The White City: True Colors – Historical Stories of American Crime
By: Grace Hitchcock Publisher: Barbour Books Publication Date: March 2019 ISBN #: 978-1-68322-869-1 Reviewed by: Diane Lunsford Review Date: February 3, 2019
Grace Hitchcock launches a thrilling debut novel of mystery, romance and intrigue in the first of a new fiction series (True Colors), titled The White City.
It is the Chicago World’s Fair, and the year is 1893. Winnifred Wylde is certain she witnessed a woman being kidnapped while attending the fair. This apple didn’t fall far from her father’s tree given she is the daughter of a renowned inspector with the Chicago police. While he is commissioned to investigate the reports of questionable disappearances around the White City (Chicago), little did he know his daughter was not going to sit by idly without getting her own sleuthing skills into the game to solve the mystery.
At the same time, Winnifred was rapidly losing patience with the current suitor of the day. Why was her Auntie insistent on finding a suitable man to marry off her only niece? Could she not see Winnie had greater designs in life beyond needlepoint and meal preparation? As her current suitor, Mr. Saunders, droned on with the abysmally boring chatter, Winnie couldn’t help but wonder what happened to that women who she is certain was abducted before her very eyes. It was time for Winnie to take matters into her own hands—with or without the blessings of her dear father. Inspector Wylde knew his daughter all too well. Having lost her mother at a very young age, he couldn’t help but overprotect his only offspring. When the reality sets in that Winnie will pursue at all costs to solve the mystery at hand, Inspector Wylde acquiesces with certain conditions. In walks the debonair Inspector Jude Thorpe. It seems his latest assignment will be to keep Winnifred Wylde out of harm’s way...or else.
I was pleasantly entertained by Ms. Hitchcock’s ability with her debut novel. She adeptly extracted factual accounts from the first serial murderer in the White City and applied them to a story with great flow. She developed main character Winnifred Wylde with a terrific balance of both a gentile demeanor that is complemented by independence and substance for a woman during the period. She carefully assigned proprietary behavior with a great accent of adventure and spirit. Winnifred’s counterpart, Inspector Jude Thorpe, had just enough of a man’s man quality about him, but Ms. Hitchcock selected opportune moments throughout this read to paint a picture of this manly man with a soft side as well. The ebb and flow of the story was consistent in moving the story along at a nice clip without lending way to obvious predictability. Her timing was spot on when the spotlight was finally cast on the villain. Well done Ms. Hitchcock! I look forward to the next installment in this series.
Quill says: The White City offers up a terrific adventure of murder and intrigue that transcends far beyond exotic exhibits and cotton candy at the Chicago World’s Fair.
Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Ellen Feld is talking with Kenneth Salzmann, the author of The Last Jazz Fan.
FQ: Tell our readers a little about yourself. Your background, your interests, and how this led to writing a book?
SALZMANN: I have been a writer—of one thing or another—for virtually my entire life, which at this point means for quite a few years. My first “published works” appeared when I was in the sixth and seventh grades in some trade magazines my father published, essentially rewritten press releases, as I recall. In the years since, more than 50 of them, I’ve never not written, for both professional and personal reasons. That includes everything from seemingly countless newspaper and magazine articles and columns to freelance assignments ranging from speeches, web and blog content, scriptwriting, press releases, ghostwriting, marketing materials, ads, and more.
During much of this time I have also been active in small press literary publishing and programming, both as a presenter of emerging and acclaimed writers and as a practicing poet myself. In that regard, The Last Jazz Fan and Other Poems is really a continuation of something I have always done and always valued.
FQ: Tell us a little about your book – a brief synopsis and what makes your book unique.
SALZMANN: I suppose that every book of poetry is unique, simply by virtue of the nature of the genre. Poetry is the distillation of experience (perhaps real, perhaps imagined) and an effort to burrow beneath its surface, and no two writers will live in the world or report their findings in quite the same way. The Last Jazz Fan and Other Poems is my most recent attempt at that, including primarily recent poems while also resurrecting some older ones that still resonate for me—and, I hope, for the reader.
