A Tale of Two Chapters: Planning an In-Person and Virtual Workshop, Part Two

 by Paula Gail Benson

Yesterday, in my post on The Stiletto Gang, I described meeting Sonja Hazzard-Webster and later Penny Manson, who have served as Presidents of the Capitol Crimes Chapter of Sisters in Crime (based in Sacramento, California). In particular, Penny Manson and I began discussions about how the Capitol Crimes Chapter could collaborate with my local chapter, Palmetto (based in Columbia, S.C.), to present a workshop. We thought it would be a great way of celebrating Sisters in Crime’s 35^th anniversary.

Capitol Crimes had experience in presenting its Killer Workshop in-person prior to the pandemic.

Palmetto Chapter had presented its Mystery in the Midlands Conference in-person until the pandemic, when we were forced to convert to a virtual format.

Due to my association with Sonja Hazzard-Webster (see yesterday’s Stiletto Gang post), I decided to join Capitol Crimes. This year, I found myself in the lovely, yet daunting position of serving on the boards of both Capitol Crimes and Palmetto Chapters. I’m delighted that Penny Manson continues to serve the Capitol Crimes Chapter as its President Emeritus.

Penny Manson

So, how do two chapters on opposite sides of the country collaborate to create a workshop? Very carefully.

First, I want to express my gratitude to the two chapter boards, whose members were supportive of the concept and brought good questions to the table about how to accomplish it. The Capitol Crimes board includes: Sarah Bresniker (President), Jennifer Morita (Vice President), Karen Phillips (Secretary), James L’Etoile (Treasurer), and members-at-large Richard Meredith and Terry Shepherd. The Palmetto board includes: Carla Damron (President), Yasmin Angoe (Secretary), and Cathy Blake (Treasurer).

Sarah Bresniker

Second, I thank Penny Manson, our fearless workshop committee leader, and our workshop committee members who include: Jessica Cline, Chris Dreith, Rae Franklin James, James L’Etoile, Jennifer Morita, Karen Phillips, and Marie Sutro. All these folks have worked tirelessly to bring together the necessary elements to make this double event possible.

How is it a double event, you may ask? It is part in-person and part virtual.

If you are in the Sacramento area, you can attend a day-long program at Rancho Cordovo City Hall. The presenters will include: authors Dr. Ellen Kirschman, Cara Black, Simon Woods, Eileen Rendahl, Claire Booth, Kris Calvin, James L’Etoile, and Quan Huynh; Rick Nickel, a crime scene professional; publishing industry experts Karen Phillips and Terry Shepherd; and special guest District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, who will speak about resolving the Golden State Killer case using genetic genealogy.

Carla Damron

For those not close enough to attend in-person, there is a great virtual option featuring three panels of distinguished and entertaining authors. Attorneys Debra H. Goldstein, Roger Johns, and Wanda Morris will share their experiences as mystery authors. Yasmin Angoe, E.A. Aymar, and Carla Damron will discuss how they wrote about sex trafficking in fiction. Robin Burcell, Terrie Farley Moran, and Charles Todd, all having been co-authors, will talk about writing with a partner.

The two events will share a fabulous keynote: the New York Times #1 internationally bestselling author of 23 thrillers, including the ORPHAN X series, Gregg Hurwitz. With experience writing screenplays, poetry, and articles, as well as novels, Gregg’s insight and observations will inspire both writers and readers.

Planning an event like this has hundreds of elements to be checked and coordinated. From the in-person aspects of arranging rooms and providing lunch to the long distance concerns of making certain that video and audio connections work, it’s a major production. The terrific added benefit is that two chapters, one large and the other small, learn from each other and get to introduce their members to wider audiences.

Gregg Hurwitz

And, we hope many of you will join us!

Early bird registration rates are available for the Killer Workshop through March 31, 2022. For the in-person event, members pay $65 and nonmembers $80. After March 31, members pay $75 and nonmembers $90.

For the virtual event, the early bird rate is $25. After March 31, the virtual event rate is $35. (NOTE: the virtual event is available for viewing until July 31, 2022.)

