Interrupting Slang-o-rama for Silver Rush Book #7 - we have a cover!

Silver Rush Book #7 is around the corner, scheduled for release in February 2020 by the Poisoned Pen Press imprint of Sourcebooks.

Mortal Music is the title, and here is the short description that is currently floating around the internet:

In this new adventure in the award-winning Silver Rush mystery series, Inez Stannert must track down a murderer before he silences a famous vocalist--forever.

Mortal Music is set in San Francisco, same as A Dying Note.
And now, if you would like to see the cover, just scroll on down...
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And... (curtains, up) here it is!

The vocalist in question is nicknamed "The Golden Songbird."
See that feather in the cage? Yep, it's a mystery!

 You can pre-order at all the usual places: Indiebound, amazon, Barnes and Noble and so on.

Slang-o-rama will return next week.

Wishing all U.S. readers a pleasant 4th of July! And keep on singing!

Blog Hop Part 4: Why?

Why do I write what I do?

That's the last question for the four-part blog hop (for previous questions and answers, just scroll back to the beginning of the week).

Now, to the answer.

I "fell into" writing mysteries set in the West because that's where my more recent (past couple generations) of family history resides.

Aside: Go back a couple more generations on my mother's mother's side, and there's the Hasbroucks of Newburgh, New York ... their house "lives on" in history as one of George Washington's headquarters during the Revolution: http://www.nysparks.com/historic-sites/17/details.aspx.... and ain't that appropriate to the 4th of July! I even have a faded photograph of the Hasbroucke House with my G'ma Elsie's handwritten explanation of the family connections on the back. (Tried to photograph it, but too much reflection, oh well.)

Hasbrouck House (George Washington's Headquarters). Happy July 4th!

Sidestep over to my father's father's side, and you quickly bang into the DuPonts... here's a snap of my Granddad Parker and my dear Uncle Walt from the DuPont archives: http://digital.hagley.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p268001coll8/id/5936/rec/4).

I came to Leadville and found its history so fascinating I just never left.

Just like old photographs, the truths and stories of the past fade over time and eventually turn into dust. I'm doing my very small part to bring bits and pieces of the past to present awareness through fiction. And have fun at the same time!

Don't let them fade away...

Tunnel Vision - Burro Schmidt

Another Monday has rolled around, with more than 1100 miles covered from  the previous Tuesday to Friday. The main purpose of my from-Bay-Area-to-Joshua-Tree-and-back trip was to give a talk to the “Ridge Writers” section of California Writers Club in Ridgecrest and also to chat with a Ridgecrest book group. Great groups of folks, in both cases (and yummy tea and scones for the book club meet). There were also some lovely surprises along the way, including a “guided tour” of the Burro Schmidt Tunnel, by local Ridgecrest historian Alan Alpers.

Burro Schmidt by his cabin, sans burros. Postcard/photo from Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert, Ridgecrest, CA.

As you can probably tell from the name of the place, Burro Schmidt Tunnel is a piece of the “Old West.” William Henry (“Burro”) Schmidt dug this tunnel, hand-drilling all the way, for 32 years. He was 36 when he started, and 68 when he finished.

So just what was Burro Schmidt up to, anyway? Was he in search of gold and silver, hoping to get rich? Did he just plain enjoy the tunnel-making process—drilling, dynamiting, and mucking and so on? According to a website that talks about his life and this, his tunneling accomplishment, it says: “His intention early on was to provide easy transportation to the railroad for his ore, as no roads through to the other side's valley and railroad then existed.” But if that’s the case, why did his tunnel come to a T, shortly before punching through the mountain on the other side, and branch left and then branch right?

To my mind, it’s a mystery.

I wonder about Burro Schmidt: Who he was, and what drove him to make this tunnel. We cannot ask him, we can only guess and ponder, as Schmidt died in 1953, a few days short of his 82^nd birthday.

I’d muse some more here, but one of the things I brought home from the trip was a nasty virus, and between the chills and fevers, I don’t think I can write a heck of a lot more.

For more about Burro Schmidt, his life, and his activities, check out http://www.bickelcamp.org/BurroSchmidt.html.

As for the rest, I’ll let the pictures tell the story…

Here's to Burro Schmidt... a man of determination and persistence! Photo: Bill McConachie

Tunnel entrance, with (left to right) Alan Alpers, Bill McConachie, and moi. Photo: Donna McCrohan Rosenthal.

Donna McCrohan Rosenthal at the exit to the tunnel. And what do we see...???

...an amazing view of wide-open spaces! But... how was Burro Schmidt planning to reach the railroad, which is waaaay below and to the left?

In the tunnel, looking back to the entrance. Remember: Burro Schmidt did all this solo (well, with the help of two burros), BY HAND. Photo: Bill McConachie

http://www.bickelcamp.org/BurroSchmidt.html

Real People in Mercury's Rise

Ann Parker, on the second day of a two-week (plus a bit) virtual tour for Mercury's Rise, the newest book in the Silver Rush series.

