tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29876683512299936532024-03-13T03:12:20.553-04:00Mystery Writer About WritingA creative writing discussion forum with emphasis on the Mystery Genre.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-78608777837070886542014-05-11T00:00:00.000-04:002014-05-11T00:00:04.923-04:00Second Houston/Bouchard Novel (THE FISHERMAN) Under ContractOn April 22, 2014, I signed a contract with Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. to publish the second novel in my series featuring Mike Houston and Anne Bouchard. The novel, entitled <b><i>THE FISHERMAN</i></b>, follows Anne and Mike as they assist an elderly couple in the search for their missing grand daughter. The investigation leads them into Boston's dark world of prostitution and white slavery.<br />
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As in <b><i>SNIPER</i></b>, they enlist the assistance of crime lord Jimmy O and his organization. The chase takes them from the remnants of Boston's fames Combat Zone to the rocky coast of Maine, and ultimately into the seemingly endless acres of northern Maine woodlands.<br />
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I feel fortunate to be able to work with the same great team at Skyhorse Publishing. I am certain that were it not for the invaluable assistance of my editor, Constance Renfro, (she knew when to back off and let me have my way and when to stand her ground and make me see the light) the book would not have been as good as it turned out. That is my feelings based on the feedback I get from readers. It made me the second most famous person in Stockholm, Maine (population 270), Russell Currier made the U. S. Olympic Biathlon Team and for much of the winter held first place. Now that the 2014 Winter Olympics are history, I'm making a bit of a comeback.<br />
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It is a nice feeling knowing that the publication of <b><i>THE FISHERMAN</i></b> will remove the fear of being a one book wonder, although it didn't hurt Harper Lee. I'll be letting everyone know the particulars as we go through the editorial and prepublication process. Now that I think of it, blogging on that process may be of interest to some people.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-87993974765215239922014-05-04T00:00:00.000-04:002014-05-04T13:23:14.711-04:00When In New Sweden, Don't Drink The Coffee!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglsu1wWBp-3GfIjiLLPvtiRiLeObDMyOkkI6UkABOrrW-SGDCtjr83by23M1kNfMjSmgMU1N3gWoIr_8d3kpmPozVCdzE_reBNZOyGQJWz_FsPJaFRTcAyDznO6UYV_GlFzuWHu97iTzI/s1600/Lutheran+Church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglsu1wWBp-3GfIjiLLPvtiRiLeObDMyOkkI6UkABOrrW-SGDCtjr83by23M1kNfMjSmgMU1N3gWoIr_8d3kpmPozVCdzE_reBNZOyGQJWz_FsPJaFRTcAyDznO6UYV_GlFzuWHu97iTzI/s1600/Lutheran+Church.jpg" height="95" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gustaf Adolph Lutheran Church</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Eleven years ago on May 2, 2003, Daniel Bondeson was found in his New Sweden, Maine farmhouse where he had committed suicide. Bondeson's death alone would have been news in this small community of 650 people, however it was else was found that really shocked the community. Nearby was a suicide note in which Bondeson confessed to putting liquid arsenic in the after service coffee at the Gustaf Adolph Evangelical Lutheran Church.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Until the discovery of the note, Bondeson was not even a suspect in the case. On April 27, 2003, there were complaints about the coffee served at the church coffee hour being bitter. No one had a clue that, bu the end of that day, sixteen people would become violently sick and one (Walter Reid Morrill, 78, known locally as Reid) would perish in short time medical personnel at the nearby Cary Medical Center in Caribou, Maine blamed arsenic poisoning.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Detectives assigned to the case by the Maine State police believed there was more than one parishioner to blame for the poisonings and were focusing on six to ten members of the fifty-person congregation. The police, including FBI profilers arrived and church members, including the victims' relatives, were fingerprinted. They gave blood samples and filed out police questionnaires that went so far as to come right out ans ask them if they perpetrated the crime. The result of this was that people became suspicious of neighbors and relatives, many of whom they'd known for years. The began asking questions: Who skipped coffee hour? Who attended but did not drink coffee?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">New Sweden and the surrounding communities (such as Stockholm, Westmanland, and Jemptland) is a shrinking remnant of the Swedish migration of the 1870s. Maine's farmers were leaving the area to settle in the mid-west where the fields were flat and rich and the winters less harsh than that of Aroostook County. There was also a dispute between the state and French Canadian settlers from Canada as to where the northern border was. To secure its claim on the area, a contingent from Maine ventured to Scandinavia and recruited settlers with the lure of free land. The Swedish settlers immediately founded the Gustaf Adolph Evangelical Lutheran Church, named after a 17th century Swedish king.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Daniel Bondeson</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">In recent years, the closing of Loring Air Force Base hit the local economy hard and the potato market was being dominated by states in the Pacific Northwest. Aroostook County, with focus on the communities that surrounded the base (Caribou, Limestone, Fort Fairfield, and the Swedish Colony) were decimated and there was a migration of the area's youth to places where they could more easily find employment.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Daniel Bondeson, a fifty-three year old bachelor, was a modest man who made a living farming, substitute teaching, and nursing. He was a dedicated runner who had competed in several Boston Marathons and an avid cross-country skier. He was well-known and like by many in the community. Even after the discovery of the suicide note many still find it difficult to believe that he would commit such a crime. In fact, many still don't believe he's guilty. One victim, Erich Margeson, was quoted by the <i>Portland Press Herald</i> as saying: "It does make you wonder whether I could have made a difference, to just go up and talk to him and be a better friend to him." Some believe that he may have given the arsenic unwittingly to someone else and when he learned what it had been used for killed him self in remorse. (Arsenic is in no short supply around Aroostook county, especially in liquid form as, in years past, farmers used it to kill the tops and stems of their potato plants before harvesting the crop.) Some think that if he did do it, he may have done it because of the deaths of a brother, a nephew, and his father in recent years.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">What stands in the face of all these theories was the damning part of the note in which Bondeson states: "I acted alone. I acted alone. One dumb poor
judgement ruins life but I did wrong," read the note, in which the
first "I acted alone" was underlined. The note stated that he did not know that the
chemical he put in the coffee pot before church members gathered
socially after the Aug. 27, 2003, Sunday service was arsenic. "I thought it was something? I had no intent to
hurt this way. Just to upset stomach, like the church goers did me." <i> </i>It is thought that Bondeson had been upset with the church council over a new communion table that he and his brothers and sisters donated to the church in honor of their late mother and father.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Based on the information presented in the suicide note, on April 18, 2006, Maine Assistant Attorney General William R. Stokes, Chief of Criminal Division, and Colonel Craig Poulin, Chief of the Maine State Police, held a press conference in which they held that, as stated in his suicide note, Bondeson acted alone and<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"> “No
further investigative efforts are planned in connection with this case.”</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">Many local residents to day feel that Danny Bondeson was not the perpetrator of this crime and that if not for the incriminating suicide note the case would have never been solved. </span></span></span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-3681387364766044752014-04-27T14:42:00.000-04:002014-04-27T14:56:55.562-04:00TERROR ON SMUTTY NOSE: The Isles of Shoals Murders <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNvwdxXUWWDK0KvTIj7uws4lvZ-dAP_FbIVXOc3oO2IQOKl-CnFMr3joT2edsGBsSMWh8YG0LBdehscxd9WURyk9TDPCCreO4GWG2xeBat2RlVRrz3eJHy4ACQlLs_XBLmQkha0djqcMU/s1600/Smuttynose+Island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNvwdxXUWWDK0KvTIj7uws4lvZ-dAP_FbIVXOc3oO2IQOKl-CnFMr3joT2edsGBsSMWh8YG0LBdehscxd9WURyk9TDPCCreO4GWG2xeBat2RlVRrz3eJHy4ACQlLs_XBLmQkha0djqcMU/s1600/Smuttynose+Island.jpg" height="180" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h2>
Smuttynose Island</h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Islands of the Shoals lie six miles off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
The island group consists of nine islands, five in Maine and four in New
Hampshire, and were named by English explorer Capt. John Smith after sighting
them in 1614. The first recorded landfall of an Englishman was that of explorer
Capt. Christopher Levett, whose 300 fishermen in six ships discovered that the
Isles of Shoals were largely abandoned in 1623.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOetVbHVRWvSdjV_1NzZpTp-AFRMtiUSY95jl0Oq8bHKQ267_PHWvbQ2Zpdw_oJ8phgT_iswTkZ_u6HQ8D4nN-1GntvpvBbESdfp_GAoZZ8BCYpZlZB4njmf-gC5zJSBUXJNmEeW-Ka70/s1600/Sholes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOetVbHVRWvSdjV_1NzZpTp-AFRMtiUSY95jl0Oq8bHKQ267_PHWvbQ2Zpdw_oJ8phgT_iswTkZ_u6HQ8D4nN-1GntvpvBbESdfp_GAoZZ8BCYpZlZB4njmf-gC5zJSBUXJNmEeW-Ka70/s1600/Sholes.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Smuttynose
Island, at 25 acres, is the third-largest island. It is known as the site of </span><a href="http://www.ask.com/wiki/Blackbeard?qsrc=3044" title="Blackbeard"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Blackbeard</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">'s honeymoon,
later for the </span><a href="http://www.ask.com/wiki/Shipwreck?qsrc=3044" title="Shipwreck"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">shipwreck</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> of the Spanish
ship <i>Sagunto</i> in 1813, and then for the notorious 1873 murders of two
young women. The latter is recalled in the story, </span><a href="http://www.seacoastnh.com/Places-%26-Events/Smuttynose-Murders/A-Memorable-Murder-in-Maine/"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">"A Memorable Murder"</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">, by </span><a href="http://www.ask.com/wiki/Celia_Thaxter?qsrc=3044" title="Celia Thaxter"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Celia Thaxter</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">, in the 1997
novel, </span><a href="http://www.ask.com/wiki/The_Weight_of_Water?qsrc=3044" title="The Weight of Water"><i><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">The Weight of Water</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">, by </span><a href="http://www.ask.com/wiki/Anita_Shreve?qsrc=3044" title="Anita Shreve"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Anita Shreve</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> (and in the </span><a href="http://www.ask.com/wiki/The_Weight_of_Water_%28film%29?qsrc=3044" title="The Weight of Water (film)"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">film of the same name</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">), and in the song, </span><a href="http://www.seacoastnh.com/Places-%26-Events/Smuttynose-Murders/Ballad-of-Louis-Wagner/"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">"The Ballad of Louis
Wagner"</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
by </span><a href="http://www.johnperrault.com/programs.cfm"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">John Perrault</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
terrifying events outlined by Thaxter and Shreve took place in the early
morning hours of March 6, 1873. The island was inhabited by a single couple,
John Honvet and his wife Maren, who arrived there from Norway in 1868. John was
a commercial fisherman and he would sail his schooner, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clara Bella</i>, to the fishing grounds, draw his trawl lines, and then
set sail for home in late afternoon. His industriousness earned him respect
from his friends and neighbors on other islands (whose population rarely
surpassed fifty).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Louis
Wagner was working solo, barely eking out a living fishing the waters off the Isles
of Shoals when he met Honvet. For two years John and Maren took Wagner, a dark
muscular Prussian with a thick accent, under their care, seeing that he was
never in need of food or clothing and even went so far as to include him in
John’s prosperous business. During the two plus years they were acquainted it
is said that Wagner and the Hontvets became as close as brothers and sister.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4qCYRyyyGYj0iy_j1YZq0Q5E5B-0QfMk7npltDEynK-6CMZlpMnlZYCXd6D-Iw60UVJq_FWh7m2M79s093DndzXXfL6jJulOLbCD3D2oFI9cDd_r623IE9xZO1xr6bdwMqRGgC1yQTkw/s1600/Wagner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4qCYRyyyGYj0iy_j1YZq0Q5E5B-0QfMk7npltDEynK-6CMZlpMnlZYCXd6D-Iw60UVJq_FWh7m2M79s093DndzXXfL6jJulOLbCD3D2oFI9cDd_r623IE9xZO1xr6bdwMqRGgC1yQTkw/s1600/Wagner.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Though
content with their new lives, the Hontvets missed their families in Norway.
Maren cherished her small cottage, but often her only companion during John’s
absences while fishing was her small dog, Ringe. In May 1871, Maren’s sister,
Karen Christensen, arrived from Norway and within a few weeks obtained a
position as a live-in maid with a family on nearby Appledore Island (the
largest of the Isle of The Shoals islands).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">By
June of 1872, John’s business had prospered to the point where he was able to
hire Wagner, giving him a room within his home. However, in October of that
year John found himself with more help than he needed. His brother, Matthew
arrived from Norway with Maren’s brother, Ivan Christensen and his wife Anethe.
