The First Two Pages: “In a Land of Fear and Denial” by Lisa de Nikolits

In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.

Thanks to Lisa de Nikolits for reaching out and letting me know about the Mesdames of Mayhem‘s latest anthology, In the Spirit of 13, celebrating the group’s 10th anniversary and featuring new short stories by de Nikolits and other members of this Canadian crime writers collective, including Catherine Astolfo, Rosemary Aubert, J.E. Barnard, Jane Petersen Burfield, M.H. Callway, Melodie Campbell, Donna Carrick, Cheryl Freedman, Therese Greenwood, Marilyn Kay, Blair Keetch, Rosemary McCracken, Cat Mills, Lynne Murphy, Ed Piwowarczyk, Rosalind Place, Madona Skaff, Caro Soles, Kevin P. Thornton, Sylvia Maultash Warsh, and Melissa Yi.

I’ll be hosting several contributors to the anthology at the First Two Pages, beginning today with de Nikolits herself, with Rosemary McCracken and M.H. Callway ahead.

Lisa’s a prolific writers of novels and short stories both, and her latest release, Everything You Dream Is Real, a sequel to her novel The Rage Room, will be released October 18. You can check out more of Lisa’s work at her website—and, of course, read her essay below for a sample as well!

Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.