Due to visiting extended family (got to hug my NYC grandkids for the first time in more than a year!), I missed our May chapter meeting. But after reading the works submitted for feedback and Susan Bell’s meeting minutes, as well as listening to the recording of Lynda Rees’s informative talk—I almost feel as though I’d been there!
First off, I loved both Elaine Munsch’s and Miki Reilly-Howe’s submissions. Elaine’s opening of her new mystery novel featuring the dashing, appropriately named Dash Hammond, is chock full of her signature humor and wonderful voice. Naturally, Elaine wastes no time introducing a dead body, a distant cousin Dash and his father went to see in Cleveland.
Meantime, Miki’s novel, Saving Remy, is developing beautifully. Miki skillfully tells the story of the aftermath of the murder of a hard-working, devoted mother from two points of view. One is that of the child psychologist working with seven-year-old Remy who witnessed his mom’s murder and is so far refusing to speak. The other is that of the detective investigating the murder. Miki does a terrific job of getting into the heads of her characters and helping us identify with them.
Needless to say, I can’t wait to read more of both of these works!
The business meeting included lots of discussion of our upcoming June 5th visioning retreat and was followed by Lynda Rees’s talk which covered a wide range of topics. It was fascinating to learn about Lynda’s eclectic background which includes time growing up in an Appalachian mining community, moving to a mob-infested community in northern Kentucky, and later enjoying a long career with Proctor and Gamble which involved extensive travel to exotic locations. No wonder Lynda says she is never at a loss for story ideas! She also discussed strategies for varying pace in writing fiction and the importance of knowing your characters intimately in order to bring them to life on the page. She concluded her talk with a helpful list of tips for aspiring writers, the most important of which (not surprisingly!) are to steadily write, revise, and continuously commit to learning about craft, as well as the publishing world.
In other news about our members:
Member News
Beth Henderson continues to get super reviews on her new release, UNTIL… Meantime, she is set to teach two workshops. June 1st-28th, she’ll teach “Writing the Historical Mystery” as part of the Kiss of Death RWA Online Fiction Writing Workshop. Click for more info: Kiss of Death 2021 Coffin Workshops
Then, through Savvy Authors, she’ll present “Mixing Murder and Magic: Writing the Urban Fantasy P.I. to Life” from July 5th through August 1st. Click for more info: Mixing Murder & Magic: Writing The Urban Fantasy P.I. to Life with Beth Daniels
Her short mystery, “The Tombstone Affair,” will appear in the July release of the SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY RIDES Anthology from Dark Owl Publishers.
Patience Martin narrated a new release on Audible by an outstanding Kentucky Author, Marlene Mitchell. Click for more info: The Women of Magnolia
Jeanette Pope, author of the recently released Desperate Angles, has completed her application for the Sisters in Crime’ Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for crime fiction writers of color. All of our fingers and toes are crossed!
Carol Preflatish will sign the first two books in her Nathan Perry Mystery Series at the Imaginarium Convention on July 9-11 at the Holiday Inn Louisville East on Hurstborne Lane.
Lynn Slaughter is excited about her first pre-publication review of her forthcoming Leisha’s Song (out June 22nd from Fire and Ice). https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/leishas-song/ She will be the guest speaker at Kentuckiana Romance Writers on May 22nd and will talk about combining romance with suspense, her path to publication, and writing outside her identity group. https://kentuckianaromancewriters.com/event/may-meeting/
Pamela Turner’s paranormal suspense novel, The Judas Dilemma, will be released on June 8 by MuseItUp Publishing. When Victoria Gregory is attacked by the angel Kushiel, she’s rescued by Judas Iscariot who tells her that Kushiel wants the ancient silver coin she recently received for her birthday. The coin controls his dragon demon, a curse Kushiel cast on Judas as punishment for betraying Jesus. In fact, Kushiel wants all thirty coins which together will unleash the Celestial Dragon and enable Kushiel to annihilate humanity and get rid of Judas. But to do that, he must convince one of Judas’s friends to betray him. Tricked into giving Kushiel her coin, Victoria travels to Hell with the very person who double-crossed her and Judas. Can she trust her new partner to help her rescue Judas? Or will she be trapped in Hell forever?
In closing, I hope to see lots of you at our next online meeting on June 12. Following our critique session and business meeting, we’ll host a guest panel from the Speed City Indiana Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Hope to see you all then!