Going To Hell in a Handbasket

By Beth Groundwater

(Keep reading to the end to find out about a contest!)

Very soon, on November 8th, my fourth mystery novel published by Midnight Ink will be released. It is the trade paperback and ebook editions of To Hell in a Handbasket, the second book in my Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series. The new edition includes a bold, bright purple cover that I just love!

In the book, gift basket designer Claire Hanover is reluctantly enjoying a spring ski vacation with her family in Breckenridge, Colorado, when a bloodcurdling scream cuts the frigid air. Claire is appalled to find the sister of her daughter’s boyfriend dead on the slopes. Others assume the girl’s death was an accident, but Claire notices another pair of ski tracks veering dangerously into the victim’s path. To protect her daughter as incriminating clues surface, Claire unravels a chilling conspiracy.

To Hell in a Handbasket received some good reviews when it was first released in hardcover in 2009:

"Groundwater's second leaves the bunny slope behind, offering some genuine black-diamond thrills."
        -- Kirkus Review, April 1, 2009

"How it all plays out makes for an engrossing and entertaining mystery that keeps you reading until the final page. Tightly plotted and very current, the story manages to keep you on the edge of your seat. Even though the physical violence is off screen, the tension comes from the potential danger to the characters you've met and come to be concerned about."
        -- Gayle Surrette, Gumshoe Review, May 1, 2009

"Groundwater follows her Agatha-nominated debut with a solid mystery that should broaden her fan base."
        -- Molly Weston, Meritorious Mysteries, May 5, 2009

"Don't mess with Mama Bear. Mothers will be able to identify with Claire Hanover, who goes into protective mode when her daughter is threatened in Beth Groundwater's To Hell in a Handbasket…Groundwater's book is a fast-paced family mystery, for readers who enjoy Diane Mott Davidson's books. The book has the same family feeling that Davidson's fans will appreciate."
        -- Lesa Holstine, Lesa’s Book Critiques, May 24, 2009

I'm hoping that these new, less expensive formats will gain me many more readers--and many more reviews (on Amazon, Goodreads, etc.) from those readers!

I'm doing my best to find ways to promote the release, but it is often hard to promote a re-release. Bookstores who hosted a signing for the hardcover edition are reluctant to do so again for the trade paperback, even though three and a half years have passed. And, living in ski country in Colorado, I'm reluctant to commit to driving to events more than an hour away in November and December. We DO get a lot of snow in the winter around here! ;-)

So, with this release, I'm focusing on on-line promotion, such as: interviews, blog visits, newsletters, chats, announcements on mystery-writing organization websites, etc. I also decided to have a contest HERE for Inkspot readers. You can enter the contest to get a free autographed trade paperback copy of To Hell in a Handbasket sent to you by doing two things:

1. Leave a comment or question for me on this post.
2. Sign up to follow Inkspot, if you aren't already a follower. (If you're already a follower, you're in!)

That's it! Easy peasy. Check back here tomorrow to find out who the winner is. I'll draw a random number at random.org to pick someone. Good luck. Let's have some fun!

BOUCHERCON 2012

Last Thursday through Sunday I attended the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, held this year in Cleveland, Ohio. For those of you unfamiliar with Bouchercon, it’s a huge gathering of the mystery and crime fiction community, bringing together writers, industry professions, and fans. The annual event was named for mystery author, science-fiction editor, and San Francisco Chronicle reviewer Anthony Boucher who died in 1968.

Opening ceremonies were held at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The courtyard is filled with giant fiberglass electric guitars that have been painted by various artists. 

Here’s fellow Midnight Ink author Alice Loweecey wearing her steampunk hat and standing next to a steampunk inspired guitar.

On Friday morning I was on the Those Crafty Sleuths panel with fellow crafting mystery authors Mollie Cox Bryan, Joanna Campbell Slan, Penny Warner, and Kylie Logan. 

A signing followed in the book room.

Later that afternoon and again on Saturday afternoon I hosted a crafting session where attendees could make fabric yo-yo greeting cards. Yo-yo crafts are the featured craft in Revenge of the Crafty Corpse, the next Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery which will be out in January. And no, I’m not talking the plastic Duncan variety of yo-yo. Check out Anastasia’s Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog next Monday to learn how to make the craft like the Bouchercon attendee pictured here.

Friday many of the Midnight Ink authors got together for lunch. 

