed - and you jump up and down a few times. Again, at the SAME TIME you suck in that gut and inch the zipper up. Whew, it’s done.

But now there’s this roll of skin at the top. Looks like you’re wearing one of those kiddie swimming rings. So to get rid of that, you bend over and try to touch your toes about a million times, attempting to stretch out the fabric. If that doesn’t work, you can do a bunch of deep knee bends. You might want to hold onto the side of the bed for that. By this time if you aren’t zipped up and mostly covered by those jeans, it's not going to happen.

The last step is to ask your beloved “Do these jeans make my butt look big?”

"Finding Our Line"
by Nancy Dillingham

Every day
we shape our clay
from the inside out
giving it cachet

But sometimes
it's the clothes we wear
that give us away
that give us away

Curves, straight lines
diagonals, in-your-face style
au courant, de rigueur
faux, retro

Similarly
we define ourselves as writers
shape our style

The curve of the plot
the turn of the phrase
the tone of the prose--
it's the pattern of patter
that matters

We preen, we pose
give color to character
and landscape
decorate and align

weaving a provocative story
stitching a tall tale
spinning a yarn
threading a thrme

piecing a poem
with precision and panache
punctuating with élan
finding our line

"Sixty-Something"
by Janice Townley Moore

As I bronze with gel
my veiny feet, slide them
into the glittery cages
of flip-flops, showing off
plum brulee polish on nails
topped with sequins -
I see my grandmother
at my age, her stockings
rolled down around her ankles
sturdy above the black oxfords
she wore through summer's swelter.
Now she stretches to pin
a basketful of clothes
on the ropey line.
Her seersucker dress
drags its hem in the red dust.
She never dreams the joy
of bending over to flaunt
a purple thong and a graceful
monarch settled forever
above the dimple
on the right buttock.



There you go. Little teasers from a terrific book. Check back, 'cause I may be adding more.




"Clothes Lines" is available from Celia Miles at celiamiles@fastmail.fm for $22.00 including postage.

Wednesday Evening Meanderings

Donald and I have just gotten flu shots today.

First flu shots we've ever gotten in our 24 + years together. The only time either of us has had the flu was the first year we were together and we were two very sick puppies. We both missed two and a half weeks of work. That's a huge chunk of missed work at one time!

Since then, we've both had a few pretty bad colds and I had bronchitis once and thought it was going to absolutely put me in my grave, but basically we're two of the healthiest people I know.

All this flu talk this year, along with the fact that I'll be getting on a plane next Wednesday, helped us decide that we might need to break with our "no flu shots" tradition. And so we did. Now we'll just see how it goes. This was the seasonal flu shot, the H1N1 shots won't be available till later, and the way I understand it - that's being recommended in addition to the seasonal shot. Seems like an awful lot of shots to me.

I've not been overly impressed with the seasonal shot in the past - seems like whatever vaccine is chosen ends up being the wrong one to fight that year's flu. But oh well - what do I know.

Anyway. We've had our shots.

But I don't really want to talk about the flu, or flu shots.

Many of you are members of DorothyL, so you'll be familiar with this lovely little book that I do want to talk about. THE WRITER'S JOURNEY JOURNAL: Inspiration, Information and Humor to help you find your way as a writer. It came up in conversation at DorothyL just this week. It is a lovely little book! It's compiled and edited by Tony Burton, and it's available through Wolfmont Press. Mine was a gift from my friend Radine Trees Nehring who writes the "Something to Die for" mystery series, which I adore. In the first book of the series, A VALLEY TO DIE FOR, this passage in the introduction grabbed me, and the series has maintained its hold on my heart ever since. "She began to turn slowly, still looking up into the treetops. She was, she decided, performing a symbolic ritual--turning away from asphalt, traffic, lined-up buildings, and rushing people. She was also turning away from Mrs. Amos Anderson McCrite, city wife. She was now Carrie Culpeper McCrite, independent woman, and Ozarks forest dweller.

She stood in a green well with walls unbroken by anything but the narrow window of her lane to the road."

This passage SO perfectly describes the very feelings I had the day Donald and I moved into this little house we now live in here in Boone, NC. We moved to this little town in the North Carolina mountains from Atlanta. And I did feel just like Carrie; like I was turning away from asphalt, traffic, lined-up buildings, and rushing people. I was totally blown away that someone could write what I was feeling! I immediately felt a kinship towards Ms. Nehring, but had no idea we would go on to become friends.

