Authors interviewing characters? What?

Have you visited The Plotline? It's a funky little place where authors get to talk to characters in a whole new light.

If you visit today, for instance, you'll be treated to an interview with Tom Nelson, protagonist of Janeology. That is, if he decides to show up. Sometimes he sends others in his place.

http://theplotline.wordpress.com/2008/05/20/interview-with-tom-nelson-of-janeology/

Best,

K. Harrington
What did Jane do?
www.karenharringtonbooks.com

Stumped

From the diary of Tiffany the Toilet Ranger:

Really, a campground over a long weekend is a great setting for a mystery - of any type - suspense, cozy, psychological thriller … all the elements are there. I know, I was there, too.

The balding fellow with the huge RV, the tiny yappy dashboard dog off-leash and a cougar in the area - what was he thinking? Squirrels are bigger than that animal for gosh sakes and if the mutt were to disappear down the maze of gopher holes, he would never ever be found again. Would the perplexed owner with the big rec equipment think someone had stolen his pouch … would he be set on revenge?

Where would he look to cast blame?

Suspense: On the couple running naked through the trees and doing a very private act in a very public place? Wait - I can see there's no where to hide a dog, even a very small one, there.

Psychological thriller: Maybe it was the group with the axes stuck into the environmentally protected trees? Too bad there is nothing to save them from the mentally deficient. Is the pampered pet chopped liver?

Cozy: How about the Goth with the dog collar around her neck - that collar looks pretty tight - did she take it from the yappy-happy puppy? Are those ripped leggings from Rover’s roving claws?

Action: The dudes with the dynamite fireworks - did they accidently light Rover over a cherry bomb? Will the dudes steal a high speed cleaning cart, bust the barricade and dump the deceased into the ash pit?

Accidental Death: Or maybe it was a bear, waking up, hungry and thinking the diminutive dog was just a berry on the bush - smush, chomp, swallow - no evidence there until it comes out the other end - miles away - in a cave high above the tree line.

Such are the ponderings of a toilet ranger.

If one whiff of smoke from an arsonist’s fire made you see into a killer’s mind, would you consider it a gift or a curse?

Whether you believe in psychic or paranormal phenomena or not, there is an element of the "unknown", happenings that don't lend to logical explanations. Since the beginning of mankind, there have been reports of strange or unusual phenomena--UFOs, psychic visions, crop circles, Stonehenge and much more.

Do you believe in the paranormal? What exactly do you believe?

Can God or an ultimate power still be found within a psychic gift?
Or is this power coming from something or somewhere evil?

Have you ever had a premonitory dream or vision? Ever touch
something and suddenly know who held it last and why?

For some, paranormal gifts are a reality; for others a curse and for many an impossible feat. Some of us avoid thinking about it, while others are drawn to television shows like Medium and Ghost Whisperer or to novels like Divine Intervention that explore the luring world of the paranormal.

For CFBI Agent Jasmine McLellan, her special gift as a Pyro-Psychic gives her an ‘edge’ as she leads a covert team of psychic government agents in search of some of North America ’s most ruthless criminals.

Jasi and her team hunt for a deadly serial arsonist who is bent on revenge and murder in Divine Intervention, a novel that explores abortion, abuse and abandonment.

Vicious murders, deadly secrets, suspects with hidden agendas and a dead girl’s ghost in Jasi’s closet are the key elements to Divine Intervention, book 1 in a paranormal suspense series set slightly in the future, and a novel for fans of J. D. Robb and Kay Hooper or TV’s CSI , Ghost Whisperer and Medium.

"An exciting book from start to finish...mystery fans will love this book." --Writer's Digest

Read an excerpt.

Order Divine Intervention on Amazon.com or Chapters.ca.

P.S. I welcome your thoughts on the questions above.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,

author of Divine Intervention

Husbands Who cheat...with other men.

