Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Are You A Good Citizen of Book World?



HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: We have such a wonderful community here–we’ve been blogging with you all for eighteen years. EIGHTEEN YEARS! (Can that possibly be true? 365 times 18 is the number of blogs we’ve posted. How many is that?)

Anyway, we are so grateful to all of you, and one thing for sure: you are all wonderful citizens of book world. And we are grateful.

One of our fabulous fellow citizens, and massive friend of the Reds, is the brilliant Carter Wilson, whose new book TELL ME WHAT YOU DID is unbelievably tense and intense. I truly was holding my breath reading it. It’s terrific. And I am telling everyone about it.

But Reds and Readers, what does it mean to be a  good and valued citizen of book world? The fabulous Carter has some thoughts. And when you get through Carter’s list, YOU tell us what you think number 10 should be.



Welcome to Book World
  by Carter Wilson


Writers are delicate creatures, full of caffeine and insecurity. We need your help, more than you may think. It’s easy to think published authors have it made—and about .005% do—but for most of us getting published is just the start. It’s a grind. Years of building up a backlist. Decades of getting an audience. And nothing happens without you, the reader. So this is what you can do.

1. Consume the book. Yes, ideally you buy a copy, or maybe several. But you can borrow one from the library. Listen on audible. Get an early free copy on NetGalley. Even borrow one from a friend or neighborhood little library. More important than sales—initially—is word of mouth. Yes, it’s on the author to write a book worth talking about, but if they do and you read it, spread the word.

2. Don’t pirate. My one exception for ways to consume a book is pirating. Don’t get a free copy from some shady Russian website. And if you do, I hope the book stinks and your computer gets infected.

3. Leave a review. So important. Take one minute out of your day to leave an honest review, even if it’s just one sentence. Good places for reviews are Amazon, BN.com, Goodreads, and anywhere on social media. Ideally, you’ll leave a good review, but if you didn’t like the book that’s okay to write about as well. Note: if you leave me a one-star review, make sure to include your address, phone number, and social-security number.

 4. Pre-order. Pre-orders make a difference when it comes to buyers like B&N deciding how many copies they want for their stores. So if there’s a book you’re looking forward to, don’t wait until it releases, pre-order as soon as you can. And you can pre-order from anywhere, not just the big booksellers.

5. Support independent bookstores. So many of these stores are in a daily struggle for survival. Yes, of course, authors also want their books in B&N, Target, and Costco, but indie bookstores are the pillars supporting the entire publishing industry. Stop in, buy a book, get a latte. You’ll be happy you did.

6. Go to a book event. Events are great ways to support authors, and sales at those stores get reported for any potential bestseller lists. Remember how I said authors are insecure? Just think about when a book is launched and three people show up at the main launch event. Do your favorite author a favor and go see them when they’re in town—chances are there won’t be as many people there as you’d expect.

7. Follow authors. Not literally, unless you want to give them a good stalker idea for a story. But if you have a favorite author, follow them on social media, share posts, and subscribe to their newsletter (thank you!)

8. Be patient. We live in a short-attention-span world, and authors aren’t competing with each other as much as we are with everything else vying for your attention (phones, Netflix, Wordle, children, etc). When you crack a book open, reserve judgment for at least 50 pages. Chances are you’re reading something that sold to a publisher from an agent, and went through months of edits and rewrites. Chances are that book took at least one-to-two years to write, rewrite, sell, and edit, and a lot of thought went into every page. It might not be the right book for you, but let it develop long enough to see if it surprises you.

9. Support free speech. This is really the most important thing you can do. Support libraries, donate to free-speech initiatives, fight back against anyone ignorant enough to think ANY book should be banned. And, of course, make sure to vote for folks who rightly think books change lives. After all, literacy is damn sexy.

HANK: Whoo hoo and absolutely. I think number 10 on this list should be “If you love the book, TELL someone about it!” 

Oh, but wait, Carter put that in his number 1. Well, you cannot say it too many times.

What do you think might be number 10, Reds and Readers?



