Saturday, April 30, 2016

WRITING TO COMMUNICATE


THE JOY OF STORY
John M. Daniel’s Blog
April 30, 2016



What do you know, it’s the last day of April. I thought it would never get here. For one of the shorter months, this one has been full of predictable business. It started with a day celebrating fools, or making fools of people; two weeks later it was a day to be taxed and (some say) robbed by the government; and for the past few days, we’ve had surprise showers. In April even surprise showers are predictable.

What’s more, this April gave us five Saturdays, a rare gift for the shorter months. And as if that weren’t enough, for these past thirty days we’ve been celebrating National Poetry Month. Well, maybe we haven’t been all-out celebrating the poets all month long, but let’s all take a moment out of this last April day to wish William Shakespeare a happy birthday, which is said to have been in April 1564.

I’m pretty finicky when it comes to poetry. I prefer formal poems, ones with meter and rhyme. That makes me old-fashioned, I know, but I tend to agree with Robert Frost, who said “Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.” Harrumph. Well, there’s not much formal verse being written nowadays, other than doggerel, and I admit that I also like free or unstructured poetry, so long as it says something meaningful and says it beautifully. 

In other words, to please me, poetry must communicate something. Preferably something important. And it must, in a sense, entertain.

§§§

What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.

My novel Hooperman: A Bookstore Mystery, is all about communication problems. The protagonist, Hooperman Johnson, is a bookstore clerk who loves poetry. Hoop has a crippling speech impediment, a stammer that renders him inarticulate and shy. Curiously, the stammer disappears when he’s reading aloud or when he’s reciting poetry from memory. But he’s challenged when it comes to conversation, and Hoop does not do phones.

Janie Gillis, Hoop’s childhood sweetheart and the former wife Hoop still pines for, is nearly mute. She can speak a few words in a soft voice when she’s entirely comfortable, as she is with Hoop, but to communicate her wisdom and her love of language, she relies on her talent as a poet. Janie is a star in the poetry world.

Working in the back room of the bookstore where Hooperman is a clerk, lurks a tall, scowling man who talks little, but when he does talk his speech is peppered with scatological cusswords. Martin West is actually a gentle and kind man, but he suffers from a neurological disorder (similar to tourette syndrome) that makes him twitch and sound both angry and obscene.

Millie Larkin, another clerk, can’t chat with men. Lucinda Baylor, can’t talk to the police without calling them pigs. One of the employees is a socialist, and another is an anarchist; and though they are the best of friends, their tiresome arguments can be heard all over the store.

You might think these inarticulate, fumbling, mumbling, shouting and spouting speech-challenged people should just relax, slow down, and speak normally. They can’t—and that’s only half the problem they have communicating. The other half of the problem rests with the rest of us, the ones who can’t or won’t take the time to really listen to what these intelligent and well-meaning people have to say.

 Communication is a two-way street. Both sides need patience. And patience is well rewarded. That’s the message of Hooperman. Listen. Listen to the stories of others. 


§§§



HOOPERMAN: A Bookstore Mystery
Oak Tree Press
trade paperback; $14.95
ISBN: 978-1-61009-061-2
Buy or order Hooperman  from your local bookstore, from one of the online booksellers, or direct from the publisher:
Oak Tree Press, 1820 W. Lacey Blvd. #220, Hanford, CA 93230 

to order a signed copy, call 800-682-8351



Who’s Stealing the Books? Who’s Bombing the Bookstore?

