Sisters In Crime Folder Archive
Subject: Sisters In Crime Folder Archive
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Date: 6/10/1996
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This is an archive file of the Sisters in Crime folder from the Mystery Fiction message board. Topics discussed include: Bill Pomidor's awful miracle diet, the killing of animals in fiction.
The postings date from 506/96 to 5/11/96; enjoy!
Subj: Re:Getting along by Jangrape
Date: 96-05-06 13:18:23 EDT
From: CBURNS1
Posted on: America Online
Hi Jan! I love Elizabeth Moon, she belongs next to Anne McCaffrey,
Katherine Kurtz, and Marion Zimmer Bradley:)
Colleen (whose reading spectrum has become too broad for even her to keep up!
Sherry Lewis, your book is next on my pile:)
------------------------------
Subj: The Pomidor Diet
Date: 96-05-06 14:24:36 EDT
From: B Pomidor
Posted on: America Online
Hi, Everyone!
Want a quick way to lose those extra pounds just in time for summer?
Tired of diet plans that leave you craving food incessantly as you lose just
an ounce or two of fat per week? Tired of running like a hamster on a wheel
and finding that you've actually GAINED weight?
Then try the quick, easy, and rather unsafe POMIDOR DIET. Guaranteed to
remove those unwanted inches in just days rather than weeks or months.
Here's how it works:
Find a small child with stomach flu. Care for him or her for just a few
days and you're likely to innoculate yourself with the latest, most popular
strain of something called ENTEROTOXIC E. COLI.
This wonderbug is not your common, everyday, run-of-the-mill flu virus.
This is the real thing. A bacterium which puts out a nasty toxic chemical
that acts on your digestive system like a hefty dose of battery acid.
Just a few hours after being infected with EEC, you'll have a completely
new attitude toward food. Those constant cravings will completely disappear.
Chocolate will seem as appealing as Ipecac. The remotest thoughts of pizza
or burgers will be completely repugnant. And through a gentle process called
"mucosal sloughing", your digestive tract will find itself completely unable
to absorb even a molecule of chocolate--if you were foolish enough to ignore
those ominous rumblings.
Within hours, you will find yourself magically lighter. If you're
fortunate enough to be caring for three small (sick) children while your wife
is away at a medical conference, the additional exercise coupled with a
complete lack of nutrition or hydration will compound the effect. After only
a day or two, you'll find yourself fitting in clothes that you had earmarked
for the Salvation Army years ago.
Of course, you may not have the energy to try those clothes on without
intravenous hydration and plenty of potassium. But that's the beauty of the
POMIDOR DIET! Once those unwanted pounds are gone, simply take a few doses
of amoxicillin and the nasty germs will disappear!
It's time to get serious, America! Lose all the weight you want
to--today! With the POMIDOR DIET!
~~Void where prohibited. Subject to rights, exclusions, tariffs, and
considerations whereof as specified by law and custom. Dealer contribution
may vary.
------------------------------------------
Subj: A Kinder, Lighter Pomidor
Date: 96-05-06 15:00:01 EDT
From: B Pomidor
Posted on: America Online
Hi, Folks!
I missed so many days due to my new diet plan that I actually had to
DOWNLOAD the last week or so of SinC and read off-line. Pitiful. I may
never catch up on my e-mail. But I wanted to thank everyone for saying nice
things about us nominees. And I wanted to thank Harlan for saying he thought
<<Bill looked okay, I guess>> at the Edgars.
What a ringing endorsement. He was just jealous of my powder-blue tuxedo
(the one with the canary yellow stripes). As for Martha, I DID think she won
the evening gown competition that night, and I also appreciated her
explanation about WHY she wore that particular outfit!
And again, it was really neat meeting all these cyber-people in person,
though sometimes shocking, as Earlene and SuprNanny will attest. Old and
grizzled. Harrumph.
Cozy versus Gory. Hmmm. Everyone else has already said stuff I might
have said if I were articulate and healthy enough to think of it. I did a
long post on DorothyL a while ago about the tendency toward violence in all
kinds of fiction media. My own opinion is that there is a tendency for
darker stuff to be taken more seriously, perhaps because of a notion that
happy endings don't happen in real life, and that true adversity most clearly
exemplifies the human spirit.
Or maybe it's just the same gallows-gawking that our ancestors have
enjoyed for centuries. Who knows?
I do think the critics tend to favor hard-core stuff now, though.
"Lighter" mysteries--regardless of their psychological/literary
underpinnings--are generally seen as entertainment first, while "darker"
mysteries are seen as "art," perhaps because of the basic subject matter.
After all, we ARE dealing with death and murder. A gloomy, perhaps cynical,
attitude would seem more appropriate--even if sometimes stereotypical.
But take a case in point--the psychotic serial killer whose acts are
described by the author in lurid detail and vivid color but whose motivations
are shadowy and obscure, related to some vague childhood event that the
author doesn't really seem to understand. A ton of those novels have come
out in the past five years or so, and they've gotten a ton of favorable
attention. But I think at least SOME of that attention is misplaced.
I think critics need to look beneath the surface of all mysteries and
accept the fact that ANY kind of mystery is generally a pretext for entering
a fictional world. It's what's IN the world--whether "cozy" or "gory"--that
counts.
Although my own stuff tends to involve autopsy scenes and cadaver labs and
hospitals, I rarely put in much (any?) hard-core violence, and I'm not sure
why. The Marley series is rather light anyway, but even my other stuff tends
to use violence sparingly. Perhaps if your life has been touched by violence
you tend to be more wary of even the remotest chance of propogating it
through your work, or maybe you're just more likely to flinch away from it.
But we all have different tastes, different areas of interest and
expertise, and different places we want to take our readers (and ourselves).
I respect other writers who do different things with their material than I
do--even if I don't READ much of Ms. Cornwell, I respect her.
And--let's face it--I certainly envy her earning power. Don't we all!
~~Bill Pomidor
A not-quite-cozy writer
----------------------------
Subj: Re:Getting along
Date: 96-05-06 15:21:29 EDT
From: EJ Christy
Posted on: America Online
Oh, Shirley, you're makin' me feel that I ought to go down and clean out the
kitchen (try shovel)!
------------------------------
Subj: Re:The Pomidor Diet
Date: 96-05-06 15:27:30 EDT
From: EJ Christy
Posted on: America Online
Well, Bill, just the thought of your recent tribulation has put me off food
for the rest of the day. Bet you could fit into my pre-preggo jeans by now,
poor dear.
---------------------------------
Subj: Re:The Pomidor Diet
Date: 96-05-06 15:46:12 EDT
From: LTBerenson
Posted on: America Online
Bill,
Been there, done that, with one child. I can't even imagine three.Glad to
hear you're feeling better.
BTW, was it you or Julie who was supposed to be old and grizzled?
Laurie
----------------------------
Subj: Re:The Pomidor Diet
Date: 96-05-06 17:07:20 EDT
From: Gambytt
Posted on: America Online
Grizzled certainly can't be our Bill. I was sitting right between Bill and
Polly Whitney when she was saying the most outrageously complimentary (but
true) things about his eyes.