It pleases me that the reviews of the book have been quite positive and that such notable writers as Marge Piercy—whose juried intensive poetry workshop I was fortunate to be a part of a few years ago—have praised it. She’s a famously tough critic, so it’s more than gratifying when she writes that “Salzmann is a rare poet who can draft excellent and moving poems” about a range of topics.
FQ: Please give our readers a little insight into your writing process. Do you set aside a certain time each day to write, only write when the desire to write surfaces, or ...?
SALZMANN: I’ve seen the quote attributed to a number of different people (maybe it was the composer John Cage or maybe it was Pablo Picasso or maybe someone else), but someone said something like, “I only work when I am inspired, but fortunately I am inspired every day at 9:00 a.m.” Anyone who has written for a paycheck will appreciate the sentiment, I think.
Most of my work over the years has been for paying clients, but I find that even writing a poem requires the same sort of discipline. I may not write poetry as frequently as other pieces, but when I do I approach it as I would, say, a deadline article and turn myself over to the hard work of writing a poem good enough (I hope) to send out into the world.
FQ: Which do you find easier, starting a story, or writing the conclusion?
SALZMANN: This is another way in which, at least for me, writing a poem mirrors writing a conventional piece of prose. That is, I spend maybe an inordinate amount of time on the beginning, whether that means a line or image of a poem or the first sentence(s) of a newspaper article, what journalists refer to as the lead, generally written as “lede” to avoid confusion with the lead type that newspapers once used.
When I was a reporter, I always felt that when I had nailed the lede the rest of the story would fall into place. In poetry, most of my work begins with that single line or image that leads me into the sort of exploration that writing a poem is. The main difference is that sometimes it turns out that what seemed to be the first line of a poem turns out to work better elsewhere in the piece, maybe even as the last line.
My poem Tango Lessons is an example of that. Instead of beginning with the image of “Death” as a beautiful dancing woman (an image borrowed from a dream a dying friend told me about), the poem ends on that note. The book’s title poem, The Last Jazz Fan, is an example of the more straightforward approach, where the organizing conceit gives me the first line.
FQ: As an author/writer, what famous author (living or dead), would you like to have dinner with, and why?
SALZMANN: One of the great pleasures and privileges I’ve had both in working for literary organizations and as a reporter interviewing “newsworthy” people is the chance to meet, and often “have dinner with,” any number of writers I admire.
I did hold myself to a rule for those sessions, however. Prominent writers often earn a considerable portion of their livelihood doing readings and other public appearances, and they are regularly subjected to social events with hosts jockeying for attention and trying to impress them with their own literary achievements or knowledge. I wanted to give the authors and break from that, and keep the conversation mostly away from books and writing and take the occasion to get to know them a bit as people, not Great Writers.
FQ: How much research went into writing your book?
SALZMANN: I suppose most readers don’t think of poetry as writing built on research, but the reality is that poetry requires specificity and, quite often, that need for specificity requires some research to achieve the precision that makes for a good poem. The Last Jazz Fan and Other Poems is full of poems I couldn’t have written without educating myself further about one topic of another.
My poem From the Copper Canyon Train is certainly one of those. In it I write about an encounter with an indigenous people living in Mexico’s immense Copper Canyon much as they have lived for centuries, in some cases in caves in the canyon walls. To write about them, I had to learn more about their history and culture than I could glean from the few days I spent near them. Similarly, in The Poem I Have Yet to Write I wanted to incorporate a “burning bush” metaphor, but to do so somewhat obliquely. That required me to sift through the many botanical and popular names for the shrub that’s often called Burning Bush and find an alternate name that had both the metaphorical value and musical facets of the more common name.
FQ: Have you done any presentations in your field at conferences, etc.?
SALZMANN: Like most poets, I imagine, I do readings when I have the opportunity. That, after all, is where poets and readers can really connect, and where the poet can begin to build an audience for his or her books, one reader at a time. Changing hats from solitary writer to public performer can sometimes be challenging but there’s no better way to get one’s poetry out into the world.