“Pleasant and unusually good-natured, this novel from Daniel harkens back to a time when printed books mattered and an independent bookstore could be a social club for passionately eccentric bibliophiles.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Hooperman Johnson is a tall, bushy-bearded man of few words. He works as a bookstore cop, catching shoplifters in the act. It’s a difficult job for a man with a severe stammer, but somebody’s got to do it, because Maxwell’s Books is getting ripped off big-time. And, more and more, it looks like the thief works for the store.
Who’s stealing the books? Martin West, the foul-mouthed nutcase in charge of shipping and receiving? Millie Larkin, who hates the boss because he’s a man? Could it be Lucinda Baylor, the dark and sassy clerk that Hoop’s in love with? Jack Davis, the socialist, or Frank Blanchard, the anarchist? Or maybe even Elmer Maxwell himself, the world-famous pacifist bookseller?
Set in the summer of 1972, the summer of the Watergate break-in, Hooperman is a bookstore mystery without a murder, but full of plot, full of oddball characters, full of laughs, and full of love, some of it poignant, some of it steamy.
Hooperman: A Bookstore Mystery celebrates the joy of books and bookselling and also explores the many ways people get into trouble—deadly serious trouble—when they fail to communicate.

Read reviews of Hooperman: A Bookstore Mystery

§§§

Calling all authors—
I feature a guest author the third Saturday (and week following) of each month. If you’re interested in posting an essay on my blog—it’s also a chance to promote a published book—email me directly at jmd@danielpublishing.com.

§§§

Call for submissions: Your 99-Word Stories

The deadline for May’s 99-word story submissions is May 1. THAT'S TOMORROW, FOLKS! The stories will appear on my blog post for the week beginning Saturday, May 14.

note: this 99-word story feature is a game, not a contest. Obey the rules and I’ll include your story. I may edit the story to make it stronger, and it’s understood that you will submit to my editing willingly. That’s an unwritten rule.

Rules for the 99-word story feature are as follows:

1. Your story must be 99 words long, exactly.
2. One story per writer, per month.
3. The story must be a story. That means it needs plot (something or somebody has to change), characters, and conflict.
4. The story must be inspired by the prompt I assign.
5. The deadline: the first of the month. Stories will appear on this blog the second Saturday of the month.
6. I will copy edit the story. The author of the story retains all rights.
7. Email me your story (in the body of your email, or as a Word attachment) to: jmd@danielpublishing.com

THIS MONTH’S PROMPT FOR NEXT MONTH’S 99-WORD STORY: Think of something you feel strongly about, an opinion that defines who you are—or who you are not—politically, spiritually, economically, professionally, or any other important way. Why is it important? When did this self-knowledge come to you, and how did it change your life? Show (don't tell) this in the context of a story. Hint: if you don’t want to share the details of your own life, write fiction.

or be inspired by this alternate prompt for May:

“That gravy boat belonged to my great-grandmother.”
or: “That gravy boat belonged to your great-grandmother.”

§§§

Thank you for stopping by The Joy of Story during the soggy month of April. Let’s look forward to the May flowers we’ve been promised. Susan’s irises in the garden are already starting to bloom. Meanwhile, whether you write memoir, poetry, or fiction, continue to show the joy of story!






Saturday, April 23, 2016

BACK STORY MOVES A STORY FORWARD


THE JOY OF STORY
John M. Daniel’s Blog
April 23, 2016



Welcome. This is the spot for writers and readers of stories, where we discuss what makes stories work and play, as well as what makes them sink or stall. This week my essay is about back story, which is usually thought of as secondary to the forward movement of a story’s plot. I happen to think back story—when there is back story—is hardly secondary. After all, it came first. To illustrate what I have to say on this subject, I’ll refer to my novel Behind the Redwood Door, which is also the book I’m showing off this week.

I’m writing about Behind the Redwood Door this week  for a number of reasons. First, to promote what I consider a highly entertaining and suspenseful, even meaningful, work of fiction. Second, because April is National Poetry Month, and the hero of my story is Guy Mallon, who is not a poet but a poetry collector and a former publisher and bookseller specializing in poetry. Behind the Redwood Door is the third and final volume of the Guy Mallon Mysteries, but it can stand alone and deliver. One reason the novel works well as a standalone is that it is strongly supported by a strong back story. I’ll say more about that in a minute.

First, here’s an announcement for all writers who enjoy writing super-compact fiction, complete stories of 99 words each.

§§§

For those who don’t already know it, every month I invite writers—any writers and all writers—to send me 99-word stories, which I then present on the second Saturday of the following month. Full details on this feature, including submission guidelines, appear at the end of this post.