I picked up Dotty Sohl's Hearing Faces after hearing her at Malice. Lovely,
lovely first mystery.
Gambytt
---------------------------------
Subj: What I'm reading
Date: 96-05-06 17:23:35 EDT
From: SLBWrites
Posted on: America Online
Colleen,
I'm flattered. Hope you like it. I'll be interested to hear what you think
-- gently, of course <g>
Sherry
----------------------------
Subj: Grisly/cozy
Date: 96-05-06 17:58:37 EDT
From: SAGEWRITER
Posted on: America Online
It seems like every time I leave the room the most interesting discussions
take place! And I, too, hope that I didn't offend anyone.
I believe in all kinds of books...I'm petrified that in 20 years we'll all be
too old to read and no one else will know how. However, I also get
disgruntled when I hear about the disparity in value placed on different
types of books, and the amount of backing given them. My first book was
"charming, but not earth shattering" (said Joan Hess.) the last two books
were "Charming, with a Tense Edge." (I said!) Everyone said they were
better books...I'd like to believe that's because I'm improving, not just
getting less cozy.
But...and here's the kicker...on a Malice panel one woman said honestly that
her Romance novels made twice what her mysteries do. Go figure.
Barbara, who just heard that Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler are in NY making
"The First Wives Club."-
------------------------------
Subj: Re:What I'm reading
Date: 96-05-06 18:03:07 EDT
From: SAGEWRITER
Posted on: America Online
Almost forgot...my roomie at Malice is Sara Hoskinson Fromer. I'm reading
her second book, Buried in Quilts. It's only taken me two weeks to reach
page 140 and I'm a fast reader! (However, I have excuses.)
Oh, and Martha...thanks for the compliments on my boots. Molly Weston took a
picture of them with Carole Neson Douglas's rhinstone "Midnight Louie" shoes!
Tell everyone about your hat...it's a great story.
Barbara
--------------------------
Subj: Bill diet
Date: 96-05-06 18:08:35 EDT
From: Kthirty
Posted on: America Online
After reading about your new diet, Bill, don't be so sure that you don't
write dark, hard core stuff.
Kathy
--------------------
Subj: Re: Old, grizzled Bill
Date: 96-05-06 18:32:43 EDT
From: B Pomidor
Posted on: America Online
The grizzled business was meant to refer to me, not, of course, the lovely
Julie. And I quote:
<<I've got to admit that Bill wasn't anything like I had expected
either....he's not listening is he? I mean, no one here listens to other
people's conversations, do we? <g> I had expected him to be an old grizzled
type. He's not.>>
And yes, Polly Whitney, whom I had never met before (but had seen her
catapult) did make outrageous comments about my eyes at the DorothyL
lunch--comments which caused me to blush under my grizzled beard. But since
Polly was looking for olives or cherry tomatoes at the time, I can't help but
wonder if she was just appraising them as ammunition (she and Parnell
eventually used olives, by the way).
~~Bill
---------------------------
Subj: Re: Old, grizzled Bill
Date: 96-05-06 19:41:12 EDT
From: Holtzer
Posted on: America Online
Bill -- I can empathize, believe me. Never had to cope with E. Coli, but I
lost ten pounds once on a salmonella-for-self-and-husband diet, back when our
son was two weeks old. Oh yes, our babysitter had it too, in-laws were out of
town, and the child only slept for two hours at a time. We'd also just been
evicted, had to move, and hadn't unpacked yet. (This is a L-O-O-O-N-G story
that I'm saving for a book sometime. The eviction was out of a Fair Housing
complaint case. [Well, I _said_ it was a long story.])
Anyway, glad to hear that you're all well again.
-------------------------
Subj: Re:What I'm reading,
Earlene
Date: 96-05-06 20:20:18 EDT
From: Mstryriter
Posted on: America Online
Just finished Irish Chain and loved it. I bought it last January at No Crime
Unpublished, but just got to it. Now that I know, I won't wait so long.
Judy
-----------------------------
Subj: Re:What I'm reading
Date: 96-05-06 20:26:27 EDT
From: MaraWayne
Posted on: America Online
Earlene,
How is the Zip Code book? It is highly touted--supposed to be well researched
anyway. I'm finishing Primary Colors myself. I'm enjoying it. Think it was
very intelligently written--very engaging. Written by Anonymous, you know.
Who wrote the Zip Code book?
Gail
----------------------------
Subj: Re:SMFS
Date: 96-05-06 20:27:45 EDT
From: MaraWayne
Posted on: America Online
Linda,
Great!!!
Gail
---------------------------
Subj: Re:The Pomidor Diet
Date: 96-05-06 20:34:26 EDT
From: ANewman102
Posted on: America Online
Bill, I'm in medical marketing. Your diet is right up there with The MRI
Cure for the Insistent Buzzing of a Pacemaker. Who holds the rights?
------------------------------
Subj:
Re:What I'm reading
Date: 96-05-06 20:36:07 EDT
From: DFlanagan
Posted on: America Online
I'm almost finished with Ravenmocker, and loved it, too.
In Hawaii we don't have Ravenmockers, but we do have somehting similar called
"sitting ghosts." I thought of this type of ghost when I read Jean's
description of the Ravenmocker. These are ghosts that sit on your chest while
you're sleeping and squeeze the air out of you. Some victims die and some are
able to push the ghost off their chest. The ghost is often an old women, but
they're are also recorded incidents with young women, old men and even one
case of a dog(!).
- Dale
P.S. Ravenmocker is not a ghost story! It's a great-read mystery. Jean justs
talks about Ravenmockers in the book.
--------------------------
Subj: Re:Getting along
Date: 96-05-06 21:12:55 EDT
From: LTBerenson
Posted on: America Online
Lillian,
Thanks for the kind words about PEDIGREE. I definitely think of it as a cozy
which, to me, almost has as much to do with tone as content. Also, a little
gore (very little, in that instance) doesn't bother me nearly as much as
actual violence would.
Laurie
---------------------------
Subj: Re:What I'm reading
Date: 96-05-06 22:00:09 EDT
From: SLBWrites
Posted on: America Online
Dale, thanks for sharing that. I _love_ learning things about different
cultures, superstitions, beliefs, etc. I like coming away from a book
feeling I learned something new and having been grandly entertained at the
same time.
Another book I just finished was "The Red Scream" (which I'm sure everyone
else has read already). I also love books that make me take a good, hard
look at myself like that one did. There were, however, several people in our
mystery reading group who were disturbed by that very thing about it.
Sherry
----------------------------
Subj: Re:What I'm reading
Date: 96-05-06 22:54:16 EDT
From: B Pomidor
Posted on: America Online
I'm reading something by a -gasp- non-AOL author. But I'd heard so much
about Jeff Abbott, and he was such a nice guy at Malice, that I had to read
one of his books. I got the first--Do Unto Others. A pretty good read so
far, but I'm starting to envy all you Southern and Western types who have
lots of, well, shall we say "unusual"? customs and habits and situations
popping up in small-town society.
