By Lois Winston
Like Henry Higgins, grammar crimes make me cringe. I’m sure you remember his immortal words: “Why can’t the English teach their children how to speak?” He then went on to add, “In America, they haven’t spoken it in years.” He wasn’t wrong.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
Grammar Crimes
Thanks to my junior high school English teacher, I suffer from a multitude of grammar pet peeves. Throughout seventh and eighth grade, Peggy Riley Hughes drummed grammar into me. Since then, poor grammar, whether written or spoken, makes me cringe. I can’t help it. Those rules were burned into my brain.
Split Logs, not Infinitives
To boldly go where no man has gone before. Remember that opening from Star Trek? Cringe-worthy! Gene Rodenberry obviously didn’t have Peggy Riley Hughes as an English teacher. If he had, he never would have split his infinitive.
Sadly, the Oxford English Dictionary did the unthinkable years ago and declared that it’s now okay to split infinitives. It’s no longer a grammar crime. The horror! Poor Peggy! At least she didn’t live long enough to experience such a crime.
License to Take Liberties
As authors, we have license to take liberties with our writing. For instance, when I write dialogue, I don’t necessarily write in perfectly formed sentences because people rarely speak in perfectly formed sentences. We speak in sentence fragments. So do our characters, but that’s okay. We want our characters to sound real, not stilted.
Style often dictates that sentence fragments also be used in narrative, depending on the genre, the plot, the era, and the characters populating our novel. Again, that’s perfectly acceptable.
If you Break it, Own it
Deliberately committing a grammar crime is okay if there’s a reason for doing so. The foremost reason is to keep your characters believable. “Me and him were late for school.” works if the dialog is spoken by a young child or in narrative, if you’re writing the scene from the child’s point of view. It would stand out like the proverbial sore thumb if spoken by a college professor.
Breaking this Rule Doesn’t Make You Sound More Intelligent
The grammar crime that makes me cringe the most, though, is the misuse of pronouns. For some reason, even very well-educated people constantly misuse pronouns, substituting “I” for “me” because they think using the nominative case for the objective case sounds more intelligent.
There are Three Types of Pronouns
Nominative: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, and who
Objective: me, you, him, her, it, us, them, and whom
Possessive: my, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs, and whose
The nominative form is used when the pronoun is the subject of a sentence. The objective form is used when the pronoun is the direct object of the sentence or is part of a prepositional phrase.
WRONG: He invited Mary and I.
RIGHT: He invited Mary and me.
WRONG: The coach had to choose between Mary and I.
RIGHT: The coach had to choose between Mary and me.
Hopefully, the OED won’t someday decide that it’s perfectly acceptable to replace the objective with the nominative. “He invited I.” “He sat opposite I.” “The coach chose I.” Holy cringe-worthy grammar crime! 😵💫
However, because we’re dealing with English, there’s an exception to this grammar rule. Because in English, it seems there’s always an exception to just about every rule. In this case, it’s the “to be” verbs, also known as “linking verbs.” When using am, is, are, was, were, or be, you use the nominative form of the pronoun for the direct object, not the objective.
WRONG: It was him.
RIGHT: It was he.
WRONG: It’s me.
RIGHT: It’s I.
If you’re now thoroughly confused, you’re not alone.
Never the Both of Us
Finally, there are many grammar rules I remember from my junior high days and know not to break, but I don’t remember the reason for the rule. For example, it’s either “the two of us” or “both of us” but never “the both of us.” Don’t ask me why. I forgot the reason for that grammar rule many decades ago, if there ever was a logical reason. It’s quite possible that just for fun, some grammarian at Oxford or Cambridge decided to make life and the English language more confusing for all of us. After all, they didn’t have TV, the Internet, or video games back then. They had to get their amusement from somewhere.
Do you have a grammar pet peeve? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free audiobook download of any of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries or Empty Nest Mysteries.
~*~
USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com. Sign up for her newsletter to receive an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery.
My Traveling Book
/in Uncategorized/by Kathleen KaskaMy Traveling Book
Tired of sweltering heat and sticky summer humidity? If you’re looking for the perfect escape, head to the Pacific Northwest.