I was touched and honored by Radine's gift. I admired it, I picked it up over and over and read the essays included - many written by people from the mystery community who I know, or know of, and I enjoyed reading the quotes included on the top of each page. It's a simple delight. But I never wrote the first word in it. During a recent conversation about THE WRITER'S JOURNEY JOURNAL at DorothyL, I mentioned that I may have finally decided that I was actually ready to put the journal to the use for which it was intended and actually write in it. Maybe.

I've been in the terrible habit of jotting down ideas about things I want to blog about on whatever's handy - my desk calendar, a sticky note, the backs of envelopes - you know what I mean. We're all guilty of jotting those odd and random little notes to ourselves, many of which we never see again. One of the DorothyL members, Jenny Milchman, who writes the wonderful "Suspense Your Disbelief" blog suggested a fun thing. Start using the darn book, and then put a copy of one of the pages from the journal with my notes on it right here in Meanderings and Muses. So here 'tis. You probably can't read my notes, and that's O.K. - they're all ideas that will end up here anyway, and probably pretty soon. And I must say - allowing myself to finally write in my Writer's Journey Journal is fun. It's satisfying, fulfilling, makes me smile and it's just . . . fun. I've always been a firm believer in doing little things for ourselves which make us happy. We all need to allow ourselves little pleasures that bring us those feelings of fulfillment and bring forth a smile. Life is short. We only get to do it once. No dress rehearsal, as that saying goes. So why not do it with a smile? And if it's something as small as allowing yourself to write in a sparkly new journal, with bright shiny pages begging to be written upon, then what's the hold-up?! Go ahead, write away, then sit back and admire how beauteous 'YOUR' words look upon that page.

And now -

I LOVE give-aways, and wish I could do more of them.

I'm going to work on that.

But while I'm doing that, I do have a copy of a book I'd love to give to someone who might be interested.

Nope - NOT a copy of THE WRITER'S JOURNEY JOURNAL - Sorry! You'll have to find your own copy of that (and you should!).

But, if you're interested in receiving a copy of another book I've been squealing about here at Meanderings and Muses lately, (squealing about quite a lot, actually), just leave a comment at the bottom of this post. I'll draw a name on Saturday, and post the winning name on Sunday. Please check on Sunday, and if you're the winner, send me an email with your mailing address so I can get the book in the mail to you on Monday. (If we don't take care of this on Sunday and Monday, it will have to wait till I return from Bouchercon, and I'd rather not have it wait that long. )

Have you guessed what the book is?! Bet you have!

Here tis - ta DA!



Clothes Lines from 75 western North Carolina women writers.

i just love this book.

Friday Night Meanderings

This has been a particularly fun filled, eventful week. I've had some very sweet blessings bestowed upon me, like a sparkly tiara placed upon my head.

My friend Radine Trees Nehring, author of the "Something to Die For" mystery series which I adore, left the following at DorothyL:

"WOMEN ONLY: Just finished CLOTHES LINES, edited by Celia H. Miles and Nancy Dillingham. WOW, every woman here on DL should read this, though it is not a mystery. It's a collection of essays, little stories (true) and poetry by 75 women from western North Carolina. Kaye Barley is one of the authors, with her "Needing a Little Something Red in My Life." I loved Kaye's thoughtful opinion piece and tell-all about wearing red (and indeed, it seems wearing red, especially red shoes, cheers many women here and in the general population). I think all female readers will find many things that cause them (sure caused me) to click their tongues, smile, and say "Yesssss!" A couple other favorites of mine were "Let's Talk Bras" by Nancy Purcell, and "Sixty-Something," a poem by Nancy Townley Moore. And...oh shoot, I loved it all. Poignant, funny, REAL. Enjoy!"

'Course, now I've already squealed about winning the MWA Hot Ticket Event at Bouchercon for Lee Child, and - well, I guess I'm still squealing about it a little bit. But in case you missed it, please see the post below (big grin).

While I was squealing about that a few days ago (please see the post below), I came across a lovely little surprise that had been left in the comment section (which you can see in the post below).

Bloggers ponder about who some of their anonymous visitors might be. Who are they? What brought them here? What did they think?

It's always nice when those visitors finally feel comfortable enough to leave a comment and let you know they have actually dropped in more than once or twice and have found your little spot to be to their liking. That's a very rewarding feeling.