Today is a "home stop" at my own blog, which features random musings on writing, history, mystery, or whatever crosses my mind. This time (rubbing hands together gleefully), I'm going to talk about using real people in my latest mystery.

Now, there are several kinds of "real" people. There are the people who existed in that time and place. There are a few of that kind wandering through the pages, including Colorado photographer Anna Galbreaith, who is a source of curiosity and mystery to me (I would *love* to know more about her and her life). I do know she was a landscape photographer in Manitou, Colorado, during the mid-1880s and also ran a boarding house called the Ohio House. Since she signed her photographs "Mrs. Anna Galbreaith," I assume she was a widow... or possibly a divorcée? You can read more about Anna and see an example of her work here in a post I did yesterday to kick off this virtual tour. Other people of the day are mentioned in Mercury's Rise: William Palmer Jackson (founder of Colorado Springs and the Denver & Rio Grande) and Dr. William Bell (founder of Manitou Springs).

The real Robert Calder

But the real people I REALLY had fun with are folks I know in the present day world of 2011, who gave permission for me to use their names. In two cases, these folks "won" the honor of appearing in the story. Robert Calder (an artist who does wonderful watercolors that capture Leadville's past) had his name pulled out of a hat to appear as a character in the book. You can read a little about Bob and his work in this online article from Colorado Magazine. It seemed a natural fit to make Robert a plein-air artist, who is visiting Manitou with more than painting on his agenda. Sharon Crowson is a mystery reader and fan who has "been dying" (so to speak) to appear in a Silver Rush book. A bribe of chocolate did the trick, and she's there in the pages of Mercury's Rise, with a slightly different first name.

The real Dr. Prochazka

Dr. Aurelius Prochazka is a bona fide doctor... but not of medicine. You can get the gist of his claim to the Dr. title from this on his website: "Aure began his career at the California Institute of Technology  analyzing the aerodynamic stability of the F-117A Stealth Fighter and worked on computational fluid dynamics for his PhD thesis." Aure is a scientist, a musician, and an author in his own right. I've worked with Aure, and from those earliest days was just itching to steal his name (and some of his "renaissance man" personality) and plunk him down in 1880. He was a good sport about the whole thing when I asked (hopefully, he still is, now that the book is published!).

Finally, there are the Paces. While I was working with Aure, I also worked with Kirsten Pace and her husband Eric Cummings. I decided it would be fun to put Kirsten and her family (kids and all) in the story. She was fine with that, even after I gave her a much older, cantankerous husband (WHO IS NOT YOU, ERIC. Just want to make that clear. You appear at the end as a nice guy.) Kirsten just finished reading the book the other day and said she enjoyed it (well, she'd better say that! ;-) ) and then added it was odd to see her name crop up page after page after page... Just one of the hazards of being a key character in a novel!

There are shades of other "real people" in some of the continuing characters in my series. My protagonist, Inez Stannert is named after my grandmother. (You can read a bit about her and why she ended up my protagonist in another guest post here on Gayle Gresham's Colorado Reflections blog.) Doctor Cramer embodies elements of my own father, a kindly physician with a real knack for listening to his patients. Susan Carothers has a spirit much like a dear friend of mine from childhood, also named Susan, who like my fictional character forged a life to match her inner passions.

And then... there are those real people whom I shadow in darkness, twist their genders and their names, and gleefully make them murderers or victims and do horrible things to them (in fiction!) because at some point in my life they really ticked me off or hurt someone I loved. But I'm not going to say anything more about them. They will remain a mystery. ;-)
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Leave a comment on this post to be eligible to win a Silver Rush mystery prize! To see the rest of my blog tour schedule, check out my News page.

 

Author Notes? Do you read 'em?

I am thrashing through the draft of a much-belated Author's Note for Leaden Skies (good thing my notes appear at the end of my books), and have a question:

Do you read Author Notes/Afterwords/whateveryoucallem ... those little essays at the end of books that discuss references, give more background on time/place of a novel/reveal a bit of the author's thinking for that particular book?

See my little survey, off to the left, and let me know.

I've been told reviewers don't read them. I guess I'm wondering about readers in general, and if these notes are worth the fuss and bother of writing them. It does take a fair bit of time to plow through my old notes (e-notes and hard copy), pull together the references I've used, and then try to weave it all into a coherent essay. So, I'd love to know what you think.

Thank you, one and all!

Of personal addictions and fabulous blogs

Thank you, Morgan Mandel of Make Mine Mystery for naming The Silver Rush Mysteries blog as worthy of the "Your Blog is Fabulous" award.

I see that, according to Morgan, to qualify for a YBiF, I'm to reveal five addictions, and name five blogs I feel are fabulous. Hmmm. Okay, I'll give this a whirl.

