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.
Today, David Avallone offers the third essays in a series of First Two Pages posts from contributors to Friend of the Devil: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of the Grateful Dead, the latest music-themed anthology from editor Josh Pachter. Two weeks back, we hosted Avram Lavinsky with an essay on “Lady with a Fan,” and last week, Linda Landrigan wrote about “Born Cross-Eyed.” David brings a wide set of backgrounds to the table, including work in film and in comic books in addition to prose fiction—and he has pedigree too, as the son of prolific author Michael Avallone. In the essay below, David focuses on other inspirations and influences for his story, specifically how autobiographical elements feed creativity.
Friend of the Devil features many other great writers, including Bruce Robert Coffin, James D.F. Hannah, Vinnie Hansen, James L’Etoile, G.M. Malliet, Twist Phelan, Faye Snowden, Joseph S. Walker, and more—and we’ll be hosting another of these authors next week. Stay tuned to find out who! (…or find out whom? I really need a copy-editor for this site…)
In the meantime, check out the full anthology here, available from Down & Out Books—or ask for it at your local bookseller too, of course!
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.
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