Funny Lady Melodie Campbell featured in the Sunday Sun, Jan. 5/14

Posted on January 10, 2014 by mesdamesofmayhem

We’re incredibly proud of our own Mme Melodie Campbell, Crime Writer and Queen of Literary Comedy. On January 5, 2014, she was featured in the Toronto Sunday Sun! See below for the entire article by Linda White:

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Music, Music, Music…and Books ~ by Catherine Astolfo

Posted on January 7, 2014 by mesdamesofmayhem

Catherine Astolfo“She looks like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone.” What does this tell you about the character of a woman who thinks this about her friend? (Especially since that friend has just careened off their balcony to her death.)

Sweet KarolineIn Sweet Karoline, I used this line from the song, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, to both shock the reader and give some insight into my protagonist’s state of mind.

Lots of authors do the same. The Journal of Music and Meaning (JMM) states: “Music has played an important role in the fictional novel for centuries.” References to a song or a style of music can provide important information in a creative, interesting way. For instance, the reader might learn a great deal about the character’s emotions, tastes or age. Depending on the era of the music, we might deduce “the generation a character is from” (JMM). Or we might draw some conclusions about his or her mental health (or not).

Canadian author Peter Robinson refers so often to his main character’s musical interests that he includes playlists on his website.

Another Canadian, Rick Blechta, embeds music right into the plots, characters and setting (www.rickblechta.com). I’m sure you can think of dozens of other examples.

Many of our own Mesdames of Mayhem also use music in their writing. Below, you’ll get your chance to match up the author with the quote.

Whenever I read lyrics within a novel, I supply the music in my head. I believe this is the reason employing songs to enhance the experience is so successful. Suddenly the narrative is suffused with sensuality, danger, tenderness, comedy or grief. As Gerry Smyth says, “Standing for the un-writable and inexpressible, the novelist’s references to music nonetheless express emotions beyond the text, increasing the writer’s affective power by sleight of hand.”

An author can also lead a character back to a meaningful place and time through the use of a song. Haven’t we all got a lyric or melody that reminds us of a painful or hilarious or wonderful event? “Hearing” music in a book can connect us more closely to the narrative, the characters, or the time and place. Our experience is deepened. Our imaginations, our ability to visualize and relate, can be enhanced. After all, the creative side of our being loves any kind of stimulation, and combining two arts can certainly be stimulating.

I’m sure you know what to do with this little puzzle below. Connect the author to the quote. Send your answers to me at cathy@catherineastolfo.com. If you get it right, I’ll gift you with a free ebook!

Melodie Campbell “I’ll be using Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight by Steeleye Span in my novel.”
Joan O’Callaghan “I used Mozart’s Requiem.”
Donna Carrick “I used Beethoven’s Fur Elise in my short story.”
Cheryl Freedman “My books are full of music, from k.d. lang to Vivaldi.”
Jane Burfield “I used a song lyric for one of my titles!”
Rosemary McCracken “I do in almost every book! Mostly Italian!”
Catherine Astolfo “My main character plays the clarinet; there’s a spiritual connection to ancient music.”

Thirteen, an anthology of Crime StoriesCatherine Astolfo is the author of The Emily Taylor Mysteries and Sweet
Karoline, published by Imajin Books. In 2012, she won the Arthur Ellis Award for
Best Short Crime Story in Canada. She’s a Past President and Derrick Murdoch
Award winner for service to Crime Writers of Canada. She’s a member of Mesdames of Mayhem and has a story in Thirteen (Carrick Publishing, 2013).

www.catherineastolfo.com

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MESDAMES OF MAYHEM – BLOG DECEMBER 31ST ~ M.H. Callway

Posted on December 31, 2013 by mesdamesofmayhem

M.H. CallwayGreetings Readers!

What a year this has been for the Merry Mesdames of Mayhem – and we haven’t even celebrated our first anniversary yet!

Early in 2013, I had a little idea of how best to surf the tsunami of change in book publishing. Social media can give authors readers throughout the world, but how can readers find new authors? Several members of my two writing groups already had a strong web presence so if we all banded together, we could reach a truly staggering number of readers. And that’s how Mesdames of Mayhem came to be.

Today, less than a year later, the Mesdames have a vibrant website with a weekly blog on crime fiction. We are on Face Book and Twitter – all thanks to the enthusiasm and hard work of fifteen fabulous dames!

