This week’s Fractured Fragment is from “Hard Times” – the sixth Detective Jimmy Delaney story. “Hard Times” started by seeing too many commercials with women in blue dresses warning me to see a doctor if it lasts more than four hours (the things you see advertised on television now; why, when I was a kid…) … Continue reading
Last Week’s Goals My three blog entries posted on schedule usual. Two submissions returned from market and I sent them right back out. Heinlein would be so proud… I now have a little over two weeks to go before my next scheduled release day (May 13th), but I still haven’t decided what it will be. … Continue reading
We have a lot of rabbits in our neighborhood. Years ago, I learned that one way to keep rabbits from eating your plants is to sprinkle garlic powder on them. It seems to work. I’ve joked that the rabbits smell the garlic and suspect that we are preparing stew, and they are too smart to … Continue reading
This week it’s time to visit the fifth Detective Jimmy Delaney tale: “Killing Them Softly.” Writing a pseudo-speculative-fiction detective series, I often find myself looking for creative and unusual ways to kill people. It often reminds me of The Avengers (not the Marvel superhero club – the old British television series about secret agents Mr. … Continue reading
As I’ve been studying recently, I’ve found a lot of ideas to think about and look for in my own stories, but I haven’t found anyone else’s method that I can duplicate. I find myself taking those alien methods apart and cobbling bits and pieces into my revision process, and that hopefully makes my finished stories better. Continue reading
The world seems to be in utter turmoil to many of us. The Russian invasion of Ukraine. The disaster in Afghanistan and the coddling of Iran’s zealots suggests terrorism on the rise. A doddering man who is incapable of leading the free world. Two years of stopping the spread. Lockdowns. Shut downs. Masks. Vaccines. Soaring … Continue reading
This week we move on to the fourth Detective Jimmy Delaney tale: “The Scent of the Crime.” Our memories are tied tightly into scents, and I wondered if it might be possible to use the combination of scents from a crime scene to trigger a reaction that would give away the perpetrator – that was … Continue reading
Last Week’s Goals All blog entries posted as usual. No stories returned from market, so no need to recycle. I have about a month to go before my next scheduled release day (May 13th), so I need to decide what that release will be. I hadn’t intended to write any short fiction until I completed … Continue reading
I started my writing ‘career’ in 2004. Actually, there should be air-quotes around the ‘started’, too. Although I made the determination to start writing in 2004, I didn’t finish my first story until 2008, and my second in 2010. My third came in 2011. If you’re following, that’s 4 years, then 2 years, then 1; … Continue reading
This week we visit “The Right Idea” – Detective Jimmy Delaney story #3. I wrote “In a Flash” as a standalone short story, and thought that was it – but then Jimmy said “Hey, what about this other case, and “Mixed Signals” came to be. But once I let Jimmy in he wouldn’t go away. … Continue reading
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