Carter Wilson is the USA Today bestselling author of ten critically
acclaimed, standalone psychological thrillers, as well as numerous short stories. He is an ITW Thriller Award finalist, a five-time winner of the Colorado Book Award, and his works have been optioned for television and film. Additionally, he is the host of the Making It Up podcast and founder of the Unbound Writer company, which provides coaching services, writing retreats, and online classes. Carter lives in Erie, Colorado in a Victorian house that is spooky but isn’t haunted…yet. His latest release is TELL ME WHAT YOU DID, which Kimberly Belle calls “The perfect book for readers who love their thrillers gripping and utterly original.”





TELL ME WHAT YOU DID


"A brilliant thriller...I didn't just read this book, I devoured it in an adrenaline fueled frenzy!" —Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling suspense author

She gets people to confess their crimes for a living. He knows she's hiding a terrible secret. It's time for the truth to come out...

Poe Webb, host of a popular true crime podcast, invites people to anonymously confess crimes they've committed to her audience. She can't guarantee the police won't come after her "guests," but her show grants simultaneous anonymity and instant fame―a potent combination that's proven difficult to resist. After an episode recording, Poe usually erases both criminal and crime from her mind.

But when a strange and oddly familiar man appears on her show, Poe is forced to take a second look. Not only because he claims to be her mother's murderer from years ago, but because Poe knows something no one else does. Her mother's murderer is dead.

Poe killed him.

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Dead Girl in 2A and The New Neighbor comes a chilling new thriller that forces the question: are murderers always the bad guys?

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Are You in the February Flats?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Later this week we'll talk about Valentine's Day, so keep your Valentine's stuff until then. But remember, however many years ago it was for you, those days in February when you were in college or high school? Those dank freezing days-- well wait, I'm remembering Indiana and Ohio, your experiences may be different—of that progression from the holidays in December and the new year in January and then we were into.. The flats.

 

That's what we called it in college, I'm remembering now, the February Flats. Where there was just... nothing.

 


The wonderful Jacqueline Faber takes us into dark academia this February-- and isn't all academia dark in February?  See what she has to say about her debut (yay!)THE DEPARTMENT, and then think about your own academic Februarys. And we'll talk on the other side.

 

Oh, and a copy of THE DEPARTMENT to one lucky commenter! (And look at that gorgeous noir-y cover!)

 

 

The Season of Love…and Bitter Cold

by Jacqueline Faber

 

If The Department is a love story, it’s one that will break your heart.


I couldn’t pick a better month to launch my dark academic thriller than February — a month that celebrates the wild exuberance of love, while sending (literal) shivers down the spine. February is the no-man’s-land of winter, spring still impossibly out of reach, fall but a distant memory. It’s the absolutely perfect time to introduce my novel to the world.

 

On the surface, The Department is about a college girl, Lucia, who goes missing one afternoon. From the outside, she appears reckless, courting danger in all sorts of complicated ways. But she’s running from something, which won’t let her go. When Neil, a jaded philosophy professor at her university, learns of her disappearance, he feels drawn to it for reasons that are embedded in his own past. The more he learns about Lucia, the more obsessed he becomes, until his unsanctioned, amateur sleuthing takes a sharp turn. Suddenly, he must confront the shocking secrets of his own academic department, raising suspicion about his closest friends and colleagues.

 

Underneath this fast-paced whodunit, however, The Department is really a story about how we live with our losses, navigate the pain of the past, and attempt to transcend our own inner tumult.


Yet, when I sat down to write this piece, reflecting on its connection to the month of February, it occurred to me that something else is at work, too. At the heart of my book, beneath even this feverish exploration of trauma, is a fundamental longing for human connection, that ever-present search for love — propitious or ill-fated — that drives us all.

 


As we round the bend toward Valentine’s Day, I find myself reflecting on the way that this occasion elicits such big feelings in people. A holiday that is maligned for its kitchy Hallmark trappings and unrestrained consumerist fantasies. But also a commemoration of our deepest and most abiding human need.


There is no confusing my provocative, dark thriller for a cozy Valentine’s read. And yet, in the way that it speaks to our longings, our loneliness, and our existential hunger to be seen and understood, it feels entirely apropos.