Bouchercon is also a time to catch up with old friends and make new ones. Here I am with fellow Midnight Ink authors Alan Orloff and Alice Loweecey and our editor Terri Bischoff.

And here Alice and I are with fellow Midnight Ink author Jessie Chandler.

The fans are the best part of Bouchercon, though, and this year Alice and I had our very own Fan Girl, Liz Cox.

Next year Bouchercon will be held in Albany, NY, and we’re already making plans to attend.

Award-winning author Lois Winston writes the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries series featuring magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack. Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, a January 2011 release, is the first book in the series and received starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Kirkus Reviews dubbed it, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum” Death By Killer Mop Doll was released this past January. Revenge of the Crafty Corpse will be a January 2013 release.

Lois is also published in romance, romantic suspense, and chick lit books as Emma Carlyle. Now through the end of October, she's donating $500 to breast cancer research for every 1,000 Emma Carlyle books sold. Visit Lois at http://www.loiswinston.com , visit Emma at http://www.emmacarlyle.com, and visit Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers character blog, www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com.

Mary Sue Vs. Debbie Harry

by Jennifer Harlow

Urban Dictionary Definition of a Mary Sue:

A female character in FanFic or original stories who is so perfect, so superior to all other characters, so powerful,she's annoying. Often based on the author.

(See Ana Steele, Bella Swan, TV Sookie Stackhouse)

Jennifer Harlow Definition of a Debbie Harry:

A female character who is flawed in many ways but does her best to overcome and accept them, is mouthy or prickly, strong or finds her strength, and who has to work for all she has especially love.   

(See Anita Blake, Kinsey Milhone, Lizbeth Salander)

I consider myself a tough broad. I have a mouth on me, dirty a lot of the times, I've walked through dangerous cities at night alone, I've seen someone assaulted and got my friends out of the situation while keeping a calm head, and I've kicked not one but three dudes in the balls when they wanted to play rough and I didn't. I can shoot a gun, change a tire, I kill spiders and open jars for my brothers, and I take shit from no one. I'm not ugly but it takes over an hour for me to become pretty. The only things I'm exceptional at are dispensing advice, story telling, and keeping fish alive (Beta Larry lived 2! years). I'm stubborn, solitary, I have no sex appeal or mojo, and I live with my parents.  In other words, I am not a Mary Sue. I am a human being, flawed yet still fabulous. And so should your main character be.

I came across the term "Mary Sue" when I read an article on "Fifty Shades of Grey" (yes, I read the book. Got it from the library. Wasn't great, wasn't terrible, read it in about three hours.) Like most blockbuster books, there was some derision about it, especially from authors. So much was said but for the purpose of this blog I'll just focus on the main character Ana. She was definitely a Mary Sue: perfect, every male falling over her, had the supernatural gift of having mind blowing orgasms every time. The woman would not exist in the real world.

In this article (which I'm sorry I can't remember the name of, sorry) the author also mentioned that this type of character a "Mary Sue" was prevalent in Fan Fiction, which is how Fifty got its start. The term came into existence when Paula Smith wrote a short story about the type of female character prevalent in Star Trek FanFic. Mary Sue was only fifteen, a genius, the youngest lieutenant, with unprecedented skill in everything both mental and physical, and is beloved by all characters in this case especially Spock and Kirk. Mary Sue has no flaws, she struggles at nothing, and everyone fawns over her. In other words, she's boring. Unbelievable. Those are the worst words any writer can face.

If Mary Sue kept herself contained in the pages of FanFic I'd really have no problem with her. Full disclosure, I don't read or write FanFic. My roommate was obsessed with it, especially Wincest and Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy parings (EWWWW to both). I understand the desire to write them. These are characters you love, and in writing the Fic you get to tinker with those characters however you see fit. You put yourself into this fantasy world. You're in control. But before Fifty no one was really making money on it. Now publishers are trolling the sites for the next Fifty. Besides the copyright issues, my main concern is that more characters like Ana (a copy of Bella Swan) are going to be the norm. The only acceptable female lead will be demure, gorgeous, subservient, basically a feminist like me's worst nightmare. Ana let a man tie her up and spank her just to please him. Bella literally became a teenage bride, got knocked up, then DIED in childbirth. This is what has captured the minds of American women. It gives me chills.