Here’s a link to register for the Killer Workshop (in-person or virtual): https://capitolcrimes.wildapricot.org/Workshop

By checking out the information about the Killer Workshop, you can sign up for a dream editing giveaway at: https://capitolcrimes.wildapricot.org/Dream-Editing-Giveaway (If you register for the workshop, you are automatically entered in the giveaway!)

So, what are you doing on Saturday, May 14, 2022? Why not consider registering for the Killer Workshop?

Join the Tradition: Attend Mystery in the Midlands (Virtually), Part Two

by Paula Gail Benson

Yesterday, in my post for The Stiletto Gang, I encouraged readers and writers to attend the fourth annual Mystery in the Midlands, jointly sponsored by the Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Today, I’ll provide more information about our keynote speaker and panelists. The event will be held virtually on Saturday, June 26, 2021, from 10:00 am to 2:45 pm ET, and we very much hope for a great attendance.

Our guest of honor is Dr. Kathy Reichs, who will be interviewed by Debra Goldstein. Reichs wrote the Temperance Brennan series, upon which the television show Bones is based. Dr. Reichs has used her experience teaching FBI agents and working in a Montreal lab to bring her forensic thrillers to life. She is one of only 100 forensic anthropologists to ever be certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology.

The short story panel will feature Frankie Y. Bailey, Michael Bracken, and Barb Goffman. A PhD and tenured full professor, Frankie teaches “crime” at the University at Albany (SUNY) as well as writing nonfiction and fiction (two series, one with crime historian Lizzie Stuart and the other with police detective Hannah McCabe). Michael has written over 1,300 short stories, edited nine crime fiction anthologies, and won multiple awards for copywriting, two Derringer Awards for short fiction, and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer Award for lifetime achievement in short mystery fiction. Barb’s short stories have been finalists for national crime-writing awards thirty-two times and she has won the Agatha, Macavity, and the Silver Falchion. Her “Dear Emily Etiquette” has been nominated as Best Short Story for an Agatha and an Anthony and won the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Award.

Our panel to discuss how American authors write British historical mysteries will be Laurie R. King, Lori Rader-Day, and Caroline Todd. Laurie has written extensively, both fiction and nonfiction, including the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series, the historical Stuyvesant and Grey series, and police procedurals featuring San Francisco homicide detective  Kate Martinelli. Lori, winner of the Anthony and Mary Higgins Clark awards, is well-known for her contemporary suspense novels and looking forward to the release of Death at Greenway, a historical novel based at Agatha Christie’s home. Caroline, with her son Charles, write the Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford mysteries. Their over thirty novels have received the Mary Higgins Clark, Agatha, and Barry awards.

The final panel, on writing great suspense, will feature Yasmin Angoe, Robert Dugoni, and Alex Segura. Last year. Yasmin received Sisters in Crime’s Eleanor Taylor Bland Award, and this November, her debut novel, Her Name is Knight, will be published. Robert, critically acclaimed by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite series, has sold more than 6 million books worldwide, including his Charles Jenkins espionage novels and David Sloane legal thrillers. Alex, the award-winning author of novels, comic books, short stories, and podcasts, has two pending Anthony nominations, one for Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall (Best Juvenile/Young Adult Novel) and another for “90 Miles” (Best Short Story).

You can register to attend or listen to the recordings from Mystery in the Midlands by clicking the following link:

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/mystery-in-the-midlands-2

The cost is $5 (to help defray our costs). Isn’t that a bargain for this stellar line-up?

I asked these authors some questions and they were kind to share their intriguing answers.

What place would you love to write about that you haven’t already written about?

Yasmin Angoe:

I would love to write about Italy and Greece. There are many places because I’ve only written about a few so far.

Frankie Y. Bailey:

Paris and Ireland. In the seventh book in my Lizzie Stuart series (currently being reissued), I want to send Lizzie and Quinn to Paris on their honeymoon and then on to Ireland (home of Quinn’s ancestors on his father’s side). I’m working on the sixth book now. I’ve been to Paris a couple of times, but never to Ireland. Of course, writing a book set in Tuscany would also be lovely. But Quinn promised to take Lizzie to Paris on their honeymoon and Ireland is an unexpected detour.

