I had made up my mind weeks ago to allow this anniversary of 9/11 pass by quietly without trying to put into words how I might be feeling today.
I was a bit unprepared, I think, for exactly how I do feel today.
Surprisingly - sadder than I expected with this wild commotion of feelings rolling around in my heart and in my mind. And yes, still a bit of anger.
I have often used words to ease the feelings. But I'm afraid if I start writing about these feelings, I'll write forever. Ramblings that won't make any sense and would eventually come to mean nothing because I'm just not able to find and form the words I need for this. The feelings will still be the same feelings, momentarily eased but still living deep in my heart and in my mind to resurface. Over and over they'll resurface. I may be able to tuck them away, but only for awhile. They'll live with me till the day I die.
Often during times of sadness I turn to music. There are two songs connected in my heart and in my mind on this day. I would like to think that these two men, given an opportunity, could have become friends. Though their lifestyles may be miles apart, their hearts seem, to me, to live in a similar place.
Kaye Barley, at Meanderings and Muses and Dorothy L. - I keep using the word "stunning" for Ms. Penny's work time and time again. And I keep saying "this one is the best one yet." Big sigh.
A Trick of the Light is STUNNING and yes, it is the best one yet. HOW does she keep doing this? And continually top her own work?.... As far as what happens in Three Pines - suffice to say, A LOT! Some things many of us have been waiting for, a few things that will make you laugh out loud, some things that will break your heart and move you to tears along with a few surprise twists. You know - all those things that Louise Penny just keeps doing with such apparent ease.
Did I squeal when I saw this?! Well, pfffttt - yeah! I'm honored to have my name and opinion included here along with Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, Library Journal and others, - all of whom give A TRICK OF THE LIGHT excellent and outstanding reviews.
I've been in love with, and talking about, Louise Penny's work since I read STILL LIFE. I was so excited and impatient to read the second Three Pines novel that I ordered DEAD COLD from Canada rather than waiting for the US edition (released under a different name) - A FATAL GRACE. I was tickled pink when the US and Canadian editions started being released at the same time, needless to say.
I've always found the crime fiction/mystery community to be welcoming and generous, and Louise Penny is one of the jewels in the crown. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of meeting her will tell you - she is every bit as delightful as her novels.
She sits surrounded by a gracious plenty of women of mystery, writers AND fans, I've come to love, but who I am not going to try to name here 'cause I always, ALWAYS leave out a name when I try to do that. They all, however, know who they are.
I consider myself a lucky woman in many ways and I count my blessings often. The friends I've made in the mystery world are among the blessings. But. I have come to know that the luck we're blessed with can go flying out the window very quickly. Leaving us surprised and devastated and our lives changed forever.
So.
I choose to celebrate life quietly and privately most days, saying an occasional silent "thank you."
And every once in awhile I have an opportunity to "pay it forward." To share some of the gifts the community shares with me - both tangible and intangible.
This week it's tangible.
I'd like to share A TRICK OF THE LIGHT with one of you. I have a brand spanking sparkly new copy and it's yours if you'll leave a comment here WITH your email address (that's important), and IF your name is chosen by a random number generator. (Actually, I'm going to write down your names and ask Donald to draw one out of my Willie Nelson baseball cap).
The only thing you have to do is leave a comment telling me about something in your life you count as a blessing. Just one. It can be a person, a pet, a place, an occasion, your favorite candy or your favorite book. Whatever. Just one happy blessing. What do YOU celebrate in your life?
I'll announce the winning name Sunday, September 11th, so check back, please!
Ken Lewis is a police chief and crime fiction author who lives in Oregon. He is the author of “Little Blue Whales” (2009, Krill Press) and “The Sparrow’s Blade” (2011, Krill Press). He is currently at work on his third novel, “The Helical Vane” to be published in late fall, 2012
Facebook Page: Crime Fiction Author KENNETH R. LEWIS
email: author@kennethrlewis.com
GETTING GUNS WRITE IN CRIME FICTION
by
Kenneth R. Lewis
When I was nine years old, I fell in love for the very first time.
