Masha du Toit is an African writer of science fiction and fantasy. She was a finalist in 2017 and 2018 for a Nommo Award, a literary award presented by the African Speculative Fiction Society.
See Nommo Award. Masha and I met some years ago on the social media platform Google Plus (G+). 
​

​Masha, you are South African from Cape Town. Please tell us a little about yourself and your life on the other side of the world.
 
That's right.  I live in Cape Town, in an area called Muizenberg which is right on the coast, a famous surf spot with a beautiful nature reserve estuary that's within walking distance of my home. A wonderful place to walk dogs, with so many birds, and other small wildlife. I recently started learning to paddle the kayak, so I have a whole new view on the area from the water these days.
 
I teach online to make a living (writing fiction doesn't pay enough!) so I was working from home long before the pandemic. My husband Brendon teaches design at a school for the deaf. He's an artist and musician too, although these days all his creative energy is being consumed by teaching.​

​My beloved dog Pippin died more than a year ago and my heart is still not ready for another dog. But in the meantime I have two lovely rats, Maurice and Frankie, who entertain me with their sweet, clever, gentle ways. 

I know you’ve written fantasy stories in the past. Your most recent books have all been science fiction. Prior to We Broke the Moon, you wrote the Linked Worlds trilogy which began with The Babylon Eye. Why do you think you chose sci-fi as your chosen genre? Or did it choose you?
 
I've always loved reading sci-fi, even when I was too young to really understand a lot of it. Probably because my older brother Andries always made the books he was reading, like Dune, sound so fascinating. I actually find both fantasy and science fiction equally compelling as genres. One of the reasons I introduced the virtual reality game that the characters play in We Broke the Moon, is so that I would have a chance to write more fantastical scenes featuring monsters and magic. So in some ways, We Broke the Moon is a crossover between science-fiction and fantasy.

Science fiction allows me to explore themes such as how our technology reveals who we are, and how it changes us. Our technology is not neutral, but it's also not evil. I hope my stories don't fall into the "beware the killer robots will take over" trope of so much sci-fi. Our inventions are extensions of ourselves. While we've done a lot of damage to the world in the name of technological progress, I hope that we can use our inventions to fix the mess we've created.
 
In We Broke the Moon, we find ourselves on a giant korf ship floating through space after the humans onboard fled Earth as a result of the AI Wars. The korf ship is accompanied by fleets of smaller space ships, Brommer and Jatai ships. The humans on the korf ship have put severe limitations on the ship’s artificial intelligence (AI) system because they deeply fear releasing an AI system like the one they fled, a system that had become psychopathic and had attempted to kill all the humans. The human relationship to artificial intelligence (AI) systems is a major theme of We Broke the Moon. Tell us about your interest in artificial intelligence and how this interest came about.
 
I am fascinated by the way that we are both increasingly dependent on technology to survive and express ourselves, and yet we are also so deeply distrustful of it. Our technology has long been an extension of ourselves - think of how books and writing have increased our ability to store and transmit information for centuries, now. Books are part our minds and memories in a very real sense. 
 
Added to that our tendency to anthropomorphize objects and imbue them with life and personality, and the idea of sentient artificial intelligence becomes quite interesting. What if we can artificially create a sentient, self-aware being? Is it truly alive, in the same way that we are? Can it suffer? What does freedom mean, when you can code an intelligence within limits you decide upon? What rights does such a being have? How does that reflect our ideas about human, and animal suffering, and human, and animal rights? The questions are endless.
 
In We Broke the Moon, the characters are even more dependent on tech than we are, being on a ship in deep space. They have the same uneasy relationship with that technology. They are trapped in that situation, forced to confront this essential contradiction, or their tech that both sustains and threatens them. Maybe that is something we have to face too. Our technology gives us the power to change the world. We have to take on that responsibility, to try the best we can to answer the unanswerable questions we've created.
 
Your two main protagonists, Maksim and Io, are teenagers who are attempting to define themselves as well as find their place in the post-Earth world of the korf ship. Why did you decide to go with teens as protagonists?
 
Teenagers are fun to write because, by definition, they are going through such big changes. They are figuring out who they are in the world. They look at the world in a fresh way, deciding what they value, and what they want to change. That gives me, as a writer, the chance to explore the world in a way that might not be possible through the eyes of a more jaded, older character.
 
I also wanted to show the different generations' attitudes to technology. The adults, who have directly experienced the harm technology can do, are much more distrustful of it. The teenagers, less risk-averse, are more trusting of new experiences, more curious. Impulsive characters are a gift to a story teller! They make things happen.  
 
A key activity that these teens do for relaxation is to enter virtual reality settings to play games and engage in adventures. These virtual reality scenarios are very realistic and at the same time, fantastical. How did you manage to write so well about virtual reality?
 
The virtual reality game was my gift to myself as a writer who enjoys writing fantasy. Science fiction, especially when set on a deep-space ship, can easily become claustrophobic and limiting. Apart from the closed-off spaces inhabited by the characters, as a sci-fi writer you have to obey the rules of physics at least to some degree. The VR game allowed me to create luscious, expansive, immersive environments, and fantastical creatures. I tried to remember what it felt like, the first time I read stories of Narnia and Middle Earth. To conjure up that same sense of wonder, and create an immersive world to transport the reader out of their own reality. That was my hope!
 
The blurb of We Broke the Moon describes the book as “Hope Punk Science Fiction, a genre that focuses on friendship, love, and a hopeful, can-do approach to the challenges the characters face.” I did a little research and found that Hope Punk is defined as “weaponized optimism.” It has also been described as “part of a wider cultural and storytelling trend toward optimism and positivity in the face of bleak times.” Tell us about your view of Hope Punk and about your interest in writing in this manner.
 
I've become increasingly aware of the importance of stories. We humans constantly create and recreate our reality through narrative. The stories we tell ourselves about who we are, and why do what we do, to make sense of chaotic and unpredictable reality. 
 
Stories are essential to us. I understand the value of dark, cynical and grim stories, but I don't enjoy them. My ability to put myself in the story, to empathise with the characters is just too strong. I don't have the ironic detachment needed to enjoy tales of treachery and cruelty.
 
Life is hard and lonely at times. There's not much I can do to make things better. But as a writer, I might be able to create a small escape for a reader, to remind them of the power of friendship and kindness, so that after closing the book, they can go back into their life with a bit more hope, and strength, to face the challenges out there. That's what hope punk is for me. Not to create a sugar-coated version of the world - my stories do contain pain and sadness as well. Hope punk is about facing that darkness, holding up a small light in the knowledge that you are not alone.
 
Another theme in the book is the human relationship to the natural world. By that, we mean the natural world of Earth which humans on the korf ship no longer experience directly. What are you attempting to convey in this rather subtle theme?
 
The tension between human and nature is in all of my stories. Humans are part of the natural world, but we try to separate ourselves from it, to deny our animal nature. We do so much harm to the environment that keeps us alive. We feel so lonely, we are so proud of our unique abilities, and yet we are surrounded by creatures who are not so different from us. It's fascinating to look into the eyes of a dog, or a crow, or an octopus, and try to imagine how they see us.
 
We Broke the Moon is a sad book in some ways, as the humans are forever separated from Earth, the world that shaped us as a species. I hope to remind my readers that we are not there yet. We are still flying through space on the most magnificent of space-ships, the planet Earth, a self-sustaining life support system that will always continue surprising and delighting us, no matter how long we explore it. 

Also you are an artist and you created the covers for your books. What inspires your covers? 
 
Cover design is difficult! It's a combination of the creative and commercial. As a cover designer you are trying to create an image that will convey a very particular story, and attract readers who will enjoy it. The cover needs to be different enough to catch a reader's eye, but not so different that it stands out as odd or unappealing. I'm never really satisfied with my attempts.  But on the other hand, it's one of the advantages of self-publishing that I have the control to create my own covers, and am not at the whim of a publisher.
 
What’s next? Do you have another book in progress?
 
I am working on two books at the moment, a new experience for me. I've started on the sequel to We Broke the Moon. But I'm also finishing a completely different project that I started during lockdown. It's a light fantasy, working title Ray and the Cat-thing.It grew from my own need to find entertaining, joyful, escapist books during lockdown. It's an utterly self-indulgent story that includes all of the things I found myself longing for during lockdown, like hanging out with friends, or going on a care-free camping trip.
 
During our hard lockdown here in South Africa we spent several months where we were not allowed outside our homes at all, not even for exercise. We could get groceries and medication and that was it. The experience taught me some hard lessons in what I really value. Writing this story is my chance to escape and explore those things, if only in my imagination. 
 
Thank you, Masha. 

Tamara (Tammy) Poff is a Tucson artist, author, and teacher. Here she introduces us to her latest book, In the Company of Fiber Artists: Creative Inspiration for Creative Heddle Weavers.
  
Tammy, you are known as a fiber artist and weaver primarily working with the rigid heddle loom.  Can you tell us about weaving as a form of fiber art, how you were drawn to it, and what its appeal is for you?
 