Laurie R. King:

Istanbul. I SO want to set a Russell & Holmes story in 1925 Istanbul, if ever I get the chance to travel (Research: it’s work, not pleasure!)  Gorgeous architecture, political complexity, a melting pot of cultures. And hey, I even have a Turkish publisher!

Alex Segura:

I’d love to write a world-spanning spy novel.

Caroline Todd and a bi-plane

Caroline Todd:

What place would you love to write about that you haven’t already written about? Africa! There are so many stories to tell there. But there are already too many great authors who beat us to it.

Have you ever used a real or wished-for pet as a character?

Yasmin Angoe:

Nope, but that’s an idea!

Frankie Y. Bailey:

Yes. I have a Maine Coon in The Red Queen Dies. He has a walk-on scene when the detectives visit the mansion where he lives. But he is crucial to the plot. I did some research on Maine Coons, and I was so fascinated by the size and personality of the cats that I later adopted Harry, a rescue, who was a terrific cat. We had six wonderful years together. After he died, I received a notification about Penelope, a Maine Coon female.  I drove to Danbury, CT to bring her home. We are getting to know each other, but she is a long, lean girl and very sweet. 

In that same book, my Albany police detective protagonist, Hannah McCabe, brings home a Great Dane/Labrador/who knows? puppy. The (real) University at Albany mascot is a Great Dane, and since McCabe is a UAlbany alum, I thought it would be fun to have her adopt a puppy—who finally gets a name at the end of the second book, What the Fly Saw.

In my Lizzie Stuart series, her romantic partner, former homicide detective John Quinn, has a dog named George, a Labrador mix that he found on the highway and didn’t intend to keep. I love Labs. My family had one when I was a teenager. But I have a seven-month-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who is better suited to my small house. Fergus is still puppy crazy, but he is—as multiple strangers have told him as he dragged me over to greet them—“adorable”. He and Penelope are getting along well.

Michael Bracken

Michael Bracken:

I have often used my pets as inspiration for animals in my stories, though more often in stories written in genres other than crime fiction.

Robert Dugoni:

I put my animals in my novels all the time, especially if they have passed on. It’s a way for me to keep them alive in my heart.

Barb Goffman:

In my story “Alex’s Choice,” the dog, Maxwell, was named after author Ellery Adams’s childhood dog, but he was modeled in part after my dog Scout. I wrote the story a month after Scout died, and doing so really helped with my grief. For anyone who would like to read it, the story appears in the time-travel/mystery anthology Crime Travel. 

Laurie R. King:

There’s a dog in one of the Kate Martinelli stories that I adopted from a friend. Or rather, there’s a real fictional dog, that one of the characters in the Martinelli story adopted from my friend Val McDermid’s character, when she—the character—had to move back to England from San Francisco.  Neither Val nor I wanted the poor (fictional) dog to face the lengthy British quarantine, so the dog stepped from Val’s Booked for Murder to my Night Work. Which all goes to answer the question, When is a dog an Easter egg?

Lori Rader-Day and Clementine

Lori Rader-Day:

No, because if you put animals into stories, terrible things often befall them. I couldn’t write a book where I was protecting the dog the entire time.

Alex Segura:

I haven’t—though I did kill my PI, Pete Fernandez’s cat, Costello (named after Elvis Costello) in the second novel in the series, Down the Darkest Street. He was a version of my own, now gone, cat David Byrne. I’ve never gotten angrier fan mail!

Caroline Todd:

After a fan won a pet’s name to be in a Rutledge book, we had to find a story where an adorable dog called Muffin could fit in with murder. Took two books to do that, but when we did, it worked a treat!

We do hope that you’ll be able to join us on Saturday, June 26, from 10:00 am to 2:45 pm ET. Again, here’s the link to register:

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/mystery-in-the-midlands-2 

Won't you consider putting this event on your schedule?

