Suspicious Activity - Crime Anthology

JUST RELEASED! SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY – a crime anthology published by Devil’s Party Press, Delaware USA.

Devil’s Party Press – sounds badass, doesn’t it. They only publish authors age 40 and over. Yes, they are totally badass.

Local Sarnia writer, Sharon Berg, alerted me to their contest – a submission call for crime stories. My favourite genre! I gave it my best shot – get it? shot? crime stories?...groan – and was lucky enough to place second.

I liked the look of the proposed cover for Suspicious Activity and my communications with dpp gave me a positive feeling about the book. My instincts were right. This is one of the best crime anthologies I’ve read and I love reading crime stories. Storylines from the past, present, and future bleed onto every page. I had no idea there would be so many unique spins on crime.

This isn’t a review of the book. There’ll be plenty of those I’m sure. I have a few favourites I could point out, but I won’t. What I will say is that I enjoyed and appreciated every story in the book. When was the last time that happened? By the way, there are some killer poems in there too. And I have to mention the …. No, I don’t think I will. Just buy the book.

When you’re standing in line at your favourite book store with anthology in hand, take a closer look. The publisher incorporated our stories into the headlines and features of the ‘newspaper’ cover. Ingenious idea.

If you’re an online shopper, Canadians can purchase it here and all others can order from the dot com Amazon site or directly from the publisher.

Kudos to Devil’s Party Press for publishing a quality ‘can’t put it down’ anthology and hats off to these authors whose clever creativity will keep you reading well into the night.

Monte R. Anderson                                        Dianne Pearce

Tom Barlow                                                    Mark Alan Polo

Sharon Berg                                                    Patsy Pratt-Herzog

William F. Crandell                                       Bernard M. Resnick

David W. Dutton                                            Roberto Sabas

Kari Ann Ebert                                               Michael Sarabia

Lisa Fox                                                          Judith Speizer Crandell

Robert Lewis Heron                                       Carrie Sz Keane

Heidi J. Hewett                                               Paulene Turner

Phyllis Humby                                                Liliana Widocks

Bayne Northern                                              Wendel Young

Jonathon Ochoco                                            David Yurkovich

Instant Coffee and Pre-dawn Inspiration

Wide awake. 4:30 AM. Ugh! Not to disturb hubby, I quietly left the bedroom. Wrapped in an oversized robe, I flipped on the kettle for an instant coffee – it was not a perked coffee kind of morning – and started browning ground beef. Yes, that’s right. What better opportunity to make a double batch of crock-pot chili. I’m doing everything in two’s lately. Like yesterday when I set out to make Banana Bread and realized it was a two-loaf recipe. At the last minute, I sprinkled (loaded) the top with pecans and brown sugar. Good decision.

Chopping onion and green pepper, it came to me how much I love the pre-dawn. The stillness and the quiet – aside from the sizzle in the pan, of course. I added extra chili powder to the cooker. At mealtime I usually comment that I added too much but that doesn’t stop me from doing it again. It’s all in the seasoning. Otherwise, it’s just a pot of goulash and not chili at all (I know the ingredients aren’t the same as goulash so you don’t have to try to set me straight, just sayin).

I took my coffee into the den to find a binder for a manuscript I’m working on and came across the zippered case from a Writer’s Retreat I organized in 2016.

Everyone received a zippered binder filled with…well, writer stuff. I’d also included a series of articles. Information I thought would be helpful to all writers. And now I’m leafing through the sheets and thinking, Hey, this is good! Fantastic tips to improve productivity and quality. Insightful notes on polishing and editing. Good job, Phyllis. I stopped patting myself on the back long enough to get another coffee.

I’d been needing something (obviously) to boost start me into this challenging writing project. Everything I included in the retreat package will prove immensely helpful to me right now. Reading the agenda reminded me of my words of encouragement to the participants. Now it’s encouragement for me.

Stumbling across the workshop binder this morning was no accident. No sirree. I’m a believer. Everything happens for a reason. Even waking at 4:30. Now, I have all the tools I need. Plus spicy chili and banana bread. Don’t you love it when that happens.