It's official! The winners of the 2019 Feathered Quill Book Awards have been announced! Check out all the winners here: featheredquill.com/2019-winners/
Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Holly Connors is talking with Brit Lunden, the author of Bulwark.
FQ: Bulwark starts out right in the middle of the action, without boring the reader with pages of introductions, scene setting, etc. It’s all right there on that first page. Was this intentional?
LUNDEN: Yes. I start all my fiction right in the center of the action and let the reader learn by showing, not telling. It's how I like to read other author's books, and it's the way I always modeled mine, from children's books to adult fiction.
FQ: The setting of Bulwark, Georgia, is very much a character in the story. Is the town based on a town from your past? Or one that is completely made up?
LUNDEN: I drove through Georgia when I was fifteen years old on a trip down to Florida with my family. The quiet, isolated feel stayed with me. We stopped for a rest break in a rural area. I recall a peach farm. I remember getting out of the car and looking at the night sky, and it took my breath away. I had never seen so many stars. I felt like I was in the middle of space. That sense of wonder never left me, and when I created the characters, I plopped them down in an imaginary town based on that spot when I got out to stretch my legs over forty-nine years ago. I wanted to recapture that feeling that I was completely cut off and anything could happen. I want to add, that I was not scared. I thought the place felt magical.
I started Bulwark with a bunch of authors working on an anthology. They wanted to do something paranormal for a Halloween release. I jumped in and built the town and created Sherrif Clay Finnes and his challenges. Another author supplied me with the delightful cousins Trout and Bobby Ray. Nobody finished their story except me, so I asked if they minded if I published. They didn't. Bulwark became a real town for me.
Cut to almost two years later, I was approached by several authors who want to use Bulwark and the characters for another anthology. So, now eight new short stories will be published (including one of mine) on March 19th, based on the town.
FQ: Sheriff Clay Finnes was an interesting protagonist. While the story was short, which didn’t give you much time to develop your characters, he was a complicated individual which added to the intensity of the story. Did he come to life as you wrote, or was he well-developed in your mind before you began the story?
Author Brit Lunden
LUNDEN: None of my characters are well-developed in my mind. They come to life and begin to tell me how they want to react or what is right for them. As you said, I start stories by jumping into the action, and the characters play the plot out. I ask them how they would handle things and as they reveal bits of themselves. They do become real to me, and I try to be respectful and not impose my own opinions on them. How boring would that be, if everyone thought alike?
FQ: When Clay goes to find the gingerbread house, the drive down Linden Lane came to life in a very creepy way. Was this part of the story fun to write? Difficult?
LUNDEN: I have fun in every part of the stories I write. I never see it as creepy, and only when I reread, I wonder where the heck it came from. I can't watch scary movies or read horror books - I'm too afraid, so I have no idea where this stuff comes from. When I read reviews that something I wrote was frightening, I'm usually surprised - because I'm easily frightened. I'm more intimated writing a sex scene.
FQ: There are numerous fairy tale references in Bulwark. Do you have a special affinity for this genre?
LUNDEN: I was brought up on fairy tales. My grandmother read me a book that was my mom's when she was a kid. Cinderella was my first movie, and I was enchanted with her ever since. I have so much Cinderella paraphernalia in my home, it looks like Disney threw up in here. I think I must have been my mom's princess. I have sons, so the whole princess thing kind of got pushed behind Hulk Hogan and Transformers.
Now I have two grandsons and two granddaughters.
We have different perspectives on fairy tales today. We tell our daughters that they shouldn't rely upon a man to save them and we say to our boys never kiss anyone while they are sleeping without permission.
I read Jane Yolen's How to Fracture a Fairy Tale on a recent plane ride. It was a delightful modern flip on fairy tales, and I loved it. I also remember loving Maleficent, the movie and the spin on true love.
I think fairy tales gave people hope in the old days. I think they also served as morality lessons. I think people today are more sophisticated and don't like stories shoved down their throats. They also don't want to be manipulated or told how they should feel.