Thanks to the Literary Helpers

by Paula Gail Benson

My two young friends, Drew and Mary Alton Fiffick, have placed a sign outside their home. It says, “Thanks to the helpers.” It recalls the advice Mr. Fred Rogers received from his mother: when facing scary news, “Look for the helpers.”

These days we have so many who are helping to make our situation better: workers in medical facilities, pharmacies, grocery stores, food services, sanitation, government, and so many more areas. Certainly, we’ve learned the importance of being able to navigate a virtual world and owe a debt to our teachers and religious leaders for finding means to help us remain connected while social distancing is the norm.

I’d also like to thank and commend those in the mystery community that have reached out to authors and readers and helped us remain connected through virtual “meetings.” If you haven’t yet discovered these resources and are hungry for book news, here are a few groups you may want to check out.

Hannah Mary McKinnon began “First Chapter Fun” in mid-March, reading a chapter a day from new releases. Initially, she planned to end the series on May 9, but Hank Philippi Ryan partnered with her and they now read on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30 am ET. There are 55 readings so far. More than 500 members have joined the group, and readings are already booked through late September. Check out the reading on Facebook or on Instagram at @FirstChapterFun.

On March 25, author, editor, and instructor Beth Terrell organized a private Facebook group called “Spirit of Ink” to encourage writers and keep them connected. Originally intended to be short term with Beth directing the activities and members making comments, it has continued to provide information about the craft, business, and joy of writing. Beth’s live chats convey many gems of wisdom and her writing prompts and meditations are inspirational. Members may post helpful information, but not self-promotion. To join, friend Beth and ask her for an invite.

Several Virtual Noir at the Bar events have begun and continue. Many are organized through Crowdcast or Zoom. Once you’ve signed up for a session, you can watch the replay if you are not able to join at the time it is held.

Ed Aymar hosts DC Noir at the Bar. In addition to the readers, he now features Chantal Tseng, a mixologist (who prepares a special cocktail for each presentation), and Sara Jones, a marvelous vocalist. Check out his Facebook page for details.

Edwin Hill and Daniel Ford began Noir at the Bar-Boston, which has transformed to Noir at the Bar-New England, in order to take advantage of the vast group of talented authors in that area. For information, friend Edwin Hill or write to him at edwinhill@yahoo.com.

Alex Segura hosts a Noir at the Bar from NYC and surrounding boroughs. Check his Facebook page for dates and readers.

For an international flavor, you might like to investigate Noir at the Bar Edinburgh. You can find it through Facebook.

Early in May, James D. F. Hannah hosted a Virtual Noir at the Bar, Country-Fried Style. Although it had some technical difficulties, it offered delightful dark stories being read by authors with distinctive Southern accents. I hope James will present another program.

If you are looking for craft, the Capitol Crimes Chapter of Sisters in Crime is having a Summer Series: Virtual Workshops for Mystery Writers & Readers. June 20, Lori Rader-Day will discuss “Writing and Publishing Mystery Short Stories”; July 18, Terry Shames will talk about “Using Inspiration to Build Characters and Drive Plots”; August 15, Gigi Pandian will describe the “Art and History of Locked-Room Mysteries”; and September 19, Hallie Ephron will present a program to be determined. For information or to register, check here.

Finally, please let me put in a plug for Mystery in the Midlands, a mid-summer conference sponsored by the Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and the Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Normally held in Columbia, South Carolina, this year, it will be a FREE virtual conference through Crowdcast on Saturday, July 25, featuring Charlaine Harris as the guest of honor and moderated by Dana Kaye. Panelists will include John Floyd, Tara Laskowski, and Art Taylor (short stories), Alexia Gordon, Toni L.P. Kelner, and Gigi Pandian (paranormals), and Charlaine Harris, Dana Cameron, and Jeffrey Deaver (novels to screenplays). To register, click here. 

I want to say a special thank you to all the literary helpers who are making this uncertain time more bearable by organizing and participating in these virtual meetings. They are invaluable resources.

What are your virtual summer mystery reading and writing plans?