Patricia Stoltey, author of THE DESERT HEDGE MURDERS and THE PRAIRIE GRASS MURDERS not only dropped by and left a comment, she left us an award. And it's a very meaningful one. (I could say please see the post below, but I won't this time).

The Honest Scrap Award. Doesn't really sound all that meaningful by the title does it?! And it made me chuckle. Scrap, huh?! harumph. (Bloggers are rarely accused of being humorless.) But. The meaning of the award - as Patricia remarks at her blog - is sweet and kind and worthy of sending on to the right folks.

It's an acknowledgment of bloggers who post from the heart.

I'm honored to have been included, and very much appreciate Patricia's generosity of spirit.

The award rules are simple - pass the award to seven worthy bloggers who post from the heart, and list ten honest things about yourself. Along with the rules, this statement was added: "You don’t have to pass it along, unless you want to, but you do have to list 10 honest things about yourself."

I do want to pass it along.

It's fairly easy for me to choose blogs I think are posted from the heart. It's hard to narrow it down to seven.

I'm known for breaking the rules when it comes to keeping a list to the number requested, so in an effort to appear grown-up about it all, I'm going to play by the rules tonight. Here are my seven picks for the Honest Scrap Award.

These are folks who blog with a huge amount of heart. Heart which shines through their writing as clear as crystal. I think I could read anything written by any of these people and know right away who it was written by. If you're not already familiar with their blogs, I encourage you to stop by and check them out.

Jen's Book Thoughts

Blackwater Tales

Coffee With A Canine

Exile's Return

Swetzel's Weblog

Will Read for Food

Vicki Lane Mysteries

I remind each of these folks that it really is not necessary for them to pass it along. I happen to know that some of them are exceptionally busy right now, so it's understandable that they not have the time. A couple of them are getting ready to go to Indianapolis for Bouchercon, one is working on a manuscript in hopes of having their first published novel (and it is WONDERFUL!), another is working on their next book, one is traveling . . . life does keep us hopping.

Moving on to Rule #2. A list of ten honest things about myself. There wasn't anything included about these things having to be things some of you may not know about me, so this is pretty easy. I'll just list ten things I love (in no particular order, but just as they pop into my mind) - how's that? And notice I said "things," so I won't include the people (or pets) I love.

books, pizza, Meanderings and Muses, positive people, chocolate, my cowgirl boots, jewelry, sunrises, my digital camera, good coffee. It's fun to list things you love!

I'd have to say this has been a very good week.

Y'all. Life is good.

LET'S GO SOMEWHERE! By Radine Trees Nehring

Before we get started, I have an announcement - - -



HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
RADINE!!!










Okeey doke - - and now . . .
HERE'S Radine!




RADINE TREES NEHRING spent ten years as a broadcast journalist and feature writer for magazines and newspapers before her first book, DEAR EARTH: A Love Letter from Spring Hollow, appeared in 1995, winning the Arkansas Governor's Award for best writing about the state. Her TO DIE FOR Ozarks mystery series began in 2002 with Macavity nominee, A VALLEY TO DIE FOR. The series has earned many other awards including two David nominations from Deadly Ink, and an Arkansas Book of the Year award. Several short stories featuring her major characters, Carrie McCrite and Henry King, are available in anthologies. One of her stories was included in the Wolfmont Press Anthology, DYING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND, a top ten bestseller on the Independent Mystery Bookseller's Association list for 2008. The fifth Carrie and Henry mystery novel, A RIVER TO DIE FOR, was released in April, 2008. Her 2010 novel, A JOURNEY TO DIE FOR, took first place in the unpublished mystery novel category at the Oklahoma Writers Federation seven-state conference this past May.

Radine is a member of Sisters in Crime, Authors Guild, Ozarks Writers League, and represents Arkansas on the board of Mystery Writers of America SW Chapter.






LET'S GO SOMEWHERE by Radine Trees Nehring

I love both travel reading and travel writing. Nope, I don't do magazine features that begin something like this: "The yellow sand beaches of San Poopio will take your breath away this time of year, and the meals at Nightmare's Inn manage to surpass my ability to describe them...."