FQ: Bulwark – an interesting title for the story, for the town, and also that Clay was Jenna’s “...bulwark and could stand her onslaught.” Would you discuss how you decided on the name “Bulwark” for your book and it’s multiple meanings?
LUNDEN: I was having trouble with the title, and it popped into my head. I knew Clay was Jenna's bulwark. He would stand in front of a tsunami for her. I had such a mental picture of this guy. He was incredibly brave and self-sacrificing, as well as deeply in love with his wife. I realized as I was writing the inhabitants were all sort of depending on Clay, and I felt their isolation - that his bravery and intuition was what was holding the demons at bay. It seemed a perfect name for the town.
FQ: It seems that Clay Finnes has many more stories to tell. Will we be seeing him again in a future work?
LUNDEN: YES! I am so excited about the eight new short stores that are being worked on right now. I continued JB Stratton's story. He is the retired football player in chapter 2 who succors the car accident victims. If you think Clay was an interesting character, wait until you meet JB.
Dr. Kent and Terence are being included n a short story by DJ Cooper, Erica Graham is writing about Clay and Jenna's neighbor, Dell Henderson is working on something related to the civil war, and RL Jackson hasn't told me where she is going with it, but I can't wait to read it. I bet there will be some vampires to be found. Also, included are Kayleigh MacLeod, Katey Kelley, and newbie Brittney Leigh.
FQ: You’ve authored numerous stories for children. Bulwark is your first work of adult fiction. What made you want to tackle this very different genre?
LUNDEN: I read and review mostly adult fiction and nonfiction. When I started writing, I thought it would be the great American novel. I didn't expect to find my niche with children's books. However, I was writing to a very specific audience - my grandchildren. Captain No Beard was based on games we play as a family and situations that occurred with several members. The cultural series was born from my grandson's interest in diversity. Can a Princess be a Firefighter? was a love letter to my granddaughters and Rocket-Bye was the same for my grandsons. As they grew, I started reading early reader chapter books, and that morphed into the Oh Susannah series.
Many of my author friends asked me to write romance or adult themed books. I decided to take a chance with Bulwark, and I enjoyed the experience very much. I am honored that these authors liked the story enough to help the town evolve and continue to live.
FQ: Coming from your children’s genre background, how different is it to write an adult fiction story? Do you have the entire plot worked out before you begin writing or does the story come together as you write?
LUNDEN: All stories, no matter what the genre come together for me as the plot thickens. I can think I have an idea of where it is going to go, but very often, my characters steer the story in another direction. I know I started The Knowing, Bulwark's sequel in the direction of horror and I think it ended up as a tender paranormal love story. I'm waiting to hear from my beta readers if they felt the same way.
FQ: As a very prolific writer, I’m sure you have more books in the works. Would you tell our readers a little about what’s next for you?
LUNDEN: I just published Mindfulness for Kids with Calista Press. It was my first non-indie assignment, and I had a great time. I collaborated with a therapist and enjoyed the experience. It was published under my Carole P. Roman brand. I am hoping they will ask me to do another. I am finishing up a book called Marketing Indieworld with authors Julie A. Gerber and Dr. Angela Hausman that should be published later this spring.
Regarding Brit Lunden, the Bulwark universe will expand. I think I have more stories of the residents. If the anthology is successful, I believe we can get more authors involved. I loved Clay and Jenna, and I want to revisit them. Nobody wrote anything for Dayna Dalton, and I think she has a story to tell as well. She's a rare combination of good and bad and too delicious a character to ignore.
Lastly, I do all the marketing and publicity for my son, another prolific author. He has some exciting things happening this spring. Either way, my calendar is filled!
Material Things: The Untold Story of a Young Entrepreneur Who Made a Killing in the Jeans Business
By: Larry Spencer Publication Date: March 2019 ISBN: 978-0578212326 Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger Scott Review Date: January 29, 2019
Young and avid for sensation, three young men start a business selling clothes at the height of the hipster years in California, and wind up with a very different kind of business on their hands, one that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Author Larry Spencer (The Tipping Point of Oliver Bass) has created a small, at times cozy, mostly crazy universe as the setting for his colorful cast of characters.
