7 Questions: Clare Toohey

Who is to be congratulated for Clare2e's razor sharp wit?

I won't bother thanking my parents, because they don't spend much time reading blogs. I could thank the many, funnier people I steal from, but why start giving them credit now?


How did Women Of Mystery come to be and who's really in charge over there?

At a local chapter meeting of the New York/Tri-State Sisters in Crime, Laura Kramarsky (aka Laura Curtis) asked if anyone wanted to start a group blog. I raised my hand, as did a couple of other sisters, she registered the domain and set up the site, and we were off. She's really the founder, and still handles most of the technical upgrades, though WoM has always been a collaborative effort, contentwise.

It's flattering you ask who's in charge, because I thought it was patently obvious that we make it up as we go! Though we've lost and added members over time, the basic operation is an enthusiastic, occasionally chaotic, democracy aided by backstage kvetching on our private Yahoo Group. We also have a ridiculously loose, I mean, enlightened and flexible posting schedule. With enough members, we're always working around someone's meat-world issues, whether vacation or illness or alien abduction. We've become good at coming together and flowing like water into the gaps. WoM is like the Tao. It'll transport you into timeless serenity if you'll only let it.


Why the Hamburglar for your Blogger profile image?

Why Hamburglar?
I admire his tenacity, though he's arguably the least successful criminal ever, after Wile E. Coyote that is.
We both look good in stripes, Dracula capes, and Zorro masks.
Burgers rule.


What is your most memorable moment from the various conventions you have attended?

I have had many awesome times at mystery conferences, several I still don't remember, even though I got report photocopies from the arresting officer. (Hi, Patrolman Schuler!) One event I particularly remember was at Bouchercon in Chicago in 2005. I had met mega-author Lee Child at a previous MWA event where he most graciously inquired about my manuscript, and said I could e-mail him if there were anything he could do to help. Swell guy, right? So, at the B-con party he hosted at a nearby bar, I went up to him and thanked him for the shindig. So far, so good. Then, I reminded him of his kind offer to help me in any way possible, and told him I'd brought a cooler along for the extraction because I was seriously running out of time on my remaining kidney.

He just blinked at me, but fortunately, the lovely Robin Burcell, who was standing nearby, actually laughed, so I felt slightly less an ass. Thanks, Robin! And Lee, don't worry. I stole a loose hair from your lapel, and made a voodoo clone from which I'm harvesting organs and plots as needed. No biggie.


Do you have a guilty pleasure TV show that you currently watching?

Along with my incredible erudition and high-mindedness comes horrendously shallow taste. Super-jive old shows like Hart to Hart, Love Boat, and Buck Rogers, really anything with lip gloss or a Mancini theme song, work for me, so I love that they're being re-broadcast on four-digit cable channels. I also indulge in anything with elf boots, giant spiders, demons, and martial arts ass-whupping. But I don't feel guilty about a thing.


Outside of writing, what's Clare's hobby?

I'm the current president of the New York/Tri-State chapter of Sisters in Crime, a very busy chapter of active writers. Check us out at www.nysinc.org. We participate in and offer loads of events, and are just beginning our own anthology process. (I may ask you for BTAP war stories!) Fortunately, I excel like a Stepford at what many consider administrative and domestic drudgery. When that's satisfactorily accomplished, I enjoy road trips and being awesome.


How soon can we expect your Great American Novel?

I did write the G.A.N-- so that's another thing off the to-do list-- but my agent couldn't sell it. Now I'm writing the not-quite-as-good, but much punchier and more appealing novel. I'm also experimenting with another, pseudonymous one of a different genre.

BTAP #66: The Gimme by Alec Cizak

Alec Cizak is holding all the right cards. After unleashing "Diseases from Loving" on the world last year, he returns for a second hand with an ace of a story, "The Gimme."

Coming soon: A Joe Hannibal story by Wayne Dundee.

*When submissions open up again on April 10th, stories with a western, sci-fi, crime flash fiction (between 700-1,500 words) or boxing theme will be going to the head of the class.

Happy Birthday Wyatt Earp

"Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything." -- Wyatt Earp



Related links to Wyatt Earp and his immortals on EPW:

Wyatt Earp The Life & Legend Of Wyatt Earp DVD

Friday's Forgotten Books: Inventing Wyatt Earp: His Life and Many Legends by Allen Barra

Doc Holliday

Bat Masterson with a link to My Friend Wyatt Earp by By W.R. Masterson

Detective Doyle

I know many of you Baker Street Irregulars, will find this documentary interesting.



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My Maine Muse

Maine is a helluva muse for writers. At least for me and a few others.* This week alone I was able to make great strides on many fronts. I focused on our print anthology and read the last minute stories that are being included. I caught up on all my backlogged correspondence and tackled my TBR pile: the new Highsmith bio, The Time Traveler's Wife and Time Travelers Never Die (yeah, I gotta thing for century-hopping), The End Of It All, Texas Trackdown, A Fistful of Legends and The Guilt Edge to name a few. Plus, took in a Jazz show at a local club with the Charmer and fretted over a Cash Laramie short that I’m considering sending EQMM's way.

Now, I suppose I could have done it anywhere, but how can you beat this scenic shot?



Or this one.



There's a state slogan that goes, "Maine - The Way Life Should Be." To that I say, "Amen."

*Including writer, Chris Holm, who delves into the state's extraordinary hold in an upcoming 7 Questions.

