There's More To This Story...

by Ben Small

Just when one thinks the drug wars in Mexico can't get any more bizarre or threatening, circumstances prove otherwise.

Seems the military just shot and killed Ignacio Coronel, #3 Capo of the Sinalua gang, and his left-hand lieutenant, amid Juarez Gang public allegations that President Filipe Caldercon's government favored the Sinalua gang in the fight for Mexico's future, claims which Calderon, of course, angrily denied.

Coronel -- ironic name, huh? -- controlled the Pacific trade, you know, keeping Californians meth-and-coke happy. (I'd list grass, but medical marijuana is spreading in California like its wildfires, and the Golden State's product is the world's gold standard. Ganja may be a two-way street in the California-Mexico drug-smuggling trade.)

Coronel:

So... was Coronel hit in response to the Juarez Gang complaint? Or was it a legit military operation? Or maybe Coronel wasn't ruthless enough in growing a part of the business and his boss thought he'd gain two benefits from a rub-out: move up a young turk and ease pressure on Calderon. Or maybe Coronel screwed up -- like running a hit-man squad out of a Durango prison.

Who knows? But Coronel's Sinalua drug operation was based in Durango, which abuts our border between Yuma and Mexicali.

And that's where the prison's located, [HERE} where twenty-three gang member-inmates died in a January brawl; the prison just sourced for the birthday party massacre you heard about two weeks ago. One hundred twenty rounds fired, twenty-three guests dead. Shots fired wildly into the crowd.

Purpose: to instill pure terror on anyone dealing with the other gang and to scare the bejesus of anyone who would talk or oppose.

The prison's director and top three lieutenants got busted. Charges: Running the prison as an execution squad on hire for the gangs. Seems prisoners used the prison's phones and internet connections to run their businesses, and sent out execution squads for enforcement or rent-a-hit missions, using prison weapons, vehicles and inmates -- some of them juveniles, You know, expendable... Then, job done, the killers returned to prison.

Need I say an operation like this requires support, that there are plenty of folks in the know... and on the take? These gangs are thirty-to-forty years old. The money stream's got a web of tributaries. 

Think Capone and Moran. Think larger scale, longer term. Mucho more moola. Think indiscriminate terror.

And now this on the wires: Citizens of the city housing the prison staged a protest a couple days ago. Folks don't want these people arrested. The protest grew so large even the spooked-out media -- frequent targets of Mexican gang violence -- gathered. One of the gangs -- not sure which one yet -- kidnapped four journalists, including the cameraman and talking-head for Mexico's largest television station. Now that gang is forcing these journalists to blast via videotape the other gang.

This might all be fun if it were fiction.

But this scenario gets worse. The Mexican drug war and its products are leaking through our southwest border like an Arizona wash after a heavy rain.

Money from Mexican drug smuggling is so big, such a significant factor in the Mexican economy, bringing with it corruption on such a massive scale, the government itself is at risk. Today, the American Consulate in Juarez shut down until further notice. Full scale security review. Remember, one of the recent Juarez assassinations targeted a woman responsible for U.S, Visa approvals...

Payback.

You and I know the Juarez American Consulate Building possesses secrets. Homeland Security, Border Patrol, FBI, ICE, DEA; they've all been there. All forms of data flow. The gangs have money and influence. Extortion, blackmail, bribery, trafficking, murder -- tools of the trade. But these guys go further. Terrorism. Beheadings, grenades, an IED attack just last week.

In such an environment, whom do you trust? Secrets slicked green. 

Meanwhile, our border is still unprotected, and the Mexican smuggling trade -- drug and human -- is an Arizona growth industry. 

Stay tuned folks, this story ain't over...

Early Readers, Editors Worth Gold

Wat the Editor Know


Recently, I read this line on a chat group I hang with: An editor who does not charge is not a true editor. That sort of logic if taken to writing would say that an artist or writer or composer is not a true WHATEVER unless he or she is making money at it; unless and editor is making money at editing, he or she is not a real editor. This sort of snobbery has existed in NYC book business forever as they pay editors so well (HA!). I have had many many editors, some who woud place a comma between many many and some who would not, and I have as yet to find one properly compensated by anyone. I have also operated my own editorial services (Knife Services) from my website, and I charge half or a third of what some editors charge, and lately, the business is slow as molasses.

No one wants to pay for editing services. To this I can attest. To qualify that, few want to pay for editing services, but one way or another every author needs a great editor or two or three in order to truly get a MS to sing.

An editor for your work is worth his or her weight in gold, even if he or she edits your work for nothing but the opportunity and "privilege" and charge you nada...for no charge. Despite the line this blog began with, there are capable and surprisingly fine editors among those who do not charge a fee; I know because I have availed myself of some excellent editorial help at no charge over the years. These people are my early readers. People I have cultivated a strong friendship with as a result of our making great books together, people who wind up in my acknowledgment pages.

