How did Molly Die?

The Late, Lamented Molly Marx by Sally Koslow is a delight in mystery/suspense fiction from the first page. Have you ever imagined or dreamed of attending your own funeral as Tom Sawyer did?

Molly Marx is in the here-after attempting to understand how at the young age of 35 she arrived in this place. Her Jewish heritage does not give a broad scope for her to know her strange new powers or how to control them. She can view what is happening as an observer, but it warned never to make herself known except on the single occasion when it is vitally important for her peace and acceptance of her new status.

Molly's husband Barry, her daughter Annabel, her parents and twin sister Lucy, her best friend Brie and her true love Luke all must travel their own roads through life, which no longer includes her in their midst.

The narrative moves among three perspectives: what Molly sees happening after her death, her memories of her relationships with the people she loves, and the dark cloud that blocks the horizon as to the reason for her death. Was is an accident, suicide, or murder?

Molly cannot remember why she wrecked her bike and drowned in the Hudson River, nor how she ended up on the bank where her body was discovered.

The Late, Lamented Molly Marx has all the warmth of a family reunion, the joy and pain of daily relationships, and the discovery of who you really were as a person. Join Molly on her journey it is well-worth the price of the ticket.

The one fault I find with the book is the cover color, white is a poor choice for our electric world as it tends to bleed into the background. Against the sand of this blog white shows the strong elements.

You can learn more about Sally Koslow by visiting her website at htt://sallykoslow.com. Her titles are available from Amazon.com & other online booksellers, and in bookstores across the country.

Nash Black, Writing as a Small Business and Sins of the Fathers.

Return of the Texas Ranger is a Winner

Dac Crossley's Return of the Texas Ranger, has won the Indie Award for the best western for 2009. Congratulations Dac, we knew you'd written a winner.

Return of the Texas Ranger

Kingsville, TX in 1927 where the King Ranch has brought progress to a sleepy little town with the advent of the railroad. The glory days of the Texas Border Wars are long gone, but former Texas ranger Sheriff Richard "Red" Regan gets a jolt as his old colleague Whitey Wilson steps off the circus train.

Whitey lives in the past and has refused to move forward, now he has a mission to find the killer of their mentor, Nacho Ybarra. Then maybe, Whitey has returned to claim Red's wife and son as his own.

Red is fighting the physical pain from an old bullet lodged against his spine and must force himself to do his job with the aid of a few little pills a pharmacist friend has given him. It is a daily battle to hide his agony and he knows Whitey is walking trouble for Whitey is a man who consistently will not abide by the rules.

This vivid western mystery by a native son of Kingsville is a winner for reading enjoyment. It has all the twists, subplots, humor, loyalty, and suspense of a mystery, but is truly a western. Many mysteries are set in the west, but could occur anywhere. This is a story where both time and place become a major character.

Return of the Texas Ranger is Dac Crossley's sequel to the award winning Guns Across the Rio with all the ethnic ties spiced with conflicting loyalties that will keep you turning the pages. You can trust Dac to provide accurate details as to time, place, traditions, customs, and culture, which make his stories come so alive. You'll be glancing down to check if you have mud on your shoes as you follow the story on a rainswept night.

This reader would enjoy more stories about Red, Whitey, and Nacho before their careers have met the future because of the knowledgeable insight that flows from the words of this unique author.

Join Dac's legion of followers at http://daccrossley.typepad.com/ where he adds new insight into the legends of Texas history and discusses everything that inhabits the South Texas country or the joy of going barefoot in the summer time. You can learn more about this new author in the mystery field by visiting his website at http://soilmite@earthlink.net. Dac Crossley's books are available from Amazon.com or at the Alamo if you're traveling to San Antonio this summer.

by Nash Black, author of Writing as a Small Business & Haints.

Conception is Murder

Award winner, Dr. Darden North has served up a medical murder novel that is difficult to stash as an ordinary thriller. It is written from the omniscient point of view, which for this mystery enthusiast did require a period of adjustment. This literary style of writing is not one you often see in a mystery/suspense novel. There is no murder until late in the story, instead it is a steady building of tension between the characters and the reader who is unsuspectingly drawn into the twisted plot.

To say a murder mystery is literary is trite, but I can think of no better description. The writing is so smooth and the threads of the story interlock in a fascinating fashion, but not before you are thoroughly puzzled and intrigued as to where the tale is leading.