All five family members lived together in the Hontven cottage and Ivan and
Matthew went to work with John. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNseqd9aJ9N7IXvv22fKreP_dfP5UK0vZEaiHs8PRSFlFJy9GbOjkJO648t6be6DNHfsMgHyNIvfoQuB0HpJTFzdgf2Px2KtUzyftChBVwp2jppDOkNu3n1wCtpDaHD5LfHFMOysR92QA/s1600/MarenHontvet.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNseqd9aJ9N7IXvv22fKreP_dfP5UK0vZEaiHs8PRSFlFJy9GbOjkJO648t6be6DNHfsMgHyNIvfoQuB0HpJTFzdgf2Px2KtUzyftChBVwp2jppDOkNu3n1wCtpDaHD5LfHFMOysR92QA/s1600/MarenHontvet.png" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Wagner
stayed on for five weeks after Ivan, Matthew, and Anethe arrived and then
booked passage as a hand on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Addison
Gilbert</i>, a fishing schooner, in November. His luck took a turn for the
worse. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Addison Gilbert </i>was
wrecked and he found himself reduced to working along the docks in Portsmouth,
New Hampshire. He barely made enough money to pay his board. By March of 1873
he was destitute, his shoes and clothes were worn and tattered, and he was
behind in his rent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">John,
Ivan, and Matthew had set sail early on the morning of March 5, 1873. They
placed their trawl lines, intending to sell the catch in Portsmouth and buy
bait there, they met a neighbor and asked him to stop by Smuttynose and inform
the women that due to a change in the wind direction they would be sailing
directly to the mainland.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
women, Maren, Anethe, and Karen (she had left her position on Appledore and
taken one as a seamstress in Boston) who was visiting, got the word in the late
afternoon.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRaP2Bu6fWn5t_keRthyDfR89qfKKRDHmGIDXDo-HD-9bgo23NSifPiwtizJe1othyeo8yvi6SWKpdgGo6lnmdKYoU6CQsjFDzSdPy55B6-umOmwOVKca2cEd0f4GVGeZz2u1Ea3NBba0/s1600/johnHontvet.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRaP2Bu6fWn5t_keRthyDfR89qfKKRDHmGIDXDo-HD-9bgo23NSifPiwtizJe1othyeo8yvi6SWKpdgGo6lnmdKYoU6CQsjFDzSdPy55B6-umOmwOVKca2cEd0f4GVGeZz2u1Ea3NBba0/s1600/johnHontvet.png" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clara Bella</i> docked in Portsmouth
in early evening, Louis Wagner was on hand to help tie the vessel down. He
inquired if John and his crew would be returning to Smuttynose that evening. He
learned that it depended upon whether or not the bait they wanted to buy was
delivered on time. If it was they would return, if not they would stay in port
and return home in the morning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Wagner
was last seen in Portsmouth at 7:30 that evening. He learned that the bait had
not arrived and decided to burglarize the Hontvet’s home. He stole a dory and
rowed into the harbor and out to sea. The feat of rowing twelve miles to the Isles
of Shoals was difficult, but not impossible and Wagner was a skilled oarsman,
driven by desperation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
three woman had waited for the men and by 10 PM decided not to do so any
longer. They changed into their night clothes and made a bed for Karen in the
kitchen, where it was warmer. Maren and Anethe retired to an adjoining bedroom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Rather
than go ashore in the cove where John kept the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clara Bella</i>, Wagner rowed to the far side of the island and
disembarked on the rocky shore. He observed the cottage for several hours after
the inside lights had gone out. Confident that the women were asleep he made
his move. He quickly found the kitchen door unlocked and stepped inside. He
jammed a piece of wood into the latch of the bedroom door. His movement aroused
the dog and it barked, waking Karen. She asked, “John, is that you?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Maren
then awoke and called to her sister, “Karen? Is something wrong?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“John
scared me!” With that Wagner reached for a chair and struck a incapacitating
blow. Karen screamed as he continued his assault.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Karen
struggled to her feet and tugged at the bedroom door. Battered and bleeding,
she freed the latch and fell at Maren’s feet. Wagner rushed again, now swinging
at and hitting both women. Maren managed to pull Karen out of his reach and closed
and barricaded the door.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Anethe
watched the attack from a corner of the room. Maren implored her to run and
hide. Anethe climbed out the bedroom window and stood barefoot in the snow,
frozen with fright.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Wagner
gave up his assault on the locked door and left the house. In the light of the
quarter moon, Maren could see who their attack was. He closed with Anethe and
grabbed an axe from its place on the woodpile and with a single motion drove
the blade into Anethe’s head. Her lifeless body fell as he continued to strike
her. During this horrific attack, Maren was so close that she could have
reached through the window and touched him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Realizing
that she could do nothing to help Anethe, Maren turned her attention to saving
her sister and herself. She begged Karen to run. Karen, however, was on the
verge of fainting and was unable to do anything. By this time Wagner had
returned to the house with the axe. Believing both she and her sister would be
killed if she remained, Maren wrapped herself in a heavy skirt and, when she
heard Wagner return to the house, climbed through the window and ran. She
headed for the cove hoping to find Wagner’s boat there. When she did not see
it, she ran along the shore to the far side of the island. As she passed the
cottage she heard Karen shout in agony. She crawled between two rocks near the
water’s edge where the surf obliterated all other sound.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Karen
tried to escape through the window but was so weak that it was too much. Wagner
finally broke into the room and swung the axe, missing her and hitting the
sill, which broke the axe handle. He then twisted a handkerchief around her
neck and strangled her until she was dead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Bloody
footprints showed his search for Maren and where he dragged Anethe by her feet
into the kitchen. He was exhausted and brewed a pot of tea, leaving blood on
the handle, and ate food he had brought using a plate, knife and fork from the
Hontvet’s kitchen. He ransacked the house, finding only fifteen dollars and
departed, leaving Anethe’s body on the floor beside a clock he had knocked off
the mantle—its hands were stopped at seven minutes past one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
was after eight in the morning when Maren got the attention of the children of
Jorge Ingerbredsen, who were playing beside their home on Appledore Island.
Jorge rowed across the quarter mile of sea to rescue her. He returned her to
his home and with several other men they returned to Smuttynose.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Finding
no one on Smuttynose, the men returned home and searched there. A few hours
later the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Clara Bella</i> was sighted on
the horizon and they signaled her. Matthew and Ivan rowed a skiff to Appledore
and John sailed the schooner to her moor on Smuttynose. When the men found
Maren at the Ingerbredsen house and heard the horrific tale they rushed to
Smuttynose, arriving the same time as John. They found the bodies and searched
the full contents of their destroyed home, before sailing the schooner to
Appledore. That afternoon, John and others carried Maren’s tale of terror to
the authorities in Portsmouth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
stolen dory was found in Newcastle, where two men who knew Wagner reported they
had seen him about six o’clock on the morning of March 7, near a place called
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Devil’s Den.</i> Wagner had returned
to his boarding house, changed some of his clothes and took a 9 AM train to
Boston. Wagner was arrested that evening at a boarding house where he had
stopped to see some women that he knew. He offered no resistance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
following day he was transferred from Boston (where a jeering crowd
followed—the crime had been widely reported throughout the east coast) to
Portsmouth (where a crowd of 10,000 narrowly missed tearing him apart). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Smuttynose
falls under the jurisdiction of Maine so Wagner had to be tried there. Three
days after arriving in Portsmouth, he was moved from the jail to the train
where a lynch mob of over 200 fishermen were waiting. The police escort drew
their revolvers and a company of bayonet-wielding Marines were called from the
Navy base, but the mob was not easily subdued. The escort was showered with
stones and bricks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Louis
Wagner’s trial began in Alfred, Maine on June 9, 1873. It took nine days of
testimony and 55 minutes of deliberation for the jury to find him guilty as
charged. He broke out of jail within a week, but was recaptured in New
Hampshire. On June 25, 1875, 27 months after the crime, Wagner was led into the
yard of the state prison in Thomaston, Maine, and hanged. Wagner maintained his
innocence to the very end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Maren
and John Hontvet were never to live in the Isles of Shoals again. They moved to
Portsmouth, where John continued working as a fisherman. There are two small
houses on the island. One of them, the Samuel Haley house, was once believed to
be the oldest structure in the state of Maine. Smuttynose is not populated
today.</span></div>
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-43450918798383216632014-02-05T00:00:00.000-05:002014-02-05T00:00:12.713-05:00More On Lizzie Borden<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg69Eb0VKMDiTy_4J2ILdShWBAtaDJadXqBUkOhsC2UaWcyzT4aCjy315nLhUcMLcYUG-TurlAUfsk_r1kXJp1EuYR_gEJWMoYY_JE-esqWUNhD860KfGY0xiVrIEScHHozbKlFyHiXtGs/s1600/220px-Lizzie_borden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg69Eb0VKMDiTy_4J2ILdShWBAtaDJadXqBUkOhsC2UaWcyzT4aCjy315nLhUcMLcYUG-TurlAUfsk_r1kXJp1EuYR_gEJWMoYY_JE-esqWUNhD860KfGY0xiVrIEScHHozbKlFyHiXtGs/s1600/220px-Lizzie_borden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg69Eb0VKMDiTy_4J2ILdShWBAtaDJadXqBUkOhsC2UaWcyzT4aCjy315nLhUcMLcYUG-TurlAUfsk_r1kXJp1EuYR_gEJWMoYY_JE-esqWUNhD860KfGY0xiVrIEScHHozbKlFyHiXtGs/s1600/220px-Lizzie_borden.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></a></div>
In a previous blog, I wrote about my 5th cousin, two times removed, Lizzie Borden. Lizzie's case has mystified people for over one hundred years and there are still questions about her guilt or innocence. I wrote an article on Lizzie for the New England Chapter of the MWA web site and another article was written by Sandra Lee for the same web site. Sandra, who graciously granted me permission to reprint her article here, takes an interesting look at how the use (or misuse) of crime scene evidence may have impacted The Trial of Lizzie Borden... By the way, for those of you who may have read my previous post on Lizzie, I made a mistake...she died in 1927, not 1947.<br />
<br />
<h4 class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 8.4pt; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Nineteenth Century Scene of a
Crime – A Look Back in Time<o:p></o:p></span></h4>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">by Sandra Lee<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Crime scene evidence is that which
serves to provide clues about the series of events surrounding the commission
of a crime. While evidence recovered at crime scenes varies in nature, amounts
and probative value, it is all essential to the practice of solving the
mysteries at hand. Time has no bearing on the vitality of crime scene evidence,
and it is that vitality which commands the use of great care during evidence
identification, documentation, collection, analysis and preservation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">During the nineteenth century these
functions were all performed locally, and crime scene evidence consisted of
whatever the responding authorities decided it should.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Great advancements in sciences and
technology during this era granted much efficiency to the processing of crime
scenes and even expanded the scope of acceptable forms of evidence. While
investigators and scientists in some states fully embraced these innovations,
such as the new and evolving arts of fingerprinting and ABO blood-typing,
others presented barriers of prejudice and bias, and continued practicing with
methods “tried and true”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Investigators and scientists
throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts fell into the latter category, due
in part to the state’s conservative nature. Other contributing factors toward
the resistance of these individuals to be forward-thinking, open-minded and
highly-motivated were found on local levels and included low-paying salaries
and deficiencies in education and training.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All things considered, one might
best define the methods of identifying and collecting crime scene evidence in
Massachusetts cities and towns during the nineteenth century as primitive. <i>The
1892 gruesome crime scene at the Borden home in Fall River might best exemplify
how the application of aged practices might generate unfavorable results.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the Borden case a skeleton crew
of underpaid, poorly-skilled sleuths failed to immediately secure the scene and
a head-to-toe search of the premises wasn’t conducted for days to follow. This
ineptitude left much room for the contamination, destruction and/or removal of
any evidence not yet collected.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Body temperatures, levels of food
digestion and stages of blood drying and coagulation were used to determine the
times of death of the victims. This data was gathered with the use of nothing
more than human hands and the findings were applied to an ancient suggested set
of standards. Clearly, a clinical thermometer would have provided more accurate
readings of the body temperatures while the knowledge of, or willingness to
recognize new literature available at the time would have altered other
findings. The latest studies showed that each of these postmortem events would
occur on different levels depending upon human individuality and upon
circumstances. Also based on the results of these studies were newly introduced
numbers proven to be the standard.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Performances in the lab at a local
medical school demonstrated an even broader scope of deficiency in crime scene
investigating. Among the evidence ultimately collected were the stomachs of the
victims and a hatchet. The stomach linings were searched for scar tissue caused
by poisoning because the victims were allegedly ill prior to the murders. Because
the hatchet was believed to have caused the fractures in the victims’ skulls,
it was studied for the presence of blood. The single instrument used to perform
these searches, a magnifying glass, detected no scar tissue, nor did it
determine whether a substance found on the hatchet was rust or blood. Some
innovative technological and scientific alternatives might have provided more
certainty about the evidentiary findings. The spectroscope would have offered
significantly more magnification while the introduction of certain metals and
minerals to the stomach contents may have detected the presence of poison.