We midwesterners are so danged normal and vanilla. What am I supposed to
talk about, culturally speaking? Bowling?
No wonder I write about cadavers. Sheesh!
~~Bill
Oh--and ANewman (goshdangit, you've got to put your real name at the bottom
of those notes!)--regarding your query about rights to the Pomidor Diet. I
think they're owned by somebody named "Escherichia" somebody. Funny name.
Italian, probably, or maybe Latino. Last name starts with a "C", I
think...
--------------------------
Subj: Re:Ghostly Hawaii
Date: 96-05-06 23:09:49 EDT
From: Heyjbm
Posted on: America Online
Dale, I had never heard of those chest-sitting ghosts in Hawaii. But I have
to say your state has the best ghost stories of anywhere. I used to travel
there a lot for a bridal magazine, writing honeymoon stoires (yeah, it was a
really tough beat). I've heard so much about nightwalkers that I won't drive
alone at night! Please tell more.
Jo Beth
----------------------------
Subj: Re:What I'm Reading
Date: 96-05-06 23:12:36 EDT
From: Heyjbm
Posted on: America Online
Oh, forgot to add: Earlene had a crowd at her signing this weekend, and they
weren't lining up to see her boots! Books were carted out in large stacks.
So I'm reading Kansas Troubles, and loving it. Also have Jeff Abbott's
first, and Kathy Trocheck's first, and Elizabeth Peters' first (yes, there's
a pattern here)... Jo Beth
--------------------------------
Subj: Signings
Date: 96-05-07 00:34:31 EDT
From: SLBWrites
Posted on: America Online
Way to go, Earlene! I'd have carried out a bagful myself, if I could have
been there.
Sherry
----------------------------
Subj: Re:Signings
Date: 96-05-07 01:50:38 EDT
From: ESFowler
Posted on: America Online
Ah, you guys are so nice. Not Patsy Cornwell cartloads but I didn't have to
give directions to the restroom once. Thanks to all my buddies for showing
up.
Gail--I'm actually disappointed with the ZIP code book. The plot is kinda
shallow and it's very thin on characterization. Short chapters though.
Judy--thanks for the kind words about Irish Chain. I'm glad you liked it.
Bill P.--now you gotta read Kansas Troubles. There's LOTS of murder and
mayhem and excitement that happens in the midwest. At least, I found plenty
of it. I've been married to a native Kansan for 23 years and there's been
personally many times I've wanted to murder certain members of his
family...did I just say that? No, must have been someone else...You
midwesterners hide a dark, scary side of you, dontcha know? (And there is,
ironically enough, a scene in a bowling alley in KT)
An interesting new fact about my, what I consider, very cozy series--my PW
review (which just came out today) called it a grim tale. GRIM. I tell you,
that oughta get me nominated for an Edgar, don't you think? How can a cozy
be grim? I tell you, it's a crazy world.
I think I need to go shopping for boots.
Earlene
-----------------------------
Subj: Jan's post under aka again
Date: 96-05-07 01:54:08 EDT
From: MYSTRYMORE
Posted on: America Online
Seeing everyone's reading list was fun. I had already (2 mo. ago) read
galley of Marcia's new book THE BROKEN PROMISE LAND - and I agree with
Earlene - WOW. Everytime i think Marcia has outdone herself, she goes and
out does herself. Since this is May and the galley says it will be shipped
May 24th so it will be in your favorite stores and libraries very soon. Get
on a wait list or get it ordered.
Two books that I'm just dying to get in my hot little hands and begin are
KEEP STILL by Eleanor Taylor Bland (if you haven't read her - run don't walk
to your nearest bookstore/library for read her earlier ones and the same
goes for Sandra West Prowell who's new Pheobie Segal is titled WHEN
WALLFLOWERS DIE. I think I will finish up with the Shamus Awards this week
and then can read for fun again. Oh and jean Hager's galley THE FIRESTARTER,
that's up near the top of my list, too.
-------------------
Subj: Bill's diet
Date: 96-05-07 01:58:57 EDT
From: MYSTRYMORE
Posted on: America Online
Bill your diet sound horrible. Now about 3 months ago I had one of those 24
hr. bugs that have you doing vile things with more than one part of your
body. I lost 2-3 lbs. but two days later I tried to make up missed meals and
gained back 5.
That's my luck. I did lose another 4.5 last week on the cabbage soup diet
and will start it up again tomorrow. i'm trying my best to lose 15-20 lbs.
I needed to lose 40 and have lost some, gained some back then lost some of
the same back again. But this time I hope to get 20 off and keep it off for
awhile anyway.
----------------------
Subj: Grapes in Chainmail
Date: 96-05-07 02:02:21 EDT
From: MYSTRYMORE
Posted on: America Online
Thanks to my past-life sister - Margaret
I definitely will read the recommended story in Chainmail. I think
everything in here in funny and that's what I needed is a few good laughs.
--------------------
Subj: Re:Signings
Date: 96-05-07 11:38:55 EDT
From: LTBerenson
Posted on: America Online
Earlene,
Grim?? You've got to be kidding. I thought it was your best so far, and I've
really enjoyed all three. Maybe the reviewer meant to type gr..eat!
Laurie
------------------------
Subj: Re:Signings
Date: 96-05-07 12:36:37 EDT
From: HKlaus6073
Posted on: America Online
Heaven forbid I shouls criticize a reviewer, Earlene,BUT GRIM?. That makes
absolutely no sense.
With all the romantic stuff you put in, It's more like a fun read
-----------------------
Subj:
Re:cozy
Date: 96-05-07 13:24:05 EDT
From: ANDIDVM
Posted on: America Online
Okay, still tryin to make sense of this. Martha's MURDER IN SCORPIO was
nominated for both Edgar and Agatha. I never thought of it as either light
or cozy while reading it. What about tone, Laurie? Maybe you just nailed
it. Or was that Bill? (BTW, glad you're feeling better, BP) Anyway,
looking back I have to admit I'm bothered by certain mysteries that treat the
fact that someone has died as mere entertainment. Such as 'here we all are,
stuck on this deserted island in this storm with no phones or electricity or
books to read. Isn't it marvelous we have this quaint little murder to solve
to keep us from growing bored'! I prefer mysteries where the jeapardy is
taken more seriously. But I can understand why some people wouldn't. And
sometimes I don't want to work that hard, or feel that much, and I'll
deliberately seek out a 'lighter' mystery. Also, the 'darker' ones tend to
be longer, so I get more entertainment hours for my $5.99 or whatever. Not
that I buy books by the pound, exactly, but all things equal I'd buy a
thicker book over a thinner one. I thinks that's why book store versions are
bigger that book club editions of the same book, which proves (to me) that I
am not alone.
Bill, finally bought MURDER BY PRESCRIPTION - just started it, and for once
I happened to pick up a book inadvertently that suits my mood perfectly (not
Patsy Cornwall!) Will look forward to others -- when will they arrive? Did
I hear June for #2? Anyway, welcome back and sorry you had to take such a
drastic approach to weight loss! But did you bottle up a culture for your
friends? Then again, who has time to be sick?