Weaving is the foundation of fiber arts. I've read that evidence of interlacing thread on thread can be traced as far back as the Paleolithic era, 27,000 years ago. It surged as an art form in our time, from the 1950s onward, finding its way from a functional to an aesthetic purpose.
 
For those sensitive to fiber then, I think there is a primal call to express ourselves with this medium. As a knitter from age five onward, I can't remember a time when a skein of yarn didn't excite me. As a painter and a weaver, working with fibers allows me to respond to the materials differently than painting does. Weaving is another way of getting your hands dirty with yarn – it's a unique form of therapy.
 
One of my favorite (true) stories of "fiber therapy" was of a young man who bought eight knitting needle sets from his local yarn shop. When the shop owner asked what he needed eight sets for, he answered, "I'm buying them for my study group. We found that when one person reads the material, and the others knit, we get better scores on our tests!" As fiber passes through our hands in repetition, it quiets the everyday buzz in the back of our minds for multiple benefits.
 
So, it is the process that lured me in. I was a floor loom weaver in my art school days. As a wholesale yarn representative many years later, I saw a rising demand for the portability, accessibility, and quick results of the little loom. I devoured everything I could find to learn the rigid heddle from multiple perspectives, then developed some quirky little tricks of my own and taught 100's of new weavers from there. I taught in yarn shops throughout five states of the eastern time zone where I could see, close-up, what my new weavers struggled with and what they wanted. I never thought I would be writing patterns – writing books was just a joke I started. I would have to say that my students dragged me into this, and my network of loyal weavers internationally is what drives me onward.

​You've written three books now on rigid heddle loom weaving, the most recent of which is In the company of Fiber Artists: Creative Inspiration for Rigid Heddle Weavers. Tell us about this latest book.
 
With book three, I wanted to change course a bit.  I am known, since book one, as the designer who takes rigid heddle weaving beyond the traditional path to a more contemporary approach. My readers write me to say that they didn't realize that their simple weaving tool has so much potential. I wanted to continue that, but with a twist. I felt my weavers deserved inspiration to go further "beyond the rectangle," as my tag line implies.
 
Additionally, I wanted to pack more of what I value into this more expansive work – more creativity from diverse sources, more connection to our community, and more concern for our planet's future. So I researched and reached out to the eight national and international artists whose amazingly generous and inspiring response is the cornerstone of this book.
 
One of the strengths of this book, in addition to gorgeous illustrations and instructional material, are the interviews with several artists working in this medium. What did you hope to achieve by giving these different artists' perspectives?
 
The celebrity interview format to encourage new ideas has been available to most other seekers - authors, painters, sports lovers, and so on. I found a hole in what was available to inspire my weavers similarly.
 
I did not know at the onset, however, how much the genius of the artists interviewed would change my own direction. I feel like the patterns in this book are some of my best work because the pieces had to be worthy of the artist who inspired them.
 
My end game here was to light a little firecracker under my readers to get going, keep going, and try something new – something outside their comfort zone with more of their own genius involved. The response from my early readers has been overwhelming with all of the new ideas they are generating. In that sense, mission accomplished. I also hope to inspire weavers to think hard about their materials - what we are contributing to the planet and the community. Weaving uses a lot of yarn with a certain amount of waste. It's tempting to fall for synthetics due to the cost. Finally, we are beginning to understand the cost to our environment when we use these petroleum products, and we are finding affordable answers to that.

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You have devoted considerable space to instructional material, including diagrams, charts patterns, and techniques.  Do you see yourself as much a teacher as an artist?
 
Well, my undergraduate degree is in Art Education. For mere survival, I spent decades in business instead. I feel like I've returned to my roots now. I didn't think I wanted to teach back then. I wanted to paint, so my graduate work was in fine arts, painting. My students seem to respond favorably to my teaching style. So apparently, that remains my calling, and I find that gratifying. I do want to build in some painting time, though.
 

​
I really loved all the great quotes that are tucked away in the text. Do you have a favorite?
 
My favorite is from Sophia Loren: "There is a fountain of youth; it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to life, to the lives of the people you love."
 
To me, this summarizes our reason for being. If I am remembered only for that, I am satisfied.
 
The chapter on Move Forward-Give Back is especially inspiring. Tell us about that, and in particular, the Linus Project.
 
As we feed our creativity, we generate a lot of stuff – stuff full of love, as I like to think of it. The process is a big part of the reward, and we can add to that reward by helping others in need.
 
I joined a knitting group here in Tucson that used to meet before the pandemic slowed us down. A chance to have a cup of coffee with other handcrafters feeds the soul. The group's organizer, Bev, is also the local coordinator for Project Linus. This national organization exists to donate handmade blankets of various sizes to comfort children in need.
 
I started by knitting a few blankets and sewing together a quilt. Then I realized that I didn't see anything about weavers in the requests. I thought this would be a perfect project for us. The challenge was to find fibers that would be soft, washable, natural, and affordable for weavers with a budget. I was excited to find some low-cost bamboo and lyocell yarns that work beautifully for my patterns.

​I was interested in your comments on sustainability in your latest book. Not only are you recycling yarns from cast off weavings, you also address the issue of synthetic materials in weavings, and also contamination of natural fibers. You call for use of "renewable fibers." Can you tell us a little more about that?
 
First, we must acknowledge that almost everything we do has an environmental impact. The other day I read that even a little text from our phones has a discernible cost to the eco-system. Each step toward a zero-carbon effect, while not perfect, is progress in giving this planet a longer life, not only for future generations but for the remainder of our lives as we see global warming effects in real-time.
 
Acrylic, nylon, and polyester have a considerable presence in the fiber world. These are plastics manufactured from petroleum that gained status in our mothers’ generation for their low cost, softness, and washability. We now know that they break down in the wash and in landfills and find their way into our bodies to destroy our health. As I say in the book, "Do we really want to wrap a baby in a petroleum product in the first place?"
 
Opting for natural fibers like cotton and wool appears to be a step forward. Still, the former is associated with excess water usage, toxic fertilizers, and pesticides, and the latter with methane contamination, animal cruelty, and poisonous chemicals in preparation.
 
Transforming plant material into rayons like bamboo and Tencel (brand name for lyocell) appears to be the answer for the future as these fibers are robustly sustainable and grown with very little toxic intervention. Alas, these too, have had a bad chemical footprint when we turn them into yarn.
 
Not to despair, weavers should give some serious thought to prioritizing natural fibers as a growing number of farmers join the movement of sustainable agriculture. Additionally, there are new manufacturing processes called closed-loop that reduce waste production and contamination. It's all about consciously taking steps in the right direction.

What's next for you?
 
As I mentioned, this book has kind of changed my direction. I have so many colleagues who do a great job of teaching new weavers how to use the rigid heddle, make a scarf, make a placemat, and all the basics.
 
While I'll always have the beginner in mind (I have an online course for beginners at weavingwithpoffstudio.com), the next big chapter in my life's book will probably be more deeply dedicated to this concept of finding inspiration for the weaver. I'm thinking about an online membership site for that purpose. And I want to get a little painting time in, too!
 







Websites:
Tamara Poff:
https://weaving-with-poff-studio.thinkific.com/
https://www.poffstudio.com/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/PoffStudio
 
Project Linus:
https://www.projectlinus.org/
http://www.projectlinustucson.org/
 
LINKS to Book and Book  Reviews.
 
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Company-Fiber-Artists-Creative-Inspiration/dp/099845902X/
 
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57060101-in-the-company-of-fiber-artists?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=Jnw2dZYiAQ&rank=1

Barnes and Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-the-company-of-fiber-artists-tamara-poff/1138864033?ean=9780998459028

Please meet Tucson author Kathy McIntosh. Kathy and I know each other from our membership in Sisters in Crime, a national organization for writers of mystery fiction.

Let’s start with your mysteries. You have two series, Havoc in Hancock (humorous suspense) and Adventure Calls (mystery). Tell us a little about each of these series including the settings, main characters, themes.
 
I began the Havoc in Hancock novels while living in Idaho.
I’d always loved Carl Hiaasen’s novels, so I set out to be the Carl Hiaasen of Idaho. His books, set in Florida, are generally about wacky characters trying to save endangered species. I enthusiastically recommend them, particularly his earlier books. 

​In Mustard’s Last Stand, an eco-activist called Roadkill recruits his screenwriter brother to help him fight a safari camp being set up on land once owned by their family. Lots of that, believe it or not, came from “real life.” My eco-activist daughter introduced me to the real Roadkill, a chatty and personable young man who dressed in the skins of animals he found on roadsides. Really. We had a delightful breakfast together and that spawned my idea for the book and for Roadkill, the character.
 
It happens also that at that time, protesters were fighting the establishment of canned hunts, where captive elk and other animals were hunted by sportsmen the grounds of the “hunt.” I switched zebras, water buffaloes and a former zoo lion for actual Idaho wildlife.
 
Roadkill gets help from four pregnant women and a recently fired Sears security guard on the hunt of a pill addict. 