Similarly, the simple act of infusing water or fire with the matter on the
hatchet would have proven the nature of the substance.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The discounted evidence in the
Borden case arguably contained the most probative value. It consisted of the
prime suspect, Lizzie’s own damning words. Spoken to a rookie investigator who
failed to inform Lizzie of her rights before tuning in, the evidence was deemed
inadmissible by the court based on constitutional grounds. Had a more seasoned,
forward-thinking investigator interviewed Lizzie, she might have been informed
of her rights.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Additionally, the court excluded a
local druggist’s statement that Lizzie attempted to buy poison in his store on
the day before the murders occurred. Lizzie’s counsel argued that the idea of
poisoning was unrelated to the nature of the crimes actually committed. Had the
scientist at the lab possessed the knowledge of and willingness to rely upon
modern techniques, the druggist’s statement may have been utilized, and
Lizzie’s intentions revealed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the
murders of her father and stepmother in June of 1893 after just over an hour of
deliberation by a twelve-man jury.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lizzie was exonerated of the crimes
based on the evidence both presented and not presented at trial. All evidence
in this case was a product of contemporary practices which consisted of widely
varying and inconsistent crime scene investigation methods. Many believe a lack
of application of common standards based on the best of accepted practices at
the time in the gathering and processing of crime scene evidence may have
contributed to a guilty person getting away with murder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-IwosGJsLlR0%2FUvEEbm8Zb7I%2FAAAAAAAAAXE%2FfvVl88Of87M%2Fs1600%2F220px-Lizzie_borden.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg69Eb0VKMDiTy_4J2ILdShWBAtaDJadXqBUkOhsC2UaWcyzT4aCjy315nLhUcMLcYUG-TurlAUfsk_r1kXJp1EuYR_gEJWMoYY_JE-esqWUNhD860KfGY0xiVrIEScHHozbKlFyHiXtGs/s1600/220px-Lizzie_borden.jpg" -->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-44178899216513402272014-02-03T15:03:00.001-05:002014-02-03T15:03:19.595-05:00SNIPER AVAILABLE ONLINE AND IN BOOK STORES<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8cEu-9-o-qFgs1BSQRjB7QRdsDvDcSFAo67Q497b0OS1TFQR_dWjA1VlYyzKA9fuwbMt_fNRtQK9Jhm2Nr-3i_rqRgSWIkcbmWXrcf5BCqGmT7_wtqzfv83YKF4VXeYWANMUoSgWr-VA/s1600/Novel+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8cEu-9-o-qFgs1BSQRjB7QRdsDvDcSFAo67Q497b0OS1TFQR_dWjA1VlYyzKA9fuwbMt_fNRtQK9Jhm2Nr-3i_rqRgSWIkcbmWXrcf5BCqGmT7_wtqzfv83YKF4VXeYWANMUoSgWr-VA/s1600/Novel+Cover.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a></div>
As of tomorrow, February 4, 2014, my novel, <em>SNIPER</em>, will be available at most book retailers and online. It's hard to express how much this means to me, it is my first publication in a book format (I have previously published short fiction and one early novel in eBook format). I started the novel in the late fall of 2002 and got side tracked on several other projects placing it on a back burner (forgive the cliché!). But there were some people without whom this day would not have happened:<br />
<br />
First and foremost was my late wife, Connie. She supported me through those early years when I thought I knew how to write. I resisted some of her comments early on, but that's usually the first symptom of <em>"I know what I'm doing-itis". </em>I've always said that the difference between being intelligent and being ignorant, is intelligent people know what they don't know--ignorant people don't have a clue and don't care enough to see the light! I would bring my latest chapter or short story to Connie, wanting praise, instead I got her honest opinion. She would say something along the line of: "There's too much profanity." I of course, being ignorant, only heard the praise. I was like Mark Twain, who once said (don't take this as being an accurate quote, but the gist of the quote is accurate): "When I was 17, I didn't think my father knew anything; when I was 27, I was astounded by how much the old man had learned..." As I progressed as a writer, Connie just got smarter and smarter.<br />
<br />
Second on this list of <em>Geniuses</em>, was Paula Munier, my friend and now my agent. Paula and I met in the summer of 2002 at a meeting of the New England Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Later that year, she created the first writer group I had ever been a part of. I took the first chapter of one of the novels I was working on to that first meeting, expecting to hear how wonderful it was. That evening I met Skye Alexander and Susan Oleskiew, both published authors and editors (did I mention that Paula was also a professional editor?) They listened to my wonderful work (by now I assume you know where I'm going with this...) and then politely and I may add, professionally, ripped it apart! I left that first meeting limping from the chewing I'd been subjected to, swearing that I would never return. (They too assumed they would never see nor hear of me again). I got home and bent the ear of my primary support person. Connie smiled and said, "Maybe they're right." I was shocked, how could she say such a thing...my bride of 32 years nailed me with, "You think you take criticism well, but you don't. These women have all been published and are to a greater degree than you, succeeded at doing what you want to do. If you don't want to listen to their opinions or take their advice, don't. I mean, look at how successful you've been doing it your way." I limped down to my office feeling as if the little bit of my ego that the writer group had left me had just been taken by my wife. I dropped what was left of my fanny into the chair and took every bit of feedback they'd given me and rewrote the chapter. When I was done, I read it aloud and half-way through paused to say: "Hey...this is good!" I tell this story to every new or aspiring writer I meet. Yet every once in a while when Paula does an edit (even though she's my agent she is still an editor) and tells me to rewrite something or to cut something, I get my hackles up. Nevertheless, I do it...because that's how I got a book publishing contract.<br />
<br />
In 2006 cancer took my beloved Connie and two years later I lost my full-time job to the most recent recession. I still mourn losing Connie, but not the job. I looked at my situation and realized that I could no longer afford to live in southern New Hampshire. I relocated to Maine...far northern Maine. A five minute drive past my house and you reach the end of civilization as we know it! Now I have time to write full time. The only impediment is me...I can put off procrastination! So, I did what I knew I had to do, I sought out and found a new writer group. The members may not have the resumes similar to those of my first group, but they still make me sit down and write and they still tell me what I need to hear; not what I want to hear. <br />
<br />
Connie is gone now and I have a new <em>first reader</em>, my domestic partner Jane. She's not as critical as Connie and the others, but thank God she's getting there!<br />
<br />
So, in closing...thanks to Connie, Paula, Skye, Susan, the Breathe writer group and Jane. And all of you who buy my book and enjoy it.<br />
<br />
THANK YOU....Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-22082062242713786392013-12-03T11:49:00.001-05:002013-12-04T23:20:09.988-05:00One of My Famous Ancesters: Lizzie Borden<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvSDZrw4jxITnZLYgcoIWKcyqgWmkylx1GFM9QZJ-1tGmRRYgCRzL__Orzb-Ndz4LsdT_Q7HnVueMXRnkNNiflFPolzciRydQVblPJL5vf6jVkRvdZLlrSA_JWiP9mpsmT65spcrKIXo/h120/220px-Lizzie_borden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="mk-O-x" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvSDZrw4jxITnZLYgcoIWKcyqgWmkylx1GFM9QZJ-1tGmRRYgCRzL__Orzb-Ndz4LsdT_Q7HnVueMXRnkNNiflFPolzciRydQVblPJL5vf6jVkRvdZLlrSA_JWiP9mpsmT65spcrKIXo/h120/220px-Lizzie_borden.jpg" style="height: 120px; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 79px;" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lizzie Borden
took an axe</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And gave her
mother forty whacks</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When she saw
what she had done</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">She gave her
father forty-one</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The poem, however inaccurate (she was
found not guilty, only nineteen blows were counted, the nature of the murder
weapon—thought to be a hatchet; not an axe—and the fact that Abby Borden was
her step-mother) has kept Lizzie Borden (my 5<sup>th</sup> cousin, twice
removed) a part of Americana since the murders of her father and her
step-mother, Abby Durfee Gray Borden, on August 4, 1892 in Fall River,
Massachusetts. But few know little more than the poem. So who was Lizzie Borden
and why she was considered the prime suspect in a crime for which she was found
not guilty on June 20, 1893.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lizzie Andrew Borden (1860 – 1927) was
the youngest of three daughters of Andrew Jackson Borden and Sarah Anthony
Morse. Her mother died shortly after Lizzie’s birth and Andrew married Abby
Durfee Gray, who took over the task of raising his two daughters (Lizzie had an
older sister Emma Lenora Borden and there was a middle sister who died at the
age of two) and running the household. The Bordens were solid upper-middle
class and nowhere near the richest family in Fall River as is generally
thought. Lizzie grew up in an atmosphere of idle, not gentile living. She was
never to hold a job, although she did volunteer work for church missions,
temperance unions and various charities.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Andrew Borden was known to be stingy
with a Scrooge-like attitude toward his customers, tenants, and those who
borrowed money from him. During her trial, the prosecution attempted to depict
Lizzie as a person who would not only kill for an inheritance, but would do so
the avenge years of deprivation (both material and psychological) she had endured
in her father’s household. There was evidence of friction between the sisters
and their father over the way he catered to Abby’s relatives (or so the girls
believed). It was during this time that Lizzie stopped calling Abby mother and
began calling her “Mrs. Borden”.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lizzie was considered a suspect in the
killings by a number of police officers from the moment they were notified. At
the time of the killings only Lizzie, Bridget Sullivan (the Borden’s domestic
servant) and the victims were home. It has been thought that Lizzie murdered
her step-mother while Bridget was outside the house washing windows. She later
told her father that Abby had received a note about a sick friend and she was
out of the house. She then encouraged her father to take a nap. Bridget,
finished with her chores, went to her room to take a nap. Lizzie said that she
then went out to the barn on an errand. According to Lizzie, she returned to
the house after hearing a groan, a scraping noise or a call of distress (she
related several contradictory stories to the police). Eventually she settled on
the story that she went to check on her father and found him slain, his head
mutilated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">On August 11<sup>th</sup> after
appearing before an inquest she was arrested for the murders. In December a Grand
Jury handed down three indictments against Lizzie Borden: one for the murder of
her father, one for the murder of her step-mother, and one for the murder of
both. She was removed to a Taunton jail where she remained until her trial in
June 1893.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A jury of twelve, mostly Republican men,
average age fifty-three, found her not guilty on all counts.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">At first public opinion about the
verdict was favorable—possibly because it was generally believed that Lizzie
would leave Fall River and live someplace where she was less known. She did
not, she returned to her home and remained in the city. The absence of closure
about the murders caused Lizzie’s and Emma’s position in society to fall. The
sisters had become wealthy women because Abby died before Andrew, the
step-mother’s family was deprived of her estate and, as a legal matter, it fell
into the sisters’s possession. The final blow to her status came when Lizzie
(who had a history of stealing) was accused of shoplifting two paintings from a
Providence, Rhode Island company. A warrant was never served and the matter was
settled privately and Lizzie’s reputation was diminished and she became more
isolated.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In 1905, Emma moved out with no public
explanation. There is speculation that Emma learned something about the 1892
murders. The sisters never saw nor spoke with each other again.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lizzie Andrew Borden spent the last
twenty-two years of her life an aging spinster surrounded by faithful servants
who have never broken their silence. She was quite generous with their salaries
and even purchased a house as a residence for some of them.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lizzie died on June 1, 1927, after
suffering complications after a gall bladder operation. Emma died nine days
later in Newmarket, New Hampshire. Neither had begotten children so the Andrew
Borden branch of the family (the Borden family includes such well-know people
as Sir Winston Churchill and Marilyn Monroe) came to an end.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lizzie’s infamous name has endured and
become iconic, spawning numerous books and at least one movie, starring
Elizabeth Montgomery as Lizzie. Whether or not she committed the murders the unanswered questions continue to fascinate mystery lovers throughout the
world.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In a subsequent blog, I'll look closely at Lizzie's trial and why it is still considered to be of great importance.</span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For more information about Lizzie visit </span><a href="http://www.thelizziebordencollection.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://www.thelizziebordencollection.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-88571071201209796822013-10-13T13:19:00.001-04:002013-10-13T18:22:45.529-04:00SNIPER Now Available For Pre-Order!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1gzqpXpnhDFVUc8PL2L3O16zGtHfqj71qshyphenhyphenB5BVcMuL3qmm-hBXZkK2xoRSk94tDmCYQmUgdDso7oXMGQ0a_VPUNb7l-PsmrWte0nlWFCS4slnnj5Ceoew-lArNMh99xIC09y-zE_f4/s1600/Novel+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1gzqpXpnhDFVUc8PL2L3O16zGtHfqj71qshyphenhyphenB5BVcMuL3qmm-hBXZkK2xoRSk94tDmCYQmUgdDso7oXMGQ0a_VPUNb7l-PsmrWte0nlWFCS4slnnj5Ceoew-lArNMh99xIC09y-zE_f4/s200/Novel+Cover.jpg" width="135" /></a>My novel, <i>SNIPER</i>, is now available for pre-order on many of the major book ordering websites. You can order the book at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sniper-Thriller-Vaughn-C-Hardacker/dp/1626365571/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381682895&sr=8-1&keywords=Hardacker" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sniper-vaughn-c-hardacker/1116107755?ean=9781626365575" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a>, and <a href="http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Sniper/Vaughn-C-Hardacker/9781626365575?id=5808115917153" target="_blank">Books A Million</a>. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This will be my first published novel, my publisher (Skyhorse Publishing) has informed me that it will be released as a Trade Paperback, and I am very excited about it. My agent and I have been working closely with the publisher and I should be receiving Advanced Reader Copies any day.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is the culmination of eleven years of hard work. I first started the novel in 2002 and it has gone through a number of revisions and at least two complete overhauls! Which, as most newly published writers can attest, is not unusual. A number of people were very involved in this endeavor and thanks are owed to them. My late wife and best friend, Connie, who gave invaluable support during those early days when I was going through the turmoil of becoming a writer (I had thought I was, but quickly learned that I was a babe in the woods!). She was my inspiration and her loss to cancer (on October 16, 2006) is one that I am still coping with. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Paula Munier, friend and early champion of the novel's concept. Paula, along with Skye Alexander, Steve Rogers, Margaret McLean, Jim Shannon, and Andy McAleer, the Monday Night Murder Club writer group, were instrumental in making the book what it is today. Paula gave up her job as an editor to become a literary agent and immediately signed me up.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Thanks are also owed to the team at Skyhorse (Editor Jay Cassell and Associate Editor Constance Renfro) who were instrumental in smoothing the manuscript and designing the cover.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I will be posting regularly (I know, about now you're saying that you've heard that before) and communicating the marketing and publicity campaign that I am currently planning. But first, I have to attend the forthcoming 12th annual <a href="http://www.crimebake.org/index.htm" target="_blank">New England Crimebake</a>. If you are lucky enough to be going, I'll see you there.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-86611417501939856982012-03-29T13:52:00.001-04:002012-03-29T13:52:18.308-04:00Advice For A Budding Writer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrW-Yq-C8gZkGCnljx2NkgXaLit1MbJsBh2_xRBBWf5ayXJJt9_QuypM6R-yhjLiFUZKZLRxE8ZDITCUBPj_lX5EHfkN7NmYlKKRO_Z57ElraBR9mfLXVaiQQQTGX1CyfVWZmkOZWnqo/s1600/PB_Copy_Jobs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrW-Yq-C8gZkGCnljx2NkgXaLit1MbJsBh2_xRBBWf5ayXJJt9_QuypM6R-yhjLiFUZKZLRxE8ZDITCUBPj_lX5EHfkN7NmYlKKRO_Z57ElraBR9mfLXVaiQQQTGX1CyfVWZmkOZWnqo/s1600/PB_Copy_Jobs.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">Recently I received an email from an aspiring writer who had just read one of my eBooks. The writer asked if I had any advice for a budding writer. It led me to think about my writing career and how I got to where I am now.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I wrote my first short when I was in junior high school and somehow or another, it got into the hands of one of the girls in my 7th grade class. She, in her infinite wisdom, read it in front of the class...I didn't write again for almost thirty years.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">In 1989, while struggling through a turbulent period in which I felt my life both personally and professionally falling apart (I have since learned I displayed all the behaviors of PTSD) I decided to write a novel dealing with my Vietnam experiences (that novel, <i>ELEPHANT VALLEY</i>, is now available through<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66694" target="_blank"> Smashwords.com</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/elephant-valley-vaughn-hardacker/1104224977?ean=2940011376689&itm=1&usri=hardacker" target="_blank">B&N Nook Books</a> and the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Valley-ebook/dp/B0062OLKRU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1333043065&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Kindle Store</a>). Unfortunately, I had not a single clue about what <i>GOOD</i> writing was, but I wrote it anyway. For the next few years I wrote feverishly (and quite badly) completing two more novels and numerous short stories. One of my novels, <i>THE WAR WITHIN</i>, took second place in a literary contest and I made my first ever money as a writer ($1500.00) which I immediately wasted by working with a predator agent (I told you I knew nothing about writing...let alone about the business of writing) who charged me a $2.00 per page reading/editing fee (She told me it because I was unpublished). This bad experience led to me turning my back on any serious writing for another eleven years. In 2000 I attended my 35th class reunion and guess who confronted me saying "Why aren't we seeing any books by you in the bookstores?" yup, the same ones who embarrassed me into my thirty year long funk. This time however, I asked myself the same question.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I was going to fire up the word processor, only this time determined to do things differently. To make a long story short, I started to attend writing seminars (many at the Barnes & Noble Store in Manchester, NH) where I started to build a network of relationships with published authors. This led me to joining MWA and from there I was invited to start a writer group with several established editors and published writers (all female I might add). As a result of what those ladies taught me, I was able to offer the following advice to the aspiring author:</span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><span><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></span></span></span>Foremost: Get into a writer group. However, don’t join one unless all the members have a goal of being published. It does you no good if the feedback you get is from friends and family, they’ll love everything you write no matter how much work it needs. My first group consisted of two professional editors and two published authors. I walked in thinking my writing was terrific—I limped out of the first meeting so mad I swore I’d never go back again. After some serious thought, I did go back and I listened and tried what they recommended…needless to say, they were right… my writing got better within a couple of weeks. Try what more experienced group members suggest. If you feel that you aren’t getting better as a result of the group…find another one. Accept their criticism as an effort to make you better. However, if you feel that their feedback is malicious rather than constructive, leave the group. </li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span>Join a professional writers organization. Since most of my work
is thriller and mystery, I belong to Mystery Writers of America.</span><span><span><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span>Find a GOOD writer’s conference and go. You’ll meet many writers
who are still starting out, but you’ll also get to meet and talk with some very
good, established writers. I’ve attended the first 10 New England CrimeBakes
and have had the opportunity to meet and talk such noted authors as Lee Child,
Robert B. Parker, Lisa Scottalioni and Janet Evanovich. Talk to everyone and
anyone you meet there. It’s tough to get top writers such as those I mentioned
to read your work but if you can get them to look at it you may get a reference
to their agent—that is a tremendous help. Don’t expect them (or an agent, for
that matter) to read anything at the conference, but take business cards and
spread them out. They may ask you to forward something to them and will provide
you with feedback. One thing I’ve learned is that writers love to help other
writers. Make sure the conference is one that offers the opportunity for you to
make a pitch to an established Literary Agent…they will usually as for a sample
of your work if it interests them. My experience is that you never bring a
manuscript to the pitch (the agent will not be able to carry all of them back
so they will not accept it). Don’t restrict your pitch to the organized
session. Try and obtain a copy of the conference program before hand and
research the agents who represent the type of work you do. It does no good to
pitch a romance to an agent who doesn’t represent it. Work the cocktail lounge!
Agents love it when a writer will spring for drinks and will spend some
one-on-one time with you. Also, do not be too aggressive when approaching an
agent, they’ll be swamped with people and I’ve learned that I got more
attention from them when I don’t approach them with an immediate pitch. I
usually start by making small talk and eventually the agent will ask “What do
you write?” Don’t go on a long dissertation of your work. Develop a 30 second
pitch…imagine that you end up on an elevator alone with an agent and have 30
seconds to tell him/her about your book…make the best use of your time.</span><span><span> </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></span></span><span>Develop a tough skin, learn to deal with rejection. Remember
that writing is no different than any other business in that it’s about sales.
You can write the book ever written, but if it doesn’t have a market no one
will touch it. If an agent feels that it would require too much effort to sell
your book they’ll pass on it. Even Stephen King was rejected hundreds of times
before he made it.</span><span><span><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span>Read everything you can find by successful writers in the genre
you want to write. Don’t read for enjoyment, read for how they advance the
plot, develop characters and how they structure each and every sentence.</span><span><span> </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></span></span><span>Last of all, write, write and them write some more. On average,
once a person decides they want to be a writer, it takes about 10 years to
really perfect your skill (not that many writers haven’t done it in a much
shorter time span). Don’t get hung up on reading about writing. As a writer
friend once told me, “You spend so much time reading about writing, you don’t
have time to write!” You can’t learn how to drive a car or fly a plane from a
book…you have to do it.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span> </span></span></li>
</ol>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-16686640617641685632011-12-30T12:14:00.000-05:002011-12-30T12:14:47.432-05:00eBook Publishing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TLyAFJm7dVI/Tv3lfQeI3CI/AAAAAAAAAQc/UUEdHovL7cQ/s1600/banging_head.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TLyAFJm7dVI/Tv3lfQeI3CI/AAAAAAAAAQc/UUEdHovL7cQ/s1600/banging_head.gif" /></a></div>
If I can believe all I've read and heard this past year, ebooks are the hottest form of publishing, supposedly 70% of all books published last year (2010) were ebooks. The keynote speaker in the first writer conference I ever attended, Jeremiah Healy, said, "The personal computer has made it very easy for people to write. Unfortunately, it also made it very easy for them to write badly." The same thing can be said for the burgeoning number of ebooks available through any number of outlets.<br />
<br />
I have published a number of ebooks via smashwords and Kindle Direct Publishing (for some reason Barnes and Nobles and a number of ebook sites will accept books from Smashwords whereas Amazon does not, preferring that the author use their Kindle Direct Publishing) and receive an RSS feed from Smashwords each time I access my email with Outlook. Scrolling through the uploads can be quite eye-opening. The number of amateurish books makes one believe that ebook publishers have become the vanity press of the 21st century.<br />
<br />
I find it quite easy to identify some of the lesser experienced writers by checking the price they put on their work. I doubt any accomplished writer would publish a book for free or for as small a price as $0.99 (Barnes and Noble and several other outlets will not list a book unless they meet a certain pricing standard).<br />
Of late, I have seen more and more books by established authors for the Nook and the Kindle so I can't arbitrarily dismiss the platform...I am seeing more an more readers carrying ereaders of one type or another.<br />
<br />
One of the reasons it is so easy to publish an ebook is that no special software is required. In fact, Smashwords and KDP prefer that the manuscript be written using Microsoft Word. There are some things to be aware of when preparing your manuscript for submission and the easiest way to ensure that your work will look its best on an ereader is to download the publisher's style guide. It has been my experience that if your book complies with Smashwords Style Guide (available for download at <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/">http://www.smashwords.com</a>) most other publishers will accept it with no reservations.<br />
<br />
It can, however, be very frustrating when your Smashwords version keeps generating format errors. EReaders do not like tabs, or a sequence of more than 3 spaces used to separate text (I recently had the wonderful experience of preparing a manuscript which contained poetry where the author had used spaces to align sentences to create a visual. For example in one poem entitled<em> PINE</em>, the author spent a lot of time making the lines appear to form a pine tree. It did not work as an ebook--ebooks ignore things such as page breaks and, on my Nook, the pine tree was presented across two screens.) and font can be an issue. EReaders allow the reader to increase the font size for easier reading and therefore most publishers restrict font size to 12 pitch for normal print and no more than 16 for titles etc. Most publishers also require a cover for their higher levels of service. In the case of Smashwords to be included in their Premium Catalog requires you meet certain standards.<br />
<br />
Why is inclusion in the Premium Catalog important? To quote Smashwords: "The Premium Catalog includes Smashwords titles that meet certain mechanical requirements for distribution into major online retailers such as Smashwords partners, Barnes & Noble or Apple. Smashwords books that achieve Premium Catalog status receive the greatest possible distribution across Smashwords' growing distribution network. If you're a serious writer and you want to reach the greatest number of readers, you <em>want</em> inclusion in the Premium Catalog. It's free."<br />
<br />
In summary, eBook publishing is easy (although it usually takes me 3 to 6 hours to<em> redesign </em>a manuscript to meet Smashwords Guidelines) and virtually instantaneous--in a matter of hours you can see your book or short story in an ePublisher's catalog.<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-39424221056509523832011-12-15T10:38:00.001-05:002011-12-15T10:38:52.309-05:00Why I Dread The Holidays<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhulaGGfElxAphN63tu_6K9NzPYYAajJx4mkO9kdJ7PhdFR8XvovkelbUNsxy10qDsREcYtyIjq5fEqfOf8c7TRENQMehKObR3Fhf0YeUKpei90z44SKzU0cRBjuujQuW84mGgtGnpnaqE/s1600/Shirley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhulaGGfElxAphN63tu_6K9NzPYYAajJx4mkO9kdJ7PhdFR8XvovkelbUNsxy10qDsREcYtyIjq5fEqfOf8c7TRENQMehKObR3Fhf0YeUKpei90z44SKzU0cRBjuujQuW84mGgtGnpnaqE/s320/Shirley.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Connie Opening a Christmas Gift From Her Sister, Shirley</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Once again the holidays are upon us and I've been hit with bad news. Before
I tell you the bad news, I'd like to fill you in on some history. I had a
turbulent childhood, so much so that I left home at the age of 17 riding in an
eighteen wheeler bound for Boston to pick up a load of beer. I had five
dollars, some record albums and a change of clothes with me. During the ensuing
year I bounced around like a racquet ball going from Massachusetts to
Connecticut to New Jersey until I finally enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps in
June of 1966. I turned nineteen in Parris Island (my birthday had passed by
three days before I realized it).<br />
<br />
Throughout my service, I did not go<em> home</em> for the holidays, choosing
instead to spend time with friends (especially one particular friend in
Memphis) or to stay at the base. During the years I was married to my now
deceased wife, Connie, I went along with the flow, the period between
Thanksgiving and Christmas was her favorite time of year. All I can say about
those years is that for the most part I was able to get through the season
without ruining it for her and our daughter. Then came 2006.<br />
<br />
On October 16, I lost my beloved Connie, which of itself was enough to
dampen any semblance of holiday spirit I had. Then on December 20 my older
brother, Norman, lost his battle with diabetes and kidney failure. I attended
his funeral on Christmas Eve and returned to my home in New Hampshire, where I
spent the holidays in seclusion. I have not put up a single holiday decoration
since my last Christmas with Connie in 2005. My dislike of the holidays was, if
anything, strengthened (while I think of her everyday, I find myself
reminiscing of her and our holidays more and more during the season). <br />
<br />
Now we jump forward to 2011. Last month I learned that an old childhood
friend, Bob Cyr, was hospitalized with stage four intestinal cancer. I visited
with him on Thanksgiving afternoon and again the following week. During the
Thanksgiving visit he was lucid and we joked about some of the crazy things we
did as kids, several of which I had forgotten. The second visit was not so
nice. The cancer had spread and he was unable to carry on a conversation or
maintain a consistent thought. About once every five minutes I had to tell him
who I was. It was earth-shaking for me...a flashback to my wife's last days. I
am still haunted by the last words she ever spoke: "Vaughn, help me."