Thirteen, an anthology of Crime StoriesWe also brought out our first anthology of crime stories, Thirteen, (Carrick Publishing, 2013) in both print and e-format. Joan O’Callaghan and I dove head first into the mysteries of the cyber launch on September 5th. Twelve straight hours of terrific discussions with friends and fans as far away as Texas rocketed Thirteen to second place on Amazon’s mystery anthology best seller list.

On October 27th, the Mesdames launched the print version of Thirteen, at our favorite bookstore, Sleuth of Baker Street. The theme was Halloween and the Mesdames were out in force, if not in costume as witches, pirate queens and even a worm composter. The gothic decorations, flowing wine and the dark and delicious munchies helped make our book sales spectacular!

In November, the Mesdames ran a successful book selling co-venture with the Village Theatre in Waterdown. Murder by the Book is a light-hearted play about dastardly deeds in a writing group. Author, Mat Kelly, kindly inserted our name, Mesdames of Mayhem, into the script.

Thirteen is definitely The Mesdames’ lucky number. And 2013 proved to be a great year for publishing new books, bagging book deals, and winning awards and recognition.

Sweet Karoline
Mme Cathy Astolfo’s standalone novel, Sweet Karoline, was published by Imajin Books in July, 2013. It hit the bestseller list on Amazon Canada in the first week. She also has several short stories in the upcoming publication Uncle Tom’s Gabbin’ and So Am I.

Terminal GrillMme Rosemary Aubert’s chilling novella, Terminal Grill, published by Quattro Books, received great response and acclaim from readers.

Mme Jane Burfield returned to writing with her story Triskaidekaphobia in Thirteen and warmly supported The Mesdames throughout all their ventures.

Mme M. H. Callway signed a contract with Seraphim Editions for her first mystery novel, Windigo Fire. Under different titles, it was short-listed for both the Unhanged Arthur and Debut Dagger awards. She was also co-editor of Thirteen.

Rowena and the Dark LordThe Goddaughter's Revenge, Melodie CampbellMme Melodie Campbell continues her reign as our very own Queen of Comedy. She published two books in 2013: Rowena and the Dark Lord with Imajin Books and The Goddaughter’s Revenge with Orca Books. Her short story, “Hook, Line and Sinker”, won the $3000 first prize in the contest held by Your McMurry Magazine. And her story, “Life without George” was short-listed for the 2013 Arthur and won second prize in the 2013 Hamilton Arts Awards.

Sept-Iles and other places
*
Mme Donna Carrick continues to build her company, Carrick Publishing, which now carries over sixty titles by diverse and talented authors. In addition to her work as publisher, she is the Mesdames’ webmaster, social media guru and co-editor of Thirteen.

A Cold White SunGold WebMme Vicki Delany saw two books published in 2013: A Cold White Sun, the sixth Constable Molly Smith book, by Poisoned Pen Press and Gold Web, the fourth in the Klondike Gold Rush series by Dundurn. Next year will be a big for Vicki. Not only will she be the Canadian Guest of Honour at Bloody Words, Canada’s mystery convention, but she’ll publish two new books: the seventh Molly Smith book, Under Cold Stone, and Juba Good, by Orca Rapid Reads. Recently she signed a three book contract with NAL, Penguin Group, for a cozy mystery series set in a lighthouse library in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Mme Catherine Dunphy created her story for Thirteen while researching and developing her novel set in Africa.

Mme Cheryl Freedman became President of the Board of Directors for Bloody Words. She is heading up the team that will put on the Toronto conference in 2014.

Black Water, a Pat Tierney mysteryMme Rosemary McCracken’s second Pat Tierney mystery, Black Water, was published by Imajin Books. Toronto Star mystery critic, Jack Batten, praised its “wonderful pace and invention”. Her short story, “The Pre-paid Funeral” appeared in the anthology, Nefarious North. At Bouchercon this year, she promoted Thirteen – though she had a story in each of the three crime fiction anthologies spotlighted.

The Book of Stolen TalesMme Dorothy McIntosh’s archeological mystery, The Book of Stolen Tales, was released by Penguin in Canada, Spain and Croatia. The second book in her acclaimed Mesopotamian trilogy, it was named Best Thriller of 2013 by Quill & Quire.

Mme Lynne Murphy’s manuscript was long-listed for the 2013 Unhanged Arthur award.

Mme Joan O’Callaghan is the Mesdames marketing maven. In addition to co-editing Thirteen, she completed a commissioned non-fiction project as well as her first crime novel. She spearheaded the co-ventures with community theatre and booked several readings for the Mesdames in 2014.

