Tag Archive for: Kaye George

New Short Story Anthologies

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by Paula Gail Benson

Three great new anthologies are on the horizon. Please add the following to your “to be read” lists:

Dark of the Day: Eclipse Stories, will be released on April 1 (in time for the April 8 total solar eclipse). The anthology is edited by Kaye George and published by Down and Out Books. Stories are by Eric Beckstrom, Paula Gail Benson, Michael Bracken, John Rogers Clark, IV, Bridges DelPonte, Cari Dublei, John M. Floyd, Kaye George, Debra H. Goldstein, Toni Goodyear, James A. Hearn, Laura Oles, Katherine Tomlinson, Joseph S. Walker, M.K. Waller, Carol L. Wright. (I’m very proud to be included with these terrific authors!)

Donna Andrews, Marcia Talley, and Barb Goffman edited Three Strikes—You’re Dead!, an anthology of sports mysteries coming out April 23 from Wildside Press. Every author in it is a member of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime. The authors are: William Ade, Kathryn Prater Bomey, Maddi Davidson (the pen name of authors Diane Davidson and Mary Ann Davidson), Lynne Ewing, Barb Goffman, Sherry Harris, Smita Harish Jain, Adam Meyer, Alan Orloff, Rosalie Spielman, Shannon Taft, F. J. Talley, Robin Templeton, and Joseph S. Walker.

Malice Domestic announces its 18th Malice Domestic anthology titled Mystery Most Devious, edited by John Betancourt, Michael Bracken, and Carla Coupe Malice Domestic and published by Wildside Press. The anthology will include stories by Mary Adler, Sue Anger, Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier, Susan Love Brown, Joslyn Chase, Leone Ciporin, P.A. De Voe, Christine Eskilson, Roberta Gibson, Hope Hodgkins, Smita Harish Jain, Jackie McMahon, Linda Norlander, Josh Pachter, Jill K. Quinn, Jennifer Slee, and Sarah Stephens. It’s due to be released with a book signing at Malice Domestic in April.

Happy reading!

 

An Interview with the Authors of the 2020 Agatha Short Story Nominees!