​In the second of that series, Foul Wind, one of the pregnant women from Mustard’s Last Stand, Feather Sullivan, and her mother get into trouble at a wind farm near Hancock while trying to save her sister from a murder rap.
 
Once again the themes of environmental issues and family helping (or hindering?) family arise.
 
Environmental activists often use “forest names” when they don’t want to use their birth names. I chose Feather because in the first novel, she’s very pregnant and definitely not feather-like. The character is also a bit whimsical and rash at times, a bit like the flight of said feather.
 
I set the books in northern Idaho, in the fictional town of Hancock. One of the nicest compliments I had was from a reader who said Hancock reminded him of the town he grew up in, in northern Idaho!​

When we moved to Tucson some six years ago, I set my next series, Adventure Calls, about an eco-tourism company, in Arizona. The first, Murder, Sonoran Style is set in the Sonoran desert. (I think it has more dry humor than those in Idaho.) In that book, a former science professor becomes a partner in an eco-touring company and very shortly finds the dead body of a hated developer. Since he’s been killed with Gabe’s hunting knife, it falls on Gabe to find the murderer.
 
I read the first in the Havoc in Hancock book, Mustard’s Last Stand, which I found very amusing. Do you find humor difficult or easy to write?
 
I tried to write a serious book, but the humor kept popping in when I least expected it, so I gave up and allowed entry. That sounds as if it’s easy, but when my critique group suggests I add “a bit more humor” at a certain point, I find it very difficult. That’s when it seems forced rather than with the flow. I do think certain characters create their own humor, with their appearance, dialog, attitudes and behavior, but I have to be careful not to create stereotypes or rely on pranks or pratfalls too much. Finding the right balance in humor isn’t easy.
 
In April, I’m giving a talk on Zoom about humor in mysteries through Friends of the Kirk-Bear Canyon Public Library here in Tucson. So right now I’m exploring more about how others view and write humor in fiction. And I definitely am seeking out suggestions of favorite humorous mystery writers!
 
Mustard’s Last Stand also had a deeper environmental theme. Is environmental conservation a strong interest of yours?
 
All my books have an environmental bias. Conserving our environment is a strong interest of mine, something my parents instilled in me—a gift I’m grateful for.
 
You’ve contributed to anthologies for writers about the writing process. Tell us a little about that. 
 
I edit fiction and non-fiction to support my fiction writing, and I’m passionate about words and language, so I happily contribute to such anthologies when I can. My best piece of advice is to get your butt in the chair and get words out. Next best? Be sure to move around every half-hour so you don’t wind up with bursitis or other health issues!
 
You also seem to have a strong interest in cooking and recipes, and you’ve contributed to books about food. Tell us about that, too.

Confession: I’m even more interested in eating than cooking, and love to find new restaurants (pre-pandemic). However, I do enjoy trying out new recipes and sharing the good ones. Some of the cooking anthologies I’ve contributed to give the profits to charity, which is a way of giving back I’m happy to support.
 
The most recent cookbook my recipes are in is Recipes to Kill For, A Desert Sleuths Cookbook.

​
​We’re in a difficult time now because of the covid-19 pandemic. I enjoyed your January 2021 newsletter titled “Hope in 2021” which explored your insights into a trip to South Africa you and your husband took and what that had to do with the hope you experienced there. Can you give us some information about that as well?
           
In the Cape Town Flats, an extremely poor community outside Cape Town, I learned that people can surprise us with their kindness. That gives me hope for America’s future, as well. I also talked about a graduate of Caring Hearts High School, in Kenya, who wants to give back some of the blessings she received. That’s exactly what the founder of the school, Vincent Kituku, hoped when he started it: creating a community of educated young people who might one day make changes in their country.
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(Above right) Students from Caring Hearts High School working in a trash clear-up day at Tala, a small town near the school. Kathy and her husband are school donors.

I also wrote about some innovative approaches to water conservation being undertaken in Cape Town, South Africa, a town that in 2018 faced terrible drought. You can find my recent blog post on that subject on my website, www.KathyMcIntosh.com The post is https://kathymcintosh.com/hope-in-2021/
 
​
What’s up next for you? Do you have another book planned or underway now?
 
I’m thrilled that the audio book of Murder, Sonoran Style, will be out this spring. I’m finishing up book two in the Adventure Calls series. This one features a secondary character from the first book, guide and chef Madrone Hunter, and is set in northern Arizona, in the town of Cottonwood. The title will be Murder, Cottonwood Style. I’m also bringing Roadkill into this book, to link the two series together. And because Roadkill was a favorite with readers of the first series.
 
Links:
 
Mustard's Last Stand: https://www.amazon.com/Mustards-Last-Stand-Havoc-Hancock-ebook/dp/B00GK73FC2/
 
Foul Wind: https://www.amazon.com/Foul-Wind-Hancock-Humorous-Suspense-ebook/dp/B015VNN31I/
 
Murder, Sonoran Style:
​  https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Sonoran-Style-Adventure-Mystery-ebook/dp/B07R8NLT26/
 
Website: https://www.KathyMcIntosh.com/
​

I think it’s safe to say that we were ready for 2020 to be done and gone by last March or April. So here we are at the beginning of a new year with two signs of hope: 1) a Covid-19 vaccine will be widely available soon – that is, if our leaders can get it together and get the vaccine to us; and 2) Trump will be gone by January 20 (unless he tries to stage a coup which I wouldn’t put past him). Be prepared to defend American democracy from a proto-fascist.
 
Art:
How has this past year affected art and artists?  Artists are always looking for opportunities to show and sell their work. The year 2020 was the most challenging for artists in many years. Almost everything went “virtual.” We couldn’t have “live” Open Studio tours or popup events, and most galleries stopped having live exhibits and openings.
 
I turned to Etsy in an attempt to sell small artworks, among other things. I did indeed sell some small artworks, mainly in the Art:Flora and Art:Abstract categories. But the big surprise was the popularity of malas. FYI, a mala is a Buddhist/Hindu circular string of beads (kind of like a rosary) that is used in meditation to help concentrate and say mantras which are sort of like a prayer. A traditional mantra has 108 beads and an amulet attached. A lot of westerners wear them as necklaces.
 
At first, I thought that my buyers were using them as necklaces only. But I quickly found out that many are using them to meditate. That’s understandable. We’re all pretty stressed out because of the pandemic. To sit silently and say a prayer, mantra, or an affirmation helps calm the mind and body.

Etsy keeps very good statistics on who clicks on what and who makes an item a “favorite.” The stats told me that of every 20 “favorites,” 19 of them are malas. So Baja Arizona Treasures will be offering more malas in 2021. See more at Baja Arizona Treasures.
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​Books:
I could write a book (seriously) about what I’ve learned about the publishing industry in the past few years, and in particular, in 2020. Here’s a summary:

• The publishing industry is undergoing a change on the magnitude of when the printing press was invented (1436), and then later, when paper production became cheap enough to print newspapers and inexpensive books (late 1700s, early 1800s). These days, traditional publishers are consolidating and trying desperately to hang on to control of the book world in the face of greater and greater challenges from indie writers and publishers, the internet, and more.
• Indies (independent authors/publishers) face constant unrelenting discrimination from the “trads” (traditional publishers) who like to ignore indie writers, or disparage them as less than/not as good as trad-published authors. Fact is, some of the indies are the best writers out there.
• Some indie authors have been very successful. Several are making over $100,000 a year, and I know of one who made over $1 million last year. These authors usually are engaged in “rapid write-rapid release,” producing a 50,000 word book (not the typical 70K to 100K words) every six weeks or so. Almost always these books are in the genres of romance/romantic suspense or sci-fi “space operas.” (stories like Star Wars and Battlestar Gallactica). Also these more successful writers typically have a patron (usually a wife or husband) who pays the bills so that the writer can write. But most indie writers like me are spending more than we’re making trying to put books into production and then market them once they are published. Otherwise, the books just disappear, and no one knows they exist. The vast majority of indie writers don’t make much money at all, and are often going in the hole until they have enough books out there to start eeking out a profit. Trad-published authors aren’t doing much better. The publishers just are not providing the same level of support as they have in the past, especially in the area of marketing. Often trad-published authors have to provide these services themselves and at their own expense.

​

•  A large secondary industry has grown up to “help” authors, which is another way of saying these “helpers” are making more money from providing these “services” than the authors are making from writing and publishing their books.
• I started writing to supplement my meager income. In the past, I had always been paid for my writing as a newspaper reporter and a freelance writer for magazines (locally, Zocalo, and The Desert Leaf). I was very naïve about making money by writing and selling books, especially fiction. I’ve concluded that the only way to succeed is: a) have enough money before even starting so that I can spend money on promotions and ads; and 2) follow the “rapid write, rapid release” method to produce as many books as humanly possible, preferably in romance or space operas. I don’t have lots of money to spend on ads and promos, I don’t want to spend 12 hours a day on a computer churning out books, and I don’t have a patron.

 
My conclusion: in 2021, I’ll be better off focusing on good physical health, spiritual and psychological wellness, and especially, having fun. So starting today and in 2021, I’m making art and writing books for fun. And hoping for the best.  