And I was aghast to find how close I can to Mary Sueing in my own work. In researching the Mary Sue I did come to realize that I am a little guilty of making my main character Beatrice a Mary Sue, or bringing her right to the cusp. I've gone on record as saying I view Bea as an idealized version of me. I'm tough, but if a zombie horde was coming and it was people I barely knew or me, I'm pretty sure they'd be on their own. (At least I wouldn't hobble them like my bro Liam said he would. He is not going to be my zombie apocalypse buddy, that's for sure). Bea has more patience than me, men do fall over her (sort of), and she is very powerful. But she's also plain, makes very bad decisions that get people killed, and nothing ever comes easy for her. I worked in flaws. She doesn't get the guy right off the bat. Her team mates don't really like her. She saves people a lot more than they save her. In other words, she's not perfect and there's a reason for that. Perfection is boring. Who would you rather hang out with, spend money on? Little Miss Perfect Mary Sue or flawed, funny, tough Debbie Harry? Me, I'd rather spend an hour with an interesting shit than a whole day with a super nice person. You get more from Debbie than Mary Sue. When you're doing your writing remember that.

What about all of you? Do you prefer Mary Sue or Debbie Harry? Why? Am I being too hard on poor Mary Sue? Can you think of any other examples of either?

INKSPOT NEWS - October 6, 2012

This weekend (Thursday, October 4th - Sunday, October 7th), many Midnight Ink authors will be at the Bouchercon 2012 conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Below are a list of our panel appearances. If you're attending, please attend our panels and stop by and say hi at the signings afterward!



Thursday, October 4:
12:15 - 1:05 PM, "It's Just a Job" Panel, Alice Loweecey
2:45 - 3:35 PM,  "50 Shades of Cozy" Panel, Catriona McPherson
2:45 - 3:35 PM, "Have Gun Will Murder" Panel, Darrell James

Friday, October 5:
7:30-8:45 AM, "New Author Coffee Hour," Sheila Boneham
9:00 - 9:50 AM, "Those Crafty Sleuths" Panel, Joanna Campbell Slan, Lois Winston
11:30 AM - 12:20 PM, "Murder in Small Town USA" Panel, Jess Lourey
3:00 - 4:00 PM, making fabric yo-yo greeting cards in the crafts room, Lois Winston

Saturday, October 6:
1:00 - 2:00 PM, making fabric yo-yo greeting cards in the crafts room, Lois Winston
1:30 - 2:20 PM, "He Said. He Replied. He Gasped." Panel, Alan Orloff, Jessie Chandler
1:30 - 2:20 PM, "Avoid the Unbelievable" Panel, Maggie Sefton
1:30 - 2:20 PM, "Historical WhoDunnits" Panel, Joanna Campbell Slan

Sunday, October 7:
9:00 - 9:50 AM, "True Grit" Panel, Colin Campbell
9:00 - 9:50 AM, "Red Herrings" Panel, Beth Groundwater, Keith Raffel

Also, there will be a Midnight Ink Autographing Hour in the Book Room from 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM on Saturday, featuring Sheila Boneham, Colin Campbell, Darrell James, and Maggie Sefton.

Lastly, on Friday, October 12, 2012, from 7 - 9 PM, Midnight Ink author Beth Groundwater will appear at Summit County Library's Authors’ Night, Main Branch of the Summit County Library, County Commons Building, 0037 Summit County Road 1005, Frisco, CO 80443. Beth will discuss her books, answer questions and autograph copies.

---------

Author Sheila Webster Boneham's online event,  Drop Dead for Healthy Dogs, a virtual book signing to launch Drop Dead on Recall, continues through Thursday, October 11. A portion of all sales through this event go to support canine health research.

Sheila will be reading from Drop Dead on Recall, answering questions, and signing books in person at Pomegranate Books in Wilmington, NC, at 7 p.m., October 11, to bring Drop Dead for Healthy Dogs to a close. Hope to see you online or at Pomegranate!

Five Fine and Dangerous Novels

Guest Post by Keith Raffel


My experience, probably not that different from other authors, is that the following three questions come up in just about every appearance I make.

Question 1: Where do you get your ideas?

Question 2:  What are you reading?

Question 3:  What have been your strongest influences?

My answer to the first question is that I have no clue.  It’s a miracle.  My answer to the second is Canada by Richard Ford and Death’s Door by James Benn.  Partway done with both, I recommend them highly. The answer to the third question might take a bit longer to spin out.