Summer in the San Juan Islands is nothing short of magical. Since moving here, we haven’t needed air conditioning. We simply open the windows and let the cool marine breeze drift through the condo. Add whales gliding through nearby waterways, miles of scenic hiking trails, charming waterfront villages, and ferries that make island-hopping an adventure, and you’ve got the perfect summer destination.
Of course, no trip is complete without a good book.
Settings have always been one of my favorite parts of writing mysteries, and my third Kate Caraway Animal-Rights Mystery, Eagle Crossing, is set on beautiful Lopez Island. If you’re planning a visit, bring a copy along—or stop by Watermark Book Company before catching the ferry and pick one up. As you follow the mystery, you’ll also discover many of the island’s most memorable places.
Visit Iceberg Point, where lucky visitors may spot orcas. Wander the secluded shores of Blackie Brady Memorial Park. Collect beach treasures at Agate Beach County Park. Hike to breathtaking Watmough Bay, or spread out a picnic at Spencer Spit State Park while watching sailboats drift by.
Because Eagle Crossing centers on an animal rehabilitation facility, you can also visit two of Lopez Island’s most unique attractions: the Heaven on Earth Animal Retirement Sanctuary and the delightfully named Women Who Stare at Goats Collective.
Who says a mystery can’t double as a travel guide? Pack Eagle Crossing in your suitcase, and let the story lead you to one of the Pacific Northwest’s most enchanting islands.
Find Out What’s in Store on Lopez
Kathleen Kaska writes the award-winning Sydney Lockhart Mystery Series, winner of the 2025 PenCraft Award for Best Series, and the Kate Caraway Animal-Rights Mystery Series. Her trivia book, The Sherlock Holmes Quiz Book, is in its third printing. Kathleen has recently won the Amity Literary Award for her upcoming novel, Death Without Dignity, which will be released in January 2027.
http://www.kathleenkaska.com
https://anamcara-press.com/
https://www.bookbub.com/search/authors?search=Kathleen%20Kaska
https://www.amazon.com/author/www.kathleenkaska.com
Meeting the Authors of Freed by the Frontier
/in Anthologies, History, Romance, Uncategorized/by Paula Bensonby Paula Gail Benson
What better way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence than to read stories about the people whose lives created the history of our country? Denise Farnsworth, Sherry Shindelar, and Susan F. Craft have each contributed a novella to Freed by the Frontier. I’ve asked them to introduce themselves and to tell a little about the setting and characters they portray. Please let me recommend these accomplished authors to you. I think you’ll truly enjoy their work.
Denise Farnsworth
North Georgia native Denise Farnsworth, formerly Denise Weimer, has authored over twenty traditionally published novels and novellas—historical and contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and time slip. As a freelance editor and Acquisitions & Editorial Liaison for Wild Heart Books, she’s helped other authors reach their publishing dreams. A wife and mother of two adult daughters, Denise always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses.
How did you select the setting and time period for your story?
The setting and time period of Ofuskee Trail Surrender, 1814 Georgia and present-day Alabama, is linked to the first novel of my Scouts of the Georgia Frontier, A Counterfeit Betrothal. Keturah Caldwell, the heroine of the novella, was the fancy fiancee from the east in A Counterfeit Betrothal. She and her family disappear on a trip to visit her betrothed on the border of Creek Indian Territory. The epilogue reveals they were set upon by robbers, and sold to a band of Creek warriors, then at war with the white settlers and the Cherokees. A mysterious brave protects Keturah as she’s taken deep into enemy territory.
While the story takes place during America’s Federal period (Regency in England), its remote frontier setting gives it a more Colonial feel. Many people are unaware that the Cherokees fought with the Americans against the Creeks and British during the Red Stick or Creek War, part of the War of 1812. I’ve enjoyed bringing this lesser-known era and setting to life in several stories, including those mentioned and A Contrary Betrothal, releasing this August.
What makes the characters unique in Ofuskee Trail Surrender?