 

Whether February has you retreating to the couch with a gothic horror novel, seeking comfort in friends and family, or professing your undying love, I hope you feel adored this holiday season.

 

Did you ever have a crush on someone in college? What were your academic Februarys like?

 

HANK: Ohh, yes, I had several big crushes in college! The most amusing of them was Henry V. Yes, somehow, I read my Shakespeare, and fell madly in love with the dashing Henry, who evolved into a dashing and brave and romantic hero. I used to dream about him.


I will never talk about this again, but there you have it.

 

How about you Reds and readers? And remember, a copy of Jacqueline’s intense THE DEPARTMENT to one lucky commenter!

 

(And pssst. Breaking news! Jacqueline will join us in The Back Room on March 9, with Tess Gerritsen, Pam Jenoff, and Gigi Pandian! Details coming soon!)

 

 


ABOUT THE BOOK

Philosophy professor Neil Weber can’t think of one good reason to get up in the morning. His wife has left him, his academic research has sputtered, and the prospect of tenure is more remote than ever.

Until Lucia Vanotti disappears.

A college student at the Southern university where Neil teaches, Lucia has a secret of her own—one that haunts her relationships and leads to destructive, reckless behavior. When Neil is drawn into the mystery of her disappearance, he finds himself suddenly relevant again. But at what cost? Each clue pulls him deeper into Lucia' s dark past, but also into the hidden lives of his closest friends and colleagues.

What drove Lucia to risk everything? And why does Neil, a professor who hardly knew her, care to find her? From campus classrooms to sex dens to backwoods hideaways, The Department shows the world through the eyes of Lucia and Neil as they descend into obsession, delusion, and the dangerous terrain of memory—uncovering the trauma that drives them to behave in ways even they themselves could never have predicted.

 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jacqueline Faber holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from Emory University and has taught at New York University. Her work explores questions about memory, loss, language, and desire. Steeped in philosophical, psychological, and literary themes, her writing is grounded in studies of character. She lives with her family in Los Angeles. The Department is her debut novel. Connect with Jacqueline online at jacquelinefaber.com and Instagram at @jaxfaber.

 

Monday, February 10, 2025

Are you in the LUNCH BUNCH?


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  
Know what I really love? 

Lunch.



Breakfast can be great, even transporting, when there's lovely cinnamon raisin toast, or a perfect bagel.

Dinner, too, runs the gamut from ordinary to heavenly, all depending. But for dinner, those “what’s for dinner” and “why do I have to think of it again?” questions weigh heavy.

But lunch. Oh, dear lunch. I look forward to it so much and I have to admit, I have the same thing every day. Half of a sandwich with real turkey, on When Pigs Fly pumpernickel bread or rye bread, with Honeycup mustard. And sometimes with arugula. Accompanied by 4 Siete chips, and 3 slices of new dill pickles from Grillos.

Reds and Readers, this is so heavenly, I cannot tell you. I honestly look forward to it.

Okay, from time to time tuna salad, or just plain tuna, if need be. But it’s not just the lovely sandwich, it’s the 20 minutes or so of not being at my desk (As I am EVERY OTHER MINUTE) and just thinking about whatever I want to think about, and every single bite is so delicious.

When I was on the road as a reporter, lunch was always CRAZINESS, with food grabbed whenever we could, eating a salad in the backseat of a speeding news car and trying not to get salad dressing on my suit. (If I don’t have lunch, I just...collapse.)

And so much pressure! Once, out on breaking news, I was so hungry, and SO on deadline, that I rushed into a deli, asked the guy “How long for a turkey sandwich?” and he said “two minutes!” and I said “too long!” and raced out of the place.

Reddies, how do you feel about lunch? Are you a creature of happy habit, like I am, or more adventuresome? (Or is it adventurous?)


Anyway, tell me about yourselves–are you ladies who lunch?



RHYS BOWEN: I am a lady who lunches…meeting a friend for lunch is a treat I try to do every week. I have special places where I love to eat in both Phoenix and Marin County and friends I love to eat with. It breaks up the day so nicely and makes me work harder at my morning writing, knowing that a good meal awaits me. I am not a big eater so usually it’s a salad, or sushi or Chinese food or fish tacos.