You guessed it! There are better ways for me to travel at little cost. For example, when I want to escape extreme weather:

Ahhh, the driveway is shoveled and my toes are thawing in fuzzy slippers. Think I'll begin reading one of my new book purchases. Um, which one...? Oh yes, that one!
Page 1:

"Summer in Benteen County, Kansas, is a season possessed of all the gentle subtlety of an act of war.... A week ago, the thermometer had risen past the unbearable mark...and, in automatic response, the humidity rushed after it-to a level technically described as obscene." (From J. M. Hayes' mystery novel, Mad Dog & Englishman.)

But it gets hot in the Ozarks, too. In August I prefer escaping into something like Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger, (where you can experience a white-out blizzard and frozen body in northern Minnesota), or Virgin in the Ice by Ellis Peters.

Good mystery writers are master manipulators, aren't they? They create atmosphere and location inside minds, take us to places dark and stormy or glaring and sharp, thrill us with chilly caves, steaming jungles, and worlds far away from the familiar. The more skillful the writer, the more willing we are to believe, share, travel, and enjoy--riding along eagerly with characters and events and seeing new places that become real for at least the space of a novel.

Many works of fiction offer this real place reality, some taking us into actual locations where we are intrigued by the story unfolding there. I love this type novel. Readers don't have to pack a bag, endure airlines, or make long car trips, though quite often they do end up wanting to see the described location for themselves at a later date.

One author who gives readers a vivid location experience is Ellen Elizabeth Hunter, a real place writer sharing the area in and around Wilmington, North Carolina. I learned about her novels while planning a trip to the Cape Fear Crime Festival, a mystery fan convention once held on the North Carolina Coast. Someone recommended Ms. Hunter's mystery novel, Murder on the Candlelight Tour, as an introduction to the area, but the book ended up being much more than that. My husband and I toured Wilmington by using Murder on the Candlelight Tour as our guide. We visited historic buildings and restaurants portrayed in the story. We even ordered the same dishes Ms. Hunter describes so deliciously.

Hunter is not a Carolina native--perhaps one reason she notices Wilmington details with a newcomer's freshness and a tourist's excitement. She says, "I fell in love with Wilmington and wanted to live there, but couldn't because of my husband's work. I decided the next best thing to living in Wilmington myself would be creating a character who did." (If you'd like to enjoy the Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach area wherever you are, go to: www.ellenhunter.com.

Meanwhile, back in the Ozarks, my own fiction writing career was getting under way in the same time period as Ellen Hunter's. She and I are both relative newcomers in our areas. My husband and I chose Arkansas for our home after spending time thinking about going "back to the land" in several parts of the United States. My love for Arkansas led to an interest in writing about it, and I spent more than ten years selling articles, essays, and poetry about the Ozarks to publications in the United States and other countries. After publishing one non-fiction book set here,(DEAR EARTH, A Love Letter from Spring Hollow) I decided to try my hand at writing the type of book I enjoy reading most-the traditional mystery.

My first effort, A Valley to Die For, (St Kitts Press, 2002) was set in the same remote Ozarks area as Dear Earth, an easy location to describe, since it's where I live. In my second novel, Music to Die For, I sent my protagonist, Carrie McCrite, accompanied by her friends, to another Ozarks spot I love, Ozark Folk Center State Park. (Picture Sturbridge Village with an Ozarks setting and a theater where old-time music can be enjoyed.) From then on, each novel's setting has been at a different Arkansas tourist destination.

It wasn't long before I, and my location destinations, discovered it was not only fun to site books in areas enjoyed by tourists, it was good business for the locations themselves. Settings are real enough that, at signings, I give actual tourist brochures and location maps to everyone buying one or more books in the To Die For series.

As a reader, I'm excited when I find a new author who takes me to a real place, tells me about a career I'm not familiar with, and joins these with mystery/adventure puzzles. As a writer, I love telling stories set in places I have chosen to visit, absorb, and share with readers. As a result, many tourist-oriented publications, including airline and National Park magazines, have carried feature articles about my writing.

My next To Die For story takes Carrie McCrite and Henry King to three popular tourist destinations: a ride on a restored 1920's Arkansas train, the historic district and river front in Van Buren, Arkansas, and The Steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City. Danger times three! I had a wonderful time traveling to do research for this novel, and hope you'll soon enjoy this Journey to Die For with me!


Radine Trees Nehring
www.radinesbooks.com/
The "To Die For" mystery series...touring the Ozarks, one crime at a time.