As in the other two stories in Freed by the Frontier, the heroine is a strong woman who rises to the challenges of the wilderness and a totally different way of life. Only, Keturah doesn’t start out strong. She starts out spoiled, accustomed to using her beauty and charm to get what she wants. As she grows as a person and in her faith, she learns to rely on her mind, spirit, and courage, and especially her faith. Wildcat, the hero, holds a secret that makes him more like her than Keturah ever expected, but he teaches her patience and the strength that can be found in surrender.
Sherry Shindelar
Originally from Tennessee, Sherry loves to take her readers into the past. A romantic at heart, she is an avid student of the Civil War and the Old West. When she is not busy writing, she is an English professor working to pass on her love of writing to her students. Sherry is an award-winning writer: 2025 Maggie winner, 2023 Genesis finalist, Maggie finalist, and Crown finalist. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband of forty-one years. She has three grown children and three grandchildren. Connect with Sherry at sherryshindelar.com.
How did you select the setting and time period for your story?
My setting and time period, Indian Territory and Texas in the late 1850’s, were selected for me in a way. My novella is the prequel to the first book in my Lone Star Redemption series, Texas Forsaken, which was inspired by the real-life captive story of Cynthia Ann Parker. Cynthia Ann was captured by the Comanche at age nine on the Texas Frontier and recaptured by the U.S. cavalry in 1860. Texas Forsaken starts right before my character Eyes-Like-Sky is recaptured in 1860. The prequel, “Wichita Path Sacrifice,” which is part of Freed by the Frontier, is set three years earlier and portrays the story of how Eyes-Like-Sky fell in love with a Comanche warrior, Dancing Eagle. I love stories set on the frontier, and I’m intrigued by the men and women who risked all for a new beginning.
What makes your characters unique?
As mentioned above, Eyes-Like-Sky was inspired by the real-life story of Cynthia Ann Parker, the most famous captive of the nineteenth century. During the twenty-four years she lived with the Comanche, Cynthia Ann integrated into the tribe, fell in love, married, and had children. The last thing she wanted was to be ripped away from her Comanche family. Her life story haunted my heart for years. That is why I chose to write a story about a captive on the Texas Frontier. I wanted to take a few grains of her history and develop a character inspired by Cynthia Ann, but with a much different life trajectory. In the beginning of “Wichita Path Sacrifice,” Eyes-Like-sky is fighting to escape her captors, but when her strength and courage earn her the admiration of a rising warriors, she begins to question whether escape is what she really wants.
Susan F. Craft
Nationally acclaimed writer of inspirational historical romance, Susan F. Craft retired after a 45-year career in communications. A widow who was married 48 years to her high school sweetheart, she has two adult children and one granddaughter. A history nerd, she enjoys painting, singing, and sitting on her porch watching chipmunks dine from her bird feeder. She recently learned how to play the ukulele. Soli Deo Gloria
How did you select the setting and time period for your story?
When I first came across the Great Wagon Road, the idea of a trail traversing the eastern coast of the US fascinated me. I had only ever heard of the pioneers who journeyed out West. I remembered how much as a child I enjoyed the TV series Wagon Train and thought a series of romances portraying the hardships of travelling in the 1750s might interest other history buffs. The Blue Ridge Mountains hold my heart. My senses come alive when I visit them. I chose the 1750s because I wanted to expand my knowledge of a time period little known to me. It was an exciting time of settlers, clashes and friendships with Native Americans, a hotbed of the beginnings of the French and Indian War, as well as the stirring of hearts and minds toward rebellion against England.
What makes your characters unique?
My characters struggle with divorce. Though not unheard of in Colonial America, it was uncommon and frowned upon by all levels of society. The heroine suffers shame and the damage to her reputation from a sham divorce that causes her to mistrust men. The hero hears the rumors and gossip that conflict with the woman he begins to care for.
Denise, Sherry, and Susan, thank you for being with us at The Stiletto Gang. Thank you for your wonderful stories and best wishes for Freed by the Frontier!