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by Paula Gail Benson


Each
year, it is such a delight for me to welcome the authors whose short stories
have been nominated for the Agatha award, presented at Malice Domestic. This
year, the event may have been postponed, but that’s no reason not to celebrate the authors and their nominated stories! These authors are not only expert at the craft of short story writing, but
also dear friends. Their nominated stories offer the depth and emotion that
fine storytelling always evokes. Please take time to read each of the stories at
the following links:
“Grist for
the Mill” by
Kaye George in A Murder of Crows (Darkhouse Books)
“Alex’s Choice” by Barb Goffman in Crime
Travel (Wildside Press)
“The Blue
Ribbon” by Cynthia Kuhn in Malice
Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible (Wildside Press)
“The Last
Word” by Shawn Reilly Simmons, Malice
Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible (Wildside Press)
“Better
Days” by Art Taylor in Ellery
Queen Mystery Magazine
Welcome
Kaye, Barb, Cynthia, Shawn, and Art to the Stiletto Gang!
How do you decide the point of view or who
will tell your short story?
Kaye George
Kaye
George:
The
theme of the anthology was animal group names. You know, those odd ones, like a
Murder of Crows (not coincidentally, the name of the anthology)? I looked up a
bunch and discovered a Grist of Bees. I got the go-ahead to use that group and
so my MC had to be a beekeeper.
Barb
Goffman:
This
is usually an organic issue for me. I don’t come up with a plot and then think
about who would be the best person to tell the story. My stories are character
driven, so once I know a character’s story—his/her situation that I want to
tell—the point of view to use has already been decided. This was true of my
Agatha-nominated story “Alex’s Choice.” That said, sometimes for a story to
work, I need to tell it from multiple perspectives, so I do so. (You may be
thinking, stories with multiple POV from Barb? I don’t recall those stories.
That’s true. They haven’t been published—yet!)
Cynthia Kuhn
Cynthia
Kuhn:
Seems
to depend on the story—some require access to the protagonist’s perspective and
some require more distance.
Shawn
Reilly Simmons:
For
me every story is different, but I do tend to focus on one POV of a character
with a strong motivation to move the story forward. For this particular story,
the character driving the story has a strong motivation to take inventory of
his friendship with one of his oldest acquaintances.
Art
Taylor:
I’ve used a variety of
points of view across my stories—both in terms of prose point-of-view (I, you,
he, she) and in terms of character (a detective’s perspective, a criminal’s,
whoever’s). The narrator of “Better Days” is a journalist who was downsized
from a major newspaper and has picked up a job at a small coastal North
Carolina newspaper—in the same town where his father now lives, father and son
both trying to build better relations in the years since the narrator’s mother
died. That father-son relationship is core to the story, and it was important
for me to show that relationship through the eyes of the son—both some of the
frustrations about the relationship and also some redemption too. While the
narrator sets out to investigate the crime here, the dad is the one who steps forward
as the detective solving the case—not quite a Watson-Sherlock relationship, but
certainly echoes of that, and there are many reasons that Watson is the
narrator of the Sherlock stories, of course.
Each of your stories take place in a
unique “universe” that becomes an important part of the plot. Which came first,
your characters or the setting, or, if they were somehow melded, how?
Kaye
George:
My
characters were first, and the setting is just their homes and yards in
Anywhere USA. I think people have backyard gardens and keep bees in a lot of
places, so I didn’t specify where it is, exactly. I’d love for the reader to
imagine this is their town.
Barb Goffman
Barb
Goffman:
Combo
for me. Sometime in the year before I wrote my story, I read a newspaper
article about a tragedy involving a California family. They had been on the
beach, and after their dog went into the ocean and didn’t come out, the father
went in to save him. When he didn’t come out, another family member went in
after him, and it went on and on until they all were gone—only the dog
survived, eventually crawling out from the water. It was a horrendous
occurrence, and I wished I could change things for those poor people. And then
my beloved dog Scout died, and I wanted to bring him back. Both of these terrible
events were the springboard for my story “Alex’s Choice,” which involves a
couple who die in the ocean after their dog is swept away. Thanks to time
travel, their child has the chance to go back and change what happened but is
unexpectedly forced to make a choice that no one—let alone a child—should have
to make.
Cynthia
Kuhn:
For
“The Blue Ribbon,” the setting came first—in fact, the moment that I read the
description of the anthology project, the bakery and competition popped into my
head. It doesn’t usually happen that vividly; typically I only get a wisp of an
idea that has to be coaxed out of hiding.
Shawn Reilly Simmons
Shawn
Reilly Simmons:
It
was both in my case—for “The Last Word” I wanted the setting to be a high end
restaurant in New York City, a location I can picture very well from my own
experiences of living and working there, and a chef who is seasoned enough to
have been through the ups and downs of a culinary career—praise, wealth,
hunger, professional jealousy, failure. Maybe it’s because I wrote this story
very quickly, but the setting and characters came to me simultaneously, I
think!
Art Taylor


Art
Taylor:
“Better Days” is the
sequel to an earlier story that was also set on the North Carolina coast: “A
Drowning at Snow’s Cut.” To that end, characters and setting both were already
in place for the new story. But I will say that setting helped to determine to
a great degree what happens here: a coastal town, a newcomer on a big yacht,
the cocktail bar where this newcomer begins to move in on one of the local
women, and then the narrator interested in the same woman—relatively new to the
area himself and still trying to make peace with his life after having been
laid off at the big-city newspaper. Character, plot, and place come together
here in key ways.


If you had a spirit animal, what would it
be?
Kaye George:
Some
kind of beautiful bird. I’m afraid of heights and would love to be able to soar
like they do. Maybe a hawk or an eagle.
Barb
Goffman:
I
had to look up what a spirit animal is. I’ll go with the badger, whose
attributes apparently include focus on the task at hand, self-reliance,
persistence, and strategy.
Cynthia
Kuhn:
One
psychic told me that my spirit animal was a butterfly; another said it was a
giraffe. Still confused.
Shawn
Reilly Simmons:
I
had no idea so I just took an online quiz! The result: I’m a Turtle: The turtle
totem wisdom teaches us about walking our path in peace and sticking to it with
determination and serenity. Yeah, that sounds about right. While I do have a
lot on my plate, I do keep a Zen attitude about it, and am always seeking
balance in all things….I’ll take Turtle any day.
Art
Taylor:
I took two quizzes to
try to figure this one out. The first determined that my spirit animal was a
whale, because I listen to inner voices and embrace my emotions. The
second said that it should be a snake, because I’m “powerfully connected
to life force and primal energy.” Also, my sign is Pisces, and my Myers-Briggs
is INFJ. Somewhere in all that, that’s where you’ll find me.
What
shoes will you (or if you prefer, would a character from your nominated short
story) wear to the Agatha Banquet?