Her name was Daisy, and every time I saw my reflection in her carbon blue barrel, felt the raised, fake wood grain of her chestnut brown plastic stock when my fingers closed around her pump, my heart would pound, my mouth would go dry, and in the deepest recesses of my adolescent soul it would be affirmed that this was going to be a love that would last forever.
We met at Christmas that year, under the tree in our living room. Daisy was a beautiful, sleek Model 25 pump action .177‑caliber BB repeater, with a pressed-sheet metal steel barrel housing and receiver, a 50 round magazine feed tube, and a rear sight adjustable for both windage, and elevation. It was, as they say, love at first sight, and by the time summer arrived there was not a field mouse, hornet’s nest, or marauding neighborhood cat in our back yard that was safe from Daisy’s lethal reach while I cradled her lovingly in my arms.
Daisy and I were inseparable for many summers to come after that first memorable one, but as is the case of most first loves, we eventually grew up, and began to grown apart. Daisy found solace hidden away in a dark corner of my bedroom closet, given a considerate coat of Hoppe’s gun oil and laid gently back inside of her original cardboard box, while I turned my eye, and my affections, toward a new blued-steel beauty, a Remington “Fieldmaster” pump-action .22 rifle that I received as a gift on my thirteenth birthday.
Ten years after that milestone birthday, and after owning a succession of different rifles, shotguns, pistols, and revolvers growing up which I enjoyed collecting, hunting with, and target shooting, I was finally out of college and a member of the work force. However, in my case, it was the police force, work force, and I found myself now carrying a gun for a living every day of my life. Twenty years after that, I became an author, writing about police officers carrying and using guns, every day of their lives, in the age old fight of good versus evil. Today, I am still a police officer, and I still carry a gun, every day of my life. But in my other endeavor as a writer I’ve become more and more surprised, and even somewhat dismayed, at the number of mystery and crime fiction authors who seem to know so little about guns; many of them, admittedly, having never even held a real gun before, let alone fired one.
Getting guns wrong in crime fiction is like baking a delicious, lemon meringue pie to serve your dinner guests for desert…but leaving out the meringue. It’s still a pie, all right, but it is not going to have that same flavor they were all expecting without it. If you are going to write crime fiction, you are going to be writing about guns at some point, period. And putting aside all notions of political correctness, personal prejudices, fears, bias, general misgivings, or just plain feelings of foolishness, or inadequacy, I believe you owe it to your readers to get guns right. Many of today’s crime fiction readers and fans are shooters, hunters, gun enthusiasts, or even people in law enforcement themselves, and while for the most part they don’t expect a certain type of gun to necessarily take center stage in a story, they wince in near-pain when an author gets a gun wrong in a book. It’s a big letdown, and it jars the reader back to reality…the reality that the author is only human, a fallible human, and they are just making all this stuff up. They must be making it up, because they got something factually wrong. Therefore, it is not believable as fiction. Remember, good fiction is always very believable, even if it is one hundred per cent “made up.”
Writing about guns is easy for someone like me, because I know a whole lot about them. And I do like giving certain guns minor “starring roles” in all of my books in an understated, yet accurate manner. Like Thud Compton’s off-duty Smith and Wesson Airweight .38 Special in “Little Blue Whales,” and Larry “The Rat” Luebcke’s WW2 .30-06 M1 Garand rifle in “The Sparrow’s Blade.” But what happens when a writer gets a gun “wrong” in their book? Here’s a recent example (a really glaring one) from a book I’m currently reading; Sweetheart by Chelsea Caine, published by St. Martin’s Press.
...Henry came around and unlocked the desk drawer where Archie kept his
service revolver. Henry picked it up out of the drawer, flipped open the
cartridge to make sure it was empty, and then closed the drawer.
