Short Story Wednesday Review: Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers Edited by Kate Flora, Ruth McCarty, and Susan Oleksiw

From the massively magnificent archive… 

 

Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers edited by Kate Flora, Ruth McCarty, and Susan Oleksiw was the fourth annual anthology released by Level Best Books. The “Al Blanchard” award winning story in this edition was “Roundhouse Medeiros and the Jade Dragon” by Jim Shannon. The story is a good one as are all of the stories in the anthology. Below are a few of my personal favorites:

 

“Winter Rental” by Barbara Ross revolves around the idea of a small group of women time sharing a heated bungalow on Nantucket. While their gender may be the same, their places in life and purposes are very different.

 

Stephen D. Rogers can always be counted on for a good tale told well and “/KS” certainly fits the bill. Transcribing interview tapes of detectives may not be glamorous but the information provided can help.

 

Planning the harvest is not easy as Frank Cook observes in his story, “Liberty.” But, when it all comes together, the harvest can be bountiful and a beautiful thing.

 

“Disturbance in the Field” by Roberta Isleib proves that sometimes the cops just know things have been tampered with despite evidence to the contrary.

 

You just can’t judge things on appearance as S. A. Daynard skillfully points out in “The Good Samaritan.”

 

In “The Hechicera’s Ace” by John Russo lady luck isn’t all she is advertised to be.

 

Despite the planning, having a loan go bad simply isn’t acceptable in “Killer De-Termination” by Paula Mello.

 

Also contained in this strong anthology are stories from Norma Burrows, Catherine Cairns, John Clark, Kate Flora (editor), Judith Green, Janet Halpin, Woody Hanstein, Marilis Hornidge, Ruth M. McCarty (editor), Susan Oleksiw (editor), Carol Perry, Mary E. Stibal, John Urban, Kathleen Valentine and Leslie Wheeler. Each story is a good one and each author created a tale well worth reading.

 

The stories, in general, often are complex and feature characters living on the fringes that don’t quite fit into society. Coping with physical demons of both the mental and physical variety, these characters are in a daily struggle to survive. Sometimes the outcomes are considerably more positive than in other cases though each story provides a sort of life lesson to the reader.  Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers is a good anthology that showcases new and well published writers coming from a variety of viewpoints and styles and culminates in a good enjoyable read.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2007, 2016, 2022

Guest Post: Author Kate Flora on "Branding, Platform Building, and the Call of Story"

Please welcome author Kate Flora to the blog today….

Branding, Platform Building, and the Call of Story

Thirty-three years ago, I bought a computer, sat down at a desk, and started writing a mystery. That led to another, and another, and another, as I got hooked on the writing process. Along the way, during the ten years I spent in the unpublished writer’s corner, trying to write in the company of the boy who never slept and the one who was an escape artist, I ended up with several trial books in the drawer, learned to be a

better writer, and developed the alligator-tough skin a writer needs to survive rejection. I found a character I loved in my Thea Kozak “strong woman” series. I acquired an agent and a three-book hard/soft deal and thought I’d gone to the show.

I was living every writer’s dream. A book a year. Nine months of writing. Three months of promotion. I would have been happy if that had gone on forever. But that was not to be. Publishing is a game of numbers and mine, alas, convinced my publisher to drop the series. One year I had two new books out—a series book and a stand-alone suspense and the next series book in the pipeline—the next year, I was the writer formerly known as Kate Flora or Katharine Clark, wondering what to do next.

This was before we worried about branding and platform building. This was back when writers thought mostly about storytelling. When I was dumped, as so many of us are, I pondered my options. Go back to practicing law, fade away from utter despair (even the alligator-tough can despair), or find something new to write. This period taught me the value of taking chances. Getting dumped led to a publishing collaboration with Susan Oleksiw and Skye Alexander, producing yearly anthologies of crime stories by New England writers as Level Best Books. Getting dumped made me realize that interviewing cops for my series had made me fascinated by the police officers’ lives, and to a new series of police procedurals, my award-winning Joe Burgess series set in Portland, Maine.

At the time, I had no idea where that would take me. Writing cops meant spending time with cops. R.A.D. classes, citizens’ police academy, ride-alongs, and developing contacts who could answer questions. Writing cops also meant reciprocal relationships with police officers who were interested in writing. I coached writing; they answered questions. Until the day one of my contacts had a murder investigation he wanted to write about, and my coaching role became a collaboration on a true crime. The result was the Edgar-nominated book, Finding Amy: A True Story of Murder in Maine.

What does all this have to do with platform building and branding? Well, the advice we’re given these days is to pick an area—thriller, suspense, police procedurals, traditional mystery, or true crime—and focus on that to create a personal brand. As a writer, I believe in going where the story is. That means I still write the occasional Thea Kozak mystery when a story idea fits that series, and love revisiting Joe Burgess to see what he and my fictional Portland cops are up to. It also means that when my public safety contacts have stories to tell, and need a collaborator, I say yes. This means that I’m straddling the line between fiction and

non-fiction. It means that if I have a brand—it’s crime and cops and telling the stories behind the headlines.

If someone were to ask, “What do you write?” I’d have to answer: mysteries, including strong, amateur, female PI and police procedurals. Suspense novels. Short stories. True crime. And most recently, memoir. And not MY memoir. Yes, I can hear the branding police and the diligent digital carpenters who are building my platform say in disbelief, “Memoir? What were you thinking?”

Yup. Because story calls up. The deputy police chief who wanted to write about a case led me to the Maine warden service, whose search and rescue expertise and trained cadaver dogs and handlers found the body in Finding Amy. Then the wardens sent me up to Miramichi, New Brunswick, where they’d gone to Canada to help find a second hidden body. That became the Agatha and Anthony nominated Death Dealer. Then one of the wardens on both those searches called up, said he’d recently retired, everyone said he told great stories but had no idea how to make them into a book, and asked if I could help. And even though it confused my brand even further, I said yes.