Kaye
George:
Hmm,
Kevin isn’t much for dressing up. He’ll probably wear leather tie shoes and
slacks, though, after I stress to him that we are being honored there. If
Vivian, the protagonist, shows up, she’ll wear low heels and a dress, I’m sure.
These are not young, stylish people, see.
Barb
Goffman:
I
wear the same shoes every year. They are black. They are flat. They are
comfortable.
Cynthia
Kuhn:
Are
flip flops allowed? If so, that would be my first choice.
Shawn
Reilly Simmons:
Most
likely something way more fancy with a higher heel than I normally wear, which
is no shoes at all when I’m writing or doing yoga, or trainers when I’m running
or lifting weights at the gym….yeah, I’ll have to acquire something more
appropriate for an elegant event!
Art
Taylor:
I’ve leaned toward
more formal or more flashy in previous years—black wingtips, white bucks, this
pair of hand-crafted blue-and-tan suede shoes from Portugal (no lie). But I’ve
got a new pair of brown Clark’s—which my wife Tara says looks like every other
shoe I wear on regular basis—and I think I’ll wear those. My character would
appreciate too: down-to-earth, nothing flashy, just who he is.  
Thank
you all for taking the time to be with us and answer questions. And, many
thanks for all the wonderful stories you have written! During this time of
social distancing, it’s grand to have terrific reading material!
AUTHOR BIOS:
Kaye George:
Kaye George is a
national-bestselling, multiple-award-winning author of pre-history,
traditional, and cozy mysteries (latest is Revenge Is Sweet from Lyrical
Press). Her short stories have appeared online, in anthologies, magazines, her
own collection, her own anthology, DAY OF THE DARK, and in A MURDER OF CROWS.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Smoking Guns chapter, Guppies chapter,
Authors Guild of TN, Knoxville Writers Group, Austin Mystery Writers, and lives
in Knoxville, TN.
Barb Goffman:
Barb Goffman edits mysteries by
day and writes them by night. She’s won the Agatha, Macavity, and Silver
Falchion awards for her short stories, and she’s been a finalist for national
crime-writing awards twenty-eight times, including thirteen times for the
Agatha (a category record). Her work has appeared in many magazines and anthologies,
including Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred
Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and
the 2019 anthology Crime Travel, which Barb also edited. To support
her writing habit, Barb runs a freelance editing service, specializing in crime
fiction. She lives with her dog in Virginia.
Cynthia Kuhn:
Cynthia
Kuhn writes the Lila Maclean Academic Mysteries: The Semester of Our
Discontent, The Art of Vanishing, The Spirit in Question, The Subject
of Malice, and The Study of Secrets. Her work has also appeared in Mystery Most Edible, McSweeney’s
Quarterly Concern, Literary Mama, Copper Nickel, Prick of the Spindle, Mama
PhD, and other publications. Honors include an Agatha Award (best first novel),
William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant, and Lefty Award nominations (best
humorous mystery). Originally from upstate New York, she lives in Colorado with
her family. For more information, please visit cynthiakuhn.net.
Shawn Reilly Simmons:
Shawn
Reilly Simmons is the author of The Red Carpet Catering Mysteries
featuring Penelope Sutherland, an on-set movie caterer, and of several
short stories appearing in a variety of anthologies including the Malice
Domestic, Best New England Crime Stories, Bouchercon, and Crime Writers’
Association series.

Shawn was born in Indiana, grew up in Florida, and began her professional
career in New York City as a sales executive after graduating from the
University of Maryland with a BA in English. Since then she has worked
as a book store manager, fiction editor, mystery convention
organizer, wine rep, and caterer. She serves on the Board of Malice Domestic
and is co-editor at Level Best Books.

