by Paula Gail Benson During this time of uncertainty about the corona virus, it’s good to hear messages that encourage. Yesterday’s reading from my worship service (although the actual gathering was cancelled, the devotional materials were shared via email and social media) is a particularly relevant passage to consider. From the book of Romans, Chapter […]
by Paula Gail Benson This year, the two mid-February holidays–Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day–happen to border a long celebratory weekend. As part of the “love fest,” I’ve been encouraging folks to consider a recent anthology to which I contributed. Love in the Lowcountry features stories that take place during the winter holidays, from Thanksgiving through […]
by Paula Gail Benson When I became serious about writing short stories, I started seeing the name Earl Staggs mentioned frequently. From his website, I learned that he devoted himself to fiction writing after moving south from Baltimore, Maryland, finally settling in Fort Worth, Texas. As a member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, he […]
by Paula Gail Benson For my first Stiletto Gang post of 2019, I wrote about how I wish I had not delayed reading two books, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Quiche of Death. In particular, I found that M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin series taught me about writing craft and structure. Marion Chesney Gibbons (also known […]
by Paula Gail Benson When I first became serious about writing, a friend took me to a meeting of the Lowcountry Romance Writers (LRWA), a chapter of the Romance Writers of America (RWA), based in Charleston, South Carolina. At the time, LRWA was the one venue close to where I lived that consistently provided good […]
by Paula Gail Benson Portions of this post appeared in the November 19, 2019, post for Writers Who Kill. However, this great news deserves to be shared more than once! I was delighted to be asked by Carol Puckett and Kendel Lynn to be the contest coordinator for the Bill Crider Prize for Short Fiction, […]
by Paula Gail Benson Carol Puckett with her husband Jim While there are many special things I’ll remember about this year’s 50th anniversary Bouchercon, celebrated in Dallas, Texas, one in particular will be that this year marked my first to moderate and serve on a panel at the world mystery conference. I’d already felt privileged […]
by Paula Gail Benson When I think about writing or film described as “noir,” the words bleak, cynical, dark, and fatalistic come to mind. I’m immediately reminded of black and white movies, usually produced during the 1930s or 1940s and often featuring Humphrey Bogart. In a list of Bogart’s top 31 films, 13 of them […]
by Paula Gail Benson Since 2006, the Bethlehem Writers Group has been showcasing short fiction through its online literary journal, the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable (now a paying publication — $20 for featured stories, $10 for other stories, and $5 for poetry — issued quarterly), and through its terrific anthologies, which include: Each year, the Group holds […]
by Paula Gail Benson I remember hearing about the DAR or Daughters of the American Revolution most of my life. While I had no family who were members, I grew up in South Carolina, the location of 200 Revolutionary War battles. As a child, my parents took me on a trip to Washington, D.C. and […]