Grammar Crimes
/in writing life/by Lois WinstonBy Lois Winston
Like Henry Higgins, grammar crimes make me cringe. I’m sure you remember his immortal words: “Why can’t the English teach their children how to speak?” He then went on to add, “In America, they haven’t spoken it in years.” He wasn’t wrong.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
Grammar Crimes
Thanks to my junior high school English teacher, I suffer from a multitude of grammar pet peeves. Throughout seventh and eighth grade, Peggy Riley Hughes drummed grammar into me. Since then, poor grammar, whether written or spoken, makes me cringe. I can’t help it. Those rules were burned into my brain.
Split Logs, not Infinitives
To boldly go where no man has gone before. Remember that opening from Star Trek? Cringe-worthy! Gene Rodenberry obviously didn’t have Peggy Riley Hughes as an English teacher. If he had, he never would have split his infinitive.
Sadly, the Oxford English Dictionary did the unthinkable years ago and declared that it’s now okay to split infinitives. It’s no longer a grammar crime. The horror! Poor Peggy! At least she didn’t live long enough to experience such a crime.
License to Take Liberties
As authors, we have license to take liberties with our writing. For instance, when I write dialogue, I don’t necessarily write in perfectly formed sentences because people rarely speak in perfectly formed sentences. We speak in sentence fragments. So do our characters, but that’s okay. We want our characters to sound real, not stilted.
Style often dictates that sentence fragments also be used in narrative, depending on the genre, the plot, the era, and the characters populating our novel. Again, that’s perfectly acceptable.
If you Break it, Own it
Deliberately committing a grammar crime is okay if there’s a reason for doing so. The foremost reason is to keep your characters believable. “Me and him were late for school.” works if the dialog is spoken by a young child or in narrative, if you’re writing the scene from the child’s point of view. It would stand out like the proverbial sore thumb if spoken by a college professor.
Breaking this Rule Doesn’t Make You Sound More Intelligent
The grammar crime that makes me cringe the most, though, is the misuse of pronouns. For some reason, even very well-educated people constantly misuse pronouns, substituting “I” for “me” because they think using the nominative case for the objective case sounds more intelligent.
There are Three Types of Pronouns
Nominative: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, and who
Objective: me, you, him, her, it, us, them, and whom
Possessive: my, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs, and whose
The nominative form is used when the pronoun is the subject of a sentence. The objective form is used when the pronoun is the direct object of the sentence or is part of a prepositional phrase.
WRONG: He invited Mary and I.
RIGHT: He invited Mary and me.
WRONG: The coach had to choose between Mary and I.
RIGHT: The coach had to choose between Mary and me.
Hopefully, the OED won’t someday decide that it’s perfectly acceptable to replace the objective with the nominative. “He invited I.” “He sat opposite I.” “The coach chose I.” Holy cringe-worthy grammar crime! 😵💫
However, because we’re dealing with English, there’s an exception to this grammar rule. Because in English, it seems there’s always an exception to just about every rule. In this case, it’s the “to be” verbs, also known as “linking verbs.” When using am, is, are, was, were, or be, you use the nominative form of the pronoun for the direct object, not the objective.
WRONG: It was him.
RIGHT: It was he.
WRONG: It’s me.
RIGHT: It’s I.
If you’re now thoroughly confused, you’re not alone.
Never the Both of Us
Finally, there are many grammar rules I remember from my junior high days and know not to break, but I don’t remember the reason for the rule. For example, it’s either “the two of us” or “both of us” but never “the both of us.” Don’t ask me why. I forgot the reason for that grammar rule many decades ago, if there ever was a logical reason. It’s quite possible that just for fun, some grammarian at Oxford or Cambridge decided to make life and the English language more confusing for all of us. After all, they didn’t have TV, the Internet, or video games back then. They had to get their amusement from somewhere.
Do you have a grammar pet peeve? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free audiobook download of any of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries or Empty Nest Mysteries.
~*~
Country Music and Truth
/in Killer Nashville Writers' Conference, Paula Gail Benson, Uncategorized, writing life/by Paula Bensonby Paula Gail Benson
As Killer Nashville approaches at the end of August, I’ve been binge watching Nashville, the musical/soap opera drama TV series that aired on ABC from 2012 until 2016 and on CMT from 2016 to 2018. It’s now available to view on Netflix.