At home my lunch is usually soup in the winter. I make big soups with various vegetables: carrot, parsnip, butternut squash and we freeze them so there is always one ready in the freezer. My favorite, however, is tomato soup with grilled cheese. My total comfort food. When the weather gets warmer lunch is avocado with chicken breast, or ham, or leftover salmon, or a beet salad, depending on how much time and effort I want to put into it.




LUCY BURDETTE: Oh lunch is a problem! I want to eat more vegetables but I confess it usually ends up as melted cheese on half a bagel. Although today I am just back from a divine lunch with Hallie, Barb Ross, her hub Bill, and our good pal Pat. We ate at a wonderful hole-in-the-wall Mexican place that was amazing. Now I have lunch for tomorrow…if only I can stave off a nap for this afternoon, I could get some words written!


HALLIE EPHRON: I confess, lunch for me is usually leftovers because I still haven’t figured out how to make DINNER FOR ONE. I adore meeting friends for lunch, or having friends over. When all else fails, I make myself a sandwich with Italian canned oil-packed tuna with celery and onions and pickle relish and mayo on a slice of Dave’s multi-grain bread. Another standard is a Waldorf salad with apple, walnuts, raisins, celery, mayo, lemon juice. (I wish I could move the Mexican place (tacos al pastore!) I ate lunch at with Lucy today but I’d have to move the people, too!)

JENN McKINLAY: You might have sold me on lunch, Hank. Lunch is the one meal I’m okay with skipping. I eat a hearty breakfast – oatmeal with a banana or yogurt with granola or pancakes with an orange – and coffee, lots of coffee! Dinner is whatever the Hub is cooking and there are no sweeter words than “Dinner is ready” comin from the kitchen while I’m holed up in my office.

But lunch, unless I’m meeting someone, is a cheese stick and some figs or a slice of toast with peanut butter - just enough fuel to power through the afternoon’s words. But now, I’m rethinking. Also, I love Grillo pickles!



DEBORAH CROMBIE: I love going out to lunch. Even on my own, if I have an appointment or an errand that puts me out in the middle of the day, but my very favorite thing is lunch out with my daughter.

I love lunch at home, too. It’s a break to look forward to, and I usually read while I eat. Or if my lunch is too messy, which is often the case, I just enjoy looking out the window. I eat leftovers, or sandwiches made with some Boursin cheese, tomatoes (Camparis are good for this,) arugula, sprouts, and sometimes Trader Joe’s sauerkraut, which I know sounds really weird but it’s delicious. Also big Greek-ish salads, and I love avocado with smoked tuna or salmon. Yum.




Hallie, I want to know which Italian canned tuna packed in oil and where you get it!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I adore lunch, in part because I never eat breakfast. (I know, I know, but I’m just not hungry in the morning.) I sometimes have leftovers, because, like Hallie, I still tend to make large-ish amounts of food for dinner, but my favorites are my sandwiches. I add everything; mayo, mustard, greens, meat, cheese- remember when stacked sandwiches were called “Dagwoods?” I doubt anyone under the age of fifty would get that reference. Count me in among the lunchtime readers - I want to enjoy my food, not shovel it down while answering emails.

We’ve been having very cold weather, so my current choice is grilled cheese or a toasted egg and cheese (luxurious!) In the summer, there’s nothing better than open faced tomato sandwiches with thick slices of tomato and Miracle Whip (or mayo for you purists.) Okay, is anyone else hungry now?

HANK: Oh, yes, when summer comes, tomatoes rule. And we can discuss the inappropriately named Miracle Whip at a later date. 


Much later.

How about you, Reddies? Where do you fit in the lunch bunch?

Oh, and BREAKING NEWS! Join us for a LIVE Reds and Readers Happy Hour on our Facebook page @RedsandReaders --Thursday February 20 at 5PM ET! Will we see you there?


Sunday, February 9, 2025

Happy National Pizza Day!

HALLIE EPHRON: You may think today’s claim to fame is it’s SUPERBOWL SUNDAY. But it’s also NATIONAL PIZZA DAY! Talk about confluence. Chicken wings and onion dip colliding with pepperoni (America’s favorite topping) pizza.