Well, here it is, with only one week left until the end of April, and so far I’ve received only one story to post the second Saturday in May. It's a good story, but we really need more material to keep this feature alive and well. I’ve been wondering why response has been so slow this month, and I’ve come to a hunch that the prompt I assigned was uninspiring. I think everyone would agree that moments of epiphany are important turning points in a life; but I tried the exercise out, and I couldn’t come up with a story complete with conflict. And we all know a story without conflict is like a meal without food.

So I’ve added another prompt you may use instead, if it works for you. Either prompt is fine with me. You’ll find both prompts at the end of this post. Check them out and start writing!

§§§

Back Story Moves a Story Forward

Faulkner said, or is said to have said, “The past is not dead. It isn’t even past.” Back story is there for one reason: to explain the motives and actions of the characters who think and do things in the present plot. Hamlet makes his hesitant choices to clean up the mess that made something rotten in the state of Denmark before the first act of the play. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is the result of generations of hatred between two families. Oedipus blinds himself when he finds out what he did in his younger days. Scrooge is forced to face his stingy nature when he revisits his past. Captain Ahab is chasing after revenge.

In each of these classic tales, and the countless novels and plays and movies inspired by them, things happen because of the things that have already happened. The narrator of “A Cask of Amontillado” says in his opening line, “…when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” Revenge. Google it and you’ll find it’s in the top three in most lists of motives for murder. Back story rules, even when the details of what happened are not spelled out on the page.

My novel Behind the Redwood Door, is driven by back story, and it is spelled out on the page. Plenty happens in the “present,” but most of what happens up front has its origins in what happened back yonder in time. This is a novel about a feud between two families, the Websters and the Connollys, descendants of two men, Brian Connolly and Jonathan Webster. Brian and Jonathan were business partners, and they founded Jefferson City on a patch of wilderness on California’s rugged redwood coast, back in the 1860s. In time the crafty Brian and his brothers stole Jonathan’s half of the lumber business, and the Connollys took over Jefferson City and Jefferson County.

Now the only Connollys still living in Jefferson City are Seamus and his teenage son, Charles (Chunky). The only Websters left are Dorothy (aka River) and her teenage son, Freddy (nee Freedom). But the feud lives on, because Seamus and River are the publishers of the town’s rival newspapers. Their sons act like friends, but Chunky is a bully and Freddy is a victim. River’s lover, Pete, is stabbed to death behind a tavern, and River knows Seamus did it.

Well, Seamus didn’t do it, and is able to prove it. So who did? That’s up to Guy Mallon to figure out. Guy’s a gentle, short, retired publisher, who has promised his wife Carol to quit putting his life in danger by solving murder mysteries. There’s some back story there, too.

There’s also back story about how the Connollys stole the land from the native Steelhead Tribe. And a long-festering hatred between two brothers that brings this back-story-driven plot right up to the present action and into its white-knuckle climax.

No, the past isn’t dead. Back story isn’t secondary. This novel, Behind the Redwood Door, wouldn’t have gotten off the ground, had the ground not been so ripe with wrongs that needed to be made right.


§§§




BEHIND THE REDWOOD DOOR
A Guy Mallon Mystery
ISBN 978-1-61009-023-0
Trade paperback, $14.95

Who knows what secrets lurk…
BEHIND THE REDWOOD DOOR?
Guy and Carol Mallon own a used bookstore on the north coast of California, a land of rocky shores and redwood forests, with a rich history of gold, lumber, Native Americans, and hardy entrepreneurs. They are content with their small-town life until Pete Thayer, their friend and the publisher of the local alternative newspaper, is stabbed to death behind their favorite tavern.
Urged on by Pete’s girlfriend, River Webster, Guy begins to poke around, uncovering a past festering with power politics, a newspaper war, a multigenerational family feud, marijuana traffic—and murder. Guy’s investigation takes him from the town square to the harbor to the forests and into the mountains, where he must confront evil in the form of a bully nearly twice his size.