Shawn is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, the
International Thriller Writers, and the Crime Writers’ Association in the
U.K.

Art Taylor:
Art Taylor is the author of the
story collection The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74 and Other
Tales of Suspense and of the novel in stories On the Road with
Del & Louise, winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. He
won the 2019 Edgar Award for Best Short Story for “English 398: Fiction
Workshop,” originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine,
and his other awards have included the Agatha, the Anthony, the Derringer, and
the Macavity.  He is an associate professor of English at George
Mason University. 

B.K. “Bonnie” Stevens, True Friend and Good Writer

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My first panel at Malice with Sally Goldenbaum, Liz Stauffer, Bonnie, me, and Wendy Tyson

by Paula Gail Benson


“It
is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.”
― E.B. White,
Charlotte’s Web
When
we learned last week about B.K. “Bonnie” Stevens passing, Shari Randall
(writer, librarian, blogging partner, and friend) reminded me of E.B. White’s
novel and his description of the barn spider Charlotte who, by weaving
carefully chosen words into her web, saved Wilbur the pig’s life.
Bonnie
embodied the phrase, “true friend and good writer.” Her life was a testament
to the importance of constantly reaching out to others, eagerly opening your
mind to learn, and joyously communicating.
Like
Charlotte, Bonnie spoke truthfully, honestly, and with respect for the
complexities of the world. She also understood the power and wonder of
individuals sharing their lives with each other.
Chronologically,
I did not know Bonnie for a long period of time, but our connection and friendship
is enduring. I know that her inspiration, advice, and encouragement are part of
my life forever.
Maybe
one thing that drew us together, besides my great admiration for her prose, was
our backgrounds in and appreciation of education. Bonnie spent a good portion
of her life as an instructor and I came from a family of teachers. From that environment,
you realize how delightful discovering new facts and information can be.
As
I read Bonnie’s longer biography on her website, I realized that her philosophy
of remaining open to whatever life brought her continued to enrich her own experience.
Through her fiction and nonfiction, she passed that joy along to her readers.
While
reading Bonnie’s stories or being able to discuss writing with her were
incredible treats, experiencing her generosity of spirit was truly humbling. I
once got up the nerve to ask if she would read one of my stories and give me
feedback. She did so promptly with excellent suggestions, but also asked what
others had told me about the story. All perspectives of the writing process
were fascinating to her. Later, she asked me to read and react to a play she
had written. I hesitated, wondering if my comments possibly could be of any
help to her. After all, she had won an award for this play. She assured me that
she wanted to hear from me because I wrote plays and directed them for a drama
ministry, and my view, as someone who had staged a play, would give her
valuable insight.
One
of the kindest and most incredible gifts that Bonnie and her husband Dennis
gave me was a phenomenal birthday celebration during Bouchercon in New Orleans.
In advance, Bonnie sent me a list of possible venues, each sounding more
wonderful than the last, and asked me to pick the location. She gathered good
friends Art Taylor, Debra Goldstein, and Riley Miller to join us. By the end of
the blissful evening, we had a table full of desserts (including the most
delicious jalapeno lime cheesecake as well as an Almond Joy chocolate cake) and
the great satisfaction of an unforgettable time spent in lovely conversation. [Please
look for Art Taylor’s “Remembering Bonnie Stevens” message and other tributes by fellow bloggers on SleuthSayers.org
and Debra Goldstein’s “In Memory of Bonnie (B.K.) Stevens” to be posted on
Friday, August 25, 2017, here on The Stiletto Gang.]
Bonnie
gave selflessly to so many. Just recently, I saw Kaye George’s remembrance of
meeting Bonnie when she came to Kaye’s book signing at Malice Domestic. Kaye
asked, “Are you the B.K.
Stevens?” Bonnie said she was and asked Kaye, then President of the Guppies,
the online chapter for Sisters in Crime, how she could join. From the time she
became a member, Bonnie was constantly sending out words of welcome and
congratulations.
When
she began her blog “The First Two Pages,” Bonnie set out to highlight other
writers’ work by allowing them to analyze the beginning of a short story or
novel. Her initial post came from Kaye George and the latest messages are from
the contributors to Kaye’s anthology to celebrate the solar eclipse, Day of the Dark (Wildside Press), some
of whom are making their debut publication.
As
I prepare to post these words on Monday, August 21, 2017, the day our country
experiences the eclipse from coast to coast, I’m reminded of a special theatre tradition
to recognize the passing of well known members of the Broadway community — the simultaneous
dimming of all the marquee lights for one minute at the 8:00 pm curtain hour.
When the lights come back up, the shows go on.