From the beginning, the episodes chronicle the careers of Rayna Jaymes (played by Connie Britton), an established country star trying to maintain and improve her place in the industry, and Juliette Barnes (played by Hayden Panettiere), a newcomer ready to take Rayna’s place as the Queen of Country Music. An interesting dynamic between these characters that helps to showcase locations in Nashville is that Rayna comes from “old money” and had to leave her wealthy home at sixteen to pursue music. Through her eyes and her family’s activities, viewers see the symphony, political events, Vanderbilt University and Hospital, and private schools. In contrast, Juliette was raised by an addicted mother in a trailer park. Her experience has hardened her from beyond scrappy to mean and vindictive. She confronts a lot of trouble, most of it arising from her own actions.
Both have frequented the Bluebird Café, a small restaurant/performance venue in a strip mall that opened in 1982 and has become a mecca for established and aspiring song writers. I think the series made it look a lot easier to get a seat or a place on stage at the Bluebird than it actually is.
The show has been praised because it features music as much as drama. The actors sang the songs they performed and some of them have gone on from the series to develop musical careers.
During one trip to Nashville, I met a young Uber driver who worked to transport actors and crew to the locations. It was interesting to hear how Nashville embraced the series. The driver had made enough from the work to take a trip to Europe. A great return.
My parents met in Nashville. Seeing the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry (which I attended with Debra Goldstein to see Garth Brooks) have special meaning to me.
What I’ve particularly enjoyed is how the series depicts the unseen aspects of the music industry, especially what it’s like to write a song. There are lots of scenes where people try composing alone, then turn to work with others to come up with lyrics and tunes. New artists are encouraged to draw upon their own experiences, to describe situations that touch them personally.
The personal connection is a strong identifier with the musicians depicted on Nashville. I know that fiction authors don’t always tell stories based on their own lives or experiences, but many do feel it’s important to keep faith with their readers by maintaining certain elements. I pondered on that as I watched Nashville and saw how language and brands were carefully chosen and protected. Maybe that’s why it is so important to write from a place and about a situation that truly resonates with you. I think that’s what Nashville is trying to tell us: being true to yourself is a quality that readers and fans appreciate and respect.
I hope you will have the chance to experience Nashville in person. It has its own special magic.
A question or two about writing
/in Author Life, Uncategorized, writing a mystery novel, writing life/by donalee Moultonby donalee Moulton
What was the most difficult piece you ever wrote? What made it difficult?
I wrote an article early in my career about an infant born several months prematurely (with only a tablespoon of blood in its entire body if I remember correctly) and the fight to save the little one. I recall drafting the article with tears streaming down my cheeks. In that moment I realized, for me, that journalism was about moving people as well as informing them.
What sort of research do you do for your work?
Research is essential, even when you think you won’t need to do a lot of it. For example, there were key elements to my first mystery book Hung Out to Die that had to be authentic, at least in a fictional context. I had done a lot of reporting on the cannabis industry and had the opportunity to tour a cannabis-production plant before it opened. Likewise, for years as a freelance journalist, I wrote on the health sector and health issues, including mental health and personality issues. As a communications specialist, many of my clients were from this sector. All of this research knowingly and unknowingly fed into Hung Out to Die.
Which books and authors do you read for pleasure? Is there an author that inspires you?
I relish reading. I was a judge in the Crime Writers of Canada’s Awards of Excellence this year, and I got to dive into fabulous – and very diverse – books that kept me on my toes and my eyes glued to the page. When I was younger and I was discovering the wonder and wow of the mystery genre, I devoured authors like Tony Hillerman, Martha Grimes, Ruth Rendell. More recently I have discovered writers like Richard Osman. And Delia Owens’s Where the Crawdads Sing was nothing short of joyous.
Was there a person who encouraged you to write?
My mother taught me to love language – and to respect it. She cared about words and getting the words right. She was my greatest influence.
What would you say are your strengths as an author?