“This novel, rich with history and small-town secrets, is peopled by swindlers and fishermen, Rotarians and dope-growers, prim Presbyterians and floozies, and a small but feisty, curious bookseller addicted to getting into trouble and other people’s business. Author John M. Daniel’s style is by turns witty and elegant, serving up fear and laughter in generous helpings.

Behind the Redwood Door is a complex mystery with a colorful rustic background. The exciting story line will keep readers on the edge of their seats with wonder as they try to figure out who is the evil serpent is who is destroying paradise and why. John M. Daniel writes an enthralling whodunit within a vivid setting.”

—Genre Go Round Reviews
Read more reviews of this book:
http://www.danielpublishing.com/jmd/redwoodreviews.html

 Buy or order Behind the Redwood Door from your local bookstore, from one of the online booksellers, or direct from the publisher: Oak Tree Press 217-825-4489

To order an autographed copy from the author, send a check for $15.00 to:
John M. Daniel, PO Box 2790, McKinleyville, CA 95519
or call 800-662-8351 to place a credit card order.

§§§

Calling all authors—
I feature a guest author the third Saturday (and week following) of each month. If you’re interested in posting an essay on my blog—it’s also a chance to promote a published book—email me directly at jmd@danielpublishing.com.

§§§

Call for submissions: Your 99-Word Stories

The deadline for May’s 99-word story submissions is May 1. The stories will appear on my blog post for the week beginning Saturday, May 14.

note: this 99-word story feature is a game, not a contest. Obey the rules and I’ll include your story. I may edit the story to make it stronger, and it’s understood that you will submit to my editing willingly. That’s an unwritten rule.

Rules for the 99-word story feature are as follows:

1. Your story must be 99 words long, exactly.
2. One story per writer, per month.
3. The story must be a story. That means it needs plot (something or somebody has to change), characters, and conflict.
4. The story must be inspired by the prompt I assign.
5. The deadline: the first of the month. Stories will appear on this blog the second Saturday of the month.
6. I will copy edit the story. The author of the story retains all rights.
7. Email me your story (in the body of your email, or as a Word attachment) to: jmd@danielpublishing.com

THIS MONTH’S PROMPT FOR NEXT MONTH’S 99-WORD STORY: Think of something you feel strongly about, an opinion that defines who you are—or who you are not—politically, spiritually, economically, professionally, or any other important way. Why is it important? When did this self-knowledge come to you, and how did it change your life? Show (don't tell) this in the context of a story. Hint: if you don’t want to share the details of your own life, write fiction.

or be inspired by this alternate prompt for May:

“That gravy boat belonged to my great-grandmother.”
or: “That gravy boat belonged to your great-grandmother.”

§§§

Adios, amigos. Till next time. Meanwhile listen to your own back stories. Lots of material there, I'm sure.






Saturday, April 16, 2016

IN SEARCH OF HISTORICAL TRUTH AND FICTION



THE JOY OF STORY
John M. Daniel’s Blog
April 16, 2016



Welcome writers and readers, and anybody who likes a good story. This week it’s my pleasure to welcome Anne Schroeder, who writes historical fiction about the American West. She has a lot to say about research and the hunt for clues and truth about the past. What she has to say about how Hollywood has depicted women of the frontier is eye-opening!

§§§

For my essay this week, I’m also concerned with the hunt for historical stories, but my focus here is on the historical value of the stories we carry in our memory. Whether we fictionalize the stories or set them down as true (or as true as memory tries to be), they have historical value. Here’s why:

Those of us who are writers must write. We storytellers write stories. Anybody who has lived as long as you have lived has plenty to write about. In the attic of your memory you’ll find a treasury of tales to put on paper. Mine your past, with all its surprises, narrow escapes, successes, foolish mistakes, your loves and your fights, and all the wisdom you’ve picked up along the way, and turn all that fine material into stories.

The stories we tell about our lives form a link between the past and the future. What happened to you when you were a teenager is still important to you, and it will be important to your teen-aged great-grandkids some day. How you raised your children will be fascinating to those children’s children when they’re bringing up kids in the future, kids who will share your experiences, just as they will share your DNA.