All I could say was, "Connie, I don't know what to do..." Looking at
Bob and remembering Connie made me think about how helpless we truly are when
our loved <a href="" name="_GoBack"></a>ones need us the most.<br />
<br />
Bob passed away yesterday, December 14, 2011, at the age of 65.<br />
<br />
It always hurts to lose a loved one, but to lose someone at this time of
year seems to hit harder. For most of us (this writer excluded) the holidays
are a time for family and for giving. To have to remove a loved one's presents
from under a Christmas tree has to be devastating. It's bad enough to try and
fill the void they left behind... I don't think I can handle too many more
holidays.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-1043403492280753562011-10-17T10:13:00.002-04:002011-10-17T10:24:13.470-04:00In Memory of Connie<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivx9-o0PX2eHB_AP55EgBhlGX2jGTKflGsbBw9iKnfMBr5LbfL3bFl42NmqbnF5nhFbfW1UFcqSIC0lnwasOIFtbZbAURl0WN9w2beOoyu2gCeR1lpxOjioVqqjXRANEcE9MY95icTPpg/s1600/Vaughn+%2526+Connie+1970+rev.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivx9-o0PX2eHB_AP55EgBhlGX2jGTKflGsbBw9iKnfMBr5LbfL3bFl42NmqbnF5nhFbfW1UFcqSIC0lnwasOIFtbZbAURl0WN9w2beOoyu2gCeR1lpxOjioVqqjXRANEcE9MY95icTPpg/s200/Vaughn+%2526+Connie+1970+rev.jpg" width="158" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">During our courtship 1970</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Yesterday (8:30 P.M. last night to be more exact) marked the fifth year since I lost my best friend, my most avid fan and my wife of over 35 years. As I sat in the dark listening to old rock songs from the 1960s and 1970s, I let my thoughts drift and found myself recalling many of the high points in our life together.<br />
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Connie and I first met when she was 5 and I was 9. How can you recall that you may ask. Well, she was the aunt of one of my best friends. The very thought of anyone having an aunt younger than them was unique enough to linger in my memory for years. After a brief encounter at my friend's house, I did not think about the little blond again. (She however, went to school with my younger brother and over the ensuing years heard many of my crazier escapades--although I'll never truly know how much embellishment my brother added.) Connie and I met again when she was 19 and I was 23, recently discharged from the U. S. Marine Corps and still half crazy from my time in VietNam.<br />
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Once again, my friend and her nephew was the catalyst in the meeting. She was looking for him and found him with me at my mother's home, where he and I were pondering what we should do that evening. As soon as he introduced us, she said, "I've heard about you..." At that moment I thought she and I would never get together. I was wrong...<br />
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Two nights later I asked her out and she and I spent every day and evening together after that. We married five months after that fateful second meeting and the next year we were the parents of our one and only child.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZHi1MTrX9HemHBVsixPw5wc_1BVxQBUAdyy5X7C1o8jd7NWYX-8bP_mmGaWyjP78dMrhhNwt0VV2KqdBxKIE-jfPRPyJMEjnTqwvsIqmxGcqRUiYoUj6gdh0bMbRKUKKWgnTUf62CXQ/s1600/Muir+Woods+1999.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZHi1MTrX9HemHBVsixPw5wc_1BVxQBUAdyy5X7C1o8jd7NWYX-8bP_mmGaWyjP78dMrhhNwt0VV2KqdBxKIE-jfPRPyJMEjnTqwvsIqmxGcqRUiYoUj6gdh0bMbRKUKKWgnTUf62CXQ/s200/Muir+Woods+1999.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Muir Woods, California 1999</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Last night, my thoughts were a mish-mash of what we did right and what we did wrong; of all the times we unknowingly hurt each other and how much we grew up together. There were good times and, of course the bad times, still throughout all of it she stayed by me. When I was carousing and drinking, she was there when I returned to my senses; when I battled a severe case of PTSD in the late 1980s, she weathered the storm with me. More than anyone I've ever known, Connie had an immense capacity to forgive (something that I lack, especially when it comes to forgiving myself). She was truly one of God's special people.<br />
<br />
Connie was weak in many ways and oh so strong in others (I am still astonished how this woman, who was terrified by the smallest bird, kept her sense of humor throughout her final battle against cancer and faced death with a strength that I can only hope to have myself). She always had the ability to keep me balanced and was the one constant bond that kept our family together on those times when my insanity threatened to tear it apart. Since her passing our family has become scattered and disjointed--something that I know she is not pleased with as she watches over us. Throughout her six month battle against an aggressive form of cancer, she did her crying in private and hid her fear from her family, sparing us as much anguish as possible.<br />
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Over the course of our marriage, she many times expressed to me that I was her source of courage and confidence...she had no idea that she was also my font of strength (truthfully, neither did I). If not for her continual support, I'd have spent my life at menial, low-paying jobs. Her presence spurred me to obtain three degrees and a career in hi-tech. When I mentioned to her in passing that I was thinking of writing a book, she encouraged me; the result was <em><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/elephant-valley-vaughn-hardacker/1104224977" target="_blank">Elephant Valley </a> </em>(available as an ebook through Barnes & Noble and Smashwords). When I was discouraged by the rejections from agents and publishers, she again urged me keep submitting and work on something new; the result was <em>The War </em>Within, which was awarded second prize in a major literary contest (soon to be released as an eBook).<br />
<br />
Connie's passing rocked me like nothing else ever has and has made me come to grips with one fact about myself...I don't appreciate anything until I lose it. I was once told by a therapist that I walk around with a hole in my chest that I believe only a woman can fill. Well, I now walk around with a canyon in my chest that will never be filled until she and I are reunited again.<br />
<br />
Darling Connie, I love you, I miss you and I'm being good so I can join you in the afterlife...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-61153299724208630652011-09-28T11:05:00.004-04:002011-09-28T11:15:40.711-04:00Getting Back On TrackAs anyone who follows my blog knows, I've been away for a while, almost six months to be exact. There are a number of reasons why I haven't blogged since last March...but they are all really excuses and we all know that excuses always sound good to the person making them. Let's suffice to say, it's darned hard to come up with things to blog about on a continual basis.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3JL_zsvtFwSXj9nQgVMDfoQA92c3-nIBiCqqWKNIzHZXRHPVMxYAZZK8cK3VK0kqksCspQke5uMPBC8JrscLKXwvoxtpNMHLPJy3hehyphenhyphen95wQEFcdczoczNOqIMgktGAFETitob56NuR4/s1600/Elephant+Valley+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3JL_zsvtFwSXj9nQgVMDfoQA92c3-nIBiCqqWKNIzHZXRHPVMxYAZZK8cK3VK0kqksCspQke5uMPBC8JrscLKXwvoxtpNMHLPJy3hehyphenhyphen95wQEFcdczoczNOqIMgktGAFETitob56NuR4/s1600/Elephant+Valley+Cover.jpg" /></a>During my <em>Blogging Sabbatical</em>, I did however, publish my novel <em>Elephant Valley</em> as an eBook. Available through <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Hardacker?keyword=Hardacker&store=ebook" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a> as well as <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66694" target="_blank">Smashwords.com</a> . It's a novel loosely based on my experiences as a helicopter machine-gunner in Vietnam. Although it's not yet available through Amazon, Smashwords does have a Kindle-friendly version in .mobi format as well as the popular Adobe Epub format used by many e-readers.<br />
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I have also published several short stories during this period. Among them are <em>Net Profit</em> (co-authored with a long-time friend, Paulette Littlefield Clark) in <em><a href="http://www.freewebs.com/fossilcreek/storyteller.html" target="_blank">The Storyteller Magazine (January/February/March 2011 issue)</a></em> and several others in <em><a href="http://www.vaughnhardacker.com/" target="_blank">Breathe; Volume II</a></em> an anthology of short stories and poetry by northern Maine writers.<br />
The <a href="http://www.crimebake.org/index.htm" target="_blank">New England CrimeBake</a> is coming up on November 11 through 13. If you haven't registered, it may be too late. The conference limits registration to about 250 attendees and those slots filled withing three weeks of registration opening. There are however, always cancellations so you may want to get on the <em>Waiting List</em>.<br />
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I'm also closing in on the completion of <em>The Black Orchid</em>, the second Ed Traynor novel (the first, <em>My Brother's Keeper</em> is available in eBook format from <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-brothers-keeper-vaughn-hardacker/1022594637?ean=2940000898628&itm=4&usri=hardacker" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a>, <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/13886" target="_blank">Smashwords</a> and<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Keeper-Traynor-Mystery-ebook/dp/B003M68WZY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1317221453&sr=1-1" target="_blank"> Amazon</a> .Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-16746904919533942662011-03-22T16:03:00.000-04:002011-03-22T16:03:01.456-04:00Where Are You Ronnie Jay?<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtj5CCKcUpl6dwPc3Y-6rj1BXYKCINYJnKQY_TnzjA9VEFo5sHFaey3rdz2ctqgHOlm2CayYLP9c_JShcjEC_iDzEItns2H0wGcpJNm_NvSpB9EFJK37lUOguBzCymaHsh_KKp3Fst9-o/s1600/PB_Copy_Jobs.jpg" /></div>Several years back I was a member of a writer group that met monthly at the public Library in Exeter, NH. The group had no rules about what type of writing members had to write. I also belonged to another group that met weekly, but was comprised exclusively of mystery writers.<br />
<br />
I have to confess that I cannot write poetry, nor do I read it nor do I <em>understand </em>it. I belong to a group today in which there are several poets and each time they read something I am absolutely lost. In fact, what usually happens is that I listen to the comments made by my fellow writers and always ask myself, "How did they draw that conclusion from what was read?" I'm a hard-boiled kind of guy and the nuances of poetic language, as well as the art form are lost on me.<br />
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Now, let's talk about the subject of this blog. I recall watching Ronnie Jay when he entered our group for the first time. He was dressed in cowboy hat and boots and told us that he had recently relocated to New Hampshire from Nashville where he wrote country music songs. I won't tell anyone what my first impression was. To get to the point, Ronnie didn't read anything that night, but promised to have something when he came back the next month.<br />
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He sat quiet through most of the next meeting and when his turn came he said, "I wrote a little poem about writing that I'd like to read." A few seconds later I was astounded. Ronnie had written the first poem that I could not only appreciate, but also understand. Here's that poem:<br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Unknown Writer<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">By<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Ronnie Jay<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">© 2004<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I’m an unknown writer<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Creative as they come<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">But, there’ll come a day, I dare say<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I’ll be a famous one<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I’ll write a #1 best-seller<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">And oh, the riches it will bring<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">It’ll sell more in every bookstore<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Than Grisham, Crichton or King<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I know you won’t believe me<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">And I can’t make you a believer<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">But, if I don’t believe in myself<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">No one else will either<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Yes, I know it sounds impossible<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">To reach those heights of fame<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">And I realize that I may never<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Be a household name<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">But, it doesn’t really matter<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">If my dreams do or don’t come true<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I’m still gonna keep on writing<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Because that’s what writers do<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Ronnie disappeared from our lives after that. We assumed that he had gone back to Music City, but if by chance you should read this blog, Ronnie. Leave me a comment and I'll get in touch.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-81290450486968272712010-09-05T09:39:00.001-04:002010-09-05T09:41:15.372-04:00Guns In Fiction Part 1If you are a writer of mysteries, suspense or thrillers, sooner or later you will have to bring firearms into your story. Over the years I have read more mystery and suspense fiction than I could ever recall. I have, however found one thing that writers continually confuse and that is the uses and capabilities of firearms, both hand and long guns. So, I've decided to do a few posts on the various types of weapons, their operational characteristics. In this post I'd like to discuss the differences between various handguns and some of what I consider to be common misconceptions that I've seen writers have.<br />