Mesdame Caro The Deja

Mme Caro Soles retired from Bloody Words after running Canada’s national mystery conference for fifteen years. She continues her animal rescue work as well as writing, teaching and travelling.

Find Me AgainMme Sylvia Warsh wrote her sinister story in Thirteen while continuing to work on her historical novel and other literary projects.

Wishing a Happy New Year to all our readers and expect even more scintillating news in 2014 from the Mesdames of Mayhem!

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Writing Historical Fiction: Part II – by Sylvia M. Warsh

Posted on December 17, 2013 by mesdamesofmayhem

Sylvia Maultash WarshHow can we understand the world today unless we explore the past? I write historical fiction to try to understand why things happened. Lucky for me, I love doing research, though it’s a lot like eating potato chips. Once you start, it’s hard to stop.

Find Me AgainThe prevailing wisdom is you have to follow productive leads, while avoiding those roads that lead too far astray. But what is “astray?” During my historical digging for Find Me Again, my second book, a serendipitous discovery changed the direction of the story. I had gathered together some Polish history books to understand the background of several important Polish characters. But it was summer and we were at our cottage, so I began my reading with James Michener’s historical novel called Poland, which covers a thousand years of that history painlessly (if you overlook the melodrama).

I still remember sitting on the beach when I read about a young Polish count embarking on an affair with a married German noblewoman who later became Catherine the Great. Long after the affair was over, she ascended the throne and made him King of Poland for her own political reasons. In biographies of Catherine I discovered they had had a child together. Eureka! This material fit in surprisingly well with the theme of my book, lost children.

Delving more into the history, I became entranced with the Catherine story. She had kept detailed journals her whole life so there was no shortage of resource material. The lives of other notable figures in Catherine’s sphere, including Frederick the Great, enticed me. What to do with all this irresistible information? It became a story within the main story of the novel. After one of the 20th century characters is murdered, my protagonist, Rebecca Temple, finds a manuscript he had written about his family’s history. This book won the Edgar.

Season of IronPart of my third Rebecca Temple book, Season of Iron, is set in 1930s Berlin during the Nazi era. It turned out that memoirs were the best source of the information I needed because they contained details of daily life not found in history books. A surprisingly large amount of memoirs were written by German Jews who had escaped from Germany on the Kindertransport as children. They were often the only members of their family who survived and felt they had to tell their story. During my reading on the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, I came across a young high jumper named Gretel Bergmann, who would have won the gold medal for Germany if they hadn’t excluded her because she was Jewish. I based one of my characters on her, because, in this case, truth made the best fiction.

The Queen of UnforgettingMy fourth book, The Queen of Unforgetting, came about because I was so captivated by the history of Georgian Bay where we vacation. I have a small library on the subject, including archaeological finds. In the 1600s, Jesuits travelled here from France to convert the Huron to Christianity. Tragically they also brought with them European diseases. Those Huron who didn’t die from infection were massacred by their cousins, the Iroquois. For their efforts, the Jesuits were tortured and killed.

In the 1990s, I wrote a disjointed manuscript on the topic, then in frustration, put it away to write the Rebecca Temple books. After learning about plot structure from writing mystery, I returned to the Brébeuf novel and was able to sort it out. Again I structured my novel with a story within the main story. My protagonist, Mel Montrose, a beautiful grad student in 1972, writes a fictionalized account of historical events from the point of view of the enigmatic Jesuit, Jean de Brébeuf.

I have been collecting research for my latest project, The Book of Samuel, for several years because the setting and time period are unfamiliar to me: Washington, DC and a Virginia plantation in the 1840s. It has been a steep learning curve, which I have cheerfully climbed, but have paid for my pleasure with time.

Thirteen, an anthology of Crime StoriesSylvia Maultash Warsh writes the award-winning Dr. Rebecca Temple mystery series.

Her historical novel, The Queen of Unforgetting, published in 2010, was chosen for a plaque by Project Bookmark Canada.

Best Girl, a Rapid Reads book, came out in 2012.

Sylvia is a contributing author in the popular Crime anthology titled Thirteen. (Carrick Publishing, 2013)

She lives in Toronto where she teaches writing to seniors.

