At the HoTSinC meeting on Jan 8, I offered a writing challenge to the members, with this knife as the prize. The parameters are taken from Ellery Queen magazine’s guidelines for a short story, which are between 2500 and 8000 words (approx 10 to 32 pgs depending on the font, word processor, etc.) For those who weren’t there, the knife is a “hunting knife” of 8.5″ overall length and a blade of 4″. Surgical steel blade, Paka wood handle and comes with a leather sheath.
I wish I could accept emailed manuscripts, but I’m just not set up for it, so at the next meeting, Feb 12, everyone give me their printed out manuscript with their name on, of course, and the word count. We will announce our winner at the March meeting at BookPeople. We are all pros, but I’ll just mention that the font should be pretty standard, like Times New Roman, nothing fancy or hard to read, and the usual size 12 or 14. Please no pink paper!
The story has to be a crime/mystery that includes the knife in this picture. It doesn’t necessarily have to be THE weapon, just in the story somewhere.
Author Dave Ciambrone will present Death by Firearms or, What Really Happens When You Shoot Someone at the January 8th Sisters in Crime Heart of Texas Chapter meeting, 2:15 p.m. at the Yarborough Branch of the Austin Public Library.
Dave Ciambrone
In addition to describing different types of firearms and ammunition, Dave will discuss how to fire a gun successfully, and how the impact from a bullet affects the human body. He will also talk about using firearms for self-defense.
He will address the differences between reality and Hollywood shootings. Using visual aids, he will show the impacts of ballistic gel bullets on actual gun shot victims, none of whom survived.
Following his presentation, Dave will take questions from the audience.
Dr. David (Dave) Ciambrone spent 40 years developing weapons for the military and special equipment for government clandestine organizations. He took the “short course” at Camp Perry for the CIA. He worked with a police department and was a consultant to the LA County Coroner. Dave did consulting for police and sheriffs around the country. He has also consulted for National Laboratories.
An award-winning and best-selling author, Dr. Ciambrone has published 19 books, (2 textbooks, 4 nonfiction, and 13 mysteries) and has more in work. He wrote three newspaper columns and a business journal column. He has been VP of the Orange County, California, Sisters-in Crime chapter, and twice president and treasurer of Heart of Texas Chapter of sisters in Crime. Dave has spoken at numerous writing conferences around the country.
Sisters in Crime Heart of Texas Chapter meets at the Yarborough Branch of the Austin Public Library, 2200 Hancock Drive, Austin, Texas. Meetings are free and open to the public. For more information, email Joyce Arquette, Publicity, JArquette at austin dot rr dot com.
*****
Opening Line
On November the twenty-first, the day of her forty-seventh birthday, and three weeks and two days before she was murdered, Rhoda Gradwyn went to Harley Street to keep a first appointment with her plastic surgeon, and there in a consulting room designed, so it appeared, to inspire confidence and allay apprehension, made the decision which would inexorably lead to her death. ~ P. D. James, The Private Patient
“Last bit of news for this week. I decided to put together a short story anthology that I’m calling DAY OF THE DARK. It’s inspired by the total eclipse of the sun coming up August 21st, 2017. Wildside Press has agreed to get it to publication in time! I’ve gotten several submissions already, but the deadline is 1/31/17. (Yikes, it’s almost 2017!) Here’s the details from the announcement I sent out. Feel free to ask me about this if you’re interested!”
“Everyone predicted a bad reunion. Few expected murder…”
For the December 2016 HOTXSINC meeting, members of the dysfunctional Stout clan gathered at their ancestral home in the mountains. The next morning, the elderly head of the family, Malachi Stout, was found dead, smothered in his sleep. The safe in his study was open and–the family jewels were gone.
Phone lines were down, and rain had washed out the road to town, so it was up to the Stout family to determine–Whodunnit?
Armed with the mystery game Malachi Stout’s Family Reunion, Valerie Chandler led HOTXSINC members in a rousing murder investigation. Which of the suspects pictured below killed Malachi Stout?
“Shames’s superior sixth Samuel Craddock mystery…a prequel set possibly during the early 1970s, explores a significant case at the start of the retired police chief’s career. Skilled depictions of the lawman’s formative choices and emotions enhance a timely story with resonance in the era of Black Lives Matter.”
—Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“The characters are believable and the plot is fascinating. Fast-paced, intriguing, and like an Agatha Christie novel…River City Dead is one adventure I highly recommend to all. ” ~ Danielle Urban, Goodreads
At the HoTSinC meeting on Jan 8, I offered a writing challenge to the members, with this knife as the prize. The parameters are taken from Ellery Queen magazine’s guidelines for a short story, which are between 2500 and 8000 words (approx 10 to 32 pgs depending on the font, word processor, etc.) For those who weren’t there, the knife is a “hunting knife” of 8.5″ overall length and a blade of 4″. Surgical steel blade, Paka wood handle and comes with a leather sheath.
AN UNSETTLING CRIME FOR SAMUEL CRADDOCK: A Samuel Jarrett Mystery