Ouch! Revolvers have cylinders, into which the cartridge, which contains a bullet (projectile) is placed, and then rotated in line with the chamber (rear) of the empty barrel, then fired out the other end of the barrel (the muzzle.) Now, please don’t get me wrong. This is not a dig at Chelsea Caine, who is, by the way, an Oregonian like me. Her first novel, Heartsick, was flawless, perfect crime fiction, the highest example of the art form today, and my impression of Sweetheart so far is that it is every bit as good as its predecessor. We all aspire to be Chelsea Caine! Nevertheless, either Chelsea, or her editor, or both, goofed—big time. In the writing world of firearms faux pas’ this is a biggie; not knowing the difference between a revolver’s cylinder, and the cartridge which is inserted into the cylinder—a single, multi-component object often mistakenly referred to in books as a “bullet” but which in reality contains a bullet, and a brass casing to hold the bullet, a charge of gunpowder (the propellant), and a primer (which is struck by the gun’s firing pin, and ignites the gunpowder).
Oh–but it gets even better. That first passage from Sweetheart is on page 103 of the St. Martin’s paperback edition. On page 126, we have this:
Archie snapped his phone shut and unholstered his gun. Henry was already out of the car, his badge out, barking orders, shouting at the uniforms to enter the school.
Archie turned the safety off on his weapon and got out of the car.
I am sorry to report, ladies and gents, that Detective Archie Sheridan is carrying a revolver, according to page 103 of the story, and revolvers do not have “safeties” to be “turned off.” Also, while I am at it, I might also add that nowhere along the way between page 103, and page 126, has Archie bothered to look for his box of cartridges in his home, or his car, or in his desk at work so he could LOAD his weapon before he sets out to find Gretchen Lowell, one of the most psychotically murderous serial killers ever to grace the pages of a crime fiction novel and the woman who had previously abducted him, tortured him, and carved a heart into the bare flesh of his chest. There are 326 total pages in this book, and I would be willing to bet that if a firearm is somehow referenced again, there is a fifty-fifty chance the description, nomenclature, or other details about the weapon will be in some way wrong.
As a crime fiction author, you basically have two ways to mess up when writing about guns. You can be overly specific about a certain weapon, it’s ammunition, accessories, and characteristics, and if there isn’t a dammed good reason for such an in depth description as it pertains to furthering the story line, it will make many readers wonder if you are nothing more than a Wikipedia whore, trying to make yourself look good as an author. Or, you can go the Chelsea Caine route and become a “gun minimalist” and hardly make any reference to a weapon at all, other than the bare minimum. Either way, you run the risk of getting guns wrong in your novel if you really do not know what the hell you are talking about. The solution? Learn the basics of firearms, and learn to shoot. And no, I’m not talking about watching YouTube gun videos; although there is a certain amount of merit to some of these—the downside being the large number of idiots also posting on the internet doing idiotic, dangerous things with guns.
Almost every small town, city, and county in this country has organizations dedicated to the furtherance of firearms education, hunting, or the shooting sports. These range from the NRA (The National Rifle Association) to your local gun club which may offer firearms familiarization courses, classes in obtaining a CCW (Concealed Carry Weapon) permit, or just fun target shooting—after an appropriate firearms safety course first, of course. Other options which could lead into an eventual firearms learning opportunity may be to attend a Citizen Police Academy in your area if one is available, or take advantage of a police Ride-A-Long program if your local law enforcement agency offers one. Another excellent source is retired cop Lee Lofland’s online, and real-time, Writer’s Police Academy. Shooting guns is usually not a part of the curriculum of these activities. However, introduce yourself to a friendly officer while you’re there, let him or her know that you are an author wanting to learn more about guns and give them an autographed copy of your latest novel or even a draft copy of your W.I.P. and you may just find yourself out on the range with that same officer in the very near future, having the time, and firearms education, of your life.
Another variation of the above theme is to seek out, find, and cultivate your very own “gun guru” such as myself. Most police officers, and especially the recently retired ones who have the unlimited time to do it, make excellent gun gurus. These are people who have not only used and handled a multitude of guns throughout their careers; they have also experienced a vast array of “non-police” type firearms used in criminal activities—sometimes against the officer personally himself. You can’t buy this kind of real-life information to use in your writing, but get to know the right cop, and you can earn it.
