Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Mystery Chills Can Be One of Halloween's Treats

Halloween, today's candy-fueled fest of costumed self-expression and safely self-inflicted shudders, has become a retail bonanza. But despite commercial hype, from costumes for dogs to excessively ghoulish decoration, the real human fears underlying the celebration's melange of Celtic and Christian traditions seep through. In earlier European society, Halloween reminded that harvest warmth would soon yield to the specter of icy hunger, that it was a small step from laughing children to silent graves, that there were dark forces untamed by prayer. In festive disguise, we still acknowledge the thin mental veil between living and dead, good and evil, safe daylight and stirrings in the dark. That's why Halloween, although it is more associated with the horror genre, is a great time to curl up in a warm, cozy place to read a mystery. A good mystery, like Halloween, allows us to unmask and conquer the monsters and ghosts that haunt us. To quote Emily Dickinson: "One need not be a chamber to be haunted; One need not be a house; The brain has corridors surpassing Material place." Of course, I would recommend my own book, Lies Agreed Upon, but for a list of especially Halloween-themed mysteries, check out http://www.cozy-mystery.com/Holiday-Mystery-Books/Halloween-Mystery-Book-List.html

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Time to Debunk Those Myths About Millennials

I started out with a beef about the "millennial" generation. I have three children who are "millennials," and only one has finished reading my mystery novel! It's because millennials just don't read anything longer than 140-character text messages, I grumbled. They Tweet, Instagram, and check Facebook multiple times a day, but they don't have time to consume books because they are so busy communicating and connecting and letting everyone know where they are and what salad they are eating. Since they can quickly get all their entertainment online, it's not surprising that they've lost the habit of sitting for long hours with a Kindle e-book or turning printed pages without lots of graphics, I reasoned. Besides, old-fashioned mysteries about human failings and betrayals can't compete with a generation raised on movie wizardry, sexy vampires and zombie apocalypse. Unfortunately, the statistical data says otherwise: The "2012 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics and Buying Behaviors Annual Review" actually found that those born between 1979 and 1989 spent more money on books in 2011 than older Americans, buying 30% of books, while the well-off boomer generation of their parents only bought 24% of books. In jumping to conclusions about millennials based on a sample of two, I'm guilty of joining a lot of other misguided social pundits. I've had numerous conversations with boomer friends who bemoan millennial selfishness, short attention spans, unreasonable workplace expectations, and so on. If you have slipped into the millennial-bashing rut, or if you are a maligned millennial, you should read the amusing Washington Post blog piece "Please stop having dumb opinions about Millennials" by Alexandra Petri. It's time to debunk that "Me Me Me Entitled Trophy-Wielder Constantly Instagramming My Hookups While Having No-Strings Attached Salads" caricature. See the article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2013/10/07/please-stop-having-dumb-opinions-about-millennials/

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Strange Cultures Offer Common Mythic Truths

Recently, I read three books about worlds outside my cultural experience: The Round House by Louise Erdrich, a novel with a Native American cast of characters; King Peggy by Peggielene Bartels and Eleanor Herman, the story of an American secretary made "king"  in Ghana; and Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, describing the Chicano world of his childhood. It was sometimes a struggle to relate to the mythical devices in these books, from a female buffalo savior in The Round House, to stools imbued by spirits in King Peggy, to a giant gold carp-king in Bless Me, Ultima. The alien symbols and cultural assumptions initially seemed just dashes of authentic "color" and quaint folklore; it took effort to find the deeper spiritual meanings. It required abandoning the metaphors of a 21st century white American for the universal poetry of myth. Joseph Campbell, the famed mythologist, once likened myths to a kangaroo pouch for the human mind and spirit, a sort of "womb with a view." So how do you jump from your own cozy pouch into a strange one? It's not always a comfortable or easy leap. But I have found that the reward of a different view is worth it. “Mythology is composed by poets out of their insights and realizations. Mythologies are not invented; they are found....Myths come from the mystical region of essential experience,” Campbell wrote, and thus myth "goes past your mind and into your very being, into your very gut." When we can connect with that essential human experience--ignoring its setting in a strange place, its expression in a strange language and its conflict with our own accepted myths--we can learn something valuable about being human, about ourselves, which is the ultimate reward for a reader. For a quick introduction to Campbell on myth, see the interview http://www.context.org/iclib/ic12/campbell/

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Setting the Mystery Scene With Seasonal Color

The seasonal setting is one of the choices I ponder when writing a mystery story. Seasonal weather and color palette can be used to form a background mood for the characters and plot. For example, in Lies Agreed Upon, the story was intentionally set in June in New Orleans. So, while scenes featured sunny days in a city of colorful pastel facades, which generally paints a lighthearted mood, the positive vibes were offset by the drama of frequent thunderstorms and by heat and humidity that sapped energy and increased irritability. By opting for a summer season, the story could use the lush greens of natural fertility and tranquility as a contrast to the intricate blackness of wrought/cast-iron decor, a hint to the dark human forces at work. In my next story, the setting is the Mid-Atlantic Coast in October. Fair, brisk autumn skies can turn gray with cold rain, so energizing weather alternates with depressing gloom. The warm colors of fall--red, orange, yellow and brown--evoke a sense of enthusiasm and comfort. But yellow and orange also are warning colors, brown can inspire a sadly isolated mood, and red is the hue of anger and blood as well as love. And with the choice of October, I can intentionally draw on Halloween black to emphasize themes of death and evil. For more about color psychology, go to http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Kindle Alert: Don't Miss This Bargain Offer

Attention Kindle readers: The e-book version of my debut novel, Lies Agreed Upon, a spicy gumbo of mystery, romance and murder set in New Orleans, is being promoted by Kindle Nation Daily next week at a special $2.99 price. Take advantage! The Kindle price is going back up after the promo period. If you like Kindle bargains and discovering new authors, and you haven't already joined, check out the Kindle Nation Daily site at http://kindlenationdaily.com/ and the related http://www.bookgorilla.com/