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This posting will deal with handguns, specifically revolvers.<br />
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First, let's discuss some common terms.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtA4sUmki_jG12-DLu-KXdXIBcFiBG7cwJ4w6HvXACGdBbw-nOORlaDecMI7_eC4Kd539esvd3HNuqtkxZQzRbIBt-FVWbh2O9pGegnn1S-TDU322786N5EdXxh3JWTuRigtFmf5HsUKw/s1600/0912.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="92" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtA4sUmki_jG12-DLu-KXdXIBcFiBG7cwJ4w6HvXACGdBbw-nOORlaDecMI7_eC4Kd539esvd3HNuqtkxZQzRbIBt-FVWbh2O9pGegnn1S-TDU322786N5EdXxh3JWTuRigtFmf5HsUKw/s200/0912.jpg" width="200" /></a>Revolver: a weapon, usually a handgun, in which the ammunition (cartridge) is loaded into a cylinder. The cylinder revolves aligning the cartridge with the chamber and the firing pin.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtg3GJAlSkmy87quDL-lO7utnEYC12AL7sLv-DU1oyudEAhRvjoIfbm0hVgvkyeD8xLoBqa9hMTVujjUBSn50nNPtjwk6m7-rYVOuy3TBP_UgQgxX5NPHwQ1UI0zjOmWhXbzL75RQfx6E/s1600/Revolver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtg3GJAlSkmy87quDL-lO7utnEYC12AL7sLv-DU1oyudEAhRvjoIfbm0hVgvkyeD8xLoBqa9hMTVujjUBSn50nNPtjwk6m7-rYVOuy3TBP_UgQgxX5NPHwQ1UI0zjOmWhXbzL75RQfx6E/s200/Revolver.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Single Action: A type of handgun in which the shooter must manually pull back or <em>cock</em> the hammer to place another cartridge in the firing position. Single Action handguns can usually be identified by one of two loading mechanisms. On many there is a <em>gate </em>on the right side of the cylinder through which cartridges are loaded and spent casings ejected.<br />
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Double Action: A handgun in which the hammer is cocked and the cylinder rotates with each pull of the trigger. Double Action revolvers can usually be identified by the fact that the entire cylinder rolls out so the handgun can be easily loaded. <br />
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Break Action: A pistol in which the barrel and cylinder are released as a unit to allow loading.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5hka5F-VrEyMeF1SVbvX_T-Jd1XmTIRSOtaOcSmDicG6veAQ6Xw9Qe3P_xys0xoxR_Y0MYFbGwA9ctmI1AOjpiHUj9tMLICRZWV2LImR6xf8QCatfFEQYgkcX-QW3y6FcoSYrfopibg/s1600/Cartridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="123" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5hka5F-VrEyMeF1SVbvX_T-Jd1XmTIRSOtaOcSmDicG6veAQ6Xw9Qe3P_xys0xoxR_Y0MYFbGwA9ctmI1AOjpiHUj9tMLICRZWV2LImR6xf8QCatfFEQYgkcX-QW3y6FcoSYrfopibg/s200/Cartridge.jpg" width="200" /></a>Cartridge: Commonly misidentified as being a <em>bullet</em> or a <em>shell</em>. It is a single round of ammunition.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Bullet: Projectile portion of a cartridge.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Shell: A shotgun cartridge.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Chamber: The portion of the barrel into which an unfired cartridge (round) is either aligned (revolvers) or inserted (pistols).</div><br />
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There are a couple of characteristics of revolvers that movies and television seem to routinely ignore and it drives me crazy! <em>Silencers DO NOT work on revolvers--there are too many openings through which sound can escape!</em> Another pet peeve of mine is the absolute <em>misconception that six-shooters have more than six cartridges in them</em>. We all remember the B westerns and crime movies we saw as kids where the hero and the villain seem to shoot forever without having to reload. If you have a gunfight in your story count the times your characters discharge their weapons and ensure that the rounds fired do not exceed the capacity of the weapon.<br />
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For a detailed description of various types of weapons consult the <em><a href="http://www.atf.gov/firearms/guides/importation-verification/firearms-verification.html" target="_blank">ATF Guidebook - Importation & Verification of Firearms</a>.</em><br />
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Ammunition, and Implements of War<strong><em></em></strong> <br />
In the next post I'll talk about revolvers in more detail.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-68198703182194568182010-08-27T12:42:00.001-04:002010-08-27T12:43:50.916-04:00FORMATTING YOUR SYNOPSIS<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrb1ZGTV8vfW6qplq2J8YYV9qXCnZYl2P2XdwpJUSW5peUy7UlhpvU0NzV6lonAQIYvFdRZYcVWvtKXGdbjvpHJgPF_4LTolQdwlmZZ-845tdixGsHXgZmyQk8kM9zhM5uwUhBZZSc4FY/s1600/PB_Copy_Jobs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrb1ZGTV8vfW6qplq2J8YYV9qXCnZYl2P2XdwpJUSW5peUy7UlhpvU0NzV6lonAQIYvFdRZYcVWvtKXGdbjvpHJgPF_4LTolQdwlmZZ-845tdixGsHXgZmyQk8kM9zhM5uwUhBZZSc4FY/s320/PB_Copy_Jobs.jpg" /></a>In my last post we discussed what a synopsis is and what it should and should not include. Now lets discuss the format of a synopsis.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">A synopsis should usually be formatted like a regular manuscript. There is however some latitude here. If the agent/publisher has requested a one or three page manuscript, using double spacing will not allow you to cover a lot. I prefer to single space my synopsis, after all we are not expecting the reader to make editorial comments so a lot <em>of </em>white space is not needed. I have seen authors use a separate cover page for the title, author's name and contact information and the word count. Again I put this info at the top left of a single-spaced synopsis.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">How long should the synopsis be? Again, refer to the agent/publisher's submission guidelines. A single page synopsis restricts you to between two hundred and five hundred words (depending on line spacing), if there are no page limitations stated in either the response to your query or in the guidelines, a general rule is to allow one page for every ten thousand words of your novel. Under no circumstances should a synopsis exceed ten pages. Remember the golden rule of writing <em>"Say as much as possible in as few words as possible" </em>Shorter is better. This is the place to dazzle the reader with your brilliance, not baffle them with BS.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">A synopsis should always be written in present tense: "Mike and Anne investigate a series of sniper shootings in Boston." Keep paragraphs short, avoid long blocks of narrative and text.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The first time a character name appears use either ALL CAPS or<strong> boldface</strong>. While we're on the subject of characters, do not list every character who appears in your novel, restrict your self to the main characters. No one wants to read <em>a Dr. </em>Zhivago type synopsis, by this I mean you have to keep a list of character names to understand who's who.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I know that by now you are probably saying "So what's the big deal?" The big deal is this, after the query letter, the synopsis may be the first thing the agent/publisher reads. Therefore keep it a marketing tool, the only difference is that instead of a large market all you have to sell to is a single person.</div><br />
I would have a synopsis written and ready to go<em> before</em> you mail out that query...in fact many agents/publishers ask for it in the initial query package.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-66936153367193100762010-08-21T00:00:00.002-04:002010-08-21T00:00:01.564-04:00THE DREADED Synopsis<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRuTFsJoDLF1zltf_O4A_yQLLcqYYddWufnPm2Apyr9exdScVhDeQ8v-XF5-mWQvGJCtxaos7yXAh6UTAle0CwTkGNhLWNr6hs9QnLOSHmKWRT_ESPv944zYXk57YfiGa4dk7kNMQSf5w/s1600/PB_Copy_Jobs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRuTFsJoDLF1zltf_O4A_yQLLcqYYddWufnPm2Apyr9exdScVhDeQ8v-XF5-mWQvGJCtxaos7yXAh6UTAle0CwTkGNhLWNr6hs9QnLOSHmKWRT_ESPv944zYXk57YfiGa4dk7kNMQSf5w/s320/PB_Copy_Jobs.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Many literary agents and publishers in the United States require that a synopsis (usually one page) accompany a query letter. I cannot think of anything that will make a writer shudder and curse more than being required to write a synopsis. In fact, many with whom I have spoken with don’t really know what a synopsis should be and what one should not be. So with that in mind, let’s discuss the synopsis.<br />
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If requested (I recommend you never send a literary agent or an editor more than they ask for. Unless you are very, very confident in your abilities, each additional item you include with the query letter may give the agent/editor another source of information to reject you.) include a one page synopsis of your book. Unlike the query letter, whose purpose is to peak the agent/editor’s interest, the object of the synopsis is to provide a short overview of the book’s plot and major themes. Don’t make the mistake I made several years ago of trying to summarize the entire novel in two paragraphs; this is a pitch, not an outline. Therefore you should concentrate on those elements that are most likely to attract the attention of a reader/agent/editor. Some of these are: The primary characters, the basic plot, the setting, the primary source of conflict, and the theme. Let’s briefly look at each of these.<br />
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The Primary Characters. In the query you may only have room to introduce two or three major characters. The synopsis is where you should introduce all the major players (The first time I introduce a character I always type the name in CAPs). <br />
<br />
The Basic Plot. Identify the basic what if? Keep in mind that plot is more than the sequence of events—it’s also the reason for them.<br />
<br />
The Setting. When and where does the story take place? If the setting is crucial to the plot, say so. However, if the setting is merely background, don’t spend a lot of time describing it. There is nothing that will turn me off quicker than a travelogue that does nothing to move the plot along.<br />
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The Primary Source of Conflict. What are the key obstacles your protagonist must overcome? From where does the conflict originate? Is it external or internal or both. Is it with another character, society or nature? Focus on the conflict that is central to the plot.<br />
<br />
The Theme. Is there an underlying message to the story? If there is what is it that is beyond the basic plot. Are any important issues revealed as a consequence of the theme? Be careful that you don’t sound as if you’re in a pulpit; you can raise questions or ideas without giving the reader a sermon.<br />
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Remember that the synopsis is supposed to illustrate that your novel is coherent, logical, carefully thought out and well written.<br />
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In the next post I will discuss synopsis format.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-13755155693176317282010-08-17T10:48:00.012-04:002010-08-17T14:27:39.657-04:00Character Building<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPSZAvd7gDEWeP3_AG3iqr4aRZw8kX00kMzmFmqctrl0Vil6UwxiGKVMeVc_sBt2-YE3a-Pb5jDRqglgRuM0sgZ69Ny23Gx3ZqJ2YfFrNZAwBOylPKObl-3sa56_FYYvZP_GtF2TZJGMo/s1600/uts_cover_pfxp.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 136px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506440699826003506" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPSZAvd7gDEWeP3_AG3iqr4aRZw8kX00kMzmFmqctrl0Vil6UwxiGKVMeVc_sBt2-YE3a-Pb5jDRqglgRuM0sgZ69Ny23Gx3ZqJ2YfFrNZAwBOylPKObl-3sa56_FYYvZP_GtF2TZJGMo/s200/uts_cover_pfxp.jpg" /></a><br /><div><div><span xmlns="">This post features a guest blogger, Wendy Koenig. Wendy is a writer, poet, editor and quilter extrordinaire. When not busy pursuing the aforementioned, she operates a used bookstore from her home in Drummond, New Brunswick, Canada. For more information on Wendy, checkout her website at <a href="http://wlkoenig.com/" target="_blank">http://wlkoenig.com/</a> where you will also find links to her books.</span></div><div><span xmlns=""> </div><div></span></div><div></div><div>Character Building</div><div>Wendy L. Koenig</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div><span xmlns=""><span style="color:black;"></span></span></div><div><span xmlns=""><span style="color:black;">People are multi-faceted. They all have hopes and fears, hates, likes and failures. Yet, when we think of their personalities, we tend to key on one or two dominant traits. We describe someone we know to another person as, "He's the pushy one." Or "She's so sweet, but a bit ditsy." It's what, in our minds, makes these people individuals to us.</span></div><p><span style="color:black;">So, too, the characters we write are multi-faceted. When we write them as such, they all blend one into another, with no personality distinctions. Their physical attributes are different, but you could probably swap around and notice little difference. The most recent rejection letter says, "Your characters are cookie cutter." Of course, in your mind, you (as the writer) see all these "people" as distinct.