As a self-professed writer’s gun guru, my email inbox is always open to all writers of every skill level, from the not-yet-published, to the bestsellers in Chelsea Caine’s category (Chelsea, you shoulda’ called me!) and what used to be in years past, just a handful of firearms inquires sent to me, has now turned into an average of over a hundred a year. In just the past year and a half alone, I have been able to play a direct part in saving several authors from making egregious firearms errors, and, hopefully, adding an air of authenticity to the guns and the characters using them in their novels…Julie Dolcemaschio, Jonathan Quist, Earl Staggs, Beth Anderson, Mike Nettleton, and Donald L. Ball. The questions posed to me ranged from what happens to a person when they get hit dead center-chest with a 158 grain solid lead .38 Special bullet while wearing a ballistic vest, to the #1 All Time Champion Question of Questions…where is the safety on a Glock pistol? The answer to question #1 is, it hurts like hell, and the answer to #2 is, there is NO SAFETY on a Glock pistol. I repeat: there is NO SAFETY on a Glock pistol! Forget about the “Glock Safe-Action Trigger” on this most popular, and easily recognized semi-automatic pistol in the world. It is NOT the same as a traditional safety mechanism, and it will NOT prevent a Glock pistol with a round loaded into the chamber from firing!
Now, if I only had a buck for every time I saw that particular firearms faux pas appearing in a book, or a movie, or on TV, I could retire tomorrow…and become a gun guru full time!
Jenny Milchmanis a literary suspense writer whose debut novel just sold. COVER OF SNOW will be published by Ballantine in early 2013. Her short fiction has appeared on Amazon bestseller lists, and another story is forthcoming in an anthology called ADIRONDACK MYSTERIES II. Jenny teaches courses on polishing, pitching, and publishing your work for New York Writers Workshop. She co-hosts the series Writing Matters, which draws speakers from both coasts to events held at a local independent bookstore. Last year she foundedTake Your Child to a Bookstore Day, which was celebrated in 30 states, Canada, England, and this year spread to Australia. Jenny welcomes authors in the Made It Moments forum on her blog. Please look for her at http://jennymilchman.com
"Reaching the Starting Line"
by Jenny Milchman
This spring, after eleven years of trying, I finally reached the starting line.
I received an offer on my novel, a literary mystery called COVER OF SNOW.
I can’t refer to this as the finish line, even though it certainly felt like I ran a marathon to get here, because all the really hard work starts now. Editing the manuscript (which I am doing right now, having just received my new editor’s brilliant thoughts—-this is the ninth version; it was the eighth one that sold). Reading galleys. (Oh! I can hardly wait to see this thing called a galley. It feels like the crown jewels to me. Or the Emerald City). Figuring out how (whether) to promote. More and more authors, such as originally self-published sensation M.J. Rose, say that the best promotion is writing more books. So—writing that next book.
But it was definitely something, an 11 year something in my case, to arrive at this point. How did it happen? It’s a story unique to the mystery and suspense community, which I liken to a circle of friends.
I’ve been represented by three great agents who between them found 15 great editors who wanted to make offers on one or another of my books. The editorial board remained the sticking point—-with potential deals being thwarted for reasons that over the years became less about craft, which I still needed to learn, and more about things that pointed to the sometimes arbitrary nature of the submissions process.
During this time, I went to readings and book signings by authors I admired. Laura Lippman. Tana French. Jonathan Kellerman (who played guitar). I watched, and learned, and yearned for the day I might be up there.
I also wrote to authors. And because authors—-I think especially in the mystery/suspense world, although this may be my bias—-are a forthcoming, supportive bunch, I got responses back. I started to make not connections but friends.
It just made sense that when I read good news about these friends, on listservs like DorothyL, I would drop them a quick did-you-see-this note? I was always happy to see achievements by people who were making it in this world, including some who had offered me encouraging words and support—-even going so far as to give an unpublished manuscript a blurb.
Then someone offered to do even more than that.
One of my favorite authors, whose most recent book had been mentioned in at least a dozen Best Of lists last year, wrote to me one cold, late winter day. I felt as chill and desperate as the weather. My latest almost-offer had just fizzled—-and it was our last shot.
“I just want to tell you that I love this book,” wrote Nancy Pickard, in an email that now hangs on my wall. “And if it doesn’t let me down in the end—and I can’t imagine that it will—then I will want not just to offer you a blurb, but to put it in my own editor’s hands.”