Like so many thriller novelists, I write about ordinary people confronted by extraordinary circumstances. The acknowledged master of that genre isn’t a novelist at all.  It’s Alfred Hitchcock, of course, but we’ll save rhapsodizing about North By Northwest, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Shadow of a Doubt, and Rear Window for another time.  (Well, maybe I’ll need to come back to The Thirty-Nine Steps before the end of this posting.)  In my latest thriller, though, I am trying something different than writing about a high tech guy who finds a dead body in his bed (as in my Dot Dead) or a man shattered by the terrorist death of his wife (Drop By Drop).  I’m still telling the story of an ordinary man confronted by extraordinary circumstances -- what could be more extraordinary than a Palo Alto businessman given the chance to save a world hurtling toward nuclear war?  What makes A Fine and Dangerous Season different from my other books is that it’s not set in the present day, it’s a historical thriller, and I try my best to fit its action in the interstices of history.  A Fine and Dangerous Season describes something that might well have happened if only we could have had the right vantage point to watch events unfold.

So what novels by what writers influenced me in the writing of the book? Here’s a top 5 list:

1.  The Winds of War by Herman Wouk.  After writing a few chapters of A Fine and Dangerous Season, I picked up this tome to see how a master interweaves history and fiction.  Wouk puts a navy captain on the main stage of history.  FDR sends Captain Henry to weekend with Goering and negotiate with Stalin.  The Winds of War together with its sequel War and Remembrance constitute a big sprawling saga, though, while A Fine and Dangerous Season focuses on a few October days in 1962.  Still, my character Nate Michaels accepts a dangerous assignment from President Kennedy as the country hurtles toward war during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Following Wouk’s lead, I did research in archives and primary sources to make sure I got the historical background as right as I could.

2. Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey.  I have Nate Michaels, the protagonist of A Fine and Dangerous Season, carry a copy of the then-bestselling Seven Days in May with him as he flies to the White House in the fall of 1962.  Seven Days unfolds over a week in May.  I try to move even faster in A Fine and Dangerous Season action with the action compressed into five days.  Heck, I even thought of calling my book “Five Days in October.”

3.  The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson.  Unlike the first two books, I did not re-read this one before writing A Fine and Dangerous Season.  Nevertheless, I vividly remember the flashbacks that took suburbanite Tom Rath back to his service in World War II.  Rath behaved irresponsibly in his personal life because he figured it didn’t matter -- he wasn’t going to survive the War anyway.  In A Fine and Dangerous Season, I used flashbacks of Nate Michael’s experience as a B-17 pilot and infused them with that sense of wartime fatalism.

4. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.  Richard Hannay, just a regular chap who’s stumbled on a deadly diplomatic secret, is chased hither and yon by foreign agents in this 1915 novel.  Because A Fine and Dangerous Season is set in D.C., I have Nate skipping across townhouse roofs instead of the Scottish moors.  Perhaps influenced by Hitchcock’s 1935 movie version where Hannay is handcuffed to a beautiful woman who makes no appearance in the novel,  Nate is accompanied in his leaps between buildings by a beautiful Russian spy.

5. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carré.  This one may be a bit of a stretch, but how could I leave it out?  I take inspiration from Le Carré’s theme that the same human emotions and motivations inspire both sides in the Cold War.  While writing my book, I remembered how Le Carré writes characters that operate and even love in a hall of mirrors where nothing is as it seems.



Keith Raffel’s stints as counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee and Silicon Valley entrepreneur inspired him to try his hand at writing mysteries and thrillers.  His first novel, Drop By Drop, was published by Midnight Ink and deemed "without question the most impressive mystery debut of the year” by Joe Hartlaub of Bookreporter.com.  His fourth, A Fine and Dangerous Season, is available now as an ebook from Amazon and Barnes and Noble just in time for the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Check the latest on what Keith's up to at www.keithraffel.com.

INKSPOT NEWS - September 29, 2012

Next weekend (Thursday, October 4th - Sunday, October 7th), many Midnight Ink authors will be at the Bouchercon 2012 conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Below are a list of our panel appearances. If you're attending, please attend our panels and stop by and say hi at the signings afterward!


