Last week I had a conversation with one of my favorite scientists. I had just visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington and was struck by the changes in what we know about dinosaurs. When I was a child it was all about giant lizards. Yes, we knew more than the Victoria dinosaur hunters (I adore stories about them) but our general understanding was still it its infancy. Some time in the 1980’s the avian connection to some dinosaur species gained traction and now it is an accepted part of science. I brought this up to
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The Perils of Pauline and Company
Everybody loves characters in a series — well, almost everybody. More often than not, the series characters in mysteries and other genre fiction follow this general pattern toward a boring end. First book — sharp, original, quirky or otherwise eccentric characters clashing and uniting in compelling, and sometimes, realistic ways. Second book — the relationship between the characters evolves. The eccentric/original aspects soften or become repetitive character tics. Third book — an artificial crisis must be posed to reignite the passion or conflict between the principal characters. Fourth book — soap opera time… There are exceptions. Donna Leon manages to
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Who is the MONSTER?
In the battle between the MONSTER and the MONSTER HUNTER, who is truly monstrous? I’ve been thinking about this lately because some of the new incarnations of vampire hunters, zombie eradicators, etc. in paranormal and action fiction are pretty darn violent. Is the hunter as bad as his prey? I’m going to say — sometimes… yeah. Think about the real “monsters” of nature, the killer whale, giant squid, hungry shark, territorial bear, charging rhinoceros, prowling tiger… I can hear you saying that they are NOT monsters. You’re right. They aren’t monsters. They are simply creatures acting
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The Power of Words
A friend forwarded an article to me about the literary background of the TV show “True Detective.” The link was my first exposure to “The King In Yellow” by Robert W. Chambers. The book, published in 1895, is a series of connected short stories that would fall under the general headings of Horror and Speculative Fiction. I immediately downloaded a free copy but, as I was already reading a couple of other books, (my Kindle has only encouraged my habit of reading multiple books at the same time) I didn’t get to it for a few weeks. It’s an
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Bedtime Tales
For as long as I can remember I’ve told myself bedtime stories. I’m simply a lousy sleeper and have been since I was a baby. (My mom assures me I was one of those wide-awake infants.) So when I wake up in the middle of the night, I create stories for my own entertainment. Some of them become actual stories, but most are more like artist’s experiments. The sketches, color tests and out-of-scale doodles of a painter, become images, lines and characters. I create all sorts of things when my mind simply won’t rest. These bedtime story doodles become the
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Real Grief in Fiction
I’m working on a novel right now. It’s my BIG project and I’m more than two-thirds of the way into the first draft. Grief drives the actions of one of the principal characters. Her boundaries, her judgment, her balance become unhinged after the violent death of her grandfather. As the character was raised by her grandparents, his death is the loss of a parent. Processing that kind of loss is one of those terrible and completely normal experiences — one that can’t be entirely avoided. Imbuing real emotion into fiction is the job of the fiction writer. As I
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When in Doubt — Say Green Apples!
Language can be as flat and dry as a salt-free cracker. It can also be as luscious and nuanced as a fine wine. Sometimes the cracker is the right choice, but there’s also wine time. A few years ago I took a wine tasting class. The instructor was a very funny woman with a deep understanding of wine. She didn’t put up with shyness and made us all speak up. “What do you smell? What does the taste remind you of?” She’d push us to find the words to describe our initial responses to each wine. Flowers, the forest
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Scary Places are Close to Home
New York is a very large city. It’s made larger by the habits of New Yorkers. In a city this large, it’s easy to fall into patterns and spend most of your time in one, two or three neighborhoods, rarely venturing into “unknown” territory. A friend moves — and you explore a “new world.” You get a new job — and here’s another new one. But the status quo is, well, status quo. Every now and then, I’m introduced to an entirely new — and entirely frightening — place. I was headed to an off-Broadway theater. I took a subway
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