It may upset some pricey editors (some priced at ten dollars a page if you can imagine it) to hear such talk from a professional writer and published author, but I have relied all my life and career on people who have a sixth sense about what works and what does not work in a manuscript, items you want OUT before the MS goes to press or release to Kindle or Smashwords or wherever you are publishing nowadays.

My Children of Salem, my highest grossing Kindle title, was put through the grist mill by two editors in particular who suffered and struggled with me like Jonah and the Whale until we GOT it. My work in progress, Titanic 2012 has had the tremendous help of two editors in particular who have wrestled that one to the mat where they MAKE me wring out rather than ring out the right words and save me countless embarrssing moments as well as point out plot weaknesses and sags. They are simultaneously copyeditors and developmental editors these folks.

I go back as far as 1965 or 6 working with my Wells High School managing editor on the school newspaper for editorial advice, and damn but she was good with langauge and writing; one lesson she taught me then stayed with me all my writing career - Acitve over Passive. I get cudos for making my work "compelling, fast-paced, a page-turning roller-coaster ride" etc. etc. due in great part to my editorial board -- and now that I am a writer turned publisher putting out Original to Kindle titles, I rely even more on my early readers, my editorial board. They have recently truly impressed me, digging damn deep to make the work the best it can be to the point it is no longer about me but the novel itself that comes first. Of course, it helps that the publishing industry has long, long ago beat the living ego out of me.

My apologies to those who consider themselves legitimate editors because they charge a fee, whether fair or exorbitant, but sorry as I am, I must say that there are people who are not just willing to be early readers for an author but who become invaluable editors an author can and does TRUST, often just as much as he trusts an editor within a publishing house or with a logo. I love editors, love them all, and feel they all deserve a raise but the practice of authors cultivating two, three, four early readers is not likely to stop but increase as we go to press as Indie author-publishers. Certainly been the case with me, but then I had always cultivated early readers. By the same token, over the years, I have learned a great deal from my contacts with all editors, those who were paid--even if poorly by the publsihing house--and those who have graced me with thier help out of the goodness of heart and understanding and unfettered desire to be a part of the process of creation.

Sneak peek of Children of Salem and/or Titanic 2012 is available at http://www.robertwalkerbooks.com/

Thanks so much for coming by and do leave a comment, good, bad, ugly, indifferent but leave some word....

Robert W. Walker (Rob to my friends)

Home Grown by Christine Duncan

Our little once a week newspaper has had a recent feature about most popular county attractions. You know the type of thing...best coffee shop, best bookstore, best local park.

It was a great idea but the problem was that none of the stuff ended up being local. The best coffee shop was Starbucks??? Please, I can tell you about this wonderful place in Olde Town Arvada called La Dolce Vita. (I'll see you guys on Saturday. Save a sticky bun for me!) The best bookstore was Barnes and Noble? No wonder small business is having a bad time right now.

Anyway, the local library is doing the same thing periodically, by having a display of...you guessed it...local authors. And I love it. I have read Marlys Millheiser (she's out of Boulder Colorado.) and Francine Matthews and... well anyway you get the drift.

So I'm wondering--you authors out there--have you thought about doing some kind of promo like this with YOUR library? And you readers, do you read a book just because it's set somewhere you know well or that you are going to travel to?


Christine Duncan is the author of the Kaye Berreano mystery series. Book two, Safe House is available now

A Club for the MOST Mysterious Writers - Ghosts!

Would it surprise you to learn that half the best selling authors in the country aren’t writers? It seems absurd, but I recently read that as many as 50 percent of all New York Times bestsellers are ghostwritten. I’ve also heard that there is great demand for ghostwriters for other types of books and in businesses of all sizes.

This legion of behind-the-scenes writers has been scattered and isolated until now. But an enterprising author has now launched a new trade association designed to help professional writers and authors interested in finding and landing more ghostwriting work. Bestselling author and experienced ghostwriter Marcia Layton Turner (www.marcialaytonturner.com) has founded the Association of Ghostwriters (www.associationofghostwriters.org) to help us all tap into the growing demand for ghostwriting services.

Why are talented ghostwriters in such demand? For one thing, professional speakers, consultants, business executives and coaches want the credibility that comes from having a book published. They know a book will give their business a boost, but either don’t have the time or the skills to write one.

In addition, business people have learned that sharing their knowledge online through blogs and articles helps highlight their expertise and they need help from professional writers. The growth in self-publishing also presents opportunities for subject matter experts to reach a wider audience, if they can present their expertise in a well-written book.

And don’t overlook fiction possibilities. Do you really think James Patterson can write half a dozen novels a year in 7 or 8 different genres? Not by himself he can’t. He employs five full-time collaborators that he pays out of his own pocket. He provides the elaborate outlines and story editing but they provide the actual text. I sure wouldn’t mind being on that team, even if I only got to write the manga version of the next Maximum Ride book.