It starts with a funeral. As might have been predicted nearly 40 years before, when alcohol addicted Logan Alexander was thrown out to fend for himself by his wealthy parents, the old guy has finally taken his own life. Hearing of his pal’s suicide, Chris Styles calls their mutual buddy Matthew Street who now lives in Scotland. Matthew surprises himself by agreeing to fly across the pond and attend the funeral with Chris. There they meet Logan’s daughter who demands to know more about her mysterious father.
As the three friends recount their story, we watch Matthew, Chris, and their friend Jon Lewis decide, on rather flimsy pretext, to turn Matthew’s small but chic hair salon into an emporium selling bell-bottom jeans. “Jon’s Drawer” takes off, riding a wave of hip fashion, and for a few years the guys enjoy a flourishing business, a few puffs or snorts of illegal substances, and not a few encounters with sultry, sexy ladies. But it all comes crashing down when Jon allies himself with a friend who shares his passion for expensive cars and designer drugs. There’s a major bust and everyone runs for cover. But where’s Jon? And how can Matthew bail out while a presumption of guilt hangs over them?
Spencer is at home with his hippie heroes - their drugs, desires and devices. The reader will assume he’s been there from the authentic way that he lives inside each of the young men, but most especially in the mind of Matthew. Too, young women like lonely Linda, unfaithful Andrea, and Sage the shoplifter have their parts to play in an era when love and lust were suddenly free and everyone seized the moment. The author writes with confidence and builds his plot with notable skill. There’s never a dull moment as the companions move from a laid back ethos that takes life as it's thrown at them, to the frantic requirements of real commerce, to a sad realization that it's all gone down the tubes and everyone has to find his own way out of the rabbit hole. Along with a zesty helping of steamy sex, crime is an insistent counterpoint all along, as those who enjoy recreational highs have to deal with lowlifes and the law.
Quill says: This tightly plotted 60s/70s subculture saga will provide tangy memories for those who were there, and understandable envy among those who wish they had been. Exuberantly recommended.
Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Skyler Boudreau is talking with John Egenes, the author of Man & Horse: The Long Ride Across America.
FQ: Your ride took place in 1974, but you waited until 2017 to publish your own account of the experience. How do you feel this distance from the event has affected your documentation of it?
EGENES: I’m glad I waited. I wrote a manuscript shortly after the ride but knew immediately that it wasn’t a good effort. It was because I was too close to the material, still living within the shadows that the ride cast. Hopefully, the years imbue a bit of wisdom and a sense of purpose in a person, and I like to think they’ve done that for me [smiles]. I was able to view the ride with both a macro and a micro lens, to be able to see the big picture and the details within. And it was great to be able to compare and contrast things today with those of yesterday. But I didn’t want to pine away for the good old days, and I think I managed to steer clear of that. The passage of time has given me a perspective that I think made the story much better.
FQ: During your ride, you seem to become somewhat frustrated with media coverage interfering with your journey. What led you to the decision of writing a book and thus creating a kind of media coverage of your own?
EGENES: The media coverage was frustrating at times, but it was more of an annoyance than a real problem. And I suppose yes, writing the book has created media coverage, but I certainly don’t mind it this time (I’m not riding a horse!). In fact, I’d like mind more of it. As corny as this sounds, I reckon I want Gizmo (my horse) to be recognized for what he did. It’s no accident that I put his picture on the cover.
FQ: What is one thing you wish you would have done differently on your journey and why?
EGENES: I’m not sure that I have second thoughts about what I did and didn’t do during the journey. There are many things I wish wouldn’t have happened, and almost all of them involve hardships for Gizmo. There are probably things I wish I would have known beforehand, but a large part of the reason I took Gizmo out on an unknown trail was to experience new things, to learn about the country and its people, and to spend a significant amount of time alone. And I was able to do all of those things. I certainly didn’t do things perfectly [laughs]. I made a lot of mistakes along the way and I definitely had more than my fair share of screwups. But fortunately, I’m a quick learner.