Five things I "cannot do without" (i.e., addictions)

1. Coffee. And not just any coffee. Peet's or Panama Red are my faves. But I always carry a handful of cards for other coffee bars, just in case (see photo).

2. Dark chocolate.

3. Texting. Oh, this is embarrassing to admit, but . . . I've found that texting is the best way to stay in touch with my kid-at-college. (No, no, I'm not a helicopter parent, honest!) We have deep and meaningful conversations, which I treasure, such as the following, verbatim from yesterday. (Note the severe lack of punctuation and capitalization on both sides of the exchange.)

College Kid: "i think i left my towels at home"
Me: "They are in yr duffle"
College Kid: "oh ok"

4. Reading.

5. Writing. Of course!

5. 1. (Yes, I'm cheating a bit) My ancient, much beloved Original Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, copyright 1965. I still remember the Christmas that I got it. What a wonderful gift!

Now, to nominate five blogs. This is very difficult. I'm still looking around and gathering blogs for my blog roll. And I assume this can include "corporate" type blogs? In any case, here goes.

My nominations for "Your Blog is Fabulous"

Mysterious Matters: Mystery Publishing Demystified
The Blood Red Pencil
The Rap Sheet
Writing for Hire
Short Sharp Science (because I'm a long-time fan of New Scientist magazine)

Whew. Is there anything else I'm supposed to do?
Hope not, because it's past midnight. Oh well. I'm still counting this as a blog for TUESDAY.

Good night and good luck.

What's in a name? ...

... Looking back on my noodling/thrashing around with titles for my Silver Rush mysteries, I've realized that, in all cases, my first attempts have never quite "hit it."

The first book in the series, Silver Lies, started life as Dead in Leadville. Then ... after some thrashing around ... it became Silver Lies in Leadville. That was quickly shortened to Silver Lies.

The second in the series, Iron Ties, started as Iron and Blood, inspired by a quote from Otto von Bismarck:
"The great questions of the time are not decided by speeches and majority decisions. . . but by iron and blood."
Ooooo, I still love that quote. It's perfect for the book. But, Iron and Blood? What is this, a vampire book or ...? Iron Ties was suggested by a reader, and it works.

But.

I could see where this was heading, and I was a little nervous. Silver, Iron. Lies, Ties. Uh-oh. Elements (metals, in particular) and -ies of some kind. How long could I keep this going?

So, for the third, I tried to make a break, and lit on Lead into Temptation for starters. I liked it because (again) of a quote:

"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." And temptation and evil are core elements of this third book.

But... there were problems. The word "lead" (the element or the verb?) worked into my love of wordplay, but in a title ... confusing. And perhaps too "romance-y" sounding. So, we had to start considering other possibilities. From Lead to Leaden (no confusion on pronunciation there) and ... oh no, here we go ... Leaden what?

Dies, cries, sighs, eyes ...

No, no, no, no ...

Well, it rains a lot in the book. The weather is a curse, but also a blessing (read the book when it comes out, you'll see). Gray gray skies. There we go: Leaden Skies.

So, the die (-ie?) is cast; I've accepted that the "-ies" have it.

Guess I'd better buy a rhyming dictionary.

Leaden Skies in July . . .

. . . As you may (or may not) know, it can rain ANYTIME up in the Rockies. And, during Ulysses S. Grant's visit to Leadville, Colorado, in July 1880, the weather did everything but cooperate. Rain, sleet, mud, cold ... the weather, according to old newspaper reports, was pretty wretched.

This is just all a lead-in to the announcement (ta-da!) of the next book in my Silver Rush mystery series, titled Leaden Skies, which takes place in Leadville over the five days of Grant's visit and which, serendipitously enough, will be released in July 2009 (let's hope for better weather than Grant had!). To steal the official description:
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The summer of 1880: although possible investment in Leadville's silver mines is a main reason that former president and Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant is now touring this city at the top of the Rockies, others in his retinue and in town are enticed by other visions. As part owner of the Silver Queen Saloon, Inez Stannert has often observed the ruination that comes from yielding to temptation. Still, that knowledge hasn't stopped Inez from striking a backroom deal with upscale brothel madam Frisco Flo, a deal that Inez gambles will make her financially independent.
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And... here's the cover.
Well, sort of.
Ignore the title for now.
Tomorrow, I'll talk about titles, and the transformation of Lead into Temptation into Leaden Skies....

A new start...

... Okay, let's just ignore the fact that I haven't blogged on this in nearly a year. A lot of water is under the bridge, and it's now 2009.

These are likely to be ultra-short posts, as I have a deadlines looming for a draft of an employee handbook and an edit of a (non-fiction) book on photography.

Tomorrow, I'll do a quickie blog on my upcoming Silver Rush mystery (title: Leaden Skies; publishing date: July 2009).

Until then, here's a photo I took a few years ago (no leaden skies here) in the mining district of Leadville.