The Association of Ghostwriters helps members tap into this expanding market for their services. Members get access to monthly teleseminars on marketing, project management, outsourcing, time management and other relevant subjects. There’s also a newsletter, a private forum and most valuable, job postings for ghostwriters. So if you’re more concerned with getting paid for writing than seeing your name in big letters on the cover, this might be the group for you.

An Interview with Hallie Ephron

by Jean Henry Mead

Hallie Ephron is the bestselling author of six novels, including her latest, Never Tell a Lie, a psychological suspense novel set in the Boston suburbs. Her how-to-book, Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel: How to Knock 'Em Dead with Style, was nominated for Edgar and Anthony awards. She's also a book reviewer for the Boston Globe.

Hallie, how did your early environment influence your career as a journalist and novelist?

I grew up in family of writers (my parents wrote plays and movies; my sisters Nora, Delia, and Amy are all well published) in a house that was wall to wall books. The pressure to become a writer was tough to resist. I tried for three decades and then succumbed.

Did you ever consider following in your parent's careers as a screenwriter?

Dialogue isn't my strong suit, and that's what screenplays are. So it was not the natural place for me to begin.

Where did you work as a journalist and did the experience serve you well when you began writing novels?

I never thought of myself as a journalist. I wrote essays and feature articles for magazines and now I review crime fiction for the Boston Globe. Reviewing books--and more importantly reading lots of them--has helped me see why some books work and others don't. So it's really helped me as a teacher, and also as a critic of my own work.

Tell us about your latest, a psychological suspense novel, Never Tell a Lie. How did the story come about?

I got the idea when I was at a yard sale near my house. It was a big Victorian house, one where my daughter used to play with the children of a former owner. I was dying to find out how the interior had been transformed. I drilled the poor homeowner with questions until finally she said, “Why don’t you go inside and have a look around?” I didn't wait for her to change her mind. As I wandered on, through the upstairs, I thought: What if a woman goes to a yard sale. Somehow she manages to talk her way into the house. She goes inside and…she never comes out.

The idea made the hair on my neck stand up. I knew right away that my next novel would start with that yard sale. I knew that the woman running the yard sale would be nine months pregnant, and the woman who comes to the yard sale and disappears would be nine months pregnant, too.

When did you decide to write how-to writing books and what do they encompass?

I didn't actually decide... I was teaching a class for writers and the acquiring editor for Writer Digest Books sat in on a bit of my class. Afterward, she asked if I'd like to write a book about mystery writing. I jumped at the opportunity. I started my career as a teacher, and this gave me a chance to combine teaching and writing.

How do you select books to review for the Boston Globe? And do you always try to find something good to write in each review or do you just cut to the chase?

I pick from the 80 or so titles sent to me each month. Yes, I try to find books I like. If I don't like a book I stop reading and go on to the next one in the pile. But if I review I book I don't like, I say so--but I try not to be flip or clever about it, just as specific as I can.

What’s the best way to acquire an agent and are they necessary to sell fledgling books?

Yes, they are essential if you want to be published by a mainstream press. Agents have become the arbiters of taste. The process is well documented--in Writers Digest Guide to Literary Agents it's all laid out plus detailed information about each agent and how to contact them. Just follow the rules about querying. And be patient. And revise, revise, revise if you are fortunate to get comments back.

Advice to aspiring writers?

Keep at it. Perseverance pays. Grow a rhinoceros hide so you don't take criticism personally, but hear it and use it to make the work better.

What do you stress most in your fiction courses at writers’ conferences?

Not to send a work out too early--I see so many authors jump the gun and send out manuscripts that still need work.

Hallie Ephron's website: http://www.hallieephron.com/

Her blog: http://www.jungleredwriters.com/

Promote, promote, promote by Vivian Zabel

Each year I attend two writing conferences: OWFI (Oklahoma Writers' Federation Inc.) writing conference the first of May and The Muse on Line Writers' Conference in October. I always bring at least one or two excellent ideas away with me.

OWFI had Dana Stabenow as the keynote speaker in May. I don't usually take notes during the keynote speech at the Friday night banquet, but she gave some excellent promotion tips.

You don't know Dana Stabenow? Then please go to your local Wal-Mart, Target, or bookstore, or Amazon, and find her books. She writes mysteries (of course) which take place in her home state Alaska. She is becoming more well-known all the time, and she is a best selling author.

One strong point brought out by Dana, publishers don't do much for promotion unless the author is already famous. That isn't a surprise to most of us. Even James Patterson pitches his books on television. Therefore, she decided she would do a major promotion for her books herself, using the Internet.

For her first major promotion she used her website to present one chapter of the book per month starting four months before its release, and she used only the first four chapters, no more. She gave a free ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of the book each month for those four months.