Feel free to comment. What are your plans for 2021?

Happy New Year!  

Home_Sunday morning, January 1, 2021

There are many “best of 2020” book lists now appearing in the media. Most of these books were published this past year, and most are traditionally published, not indie published. (indies are frequently ignored).

Here’s my list which includes older books as well as new ones. As you can see, I read nonfiction and fiction in several genres. Offhand, I’d say the only genre I don’t read is horror. Life is scary enough so I have no interest in reading horror, certainly not for fun. The links with each book title will take you to my review on Bookbub. Or you follow this link to all my reviews, not just the ones below.
​https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-shane?list=reviews
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​

Nonfiction:
 
​Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration and Homeland Security. Todd Miller. No doubt you know about how the ravages of climate change are leading to environmental refugees and warfare. Miller considers those ravages that will affect security not only on our borders but also INSIDE the U.S. Yes, have you ever considered borders within the U.S. that prevent the free movement of U.S. citizens affected by climate change?
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/610978983
 
​
​Dangerous Books for Girls. Maya Rodale. A history of publishing based on scholarly research, with emphasis on what has come to be known as “romance.” This book is full of fascinating cultural data. For those of you with strong negative opinions about romance, and who probably have never read a romance within the last 30 years, start here. You’ll learn something.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2447367495
 
Eyes of the World. Marc Aronson, Marina Budhos.  Robert Capa and Gerda Taro were two European Jews (Hungarian and German) who met in Paris in the 1930s, fell deeply in love, and embarked on careers in the newly emerging field of photojournalism. https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/3493865829 
​

​Historical Fiction:

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. Kim Michele Richardson
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/1850599419
The Giver of Stars. Jojo Moyes
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/1211552781

​These two books both address the Pack Horse Library Project initiated by the WPA during the Great Depression. However, the books are quite different. Book Woman is a dark tale of the “coloreds,” the Blue Skin people of eastern Kentucky. Giver of Stars, although it addresses some difficult issues, is a lighter book about two librarians in the Pack Horse Library project. 

Literary Fiction:

Love in the Time of Cholera. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. A rich tapestry of a tale that, despite the title, is not about love at all. Obsession is a better word here.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2065929734
 
Mystery/Suspense Fiction: 
​
Calculated Risk. K. S. Ferguson. mystery-suspense wrapped up in a sci fi setting with a spoonful of romance thrown in, too. https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2059853590
​

Romantic Fiction:

Flowers from the Storm. Laura Kinsale. All the romance tropes get turned on their head when the rich, arrogant math genius duke has a stroke early in the book and has to be rescued from an insane asylum by a Quaker woman. This book shows up frequently in the “best ever” lists.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/1249165865
 
Welcome to Temptation. Jennifer Crusie. Sophie accompanies her filmmaking sister to Temptation, Ohio, where Sophie meets the mayor, Phin. Crusie wrote this book as a feminist response to criticisms of the romance genre. Lots of humor in this book.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2833665396
 
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Fiction:

All Systems Red. Martha Wells. MurderBot, a corporate security android (SecUnit), is tasked with caring for a group of human scientists who come under attack. Winner of both Hugo and Nebula awards to a novella. This is clever and funny at times, but thought-provoking, too, when we consider how smart some of our devices are becoming. https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/109092955
 
The Fifth Season. N.K. Jemisin. This book is so wildly inventive with such fabulous world building that I’m not even going to try to describe it briefly. Winner of Hugo, Nebula and other awards.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/1921622241

​For those of us who respect science, the new Netflix set of documentaries, Corona Virus: Explained, has some excellent information. There are three episodes: first, about the corona virus and how it works; second, about the development of a vaccine (very hopeful!); and third, how we can deal with any stress or anxiety we’re experiencing. I wrote earlier about those who are in “psychological denial.” These folks prefer to think Covid-19 isn’t even happening. This current blog is for those of us who recognize that the virus isn’t going away anytime soon. We want to respond creatively to that awareness. All three episodes in the Netflix series are very informative and interesting, but the third episode on handling stress really caught my attention.
 
The first suggestion to handle covid-19 stress is to breathe. Slowly breathe in on a count of five, and then slowly breathe out on a count of five. No, this isn’t some hippie-dippie New Age thing. It’s science-based. Slowing our breathing reduces the out-of-control effects of our sympathetic nervous system. This part of the human nervous system creates stress in our bodies in response to a threat, commonly referred to as fight or flight. Breathing slowly allows the other crucial part of the nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system, to come to the fore, slow down our heart rate and to help us to chill out.

​The next suggestion is on reducing stress:  limit your news to once a day. Constant input detailing news of the pandemic just leads to more stress. And don’t drink a lot of alcohol. Alcohol sales have gone way up since the pandemic began. But alcohol just numbs us for a while. It does not reduce stress. Same goes for drugs.
 
The third suggestion to reduce stress is to “reclaim agency” in our lives.  How do we do this?

• Keep a schedule. I go out first thing in the morning for a walk around the neighborhood. My schedule allows for both exercise and an experience of the natural world.
• Take care of something:  a cat, a dog, a plant or a garden, or a bird feeder. In my case, my son’s dog comes for a visit episodically, I have a small garden to care for (mainly tomatoes), and I feed the birds (which also unintentionally provides a lot of entertainment for my neighbor’s cat).
• Make something: There’s a lot of room here for focusing on a project that interests you. Some people are taking up long-delayed DIY projects such as putting up that bookshelf in the living room, or trying out (or creating) new recipes, or doing something in the arts:  I’m all for the arts, and music is an especially good thing to be doing now. Take up an instrument, write a song, or even better, sing along with others. Some friends and family are having Zoom or Google Meet sessions and singing together. There’s a reason why Italians went out on their balconies or into the streets, played their instruments, and sang to each other at the height of their pandemic quarantine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBByYjjvNzs   As the Italian poet Alda Merini said, “La musica fa respirare.” Music lets you breathe. 
• Connect with others and help others: There’s always a way to connect with others. Zoom or Google Meet encounters are just one way. We have email, phone calls, and texting. There’s plenty of ways to help out, too, even when stuck at home. Do you like to sew? You can make masks. If you’ve survived covid-19, a gift of your blood plasma to treat others is extremely helpful.
• Shift focus away from yourself. This will make for positive change later. What have we learned in this pandemic about what is NOT working in American society. What do we need to work on?  How about access to nutritious food for all, especially kids? Access to affordable health care? Dealing once and for all with racism?
• Shift focus away from yourself. Reading is a great way to shift focus away from yourself. Sci-fi, mystery, suspense, romance – read whatever takes you into a new world.
• Shifting focus away from yourself also means moving energy away from the monkey mind that fills our thoughts with worry and fear. Let go of yesterday. Let go of tomorrow. Live in this moment. Breathe.

​One of the speakers in the Italian video said, “I think the most efficient weapons we have are music and culture. So let’s fill up our days with beauty, beating the virus to the beat of music, and soon we’ll be able to hug everyone again.”

So with that in mind, my current production of malas, mandalas, and Spirit Joss artworks fit into the category of “make something”   There are also other ways to assist in the shift of focus away from stress and worry to a more contemplative life. Use the mala to repeat some comforting words bead-by-bead while breathing in and out – a prayer, a mantra, or an affirmation. Use the mandala to remember the sacred unity of life. Use the Spirit Joss words to remind yourself of key concepts: peace, love, courage, hope. While you are quarantined, you can experience the richness of the world: tomato plants, singing birds, a happy dog, incoming monsoon clouds, the sound of music or the voice of a socially-distanced neighbor calling out from across the street, “How are you?”
 
Explained: CoronaVirus trailer
https://www.netflix.com/title/81273378
27, 23, and 20 minutes long
 
My malas, mandalas, and Spirit Joss, and other artworks can be found on my Etsy site: BajaArizona Treasures. I add new things frequently.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/BajaArizonaTreasures
 
Feel free to comment. What are you doing to cope creatively with the current state of affairs?

First, I’ll admit I’m lucky. Staying at home and avoiding social situations are not problems for me at all. “Self-quarantine” just gives me a chance to focus on art and writing. However, it has become abundantly clear that many of us are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic in very different, and often dysfunctional, ways depending on our personal psychology. Too bad not everyone is an artist, writer, musician or other creative type. There would be less suffering.
 
Much has been written recently about the mental health crisis in the U.S. precipitated by this pandemic. People are experiencing depression, stress and anxiety. Rather than write about options for dealing with this (and there are options), I’m writing now about a particular form of dysfunctional response to this virus. That is psychological denial.
 
The American Psychological Association defines “psychological denial” as “a defense mechanism in which unpleasant thoughts, feelings, wishes, or events are ignored or excluded from conscious awareness. It may take such forms as refusal to acknowledge the reality of a terminal illness, a financial problem, an addiction, or a partner’s infidelity. Denial is an unconscious process that functions to resolve emotional conflict or reduce anxiety.”
 