I always find it easy to get distracted when I am writing. As a freelance journalist, however, I learned to stay on track. Working to deadline meant there often wasn’t time to travel down interesting but non-essential paths. You are also working to a specific word count as a journalist so you know no matter how interesting the asides, they will not make it into the article for length reasons. Rigor is required.
How often do you write, and do you write using a strict routine?
I am not a marathon writer. I am a sprinter. I can’t sit and write for hours at a time. I break up my writing by taking a yoga class, soaking up some sunshine, checking email, doing some paid work. I do try to write 1,000 fictional words a day. Some days I achieve this. We don’t need to talk about the other days.
A Magical Year to Remember
/in 4th of July!, Gay Yellen, Paris/by Gay YellenIt is said that France and the U.S. have always had a special relationship, dating back to our revolutionary days. I feel it every year on July 14.
Today, ten days after all the hoopla surrounding our 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, France is celebrating their own national holiday, le Quatorze Juillet (July 14), la Fête Nationale.
History tells us that the success of our American Revolution inspired the French to rebel against their own squirrelly King, beginning with the storming of the Bastille, a formidable prison and a hated symbol of royal cruelty.
This date always takes me back to my junior year of college, that magical time when I was immersed in everything French.
Lucky thirteen
There were thirteen of us who sailed across the Atlantic in late summer, twelve girls and one boy, aboard the USS United States, the fastest ocean liner ever built.
The weather was so awful, it was impossible to go out on deck for the 4-day sail. Cabin fever made us crazy, but bonded us together as friends. At last, we docked in Le Havre and spent the night in Rouen, where we were welcomed by our Dijon professor and our first taste of French champagne.
Castles & cathedrals
At the port the next morning, we boarded a bus that took us on a week’s meander to Caen (William the Conqueror’s castle!), and Bayeux (the tapestries!), Fougeres (another castle!) then south (Mont San Michel!)
and east to the Loire valley (more chateaux and cathedrals). By the end of the week we were so completely overwhelmed by all the Romanesque and Gothic architecture, we let off steam by posing for a group photo in which we all contorted our bodies and faces to resemble the dozens and dozens of gargoyles we’d encountered on the way.
My personal chateau
Our next-to-last destination was Dijon, where we spent some weeks practicing our French-speaking skills and learning more about the history and the culture of the Burgundy region. We were separated into various local hosting homes. I was placed in an airy room at a spacious 18th century chateau outside of town owned by a fur merchant and his beautiful big family. Lovely people.
Paris!
Once we were ready to face life alone in the big city, we were moved to Paris where we separated again. Some moved into a dorm, but I was given my own room in the home of another large family, not far from the Seine on the Left Bank. Life settled into a regular pattern of private classes for the 13 of us, plus huge public lectures at the Sorbonne, and regular tickets to all the museums, the Comedie-Francaise, and the Paris Opera.
One of the older children of my Paris hosts operated a popular student boîte. He invited Patrick (the boy in our group) and me to perform there. A thrill, for sure. Pat and I have been friends ever since.
I couldn’t help but fall in love with France. By the time my year was over, I was fluent in the language. I even dreamed in French, a habit that sadly dwindled to dust as time went by.
Memories that linger
At my first dinner in the home of my Paris family, the father had welcomed me by raising his glass in a toast to America in gratitude for what our country had done for France in World War II. I recalled what Lafayette had done for ours. Our kinship truly does go way back.
And every year, I feel gratitude for having experienced a most magical time of my life.
Happy Bastille Day! Vive La France! Vive L’Amerique!
I hope you’ve had a magical time to remember. Tell us about it in the comments below!
Gay Yellen’s award-winning writing career began in magazine journalism. She later served as the contributing editor for the international thriller, Five Minutes to Midnight (Delacorte), which debuted as a New York Times “Notable.” Her Samantha Newman Mystery Series is packed with suspense and laced with touches of romance, heart, and humor. Available on Amazon or to order through your favorite bookseller.
Sci-Fi Blurb Leads to Fascination with the Author
/in Donnell Ann Bell, writing life/by Donnell Ann BellWhen a headline popped up in my feed two months ago, I did something I rarely do. I immediately clicked on. I was intrigued by the title, The Girl Who was Plugged In.
