This has been a busy week for me in the blogosphere—with two terrific blots hosting guest posts that I wrote and a third reviewing an anthology my wife, Tara Laskowski, and I contributed to, with a shout-out to our story!
Thanks first to Kristopher Zgorski at BOLO Books for his review of The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell. Here’s an excerpt from the review about our story “Both Sides Now”:
Both Art Taylor and Tara Laskowski are multi-award-winning crime fiction authors, so the first-ever short story collaboration for this husband and wife duo is a hot commodity…and “Both Sides Now” is a perfect source of inspiration. Here, Tara and Art document a marriage in crisis. In alternating communication between a husband in prison for embezzlement and his wife holding down the fort on the outside, this epistolary story slowly reveals how surface image can often obscure the true reality hidden within. In a unusual twist, this writing couple leaves it up to the reader to puzzle out the truth behind the tale.
On the same day Kris’s review appeared, Deborah Lacy at Mystery Playground hosted me for the Drinks With Reads series, pairing a Violet Hour with my new collection The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74 and Other Tales of Suspense—and I track down a couple of mentions on that phrase “violet hour” as well, including a mention in a famous scene in the James Bond novels (one about a different cocktail). Check it out—and mix a Violet Hour for yourself one evening!
Finally, Lesa Holstine at Lesa’s Book Critiques, graciously invited me to contribute a guest blog on any subject of my choosing—so I wrote about the specific challenges of writing about a place you’ve lived or a time you’ve lived through and how research can help jog memories or broaden perspectives. You can read that here.
Thanks to all three for the shout-outs and opportunities this week!