I don’t know to express how grateful I was for that email. (And it’s a bad thing for a writer not to be able to express something in words). The gratitude went beyond words, because Nancy’s response buoyed me for weeks. They carried me through my latest disappointment like a wave does a surfer. And though I didn’t think they’d do much more than that, it was enough, more than enough.
By now I knew how subjective the process was. What was the chance of an editor liking my work even if one of her authors did? And even if she did like it, what were the chances that she’d be able to make an offer?
I don’t know what the chances were, but somehow it happened.
Not only did Nancy’s illustrious editor love my book, but in a blindingly fast few weeks-—publishing time is best measured on a geologic scale—-she had acquired it.
After eleven years I was going to be a published author.
And it happened because of a friend I had made in this wonderful world of mystery.
I am uncomfortable with the whole promotion thing—I much prefer to be getting the word out about other writers’ books and triumphs. So when my novel comes out—when I finally reach that starting line—another dear friend from the mystery world has done me the honor of agreeing to announce the news.
As to biographical information, i. e., who I am; well I'm still trying to figure that one out. For more than half a century, I've hidden behind words, first as a news and sports reporter with a BS in Journalism from UT-Knoxville, my hometown.
THE PROVIDENCE OF DEATH can be ordered as a POD trade paperback through Amazon, B&N or your local book stores, as well as an ebook for your Kindle.
WHAT DO WE "SEE" WHEN WE READ A NOVEL
by Bronson L. "Bo" Parker
Once again Kaye has shown her kindness to let a dandelion sprout up within her rose garden. When looking at the names that have preceded me, and those yet to come, the question becomes, “What the hell am I doing here?” The best answer is that it’s a chance to talk about what has happened since last year, and what has been learned.
It’s been an interesting year for an old codger who was born some two months after Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to his third term as President. Word cobbling has been a part of life for half a century, first as a journalist and then a writer of historical non-fiction.
One would think, with that background, a writer would know what he had written. That was the belief about THE PROVIDENCE OF DEATH until the feedback began after its publication.
The book was written as a mystery. And it is, technically. But the reading pubic has said it’s something more. The plan was never to write a book on grief, how it affects every-day life, or how one manages to continue living after it becomes a part of one’s existence.
There are no complaints about this. There is a good feeling associated with knowing that people have gotten something more than a few hours of enjoyment from reading a book. And the truth be told, this unexpected perception has led to increased book sales, according to those who tend to such matters. But the reader feedback is another example that proves creative writing is an unpredictable process. How this happens is something that was learned in a rather serendipitous manner.
WHAT DO WE "SEE" WHEN WE READ A NOVEL?
Among the unexpected but favorable feedback to PROVIDENCE came the comment, “I didn’t get it.” No serious thought was given to the why behind this specific reaction until after a conversation with the surgeon who performed surgery on both my eyes this past spring.
That conversation whetted my curiosity to the point that it led to the discovery of what strikes me as fascinating, but at the same time, an interesting challenge to writers of novels. The process we call vision, “the perceptual experience of seeing,” involves more than merely data the brain receives from the eyes at any given moment (as when reading a novel). It involves a process that starts at birth, or maybe before.
There seems to be no disagreement among experts that every experience from the moment of birth, including the emotional reaction associated with it, is filed away in the brain’s memory cells. Some experts even suggest that prenatal memories can exist. [Many mothers-to-be support this theory. There are a bazillion websites extolling the benefits using light and various sounds, including music, to stimulate the baby in the womb.]
This database of experiences and emotions in the memory cells, continuously growing with age, becomes the key to “vision.” All new incoming data is processed through this file of prior experience, looking for matches. Some experts call this process of matching “prior probability.”
The term “qualia” is also used to describe the process. The Dictionary of Philosophical Terms gives this definition. “The intrinsic phenomenal features of sense data. What it is like to see green grass, to taste salt, to hear birds sing, to have a headache, to feel pain, etc.”
It works like this. A person is walking down a city street when a large bomb explodes several blocks ahead. All the senses detecting the explosion instantaneously transmit data to the brain in the form of a question. “What was that?” The brain processes this incoming data, matches it with stored memories of prior experiences, and answers, “That was a very large explosion.”