My plan was simply to explain the gist of the 1973 science fiction novella about a disabled fifteen-year-old girl who agrees to remotely control a genetically engineered fifteen-year-old girl and use it to influence the masses in a dystopian world—when advertising is illegal.
Then I planned to share that according to the entertainment magazine, Deadline, Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) has agreed to write and direct the film. So far, though, to my knowledge, there is no release date.
So that was that. Not much of a blog. Until the more I read, I found the author equally if not more intriguing.
The Girl who was Plugged In was written by James Tiptree, Jr., who won the prestigious Hugo award for the story in 1974. I further learned that Tiptree is a pseudonym for author, artist and Air Force veteran Alice B. Sheldon. Tiptree (Sheldon) chose the pen name for various reasons but also to compete in the male-dominated science fiction field.
Tiptree/Sheldon’s list of literary awards is numerous. This multifaceted woman was also an artist, participating in group shows at The Art Institute of Chicago.
Alice B. Sheldon passed away in 1978. Tiptree’s Wikipedia page expands on his/her life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tiptree_Jr.
Julie Phillips, a critic and award-winning biographer wrote Tiptree’s biography, and won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2006. I recently found the book and purchased it on Amazon. After reading Tiptree’s Wikipedia page, as well as the following book description, I think it’s evident why Ms. Sheldon chose a pseudonym. I look forward to reading James Tiptree, Jr., The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, and learning more about this remarkable woman.
About the Book:
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year
A Washington Post Book World Best Book of the Year
One of Entertainment Weekly‘s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year
Alice Bradley Sheldon was born in Chicago in 1915. As a child, she crossed Africa with her explorer parents. Later she became a painter, a CIA agent, a psychologist, and at age fifty-one made yet another career change.
James Tiptree, Jr., appeared on the science fiction scene in 1967. His stories were fast-paced and hard-boiled, his letters frank and sensitive. For nearly ten years he carried on intimate correspondences with fellow writers Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, and Ursula K. Le Guin. But no one knew who he really was. Then, assumptions about writing and gender were demolished when “he” was revealed to be Alice B. Sheldon.
Based on extensive research and full access to Sheldon’s papers, James Tiptree, Jr., is the suspenseful, engrossing, and tragic biography of a profoundly original writer and woman far ahead of her time.
“An incredible life, done elegant justice. Tiptree-Sheldon is one of the century’s astonishing figures.” —Jonathan Lethem, bestselling author of The Fortress of Solitude
“Fascinating . . . May make you rethink your ideas about what it means to be male or female—or, for that matter, human.” —Francine Prose, O, The Oprah Magazine
“The meticulous, emotionally intelligent biography of an extraordinary writer.” —William Gibson
My Path to Fiction Began with The Master of Suspense
/in Alfred Hitchcock, Author Life, author promotion, characters, Kathleen Kaska, mystery trivia, Noir Mystery, Quiz, writing life/by Kathleen KaskaMy path to fiction began in the early 1990s, when trivia books were popular, and nonfiction was easier to sell than fiction. I wrote a proposal for my first book, What’s Your Agatha Christie I.Q.?, later retitled The Agatha Christie Triviography and Quiz Book. The first agent I queried accepted the project, and three weeks later, I had a publishing contract.
That success led to The Alfred Hitchcock Triviography and Quiz Book and later The Sherlock Holmes Triviography and Quiz Book. I enjoyed writing all three, but the Hitchcock book was especially memorable. I spent an entire summer watching every Alfred Hitchcock film ever made, all 53 of them.
What an education that was. Hitchcock was a master of suspense and one of cinema’s greatest directors, creating some of the most memorable films and unforgettable characters in movie history. Even his villains could be charming, and his stories kept audiences guessing until the final scene. It was impossible to study his work without learning valuable lessons about pacing, suspense, and storytelling—lessons that would later influence my own fiction.