While I experience
this solar eclipse, I’ll remember Bonnie, my true friend and good writer, and
think about all that she has done for the many lives she has touched. Thank you
Dennis and daughters Sarah and Rachel for sharing her with us.

My New Orleans Bouchercon Birthday

Day of The Dark Anthology Debuts by Debra H. Goldstein

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Day of the Dark Anthology Debuts by Debra H. Goldstein
Forty years is a long
time.  In this case, on August 21, 2017, it
will have been over forty years since a total solar eclipse passed over the
continental United States. That’s why, according to news reports, people are booking
hotels, signing up for excursions and making other plans to find a spot somewhere
between Oregon and South Carolina to experience the eclipse. The location one
chooses is important because it can mean the difference of having a second or up
two minutes and thirty-eight seconds to view the moon pass between the sun and
the earth.

Of course, when mystery
writers think about the word eclipse, their excitement can become slightly
skewed. Twenty-four authors proved that point in the anthology, Day of the Dark, which will be released by Wildside Press on July 21.

Edited by author Kaye
George, who also has a story, The Darkest
Hour, in the anthology, the stories roughly track the path across the
United States that the shadow of the eclipse will take. A few occur on
different continents and in timespans other than August 2017. The tales range
from medium to dark, traditional to supernatural, but all meet the same
standard of excellence.

Of course, I’m biased. One
of my short stories, A Golden Eclipse,
was accepted for the anthology. It reminds us that no matter what the event,
there are always people ready to use any occasion to take advantage of others.

But don’t just read Day of the Dark for Kaye and my
stories. There are twenty-two other authors included in the book.  These include Margaret S. Hamilton, Toni
Goodyear, Kristin Kisska, Harriette Sackler, Joseph S. Walker, LD Masterson, Paul
D. Marks, Katherine Tomlinson, Leslie Wheeler, Carol L. Wright, Christine Hammar,
John Clark, Bridges DelPont, M.K. Waller, Laura Oles, Melissa Blaine, Cari
Dubiel, Suzanne Berube Rorhus, Dee McKinney, Nupur Tustin, Cheri Vause, and KB
Inglee.  Some are well known like Paul D.
Marks, a 2013 Shammus winner and 2015 Anthony and Macavity nominee while, for
others, like Nupur Tustin, this is their first published short story.

Not only are the authors
diverse in their writing styles and story ideas, but they also proved their
diversity when, after deciding that a portion of the proceeds Day of the Dark should be donated, they
agreed that the causes to be supported will include Earth and Sky, Petconnect
Rescue, Natural Resources Defense Council, Science Center in Finland,
DonorsChoose.org, Friends of Goldendale Observatory, Friends of the Earth,
Morehead Planetarium, Texas Museum of Science and Technology, DAPCEP.org for
STEM education for future astronomers and scientists in Detroit, and personal
friends in need. 

Whew! And so is the
book.  I won’t be able to be anywhere to
view the eclipse, but I’m okay with that. 
I plan to be holed up with Day of
the Dark. I’m certainly not waiting forty more years for this eclipse
treat.

A Weekend in Atlanta Talking Short Stories

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by Paula Gail Benson

Robert Mangeot, Fran Stewart, and PGB (Photo by Charlie Burton)


My
membership in Sisters in Crime has afforded me many benefits, including
information, encouragement, and camaraderie. I’m particularly grateful to have had
the opportunity to participate in a recent short story workshop sponsored by
the Atlanta Chapter and organized by its President Lisa Malice and Debra
Goldstein. The event took place at the Decatur Public Library, a marvelous
facility with well-equipped auditorium and a patio where those attending could
have lunch and talk with the presenters. It was a true privilege for me to be
on the program with three short story writers I greatly admire, Debra, Kaye
George, and Robert Mangeot.