Visit Sylvia at her Website
or look for her books at Amazon.com

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Historical Fiction Part I: Dodge City Run by the North West Mounted Police ~ Vicki Delany

Posted on December 10, 2013 by mesdamesofmayhem

Vicki DelanyThe Late Sir Peter Ustinov once said that Toronto was New York run by the Swiss. I like to say that Dawson, Yukon, in 1898, was Dodge City run by the North West Mounted Police.

Imagine a place in the wilderness, close to the Arctic Circle, hundreds of miles from the nearest city, at the end of the 19th century. A place of no roads, no cars, no trains, no telephone, no telegraph. Accessible only by water, for just a few months a year, or by paths over mountains so steep that horses couldn’t make it. And then imagine tens of thousands of people arriving in this place within a matter of months.

Thirteen, an anthology of Crime StoriesWhat you would get in almost any other place and any other time would be bedlam. Chaos and anarchy and lawlessness.

This is the setting for the Klondike Gold Rush series, published by Dundurn Press, as well as my story, Sore Feet and Gold Dust, in Thirteen.

Given that background, you would think I would have a plethora of scenes of historical murder and mayhem to write about in the books.

You would be wrong.

Because what all those miners and dance hall owners, prostitutes and pimps, bartenders and adventurers, and businessmen (respectable and shady) found when they at long last arrived in the promised land, was the long arm of the law waiting for them, in the form of the North West Mounted Police (precursors of the RCMP).

Gold MountainThe border between Canada and the U.S. was at that time still in dispute. The Canadian government had established a police presence in order to strengthen their claim before all those gold seekers and their hangers-on began flooding into the territory. Prostitution and gambling were illegal in all parts of Canada, but the NWMP recognized, wisely in my opinion, that some things were going to happen whether they were legal or not, and the police would be better having some control. Thus prostitution was practiced openly and dance halls all had a gambling room.

Police oversight was strict and they could, and did, close down any business stepping over the line. However, there were things the Mounties didn’t bend on – the use of ‘vile language’ was an offence, and Sunday closing was strictly observed. People were jailed for chopping wood for their own homes on a Sunday. Firearms were strictly banned. Every person coming into the Territory was required to have a year’s supply of goods with them: a lesson learned during the winter of 1897-98 when the town nearly starved. Not only did all those adventure-and-gold seekers have to climb the Chilkoot Pass they had to do it about 30 or 40 times to get all their gear up. Tougher people than me I can tell you.

In 1898, the year of the height of the Gold Rush, when the town of Dawson had a population of 40,000, there was not one murder in town. Not one. Reports I have read say that people were comfortable leaving their doors unlocked and their possessions out in the open. In contrast to the nearby town of Skagway, Alaska, where gangsters such as Soapy Smith ruled and crime and corruption were rampant. Soapy himself was killed in a shootout on the Skagway boardwalk in July 1898.

Gold FeverIn Dawson, a town where a one minute dance with a dance hall girl cost a dollar, a bottle of champagne could set you back 40 bucks, and successful miners were known to drop a thousand, ten thousand dollars (all in 1898 funds!) in a night in the casino, a constable in the NWMP earned $1.25 a day (roughly the rate for a labourer in the Outside). Yet the police were largely incorruptible.

In order to create a mystery novel, I had to jettison the sterling record of the NWMP and create a murder. In the second book in the series, Gold Fever, there are two. And, despite one of the main characters in the series being a NWMP officer, the Mounties will prove unable to solve the crime and it will be left to my protagonist, dance hall owner and woman with a past, Fiona MacGillivray, to do so.

Sometimes you just can’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.

A Cold White SunVicki Delany is the author of the popular Constable Molly Smith series (including In the Shadow of the Glacier and A Cold White Sun) from Poisoned Pen Press, as well as the Klondike Gold Rush mysteries from Dundurn, and standalone novels of Gothic Suspense also from Poisoned Pen Press.

Visit Vicki at www.vickidelany.com , www.facebook.com/vicki.delany, and twitter: @vickidelany. She blogs about the writing life at One Woman Crime Wave (http://klondikeandtrafalgar.blogspot.com)

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM BLOODY WORDS 2014

Posted on December 6, 2013 by mesdamesofmayhem

M.H. CallwayGreetings Readers!

Bloody Words, Canada’s national crime writers’ conference, takes place in Toronto, June 6 to 8, 2014. The Mesdames of Mayhem are taking it by storm!