Or the reverse can happen. A person is walking through dark woods. Suddenly there is something afoot nearby, large enough to snap tree limbs as it moves. A sound of heavy breathing and a strange odor fills the air. “What is that?” is the sensory question. A match for the incoming data is not found in the memory cells. “I don’t know,” is the answer. The experts tell us that this answer is what triggers the feeling of fear, called an “evolutionarily adaptive mechanism.” That’s when goose bumps form and hairs stand on end.
This process also explains the old adage, “Different people simply see things differently.” A number of people witness a crime or accident. But their recollection as to what happened and the description of the people involved can vary greatly. The same data being received from different angles, through individual sensory receptors of varying quality, can be an influence. But a major factor for the difference is the data being processed through personal memories.
And so it is when reading a novel, except it is a more gradual and collective process. As the reader moves through the novel, the writing style, the settings, the plot, and the characters all become data transmitted to the reader’s memory cells for possible matches with past experiences and emotions relating to them.
To illustrate what can be the possible result, the following conversation has been created among three people who read the same book, a crime novel about murders committed in a barn.
“Mary, I want to thank you for that book you gave me. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
“Well, Charles, I’m glad you did. The writing style was okay. But I didn’t much care for the rest of it. Especially that cop, the main character.”
“Why didn’t you like him?”
“The way he kept treating people, the way he talked to them. And that whole part about the barn was icky.”
“The cop was just doing his job. And I enjoyed the part about the old barn. What about you, Anne? You read it, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I guess the writing was okay, but I really couldn’t get into it. I never did understand what the cop was trying accomplish. And I’ve never been inside a barn. Never even seen one except in pictures.”
Charles, a newspaper reporter whose interest in writing does not go beyond the basic journalistic style, is a veteran police beat reporter. His experience told him the book was an accurate, favorable portrayal of a cop. And, having been raised on a farm, he also has many fond memories of playing in and around the family barn.
Mary, now a copywriter for an ad agency with an eye for the written word, was a wild child in her younger years. She experienced several run-ins with the law, which left her thinking all cops are bullies with no understanding about a young person’s need to experiment with life’s offerings. Her only experience relating to a barn came on a single visit as a child to an aunt’s farm where she discovered the unpleasant combination of chicken poop and bare feet.
Anne, an orphan, was raised in a Catholic orphanage, and is now a nun. She has no experience as to how cops operate, not even from watching TV shows. Always a city girl, she has never visited a farm, or a barn.
Three people read the same book. The same words are processed through three different databases of memories, resulting in three different reactions, one positive, one negative, and one indifferent. Obviously the goal of authors of novels is to achieve the largest possible number of reactions like that of Charles. But therein lies the conundrum.
Learning how the favorable reactions among readers takes place is only half of the equation. Learning how, as an author, to MAKE favorable reactions to take place is the second half of the equation.
[NOTE: Since this was written, I’ve had the opportunity to read David Rosenfelt’s ON BORROWED TIME. It’s a spine-tingling story of what happens to a news reporter when his memory process is disrupted. He struggles to figure out what is happening to him as the gap between what he thinks he knows and what he knows to be reality grows. This book would be a rewarding reading experience for those who find the memory process an intriguing subject.]
We readers are passionate about sharing newly discovered books and authors. That's certainly not news to any of you guys! Some of my all-time favorite writers are those who were introduced to me by many of you through the DorothyL mystery community; others I've just been lucky enough to stumble on.
Such is the case with the wonderful work of Sarah Addison Allen, who describes her work as "Southern-Fried Magical Realism."
I had just discovered this delightful young writer when a particularly lovely occurrence was happening in my life. I was over the moon about being interviewed by Marlisa Mills, for Western North Carolina Magazine. I couldn't wait to have the March, 2011 edition in my hands to read the final version when I was stopped in my tracks to see that my interview followed a wonderful interview of Ms. Allen by Erin Campbell. It was a very big deal to me to be invited for an interview by Marlisa, an exceptionally gracious woman, and terrific writer, who I greatly admire. Sometimes life hands over the sweetest of gifts, and being included in the same edition of a magazine I love along with New York Times bestselling author Sarah Addison Allen was the oh so sweet icing on the cake.