Lillian
------------------------
Subj: Midwest Flavor
Date: 96-05-07 18:29:11 EDT
From: MsSleuth
Posted on: America Online
Bill,
My series (first book soon to be published -please God!) is set in a rural
town in Illinois. I'll match its "flavor" against the south or west anytime.
The quirky characters and small town setting are far from bland. Maybe you
haven't been in a small enough or rural enough town. Anybody out there ever
hear of Yella Hammers? They give Magoddy's Buchanons a run for their money.
Denise
Author of The Chokeberry Days Murder (soon to be released - well as soon as
some agent and/or editor come to their senses)<g>
-------------------------
Subj: Re:Stuff
Date: 96-05-08 00:29:57 EDT
From: KTrocheck
Posted on: America Online
Was I the only one who noticed that Joan Hess was positively demure at
Malice? Or was it all that white wine I drank down in the bar? Anyway, I have
82 pages done on a book that's due the end of the month. And I'm out touring
most of June, so when will I finish? Right now I'm reading A Valley in Italy
by somebody named Lisa St. Aubin De Teran. It's sort of like A Year in
Provence, but in Umbria. If I can't go, at least I can read about it. Then
I've got The Temple Bombing, which is non-fiction, about the hate bombing of
a synagogue in Atlanta in the early '60s. And the newest issue of Writer's
Digest has an interview with Anne LaMott, who I think writes the wisest,
funniest, truest stuff about writers that I have ever read. And I have a slew
of mysteries to read, including Harlan's, which I picked up at Malice, and
Jean Hager's latest, since she was my roomie. And now the new Marcia Muller?
What riches!
------------
Subj: Look candy bars
Date: 96-05-08 00:59:31 EDT
From: ESFowler
Posted on: America Online
Laurie--they are like Big Hunks covered in chocolate. I ate the last one
tonight. When I get more I'll send you one.
Earlene (who needs to wipe the chocolate off her keyboard now)
-------------------------
Subj: Anne
Lamott & Mad Hatters
Date: 96-05-08 01:48:18 EDT
From: Mysmartha
Posted on: America Online
Yes! If you're a writer (or even a normal person) and haven't yet read Anne
Lamott's _Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life_, you have a
treat coming. The book's out in paperback now. Lamott is wise, inspiring,
and throw-your-head-back-laughing funny. And she wears hats, which brings me
to my next subject:
THE HAT STORY
Barbara Burnett Smith was kind enough to clue me in that hats were de rigueur
at Malice. I was bemoaning my lack of a hat to our mutual friend, Tom
Hallman, a very gifted artist whose work graces the covers of dozens of
best-selling mysteries--Mary Higgins Clark, Elizabeth George, all the Rex
Stouts, to name just a few. (Hey Harlan: maybe I can arrange an
introduction.) Tom just happened to have the smashing little black bolero
that he used to paint the cover of Dorothy Cannell's _Widows Club_ and was
dear enough to FedEx it to me in time for the con. I donned the chapeau and
was thrilled to find Dorothy in the banquet crowd at Malice. A delightful
redhead with a ready laugh, Dorothy was tickled by the story and fell in love
with the hat. The next day in the bar she offered fifteen bucks for it--but
as of this writing, the artist isn't selling.
-the end-
---------------------------
Subj: Re:Look candy bars
Date: 96-05-08 09:18:47 EDT
From: SurfGrape
Posted on: America Online
Earlene,
Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. You can actually BUY a big hunk
covered in chocolate? What does he look like? Like Fabio?
Who sells these wonderful confections?
:-) Margaret
-------------------------------
Subj: Re:Look candy bars
Date: 96-05-08 10:13:17 EDT
From: LTBerenson
Posted on: America Online
Earlene,
Husband out of town on business. Anxiously awaiting my hunk.
Laurie
-----------------------
Subj: Re:Look candy bars
Date: 96-05-08 11:49:07 EDT
From: AAuthor
Posted on: America Online
EArlene, I just realized we're both doing signings at Page One in
Albuquerque. Look forward to meeting you.
Aimee
http://www.comet.net/writersm/thurlo/home.htm.
-----------------------
Subj: What I'm reading
Date: 96-05-08 13:28:03 EDT
From: DianneDay
Posted on: America Online
Actually I just read it, but thought I'd mention because this is the best
I've read in some time--even though by an author outside the pale of both aol
and sinc: Total Eclipse by Liz Rigbey. More suspense than mystery,
protagonist a male astronomer, theme has to do with obsession. I thought it
was well-written and it tweaked the writer in me; made me think things like,
now how did she do that?
Dianne
---------------------------------
Subj: Re:Getting along
Date: 96-05-08 14:11:38 EDT
From: COOPER SR
Posted on: America Online
Having been raised in a house full of boys with a politically active father,
I thought we *were* getting along! Never be afraid of someone else's or your
own opinion.
Kathy - Once heard about a writer who's young son spent the night at a
friends house and came home to tell his mother that his friend's mother was
really strange - she folded the sheets before she put them in the closet. I
agree with the kid.
What I'm reading: Having my good friend Jan Grape in the book store
business, I've been lucky to get a few advanced copies, too. Earlene, just
finshed "Broken Promised Land" and thought it was terrific - one of MM's best
- although each seems to be better than the last. Just got an advance copy
of Kinky Friedman's "The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover". You could dine out
on the one-liners!:)
Susan, not grumpy, just getting along with an argument and a smile :)
-----------------------
Subj:
Midwest Vanillity, BSP
Date: 96-05-08 16:16:04 EDT
From: B Pomidor
Posted on: America Online
Denise pointed out that small town settings can be "far from bland," even
in the Midwest. I agree. And I also agree that *most* of the time, I've
probably lived in areas which are too citified to really have that small-town
flavor. But another aspect of spending most of your life *anywhere* is that
you tend to take the "culture" for granted. Sometimes it takes an outsider
to point out the quirks that we all practice and enjoy--or at least, a writer
who can take an outsider's perspective. Good luck with your series, Denise!
As for Lillian's blatant invitation to BSP--yes, THE ANATOMY OF MURDER is
finally trickling into bookstores. The official ship date has been moved
back from 5/1 to 5/10 (perhaps because of the little "Edgar Award Nominee"
that they magically managed to sneak onto the front cover!), but I got my
five copies in the mail today. Unfortunately, my case of 76 didn't arrive in
time for my two appearances yesterday. But the medical students at my
morning talk really enjoyed it. Picture reading explicit details about a
cadaver lab and dissection to an auditorium full of medical students who are
all EATING LUNCH!
Medicine gives you a different perspective, and it has a culture all its
own. Which brings me back to the beginning. Whether you're writing about
small-town America, or university politics, or the medical world, or the fine
details of male bovine surgery (Earlene!), it's those neat little "cultural"
details that make the story so interesting--introducing that unfamiliar (or
sometimes TOO familiar) world to the readers.
Here's to culture, vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry!