We
set an ambitious goal to provide a comprehensive overview of the short story craft
and submission process. While we concentrated on mysteries, we were delighted
to have writers of literary fiction and other genres participating.

Debra Goldstein (Photo by Robert Mangeot)

Debra
got us started with a description of the short story and an extremely effective
analysis of how to develop conflict through phrasing and action. Robert brilliantly
covered setting, character, and dialogue in a single segment that incorporated the
use of Gone with the Wind to
illustrate his points. Kaye and I took on the challenge of jointly teaching plotting
strategies and discovered that our approaches and preferred structural models offered
some interesting alternatives for putting together a story.

After
lunch, Kaye explained how revision and editing were essential in developing a
marketable manuscript. I followed up with some exercises to get the creative
juices flowing. I’m pleased to report that the group left with almost everyone
having written a six-word story a la
Ernest Hemingway’s “For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.” Robert finished up the
day with a wonderful method for pursuing publication and left us all with the
inspirational question: “What is your dream?” By telling us about his own
writing journey and encouraging us to consider what we truly wished to achieve,
he sent us forth excited about the possibilities.
PGB and Kaye George (Photo by Robert Mangeot)

Our
participants were so enthusiastic, it became infectious. We exchanged a lot of very
helpful information.

I am
particularly grateful to Lisa Malice and her husband Lou for their generous
hospitality. Kaye and I were fortunate enough to stay with them for the
weekend. Not only did we get to enjoy Lisa and Lou’s lovely home, fabulous
food, and great conversations, but also we had a terrific time practicing our
presentation and catching up.

Thank you to the
Atlanta Chapter for taking the time to focus on the short story. I appreciate
my fellow presenters so very much. I always learn from each of you and I value
our friendships. Finally, many thanks to all those who attended. May you find
the success in writing that you are seeking!

Writing Multiple Series: featuring Kaye George/Janet Cantrell

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This is
my third interview with an author of multiple mystery series. My guest
is Kaye George who is also known as Janet Cantrell. As Kaye, she writes about Imogene Duckworthy, Cressa Carraway, and the (Neanderthal) People of the Wind. As Janet, she pens the Fat Cat cozies. Distinguished for her short stories as well as her mystery novels, Kay has been nominated for an Agatha in two categories (Best First Novel and Best Historical Novel) and served as the President of the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Welcome, Kaye/Janet!

How did you initially
decide to write fiction?
It wasn’t a decision. It’s something I’ve
been doing my whole life. I made up stories to go with my crayon drawings
before I could write words. In grade school I drew little comic strips and
sixth grade wrote two “novels”. I think they were about five pages each. In
high school and college, I sent short stories to magazines. I wrote short
stories for creative writing classes in college. I’ve never not written
fiction.
You have published
short stories. How did those help and continue to influence your career?
The first things I got published were
short stories. This was after I gave up on sending them to Atlantic and The New Yorker,
as I’d done for years. I decided to concentrate on novels, thinking I had a
better chance of getting them published. I initially wrote literary fiction,
but soon decided I should write what I most enjoyed reading, and that was mystery.
During the ten years it took to get a mystery novel published, online short
story markets started opening up and I started submitting. I’m still doing
that, along with the novels.
Who publishes each of
your series and how did you begin writing each series?
I’m self-publishing the Imogene Duckworthy
humorous Texas mysteries. The first in that series was the first mystery novel
I got published, but I parted with my publisher after a year. That book won an
Agatha nomination, which my publisher refused to acknowledge. That didn’t sit
well with me! After I republished the first one, CHOKE, I self-published SMOKE
and BROKE pretty quickly. STROKE is in the works.

The first mystery novel I completed and
queried (for about 10 years) is now called EINE KLEINE MURDER, published by
Barking Rain Press. In frustration over my many, many rejections, I turned to
writing the over-the-top Duckworthy series and got that published first. But I
kept coming back to my first love (not my first completed mystery novel, but
the first that I thought had a chance). The main character, Cressa Carraway, is
the successful professional musician I never was. I’ve always been an amateur,
except for some string quartet work that paid pretty well. I’m glad I persisted
and got it out there. It was a Silver Falchion finalist. The second in that
series, REQUIEM IN RED, will come out with the same publisher in April.

