Brains!

I'm writing today about gray areas and gray matter on the Poisoned Pen blog. If you think your ideas of good and evil come solely from your strong moral upbringing, don't stand too close to a giant magnet -- you will be shocked.

You can read more HERE.

For the Hard-to-Accessorize Protagonist

So I have this neighbor. Her name is Danielle, and she's really cool. We trade stuff over the fence -- baked goods from her kitchen, half-baked novels from my word processor -- and our respective kids act like brother and sister. We also meet online, Facebooking and Pinteresting especially. And that's where our latest collaboration started.

We both work from home; I'm a mystery novelist, and she's an Avon representative. Recently, Danielle was kind enough to read a draft of my second novel -- Darker Than Any Shadow, debuting March 6 in case you're interested -- and she offered to help accessorize my heroine, Tai Randolph, a little bit. As Danielle explains on her blog, Tai is not a girly-girl. Fashion is a foreign concept. But now that she's dating an Armani clotheshorse, she has discovered that she needs to spiff things up a bit. And while she's a real smart woman, she's kinda clueless about this.

Her boyfriend helps. And now, so has Danielle. Here's her picks for Tai's Must-Have Accessories. I've already written two of them into Book Three. And I'm probably adding them to my own shopping list, since Tai and I do share a certain -- how does one say it? -- ineptitude in all matters of style and fashion. PS: If you like any of these items, check out Danielle's Avon page (which is offering free shipping right now, by the way).

This is my favorite. Perfect for stashing a backpack's worth of stuff and much more fashionable. Six zippered pockets are excellent for cell phones and extra ammo, plus the roomy interior will hold all kinds of clues that might just happen to slip in there when nobody's looking. A detachable strap lets you carry it cross-body, which is the best way to foil would-be snatcher-villains, something every good detective knows. Find it HERE on the Avon page.

This items is as sneaky as they come. It looks like a fancy lipstick, but that's just a clever disguise. It's actually an LED flashlight -- one twist and it comes on. It's going in that bag, that's for sure. Find it HERE on the Avon page.

So simple even a harried, slightly fashion-challenged detective could make it work, even during a high-speed car chase. My hero would appreciate the simple 1-2-3-4 instructions and the impossible-to-mistake placement graphic. Find it HERE on the Avon page.

Happy 2012!

"In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous."
-- Aristotle

At the 2011 Writer's Police Academy

Off to the pokey -- well, not really

Here’s the thing about being handcuffed — it produces an irresistible urge to get out of said handcuffs. For most handcuffed people, that’s not an option. Luckily for me, it was. All I had to do was ask, which I did. Quickly and nicely.


I wrote a little about my adventures in all things Law  Enforcement over at the Poisoned Pen Press blog (see Writing at the Thin Blue Line if you're interested).


Here are some photos from that weekend. It was an invaluable opportunity to marinate in the world of cops, firefighters, and rescue personnel for a little while, and I came away with an enhanced respect for the challenges of the work and the commitment of the people who choose these professions. 

 To the right, you see Officer Stan Lawhorne demonstrating the "hog-tie" maneuver on Officer Dee Jackson. She's being sweet and non-resistance -- you can tell because he's still wearing his head.

Below is a picture of the official Writer's Police Academy t-shirt. It reminds me of the one Richard Castle wears on Castle. Maybe some of his fictional star quality will rub off on me. Who knows? Regardless, it's a fantastic shirt.

My daughter, the Writer-To-Be

Officer Stan Lawhorne participates in a mock hostage-taking.

Lt. Randy Shepherd with the Sniper Team

Above is Lt. Randy Shepherd, who led a fascinating seminar on Law Enforcement Sniper techniques and procedures. He brought actual equipment and gear (that's his big gun you see) and shared how snipers move, hide, target and train. An excellent presentation that blew me away in many ways, and enriched my author's tool kit extraordinarily (I got to hold bullets!)

An Official ALS (Alternate Light Source) kit used by some official forensic investigators. Use this equipment in a typical hotel room, and you'll be traumatized, I guarantee it.

To the left you'll see a typical sniper gear set-up

 including the official "sniper Frisbee" that bored snipers toss around between hostage situations (actually, it's a camouflaged disc of plastic that is used as a base for the gun in underbrush -- but I like the Frisbee story better).

Bang Bang!

This is me getting in some research at the gun range -- I am SO ready the next time I am attacked by an unarmed two-dimensional villain. I'm blogging about the experience today at the Poisoned Pen Press blog -- find that here.

And if any of you writerly types want to join me next time, the good people at Patrick's are excellent resources. They treated me mighty fine (and were very very patient).

John Desjarlais on Writing Cross-Culture (and Cross-Gender Too)

Please join me in welcoming John Desjarlais to The Fascination Files! John's latest novel VIPER is out now (please check out The Mojito Literary Society's review of this outstanding mystery to see why I'm so enthusiastic about having him as a virtual guest). Today, John explains the intricate nature of the research involved in bringing his protagonist, Selena de la Cruz, to literary life.

I’m a college instructor in Mass Communications, Composition and Creative Writing, so research is almost second nature to me and I’m accustomed to teaching about research. However, research for academic work is different from researching for fiction. In stories, there’s no quoting and citation involved, and everything learned must be embedded in the narrative so that it doesn’t show (unless you’re James Michener, who piles it on to his fans’ delight). Once your research starts to show, readers notice and awaken from their fictional dream.