The result? Roger Guay’s memoir, A Good Man with a Dog: A Game Warden’s 25 Years in the Maine Woods.

Kate Flora ©2016

2013 and 2015 Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction

www.kateflora.com
www.mainecrimewriters.com  "Living and writing in the great state of Maine."

FFB Review: "Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers" edited by Kate Flora, Ruth McCarty, and Susan Oleksiw

Back in October 2007 I first told you about Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers. With a few minor changes I rerun that 2007 today as part of Friday’s Forgotten Books hosted by Patti Abbott. May your Friday be a good one.

Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers edited by Kate Flora, Ruth McCarty, and Susan Oleksiw was the fourth annual anthology released by Level Best Books. The  “Al Blanchard” award winning story in this edition was “Roundhouse Medeiros and the Jade Dragon” by Jim Shannon. The story is a good one as are all of the stories in the anthology. Below are a few of my personal favorites:

“Winter Rental” by Barbara Ross revolves around the idea of a small group of women time sharing a heated bungalow on Nantucket. While their gender may be the same, their places in life and purposes are very different.

Stephen D. Rogers can always be counted on for a good tale told well and “/KS” certainly fits the bill. Transcribing interview tapes of detectives may not be glamorous but the information provided can help.

Planning the harvest is not easy as Frank Cook observes in his story, “Liberty.” But, when it all comes together, the harvest can be bountiful and a beautiful thing.

“Disturbance in the Field” by Roberta Isleib proves that sometimes the cops just know things have been tampered with despite evidence to the contrary.

You just can’t judge things on appearance as S. A. Daynard skillfully points out in “The Good Samaritan.”

In “The Hechicera’s Ace” by John Russo lady luck isn’t all she is advertised to be.

Despite the planning, having a loan go bad simply isn’t acceptable in “Killer De-Termination” by Paula Mello.

Also contained in this strong anthology are stories from Norma Burrows, Catherine Cairns, John Clark, Kate Flora (editor), Judith Green, Janet Halpin, Woody Hanstein, Marilis Hornidge, Ruth M. McCarty (editor), Susan Oleksiw (editor), Carol Perry, Mary E. Stibal, John Urban, Kathleen Valentine and Leslie Wheeler. Each story is a good one and each author created a tale well worth reading.

The stories, in general, often are complex and feature characters living on the fringes that don’t quite fit into society. Coping with physical demons of both the mental and physical variety, these characters are in a daily struggle to survive. Sometimes the outcomes are considerably more positive than in other cases though each story provides a sort of life lesson to the reader.  Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers is a good anthology that showcases new and well published writers coming from a variety of viewpoints and styles and culminates in a good enjoyable read.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2007, 2016

Via Lesa's Book Critiques-- And Grant You Peace by Kate Flora

And Grant You Peace by Kate Flora

Review: "Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers" Edited by Kate Flora, Ruth McCarty, and Susan Oleksiw

Some parts of the country seem to produce anthologies on a regular basis. Florida, for example or Minnesota for another seem to produce if not just one several a year. Texas doesn’t seem to partake in these deals and why I have no idea. The anthology below comes to readers courtesy of writers based in New England but the cold is only part of the story in a few cases.

Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers
Edited by Kate Flora, Ruth McCarty, and Susan Oleksiw
Level Best Books
http://www.levelbestbooks.com
2006
ISBN 0-97009484-3-X
Large Trade Paperback
263 Pages
$15.00 US

This is the fourth annual anthology released by Level Best Books and this one once again features the annual “Al Blanchard” award winning story. The winner was “Roundhouse Medeiros and the Jade Dragon” by Jim Shannon. The story is a good one as are all of the stories in the anthology. Below are a few of my personal favorites:

“Winter Rental” by Barbara Ross revolves around the idea of a small group of women time sharing a heated bungalow on Nantucket. While their gender may be the same, their places in life and purposes are very different.

Stephen D. Rogers can always be counted on for a good tale told well and “/KS” certainly fits the bill. Transcribing interview tapes of detectives may not be glamorous but the information provided can help.

Planning the harvest is not easy as Frank Cook observes in his story, “Liberty.” But, when it all comes together, the harvest can be bountiful and a beautiful thing.

“Disturbance in the Field” by Roberta Isleib proves that sometimes the cops just know things have been tampered with despite evidence to the contrary.

You just can’t judge things on appearance as S. A. Daynard skillfully points out in “The Good Samaritan.”

In “The Hechicera’s Ace” by John Russo lady luck isn’t all she is advertised to be.

Despite the planning, having a loan go bad simply isn’t acceptable in “Killer De-Termination” by Paula Mello.

Also contained in this strong anthology are stories from Norma Burrows, Catherine Cairns, John Clark, Kate Flora (editor), Judith Green, Janet Halpin, Woody Hanstein, Marilis Hornidge, Ruth M. McCarty (editor), Susan Oleksiw (editor), Carol Perry, Mary E. Stibal, John Urban, Kathleen Valentine and Leslie Wheeler. Each story is a good one and each author created a tale well worth reading.

The stories, in general, often are complex and feature characters living on the fringes that don’t quite fit into society. Coping with physical demons of both the mental and physical variety, the se characters are in a daily struggle to survive. Sometimes the outcomes are considerably more positive than in other cases though each story provides a sort of life lesson to the reader. Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers is a good anthology that showcases new and well published writers coming from a variety of viewpoints and styles and culminates in a good enjoyable read.


Kevin R. Tipple © 2007