I got interested in reading very old
historical fiction, Roman, Greek, ancient Egyptian, and decided I wanted to
take fiction as far back as I possibly could. This was when the Neanderthal DNA
was being analyzed and more and more interest and discoveries centered upon
them. The more I learned, the more I wanted to write about them. DEATH IN THE
TIME OF ICE was the most difficult project I’ve ever done. I ended up using a
somewhat alternative historical setting, putting Neanderthals in North America.
That’s because I also got hooked by the mega-fauna (really, really big
animals!) that roamed this continent at the same time the Neanderthals were a
distinctive people. I got rave rejections for this from some good agents, who
told me they loved my book (!), but didn’t know how to sell it. One night I was
complaining on Facebook that I had gotten yet another of those rejections and
Jay Hartman, from Untreed Reads, who had published some of my short fiction,
asked to see it. And published it! That book was nominated for Best Historical
Agatha Award. The second in that series, which I’m calling People of the Wind,
is DEATH ON THE TREK and will be out in June.

Meanwhile, because I didn’t have enough
to do, I guess, I was hankering after a cozy series. I kept submitting
proposals to BookEnds Literary, an agency that places many cozy mysteries, and
kept getting them rejected. A proposal, I had learned from some experienced cozy
writers, is a detailed synopsis of the first book, the first three chapters,
and sketches for two more in the series. With each of those rejections, it was
like the characters I had created and lived with for at least a month, died. I
got wind of a series I thought I could do, based in Texas where I lived, and
wanted to audition for it, but couldn’t write yet another proposal and get it
rejected. A friend suggested I send in CHOKE instead and inquire about the
series. I did, Kim Lionetti liked my voice, and suddenly, I was agented! I didn’t
get that proposal, but she got me the Fat Cat series. The first two are out,
FAT CAT AT LARGE and FAT CAT SPREADS OUT. The third, FAT CAT TAKES THE CAKE,
will come out in April. I write that series under the name Janet Cantrell.

Did you notice that I have TWO books
coming out in April? Yikes!
How many books do you
write in a year and what is your publication schedule?
I’d like to write one a year, but have
been doing more. The Fat Cat publisher, Berkley Prime Crime, wanted a book
every nine months, so everything else went on hold while I did those three
books. As a result, the second Neanderthal book is coming out a couple of years
after the first one. The second Cressa Carraway was nearly finished a few years
ago, so it wasn’t too hard to get it in shape.
Do you write under
more than one name? If so, was that by your choice or a publisher’s request?
I write mostly as Kaye George. The Fat
Cat series is written as Janet Cantrell because the publisher owns all the rights
to that series. The initial concept was theirs and they own the series, the
characters, and the author name.
What “relationship”
do you have as author with each of your series’ protagonists?
I love all of them! They are all my
children, my creation, born out of labor and love.
Setting has an
important role in each series you write. What is your approach to developing a
setting that fuels the story and draws in readers?
I use west Texas, where I was living
when I started writing the Duckworthy series because I found much to be darkly
humorous about. It’s a harsh place with wonderful people.
I set the Cressa Carraway books in the
Midwest, where I’m from. It seems natural to set them there.
It was requested I set Fat Cat in
Minneapolis, where I’ve also lived. So that wasn’t difficult.
It was very difficult to draw the
setting for the Neanderthals. They lived before the last Ice Age, when there
was no Mississippi River. I had to do tons of research just to describe the
setting. It was all fun, though.
Is it a challenge to
keep coming up with original and inventive plots? How do you do it?
No, the challenge is to find time to
write everything that’s in my head. I had lots more ideas than I’ll ever live
long enough to write.
Since at The
Stilletto Gang we like to delve into shoes and accessories, what are your
protagonists’ favorite foot or carrying apparel? (Pictures are welcome!)
This is the hardest question! I love
shoe shopping, but my feet are hard to fit and I don’t often find shoes I can
buy. I guess that, as a consequence, my characters don’t have too much interest
in shoes.
Immy Duckworthy wears sneakers and
cowgirl boots. Cressa Carraway probably mostly wears sneakers. Well, Chase
Oliver, the Fat Cat’s owner, does, too. (The Fat Cat is named Quincy.) I guess
I’m in a shoe rut! Enga Dancing Flower wraps her feet in skins and ties them
with leather thongs when it’s cold, but she’s barefoot a lot of the time.
Kaye George/Janet Cantrell
Kaye George, national-bestselling and
multiple-award-winning author, writes several mystery series: Imogene
Duckworthy, Cressa Carraway (Barking Rain Press), People of the Wind (Untreed
Reads), and, as Janet Cantrell, Fat Cat (Berkley Prime Crime cozies). The third,
Fat Cat Takes the Cake, will appear April 2016. The second Cressa Carraway
novel, Requiem in Red, will appear in early 2016. The second People of the
Wind, Death on the Trek, comes out in June 2016. Her short stories appear in
anthologies, magazines, and her own collection, A Patchwork of Stories. She
reviews for Suspense Magazine. She lives in Knoxville, TN. http://kayegeorge.com/

