Author Darcy Scott’s new mystery, Matinicus, is now available. It was released in May of 2012 by Maine Authors Publishing.
Matinicus pits a renegade fishing community against an unhappy child-bride of the 1820s, a defiant twenty-first-century teen, and a hard-drinking botanist—Dr. Gil Hodges—who escapes to the island of Matinicus to avoid a crazed ex-lover and verify a purported 22 species of wild orchid.
But if Gil’s hoping for peace and quiet, he’s come to the wrong place. Infighting among loose-knit lobstering clans have left them hostile to outsiders. When a beautiful stranger arrives, old resentments re-ignite and people begin to die—murders linked, through centuries of violence, to a diary whose secrets threaten to tear the island apart.
Kirkus Reviews says that Matinicus is “The kind of book readers will tear through, only to find themselves hungry for more.”
Matinicus is available through Amazon.com in print and for Kindle, Smashwords and select Indie book stores.
Twilight of the Drifter is a crime story with southern gothic overtones. It centers on thirty-something Josh Devlin, a failed journalist who, after a year of wandering, winds up in a Kentucky homeless shelter on a wintry December.
Soon after the opening setup, the crosscurrents go into motion as Josh comes upon a runaway named Alice holed up in an abandoned boxcar. Taken with her plight and dejected over his own squandered life, he spirits her back to Memphis and his uncle’s Blues Hall Cafe. From there he tries to get back on his feet while seeking a solution to Alice’s troubles. As the story unfolds, a Delta bluesman’s checkered past comes into play and, inevitably, Josh finds himself on a collision course with a backwoods tracker fixated on the Civil War and, by extension, the machinations of the governor-elect of Mississippi.
In a sense, this tale hinges on the vagaries of chance and human nature. At the same time, an underlying force appears to be driving the action as though seeking the truth and long awaited redemption. Or, to put it another way, past sins have finally come due in the present.
City: Mainz, Germany Year: 1399 CE Location: A café that caters to scribes, illuminators, and publishers.
A tired looking man walks into the café and joins a group at one of the tables.
“What a day, guys,” he says. “I wrote almost six pages today; we practically ran out of quill pens. I need a beer.”
One of the men sighs. “Soon this will be the last of your problems, Heinrich.”
“Ha? Problems? Why?” said Heinrich. “You all look so gloomy, what’s wrong? And what’s with Friedrich over there?”
Everyone turns to look at Friedrich, who is sitting at another table, his head buried in his hands.
“He is an illuminator, Franz. He is doomed, and he is afraid to tell Magda and the children…”
“What are you talking about? He works for the best publisher in town!” Franz says. “He has nothing to worry about since they just started writing a new Bible for King Zrob of Khazaria!”
“So you haven’t heard, Franz,” said another person. “You remember last year, when Johannes said he was going to invent a printing press, and we all laughed? Well, he did. The first Gutenberg Printing Machine was just set up right here in Mainz, and he has very important, wealthy investors. Scribes and illuminators are a thing of the past.”
“Na,” said Franz. “It’s just a fad. The kids will enjoy it, but real scholars are not going to look at those things they call books. I remember how he described them, they are so ugly, you don’t even roll them out, you flip pages… who can read like that? And what about art? They will never be able to insert art properly since it will break down between those pages. Forget it, we are fine. Herman!!!! Would you bring me some beer already? And take another one to Friedrich over there, he needs to cheer up.” Continue reading “The Second Revolution and the Authors Guild—by Ilil Arbel”
Those who’ve followed my series on writing advice are in for a treat, because starting this month, it won’t be “tips from some dude on the web”, but favorite advice from some major professional writers, some best-sellers, some cult figures, some in my personal pantheon of admiration. Some of these might not seem like earth-shaking angles, but all are worth thinking over because these are people who’ve succeeded at the Master level.
It’s my great pleasure to start out with remarks from Laurence Shames, one of my handful of favorites, the kind of work I can read over and over. There doesn’t seem to be any normal route to writing success, but Larry’s “strategy” is more checkered than most. He was a hotshot magazine writer in New York, contributing editor to Esquire among other glittering credits. Unlike most blue-chip writers, he also did–and still does–ghostwriting, leading to two major flags on his career. He wrote a pseudonymously titled book called “Bad Twin”, which is significant to viewers of the “Lost” TV show, a story within the story that among other things created the fictional Hanso corporation that ran ads in newspapers denouncing it’s “defamation”. Yes, that’s damned weird. His big score was writing the 1991 NYT best-seller “Boss of Bosses” with two FBI agents. The score from that one enabled him to buy a house in Key West and get out of New York. He has ghosted best-sellers since, but it was the move to Key West that, as it has for others, started the magic. You owe it to yourself to read his series of eight luminous novels set there, starting with “Florida Straits”. Joey, scion of a New York mafia family, chucks it and drives down the Keys in search of himself. He strikes out trying to start his own mob in paradise, but comes out on his feet despite incursions of the Family From Hell. A core of a half-dozen characters keep the series linked, even if Joey and his girl aren’t present. Bert the Shirt, his “consigliere” for island ways is a main thread, along with his aging Chihuahua. Continue reading “Tips from the Masters: Laurence Shames”
Author Darcy Scott’s new mystery, Matinicus, is now available. It was released in May of 2012 by Maine Authors Publishing.