Believe me, what you write will be important to your family for generations to come. I know I wish I could read a first-hand account of how my father’s grandfather came from Wales to Wisconsin. He didn’t leave me a clue. That’s why I’m making a point of writing stories about my adventures and discoveries, before I forget them. I want to record my personal choices. I want somebody in the future to know what I thought about rock and roll, about civil rights in the 1950s, and about the Vietnam war; how I married three very wonderful and very different women; what I learned from my own sons; how I enjoyed working with words, as a bookseller, an editor, a writer, and a publisher; and how I once hitchhiked through Nevada in the snow.

You have stories to leave for the future, too. Show the world of today and tomorrow how you feel and felt about your yesterdays. What was your first thought when you stared at the television and watched airplanes crash into the World Trade Center? Were you overjoyed or appalled when a black man was elected president? Do you remember a time when young children could explore their neighborhoods safely and unattended? When you could drink out of mountain streams? The information you impart by writing your stories will be about more than just yourself. You will be setting down a permanent, eye-witness historical record of the times in which you have lived.
 
Another reason to write our stories is just for the sheer joy of it. It can be a delight to revisit the past. Yes, it can also be painful, but the writing will turn the pain into valuable truth. The secret is to write with storytelling style.

Socrates encouraged us to examine our lives. A good way to examine your life is to write about the stories you’ll find in your memory. And a generous, satisfying thing to do with your stories is to share them.

Now please welcome Anne and read about her methods and her books.


§§§

Anne Schroeder
Historical Western Fiction

I love writing historical fiction, a passion born of torrid hours spent with Zane Grey while I was a teen. I loved his shy, woo-pitching cowboys and his gutsy women, even while Hollywood was dishing out prim schoolteachers, whiskey-throated whores, and stand-by-your-man ranch wives. Then it happened! I was cursing the Sundance Kid for his ruthless degradation of the prim virginal schoolteacher Etta Place, and she turned and said, “You’re late!” 

I picked myself off the floor and began writing the stories I imagined that Mrs. Zane Grey might like to read. I won a few awards. Spent a fortune buying books and attending lectures. I learned about the un-Hollywood West. That the average age of a “sporting girl” in those days was 13; these girls were sold to brothels as young as 10 to save their families from feeding them; and most were dead by 18 from pneumonia in a drafty room with germy, unwashed johns. (There went the Miss Kitty image. Actually, a lot of thought went into how Gunsmoke’s femme fatale would be portrayed. The producers decided America wasn’t ready for a 13-year-old prostitute.)

There’s a common belief that men don’t read a woman author, but women will read a male author. Road apples! I say.  My editors and reviewers include a lot of men. It turns out that men like character-driven dramas about relationships. Turns out, women buy the books and their husbands read them too.     

Every book requires a ton of research. Before I start writing I plow through a lot of books. Interviews, photographs, horseback and Jeep rides, climbing hills in search of Indian sites—nothing is beyond me and my patient husband. Sometimes the facts find me. One of my novels started with an actual tombstone of a ten-year-old pioneer girl that I found in the Evergreen Cemetery in Santa Cruz.

Right now I’m writing a four-book series set in California’s Central Coast where I grew up. The novels follow a Mission (Salinan) Indian family though California’s Spanish, Mexican, and American eras. Each book takes place in the same time period, but is about a different character. Cholama Moon, already released by Oak Tree Press, is about a pioneer white family and their hard-working Indian cook. Maria Ines (due out from Five Star Press in October, 2016) takes the Indian woman back to her birth at Mission San Miguel and through the “time of the troubles.” The next two books will follow her bandit son, and another, his Mexican wife.



I learned a valuable lesson when a writer whose work I admire gave Cholama Moon its only 3-star review. I didn't take offense; in fact I hired him to edit my next book. Experts on the Mission era vet my finished manuscripts and hold me to a high bar. Thanks to them, Cholama Moon, the first in the series, was named “Best Non-traditional Western of 2014” in True West magazine’s review. Accuracy is important to me. I did the happy dance when an Oregon Trail expert proclaimed a yet-unpublished novel the most accurate novel of the Oregon Trail he had ever read. Score!