~~Bill Pomidor
-----------
Subj: Got cover
Date: 96-05-08 16:44:35 EDT
From: AAuthor
Posted on: America Online
Today I finally got an advance copy of our DEATH WALKER. The cover looks
really decent though I can't say I'm wild about DEATH WALKER being written in
green. Strange shade of green, too. Like you, Bill, mine was sent back when
Tony Hillerman gave us a quote. Talk about under the wire, but hey, they made
sure it got sent back for that quote!!!!
Aimee
http://www.comet.net/writersm/thurlo/home.htm
----------------------
Subj: Re:Cadaver lab
Date: 96-05-08 18:22:21 EDT
From: ANDIDVM
Posted on: America Online
Bill: huh? So what's the problem? We always had dissection just before
lunch... Reminds me of a story, a student who brought a piece of cauliflower
is during feline neuro dissection, asked the instructor to point out all the
parts of a cat's brain (which he did, in all seriousness!), then calmly
thanked him and ate the 'brain'! Well, maybe you had to be there... (this
and other humorous anecdotes available soon in my upcoming first novel,
RIDING FOR A FALL)
Finally finished book 2, pre-revision stage. As soon as my computer and my
printer are speaking, it's off to New York! Yippee! Would tell you the
title if I knew it.
Have been seeing comments in DorothyL about animals dying in books -- how do
you all feel about this? I think it's a 'rule' that should be broken
cautiously. I can't avoid having a few animals die in my books but won't
kill anything tha isn;t at the end of its life (if that makes sense). I
wouldn't, for instance, let the reader get attached to an individual animal
then allow something horrible happen to it. But my character is a DVM -- you
couldn't set a mystery in a hospital and not have people die now and then!
If I sound defensive, I apologize in advance. Would appreciate feedback.
Lillian
-----------------------------
Subj: Re:Cadaver lab
Date: 96-05-08 18:47:11 EDT
From: LTBerenson
Posted on: America Online
Lillian,
I'm one of the people who's been talking on DL about animals dying in books.
I said I wouldn't do it, but I probably should have clarified that to mean
what you just said--that I wouldn't get readers attached to an animal, then
maliciously kill it off. Animals do have shorter life spans than we do. It's
a fact of life. Still, I would work around it carefully, many readers seem to
be very squeamish on this subject.
Laurie
-----------------------------
Subj: Re:Cadaver lab
Date: 96-05-08 19:45:32 EDT
From: B Pomidor
Posted on: America Online
Lillian,
I loved your "cat brain" story; I can't top that one. But in our
dissection lab during pre-med (you know, where you're dissecting things that
are REALLY gross!), one of my friends always had two dissecting probes--one
that he used to hold down formalin-preserved grasshoppers and fetal pigs and
things, and another one that he used to stir his coffee (always in front of
the instructor). Watching the instructor's appalled reaction and queasy
concern was always good for a laugh. Life's little pleasures at Kent
State...
~~Bill
--------------------------
Subj: Re:Cadaver lab
Date: 96-05-08 19:46:18 EDT
From: B Pomidor
Posted on: America Online
p.s., Lillian--
I'm really looking forward to reading those anecdotes in RIDING FOR A
FALL. When will it appear?
~~Bill
------------------------------
Subj: Re:What I'm reading
Date: 96-05-08 20:29:12 EDT
From: ANewman102
Posted on: America Online
Bill--The name's Annie--I'll send you some preliminary copy on The Pomidor
Diet if you want--but what was that Hippocratic thing about First, Do No
Harm?
------------------------
Subj: Re:Look candy bars
Date: 96-05-08 20:33:51 EDT
From: ANewman102
Posted on: America Online
Oh boy. Put me on the mailing list. Milk chocolate or dark? I'm not even
going to mention nuts.
-----------------------
Subj: Animal Deaths
Date: 96-05-08 20:47:54 EDT
From: ANewman102
Posted on: America Online
Sorry to write all these posts--I should learn to save all my comments until
I've reached the end of the day's postings. But I'm not a subscriber to
DorothyL and I had to ask, what's the controversy all about?
I've been a cat owner for years and I also like dogs (altho' have never lived
in a house big enough to make one comfortable). I believe that animal
testing should never be performed for any less reason than the saving of
life--and even then, should be as humane as possible. (I'm not entirely
PETA, as you can see, but even I know it's immoral to blind rabbits for the
sake of a new mascara). I've had my animals neutered when I couldn't keep
their young, and once I had to put a cat, a dear companion, to sleep when she
wasn't going to get better.
BUT...I don't see why killing a fictional animal is considered indecent. I
mean, we're mystery writers! We kill fictional people all the time! And
rarely when they're at the end of their lives or in any frame of mind to want
to go! And almost never humanely!
Do people think that the fictional murder or torture of an animal will incite
readers to do the same? Or will generally devalue life and the respect which
we ought to feel for living things?
I'm asking honestly--I really don't understand. I've just read janet
Evanovich's Two for the Dough, a large portion of which had to do with the
desecration of corpses. Treated in a shocking/funny way. Honestly, I was a
little grossed out, but it was a very cogent way of expressing the
desecrator's personality, and why the heroine had to fight to hard to capture
him. In other words, it wasn't gratuitous, it was appropriate, and it was
good writing.
But isn't it at least as bad as killing an animal? It would be, in real
life.
--------------------------Don't mean to offend but I really had to ask these questions.--ANNIE
Subj:
Re: Hunks and stuff
Date: 96-05-08 21:27:21 EDT
From: Holtzer
Posted on: America Online
>>Milk chocolate or dark? I'm not even going to mention nuts.<<
Annie, ROTFLMAO!
And from Bill:
>>Picture reading explicit details about a cadaver lab and dissection to
an auditorium full of medical students who are all EATING LUNCH!<<
Hell, I've seen the same thing at MWA/NorCal dinners -- imagine forty or
so perfectly ordinary-looking people calmly spooning chocolate mousse while
watching a slide presentation by the local coroner. I didn't even realize it
was unusual until someone else mentioned it -- after all, we're mystery
writers, right?
----------------------------
Subj: Re:Anne Lamott & Mad Hatters
Date: 96-05-08 22:47:43 EDT
From: Fontella
Posted on: America Online
Hats? Malice? Can't wait until next year. I'll be bring several.
---------------------------------
Subj:
animals RIP- top this...
Date: 96-05-08 23:54:25 EDT
From: Kthirty
Posted on: America Online
It is a standing joke between my husband and myself to see how long it takes
our ten-yr-old son to ask, about a movie or show he is watching, "Does the
dog die?" Adults he could care less about (hhmmm?) but children he does worry
about.
I think it goes to innocence, animals and children are innocent. Adults get
what they deserve. Two of the four victims in my ms. are rotters. I think
you'll shed a tear over the other two.
Bill and medical others - my husband comes from a medical family. It took
awhile for me to get used to the dinnertime conversations. His Dad, bless his
departed soul, was a unique character. He preformed his own vasectomy. He
died a year ago yesterday and I miss him.
