Recently, I’ve been fascinated by the ways in which new uses of technology are speaking for the dead. Some are more striking than others. But over the last few months I’ve been noticing, and collecting, what are for me some interesting and provocative examples. They also have directly inspired a scene early in my current work-in-progress, Bones for the Children. In my last blog post I talked about the need to find out what happened to people who disappeared. This…
We’ve all heard stories about people who disappeared. It’s standard fare in much of the true crime genre and in mystery fiction. And, as we saw in the Texas Hill Country along the Guadalupe River quite recently as I write this, it’s something that happens in real life. Have you ever known anyone who disappeared? This person is part of your life, and then all of a sudden they’re not there anymore. You don’t know why or what happened to…
Is there anything quite as sad as unfinished stories? The bright promise of beginnings, the building strongly up to a climactic . . . nothing there? I’m sure I’m not the only writer with unfinished stories in her file drawer and on her computer. But today I’m not only talking about literary projects. Because all too often, people’s lives can be unfinished stories, too. The Unfinished Stories of Too-Early-Ended Lives My mind leaps to all the young people in the…
Back on July 20, 2022, I wrote about a Dallas Winds Fourth of July concert. We played a medley of armed service anthems but stiffed the recently created Space Force. Did the Space Force, created in 2019, even have an anthem? At that time there was only an interim anthem, penned by John Philip Sousa. The Space Force Anthem The Sousa march is called The Invincible Eagle. Sousa wrote it in 1901 for the Pan-American Exposition, held in Buffalo, New…
At this time of the year, we are once again confronted by all those December holidays. I’ve been blogging since 2009, so I’ve been down this road a few times. Finding something fresh to say gets challenging! But this year I already have enough challenges, thank you. So, before I leap back into revisions on Bone of Contention, my current novel-in-progress (I now have a projected release date! September 24, 2024!), I gratefully returned to what you might call my…
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the United States, which ought to mean we Americans are at the height of the annual Gratitude Season. We’re supposed to be thinking about all the ways we’ve been blessed in the past year. All the things and people and experiences we’ve enjoyed. But do we? Some of us undoubtedly do. I know this, because I’m one of that “some of us.” But I also think it’s likely a lot of us don’t. Many people scorn…
I want to talk about the ways music becomes the villain in some movies. In my last post I talked about music that monsters, witches, and demons dance to. But you know the kind of “villain” music I mean. After all, what is the 1960 movie Psycho without the screeching violins of the shower scene? How could Darth Vader make an entrance without John Williams’ Imperial March? (Although Williams didn’t introduce that character theme until The Empire Strikes Back). Simply…
My friend, Deb, is part of the mystery writers group that blogs as Jungle Red Writers. It was her turn at bat last week. She turned to me, searching for ideas. We brainstormed our way through Halloween décor, pumpkin-centric agriculture, and spice cake recipes. At last, I suggested she investigate Halloween music and the tradition of the monster’s ball. She wasn’t sure what I was talking about. So I dragged Camille Saint-Saëns, Modest Mussorgsky, and Edvard Grieg into the conversation….
By Jan S. Gephardt I promised a SoonerCon 31 summary, and I mean to deliver in today’s post. But this overview won’t be our last glimpse of SoonerCon. I love this convention, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s event. However – as at every convention – this one provided some “learning takes.” Our dealers table experiment continues, although after SoonerCon 31 the effort is looking ever more dubious as a genuinely money-making proposition. We had another unfortunate entomological…
By Jan S. Gephardt I’ve been reading some very enjoyable books recently. They really are due a review. I’m an Indie author myself. Co-publishing out of a micro-press I run with my sister counts as “indie,” trust me. Thus, I know how vitally important reviews are. But frankly, reviews are important to all writers, whether indie or traditionally published. Every single review posted by an individual reader tells the world that this author wrote a book someone felt moved to…