Cheryl FreedmanMme Cheryl Freedman is not only the chair of the BW Board of Directors, she’s leading the Bloody Gang, the amazing people who pull the conference together. Mme Vicki Delany will be the Canadian guest of honour and Mme Melodie Campbell, the master of ceremonies. Mme Joan O’Callaghan is the chair for the 2014 Bony Blithe Award for best light mystery. Mme Cathy Astolfo is running the Bony Pete short story contest and the manuscript evaluation service.

Mme Cheryl sends this reminder to mystery lovers:

Consider registering early for Bloody Words 2014 before the price goes up on January 1st. The cost now is $175 plus $7 if you register online using PayPal. No extra charge if you register by mail or register online with Interac e-transfer.

Registration goes up to $190 (plus $7 for paying with PayPal, nothing extra if not paying with PayPal) on January 1st. To register, go to http://2014.bloodywords.com/register/ and choose your registration method.

Also, we’re still open for entries for the Bony Blithe (deadline December 13) http://2014.bloodywords.com/bony-blithe/ . You don’t have to be registered for BW to enter the Bony Blithe contest

And we’re taking entries for the Bony Pete short story contest http://2014.bloodywords.com/bony-pete-contest/. Note: you do have to be registered for BW to enter the Bony Pete short story contest.

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Sex in Fiction ~ Caro Soles, December 3, 2013

Posted on December 3, 2013 by mesdamesofmayhem

There is a word in the English language that is capable of turning perfectly articulate people into stammering, red-faced teenaged versions of their adult selves. I found this out early when I began teaching the Writing a Novel course I designed for George Brown College. The word is ‘sex’.

To begin, with I had not written any sort of topic specifically labeled ‘sex scene’. Into my outline. After all, this was only a few months after some of my books written by my steamy gay male leather-loving alter ego had been stopped at the border and refused entry as being far too much for innocent Canadians. But after one class dealing with relationships, a student came up to me and asked me if I wouldn’t mind reading his scene. He was too embarrassed, it seemed, to read it aloud in class because it was ‘pretty raw and racy’, said he, his cheeks flushed. This guy obviously did not read the Globe and Mail and was thus unaware of my scandalous double life.

After reading the pale labored sex scene the student had given me, I decided we had to talk. The whole group had to talk about sex in novels, and why it should be there. And why at other times it should definitely not rear its ugly head. And most important of all, how to write about it! So we did. A most popular class it became, too.

Novels are all about people, and sex is a part of who we are. What a character does in bed may show something about him or her that no other scene could properly convey. It may be surprisingly tender or alarmingly rough. Another aspect of our hero or heroine, told not as a paint-by-numbers exercise, as a lot of my students early efforts seemed to be, but with feeling and a deep appreciation of all the senses involved. Sex scenes are also a great way to mirror the society and the period when the story takes place.

Cliches are to be avoided at all costs when writing anything, and this is never so true as when writing about sex. Using coy words or heavy-handed imagery comes across as awkward and self-conscious. Just let go! Have fun! Revel in all that sensuality!

But there is a caveat here. Not all books need sex. I am told this is also true of some people. As in all the other aspects of a novel, a lot depends on the kind of book you are writing, on the tone, on the expected audience. Remember there is nothing worse than a gratuitous sex scene! And a lot depends on how comfortable you are writing it.

But when you do plunge into that tumescent scene, just remember you do not want to be in the running for the Bad Sex Award given by the British lit magazine The Review. Here is last year’s winner, ED KING by David Guterson:

“In the shower, Ed stood with his hands at the back of his head, like someone just arrested, while she abused him with a bar of soap. After a while he shut his eyes, and Diane, wielding her fingernails now and staring at his face, helped him out with two practiced hands, one squeezing the family jewels, the other vigorous with the soap-and-warm-water treatment. It didn’t take long for the beautiful and perfect Ed King to ejaculate for the fifth time in twelve hours, while looking like Roman public-bath statuary. Then they rinsed, dried, dressed, and went to an expensive restaurant for lunch.”

And lest you are crowing that it is only the literary writers who write bad sex, there was stiff competition from Lee Child:

“Then it was time. We started tenderly. Long and slow, long and slow. Deep and easy. She flushed and gasped. So did I. Long and slow.”

Don’t get discouraged. You can do better. I know you can! There’s lots of great sexual writing out there, though I would probably not start with Rabelais.