Kathy
-----------------------------
Subj: animal deaths
Date: 96-05-08 23:54:38 EDT
From: CBURNS1
Posted on: America Online
First I'd like to put in my order for a hunk. Skip the chocolate, just send
me the hunk.
Secondly, I have to admit that after Farley died I couldn't keep reading the
comic strip For Better or Worse. Now, perhaps it was just too close to home
for me since I own an old english sheepdog and that's what Farley was. Or
maybe it was because I'd lost my dearest cat not long before that. I don't
know. But, the power of an animal's death that the audience has developed a
relationship with can be as powerful as that of any character. Perhaps more
powerful in that a malicious killing of an animal is horrifying in the way
killing any innocent would be. At least for me. There's something supremely
sick about some one who would kill someone or something defenseless. So,
while it doesn't bug me to read about the average adult murdered, kids, old
people, and animals really get me.
Colleen
-----------------------
Subj: Comments Du Jour
Date: 96-05-09 01:19:42 EDT
From: Heyjbm
Posted on: America Online
Kathy -- PERFORMED HIS OWN VASECTOMY?????? I mean, Earlene may find that
cool (look ma, no rubber bands?), but...
Bill -- Don't count cities short for character. I grew up in small
Southern town full of eccentrics (aren't they all?), but cities fascinate me,
mostly b/c faster pace and greater diversity. In a small town, anything can
happen on a smaller, human scale; in a city, it feels like anything can
happen, period. But yeah, I've chosen to write about that little piece of
Alabama. I know it and love it best.
Jo Beth, who is still daydreaming about Hunks O' Chocolate
---------------------------
Subj: Questions Du Jour
Date: 96-05-09 01:22:30 EDT
From: Heyjbm
Posted on: America Online
No, I don't want to know how to perform a vasectomy. More Tame Questions:
1) How do you log onto Dorothy L? What's the chatter like?
2) How do you know when there's a scheduled chat of interest here on AOL? I
always hear about them after the fact.
3) Is it my absence and bad memory, or have all sorts of great new people
joined this board? Welcome all; this is certainly a lively site, and
almost as addictive as chocolate hunks.
Jo Beth
------------------------
Subj: Hormonal Sickos
Date: 96-05-09 01:45:05 EDT
From: ESFowler
Posted on: America Online
Ha, knew that subject title would make you all read it. Honestly, I answer a
perfectly LEGITIMATE question about a real, honest-to-goodness candy bar
(they are marvelous and not found everywhere as my husband and I have found
when we travel) and you all turn it into something...well...something that
really got me...thinking.
I, too, want to hear how Kathy's father perfomed his own vasectomy. I mean,
I'm trying to picture it...nah, I'll go back to the Big Hunk covered in
chocolate image. Maybe Dr. Bill can give us an official, medical
description. I tell you, though, any man who can do that, is a man I'd want
fighting on my side.
Looking forward to seeing you at Page One, Aimee. Are you going to be
signing the same time as me?
Killing animals: I'll never do it, no how, no way. I only believe in
killing their sex drive. (Actually, a bull was killed in my second book--hit
by a truck--off scene, of course, and not one letter from angry bull owners.
Earlene
-------------------------------
Subj: the reports of his demise
Date: 96-05-09 10:59:46 EDT
From: Kthirty
Posted on: America Online
It was my father-in-law that preformed his own vasectomy. He was a small town
country doctor and nobody else was around to do it...... Remember the first
human use of novacain was used by a doctor who took out his own appendix.
Bill, is medical machoism a trait? Is machoism a word?
My father is retired from his executive suite and is now a ski bum.
Kathy
---------------------
Subj: Re:the reports of his demise
Date: 96-05-09 11:07:09 EDT
From: HATwritr
Posted on: America Online
Kathy - The word is Machismo - at least in the Latino world (I'm an ex Peace
Corps volunteer who spent her two years in the Carribean dealing with the
macho image a lot!!)
Helen<--- who's always here lurking in the shadows, listening ... and
gleaning
-------------------------
Subj: Re: NorCal Mystery Week
Date: 96-05-09 12:01:12 EDT
From: MWANorCal
Posted on: America Online
The schedule for the 1996 MWA/NorCal Mystery Week is now posted on our
website at:
http://user.aol.com/mwanorcal/week.htm
Festivities run from May 8 through May 20, and we'd love to see all of you at
one or more of these events
------------------------
.Subj: Re: NorCal Mystery Week
Date: 96-05-09 13:08:14 EDT
From: HKlaus6073
Posted on: America Online
Earlene-just sent off ADC review to Judy. You can ask her for a copy or give
me fax# and I w8ill send you a copy.
---------------------------
Subj: Mystery Writing Workshops
Date: 96-05-09 14:07:18 EDT
From: ZBookWorm
Posted on: America Online
I'm looking for a good writing workshop/conference to attend this summer.
Both the Squaw Valley Writers Conference and the UC Berkeley Writing
Extension have been suggested and I've applied to both (although I'm still
waiting to find out if I'm admitted). However, I write mystery/suspense
novels and I'm not really sure that either of these programs would be helpful
in that area. Has anyone heard of a good mystery writing workshop or
conference on the West Coast? I'd love any suggestions......
Holly
-------------------------
Subj: Re:An alternative view
Date: 96-05-09 14:36:35 EDT
From: COOPER SR
Posted on: America Online
Killing animals:
I'm an animal lover. I have a dog and a cat, and my former cat died of a
heart attack in my arms and it was a terribly traumatic experience. But (you
knew there was a but coming didn't you?), anyone remember that wonderful
documentary of a few years back, "Roger and Me"? In it, among many other
things, these two things happened: A man, a real man, was shot - really
shot. A woman (she and her husband were both laid off and had been out of
work for some time) was raising rabbits in the back yard to feed her family.
They show her killing one of the rabbits. The only negative response - and
there was a lot of it - to this incredible film was the death of the rabbit.
No one ever mentioned that a human being was shot. I'm sorry, but I do
wonder about priorities.
Susan, always willing to step in it
--------------------------
Subj: Re:autopsies etc
Date: 96-05-09 15:06:32 EDT
From: DianneDay
Posted on: America Online
I used to be a hospital administrator in my former life, i.e. before I
started writing, and at one point I was the pathology administrator in a big
teaching hospital. Already thinking about writing mysteries. And I was
crushed, simply crushed, when Patricia Cornwell got there first! I mean here
I was with all this expertise down the drain!
Dianne Day
---------------------
Subj: Dead animals
Date: 96-05-09 16:15:29 EDT
From: Mysmartha
Posted on: America Online
Lucky me. I'm a member of Lillian's writing group, so I've already read
RIDING FOR A FALL. If you have a bent for animals, anatomy and action, you
have a real treat in store.
I killed a cat in my first novel and haven't suffered any backlash yet. Then
again, the cat did play an heroic role in the story.
-------------------------
Subj: Re:autopsies etc
Date: 96-05-09 21:40:49 EDT
From: JKenn10050
Posted on: America Online
Hey, Dianne -- more than one point of view is always welcome!!!!