That’s what frightened me about my latest mystery novel, VIPER, featuring a Mexican-American woman as the protagonist.  How could I, an Anglo man, presume to portray a Latina for the lead?

It wasn’t just a matter of writing from a woman’s point-of-view. I had done so a few times in earlier novels, in some scenes. The scary thing was maintaining the cross-cultural aspect across an entire novel. I wanted to be sure I got all the cultural material right and I was respectful with it.

Lacking experience as a Latina, I immersed myself in the experiences of Latin women vicariously in many ways. There are many new books in circulation by Latinas about coming to terms with Old-World expectations placed upon women while trying to fit into New-World American society. I read most of them and took careful notes, as with any other research I had to do for VIPER (DEA undercover operations, police interrogations, snake handling, Aztec religion and so on). I subscribed to Latina magazine for fashion, beauty, relationship and lifestyle issues. I paid attention to any news related to this community, especially immigration issues. I browsed Latinas’ blogs and web sites to see what everyone talked about, especially with regard to living with a bi-cultural identity. They said just what the Dad says in the movie Selena: “We've gotta be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans both at the same time. It's exhausting!"

I had stacks of cards that I browsed through obsessively to remind myself of small details that were of possible use, as in this description of the character:

Selena slipped into the faux leopard slingbacks and examined the fall of her pinstriped pantsuit leg over them in the hallway mirror when the doorbell chimed promptly at 1500 hours. She brushed away a little excess of powder from the corner of her sienna eyes and primped her mouth, the lip liner two shades darker than the magenta gloss to match her caramel complexion. Always dress so you will not be mistaken for the help, mija, she heard her mother saying. But no make-up could ever soften the Aztec hatchet of a nose buried in the middle of her face.

This combines research from Latina magazine and an interview with a Latina about her relationship with her mother.

Or consider this memory from Selena’s Chicago neighborhood (btw, she drives a 1969 Dodge Charger – something else I had to research):

     When Selena wheeled the Charger onto 18^th Street in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, the throaty rumble of the big engine turned the heads of young men in tilted White Sox caps. In the air, Norteño bands playing plaintive corridos on button accordions competed with the thump-thump of quebradita, a blend of North Mexican banda and Aztec punk rockers singing in Spanglish. Like Julia Alvarez once said in a poem, Selena felt her Spanish blood beating.

She crossed herself and kissed her thumb and forefinger held together when she passed Saint Adalbert’s Elementary in the shadow of the church’s skyline-dominating steeple. In the sixth grade, Sister Mary Beatrice -- who every kid called Sister Mary BattleAxe -- caught Selena speaking Spanish in the back row. She was asking Gloria García for an eraser. Sister pulled Selena by the ear into the corner.

“You’re in America now,” the Polish nun had reprimanded, her milky finger in Selena’s mocha face. “We speak English here. If you want to be an American, speak American. If you want to speak Spanish, then go back to Mexico.”

Selena asked if there was a difference between speaking English and speaking American.

Sister Beatrice kept her after school for talking back.

“Ay, you don’t talk back,” her mother chided her when she got home. Mamí’s high Zapotec cheekbones colored like the red hot lava of Mount Popocatépetl and the obsidian-black bun on top of her head, Selena could have sworn, was spinning.

“Muchachitas bien criadas, girls brought up well, don’t mouth off,” her mother said, wringing the dishtowel. “Do you want to called habladora? A big mouth that talks too much? Is that what you want?”

“Mamí, all I did was ask a question.”

“En boca cerrada no entran moscas,” her mother said, tapping her lips with a finger. Flies cannot enter a closed mouth. “You must be quiet, and keep your eyes low in respeto, like La Virgen de Guadalupe.”

There’s so much here that I can’t recall all the places I drew from. Let’s see: Google maps gave me a view of the Pilsen neighborhood, an Internet search gave me the proverbs (‘dichos,’ very important in Mexican culture) and interviews – mostly – gave me the other childhood details. General research made me realize how important Our Lady of Guadalupe is to the Mexican community, and, in fact, She is a minor character – sort of – in the story.

Research always opens new possibilities for a story, and for me, it helped me create a believable Mexican-American woman.  When one of my Latina readers told me, “I am SO into Selena!”, I knew I’d done my research right.

  *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *    

 Haunted by the loss of her brother to drugs and a botched raid that ended her career with the DEA, insurance agent Selena De La Cruz hoped to start afresh in rural Illinois. But her gung-ho former boss needs her back to hunt “The Snake,” a dealer she helped arrest who is out of prison and systematically killing anyone who ever crossed him. His ‘hit list’, appended to a Catholic Church’s All Souls Day ‘Book of the Deceased,’ shows Selena’s name last. Working against time, prejudice and the suspicions of her own Latino community, Selena races to find The Snake before he reaches her name while a girl visionary claims a “Blue Lady” announces each killing in turn. Is it Our Lady of Guadalupe as many in the Mexican community believe, or is it, as others believe, the Aztec goddess of Death?

Visit John Desjarlais at http://www.johndesjarlais.com

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/jdesjarlais1

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/johndesjarlais

Blog: http://jjdesjarlais.blogspot.com

VIPER is available at Amazon and through Sophia Institute Press.

Vroom Vroom!

Please join me as I go on and on about all things Ferrari over at the Poisoned Pen Press blog. I'll be posting there on the 10th of every month about guns and Confederates and Atlanta and -- oh yes -- Ferraris. (That's me behind the wheel of the F430 coupe, by the way. It's not black like Trey's, but he'd like it almost as much).

You can find the blog here.