Mesdame Caro The DejaIn 1989, Caro switched from teaching languages to teaching creative writing. Now that her students could understand her jokes, the classroom was much more jolly. She has taught writing in Community colleges, Berkeley University and given workshops at such varied places as the OutWrite Conference in Boston and the Tool Box Leather Bar in Toronto. She now teaches several courses at George Brown College, appropriately called Writing a Novel 1 and Writing a Novel 2. Her latest novel is The Déjà Dance, the third in the sf adventure/thriller series The Merculians.

Visit Caro at:
Www.carosoles.com
carosoles.wordpress.com
Tweet with @carosoles

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ROUSING PRINT LAUNCH FOR THIRTEEN ~ M.H. Callway, Nov. 26, 2013

Posted on November 26, 2013 by mesdamesofmayhem

The fabulous Mesdames of MayhemOn October 27th, the fabulous Mesdames of Mayhem celebrated the print launch of their first anthology, Thirteen, at their favorite bookstore, Sleuth of Baker Street.

The serendipitous and ghostly collision of date and title made the Halloween theme a no-brainer!

Happy Halloween thanks to JordanaSeveral of the Mesdames appeared in costume: Cathy Astolfo, Melodie Campbell and Jane Peterson Burfield made glamorous witches. Lynne Murphy celebrated her short story, Bessie’s Worms, by impersonating a composter, though happily the worms were of the gummy variety. And Mel’s hubby, Dave, stole the show as a wicked Scottish pirate complete with kilt!

Halloween decor!Mme Joan O’Callaghan, the Mesdames marketing guru and organizer of the launch, decorated Sleuth’s with ghoulish delights, without hiding the books and leaving plenty of space for book signings and browsing. Joan’s niece, Jordana Eisen, generously donated her interior design expertise and her private collection of Halloween party gear. Especially popular were: the hay bale with crawling black rats; the 1940’s talking telephone tapped into the spirit world; and the eerie books that moaned and shuffled on the shelf.
Our marketing whiz, Mme Joan
Mesdames Rosemary Aubert, Vicki Delany, D. J. McIntosh and Rosemary McCracken lent their extensive experience with book launches. This included streamlining our autograph marathon: try organizing a dozen authors to sign more than fifty books!

Lots of noms!And what is a celebration without noms? The Mesdames provided a cornucopia of nibbles and home-baked goodies like fossil cookies and gummy worm cupcakes. The spider cakes were also well-liked. Wine flowed, thanks to Mesdames Catherine Dunphy and M. H. Callway. Madeleine’s husband, Ed Callway, tended bar and their daughter, Claire Callway, acted as photojournalist.

A full house!Book signings and mingling with family, friends and fans kept the Mesdames busy and out of trouble. Mesdames Caro Soles and Cheryl Freedman dropped by to share many hugs and congratulations. The big highlight of the afternoon was the readings done by Thirteen’s authors. By the end of the day, seventy books had been sold and signed.

Mega nice thanks from the team!A lovely surprise: publisher extraordinaire, Mme Donna Carrick and co-editors, Joan and Madeleine were thanked by the Mesdames with lovely long-stemmed roses, presented by Mme Dorothy (D. J.) McIntosh!
Thanks to the Sleuth of Baker Street Mystery Bookstore!
A major thank you to wonderful bookseller and BFF of the Mesdames, Marian Misters of the Sleuth of Baker Street Mystery Bookstore for sponsoring the launch.

PercyAnd last but not least a pat on the head to Percy, resident reading dog. Percy refrained from playing with the large plastic rats and showed remarkable restraint by the food table. His virtue was amply rewarded by treats of cheese at clean-up time.

Our thanks to the Sleuth of Baker Street for hosting our launch.

And heartfelt gratitude to our talented event photographer, Claire Callway!

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BOOKS AND THE ART OF THEFT ~ Melodie Campbell, Nov. 19

Posted on November 19, 2013 by mesdamesofmayhem

Melodie CampbellPuzzled by the title? It’s simple.

In high school, I had to read Lord of the Flies, The Chrysalids, On the Beach, To Kill a Mocking Bird, and a whack of Shakespeare.

Yuck. Way to kill the love of reading. All sorts of preaching and moral crap in the first four. (Which, as you will see by the end of this post, doesn’t suit me well.)

Torture, it was, having to read those dreary books, at a time when I was craving excitement. Already, I had a slight rep for recklessness. (It was the admittedly questionable incident of burying the French class attendance sheet in the woods on Grouse Mountain, but I digress…)

And then we got to pick a ‘classic’ to read. Groan. Some savvy librarian took pity on me, and put a book in my hand.

Ivanhoe.