I will be watching the game (I have to live through it with a rabid Kansas City fan) but my mind will be on my first encounter with pizza. (At the time I’d never had a taco, either. Or a Chinese soup dumpling. Or pad thai.

I was 16 or so, and on my one-and-only date with the grandson of Groucho Marx, a very nice young man with whom I had zero in common. He took me to MICELI’S (touted for years as “LA’s Oldest Italian Restaurant” until it recently closed.)

I was not impressed.
I thought tomato sauce topped with mozzarella cheese was a terrible idea. What an idiot I was… since then I’ve definitely developed a taste. And Miceli's set the bar high.

My all-time favorite pizza was from THE VILLA ROSA, a little place walking distance from my house. Sublime New York style pizza (thin crust), crisp and slightly burned around the edges, tangy tomato sauce (not tomato slices), gooey mozzarella cheese, spiced with oregano and salt and pepper. OILY! YES!! Nothing fancy.

You grabbed a slice and you had to get under the tip which was weighted down with sauce and cheese and oil. When all that was left was the crust, that was crisp and riddled with moguls (crispy bubbles in the crust).

I was so sad when VILLA ROSA closed about 10 years ago. (It's been replaced by an Irish pub.)

Do you remember your first encounter with pizza, and what’s been your favorite place (still open or long gone) to have it?

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Games, anyone?

 HALLIE EPHRON: I used to make fun of people who play online games. Not so much now, since I spend far too much time playing games myself... though I’m far from a “gamer.”


“Did you get today’s Pangram?” That’s the question my daughter and I share daily. Pangrams are the bonanza words to find in the daily SPELLING BEE game in the New York Times. I find a Pangram about one day out of ten. (I did not get yesterday's.)

Word and logic games are my sweet spot. Sudoku: not so much. Still, I play most of the games available the New York Times, Washington Post, and Boston Globe web sites.

I also play online bridge (Bridge Base). Solitaire or as a foursome, networking in my sister and her husband (in Manhattan) and a friend (in Wales.) Playing online while we have our phone lines tied together via Facetime, we can easily while away two hours.

Are you a daily game player (notice I didn’t say “game addict")? What are your favorite games and where do you find them.

Friday, February 7, 2025

The SUMOS are here!

 HALLIE EPHRON: It’s February and the SUMO ORANGES are in! You’ve probably seen them in the market. They’re ugly, thick-skinned oranges with a wrinkly peel and an outie navel. Expensive! Go for one that feels dense and solid and heavy. They peel like a tangerine, are fabulously delicious, and worth every penny.


Generally this is the time of year to be eating citrus of any kind, even in New England where they’ve had to travel cross country to get here. The little tangerines are sweeter. Lemons tangy and juicier. Grapefruits which I’m not supposed to eat are sweet/tart and juicy.

Apples, on the other hand, are not having their best month. That’s because they’re coming out of cold storage or from halfway around the world. Tomatoes? The best that can be said of most tomatoes you can get now is that they’re red.


When cherries showed up the other week in my Stop n Shop, I knew better than to buy them. Or blueberries and strawberries that are now available year round but tasteless in the winter. Best to wait until summer when they’re in their season and don’t have to travel so far to get from the farm to your mouth.

Has anyone else out there been enjoying citrus? Sumos? And are there fruits you’re waiting for until they’re in season?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: This is so timely! I just got some watermelon, silly me, what was I thinking? And it was AWFUL. Got to wait for the season. And eating tomatoes in the winter is an exercise in imagination.

I have never tried sumos! I am a big grapefruit fan, and oranges, too, but I rarely eat them.

However! I have been happy with the ENVY apples! So that’s a good thing…

LUCY BURDETTE: Yes, we’re eating the little tangerines. I will look for the sumos.

Luckily for us, John’s been growing tomatoes on our balcony. They are not quite summer New England/New Jersey tomatoes, but light years better than grocery store’s. The only way I’ll eat those is roasted or drowned in chili crunch!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh, I am crazy for winter citrus! I stalk the store aisles in late November/early December, waiting for the first shipments to come in. Lemons, limes, oranges, tangerines! Mostly I’ve been eating Cara Cara oranges, and an easy peel tangerine every morning with breakfast, but I saw the Sumos in Trader Joe’s and will give them a try.