Psychological denial is a personal problem gone public when people who are in a state of denial engage in behaviors that affect the welfare of others.
 
Here’s an example. For about twenty years, I’ve had a postal box at Coronado Station in Tucson (on Rosemont north of Broadway). If I have to buy stamps or mail a package, I go to one of the windows and see a postal clerk. At my post office, there are signs and markers on the floor for postal customers to stay six feet away from each other. There’s one long desk divided into different “windows” so the entire room is actually open air.  Currently, every “window” at this long desk has a plexiglass barrier between the clerk and the customer. Some of the postal clerks behind the plexiglass are wearing masks, too.
 
There is one exception. At one of the windows, the clerk is not behind a plexi barrier, and he is not wearing a mask. If you go to his window, you will be approximately three feet away from him. So while I was waiting (at the window next to his), I asked him why he didn’t have a plexi barrier or why he wasn’t wearing a mask. He said, “I don’t have to have a barrier, and I didn’t request one. I’ve been around people with the flu, and I never got it. And I’m not going to let this virus get me down.”
 
1) The plexi barrier: I looked at the U.S. Postal Office website which says, “To reduce health risks for our employees and customers and to safeguard our operational and business continuity, the Postal Service is doing the following:” There’s a long list of actions including “Reinforcing workplace behaviors to ensure that contact among our employees and with our customers reflects the best guidance regarding healthy interactions, social distancing, and risk minimization. We have implemented measures at retail facilities and mail processing facilities to ensure appropriate social distancing, including through signage, floor tape, and “cough/sneeze” barriers.” (my boldface)
 
It’s not clear to me why this postal clerk thinks he gets to choose or reject the plexi barrier. Nor is it clear why the Post Master isn’t enforcing this. As I said, go to his window, and you’ll be about three feet away from him – no social distancing.
 
2) “Never catching the regular flu.” COVID-19 is not “the regular flu.” It is a very, very infectious disease with no cure and no vaccine. And this postal clerk doesn’t seem to realize that he could be one of the infected who shows no symptoms, but who is easily capable of infecting others. A part of his faulty thinking is simply ignorance about how the natural world works, how viruses work and how our immune systems work. I’m personally not willing to take a chance that I’m one who can be infected but who doesn’t get sick or who doesn’t get very sick. I could die.
 
3) “And I’m not going to let this virus get me down.”  This is a classic example of psychological denial. This postal clerk just doesn’t want to deal with the reality of the virus. Standing behind a protective barrier or wearing a mask will force him to accept what is really going on. He is clearly not concerned about how his behavior affects his postal customers. But this isn’t a bar on a Saturday night. This is the U.S. Post Office.

Here’s a good article to read, “The Psychological Reason Why Some People Aren’t Following COVID-19 Quarantine Orders.”
 
Individuals can be in psychological denial if they want to be in psychological denial. But do they have the right to endanger other people with their behavior? I don’t think so. Also I want to note that the virus doesn’t have a brain. It does not know or care if you are a Republican or a Democrat. It isn’t concerned about your “Constitutional right” to do whatever you want.
 
So what should we do about this?  It looks to me like I’m going to be self-quarantined until there is an effective and reliable vaccine for COVID-19.  I don’t go out often, usually only to the grocery store and post office. And when I go, I wear a mask and gloves, and I disinfect everything when I come home. There are too many people out there in psychological denial these days. As far as the postal clerk is concerned, I never go to his window.
 
I’ll wait for the vaccine, and I hope this postal clerk who is in psychological denial doesn’t infect anyone with COVID-19.

     Because of the COVID-19 virus, most of us are staying at home, and we may be at home for quite a while. What to do while self-quarantined?
     A University of Sussex study found that reading only a few minutes each day has been shown to reduce stress levels by sixty-eight percent. Listening to music is another way of relaxing.
     Films can also be a good way of spending time and dealing with stress during this “stay-at-home” phase. We first think of comedies and “feel-good” documentaries. There’s another category of film that is good to watch, too. This type of film has at its heart a problem that the characters struggle to solve, and a positive outcome to the struggle can be very satisfying to us, the viewers. I'm calling these "problem-solved" films.
     This annotated list includes all three types of film: comedy, documentary, and problem-solved films. All are available on Kanopy or Netflix. Kanopy is a free streaming service through your local public library.
[K] = Kanopy
[N] = Netflix

[K]. Faces Places (2017): France. A sweet, lively documentary that follows famous French artist Agnes Varda in her 88th year and young French photographer JR as they travel around France taking photos of faces and places.  French with English subtitles  Charming!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKbjnLpxv70
 
[N] Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society  (2018): Great Britain
A writer meets with a group of readers on the Isle of Guernsey. All are attempting to recover and heal from Nazi occupation in World War II. Includes a romance between the writer and a Guernsey farmer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP9eDmX0ow0
 
[K] Hunt for the Wilderpeople. (2016) New Zealand. A thirteen year old boy lost in the foster-care system connects with an anti-social curmudgeon and together, they embark on a great adventure. One of my all-time favorites, this film has everything – comedy, drama, sweet moments, sad moments, and gorgeous New Zealand scenery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tICv8QH3oM0 

[K] Lost in Paris (2017) France-Belgium. Canadian Fiona goes to Paris to assist her elderly aunt Martha. There she meets Dom, a homeless man. What ensues is a wacky, whimsical and very charming romantic comedy reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin films. English and French with English subtitles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NXqwh_76sk  
​

[N] Midnight Diner-Tokyo Stories (2014, 2017).
​Japanese. Japanese with English subtitles.
Sweet, thoughtful stories about diners who congregate at a diner to eat and share stories. Two seasons of 10 episodes each. Each episode is only about 25 minutes long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCGDVHjPX0c ​

[N]  Okja (2017). South Korea-U.S.  English and Korean with English subtitles.
A combination of action-adventure and sci-fi fantasy with political overtones. This is a story about the excesses of capitalism, and the philosophical issue of how we humans treat other sentient beings. Very unique and thought-provoking. The director is Bong Joon Ho who won four Oscars in 2020, including Best Picture, for Parasite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjCebKn4iic
 
[N]  Silver Linings Playbook (2012); U.S., English
A romantic comedy-drama addressing the problem of mental illness. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence – great acting!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj5_FhLaaQQ
 
[N] Strictly Ballroom (1992). Australian
Two things going on here: a wacky, over-the-top comedy combined with the story of a young artist trying to define his art for himself. And there’s a romance, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxprz6gOmpg
 
 Feel free to add your own titles in the Comments section.

​            Despite the richness of Tucson as an arts center, and by that I mean all of Tucson, too often art patrons have been channeled either to the galleries in the Foothills on Skyline Drive or to downtown galleries. In recent years, the constant push of city leaders to develop downtown has unfortunately led to many artists, art studios, and smaller galleries to be pushed out in favor of trendy restaurants and bars (83 and counting). Great effort has led to the blossoming of Steinfeld Warehouse galleries and studios, as well as Solar Culture Gallery and music venue, and the Tucson Sculpture Resource Center. Consequently, art lives and thrives downtown despite ongoing challenges.
            Lucky for us, in the past three years a new center for art studios has emerged on the east side of the city. Known as the East Hive, the center is a complex of three former office buildings which are now home to numerous artists’ studios. A stunningly beautiful courtyard in the center of these three diagonally-spaced buildings enhances the beauty of the East Hive. Owner Steven Fenton of Fenton Investment astutely turned over management of the East Hive Studios to long-time Tucsonan Steven Eye of Solar Culture fame. The complex is the largest studio complex in Tucson, and artists can recent space for as low as $150 a month.

​            I recently had the pleasure of visiting the East Hive on an open studios day. There I met several of the resident artists and also visited Mark Frighetti’s Healing Arts Qigong Center. (www.zyqigongaz.com/)  The Qigong center’s calm and meditative environment on the ground floor fit right in with the beautiful courtyard and the artists’ studios on two levels.
            While wandering around the three buildings, I met several artists and had a chance to see their work. Among them was Brian Osserman of Osserman Paintings (www.facebook.com/Osserman.Paintings). Brian is working with acrylic to paint on canvas and also to create lovely jewelry and amulet pieces with acrylic work.
            I met V. Romero (left below) who is in partnership with Yvette Madison. Their studio, Threading Seams, is where they create original costume designs. (www.facebook.com/ThreadingSeams/)  Iris Beaver of Rainbow Goddess Designs (center below) produces innovative “handcrafted headdresses, accessories, jewelry, and festival wear.”  (www.rainbowgoddessdesigns.com/ ) Iris showed me her special headdresses ready for holiday festivities. Photographer Ron McCoy (right below) has a working photography studio in the Hive. His specialty is architectural photography, and he also teaches photography classes in his studio. (www.ronmccoyphotography.com/ )  I also stumbled upon a large display of the paintings and drawings of Curtis Kiwak although I was not able to meet and talk to him. (www.curtiskiwak.com/)

​            Perhaps my favorite visit of the day was to Joyce Jaden’s studio. That may be because I’ve done a lot of fiber art myself. Joyce is a mixed media textile artist who weaves on the loom and also weaves baskets. She even had a couple of hand crafted artist’s books on display. (website?)
            Much to my pleasure, I ran into Steven Eye and had a chance to chat with him about the East Hive and about the art scene in general in Tucson. It’s quite clear that Steven has devoted himself for many years to helping the artists of Tucson to thrive and to create art despite the constant challenges we all face. Thank you, Steven!  www.solarculture.org/
            You can keep up with the East Hive on Facebook here:  www.facebook.com/EastHiveTucson
            Here’s how you find the East Hive. The complex is located quite close to the Park Place Mall. So go east on Broadway to just past the mall, then south on S. Wilmot to East 14th Street. Turn right (west) onto 14th and go half a block to find the Hive complex on your left (south side). If you miss E. 14th, go to the next turn to the west, Timrod Street. Understand that despite the address of 326 S. Wilmot, the East Hive doesn’t actually open directly onto Wilmot.
            Go by and visit! 