A little more than ten years ago, an article in a local paper caught my attention. It wasn’t just that it was well written (which it was), but the subject matter, because it corresponded so closely with research I was already doing in preparation for writing my novel, truly piqued my interest. The article began with the information that doctors, investigators and social scientists were puzzled by a sudden increase in HIV/AIDS cases in Long Island. The thing that really made this outbreak all the more mysterious was that the great majority of these new HIV/AIDS cases involved heterosexual married women. Subsequent investigation revealed that most of these women had been infected by their husbands who, it was later found out, had been sexually involved with some of the young male prostitutes that regularly ply their trade on the streets of New York City. In one extreme case, one of those husbands murdered his entire family fearing he’d passed the HIV/AIDS virus on to them because of his extramarital dalliances with male prostitutes.
Men sleeping with men certainly isn't new, even married men having sex with other males isn't a new idea, I believe it was Alexander the Great who said,and I paraphrase here, "A woman to bear children, a boy for fun." What has seemingly brought all this to the fore is the attention it's getting from and through the media. Recent events headlined in national news were the arrests of a famous celebrity, a couple of senators and other politicians, and top executives of Disney (of all places!) for either allegedly trolling public restrooms for man-on-man quickies, or for promoting child pornography. In 2007 alone, there were at least ten instances of well-known or at least well-to-do married "straight" men arrested by police or captured by the media either having sex or attempting to have sex with other men in public places, or in the case of the media; discreetly in motels or hotels. What confuses many of the friends and family (especially the wives) of these men is that they insist that they are "straight." Very few of these men ever admit to being homosexual, even when caught in the act of performing what is clearly a homosexual act. A few years ago a non-fiction book was published on the subject of men, specifically black men, secretly being sexually involved with other men. "On the Down Low: A Journey into the Lives of 'Straight' Black Men Who Sleep with Men" (Hardcover)by J.L. King (Author), became a best-seller.
What are the factors involved that would cause a seemingly happily married man to pursue a sexual relationship with another man? I would imagine they are the same as those that would lure a man into an extramarital affair with someone of the opposite sex. Other factors may contribute to the liaison(s) with other men however, such as latent( or not so latent) homosexual desire, easier sexual access, the thrill of performing a societal taboo... one or more of those things could be a deciding factor in causing or luring a married man into a covert homosexual relationship. In actuality however, the reasons a probably as complicated and numerous as the number of persons involved in such affairs. It would probably take a lot more knowledge in the area than I have, and many years of study to figure it all out completely.

My novel Chickenhawk was inspired, at least in part, by the revelations in those previously mentioned newspaper articles.

To CSI or not CSI...that's the question!

Recently, mystery/crime writer Patricia Cornwell donated a lot of money for the creation of a crime scene academy at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Why? See the excerpt of the article below that appeared in the newspaper, USA Today.

NEW YORK (AP) — Patricia Cornwell is donating $1 million to a top criminal justice college for a new academy to teach CSI techniques.
The best-selling novelist said she's taking action because she's appalled by what she's seen at crime scene investigations.
"I've seen cops walk through blood. I've seen them leave their own fingerprints on a window," Cornwell said in an interview Friday. "I've seen bloody clothing put in a plastic bag, instead of a paper bag, so it decomposes."
Her funding will help start the Crime Scene Academy at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, set to open this fall with training in DNA typing, fingerprint enhancement techniques, ballistics and forensic psychology.

Later, Ms. Cornwell recanted her words and, more or less, apologized for the above quote. As writers of mystery/crime-related stories, articles, novels and books, we often get mired down in finding the facts. We do research and interview experts and sources in order to have authentic information in our works. In the case of works of fiction, truth may be even more important since we ask our readers to suspend their disbelief while reading our words and trust in us enough to let us lead them into our world. Few things can be as jarring to a reader than to find a miscue or incorrect information in the middle of an otherwise fully engaging story. I was once reading a great story( although the title and author momentarily escape me) in which the author describes how one of the characters screws a silencer onto the end of a revolver. Revolvers don't have silencers that can be screwed onto the end of their barrels and they wouldn't work if they did anyway. Truth in fiction is important, especially in crime drama.

But, getting back to the CSI thing... First off, I know a lot of cops (heck, I'm a former employee of the NYPD myself), and although Crime Scene Investigations are an extremely important part of any investigation, most cops know that the great majority of crimes are solved by their stoolies and street informers. I have watched cops and/or agents at crime scenes and have sometimes winced at the lack of respect for the crime scene. I have watched cops smoke at crime scenes, dropping ashes and spent cigarettes carelessly onto the ground or floor, cops move furniture, sit down, flush toilets, wipe their feet... I even once watched as an officer ate sunflower seeds and spit the shells onto the prone body of the perp! The truth is, although CSI makes for great television and even better writing, in real life it often takes a back seat to pounding the streets, knocking on doors, interviewing witnesses, or talking to informants. The CSI stuff, hairs, fibers, prints, etc. usually go into building a more solid case; something that can be presented to a D.A. and a judge. It can be used to elevate a case from purely circumstantial to indisputable, and certainly is crucial to getting a conviction... but the initial work, the grunt work, is what, most often than not, gets the bad guy or at least points the cops in the right direction. So Patricia Cornwell has nothing to apologize for... at least as far as I'm concerned.