Magic

A writer was born that day.

This is what books could be like! Swashbuckling adventure with swords and horses, and imminent danger to yourself and virtue, from which – sometimes – you could not escape (poor Rebecca.)

I was hooked, man. And this book was written how long ago? 1820?

Occasionally, people will ask if a teacher had a special influence on me as a writer. I say, sadly, no to that.

But a librarian did. To this day, I won’t forget her, and that book, and what it caused me to do.

– Write the swashbuckling medieval time travel Land’s End series, starting with the Top 100 bestseller Rowena Through the Wall.

– Steal a book. Yes, this humble reader, unable to part with that beloved Ivanhoe, claimed to lose the book, and paid the fine. Damn the guilt. The book was mine.

– Write The Goddaughter series, which has nothing to do with swashbuckling medieval adventure, and everything to do with theft. Which, of course, I had personally experienced due to a book called Ivanhoe.

The lust for something you just have to have. The willingness to take all sorts of risks way out of proportion, to possess that one thing.

A book like my own Rowena and the Dark Lord made me a thief at the age of sixteen. And the experience of being a thief enticed me to write The Goddaughter’s Revenge, over thirty years later.

My entire writing career (200 publications, 8 awards) is because of Sir Walter Scott and one sympathetic librarian. Thanks to you both, wherever you are.

The Goddaughter, Melodie Campbell Melodie Campbell writes funny books. You can buy them at Chapters/Indigo, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers. She lurks at www.melodiecampbell.com.

THE GODDAUGHTER’S REVENGE on Amazon
THE GODDAUGHTER on Amazon
Follow Melodie’s comic blog at www.melodiecampbell.com

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The Funny Side of Crime ~ Lynne Murphy, November 12, 2013

Posted on November 12, 2013 by mesdamesofmayhem

Lynne MurphyHumour is like sex. Once you start to analyze it, you take all the fun out of it.

Be that as it may, The Mesdames have asked me to write about humour in crime and I decided to think about four of the stories in the anthology Thirteen that made me laugh. They are “Not My Body” by Melodie Campbell, “The Canadian Caper” by Rosemary Aubert, “Amdur’s Cat” by M. H. Callway and my own story, “Saving Bessie’s Worms”. Yes, I still laugh when I read my own work.

It is hard to be funny about murder, but Mme. Campbell manages. Of course she is a mistress of black humour. It helps that we never meet the victim before he turns up dead and he is a lowlife criminal whom no one will miss. The heroine, Gina, is trying to live a respectable life but her relatives with their mob connections keep involving her. In the end, like Nancy Drew, she solves the crime but unlike Nancy, she lets the criminal off.

Thirteen, an anthology of Crime StoriesNever underestimate the power of little old ladies. I am one, so I know whereof I speak. “The Canadian Caper” and “Saving Bessie’s Worms” are both about senior citizens. In “The Canadian Caper”, Mrs. DiRosa, who lives in Niagara Falls, New York, uses a ruse to get the attention of border officials after they ignore her first warnings about people smuggling. Most memorable line: “I have come home to die.”

The ladies in “Saving Bessie’s Worms” aren’t above a little blackmail and coercion when they are faced with someone trying to get rid of their friend’s worms, an essential ingredient in the compost operation in their condo. There is an incongruity between what we expect of these nice, elderly women and the way they actually behave.

Are worms intrinsically funny? They show up again in “Amdur’s Cat”. Herb Cott, a redneck politician and a former worm seller, is bent on destroying Dr. Amdur’s government department. He gets his comeuppance at the hands of the doctor, aided by an exotic dancer, a computer hacker and a lion. (Sounds like the start of a joke.) The story is close to fantasy, but it moves so fast that you are carried along by the action. Here again, the good guys have to turn criminal to triumph.

Humour and crime both have many faces. Combining them can work, but it’s a mystery to me how it happens. Better not to analyze and just read and enjoy.

Lynne Murphy studied journalism at Carleton University and worked as a reporter on the now defunct “Ottawa Journal” and then as an editor for CBC Radio News. She has sold articles through the years, but “The Troublemaker” in the Sisters in Crime anthology The Whole She-Bang is her first published work of fiction.

Her story “Saving Bessie’s Worms” appears in the 2013 anthology of crime stories titled Thirteen by the Mesdames of Mayhem.

In 1992 Lynne helped found the Toronto Chapter of Sisters in Crime and is proud that it continues to thrive.

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