This from her webpage: "North Carolina novelist Sarah Addison Allen brings the full flavor of her southern upbringing to bear on her fiction -- a captivating blend of fairy tale magic, heartwarming romance, and small-town sensibility."
Ms. Allen has written four novels -
Garden Spells
"Spellbindingly charming, Allen's impressively accomplished debut novel blends the evanescent desires of hopeless romantics with the inherent wariness of those who have been hurt once too often."
- Booklist, starred review
The Sugar Queen
"Words such as sweet, charming and delightful are weak accolades for such a pleasurable book."
- Publishers Weekly
The Girl Who Chased the Moon
"That it is never too late to change the future and that high school sins can be forgiven--these are wonderful messages, but Allen's warm characters and quirky setting are what will completely open readers' hearts to this story."
- Library Journal, starred review
The Peach Keeper Allen juggles smalltown history and mystical thriller, character development and eerie magical realism in a fine Southern gothic drama. The underlying tension will please and unnerve readers, as well as leave them eager for Allen's next.
-Publisher's Weekly
So, there you have it, my latest author discovery that I'm pretty passionate about. I hope you'll give Sarah Addison Allen a try. Let me know what you think, please! In the meantime, here's a little magical bonus surprise for you. From Sarah's webpage - - - - (this is just one of a few recipes she shares with you there - stop by her place for the others. Her webpage is lovely and you'll enjoy spending a little time there -
(Be sure to use culinary flowers, never florist flowers.)
ROSE PETAL SCONES
rose petal -- encourages love...
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
4 Tbs unsalted butter
1/3 cup unsalted coarsely ground pistachio nuts
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbs rose water
2 Tbs edible rose petals - finely shredded
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine and sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Cut in the butter and mix until crumbly. Stir in the pistachios. In a separate bowl, combine the cream and the rose water. Stir in the shredded rose petals. Add the cream-rose mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring until a soft dough forms. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
I used to be a certified news junkie. First I got fed up with TV news so I started getting my daily "news fix" first thing in the morning - every morning - from my computer. I'd pull up all the major news sources. Then, I felt as though these sources were becoming more tabloid in content than I cared for. Besides which, they were also beginning to read more like opinion pieces than news pieces. (JUST my opinion. . . . ) Now, I read only two news sources - npr.com and bbc.com
I was especially a political news junkie.
The only political "news" these days scares the hell out of me, or it just flat makes me crazy.
Let's see - we have people who are actually being considered as viable candidates for the highest office in this country who don't know American history, and/or think it's okay to revise it to suit.
We have a bunch of people who were elected to SERVE this country, but who instead want to pander to their own selfish wants and needs by engaging in a never-ending pissing contest. A constant game of "if I can't have my way, I'll take my ball and go home. Nah nah na boo boo." At the very least, it's embarrassing. Let's not even try to bring the word "ethics" to the table.
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863On June 1, 1865, Senator Charles Sumner commented on what is now considered the most famous speech by President Abraham Lincoln. In his eulogy on the slain president, he called it a "monumental act." He said Lincoln was mistaken that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here." Rather, the Bostonian remarked, "The world noted at once what he said, and will never cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the speech."
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Source: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler. The text above is from the so-called "Bliss Copy," one of several versions which Lincoln wrote, and believed to be the final version. For additional versions, you may search The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln through the courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Association.
Poor ol' Abe seems to be out of favor in today's politcal environment. Now it's for each his own. Spend a beezillion dollars to get elected and in turn get a decent salary, with health benefits and a pension. The things every American citizen would also love to have, right? Add in those speaking engagements they'll have after they leave office. How much will the average American rake in in speaking engagements by comparison? Add in those book deals. How much will the average writers make in book deals by comparison?
I am not even going to ponder what some of these people "might" receive in gifts from special interest groups.
In my ever so humble opinion, this particular crop of politicians "serving" us these days could give a flying fig about us. And I don't really think I'm alone, or even in the minority, in my feelings. The following polling data was found at RealClearPolitics.com I'm using this source only because they appear to average out the polls from multiple sources. You may, I'm sure, find different numbers elsewhere. But, you know - this is my blog and I can rant if I want to (with apologies to Lesley Gore).