--------------------
Subj:
Re:Dead animals
Date: 96-05-10 07:18:47 EDT
From: AHDN64
Posted on: America Online
Anyone read Pet Cemetary?
After my daughter read it (when it first came out), she couldn't even look at
our cat for two weeks. She saw King's "Church" in our poor tabby.
Mitzi
-------------------------
Subj: They shoot horses
Date: 96-05-10 07:51:46 EDT
From: JodyJaffe
Posted on: America Online
It would have been impossible not to have dead horses in my first book,
"Horse of a Different Killer, since it dealt with the all-too-real practice
of killing horses for insurance money. But it's kind of funny, the only
negative reaction I got to that part of the book -- to my face, at least --
came from someone who works at a mystery bookstore. So theoretically, she's
used to literary murder and mayhem and seemingly enjoys it.
When the bound galleys came out last year, I was so excited I was no longer
earthbound. I floated into that bookstore, galley in hand. Ecstatic, I showed
the woman behind the register the galley, she showed me her somber face. "I
read it," she said.
"Yeah, well?" I said.
"You know, some people don't like it when you kill animals," she said and
turned away from me. I guess that meant she was one of them.
That was the first I'd heard of this don't kill animals fictiously stuff. It
seemed a bit peculiar at the time, and still does. It's ok to kill innocent
people, or in the worst cases children even, in books but readers draw the
line at their four-legged friends? I don't get it.
I did read one book where a writer arbitrarily kills an animal and it was
disturbing. However, it would have been just as disturbing had she
arbitrarily and for no plot purpose killed a human.
My second book, "Chestnut Mare, Beware," comes out in September. And when I
get the galleys, this time, I'm going to avoid that woman in the bookstore.
Yes, I've done it again -- off camera -- two horses die in a fire, though I
swear it's just a one-sentence mention of it.
jody jaffe
------------
Subj: Re:An alternative view
Date: 96-05-10 10:19:28 EDT
From: LTBerenson
Posted on: America Online
Susan,
Your point about priorities was right on target. However that vast wide
audience of readers (that God knows, I'd love to cultivate) doesn't agree
with you (us).
Laurie
-----------------
Subj: Re:Pomidor Diet
Date: 96-05-10 10:33:59 EDT
From: LinoScott
Posted on: America Online
Hi, Bill -
Just want you to know my husband did REAL well on the Pomidor Diet, following
"grandchildcon" at our place. What I want to know is: why wasn't I afforded
this opportunity, as I'm the one who needs it???
And yes, I'm grumpy. Somebody sign me up for Mint-Oreo ice cream and a hunk.
Caroline
------------------
Subj: Re:Dead animals
Date: 96-05-10 12:05:03 EDT
From: SLBWrites
Posted on: America Online
I've never killed an animal in a book (or in real life, either) but that
doesn't mean I wouldn't if the plot needed it. Of course, it would be
tastefully done just like my human murders are <g>. Guess it only goes to
show we'll never please all of the people all of the time, no matter what we
write.
Does anybody remember that scene in "Stand By Me" where the four boys are
sitting around the campfire and the one who likes to write is telling a
story. The other 3 boys listen until he's through, and one kid says it's the
best story the boy's ever told. The second looks disappointed, and asks if
that's it? Is that all? The third one says, "You should have had it end
*this* way..." and the story teller just looks bewildered. -----> Ain't it
the truth, folks?
Sign me up for a hunk, too. It's been a looooong week.
Sherry
------------------
Subj: Re:Animals, othr dead things
Date: 96-05-10 12:28:32 EDT
From: ANDIDVM
Posted on: America Online
Would anyone remember OLD YELLER if the dogs hadn't died? How about BAMBI?
Not that what I'm writing comes close in impact to either of those, but you
get my point. Right?
I loved Jody's book, and Martha's was a great read! Don't ven remember the
dead cat. I think the reason Jody's works so well is the horse dies in the
first chapter, and we don't get to know it as an individual. I try to do the
same thing when I have to kill off any animal character.
When I first started writing, there were all sorts of lists of 'rules' for
writing mysteries. One of those was 'never kill children or animals'.
Usually these lists were brought up in the context of 'how to break them'.
And somehow the people giving the talks always seemed to think you could
break any rule except that one.
I respectfully disagree. But for those who feel really, really strongly
about this, I don't recommend my book, RIDING FOR A FALL, due out in
November from Fawcett. But I hope the rest of you will read it and tell me
what you think. (Martha, thanks for the promo. The rest of you, Anatomy is
a very minor factor.) And for anyone who thinks I was too hard on the horses
in RIDING, definietly shouldn't read my second, (title unpredicted), which
deals with fighting dogs. And other stuff. Which is coming out some time in
the distant future, but I'll remind you when not to buy it.
Hope this reverse-psychology stuff works.
Happy reading...
Lillian
-----------------------
Subj: Re:Dead animals
Date: 96-05-10 12:32:48 EDT
From: Maggody
Posted on: America Online
I was at Malice several years ago, and had staggered into the restaurant for
coffee--lots of coffee. I joined a group that included Susan Sandler, who at
that time was head of Mystery Guild. She was explaining why she would never
buy a dead cat, a dead dog, or a dead child. I was in the middle of writing
ROLL OVER AND PLAY DEAD, a book about pet theft, and had a scene in which the
really bad man killed puppies while training his pit bulls. When I got home,
I called my editor and asked how much Mystery Guild usually paid for my
books. It was enough that the really bad man might possibly have been
considering doing something unpleasant to the puppies. It watered down the
motive considerably, but I can be bought
---------------------
Subj: Re:Answers Du Jour
Date: 96-05-10 12:34:29 EDT
From: ANDIDVM
Posted on: America Online
Jo Beth, if I remember right you can subscribe to DorothyL by e-mailing as
follows:
send to: dorothyl@listserv.kent.edu
subject: subscribe
msg: subscribe (YOURNAME -- NOT your e-name) dorothyl@listserv.kent.edu
It took me several tries. It isn't exactly a chat room, it's a digest. Kind
of like a bulletin board but you get it downloaded in daily chunks. Any
topic goes as long as it pertains in some way to mystery field.
The chats I hear about are author chats, in conference room first Tuesday of
each month. Don't know about others.
Lillian
---------------------------
Subj: Midwest Blandness
Date: 96-05-10 13:50:17 EDT
From: MLMerk
Posted on: America Online
I'm a native St. Louisan writing my first mystery set in, of all places, St.
Louis. St. Louis is both a small town and a large city in that it is a city
of neighborhoods and each neighborhood has its own character. Just like
small towns, there are certain neighborhoods where you are not "accepted"
when you're a newcomer. And one of the quirks about St. Louisans is when we
meet another St. Louisan for the first time, one of the questions is always,
"Where did you go to high school?" The answer immediately tells us the
socio-economic background.
My niece's significant other (a doctor) said he loves dinner at my house
because no one ever asks him about their illnesses and we plot murders at the
dinner table.