Anne Schroeder’s love of story was fueled by her Norwegian grandfather’s tales of bandits in the Conejo Valley. She grew up on a sheep farm in California; graduated from college with a husband, toddler, and part-time job in the first wave of the Social Revolution; and considers life an adventure of small steps. Her interest in California history has evolved into a multi-generational series about a Mission Indian family that includes Maria Ines.



Anne is past-President of Women Writing the West and belongs to Western Writers of America and Native Daughters of the Golden West. She resides in Southern Oregon with her husband, has three grown children, and hopes for even more grandchildren.


Buy links for Cholama Moon:
 http://www.amazon.com/Cholama-Moon-Anne-Schroeder/dp/1610091299
Or  http://amzn.to/1Uk3lXc


§§§

Calling all authors—
I feature a guest author the third Saturday (and week following) of each month. If you’re interested in posting an essay on my blog—it’s also a chance to promote a published book—email me directly at jmd@danielpublishing.com.

§§§

Call for submissions: Your 99-Word Stories

The deadline for May’s 99-word story submissions is May 1. The stories will appear on my blog post for the week beginning Saturday, May 14.

note: this 99-word story feature is a game, not a contest. Obey the rules and I’ll include your story. I may edit the story to make it stronger, and it’s understood that you will submit to my editing willingly. That’s an unwritten rule.

Rules for the 99-word story feature are as follows:

1. Your story must be 99 words long, exactly.
2. One story per writer, per month.
3. The story must be a story. That means it needs plot (something or somebody has to change), characters, and conflict.
4. The story must be inspired by the prompt I assign.
5. The deadline: the first of the month. Stories will appear on this blog the second Saturday of the month.
6. I will copy edit the story. The author of the story retains all rights.
7. Email me your story (in the body of your email, or as a Word attachment) to: jmd@danielpublishing.com

THIS MONTH’S PROMPT FOR NEXT MONTH’S 99-WORD STORY: Think of something you feel strongly about, an opinion that defines who you are—or who you are not—politically, spiritually, economically, professionally, or any other important way. Why is it important? When did this self-knowledge come to you, and how did it change your life? Show (don't tell) this in the context of a story. Hint: if you don’t want to share the details of your own life, write fiction.

§§§

Adios until next week. Don't forget to write. And don't forget to enjoy yourself as you write your stories.






Saturday, April 9, 2016

WEATHER REPORT



THE JOY OF STORY
John M. Daniel’s Blog
April 9, 2016



Greetings! This week, I take pleasure in presenting a collection of 99-word stories sent to me by folks who read this blog and (it’s obvious) take pleasure in writing. This month’s theme is “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.”

Whether or not you are a writer now, the chances are you were a writer as a young child, and chances are that you began by writing something along this order:

Dear Grandma,
         Thank you for the toy fire engine. It’s just what I wanted for my birthday…

My assumption is that you are old enough to have been required to write thank-you notes for gifts you received through the mail. That doesn’t seem to be the case in this modern age of email and text messaging, but the art of correspondence was important back in the day. (When was “the day” for me? A hint: you could send a thank-you note through the mail with a three-cent stamp.) I can remember complaining about having to write a letter to my grandmother, and I complained that once the obligatory “thank you” was down on paper I had nothing else to say. “Write about the weather,” my mother advised. “Grandma loves to talk about the weather.”

So I wrote about the weather, as did a lot of you older writers when you were young, and for some of us, the habit took hold. Weather comes in handy for writers and tellers of stories. Think of the tempest in King Lear. Or the nonstop monsoon tattoo in Somerset Maugham’s Rain. Jack London’s To Build a Fire (brrrr!), Irving Berlin’s lyric “Isn’t this a Lovely Day to Be Caught in the Rain?”

