I took a bit of a break from writing since I last spoke to you. I turned in my latest manuscript to my editor, CRUEL & BITTER THINGS, jumped on a plane and traveled out to the Czech Republic. Prague, to be more specific. If you haven’t been there, you should go. Prague is a stunning city with castles and cathedrals around every corner. Cross the Charles Bridge and climb the steep hill to see the St. Vitus cathedral and the Prague Castle. There’s the apartment where Franz Kafka stayed while working there, and where he wrote one of his books. See the first Bible translated into Czech and a ..read more

John Clark writing what is the most difficult post since the one about my personal experience with abortion. My involvement with the anti-war movement began after I wrote a research paper in the spring semester back in 1967 when I was a freshman at Arizona State University. I chose to explore the economics of the air war in Viet Nam. The deeper I dug, the more uneasy I felt. It was clear purely from an economic standpoint, that our involvement was a disaster from day one. However, there was no way to research the war without realizing the historical futility of foreign involvement in the count ..read more

We’re recently back from a two-week trip to Ireland where we spent most of our time on the rural west coast. Slea Head Drive, part of the Wild Atlantic Way in West Kerry Winter there was cold, gray and wet, much like Maine, but spring was in full flower when we arrived on the 11th of April, a huge relief after a heavy snowstorm clotted our landscape the week before we departed. The Bluebells were in bloom when we arrived. My grandmother Celebrating my family heritage was the primary aim of this trip. Both of my maternal grandparents emigrated from Ireland to the US at the turn of the twe ..read more

Before I moved to Maine, I wondered why it was home to so many mystery authors. The kind who write books that rely on twists. How often have you been smugly cruising along for a chapter or so, certain you can name that villain (or the next victim) in three pages, only to have your theory come to a screeching halt. Plot Twist. As a writer, I know there are set places in a novel that require special attention. The inciting incident introduces the dastardly deed. The first plot point ratchets up the stakes so the amateur hero decides to get involved and the professional hero realizes something e ..read more

Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Kait Carson (Monday), ??? (Tuesday), Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson (Thursday) and Kate Flora (Friday). In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers: Mark your calendars for this event at the York Library on May 18th: Have you ever wondered about how crime writers create their books? Come and hear this esteemed panel of well-established Maine Crime Writers as they share the secrets of their craft. What types of mysteries do they write, and why did they choose this genre? Do ..read more

In my Clay Wolfe book, Mouse Trap, I traveled down the rabbit hole into the world of genome editing, which some consider Wonderland. On the one hand, it is a place of wildly creative science trying to banish disease and disorder. On the other hand, it is a process that could lead to the demolition of human uniqueness, or what Wonderland represents, a world of absurdity, irrationality, uncertainty and disorder. Genome editing is a process in which the DNA of individuals can be changed at the embryo stage to edit traits such as height, eye color, and just about anything you can imagine using a t ..read more

Just when I think I can’t come up with another blog topic, something so egregious happens that all I’m reduced to is the typical Roy Kent response to insupportable and crazy bullshit, which amounts to standing in the middle of the floor and yelling F*ck. As I’m sure anyone who follows the news at even a high level knows, OJ Simpson, once the darling of the football field and the Hertz rental car commercials, died recently. What irritates me deeply is how little attention was paid in the encomiums and eulogies to the fact that he murdered his wife and another young man. He was acquitted, yes, b ..read more

  Sandra Neily here: On Earth Day, do we have enough residual hope to celebrate success, even as the future often looks really tough? I made sure Sally and I had the same hats! Today, we hear from my good friend, Sally Stockwell, Maine Audubon’s Director of Conservation. In the midst of the pandemic (2020) she sent out this inspirational Earth Day message about progress and humans pulling together. After decades defending Maine’s wildlife and habitat, Sally should know. She was there on Earth Day #1 and, since then, every day has been an Earth Day for her. (Find links to all her great ..read more

Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Sandra Neily (Monday), Dick Cass (Tuesday), Matt Cost (Thursday) and Charlene D’Avanzo (Friday). In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers: Velma Gone Awry, Matt Cost’s 1923 historical PI mystery set in Brooklyn, is a finalist in the Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem awards. The winner will be announced tonight, Saturday, April 20th, at the banquet ceremonies in Bellingham, Washington. COST TALKS continue this week, first at the Canaan Public Library in Canaan on Wednesday, t ..read more

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here, today admitting to my fondness for movie musicals—everything from Singin’ in the Rain to Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again. Not too long ago, in the course of about a month, I ended up watching three different versions of Gypsy, one starring Rosalind Russell, one with Bette Midler, and the third, to my surprise, starring British actress Imelda Staunton (perhaps best know for her role as Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter movies). But here’s the really odd thing: when an earworm inevitably surfaced—”Everything’s Coming up Roses”—it wasn’t any of those actres ..read more