Summer Reading – Part I – Murder on Wheels

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The end of the school year always meant the beginning of the library’s summer reading challenge. My goal was to read the most books for my age level while enjoying what I was reading. Recently, when I finished the first draft of my WIP, I closed my computer and kicked off ten days of fun summer reading.  I devoured mysteries, biographies, literary fiction, and an anthology of short stories.

This post and my July 10th blog will discuss my Summer Reading and a bit of its impact on my writing. Fair disclosure, although the next blog will be devoted to books I purchased, today I am writing about Murder on Wheels, a book given to me because of my interest in reading, writing and reviewing short stories.

Murder on Wheels, published by Wildside Press, LLC (2015), contains eleven stories written by Austin Mystery Writers Kathy Waller, V.P. Chandler, Gale Albright, Kaye George, Laura Oles, Scott Montgomery, and invited authors Earl Staggs and Reavis Z. Wortham.  Ramona DeFelice Long deftly edited the “11 Tales of Crime on the Move.”

The genesis for this wheel related vehicle was a trip Kaye George’s husband took on the Megabus, a commercial double-decker bus.  Seeing the bus, Kaye’s mind instinctively wondered how one could successfully commit a murder and hide the body on the bus.  She consulted members of her Austin Mystery Writers group and their imaginations ran wild.

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round ties together George’s idea and the Austin Mystery Writers’ suggestions for where to hide the body.  What I found to truly make the story is Kaye George’s excellent characterizations.  With few words, she brings a reader into the heart and soul of her characters.

Although the literal me needed to ignore how a few minor things might happen in real life, much as I do when I read the Harry Potter books, Kaye George’s The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round and Have a Nice Trip, and Kathy Waller’s Hell on Wheels and A Nice Set of Wheels hit the mark for delivering perfectly pitched characters.  Each story was different, as were its characters, but there wasn’t one character in the four stories I wouldn’t want to read about again.

Gale Albright’s stories Mome Rath, My Sweet and Aporkalypse Now also depicted characters well, but their literary references to Alice and Wonderland and play on words required a bit more attention than I anticipated sharing with an author during my mindless state of fun time reading.

Rota Fortunae by V.P. Chandler was not a cozy read.  Rather, it was compelling.  Very different than the other stories in the anthology, it used setting, characterization, dialogue, and a sinister feeling to evoke a feeling of unrest that carried this reader from the first to the last word.

Whether reading about tractor, bicycle, bus or car wheels, I found myself transported by Family Business (Reavis Z. Wortham), Buon Viaggio (Laura Oles) and Red’s White F-150 Blues (Scott Montgomery).  Each individually is worth the price of a ticket for a Murder on Wheels ride.

Because it left me thinking afterwards, my favorite story in the anthology is Dead Man on a School Bus by Earl Staggs.  Staggs is a master storyteller who didn’t let his perfect use of the mechanical aspects of short story writing get in the way of crafting distinct characters and plot points. Whether talking about a pencil that isn’t being twirled, using an internal thought flashback, or juxtaposing concrete and suggestive feelings, Staggs managed to summarize a lifetime of feelings into a few pages.

Watch for my July 10th blog to see what else I read during my summer reading excursion.