Today is Veterans Day, an American federal holiday set aside to honor those persons who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Other countries have their own similar holidays. For example, today is Remembrance Day in Canada.
 
In my lifetime, I’ve seen American soldiers sent off to several wars, beginning with the Vietnam War and continuing up to the current Afghanistan conflict. My own experience with veterans began with my father who served in World War II and the Korean War. I’ve known several Vietnam veterans, one of whom suffers to this day with the effects, both physical and psychological, from his service in the jungles of Vietnam. I frequently meet and talk with veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Veterans are my neighbors, my fellow dog-walkers, and my fellow writers and artists.
 
Not much has changed over time. The wars go on, and the suffering continues. Too many soldiers are killed. Others come home with debilitating physical injuries. Psychological injuries are a big part of the damage of war as well. Early on, the psychological injuries were called “shell shock,” then later came to be known as “combat fatigue.” Now we use the terms PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and “combat stress injuries.”  The U.S. Army calls it “Combat Stress Reaction.”
 
My own relationship to war, in addition to knowing war survivors, has been to be a protestor and resistor of war. In my own small way, I’m one of those people who attempts to bring about those changes that will lead to peace, not war.
 
My latest Letty Valdez Mystery, Daemon Waters, is dedicated to our veterans. Daemon Waters is my attempt to encourage readers to think about the effects of warfare on soldiers. Most importantly, my hope is that we will all see the need to provide our warriors with the support and assistance they require to deal with the effects of war. That means good health care, both physical and mental, and job opportunities when they leave the Armed Forces.
 
So today, I say to our veterans, thank you for your service to our country. May you come home from war safe and sound in mind and body. May we all work to create those conditions that lead to peace.
 
“It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” --Eleanor Roosevelt
​

​I met Lois Winston through our mutual membership in Sisters in Crime. Lois is an award winning. USA Today-best-selling author who writes in several fiction genres, in nonfiction and also children’s literature. She writes terrific mysteries and even better, they are mysteries that will make you laugh. Lois is also a person who has been very helpful to other writers. For that, we all thank her.
 
Lois, you are a prolific indie writer working in several fiction genres. You came to writing from a background as a literary agent. What make you decide to cross over the bridge from the publishing industry and start writing?
 
Actually, it was the other way around. The agency that represented me invited me to join them as an agent after learning that I had helped several friends get published by polishing their proposals. I began my agency career reading through the slush pile and offering editorial input to some of the agency’s other clients as well as writers they were considering representing. Eventually, I graduated to having my own list of clients. All the while, I continued with both my design career and writing my own books. I’m now semi-retired, concentrating only on writing more books.
 
Your Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries series draws readers in for a number of reasons. One is the humor we find in your cozy mystery series. Anastasia has been described by Kirkus Reviews as “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” We know Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich are often very funny. Do you find humor difficult or easy to write? What sources do you draw on to make things funny for your readers?
 
No one was more surprised than I when I discovered I could write humor. I’m someone who has botched up the punch line of every joke I’ve ever attempted to tell—if I can even remember the joke in the first place! But it turns out when it’s just me and my computer, the humor flows through my fingertips onto the screen.
 
As with most of my plots and characters, the source for my humor comes from what I see and read in the news. My humor is more cerebral than pratfall or slapstick and sometimes leans towards sarcasm, but it’s never nasty. I believe being a Jersey Girl has molded much of my outlook on life. When you live in New Jersey, you experience irony on a daily basis—like my grandfather, in law enforcement in North Jersey, while his brother was a bootlegger in South Jersey.
 
I read your first Anastasia mystery, Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun. While I did laugh out loud while reading, I was struck also with how humor helped the protagonist Anastasia deal with significant trauma (a husband who managed to ruin the family finances before dying suddenly). Is humor a consistent way for your characters to deal with life’s challenges?
 
It is—for both my characters and me. I learned a long time ago that sometimes you can either laugh or cry, and you’ll feel much better if you choose to laugh. Laughing releases endorphins, and that makes us feel better. So I try to find the humor, both for my characters and myself, in as many situations as possible. Even when I was writing dark romantic suspense, I tried to inject a bit of humor into some of the dialogue and deep point of view to relieve the tension, make my characters more human, and give the reader a break from the darkness.

​Anastasia is a magazine crafts editor. You are an award-winning craft and needlework designer. Each of the Anastasia mysteries has a craft design included at the end of the book. Tell us a little more about those designs. What kind of designs do readers find in your books?
 
Each book contains several designs. Unlike other crafting cozies that feature an amateur sleuth who works in one particular craft, because Anastasia is a crafts editor, I decided my series would feature different crafts from book to book. The designs always have some connection to the plot. I choose crafts where I can write directions that don’t require patterns, which would be problematic for ebooks and paperbacks. Also, all of the crafts I feature are easy enough for even the most novice of crafters. I don’t want anyone to feel intimidated by the projects.
 
Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun features bridal crafts and crafts for a Fourth of July picnic or barbeque, including bridal tennis shoes, birdseed roses, recycled jeans placemats, clay pot candles, and a decoupaged wooden flag tray.
 
Mop dolls are featured prominently in Death By Killer Mop Doll, so I included a bunny mop doll project and a string doll angel ornament.
 
In Revenge of the Crafty Corpse the murder victim was a crafter who often worked with fabric yo-yos. Along with yo-yo instructions and stitching tips, there are directions for embellishing a sweater with yo-yos and making a yo-yo doll and four yo-yo Christmas ornaments.
 
Decoupage Can Be Deadly includes basic decoupage directions and tips along with instructions for Potichomanie decoupage, illuminated decoupage, embossed decoupage, and Repoussé decoupage.
 
A Stitch to Die For offers instructions for two knit and two crocheted baby blankets.
 
I include scrapbooking tips in Scrapbook of Murder, which centers around an old scrapbook the daughter of a murder victim discovers while she’s clearing out her mother’s attic.
 
In Drop Dead Ornaments Anastasia’s son and his classmates craft glass ball ornaments to sell at the town’s annual crafts show to raise money for the local food pantry. The book contains a variety of different glass ball ornament crafts.
 
Finally, in Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide, my newest release, I showcase a variety of Christmas crafts made by recycling greeting cards, including 3-D ornaments, gift bags, a triangular flag garland, a wreath, and a wall-hanging photo frame.

Many authors have a blog. You are unusual in that you turned your blog over to Anastasia. She interviews other writers, provides readers with great recipes, and writes about crafts, too.  What made you decide to turn your blog into a place to find all these goodies?
I didn’t have a blog until my agent sold the Anastasia series. My publisher wanted to know what I planned to do in the way of social media. I truly detest Facebook, but I bit the proverbial bullet and set up an account. Within five minutes I was bombarded with friend requests from creepy dudes in Third World nations. I immediately deleted the account and decided to create a blog instead.
 
Looking around at other author blogs, I realized most were about writing and geared toward fellow authors. I wanted to attract readers. So I set up the blog to be the online home of the magazine where Anastasia and her fellow editors work. I try to feature posts about topics you might find in any women’s magazine. So even when I have guest authors, which I do quite frequently, I ask them to write posts on topics that would appeal to a wide variety of readers. For instance, if I’m hosting an author who is a nurse in her day job and writes medical mysteries, I’ll ask her to write something health-related. If a book takes place in a real locale that could be a vacation destination, I’ll ask the author to write about the setting for her book. If an amateur sleuth runs a bakery or catering business, I’ll ask the author to supply a recipe.
 
Tell us about your new release, Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Book 8).
 
Two and a half weeks ago magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack arrived home to find Ira Pollack, her half-brother-in-law, had blinged out her home with enough Christmas lights to rival Rockefeller Center. Now he’s crammed her small yard with enormous cavorting inflatable characters. She and photojournalist boyfriend and possible spy Zack Barnes pack up the unwanted lawn decorations to return to Ira. They arrive to find his yard the scene of an over-the-top Christmas extravaganza. His neighbors are not happy with the animatronics, laser light show, and blaring music creating traffic jams on their normally quiet street. One of them expresses his displeasure with his fists before running off.
 
