Parson Short Rides Again!

Many years ago when I was involved in writing mystery plays I came up with a fictional character I called Parson Short. He was mentioned in a couple of the plays as a fictional character and then made an appearance as an actual character in one play. He was intended to be both real and fictional, sort of like Ellery Queen who was the supposed writer of the series of Ellery Queen mysteries of which he was a character as well. 

I thought of the character as a sort of take off on other characters I was reading at the time. Ministerial types were hot for awhile back then. Father Brown, Sister Mary Helen, Rabbi David Small and others. Parson Short was conceived as a small time private investigator. He wasn't an actual minister, his first name was actually Parson. I gave him a stock rejoinder to questions, "Parson's the name, not the occupation!"

We had fun making up fictional books that the fictional character would have appeared in, all titles with the word "Short" in them, like "Short Stories", "Murder for Short", etc. That was from our "Reunion with Death" script, and as I said, Parson Short made an actual appearance as a living character in the script for "Play Dead."

As I was planning my current rural mystery series in progress I thought of having Parson Short be a resident of the town as a reclusive mystery author. Wheels within wheels. 

Parson Short has popped up again, though. I am taking a Creative Writing: Plotting class with Fleeta Cunningham in Bastrop, Tx currently. As the main exercise of the class we are plotting and writing a short story throughout the class. Therefore, I have resurrected Parson Short to be my protagonist! Look for the new adventure to appear here when finished!

Onward!

That Scary Time of Year!

Halloween, Samhain, Dia de la Muerte. Must be time for NaNoWriMo! 

I've avoided it for years. It's finally time to take the plunge. Today, November 1, starts NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. Budding or experienced authors tighten their seat belts, ready the falling oxygen masks, and pledge themselves to write a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days time. 
Yikes!
It has to be a new work, no cheating and finishing up something you've already started. I haven't finished "The Bluebottle Tree" yet, so I'm setting it aside and taking on another story in the same series. The book is tentatively named "Dark Roots". This time, Deputy Constable Pen Sadler is embroiled in a renewed family feud from generations past and a series of very new murders.
We'll see what happens.
If you've ever noticed the dark side of family reunions, you've seen the recalcitrant characters, the smouldering resentments, the old grudges that lurk beneath the surface. 
You haven't?
Well, I have. Maybe it's just my family.
Anyway, I just decided to take the plunge last night and signed up. Today has been spent clearing the decks and getting ready, so no real word count today. That means I'm already about 1,667 words behind. Sigh.
Onward!

What Brings You To A Screeching Halt?

 

Saw an old handgun advertisement on Bill Crider's excellent blog this morning. It started me thinking, as it often does. The reason will become clear in a bit.

The question is, when you're reading an otherwise good novel, hopefully lost in that world, what sort of things can eject you from that fantasy?

For me, it's firearms info. I do have some expertise in that area. I'm not an expert by any means, but I was fairly into guns for awhile in the past. I even spent a few years as a practicing and licensed Gunsmith. Some of the otherwise better authors out there can make the most basic errors concerning firearms. What are some of those?
     a. Revolvers don't eject shells, at least not automatically.
     b. Revolvers also can't be silenced very effectively.
     c. Handguns come in certain calibers, basically the diameter of the bullet. For the most part, those calibers are different from rifle calibers.
     d. Both revolvers and automatics are still pistols. 
     e. Pistols are not rifles, rifles are not shotguns, and vice versa. All are firearms, but they are not interchangeable. 

There are a lot more, but you get the idea. The most recent mistake I can think of was referring to an obvious shotgun as a 12 gauge rifle. Believe me, I was ejected from that high speed story forceably. It took a fair while to get back into it. Sometimes, I don't make the effort.

Now, I'm fairly certain that every book has the potential to piss off somebody about something. I guess the key is the readers exposure or expertise.

Are these things needlessly picky? You can decide. My personal feeling is that all books should have a truth, at some level they should educate. Sure, the story may be fiction, but when facts are stated they should indeed  be factual. You don't have to be an expert on everything, but if your plot turns on a set of facts, whether it's firearms, bullet trajectory, legalese, military terms, medicine our you name it, you as an author can always have some fact checking done by someone who IS an expert. Cultivate a few of those people, let them have a read of your opus in exchange for some acknowledgement.

The internet is always available for research. Writer's Digest has a wonderful series of books called the "HowDunit Series" each book focused on an aspect like Poisons, or Forensics.

The info is out there, use it! 

What yanks your emergency brake?

And, if you want some firearms expertise, I'm available! Cheers!

Want More of The Bluebottle Tree?

I'd like to invite anyone who hasn't already to peruse the archives of this blog and read the first four chapters of my work in progress "The Indigo Shade of the Bluebottle Tree." It won't take long and I invite comment. 
Thanks!

For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs by Robert A. Heinlein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was a bit chagrined when I found that my local library only had two Robert A. Heinlein books on the adult shelves. I was happy, though, that one was this one. This is Heinlein's first novel, never before released. It was rejected a couple of times and he moved on to other projects. The book is a bit rough, and overly preachy. He did, in fact, write it to present his ideas on politics, finance, and society in general.
I enjoyed it, however. It was fun to see the seeds of his later "future history" novels. It was stated that perhaps this was why he didn't pursue publishing it further, since he had pretty much developed everything in it in further works.
It makes sense. It was still and enjoyable read for me.
Of course, now it's a bit of a let down to know that I don't have any more Heinlein novels to look forward to, alas.

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Book Review: The Monkey King

The Monkey King: A Superhero Tale of China by Aaron Shephard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Good read, pretty short. I read another version of the Monkey King story while in Junior High. I found it fascinating. This is a very faithful modern language adaptation. Wish it were longer!


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Book Review - Hoxton Kirby

Hoxton Kirby - Vampire Investigators by Belle Marsh
My rating: 1 of 5 stars


The premise sounded interesting, however, I couldn't make it through the first chapter. Basically unreadable due to basic grammar, punctuation, run on sentences, etc.
Do over!


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