Mary Lou
--------------------
Subj: Dead animals
Date: 96-05-10 13:52:04 EDT
From: MLMerk
Posted on: America Online
One more opinion about dead animals. I can accept an animal dying if I know
said animal is sick and miserable. I get upset when I have become "attached"
to the animal and then it's killed, although I must admit that when an author
wants to show me someone is really evil, killing an animal will do it. One
of Taylor McCafferty's(sp?) books opened with a dead grandmother, her dead
cat and dead bird. I had no problem with it because they were already dead
when the book opened.
Mary Lou
------------------------------
Subj: Re:Animals, othr dead things
Date: 96-05-10 13:52:07 EDT
From: Jogerrit
Posted on: America Online
Hi all, haven't posted on this board before but had to jump in on this
appetizing subject. Was watching X-Files last week, about folks getting
eaten up in and around this lake by a supposed "monster". Dead humans
galore. My teenage sons, who are watching it with me, don't bat an eye, even
with the decapitated corpse. Then a cute dog gets eaten by the monster and
suddenly my sons are howling: "How could they DO that to a poor little DOG?"
A few years back, I co-wrote a TV Movie of the Week, "Adrift," about a
couple terrorized at sea. During a story conference, the producers told me
they wanted something "really shocking and horrible" to happen halfway
through the film. The solution, of course, was to kill the pet cat.
And remember what happened to that bunny in "Fatal Attraction..."
There are some automatic buttons to push when you want to shock the
audience, and killing pets is certainly one of them.
Tess
---------------------
Subj: Re:Stand By Me
Date: 96-05-10 14:30:07 EDT
From: COOPER SR
Posted on: America Online
Sherry,
Stand by Me was the first PG-13 rated movie (bit of trivia there, folks) and,
after having seen it and loved it, my husband and I thought it was a movie
our 11 year old daughter should see. So we rented it when it became
available. She too loved it. We talked about it. I thought she was very
perceptive. The next day I was taking her and a friend somewhere, both girls
in the back seat. Evin started telling her friend about the movie. Her only
comment: "The dead body was really cool".
Lord knows, I tried.
Susan
-------------------
Subj: Re:Stand By Me
Date: 96-05-10 15:41:21 EDT
From: SLBWrites
Posted on: America Online
Susan,
LOL at the story about your daughter and the movie. I recently watched it
again a few weeks ago when it was on TV. I hadn't seen it since started
writing "seriously". I drank it all in and, as you can tell, found meaning
in things I hadn't noticed before. My 9-year old daughter watched a couple
of minutes, shrugged, and went outside to play.
Sherry
--------------------
Subj: taboo deaths
Date: 96-05-10 16:34:49 EDT
From: Kthirty
Posted on: America Online
Spoiler Alert for UNDER THE BEETLE'S CELLAR by Mary Willis Walker
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
There is a death of a child in this book. Very, very hard to read (hits very
close to home in our family) but made the book that much more gripping.
Kathy
---------------------------------
Subj: Re:Midwest Blandness
Date: 96-05-10 17:38:12 EDT
From: Fontella
Posted on: America Online
Since MLMerk asked the St. Louis high school question I have to say
"Lindbergh."
Now in NY where the question is "How much is your rent?"
-----------------
Subj: Re:Mystery
Writing Workshops
Date: 96-05-10 18:28:23 EDT
From: Holtzer
Posted on: America Online
If you're in northern California, might consider the Book Passage Mystery
writing Conference, by the bookstore of the same name in Corte Madera. I've
heard real good things about it.
---------------------
Subj: Re:taboo deaths
Date: 96-05-10 20:29:11 EDT
From: MaraWayne
Posted on: America Online
Under the Beetle's Cellar was quite good, except toward the end. I want a
happy ending. The thing is, I cared about the characters. I LOVED the bus
driver. Certainly it's worth reading though.
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Subj: Re:Midwest Blandness
Date: 96-05-10 20:30:59 EDT
From: MaraWayne
Posted on: America Online
We do NOT ask people what their rent is. We are curious, but we do not ask.
"Are you working?" is a subtle way of asking what a person does for a living.
That's delicate, too.
Gail
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Subj: Re:Midwest Blandness
Date: 96-05-10 20:52:24 EDT
From: LTBerenson
Posted on: America Online
Mary Lou,
Doesn't everyone plot murders at the dinner table?
Laurie (whose druggist is always glad to see my husband alive and well.
Apparently she suffers guilt pangs from that arsenic formula she gave
me.)
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Subj: Re:Midwest Blandness
Date: 96-05-10 21:11:31 EDT
From: ANewman102
Posted on: America Online
Laurie, I hope your druggist isn't the nice girl at the Norwalk CVS. I was
intending to ask her about digitalis. If she's already done the arsenic
thing with you, she's probably wary and I'll have to go to
Westport.--ANNIE
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Subj: Re:Answers Du Jour
Date: 96-05-10 23:22:29 EDT
From: Gambytt
Posted on: America Online
You may have better luck subscribing to to DorothyL if you send the subscribe
DorothyL message to listserv@listserv.kent.edu The address that starts
dorothyl@... will show up as a post, if at all, and won't get you subscribed.
Enjoy!
Gambytt
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Subj: Re:Dorothy L
Date: 96-05-11 00:05:04 EDT
From: Heyjbm
Posted on: America Online
Thanks for the addresses! Is this one of those things that will send massive
emailings to me daily? Is it worth it? I travel frequently, sometimes for
weeks at a time, so I don't want to get my mailbox too full. Jo Beth
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Subj:
Dog/Cat Analysis
Date: 96-05-11 00:08:33 EDT
From: Heyjbm
Posted on: America Online
Yet another musing on animals:
The worst animal scene I’ve ever read was in a P.I. mystery set in Laguna
Beach: the bad guy’s henchman horse-tied and beat a golden retriever to a
pulp. I don’t think I’d read that author again, whoever he was. It turned my
stomach.
Maybe we react to pets dying because it triggers stuff from our early years.
In my own childhood, when people died, it was kept from me, or at least not
discussed, until I was older. So my earliest lesson on death came from my
best buddy, my dog. When he died, it was a tragedy of grand proportions to my
six-year-old mind.
Pets are also such an extension of us. I have a cat who has been with
me for a dozen years -- he sits on my lap as I write, sleeps curled against
my neck, and gets stroked, sweet-talked and fed far more often than my poor
husband. The older my cat gets, the more I try to brace myself for the day
his nine lives are up. So maybe if I get familiar with fictional pets, then
they are abused or killed, it hits too many emotions about my own pets’
mortality lurking there beneath the surface.
That’s my two-cent analysis, anyway.
JoBeth, who also has a sweetheart golden retriever nobody had
better ever hurt
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Subj: Re:They shoot horses
Date: 96-05-11 01:06:14 EDT
From: CBURNS1
Posted on: America Online
Jody, that woman was ridiculous. Killing animals always upsets me because
I feel sad for the animal. But, if it's part of the story then it part of the
story. I loved your book, and I thought the killing of horses was neccessary
to portray the realities of the horse world. Poo-poo on that woman!
Colleen
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