In the excitement, the deflated lawn ornaments are never returned to Ira. The next morning Anastasia once again heads to his house before work to drop them off. When she arrives, she discovers Ira’s attacker dead in Santa’s sleigh. Ira becomes the prime suspect in the man’s murder and begs Anastasia to help clear his name. But Anastasia has promised her sons she’ll keep her nose out of police business. What’s a reluctant amateur sleuth to do?
 
Buy Links:
Amazon 
Kobo
Barnes & Noble
iTunes
 
What do you do for fun when you aren’t writing and publishing your books?
 
I love the theater. I’m lucky enough to live a short commute from Broadway and know the secret to scoring really cheap theater tickets to many productions ahead of time and without waiting in line for hours at the TKTS booth. So I go to as many shows on and off Broadway as possible. I would have loved a career on the Broadway stage, but I have a tin ear and two left feet—a fact reinforced when years ago my two-year-old said, “Mommy, please don’t sing. You’re hurting my ears!”
 
To learn more, go to Lois Winston’s website here:  https://www.loiswinston.com/
and Anastasia Pollack’s blog here: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com
 
Link to my review of Lois’s first book, Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, here:  https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2555461940
 
Extra: Anastasia interviewed Letty Valdez (my Letty Valdez Mysteries) here:
https://anastasiapollack.blogspot.com/2018/08/book-club-friday-interview-with-mystery.html

Since the fall of 2015 when Tucson Pima Arts Council (TPAC) experienced a severe reduction in funding for the Tucson Fall Open Studios Tour, I’ve been writing blog posts about both the fall and spring tours. If you’ve kept up with this, you know that a couple of very vibrant arts groups popped up to fill in the gap in response to TPAC’s funding loss. They are Heart of Tucson Art (mid-town Tucson) and Art Trails (west Tucson). Up until that time, TPAC’s studio tour had been scheduled for only one weekend. The new arts groups divided the city into sectors and hosted tours on four different weekends.
 
Much to my distress, Southern Arizona Arts and Culture Alliance (SAACA) barged in, took over the tour in the fall of 2016 (or was subcontracted by TPAC - depending on your viewpoint). SAACA made a terrible mess of things. The mess was so bad that after one try with SAACA in 2016, I personally boycotted SAACA’s tour. I haven’t participated since then. I’m not the only artist to make the same decision.
 
Things have changed, and apparently for the better.
 
TPAC reorganized since losing open studios’ tour funding in 2015. TPAC is now known as Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona (Arts Foundation). Now for the first time in several years, Arts Foundation is running the fall studio tour again. The tour is being called Open Studio Tours with no reference to the city of Tucson. Unlike SAACA’s tour which included Benson, Tubac, and any place in between here and the Mexican border, the Arts Foundation tour is a more reasonable size, stretching from Catalina in the north to the southern edge of Tucson.
 
A persistent concern for many years among artists who do not live downtown has been that the wide area covered by the tour in only one weekend had the effect of funneling tour visitors to downtown studios. Visitors were able to see more art in a short period of time by going downtown. Artists who lived elsewhere were out of luck, despite paying the same tour fees as downtown artists. Heart of Tucson Art (HotArt) and Art Trails were direct results of this bias toward downtown.
​

Why Authors Need Book Reviews

Reviews are vitally important for writers because reviews give some desperately needed attention to a book and to an author that otherwise is hard to come by. Reviews are especially important for indie writers who are in danger of getting lost in the ocean of books published every year. What it gets down to is this: who is going to read a writer’s book if they’ve never heard of it?
 
Researchers have learned that readers typically choose a book by these three factors: 1) the reader previously read a book by the same author and liked it; 2) a friend recommended a book to the reader; and 3) the reader liked the cover of the book. Reviews don’t really sell books. They are primarily useful to let readers know that the book exists and is available to be read.
 
Nicholas Erik, a writer of science fiction and a book marketing specialist tells us that the value of book reviews are primarily to provide what he calls “social proof.” That is, if the reader looks at a book on Amazon or Goodreads or one of the other sites, the reader is probably going to be less impressed by a book that has no reviews or only two or three. If the book has twenty reviews with four or five stars, the reader is more likely to take a chance on it. Second, those books with reviews qualify for “promo sites” which promote a book. A listing on a promo site, chief among them Bookbub, is much more likely to lead to sales. But many promo sites require that social proof first.
 
The third way that a review is helpful to an author is by providing feedback that the author can use to improve his/her writing. This is the greatest help of all. But this assumes the reviewer knows what s/he is doing, even when the review is very brief.  Let’s look at this more closely.
 
What Makes a Good Review?
 
I took a two-semester course in arts criticism when I was an undergrad student. The professor was a filmmaker so we talked a lot about films, but books and art were subjects, too. My professor gave us three guidelines on how to write arts criticism.
 
1. What is the author or artist’s message or theme? 2) How well does the artist convey the message? 3) Is the message worth conveying?
 
Taking each one in turn, first, what is the author’s message or theme? A fiction book is usually categorized in a particular genre such as mystery, action-thriller, romance, sci-fi, paranormal or the more ambiguous term of “literary.” It’s up to the reader to determine what the message or theme of the book is. Perhaps we’re looking at a cozy mystery in which the author describes a clever and resourceful amateur woman sleuth who solves crimes in her small town (think Miss Marple) or a young man who discovers that he is a brave and determined warrior destined to save a revolutionary movement against an evil galactic empire. (Luke Skywalker).
 
Readers figure out what’s going on and then judge the book by how well this message or theme is carried out by the writer. The mistake many reviewers make is approaching the work with a preconceived notion of what should or should not be in the book, and then judging it harshly by these preconceived notions rather than judging it for what it is and on its own merit.
 
For example, if the reader loves cozy mysteries with a cat in them, a mystery book with a dog in it could be subjected to a negative review, not on the merits of the book, but on the fact that there’s no cat in the book! My advice is to find a book that includes a cat rather than trashing an otherwise good book because it has a dog in it.
 
I would never criticize a sci-fi thriller because there is no romance in it. I wouldn't criticize a romance for failing to have space opera battles. I don't criticize a mystery because I have the preconceived notion that all mysteries MUST be Raymond Chandler-style noir detective stories, If they are not noir, then they are no good. I look at mystery fiction in all its subgenres and start where the book starts. In other words, I look at the writer's message or theme, not my preconceived notion of what it's supposed to be. I wrote a blog, “Mystery Genres and the Elements of Fiction,” that addresses this issue. (https://www.cjshane.com/blog/mystery-genres-and-the-elements-of-fiction)
 
Here’s another example of this kind of faulty review. One of my reviewers said at the outset that the reviewer doesn’t like books written in the third person. My book is in the third person. This reviewer also complained about one place in the book where there was point-of-view switch (intentional on my part). The reviewer did not mention plot, characterization, setting, themes, etc. Only voice and point of view were mentioned. I did not find this review helpful because the reviewer’s criticisms were entirely subjective.
 
Second, how well does the author convey the message?  This is actually the easiest one, in my opinion. If you are reading a suspense-thriller and find yourself falling asleep, then the writer probably didn’t do a very good job of creating suspense. If you are reading a romance and you find yourself disliking the characters and hoping they can escape each other, then that’s not very romantic, is it? What it gets down to is this. Are you enjoying reading this book? Why? or why not?
 
Third, is the message worth conveying?  This is the trickiest guideline because the reader gets to decide what is worth conveying and that can be very subjective. It’s really easy to project your own notion of “unworthy” onto a work that could very well be considered “worthy” by other readers.
 
Recently I encountered a reader who disliked some passages of a steamy romance, then declared, “We shouldn’t have to be subjected that kind of stuff.” My answer to this is: YOU don’t have to subject yourself that kind of stuff. If you don’t like steamy, don’t read it! Keep in mind, though, that other readers love steamy.
 
The only time I refused to review a book, a crime thriller, on the basis of an unworthy message was because it had lengthy (20 pages or more) descriptions of the violent torture of women. The detailed descriptions went into how a serial killer abducted women, caged them in a barn, took them out individually, raped and dismembered each one while still alive and while the others were forced to watch. I sent a WTF? message to the writer. His answer was, “There are people doing that kind of thing.” Yes, I know! But do we want a “how-to” manual on it in a work of fiction? No. That kind of detailed description of a crime is often called “torture porn.” I don’t consider it a worthy way of treating that type of crime in fiction.
 
My first Letty Valdez Mystery, Desert Jade, took up the issue of sex trafficking and smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border. There were no explicit descriptions of these crimes which do exist in the real world, but which need no detailed, how-to instructions on the suffering involved.
 
A good review can be very helpful. I am grateful to those reviewers who complained about my failure to follow up and keep the reader informed about what happened to Esperanza in Desert Jade. She was introduced early in the book, people fell in love with her, and they were concerned about her welfare. They rightfully criticized me because I didn’t tell readers what happened to her until near the end of the book. Now, that’s good criticism. I won’t make that mistake again!
 