The characters are exposed through their thoughts and actions with graphic insight into the human behavior of self-deception. The frightening and chilling aspect of reading about them is the realization: "I know people like that." People who always blame someone else for their own actions, yet never consider the consequences of their desires.

The medical and computer technological detail are explicit and written so a novice can understand them when conceptualizing the process of receiving an implant of an embryo for impregnation.

Is the physician performing a service or preying on human frailty? Fresh Frozen provides a new understanding of the dilemma. How far will someone go to have a child, how far to protect their privacy, their reputation, their obsessions, their crimes, and their humanness?

From the pen of Darden North no one escapes and the unexpected conclusion will leave you pondering long after you've finished Fresh Frozen.

Darden North's books are available from a book store near you or online from Amazon, B&N, and others.

Nash Black, author of Writing as a Small Business and Sins of the Fathers.

Creative Thinking

We had the privilege of sharing both a signing table and a dinner table with Robert Alan Black and discussing the cognitive thought process that guides an author's style.

Broken Crayons is a guide book designed to be used in group sessions for executives and employees to solve problems, but many of the concepts he details in a simple, easy to remember pattern apply to writers who work alone.

One of my favorites is a list of activities that can easily generate a new way of thinking. Alan's text is on p. 17-18, but I'm semi-quoting as I've changed items to suit my purpose.

Broaden Your Interests searching many areas for information.

Reverse Perspectives to see things a different way.

Open Yourself to an infinite number of ideas.

Kickback and let your imagination run around.

Eliminate Steps in Procedures to discover new ways to solve problems.

Never say Never. Keep yourself open to positives in all things.

Combine Ideas, new & old, tried & experimental, ones you agree with, ones you know will not work.

Rearrange steps, facts, data, ideas, characters to create unique approaches.

Adapt or alter existing ideas to produce new ones.

Orient differently, switch, change, alter combine past, present, and future, here, there, somewhere, nowhere.

Noodle around, play with ideas, look at it from the perspective of a child or an animal.

Sleep On It For a While, let your intuitive or subconscious mind work on the situation in your story.

Coloring inside the lines of our dime store book was a skill we learned as children. Now Alan gives us dozens of guidelines for breaking our crayons and working outside the lines.

His Cemetery of Creativity is one we've visited many times. Add your personal monuments to his forty-tombstones, and give them a proper burial.

Broken Crayons: Break Your Crayons and Draw Outside the Lines by Robert Alan Black is available from him with a unique signature at alan@cre8ng.com or from Amazon.com.

Nash Black, reviewers and author

http://pennhand.blogspot.com/

Selling a Book

How do you tell the world about you and your book? The manuscript is looking for a home, is in the process of being published, or is on the market. If you don't "toot your own horn," no one else will do it for you.

The book marketplace is changing almost weekly and it is difficult to stay current with all the innovations, new techniques, and economic downfall. Marketing is like building a house, when actual construction begins you must establish a firm foundation. Building for yourself a rock solid base is the essence of market research.

Jeffrey Marks provides the basics with INTENT TO SELL: Marketing the Genre Novel. My copy is the 2nd edition, which was published in 2005. Since that time there have been rapid changes in the market place. 2008, alone, turned the publishing world upside down, but the basics of promotion have not changed. Several writers have covered the topics with much the same answers in various formats, but for me a book is still easier to pull off the shelf and browse.

Recently an established author was seeking advice on how to compose a query letter to accompany his press release to print media. How do you approach someone with whom you are not personally acquainted and illustrate to them your title is newswrothy? Jeff devotes a full chapter to "getting your name out there." Step-by-step he takes you through the elements of a press kit, its necessity, its components, and its uses.

One important item Jeff discusses, which I haven't seen any where else is on p. 114. "You should save at least one box of your title for special matters and for your own purposes. Don't sell these copies at your signings or give them away to readers." In today's market this is vital, as books go out of print, are picked up by a new publisher, publishers go out of business or are absorbed by another publisher, copyrights get hung-up in bankrutcy court, or your title may end up being published in another format without the permission of you or of your publisher. So keep a few copies in storage, you never known when they may be important in another scope.

Jeff keeps the mystery world current on marketing techniques from his website http://www.murdermustadvertise.com/, which is easy to navigate and open to the public.