Thursday, October 4:
12:15 - 1:05 PM, "It's Just a Job" Panel, Alice Loweecey
2:45 - 3:35 PM,  "50 Shades of Cozy" Panel, Catriona McPherson
2:45 - 3:35 PM, "Have Gun Will Murder" Panel, Darrell James

Friday, October 5:
7:30-8:45 AM, "New Author Coffee Hour," Sheila Boneham
9:00 - 9:50 AM, "Those Crafty Sleuths" Panel, Joanna Campbell Slan, Lois Winston
11:30 AM - 12:20 PM, "Murder in Small Town USA" Panel, Jess Lourey
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM, making fabric yo-yo greeting cards in the crafts room, Lois Winston

Saturday, October 6:
1:00 - 2:00 PM, making fabric yo-yo greeting cards in the crafts room, Lois Winston
1:30 - 2:20 PM, "He Said. He Replied. He Gasped." Panel, Alan Orloff, Jessie Chandler
1:30 - 2:20 PM, "Avoid the Unbelievable" Panel, Maggie Sefton
1:30 - 2:20 PM, "Historical WhoDunnits" Panel, Joanna Campbell Slan

Sunday, October 7:
9:00 - 9:50 AM, "True Grit" Panel, Colin Campbell
9:00 - 9:50 AM, "Red Herrings" Panel, Beth Groundwater, Keith Raffel

Also, there will be a Midnight Ink Autographing Hour in the Book Room from 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM on Saturday, featuring Sheila Boneham, Colin Campbell, Darrell James, and Maggie Sefton.

----------

Sheila Webster Boneham is launching her new Animals in Focus mystery, Drop Dead on Recall, with a "virtual book launch" online to benefit canine health research. A portion of sales made through the event, running now through October 11, go to support research into canine health issues, and the results of that research often benefit human medicine, too. For information, click here to Drop Dead for Healthy Dogs!

Don't Forget About the Cat!





My new mystery, Drop Dead on Recall, has been characterized by many people as a dog-centered book, not without reason. It opens at a dog show, where a top-ranked obedience competitor keels over during the drop on recall exercise. (Aha! That's what the title means!) Besides, much of the plot revolves around a group of dog fancers and their dogs. In fact, let me introduce the main dogs of book one - or at least dogs that could be them.


My Australian Shepherd, Jay, is now playing at the Rainbow Bridge, but he kept my feet warm while I wrote Drop Dead on Recall, and he inspired the series protagdog, also named Jay. Here Jay is performing  the "retrieve over the high jump" in the Open obedience class at a trial.



These handsome Border Collies could be Pip and Fly, who
figure prominantly in the plot.



This handsome Labrador Retriever cold easily be Drake,
Jay's new friend and main dog of Janet's new, well, friend,
because really, she doesn't want to complicate her life.Right?
(Drake also is a major player in the sequel to
Drop Dead on Recall.)

But hold on! The whole book hasn't gone to the dogs, has it? Indeed, no! Janet and Jay share their home with a very important orange tabby. Leo is a major player throughout the book, and something of a hero cat, even if he is a sucker for catnip and sardines.

Kitty, one of the inspirations for Leo's character, knew that dogs can be fun (as long as they know who's really in charge).

So if you're a fan of felines in mysteries, don't judge Drop Dead on Recall by its cover. Just have a seat, open the book, and Leo will be there for a nose bump in no time. For more about the book, including reviews, click here.

---

Leo would also like you to Drop Dead for Healthy Dogs! Check out my virtual book launch to benefit canine health research from now through October 11. For more information, click here. Meow!

Follow Sheila on Facebook or Twitter, or through her website at sheilaboneham.com.

On High School Reunions

I'm fresh off the plane from my 10th (cough, cough, cough) high school reunion. I'm completely beat from hanging out with all the old people, who I'm here to tell you, can still really party despite the extra pounds, gray hair, baldness and, lord help me, grandchildren. I'm going to make this brief due to the headache from staying up past my bedtime for too many nights and a yoga class with my 75 year old father in which I found myself doing a headstand.

In any case, high school reunions are kinda awesome for a variety of reasons, but here are my top ten from a writerly perspective:

1. You get to see the overall story arc of a group of people you've known in many cases since childhood.
2. Is there anything more fascinating than the evolution or non-evolution of people you've grown up with?
3. In so many cases, the careers, spouses and personalities were eerily close to what I'd imagined, but what of those few people who threw me for a loop?
4. Why was it those voted Most Likely To generally didn't and, more interesting, what did they do instead?
5. The physical changes, both positive and negative.
6. The cliques and how they still impact classmates who stayed in our hometown.
7. How much and how little people really change.
8. How and why time truly is the great equalizer.
9. Where else could you possibly find so many fleshed out potential characters in one place?
10. The stories!