Dana wrote and posted a transitional chapter linking book one to the next book, or the book before the current book to the current book. She covered what happened to her main characters (which include a wolf) and community from one novel to the next.

The Stabenow URL (http://Stabenow.com) appeared on everything, everywhere she could place it. Her website offers great advice for writers, too.

She paid for a professional trailer, which she discovered was not cost effective. Now one not done by a professional, but of good quality, does the job.

After the first book she promoted so strongly, Dana adjusted her procedure some. She began to do only one except before the release of a book, but continued adding a transitional chapter between the previous book and the current one soon to be released. She also offered an ARC as a prize a couple of times before the release of a novel, rather than one each month for four months.

Dana puts out five newsletters each year, with an active "buy" link in each e-newletter.

One thing Dana Stabenow covered, too, was building a platform (sometimes called a marketing plan), by which potential buyers can be reached. Facebook, Twitter, other social networking groups, and building followers for one's blog and website are a few ways to build a platform. Also, collecting email addresses through having people subscribe to her newsletter helps.

I am already using some of these ideas to promote my newest novel, to be released in October, and encourage other authors to do the same. I set up a website for Stolen, the novel, and incorporated some of Dana Stabenow's tips. I'll share any successes.

Since I face surgery tomorrow morning and will be rather limited for two months, I may not be back for a while. However, keep learning and writing and improving.

Vivian Zabel
Brain Cells & Bubble Wrap
4RV Publishing

Diversity

Since many of my stories are set in Hawaii, I pay attention to news reports from that state. A recent report on the national news made me laugh. According to this report, more than half of the businesses in Hawaii are minority-owned. Why did this make me laugh? Because more than half of the people in Hawaii belong to minority ethnic groups. There is no majority in Hawaii. So this was a "dog bites man" story and I wondered why it was even newsworthy.

Because my stories are set in Hawaii, I people them with a variety of ethnicities. To make everybody white would not reflect the reality of the setting. In most cases, I don't even mention a character's ethnicity and let the name take care of that. Some readers have commented that my stories have a lot of Chinese and Japanese characters. Well, yes, there are a lot of  Chinese and Japanese living there. Some of my characters have Anglo-sounding names and the reader doesn't know their ethnicity unless I tell them. In most of my stories, ethnicity is unimportant.

For the major characters, of course, ethnicity is important. It's a part of who they are and it explains some of the things they do.  I give a lot of thought to their ethnicity because my choices have implications not only for how the story is told, but for how it is received by readers. Stories have protagonists and antagonists. Mysteries have good guys and bad guys. Does portraying a bad guy as a member of an ethnic minority slander all members of that ethnicity? The complaints of some Italian-Americans that they are unfairly demonized in gangster movies is a case in point. Most authors will say that the ethnicity of their characters simply reflects the reality they are portraying. If there are Italian, Chinese, African-American, Japanese or Hispanic criminals in any population, there are many more people, the vast majority of whom are law-abiding citizens.

But stories are not about demographics. They are about protagonists and antagonists. So how does an author deal with ethnicity? Despite a few remarkable exceptions--S.J. Rozan's Lydia Chin, George Pelecanos's Derek Strange, and Tony Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn, for examples--most authors seem to draw their protagonist from their own ethnic background. I'm Caucasian and so is the main character in most of my stories.

What about antagonists? In Pilikia Is My Business, the antagonists were Caucasian, Japanese, and Hawaiian-Portuguese. In Splintered Paddle, the bad guy is a Caucasian. I had in mind a Robert Mitchum-like character. My short stories have included antagonists from a variety of ethnicities. Other writers of stories set in Hawaii have done the same, for the simple reason that the population is diverse and the composition of the characters reflect that diversity. I personally view that population diversity as a strength of the state and set my stories there for that reason.

However, I admit that I worry how my readers will perceive that diversity, especially on the part of my antagonists. Do I offend people of Chinese ancestry if the bad guy is Chinese? Likewise for Japanese or other ethnicities. Some years ago, I took part in a discussion group in which one of the participants, in all seriousness and with great vehemence, contended that a white author who creates a minority antagonist is motivated by racial prejudice at worst or racial insensitivity at best. I don't believe that. I believe a writer must be faithful to the setting and its people. Nevertheless, every story-character attribute is the result of a conscious choice by the author. Our antagonists, in particular, will have many undesirable traits. When we combine those traits with ethnic identity might we be perpetuating hateful stereotypes?

I don't have an answer. I think it is a cop-out to say we're simply mirroring society and culture. At the same time I abhor the idea of balancing characters, e.g. creating a good fill-in-the-blank-ethnic character for every bad fill-in-the-blank-ethnic character. What do think? How do you authors handle it? How do you readers feel about it?

Mark
Visit my blog Hawaiian-eye
My web page http://www.marktroy.net