I don’t buy blueberries in the winter–ugh. If I must have berries for something, raspberries seem to be better. Alas, I am a tomato addict as well as a citrus addict, but I only buy grape and Campari tomatoes off-season, as they seem to taste more or less like tomatoes. 

JENN McKINLAY: My lemon tree has gone bonkers - on deck for cooking I have candied lemon peel, limoncello, lemon curd, dehydrated lemon slices, and lemon pie.



My friend just gave me a bag of oranges and the farmer’s market is jam packed with all the greens a rabbit could want. Oh, and my cherry tomatoes - so sweet they’re like candy.

I will not be fruit deprived until summer when we have to wait for northern states to share their bounty, although I am putting in multiple garden beds and hoping to get some watermelon and strawberries of my own!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Oh, Jenn, I'm so envious right now, but I know it's just a matter of timing. 

Hallie, I just went to Market Basket yesterday and found some sumos in the markdown shelves for only $1.50 per pound! Of course, I'll have to eat them quickly, but that's not exactly a hardship. I also bought a bag of cara cara oranges, because I'm having citrus every night for dessert these days.

I'm a big believer in enjoying what's in season, so I'm cooking with root vegetables, spinach, Kale and cabbage. Fruit is pretty much limited to the great oranges we get shipped up here. (PS, the best apples this time of year are the hard, tart ones like Granny Smith and Cortland.)


HALLIE: What do you wait for and then relish "in season"?

Thursday, February 6, 2025

All those memoirs...

 

HALLIE EPHRON: Last week so many of you shared the titles of meoirs you've read and enjoyed and recommend. 

First, sharing Mary Karr's observation on what separates fiction from memoir...

MEMOIRS THAT JUNGLE RED READERS RECOMMEND...

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Growing Up by Russell Baker
A Lady's Life in the Rockies by Isabella L. Bird
Out of Africa by Karen Blixen
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
All About Me by Mel Brooks
The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck
Too Pretty to be Good by Lindsay Byron
An Hour Before Daylight by Jimmy Carter
Cher: The Memoir by Cher
What Happened by Hillary Clinton
The Rainbow Comes and Goes by Anderson Cooper
Every Day is a Gift by Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Left on Tenth by Delia Ephron
Necessary Trouble by Drew Gilpin Faust
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
In Pieces by Sally Fields
The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
Tell me Everything by Minka Kelly
On Writing by Stephen King
The Tao of Equus by Linda Kohano
We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant’s Story by Simu Liu
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
The Color of Water by James McBride
The Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage and Triumph by Oksana Masters
Somebody I Used to Know by Wendy Mitchell
It’s a Long Story by Willie Nelson
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Comfort Me With Apples by Ruth Reichl
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Drawn from Memory by E. H. Shepard
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay by Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough
Dimestore by Lee Smith
Making it So by Patrick Stewart
My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Educated by Tara Westover
Becoming Henry by Henry Winkler
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
This Time Next Year We Will Be Laughing by Jacqueline Winspear
This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff

As I look at the list, I'm struck by the titles these writers and personalities chose for their tell-alls (or "tell-somes," as the case may be). "Drawn from Memory" is the autobiography of an illustrator. "Tender at the Bone" a food writer. "Making It So" is the directive from actor Patrick Stewart's imperious Star Trek captain Jean-Luc.

So my question for today: If you were writing your own memoir, what title might you give it? My working title has been THE OTHER SISTER. It worked when I was writing 20 years ago. Now, not so much.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Feeling bullied about?

 

HALLIE EPHRON: Sometimes it feels as if the universe is conspiring to boss me around.

My smart watch keeps telling me to STAND while I’m happily taking a therapeutic nap. Or worse still, STAND when I’m already standing. Or MOVE. Apparently chair yoga or driving don’t count.

The other day it offered to call EMERGENCY when I’d washed my hands and was shaking them dry.