Here's the deal in a nutshell. According to the latest polls, most people don't care for the direction of the county (see below). Congressional job approval is in the toilet (see below). President Obama's not doing so hot either (see below).
Direction of Country
Polling Data
Poll
Date
Right Direction
Wrong Track
Spread
RCP Average
8/1 - 8/28
19.0
73.8
-54.8
Congressional Job Approval
Polling Data
Poll
Date
Approve
Disapprove
Spread
RCP Average
8/1 - 8/22
12.3
84.0
-71.7
President Obama Job Approval
Polling Data
Poll
Date
Sample
Approve
Disapprove
Spread
RCP Average
8/16 - 9/1
--
43.7
51.3
-7.6
So. What do you think? What the HELL is going on here? WHAT is going on with this country?
First off - Where are our jobs???? Call a customer support representative for almost any major company and you tell me - are the jobs here in the United States? If so, then how come I have a hard time understanding what these people are saying? Before you call me an ignorant isolationist slut for being cruel to or about other cultures and about having to deal with a person I have a hard time understanding, let me just say this. Back in the day when I took some business courses in college, I remember learning a very basic tenet. That business was all about "communication." Well, you know, I'm sorry, but my liberal ol' self finds it hard to justify that tenet these days when it's so hard to communicate with the business you wish to communicate with. Either you can't reach them, or you reach them but then no one understands what the other person is saying. I'm sorry, but this is just wrong. And I'm not blaming the people from other countries who are doing the jobs - I'm saying it is just plain wrong for our government to have given those jobs away when we have people right here in our own country begging for work.
So.
We're short on jobs.
We're short on affordable health care.
People have lost their homes - and are still losing their homes.
So.
We're a country with a rising population. The homeless population is on the rise. Not just the homeless men we used to see in big cities. We were scared to death of those men. Now we're facing the fact of homeless families. Men, their wives and their children. HOW CAN THIS BE???? This is way more scary, in my humble opinion, than those dirty old men begging for a buck.
I mean - Hey. This is THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Right?!
UNITED.
Except that somehow we now have the government on one side of a large divide, and "we the people" on the other side of that large divide.
UNITED?
Really?
are we?
Is anyone in our governement in danger of losing their home?
Being laid off?
Is their job going to be privatized or sent abroad?
Are they in danger of losing their health care?
UNITED??
Pfft.
Do they have to worry about how they're going to feed their children?
If one of their kids is suddenly very sick, do they worry about the cost of hospitalization? Do they face not being able to afford a doctor's visit?
Do NOT tell me that there are NO doctors or hospitals in this country turning patients away. That is simply not true.
Yes, Yes, Yes - I do tend to rant. And I cry. And I worry about this country. But no, I don't worry about the members of congress - they'll be fine fine fine. They don't worry about me, why should I worry about them?
Has your salary increased at this rate (see below?) :
1965-1969
$30,000
per annum
1969-1975
$42,500
per annum
1975-1977
$44,600
per annum
1977-1978
$57,500
per annum
1979-1983
$60,662.50
per annum
1983
$69,800
per annum
1984
$72,600
per annum
1985-1986
$75,100
per annum
1987 (1/1-2/3)
$77,400
per annum
1987 (2/4)
$89,500
per annum
1990 (2/1)
$98,400
per annum
1991
$101,900
per annum
1991 (8/15)
$125,100
per annum
1992
$129,500
per annum
1993-1997
$133,600
per annum
1998-1999
$136,700
per annum
2000
$141,300
per annum
2001
$145,100
per annum
2002
$150,000
per annum
2003
$154,700
per annum
2004
$158,100
per annum
2005
$162,100
per annum
2006-2007
$165,200
per annum
2008
$169,300
per annum
2009
$174,000
per annum
2010
$174,000
per annum
2011
$174,000
per annum
Sources and notes
^[1]Salaries of Members of Congress: A List of Payable Rates and Effective Dates on Senate.gov, Accessed 4 October 2008
^Salaries. United States Senate. Retrieved on 08 August 2011.