FQ: What were some of the challenges you faced returning to regular society after your ride? Was there anything you were glad to have back?
EGENES: Coming off of self-imposed isolation is difficult, but you don’t realize it for quite some time, until you’re back into civilization and trying to fit back in. At first, I was overjoyed to have finished the ride, to have a horse who was still in one piece and healthy, and to make it home to California. And I know that in his own way, Gizmo was, too. But it’s inevitable that you start comparing your life back in society to what you lived on the trail, and sometimes it just doesn’t quite measure up. Still, I was happy to get back to playing music, to seeing my friends, and not having to worry about finding water for my horse every day [grins].
FQ: Did you receive any criticism along the way (from friends and family, media outlets, etc.) that you felt was unfounded? How did you handle press coverage you disagreed with?
EGENES: Before the ride there were certainly those who thought I was crazy to attempt such a thing, and that it was impossible. I expected that—actually, anyone who attempts something like that probably expects naysayers—but I have always deflected those sorts of opinions. I’ve always followed my heart, as I did in this case. And though I disagreed a bit on some of the things said in the news, none of them were earthshaking, and none really made a difference in what I was doing. So in the end, that part didn’t really matter to me. For the most part, the press was overwhelmingly friendly and supportive, and I still appreciate that to this day.
FQ: How did Gizmo re-acclimate to life off the trail once your journey was finished? How was he changed after the experience?
EGENES: I worked Gizmo for about a month after we got home, a bit less and less each day. It’s not good to work a horse very hard every day for a long time, then just let him stand in a corral or a stall. So I sort of “re-acclimated” him to a life of leisure. After that, I turned him out to pasture on about a thousand acres, with some other horses and mules. He spent about a year up there, and I’d go up to see him often, just to visit, check his feet, and see that he was healthy and to give him a Snickers bar. The ride ruined him as any kind of show or working horse prospect. He had a definite mind of his own, and he did things his own way. But he was great to ride, wonderful on pack trips into the wilderness, and he even carried my daughters around when they were very young (and he was very old). And for the rest of his life he always whinnied and came running whenever I showed up.
FQ: Your love of horses and respect for other animals is evident throughout your book. Have you always gotten along with them? Is there any animal you would not like to meet?
EGENES: Yep, I’ve always gotten along well with animals. Having raised two daughters who are both horse people, we had dogs and cats, horses and mules, donkeys and goats and all sorts of critters. My youngest daughter Julia is now a veterinarian, in fact. And today, my wife and I live with three cats here in New Zealand. Animals have always been a huge part of my life. And I’m not sure there’s an animal I wouldn’t want to meet. And again, it sounds corny, but every single critter on this earth is beautiful and amazing in its own way.
FQ: Have you ever revisited any of the locations you passed through on your journey? Is there any one place that stuck out to you during your travels?
EGENES: I’ve been to some of the places out west, in the Mojave Desert, the Painted Desert, and various places in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas… all the way through to Tennessee. I didn’t really set out to revisit any of them, but whenever I’m on a driving trip and I get anywhere near my trail route, I try to go visit it. It’s always interesting to see the places, and to see how well my memory has preserved them. It’s always amazing when I drive for an hour along my trail, then realize it took four or five days to travel the same distance with Gizmo. The one place, overall, that sticks with me is the Painted Desert, on the Navajo Reservation. There are some specific spots, but I don’t want to advertise them, out of respect for the people who live there.
FQ: If you had the opportunity to repeat the experience all over again, would you? Why or why not?
EGENES: Probably not across today’s America, but maybe somewhere else. During the ride I often went into the library in some little town and would look at the world atlas. I’d hatch plans to ride across China. Of course, in those days China was not accessible to Americans, but I dreamt I could ride across the breadth of that great country. It would have been something, and I probably would have pursued it had the political climate of the day been different. Not sure I’d be up to it today [laughs].
FQ: Describe yourself in three words at the start of the ride. Now describe yourself in three words immediately after the ride.
EGENES: Three words at the start: naïve, eager, optimistic
Three words at the finish: wisened, exhausted, optimistic