And my kids are after me to WEAR A MASK! Of course they’re right, because every time I take a bus or a plane or attend an indoor event, I’m felled by yet another bout of covid (or last time it was walking pneumonia). Despite having had every vaccine available to me.

My doctor advises me to: “Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!” To the tune of 8 glasses a day. It’s good for my heart rate and blood pressure. But !8!? Even when you space them out AND factor in the liquid that’s in the rest of what you’re eating and drinking, we’re talking extra trips to the loo in the wee hours. And isn’t it important for me to get a good night’s sleep, too?

And then there’s all the healthy diet advice. Five cups of vegetables and fruits. Three cups of dairy (milk, cheese…). Whole grains and beans. On it goes, amounting to at least twice to three times the amount I actually eat in a day and I’m not wasting away. And when all I want for breakfast is a half a bagel with cream cheese (can I count lox as a vegetable?).

Here's what the CDC has to say about dietary intake of fruits and vegetables, and what percentage of people living in various parts of the US are meeting that amount...

Are you feeling bullied, too? Or are you in the bully pulpit yourself, wishing the rest of the world would do as you advise?

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Been scammed lately??

 HALLIE EPHRON: The other day I went to see the movie THELMA at my local senior center. I’d been wanting to see it since it opened, inspired by the rave New York Times review (entitled “Granny Get Your Gun”) of June Squibb, the 90-something actress who plays Thelma.


In the movie, Thelma gets a call, supposedly from a lawyer, saying her beloved grandson has been arrested and she has to immediately send big bucks in cash to a PO box.

She panics and does as she’s told. Later, when local law enforcement says there’s no way to get the money back, she takes matters into her own hands with a“borrowed” mobility scooter and pilfered gun and a little help from a friend.

I enjoyed the movie, despite the plot being utterly ridiculous. And there was the subtext of all the older women and men sitting in the room with me and laughing as many of the jokes about aging struck (too?) close to home.

Before the movie began we listened to a talk given by an expert on scams that target the elderly.

Almost everyone I know has experienced attempted scams. Weekly, if not daily. A few weeks ago, many of us got an email saying our EZ-pass accounts were overspent and we needed to click a link and replenish. Scam.

Our security expert’s advice: NEVER CLICK! HANG UP!

It happens to even smart, savvy people. A dear (and tech savvy) friend ended up nearly transferring a thousand dollars to rectify a “credit card issue” that “the bank” called to tell her about. Fortunately she hung up and just in time, called the bank directly to see if there was a problem with her credit card. There was not.

Most writers have experienced a scam where we get an email from a supposed celebrity blogger inviting us to be featured on their blog, offering to pay us thousands for the honor. In my dreams this would be legit, but not in the real world.

I already knew most of the bits of advice that the security expert shared, but one surprised me.

WHEN YOU GET A CALL WITH A CALLER ID YOU DON’T RECOGNIZE (OR NO CALLER ID), IF YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO ANSWER THE PHONE, PICK UP BUT DON’T SAY ANYTHING.

This is because even if the caller never convinces you to do something stupid with your money, they can record your voice and spoof it with a scam call to your loved one.

So what’s your experience been with scammers and what advice are you heeding?

(If you want concise advice about avoiding scams, see this article in U. S. News.)

Monday, February 3, 2025

Rule #37: Don't open with a cocktail party

 HALLIE EPHRON: As anyone who’s taken any of my writing workshops knows, I’m full of rules.


One of them is: “Don’t open with a cocktail party.” Of course I don’t mean that literally. I mean don’t overload the opening of your book by introducing too many characters too quickly. Don’t open with a crowd scene.

Even introducing a single character is heavy lifting–for both the writer and the reader. There’s the character’s name. Physical appearance. Relationship to the other characters you’re introducing. Quirks. The list goes on…. With their first appearance they need to make an impression. Introduce too many too fast and readers will choke. They won’t remember who’s who and might even stop caring.

My rules usually have the caveat: “Write well enough and you can break any rule in the book.”

Which brings me to a book I’m reading at the moment. It’s a huge bestseller written by a beloved author. And it opens by introducing about half dozen characters, each in a separate location with a variety of connections to one another. Fortunately, in short order one of them is murdered, culling the herd. But still, for about 20 pages it’s a slog remembering who’s who until everything meshes.