</span></p><p><span style="color:black;">Remember the way we describe people? Define your characters the same way. Give your hero two or three traits. That's all. Give him two good and one bad (or two bad and one good, if your character is evil). Lesser characters get fewer traits.</span></p><p><span style="color:black;">I'm currently working on a piece where my protagonist is gentle (good) and long-suffering in patience (good), but when he's had enough, he's brutal (bad). My antagonist, by necessity is almost the opposite: arrogant (bad) and insecure (bad), which makes him a bully. However, he's eventually willing to admit that he needs the protagonist's help (good).</span></p><p><span style="color:black;">Most of my stories are character driven, so even though there's a "bad guy" in my story, he's not necessarily the antagonist. In this story, he's a supporting character (they get only two traits, both consistent with which side of the moral question they're on): angry and consuming. I have another supporting character who is friendly and focused.<br /></span></p><div><span style="color:black;"></span></div><div><span style="color:black;">Two more characters round out my cast. Since they're both minor characters, they only get one trait. One is trusting and the other is in-love.<br /></span><span style="color:black;"></span></div><div><span style="color:black;">It's important to remember that sometimes stories change as we write them. A minor character could suddenly become important and move into a supporting character role. If this happens, give that character one more trait. But only one; you don't want to interfere with the importance of the primary characters.<br /></span><span style="color:black;"></span></div><div><span style="color:black;">Likewise, a supporting character may fall back to supporting status. In that case, focus on just one of his chosen traits.<br /></span><span style="color:black;"></span></div><div><span style="color:black;">The most important thing to remember: the place your character plays in the hierarchy. If you lose that, then your characters will begin to show too many traits and once again, they'll become cookie cutter people with different haircuts.<br /></div></span><div><br /><br /><br /></div><p><br /></p></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-8762936964982978672010-07-13T08:32:00.008-04:002010-07-13T09:13:35.362-04:00There Is Hope For Thin Ice<span style="font-family:lucida grande;">In my last post I wrote that Level Best Books has notified those of us who have either been published in or submitted stories for their anthologies that they will no longer be publishing. The correspondence also stated that if anyone wanted to take on the project they would assist by sharing their design templates and information.<br /><br />I've seen discussion on several Yahoo groups about the demise of Level Best so to end all confusion I've pasted the email I received:</span><br /><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';font-size:7;">Dear Writer:<br />Level Best Books grew out of a belief in the importance of giving voice to local writers and offering opportunities that might not otherwise be available. For seven years, we have sought out and supported New England writers of crime fiction through our annual anthologies, publicity sent to bookstores and libraries, and signing events throughout the region. Thanks to you and other writers, we have accomplished a great deal. </span></p><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';font-size:7;"><br />As we began work this year, we knew we were facing even greater challenges, and when we looked realistically at our current circumstances, we realized that we could not complete another anthology.<br />We are grateful to the many writers who have sent us their best work, set up their own readings and book signings, and by word of mouth spread news of our anthologies. As editors we have enjoyed working with every writer we have published. It has been a privilege to publish the work of some of the region’s best established writers. Our special joy has been discovering new writers, and encouraging beginning writers building their careers. </span></p><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';font-size:7;"><br />We regret bringing you discouraging news. This has been a gratifying experience for all of us, and we wish you well in continuing your career in crime fiction.</span></p><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';font-size:7;"><br />Finally, we would like the mystery community to know that if a group of writers is interested in continuing the project we have begun, we would be willing to share our design templates and other information, and pass the Level Best name on.</span></p><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';font-size:7;"><br />Sincerely,<br />Kate Flora,<br />for the editors</span></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class="MsoNormal">Now, the good news. All is not lost yet. I have been in contact with a publisher who is very interested in publishing the anthology and stated that if I can get him the manuscript by late September, <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">THIN ICE</span> can be published on time. Based upon his interest, I have assembled a team of writers to assist me in the editorial process. The problem at this time is that I have been unable to reach either Kate or Susan to discuss this and make arrangements for them to provide me with this years submissions. I'm assuming they are on vacation and incommunicado. We are still trying to reach them. Should this occur it is the intent of myself and my team to keep everything as Level Best designed it, including publishing the Al Blanchard winning story.<br /></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class="MsoNormal">Stand by. I'll be posting further developments as they occur.<br /></p><p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="font-family:';font-size:7;"></span><span style="font-size:0;"><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-85825638558215255242010-06-21T20:11:00.006-04:002010-06-21T20:38:55.673-04:00LEVEL BEST BOOKS CEASING PUBLICATION OF ANNUAL ANTHOLOGY<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_2LqokHU4aO3DIAXsstGsJonfJ_l7_4bpuE16sdOsOlGRUGRD30sijriv15fZlHExKpH2LKvAm6t3QoyljyjweZEFE35GO1JN8kS5eXqmXySBe6tn7e3mCb5GxxDYHNV-Yz1UqlNxG9U/s1600/DeadFall.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 127px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_2LqokHU4aO3DIAXsstGsJonfJ_l7_4bpuE16sdOsOlGRUGRD30sijriv15fZlHExKpH2LKvAm6t3QoyljyjweZEFE35GO1JN8kS5eXqmXySBe6tn7e3mCb5GxxDYHNV-Yz1UqlNxG9U/s200/DeadFall.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485384342450904482" border="0" /></a>New England writers of mystery and crime fiction have just suffered a major loss. I have been notified by Kate Flora, one of Level Best Books editors, that they will not be publishing their 8th anthology <span style="font-style: italic;">Thin Ice</span>. Kate did not go into specifics, but they aren't needed. What is important is that yet another short story market has bit the dust.<br /><br />Level Best published its 1st anthology, <span style="font-style: italic;">Undertow</span>, in 2003. Since then they have published a number of <span style="font-style: italic;">new </span>New England writers and many who have been published. I was fortunate to have my story, <span style="font-style: italic;">Bagging The Trophy, </span>included in<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>the 6th, <span style="font-style: italic;">DEADFALL, </span><span>available either from Level Best Books or <a href="http://www.vaughnhardacker.com/" target="_blank">my website</a>.<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>If you are interested in ordering copies of the anthologies they are available via Level Best's web site: <a href="http://www.levelbestbooks.com/" target="_blank">http://levelbestbooks.com</a>.<br /><br />I am particularly affected by this because I know the editors of this terrific anthology and consider them to be friends. Kate Flora, Susan Oleksiw, and Ruth McCarty (Skye Alexander co-edited the 1st three anthologies) have all been instrumental in my endeavors to be a writer. Susan and Skye were members of my very 1st writer group and (although I left many meetings limping) were the first professional editors (along with Paula Munier of Adams Media) to critique my writing...as much as it hurt--I learned more in the first two months than I had in the previous ten years! Kate and I served on the planning committee for four <a href="http://www.crimebake.org/" target="_blank">New England CrimeBake </a>writer/reader conferences. I will miss working with her.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-13527139215689741492010-05-14T22:10:00.004-04:002010-05-14T22:30:58.200-04:00My Brother's Keeper Available For Kindle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4jHi5emKArCye6lOaxsP2y-u8q7UTKLQ29mhpGOK6cAl3P5UNH8eQJ2Lga9zvKF0AD9RRfEhohbPedrdogmgSkZnns5R_oczUDWAEVYAFZMz1Z8DQ5vPTgV06z_euD3yhybecIJtVqU/s1600/MBK+Cover+revised.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 126px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4jHi5emKArCye6lOaxsP2y-u8q7UTKLQ29mhpGOK6cAl3P5UNH8eQJ2Lga9zvKF0AD9RRfEhohbPedrdogmgSkZnns5R_oczUDWAEVYAFZMz1Z8DQ5vPTgV06z_euD3yhybecIJtVqU/s200/MBK+Cover+revised.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471312007907490562" border="0" /></a><br />My mystery novel, <span style="font-style: italic;">My Brother's Keeper</span> is now available in Amazon's Kindle Store<span style="font-style: italic;">. </span>To obtain a copy go to the Kindle Store and search on Hardacker. Or you can use the following URL: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D154606011&field-keywords=Hardacker&x=17&y=19" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D154606011&field-keywords=Hardacker&x=17&y=19</a><br /><br />The novel is a mystery thriller and the first in my Ed Traynor series. Ed is confused when he's called to a murder scene on a remote road in New Hampshire's Rockingham County. Shortly after arriving on site his long-time friend, Sheriff 'Buck' Buchanan, asks him to identify the victim--Ed's brother John. Ed vows to find the killer and his investigation will lead him to a vicious drug lord and into the world of strip clubs. If that isn't enough, Ed must deal with his turbulent relationship with his brother, who was a suspect in a multi-million dollar rip-off of a drug dealer.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />My Brother's Keeper</span> is also available for PC and other platforms through Smashword.com. Follow the link: <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/13886" target="_blank">http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/13886</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-88318545518212410132010-05-06T09:14:00.013-04:002010-05-06T09:59:41.058-04:00AT THE END OF THE DAY<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmeBigz_K0We_hGVxrQTWm5E4OO1hyQbX6oiKn20qkwp3-Yc-iRw_KspeoOAP0HkUaOONrGSg6Hk9fvUEVzr9gX1bdxpCKDc_gxszwOEcknR1EHboDwGUlAQTydQW5GDrHYObP2PBLR3g/s1600/STD.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 129px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmeBigz_K0We_hGVxrQTWm5E4OO1hyQbX6oiKn20qkwp3-Yc-iRw_KspeoOAP0HkUaOONrGSg6Hk9fvUEVzr9gX1bdxpCKDc_gxszwOEcknR1EHboDwGUlAQTydQW5GDrHYObP2PBLR3g/s200/STD.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468148634103677554" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >It's my pleasure to post a guest blogger today. Stephen D. Rogers has published over 500 short stories and articles, his anthology</span><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;" > </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://mainlymurderpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=35&osCsid=bec33978455ea5d7d4fbaf28a9df7903" target="_blank">Shot To Death </a> </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >is available from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shot-Death-Stephen-D-Rogers/dp/0982589905/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273153768&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Shot-To-Death/Stephen-D-Rogers/e/9780982589908/?itm=3&USRI=stephen+d.+rogers" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a>, and the publisher, <a href="http://mainlymurderpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=35&osCsid=bec33978455ea5d7d4fbaf28a9df7903" target="_blank">Mainly Murder Press.</a></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> 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mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I've been speaking at libraries about SHOT TO DEATH, my new collection of mystery short stories, and my writing "career" in general.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">One of the most asked questions from the library audiences is how I deal with the frustrations:<span style=""> </span>the slow response times, the non-responses, the acceptances that turn to rejections when a publication folds.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I'm not going to lie and say that dealing with setbacks is easy.<span style=""> </span>Being at the receiving end of slings and arrows isn't exactly fun, and sometimes the irritations and disappointments slide into despair.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">That's when it's most important to rediscover the spark.<span style=""> </span>While everyone who sets pen to paper or finger to keyboard thinks of publication, the initial spark is the love of telling a story or crafting a sentence.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">If I knew for certain that I would never publish again, would I still write?<span style=""> </span>You bet.<span style=""> </span>I wrote for mumble-mumble years before I was published, and I can't imagine ever wanting to stop.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">At the end of the day, I'm a writer not because of the book or the six hundred other publications but because I write.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">And sometimes that's enough.