But remember: the weather has to be important to the plot of your story. It has to have a powerful effect on the characters. Weather must be responsible for change. You shouldn’t just describe the weather to fill space in the narrative. If you waste paper on inconsequential meteorology, you might just as well still be corresponding against your wish with your grandmother.

Keep this rule in mind as you read this month’s 99-word tales. Note that weather matters in these stories.

Note: I thank Eileen Obser for encouraging her writing students to participate in this game. Judging from the stories they send, I can be sure Eileen is a fine teacher.

§§§

Weather Report
a mini-anthology of 99-word stories

SPRING CAN REALLY HANG YOU UP
by Lydia Stewart

March began in winter, and Leo roared in angry. But when spring came, I lay down for him like a lamb in a field of flowers.
Young and foolish, we married on April first. Our honeymoon lasted two weeks, and then, on April fifteenth, we had our first and last fight. Money.
Leo took the month of May to mean permission to stray. He left me for June.
I’ve come to accept that I’m better off without him, but come August every year I miss Leo, and on April Fool’s Day, rain or shine, I weep showers of loneliness.

•••

SPRING CAN REALLY HANG YOU UP THE MOST
by Jerry Giammatteo

Ah, springtime, he thought, strolling on this warm day in early April. People were meandering through the park as the dormant warmth of the sun emerged from winter doldrums.
He sought something to do tomorrow as spring fever enveloped him. He had an inspiration. He’d fill a backpack with provisions and hike along Fire Island.
Unfortunately, he didn’t consult a forecast. Upon awakening next morning there were six inches of snow on the ground and the wind blowing a gale.
Sighing, he made some cocoa and selected a book. Spring can really hang you up the most, he mused.

•••

NO APRIL IN PARIS
by June Hannay Kosier

April, for me, means working in the garden. I get all entangled in overgrown wisteria vines, my clothes get ripped by the thorns while I prune the roses, and my arms get scratched while I’m cutting back the wild raspberries.
April showers bring puddles and mud to fall into and slippery slopes to slide down, resulting in ruined shoes and pants. My back aches from carrying bags of fertilizer and mulch, and my hands have blisters from raking.
But April showers will bring May flowers, and after that there is the best month of all in the garden—June.

•••

INFLEXIBLE SPRING
by Jim Gallagher

The long, cold winter had finally given way to mild weather that was perfect for a drive on a country road, with the top down.
Ignoring the potholes, we drove happily along, with the CD player blasting our favorite tunes.
Sadly, we soon realized it was all too good to last. After hitting a huge rut and one final bump, the convertible sagged, scraped the pavement, and ground to a halt. The mechanic determined that a suspension component had broken. He said the repair would be costly.
We learned a broken spring can really hang you up the most.

•••

THE PROPHESY
by Diane Hallett

I sought the wizened woman, the one with the globe and cards.
“Can you help me?” I asked. “I’ve lost my way in love.”
 After consideration, the visionary replied, “Seek your pleasure in summer, heat ignites your soul. The brightness of fall promises paradise, don’t hesitate, be bold. Be cautious in the white of winter, problems go unseen. Don’t tantalize your dream. Beware the cruelest month, its reputation is foreboding. Spring can really hang you up the most.”
Now my dream has ended, yet I tremble with fear. It’s the first day of April and a rope lies near.

•••

MAINE-LY BLACK AND BLUE
by Diane S. Morelli

The throes of winter made Jared, a Malibu native, question why he’d traded his surfboard for a snowboard and moved in with his fiancĂ©e, Emily, from Bangor.
Jared loved jogging almost as much as he adored Emily. He sprinted each morning on the state-of-the-art treadmill in her Victorian’s home gym. Trotting indoors made him miss sunlit jogs along the Pacific all the more.
The first dry dawn in April lured Jared to a nearby outdoor track. His run ended abruptly.
When the ambulance arrived, the paramedic said, “Surprise! Black ice in spring can really hang you up the most.”

