Barbara's Blog

Here's an old one, to remind me that I really do need to get back to painting. Having turned in the manuscript for the next Hollywood murder mystery just before Christmas, I've been putting together outlines for what I hope will be the next Ben January book (# 21!) and the next Hollywood book (which will take place mostly in the film industry in New York, which was just as much a center of motion picture production in the mid-'20s as Hollywood was, and a lot more fun after hours). Writing up an outline is like pre-writing the book. I, at least, have to figure out what happens, and how; who's the villain, who gets killed, and why. Any murder mystery is actually two stories: the story of the crime itself, and then the story of how Mr. Holmes or Lord Peter or Professor Tamar figures out whodunnit. And, in my case at least, to give a picture of the world, the society, in which such events take place, which is a large part of the fun. It's one reason I love historicals. ...

  Whew! I seem to always be apologizing for not keeping up with my Social Media - and I apologize yet again. Since Thanksgiving I have been working down to the wire on the deadline for the third Hollywood mystery, Saving Susie Sweetchild - a bit darker than the first two, since it deals with the kidnapping of a child. But the manuscript is done, I really enjoyed both working on it and researching it (except researching the parts about actual kidnappings in the 'teens and '20s of the 20th Century. That was pretty awful). The stuff about how child stars were treated in the silent films was pretty scary as well. I HIGHLY recommend Diana Serra Carey's Whatever Happened to Baby Peggy? and Hollywood's Children . Benjamin January # 20 ( 20?!? ), The Nubian's Curse , will be out in January - in time for at least part of the holiday season, since the frame-story is Christmas-to-Twelfth-Night. And I hope to get at least a little down-time, to work (finally!) on more Further...

  Happy Thanksgiving to all! A very busy time of year here, even BEFORE the giant windstorm stripped the palm-tree in my back yard of ALL its accumulated dead fronds and deposited them in my front yard. (The nice folks from 800-GOT-JUNK? just drove away with an entire truck-load). Just finished the next-to-last polish of "Saving Susie Sweetchild" (Hollywood #3), and will get started (finally!) on a couple of Further Adventures before tackling the final polish and pulling together outlines for the next Benjamin January and the next Hollywood mysteries. Benjamin January # 20 - "The Nubian's Curse" - will be out in January, a little bit to my regret, since it has a Christmas framing-story and it would have been nice to come out for the holiday. But, it has gotten stellar reviews in Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist - which tells me I'm doing my job. PW:  Hambly’s outstanding 20th whodunit featuring formerly enslaved doctor Benjamin January (after  De...

  More fun with research. I've been re-reading Sylvia Lovegren's book Fashionable Food - which is a history of food fads in the 20th century, complete with recipies. (!) From the '70s on (it goes up to the early '90s) it's a disconcerting journey down memory lane ("Hey, I remember fondue parties! I remember fern bars!") but the 1920s-30s are downright horrifying (and extremely useful, as I'm hoping to do at least several more Hollywood mysteries). Banana-and-popcorn salad garnished with mayonnaise? "Boil the spaghetti in salted water for 1 hour"? Not to mention the history of Chinese food in America... In other news, I will be a guest at the local LA convention, Loscon, Thanksgiving weekend. The convention is at the LAX Marriott Friday the 24-Sunday the 26th - I'll be there Saturday and Sunday, on panels and (I hope) doing a signing. And for those of you who live in the San Fernando Valley and are looking for a really tasty Mexican resta...

It's darker earlier, the nights are a bit more chilly, the neighbors are putting up all sorts of weird decorations in their yards, and it's time for the Halloween watchlist.  And as I was going through spooky stuff to watch and listen to, I unearthed an old favorite: David McCallum reading H.P. Lovecraft's "Haunter of the Dark." And boy, did McCallum get into reading that one! The man had a lovely voice, and wonderful delivery, even when Lovecraft's prose goes a little over the top. (Or a lot over the top. It takes a fine artist to deliver some of those lines with the audio equivalent of a straight face). Other Halloween favorites in the audio line (I listen to audio books while doing physical therapy exercises): Dan Starkey reading Wm Hope Hodgeson's "The Whistling Room." I don't know the name of the fellow who reads my audio version of Wilde's "The Canterville Ghost," or Poe's "Masque of the Red Death." I think i...

  Happy Birthday, John! And in other news, finished the rough draft of the next Hollywood book (Saving Susie Sweetchild) - with a lot of work left to do! The rough draft is always the hardest, the second draft - the one where I need to line up the continuity and make sure I explain WHY somebody is making attempts on Our Hero's life - is in some ways nearly as much work, but a lot more fun. I think someone once described the rough draft as akin to what I think is called a "table read" in drama - the characters are all sitting around in sweatshirts and jeans just getting the dialog in line. Second draft is adding in costumes and settings and lighting and music.

  A picture of Mom from 2012 - inevitably and joyfully with Dad. Today would have been her 95th birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom! Glad you get to spend it with Dad! Love you!