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.
Throughout February, we’ve been hosting contributors to Gone Fishin’, the new anthology from the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime. So far, Cindy Martin has offered reflections on her story, “Sand, Salt, Slay,” and Kate Fellowes has provided insights on “Pier Pressure,” her contribution to the collection. This week, we’re welcoming Lisbeth Mizula on “Travels for the Traditional Man”—and we encourage readers to check out the full collection, edited by James M. Jackson and published by Wolf’s Echo Press (buylinks at their website here). The book is subtitled Crime Takes a Holiday, and as the press materials clarify, crime also “Steals, Disrupts, Upends, Wrecks, Destroys and/or Shatters a Holiday” as well, so whatever their vacation plans, the characters here are in for trouble ahead—and readers are in for a ride of their own.
I started to write “in for fun” above—then hesitated, because murder isn’t always fun, right? But I think we’re safe to count on it from our guest today, who emphasizes in her bio a background in writing and performing stand-up comedy and ends the essay below with wanting to write “a story that brings a chuckle or a smile.” Lisbeth Mizula’s short fiction has appeared in local and national publications, she has a horror/romance novella in the editing stage, and she’s currently working on a humorous mystery set in Good Deeds, Texas—the small town where “good deeds are legally required of all residents every Tuesday, the only acceptable excuses being jail, institutions, or death.” I sense a series in the making.
Thanks to Cindy, Kate, and now Lisbeth for sharing these essays on their stories, and congratulations to them and to all the contributors to Gone Fishin’ !
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.
Lisbeth-Mizula