•••

SPRING HANGUPS
by Christine Viscuso

  “Spring can hang you up the most.”
 “In what way, Des?” Tom slammed the door on his gym locker and the two men headed for Tom’s car. “Are you referring to taxes, love, or the Easter Bunny?”
 “Love. I’m engaged to two women. Both want to get married in April; both booked the honeymoon in Paris; and both are going to the same catering hall today, as we speak.”
 “Geez. You do have a dilemma.”
 “Problem is, I met a great girl at the gym. She wants to get married ASAP, in April. You know I’m a snow guy!”


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Calling all authors—
I feature a guest author the third Saturday (and week following) of each month. If you’re interested in posting an essay on my blog—it’s also a chance to promote a published book—email me directly at jmd@danielpublishing.com.

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Call for submissions: Your 99-Word Stories

The deadline for May’s 99-word story submissions is May 1. The stories will appear on my blog post for the week beginning Saturday, May 14.

note: this 99-word story feature is a game, not a contest. Obey the rules and I’ll include your story. I may edit the story to make it stronger, and it’s understood that you will submit to my editing willingly. That’s an unwritten rule.

Rules for the 99-word story feature are as follows:

1. Your story must be 99 words long, exactly.
2. One story per writer, per month.
3. The story must be a story. That means it needs plot (something or somebody has to change), characters, and conflict.
4. The story must be inspired by the prompt I assign.
5. The deadline: the first of the month. Stories will appear on this blog the second Saturday of the month.
6. I will copy edit the story. The author of the story retains all rights.
7. Email me your story (in the body of your email, or as a Word attachment) to: jmd@danielpublishing.com

THIS MONTH’S PROMPT FOR NEXT MONTH’S 99-WORD STORY: Think of something you feel strongly about, an opinion that defines who you are—or who you are not—politically, spiritually, economically, professionally, or any other important way. Why is it important? When did this self-knowledge come to you, and how did it change your life? Show (don't tell) this in the context of a story. Hint: if you don’t want to share the details of your own life, write fiction.

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And now, in my continuing celebration of National Poetry Month, a plug for my second Guy Mallon mystery, Vanity Fire. Guy, as you may remember if you read last week’s post, is a collector of poetry and a publisher of poetry collections.



Vanity Fire
A Mystery Novel
ISBN 1-59058-322-1
Hardback, $24.95

Buy or order Vanity Fire from your local bookstore,
from one of the online booksellers,
or direct from the publisher:
Poisoned Pen Press or call (800) 421-3976

This book is also available in ebook format:
Kindle edition: http://www.amazon.com/
Nookbook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

When the phone rings in the middle of the night, publisher Guy Mallon learns his book warehouse has burned to the ground. Rushing to the scene, he and arson inspector Rosa Macdonald see a total loss. And a burned body. Guy Mallon Books faces bankruptcy and the probable dissolution of its partnership—Carol Murphy, Guy's lover and business manager, fed up, had already split. But why is her car spotted parked nearby?

Guy begins the story lunching with retired businessman Fritz Marburger. Like the devil himself, Marburger tempts Guy with a proposition: to publish celebrity jazz singer Sweet Lorraine Evans' novel, which he will underwrite. It's the first step in a Faustian bargain that finds Guy getting a whiff of the sweet smell of success, followed by the increasingly noxious fumes as the crass Marburger becomes Lorraine's agent, rents Guy's warehouse space, and saddles him with an amoral co-tenant: Roger Herndon pornographer turned vanity publisher. All Roger needs is ace computerist Gracie Worth to help set up his operation.

Supported by two Santa Barbara poets with strong backs and by the sometimes puzzling actions of Gracie and her friend/lover Kitty Katz—two strippers forming the core of Roger's stable of porn stars and production assistants—Guy first tries to make a go of the new venture and then, post murder, to bring Roger down and reclaim his own soul, not to mention Carol.

Read reviews of this book: http://www.danielpublishing.com/jmd/vanityreviews.html

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Thanks for stopping by. Tell your friends! And I hope to “see” you next week, when we’ll have a guest appearance by writer Anne Schroeder. Meanwhile, don’t forget the Joy of Story.

photo by Clark Rohr