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Stephen D. Rogers</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.stephendrogers.com/" target="_blank">http://www.stephendrogers.com</a></span></p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtpHgmrLkSeBFdeVnDiVSQvUtV431jcl74oFYLL8PGZQ8U2t6cwUtKTkUeamV-ugiYAo-hMQMVyMY-Q2KjrozQ1Rf5ty6WbaN3U5VzGFuf7xtxi6wO6yquN7Id3zGReLoOeduw3K594Vs/s1600/sdr.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 87px; height: 103px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtpHgmrLkSeBFdeVnDiVSQvUtV431jcl74oFYLL8PGZQ8U2t6cwUtKTkUeamV-ugiYAo-hMQMVyMY-Q2KjrozQ1Rf5ty6WbaN3U5VzGFuf7xtxi6wO6yquN7Id3zGReLoOeduw3K594Vs/s200/sdr.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468149412796934338" border="0" /></a><p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-26150021162126088792010-05-04T20:42:00.008-04:002010-05-04T21:22:14.646-04:00What Has Happened To Professionalism?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrUR54yga0NHlh4YyJaPdP_F-1F54oVv84Fg2pSNYLCJRplHaT9uiXK16qeH1lLtK7MVNi2uO5V3x-DfCHtkPKNnZmAVoZZVksjm9WCrZpt5YC5aeAmyomNo5E0UIV4ZlG_mEtN9PLFGw/s1600/PB_Copy_Jobs.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467588000961420578" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrUR54yga0NHlh4YyJaPdP_F-1F54oVv84Fg2pSNYLCJRplHaT9uiXK16qeH1lLtK7MVNi2uO5V3x-DfCHtkPKNnZmAVoZZVksjm9WCrZpt5YC5aeAmyomNo5E0UIV4ZlG_mEtN9PLFGw/s200/PB_Copy_Jobs.jpg" /></a><br /><div>Some how during the last few years professionalism in the publishing industry has taken a permanent sabbatical. Five years ago, a query would rate at least a form letter rejection, but at least you knew where you stood. In the 1990s, human resource departments started it all. Once upon a time, an applicant would forward a resume and then get a response back. Many times that response was a rejection informing the applicant that their resume had been received and although the company had no openings for a person with the applicant's skills and experience, they would keep it on file in the event something opened up. In the middle of that decade resumes went into the black hole... No response and thanks to automated attendants, you could not get through via telephone. You could of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">course</span> leave a message and the party you sought would get back to you. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Riiiight</span>. Maybe when pigs fly.</div><br /><div>About now you are asking yourself, what does this have to do with writing? Well, the virus has spread to literary agents and publishers! I believe the increase in agents who accept queries by email may not be the best thing. At least with a letter and SASE, they felt as if they had to reply (again, usually a rejection).</div><br /><div>In the past six months I've had both an agent and a publisher disappear from the face of the Earth. I forwarded a manuscript to a publisher after spending a week to insure that it met all of their requirements (I have a binder filled with documents listing their submission standards.) in August of last year. In January, when I had heard nothing, I contacted the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Acquisitions</span> Editor via email and was informed that my novel was in the 2<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">nd</span> stage of the approval process and I should have an update in a week. She also implored me to have patience since she was the only person reviewing all the incoming manuscripts. Okay, I thought, at least I'll know soon. Along came April and no response or update. I sent another email to the editor...no reply. I've since sent two follow up emails, one to the editor and another to a person listed in the publisher's documentation as your contact if you ran into difficulty. You guessed it, no response.</div><br /><div>The second case is a literary agent. She was with a well-known New York Agency and I queried her in June of 2009. I received no response. I met her at The New England <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Crimebake</span> in November and learned that she had left the agency where I queried her and had started her own. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and made a five minute pitch to her. I should have known it would lead to nothing when she said, "I remember your query. Send me the first 50 pages..." I know agents are busy and get inundated with queries, but how long does it take to send a brief rejection via email? This agent is a member of my Friends List on <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Facebook</span> and she has enough time to be on it daily leaving posts about her busy personal life...</div><br /><div>I for one, am mad as hell about the run around agents and publishers give to writers. I <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">spoke</span> with numerous writers at the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Crimebake</span> who had pitched to one of the ten or so agents there. Everyone told me the agent asked to see a sample of their work. To the best of my knowledge, not a single one has entered into a contract with an agent. Today, many agents and publishers are downplaying <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">ebooks</span> and their potential impact on the industry. I know why... Based on my experience, to publish an <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">eBook</span> you don't need an agent or a publisher (you are both). They don't like <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">eBooks</span> because if they t<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">ake</span> off as projected, these unprofessional agents and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">editors</span> will have to get real jobs, which means they will have to send resumes to HR representatives who won't reply! </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-11979003102673824622010-04-30T07:03:00.004-04:002010-04-30T07:22:10.737-04:00First Sale!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wNlboLUoecONEF9gMHkrPdAX6GELYXNptRZxVmPH4UVNtgXifhh_Q47WGrs7Th0foIWI0omGS8PewMS7F4xVW3kgAvhL134YJYIVkuPxVHJ107COmb_l7uT8ncVlcf5SV2UQ71jMm9k/s1600/MBK+Cover+revised.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wNlboLUoecONEF9gMHkrPdAX6GELYXNptRZxVmPH4UVNtgXifhh_Q47WGrs7Th0foIWI0omGS8PewMS7F4xVW3kgAvhL134YJYIVkuPxVHJ107COmb_l7uT8ncVlcf5SV2UQ71jMm9k/s200/MBK+Cover+revised.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465884661585659362" border="0" /></a><br />Yesterday, I sold the first copy of my eBook, <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/13886" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">My Brother's Keeper</span> </a>. It's available through <a href="http://smashwords.com/" target="_blank">Smashwords.com</a>. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but the book was out there for one day when it was purchased. At one book per day that's 365 books a year! Okay, I know it's not New York Times Bestseller status but it's better than what I sold last year.<br /><br />More importantly, is the fact that it has motivated me to put my butt in the chair and write again. I've been in a prolonged funk and my random excuse generator was working overtime! I finally got myself in gear though and now feel that there is reason to go on there is someone out there who wants to read my work (at least one person). So thank you, whoever you are, not only for buying a copy of my book, but for getting me back on the ball!<br /><br />Well, gotta run now, it's time for me to get to work on my next great masterpiece.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-72117987350943819052010-04-28T08:59:00.008-04:002010-04-28T09:33:05.282-04:00My First eBook Is Available<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.smashwords.com/" target="_blank"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 54px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOr7LbL06G5tOxTxwMuOfB_eUgcUPJFwKo4Jj4CgTMsuZTDOpSrvWiDSOsDSXfnX5GGcXDeOXeWdRUJnt8-l_fNwOkh2zRYvnv_oKy4SNkOJr53EyPvwzagz2kD66IRHxjW5E5QLNXS-g/s200/swlogo.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465174506743152146" border="0" /></a><br />As I mentioned in my last post, I'm delving into the world of online publishing. My first eBook, a short story entitled <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/13804" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: italic;">THE LAKE</span></a><span>, is available on line </span><span style="font-style: italic;">through<a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/13804"> </a><a href="http://www.smashwords.com/" target="_blank">Smashwords.com.</a><br /></span><span>As you may recall, in my last post I mentioned the fact that I was obtaining eBook software on eBay. With Smashwords there is no need to purchase</span><span> additional</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> software, you upload your eBook in Microsoft Word. </span></span><span>However, make sure that you download and follow the </span><span>guidelines</span><span> from their</span><span>r </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52" target="_blank">Style Guide.</a></span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span>I found the procedure to be easy and straight forward</span><span style="font-style: italic;">. </span><span>I must mention the fact that the Style Guide is written for Word 2003 and if you are a user of Word 2007 as I am, you will have to find where Word has put some of the formatting parameters.<br />As an added incentive, <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/" target="_blank">Smashwords</a> is like a consignment shop. You pay no money up front, they take a small percentage of whatever revenue your work generates. Smashwords will also format your work for all the eBook readers such as the Kindle and the Nook and put it in format to be downloaded to a PC, among others.<br />So, if you want to get your work out there and start generating some cash for your writing, check out <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/" target="_blank">Smashwords.</a><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2987668351229993653.post-58593849950277332782010-04-14T11:10:00.006-04:002010-04-15T19:58:02.135-04:00To Publish or to ePublish?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjLuPTOnf44DQsnYy3hR_gg9BSHcd5I-PpQeOMzZStWGWChoNRcGPP6bWlpoxrsZ3kG2uFhmqbKj4eCjVU8w4V5KC1GtuMSXcd09KwLsAhRN3nkFnzc4BOw6wyItG3Ujfnpf2souYuyQ4/s1600/banging_head.gif"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 113px; height: 113px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjLuPTOnf44DQsnYy3hR_gg9BSHcd5I-PpQeOMzZStWGWChoNRcGPP6bWlpoxrsZ3kG2uFhmqbKj4eCjVU8w4V5KC1GtuMSXcd09KwLsAhRN3nkFnzc4BOw6wyItG3Ujfnpf2souYuyQ4/s200/banging_head.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460510289088319506" border="0" /></a><br />The writing world is changing and doing so faster than many of us realize. The introduction of ereaders such as the Kindle, the Sony Reader, and Apple's iPad (which sold 300,000 units on its introduction day) is changing the way the public buys reading material. Readers of my generation (the Baby Boomers) grew up with and developed a love for good old traditional books. However, as Bob Dylan said over 40 years ago, <span style="font-style: italic;">the times they are a'changin'</span>. Today we have the download, most music is sold via download to any number of MP-3 players and the new generation has grown up reading from a screen. So, you ask, what does this mean? It means the eBook is here to stay--and it may not be a bad thing.<br /><br />There are any numbers of reasons why the eBook is the wave of the future, here are a few of them as I see it:<br /><ol><li>Readers don't care whether or not they <span style="font-style: italic;">own</span> a book. They usually read them and either give them away or lend them (which in most instances is the same as giving it away).</li><li>Readers <span style="font-style: italic;">do</span> care about price. Many pass on purchasing hardcovers and wait for a book to be released in paperback.</li><li>People want things <span style="font-style: italic;">now</span>. We have become an impatient society. Who wants to wait for Amazon or our bookseller of choice to send the book via <span style="font-style: italic;">snail mail</span> when an eBook can be downloaded in a matter of minutes.</li></ol>So what does this mean for those of us who are writers? It means a wide-open market in which we will no longer be prisoners of the publishing industry which has held all the power for a long time. The writer can publish his/her own work faster, easier and at a lower cost. They have no where close to the overhead of a traditional publisher. Rather than a couple of dollars per book royalty from a conventional publisher, publishing your own eBook and uploading it to an eBook book seller, such as Amazon, will net the writer royalties of 70% of sales.<br /><br />Currently, writing organizations such as MWA, don't acknowledge eBooks as being <span style="font-style: italic;">published</span>, that however will change. A reader can purchase eBooks from MWA authors such as Lee Child from Barnes & Noble's website and Amazon. Think about how much Lee, whose best-selling Jack Reacher novels are always near the top of the New York Times Bestseller List, would be grossing if he got 70% of each novel he sells!<br /><br />As for me, I'm still going to seek out a traditional publisher, but I just ordered some eBook software (it's available at a very low cost on eBay) and I'm going into the publishing business.<br /><br />For a detailed look into how profitable self-publishing your own eBook can be, see J. A. Konrath's Blog (<a href="http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/04/publishers-ebooks-epic-fail.html" target="_blank">A Newbie's Guide to Publishing</a>) and read his posts on the subject.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14696451043987786484noreply@blogger.com0