In the first part of MacGuffin or Grail, I suggested a set of criteria for judging whether your particular plot device was one or the other. Having given my protagonists in THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER a panoply of grails, my question … Continue reading
According to Webster’s dictionary, a MacGuffin (McGuffin or maguffin, as you prefer) is: ”an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion despite usually lacking intrinsic importance.” (emphasis mine) … Continue reading
Timepiece (Book 1 of the Keeping Time Trilogy) by Heather Albano (Stillpoint Digital Press Prometheus) The concept: Jane Austen-style characters travel through time to keep Frankenstein’s monsters from saving the Battle of Waterloo and transforming Victorian London into a nightmare of … Continue reading
”Crime doesn’t pay…enough” is the motto of Mystery Writers of America (MWA), an organization I joined after the publication of my debut mystery-adventure novel, THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER (from Pegasus Crime). The first thing I discovered about MWA was that it … Continue reading
A sense of place plays a critical role in determining whether a reader “gets into” a story or not. Good place names can lend an aura of reality to even the most fictional of places. Conversely, an obviously made up place name in a story that pretends at reality can make a location that seems perfectly real to the author seem perfectly ridiculous to the reader.
Continue readingHello, my name is Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, and I’m a recovering research-aholic. I know that research addiction is common among writers of speculative fiction (genres that begin with ”what if…?”). This doesn’t mean there aren’t writers who hate research with … Continue reading
Some years back, I wrote a story in aphorisms called “Thirty-One Rules for Fulfilling Your Destiny.” (It’s available free at Curious Fictions and is in my BVC collection Conscientious Inconsistencies.) Rule 8 reads: “The male way of warriorship has been … Continue reading
Gina “Tinkerbell” Miyoko, P. I., the diminutive protagonist of my newly-relased debut crime novel, THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER, packs more than a spectrum blue Taurus to protect her. Thanks to her Mom, Nadia—who is a folklorist and cultural anthropology professor at … Continue reading
In support of my debut crime novel, THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER (October 2, from Pegasus Crime), I’m embarking on my first-ever blog tour. Confirmed dates and “locations” for the tour are: 09-25-18 @4:00 pm – Science fiction author/blogger Juliette Wade will interview … Continue reading
Like many private detectives, Gina ”Tinkerbell” Miyoko—protagonist of my first mystery novel, THE ANTIQUITIES HUNTER—carries a gun and is well-prepared to do so. Her favorite is a Titanium Taurus .357 Magnum (Model 617) in a delightful shade called “bright spectrum … Continue reading