7 Questions: Richard Prosch

1. Do you consider yourself a reviewer first who writes or vice versa?

A fair question given the content of my blog. I'm somebody who likes to tell stories, read, write, draw, read, design, fiddle with electronics, read, listen to music, read--with an additional hundred things tacked on for good measure. I've always been a reader, and I like sharing what I read. So reviewing a book or telling a story from my life ("Look at this old family photo I found...") is sorta fun. The question reminds me of something I heard years ago. Peter David, the writer, asked an assembled group of young creatives how many of them wanted to be writers. Almost every single hand shot up. Then he asked them how many wanted to sit down and write. Some confusion there, not so many hands. Rather than tell you I'm a writer, I'll just say that I do write.


2. In a recent blog post, you alluded to a meeting with the venerable Harlan Ellison. How did that come about and what did the two of you talk about?

Back in the '90s, my wife taught at a small college in South Carolina. I was working freelance, and because I had a comic strip running in the Comics Buyers' Guide newspaper, we were friends with editor, Maggie Thompson, who is friends with Ellison. When it came time for the college's annual exploration of media and culture, a regular program, Gina suggested getting Maggie and Harlan come speak together, and we would play host & hostess. They did and we did. Most crystallizing for me is a five minute incident just before Ellison went on. I grew up reading Ellison's stories and think highly of his work. So I managed to get the gig of introducing him the campus, and in so doing wrote this elaborate puffy piece that was more about me than about him. The morning of his first lecture, I show the written piece to my wife who assures me that it's pure drivel, and that I need to quickly retool the thing. "Just give 'em the guy's bio and get off the stage," she says. But it's too late. Harlan is right behind her. She hands him the intro. His face goes slack, and then he starts shaking his head, and all these stories from the media come to mind about Ellison being a mean, unfair guy, etc. And he walks up to me. And shakes his head. And says, "Maggie said you like to write." I nod, and he continues. "Well, first you've got a comma splice here that doesn't work at all. Next you've got a couple split infinitives. Then...here, gimme a pen." He doesn't say one word about the content. Instead, he takes the pen and proceeds to edit my writing, deftly knocking out grammar errors, splicing incoherent thought together, correcting my punctuation. As he spoke, calm and very polite, I realized I'd been running around imagining myself hanging out with a celeb, with somebody FAMOUS, rather than realizing that I was in the presence of a WRITER. A guy that first and foremost...WRITES. As far as the intro was concerned, I had first been concerned about MY ego, then I was worried I would offend HIS ego, and what I should have been looking at was my WRITING. That was the crystallizing moment.


3. Your bio mentions you co-created Emma Davenport, a comic book. Can you tell us a little about that and if you plan to follow it up with anymore.

In the early '90s I floated around the comic book industry like 50,000 other young people who wanted to write or draw or both. I was fortunate enough to get enough work to keep me moving forward, and in 1993, Emma Davenport, a girl comics fan, became a regular strip in the Comics Buyers' Guide, an industry trade paper. It was a time of great excitement and great speculation in the comics industry as boatloads of creators were casting out with their own properties. Since Gina and I were working together on the strip, we decided to publish a comic book starring Emma. It ran for about two years, did okay financially, was incredibly rewarding in terms of business experience, made us a dozen or so really good friends, and I would never do it again. Not for all the money or fame in the world.


4. You cover many genres on Meridian Bridge but lean toward westerns. Where did the fondness for six guns and horses come from?

Well, first off, I really love the American West and, for a time, lived in Wyoming on the high plains. Of all the genres I read, I actually know the least about westerns. I grew up reading comics, SF, fantasy and detective/crime fiction, though not much noir. I read a few westerns in college and contributed art to a series of historic essays about Nebraska, the Ponca Trail of Tears, and some real-life outlaws, but my renewed interest is fairly recent. In fact, besides being an easy venue to practice writing, I started Meridian Bridge just to learn more about the west.


5. Which film cowboy sits tallest in the saddle for you?

The older Randolph Scott. He's got an understated toughness, especially in SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, with Lee Marvin, who I also like. Oh, and RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY.


6. What one item in your house would you have a hard time explaining?

There's this big, primitive wooden rooster that, each year, almost makes it to the fire. My wife's great aunt bought it from a local artist half a century ago and somehow we inherited it. It's just this awful piece, and yet it lingers.


7. What's next on the horizon for you?

Research for one. I have a couple short stories here that need some solid props in the past, and getting the history right is important to me. I'm particularly happy to be included in the company of the fine writers at BEAT to a PULP with a short crime story to be posted at some point this spring. Along those lines, I'm also grateful to The Western Online, a great web zine that has accepted my short story, "Last Day at Red Horizon." In general I just want to focus on burning some flab off my writing, achieving better consistency. I had an art prof. in college who said the better artist isn't the one who creates the stunning masterpiece, but the one who can continue to create with consistency. That's the target I'm aiming at.

BTAP #65: My Best Pal by Joshua Andra

I peeked out my door for a better listen and saw old Mrs. Beasley and old Mrs. Rogers in their evening robes whispering down the hall. Both were widows in their seventies or so. They didn't notice my door cracked open.

I overheard Beasley telling Rogers, "I think he's going to kill him this time." Mrs. Rogers shivered at the thought as her eyes flicked toward the sixth floor with revulsion.

As Mr. Andra states in his bio, he's just "started sinking his teeth into the art of fiction writing." I hope everyone stops over and drops a comment for this new writer.

Next week: "Porn Again Kristen" by Mark Robinson

Coming soon: Chris LaTray's "The Pickle"