My message to, dear Reader, is this: Please give your author and his/her book the favor of your review. Just a couple of sentences will do. Post it on your favorite vendor’s site (Amazon, B&N, iBooks, etc.) or on your favorite reader-oriented website like Goodreads and Bookbub. You can help another reader discover what you discovered and enjoy a new book. You can help a writer to keep his/her fictional world alive and afloat in the ocean of books.

Advice for artists, and especially for writers, makes it clear that “platform building” is an important factor in success. Success here is defined as getting some notice of your work, with the hope that this will lead to sales of your books or art.  Building a platform includes a constant presence and making frequent posts on social media.
 
I have my favorite social media sites. Pinterest is probably my favorite for art and Goodreads or maybe Bookbub for books. For years, I was on Google +. I was one of the beta users of G+, and like most G+ users, we were very unhappy when Google decided to close this social media. We refer to ourselves as G+ refugees. I liked G+ because it was possible to avoid a lot of the political and social warfare we see on social media these days. Facebook is especially bad for that although there have been some efforts recently to reduce the combative environment.  I was friends with a lot of interesting people on G+, primarily writers and artists from all over the world. I miss Google+.
 
So a few months ago, I started an account at Twitter. It turns out that it’s very possible to engage in cultural warfare on Twitter, too, if so inclined. I’ve managed to avoid that so far. I noticed right away that Twitter, like most social media, is like a digital bubble. You get inside the bubble and trade posts with people who think the same way you do.
 
Much to my delight, I found that Twitter is also a way to connect with people I would not otherwise be aware of. Prime among these are scientists, in particular, environmental scientists. Consequently, I “follow” many of these scientists and also science-oriented organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity based in Tucson.
 
Who are the other Twitter posters I decided to follow?  Well, the artists and writers, of course. I also follow certain individuals and groups devoted to human rights and social justice. In recent months, that has been people and organizations attempting to alleviate the suffering on the U.S.-Mexico border.
 
So if you are a person who has a deep interest in these subjects: environmental science, art, books, and human rights/social justice, then follow me on Twitter here: @CJShaneArtBooks
​

Jerry Cagle is a former cytologist, a profession that refers to the “microscopic interpretation of cells to detect cancer and other abnormalities.” (Wikipedia) He tells us that he decided rather abruptly late in his career to change professions and become a fine art photographer. He now refers to himself as a visual storyteller, and he explains the connection between his art and science.  See more of his work at:
https://limbicsystemphotoworks.zenfolio.com/

Jerry, what motivated you to move from a hard science profession, cytotechnology? And to do so “abruptly,” as you have said?  [click on images to enlarge]

​ 
I was at a dead-end in my profession; I was burnt out and had been passed over for promotion to a supervisory position the year before. A new manager from the lab in Phoenix had been brought in; there was a marked shift in the culture of the workplace, and I was having difficulty adapting to the new, more corporate environment. I hadn’t actually been planning to retire, but, after discussing the situation with my wife, I gave my two- weeks notice.
 
We had recently returned from a backpacking trip to the Escalante in Southern Utah, and I saw something in a number of the photos I had made with my little point and shoot camera that stirred my interest. I purchased the cheapest DSLR Nikon made and began taking pictures of anything and everything. I thought that I might, through the sale of my work, supplement my retirement income. That was a little over six years ago. I have experienced a fair amount of success with my work. I regularly exhibit locally, and last year I had work included in one national and one international competition. It turns out that my assumptions regarding the fiscal potential were, shall we say, naïve, and my long-suffering wife has become an unwitting patron of the arts.
 
Cytology is a highly visual profession, and much of the diagnostic process takes place on a subconscious level. When I was investigating the field, prior to enrolling in the university, I spoke with a practicing cytologist, and she asked me if I was an artist. I thought this a peculiar question. She remarked that artists tended to do very well in cytology. One of the nine sister muses, Urania, created astronomy, another visual science, so, perhaps, it isn’t such a leap as it might first appear.
 
Your Limbic System Photoworks refers to the limbic system in animals which you define as “a collection of structures in the brain that are the primary locus of emotional life and the formation of memories.”  Why do you see emotions and memory as the foundation of your artwork? Do you refer to emotions and memory in the viewers of your artwork or to your own emotions and memories, or both?
 
My wife came up with the idea of calling the business Limbic System Photoworks, both as a nod to my background in the sciences and as a way of bridging that and this new adventure I was embarking on. I thought it was brilliant! It was such an eloquent way of expressing the connection between science and art.
 
My goal in my nature work is, first and foremost, to elicit a strong emotional response from the viewer For what it’s worth, I consider myself as not just the creator, but, also, one of the viewers. But more to your question – I am referring to both my own and others’ responses. In my landscape and nature images the response I am usually seeking is a “positive” one – awe, contentment, peace, a sense that the world is a beautiful, friendly, and welcoming place, but other times I like to do something a little ominous, unsettling – impending storms and other extreme environments, processes of decay and mortality. In my more conceptual bodies of work, my intent is to pose questions or create situations that may make some viewers a bit uncomfortable, to create a degree of “psychological tension”. In that work I explore questions dealing, sometimes directly, other times obliquely, with religious beliefs, spirituality, mortality, fear, et. al.
 
The memory aspect relates loosely to the Jungian concept of the “collective unconscious” and “ancestral memory”. I admit to exercising artistic license in this concept. Photography is particularly well suited to bridging an individual’s personal experience with the experience of others, both in the present and across the arc of human history. The collective unconscious deals in archetypes and symbolism. Jung described it as encompassing “the soul of humanity at large”. Someone with no direct experience of wild natural environments, someone who has never ventured outside the confines of the city, can, nevertheless, be stirred by images that depict places, where the hand of man is not readily apparent. These places call out to us and draw us in on a deep level. 

​You work in color, black-and-white, and monochromatic sepia tones. How do you decide which palette to use? And does this choice have a role in eliciting emotion and memory?
 
At the risk of being branded as a little soft around the edges, I will say that I don’t make the decision as to what palette I use – the work tells me. Sometimes I create multiple iterations - color and straight black & white or toned monochromes, or all three. There is an old maxim in photography that holds the concept of “previsualization”, i.e.  knowing exactly what the finished image will look like prior to releasing the shutter, as the consummate expression of skill and artistry. It is held up as a sign of personal integrity (or lack thereof). Some would consider letting the work speak for itself in that way as akin to heresy, but I see it as an organic, evolutionary process. I don’t always know exactly what my motivation is when I release the shutter; there is something at work on a subconscious level that sometimes only reveals itself during subsequent review.
 
Regarding choice of color vs monochrome, each impacts how an image works on us in a variety of ways. Monochrome work abstracts an image and sepia tones evoke the past, an amorphous dream-like state. Color can abstract to a degree as well.  The limitations are essentially endless with digital work. Photography affords the luxury of being able to create, with relative ease, variations on a theme, whether in choice of palette or other aspects, e.g. dodging and burning (selectively lightening and darkening specific areas of the image), contrast, saturation/desaturation, etc. It’s a very powerful tool. Someone who thinks that photography is just a matter of pushing a button obviously hasn’t experienced the “plague of choices” you face in post-production work.
 
I am considering changing, somewhat in jest, the tagline on my website from “I don’t photograph what is in front of me. I photograph what is inside of me.” to “I hate landscape photography, but I can’t stop doing it.”
 
Your work is deeply informed by the American Southwest and the Sonoran Desert in particular. Is there any other place in the world that you would really like to photograph? And if so, why?
 
 
Yes. Definitely. The American South. I am enamored of The South. I spent my formative years there, and, even though I haven’t lived there in more than 25 years, I still identify as a Southerner. Despite the misconceptions, and, yes, uncomfortable truths that accompany that label, the fact is that the South, even with its issues of race, chauvinism, provincialism, and history of violent oppression, is a romantically and visually (have you ever seen the serviceberry blooming in the otherwise bare springtime woods?) rich and diverse region; culturally, socially, intellectually, and demographically. We of the South have a strong literary tradition - Donald Harington, Faulkner, Harper Lee, Eudora Welty, Foote, and W.B. DuBois.  “Southern Art” is an admittedly ill-defined genre, if, indeed, such a thing actually exists. There are Southern photographers whose work deals with the South directly and metaphorically – Greg Banks, Sally Mann, Keith Carter, Clarence John Laughlin, Gordon Parks. Painters from the South whose work holds together stylistically or thematically as “Southern” are harder to find. Southern music is legion and readily identifiable, in all its aspects, as a regional entity.
I would love to photograph in Savannah, Georgia, and I have been salivating over the possibility of being selected to participate in the artist-in-residence program in Hot Springs National Park (in Arkansas), but due to funding shortages it has been placed on moratorium for the past couple of years.
 
What do you think are the major challenges you and other artists in southern Arizona face today?
 
The availability of studio space is going to be reduced as the gentrification of downtown accelerates. Thirty artists on Toole Avenue were recently displaced when their studios were removed to accommodate a new restaurant. That will make it even harder for full-time artists to support themselves from their work.