Intertwining the nuances of suspense and surprise, Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) always kept his audience on the edge of their seats—right where he wanted them. Hitchcock/Truffaut (1983), by Francois Truffaut, details Hitchcock’s views on the difference between these two elements and how their proper use could make a thriller a triumphant work of art. Hitchcock’s technique was knowing exactly what to tell an audience and when. For the sake of surprise, he felt the audience should know very little about what was to occur. In his conversations with Truffaut, Hitchcock gave the example of a bomb exploding without any warning. There was no anticipation of the event. It just happened, and the audience then had to deal with its bewilderment. Surprise alone did not make a thriller more clever unless it was used as a twist at the end.
Hitchcock believed that suspense took place when the audience was aware a bomb was near and an explosion was imminent. The audience always saw the events unfold as they happened, but the characters in the film remained oblivious. The inability to warn the characters of their fate left the audience feeling completely powerless. However, it also drew the audience into the story, creating an intimacy between the audience and the screen characters. Nevertheless, unable to help, the audience could only watch the events unfold before their eyes. This technique was used in many of Hitchcock’s films: in Easy Virtue (192.7), the suspense centered on an offer of marriage made while a telephone operator listened intently for the woman’s reply; while in Rear Window (1954), the audience held its breath as the villain of the piece, Thorwald, entered his apartment while the heroine, Lisa, was searching his bedroom for clues to a possible murder.
Alfred Hitchcock’s masterful weaving of suspense and surprise always gave his audience bone-chilling thrills before flattening them with his typically shocking endings.
Now for an Alfred Hitchcock quiz: What if several of Hitchcock’s notorious and psychotic characters were committed to a mental hospital? Here are six character profiles from six movies. Can you identify the characters and the actor who played them?
Kathleen Kaska is the author of the Sydney Lockhart Mysteries, winner of the 2025 PenCraft Award for Best Mystery Series, the Kate Caraway Animal-Rights Mysteries, and the Mystery Trivia Series.
Kathleen’s hardboiled detective novel, Death Without Dignity, won the Amity Literary Award and is scheduled for publication in spring 2027. Across genres, her work is known for character-driven suspense, socially conscious themes, and a generous touch of humor. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and continues to write both series and standalone crime fiction.
Kathleen Kaska
Her latest Sydney Lockhart mystery, Murder at the Faust, will be out in print on September 8. The eBook now available.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/2050034
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Book Trailers
/in Book trailers, Book design, Research, Romance, Romantic Suspense, writing life/by Bethany MainesFrom Pink Slip to Published Author
/in Uncategorized/by Judy Penz ShelukBarbara Bos, Founder of Women Writers, Women’s Books
A couple of months ago, I was approached by Barbara Bos of Women Writers, Women’s Books. She introduced herself by saying she’d learned about me from following The Stiletto Gang and wondered if I’d like to share my backstory to becoming a published author.
I’ll admit to being suspicious. I’ve had “offers” from big name authors (who likely have never heard of me), bogus bookclubs, and countless “reviewers.” I’m still waiting to hear from Reece Witherspoon or Nicole Kidman looking to option one of my books…I’m sure that’s coming next.
Anyway, Barbara’s email to me, unlike the scams, read like a human had written it. And it wasn’t filled with all sorts of fake flattery and inflated promises.
I dared to search for the website (without clicking on any links in her email).
And turned out, she was the real deal. Nonetheless, I responded with a cynical “What’s it going to cost?” Barbara assured me the ask was being made with no expectation of payment. Further, the deadline was flexible. That was a good thing because at the time, I was fully immersed in getting the beta copies completed for my current true crime in progress, A Fatal Affair. We settled on June 1st.
Judy on the way to Whistler, British Columbia
Fast forward to the end of May (and I’m not usually so last minute) and I wondered what the heck I was going to write about. Barbara had suggested an origin story would be of interest, and so I went back in time, to 2003, when two events occurred to change the course of my life.
What were those two events?
Well, you’ll have to read the article to find out, and I hope you do. Because the moral of this story is that “the end” is just a new beginning.
And that the harder you work, the luckier you get.
Here’s the article: https://booksbywomen.org/judy-penz-sheluk-from-pink-slip-to-published-author/