Do you think there’s such a thing as *too many characters too soon* and if your story requires it, how do you finesse it?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: The very first book I ever tried to write, which did not get very far, was about the first female golf pro in Massachusetts, and how she solved a mystery about a deadly herbicide on the golf course. It was a brilliant idea. Maybe. But I didn’t know what I was doing. And I stopped.

Totally your case in point: the first chapter was a golf foursome on the course, as well as a caddy, and references to several other people. Truly, there were at least five people in the scene, none of whom you knew, as well as allusions to other people.

You absolutely had no idea who to care about.


But. I also just finished a book that has about a million characters from moment one, and some off-the-page characters referred to as well. But the writing was so immersive, and so fabulous, and I thought: “you know, this author is aware of what she’s doing, and she’ll let me know who I need to care about when the time comes.” And that turned out to be completely true. And the book is incredible.

But I so agree, Hallie. The rest of us are not Liane Moriarty and Big Little Lies. And
  I am very careful now not to overpopulate my first chapter.

JENN McKINLAY: I’m trying to think of a book that had a crowded opening scene that made me quit. Nothing is coming to mind, probably because I quit. LOL. I’m not a big fan of prose heavy openings either. I don’t want to read a description of snow falling for five pages.

As for me, I’m a master level eavesdropper so I love starting a book with dialogue as it takes the weight off the opening line and hopefully hooks the reader immediately. No more than three characters for the opening paragraphs and then it can expand.

RHYS BOWEN: One thing I hate is too many characters too soon. I find myself flipping back and forth: Who was Doug? Was he married to Serena? I was trying to remember if any of my books start with multiple characters but I can’t think of any.

In Farleigh Field had multiple protagonists and we jumped between several sites but I think they were all parallel stories going on until they all joined at the end. (At least that was what I wanted!)

Of course my two series are written in the first person so we always start seeing the world through the eyes of the protagonist and having her set the scene tor us. This makes it much easier.

LUCY BURDETTE: I have very little patience with too many characters. Most of the time I refuse to go back and look somebody up, I will either put the book down or else keep reading and hope it all becomes clear.

But Jenn and Rhys make interesting comments, maybe it’s easier with first person to keep the characters under control.

I had to go back and look at the opening of THE MANGO MURDERS, which will be out in August 2025. it does indeed start with a cocktail party! On a sunset cruise! However, before you ever get to the cruise and the party, there is quite a bit of Hayley Snow talking to set the scene.

I hope this works – I’m sure you will let me know:).

DEBORAH CROMBIE: The first chapter of my first book opens with only three characters. Smart, right?

Then, in chapter two, A COCKTAIL PARTY! Literally. What was I thinking?

Obviously I didn't know any better, but I seem to have navigated my way through it somehow. Still, many books later, I find scenes with a lot of characters the most challenging to write. Give me a good old descriptive passage or an internal monologue any day!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: This is a timely question, Hallie, as I’m reading a book with a famously vast number of characters - ANNA KARININA.

Yes, one of my resoilutions was to broaden my reading to include classics I’ve missed. I’m reading the 2000 translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, and they translate the famous opening line as: All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

In the first eleven pages, we meet seven characters in person, name check the titular character, and are also told the household has an English governess, a cook, a coachman, a kitchen maid, and the now banished affair partner, the French governess. It feels crowded, which is perfect, because the household of Prince Stepan Oblansky is crowded to the point of intrusiveness, just as, we will see, the society he and his family live in is crowded and intrusive. There never seems to be enough space for people to just be themselves.

Technically speaking, all these character introductions work because they come through Stepan’s point of view. Everyone is described in terms of how they relate to him: his wife, his favorite child, his sister, his valet. It gives the reader a solid framework to slot characters into place. And yes, I was brave and decided to plunge in without reading the cast of characters, so I was relying on Tolstoy to not let me down.

BTW, I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s much more lively than I thought it would be.

HALLIE: So how about the rest of us? Which writers manage to defy the odds and keep you turning the pages even when they introduce a plethora of characters in short order?