SMFS Member Guest Post: DOING GOOD AND DOING WELL by Kathleen Marple Kalb (SMFS Vice President)

Please welcome our Vice President to the blog today…

 

 

DOING GOOD AND DOING WELL

Guest Post by SMFS Vice President Kathleen Marple Kalb

 

 

            Charity anthologies are often good career moves as well as good karma.

            In the last few years, I’ve been fortunate to have stories in several, and every time, there’ve been concrete benefits beyond the pleasure of helping our fellow humans.

            First, if you’re early in your career, giving a story to a charity anthology can be a chance to work with an accomplished editor. To get their comments, and their thinking on your soundtrack for the current story, and every future project, is enough compensation right there.

            Almost all anthologies also give you an opportunity to reach new and different readers. Even if you’re a big seller, it’s unlikely followers of every other writer in the anthology will be familiar with your work. And if you’re still building a readership, it’s a real chance to widen your audience.

            That’s part of any anthology. Sharing the promotional effort is, too. Many of us don’t do as much promotion as we should (looking in the mirror here!) but if you’re out there with a bunch of other folks, suddenly the burden isn’t as heavy. It’s often a lot more fun, too.

            Charity projects, though, are special. The writers, of course, care about the cause enough to give their work and their promotional effort. Often, they’re willing to work harder because the charity is important to them.

            More, though, charity projects carry built-in goodwill that can lead to extra positive attention. Bloggers, reviewers, and others will often promote the project as a way to help the cause. Or just to make sure the writers are rewarded for doing good.

            All of that is good for the anthology and the charity.

            Sometimes, it’s good for you, too, bringing in additional readers for your other projects.

            And sometimes, you just get lucky.

            My most recent charity anthology story, “A Fatal Saint Patrick’s Day,” came out last month in LUCK OF THE IRISH.  The story involves my Irish-Jewish Gilded Age trouser diva Ella Shane, because she was the best fit for the theme. When I signed on, I just wanted to raise some money to help migrant children – and write a good story.

            As it turned out, though, the anthology came out just over a month before my next Ella Shane book, A FATAL RECEPTION, the reboot of the series at Level Best Books – due April 30th. Even better, the editors, Kate Darroch and Jessica Thompson, as well as some of the other writers, have different (and much larger) readerships than I do.

            We told some good stories, we sold a bunch of books, and we brought in a nice donation for kids who really need help. And, as it happens, I introduced Ella to lots of new readers right before the next book.

            The old saw is: “It’s better to be lucky than good,” but maybe it should be: “Look for chances to do good…and you just might be lucky, too!”

 

A FATAL RECEPTION: Gilded Age trouser diva Ella Shane and her Duke are at long last headed for the altar…but they’ll have to handle a murder, a shipwreck, a questionable Polish prince, and any number of other complications on the way. Continuing the highly-praised series featuring an Irish-Jewish Lower East Side orphan who found fame and fortune as a singer of male soprano roles, the latest installment follows Ella and her surprisingly diverse cast of family and friends through mystery and misadventure…and into the greatest challenge of all for an independent-minded woman and her Victorian swain: matrimony!

Buy at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Reception-Ella-Shane-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0CXY8T735

 

Kathleen Marple Kalb ©2024

Kathleen Marple Kalb describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels including A Fatal Reception and the Old Stuff series, both from Level Best Books. As Nikki Knight, she writes the Grace the Hit Mom and Vermont Radio mysteries. Her stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, and others, and been short-listed for Derringer and Black Orchid Novella Awards. She’s currently the Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and a co-VP of the New York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.

Website: https://kathleenmarplekalb.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kathleen-Marple-Kalb-1082949845220373/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KalbMarple

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathleenmarplekalb/

Threads: @kathleenmarplekalb

Bluesky: @mysterymarple.bsky.social   

SMFS Member Guest Post: OLD STUFF, NEW ANSWER by Kathleen Marple Kalb (SMFS Vice President)

Please welcome back our Vice President, Kathleen Marple Kalb, to our SMFS blog today…

 

 

OLD STUFF, NEW ANSWER

Guest Post by Kathleen Marple Kalb, SMFS VP

 

          Plot first or characters first?

            It’s a question mystery writers are asked – and ask themselves – just about every day.

            And almost every time, my answer is: characters first. One of my favorite things about writing is creating and living with these interesting people through their adventures. The whole reason I write, and love to read, series mysteries is the pleasure of hanging out with the characters.

            Almost all my story ideas begin that way: what could only happen to my characters, and why are they the only people who could solve the crime? It might be their job, their life experience, or some quirk of their personality, but the story always begins there.

            Or I thought it did.

            Then, last December, while I was making final arrangements for my mother, the funeral director used the phrase “the custodian of the body.” It gave me the idea for a mystery set in a funeral home: an innocent person burying a loved one stumbles into a murder in the next viewing room. Before you condemn me as a hopeless ghoul, please remember that plenty of people use writing as a coping mechanism. I’m one of them.

            The problem was, this great story idea didn’t fit my usual short-story characters, a divorced woman remaking her life at a little Vermont radio station and her colorful pals. Nobody was a good fit for serious grief. The idea simmered in the back of my head for a while, until I stumbled across something related to THE STUFF OF MURDER, my new Old Stuff series.

            The main character is a widow, Christian Shaw, head of the Unity, Connecticut Historical Society. When we meet her in the book, it’s about two years after her husband’s car-crash death, and she’s worked through the initial devastation, building a new life for herself and her son with the help of found family and good friends.

            I’d never used her in a short story because the cast is so large it didn’t seem workable. 

            But if it were just Christian and the person she’d bring with her to make funeral arrangements, her mentor/father figure Garrett?

            Suddenly, the whole thing came together: step back in time to Christian burying her husband and stumbling across a murder in the next room – a murder only she recognizes and can solve because of her unique expertise with old household objects. Give her a little help from Garrett, his former state trooper husband Ed, and some obligingly nasty suspects, and there it was.

            The end result, “The Custodian of the Body,” was my first story in Black Cat Weekly – with the help of an amazing edit by Barb Goffman. (Important aside: anytime you get a chance to be edited by Barb, the answer is yes, thank you – it’s an incredible learning experience, and so valuable to have her on your internal soundtrack as you build a story!)

            And, after writing one short story with Christian, I’ve done several others – so expect to see her again. She – and I – are a little busy right now, though. Christian’s first novel-length adventure, THE STUFF OF MURDER, came out this week from Level Best Books. A fading movie star drops dead on a shoot in her little town, and she ends up using her knowledge of everything from pewter tankards to Colonial bayonets to embroidery to track the killer. If you met Christian in “The Custodian of the Body,” you might enjoy spending a bit more time in her world, and meeting everyone who was hovering just outside the edges of the short story.

            I’m still a characters-first writer, but the experience of writing “The Custodian of the Body” convinced me that when a plot is good enough, you can find characters to fit. One more way to up my writing game.

 

THE STUFF OF MURDER: When Hollywood comes to small-town Connecticut, it should be the stuff of dreams – but when a fading movie star ends up dead, a whole different kind of stuff hits the fan.  Unity Historical Society head and antique household items – stuff! -- expert Christian Shaw is on set when actor Brett Studebaker falls to his death from the pulpit in an old church. She, the “dads she should have had,” Garrett and Ed, her son Henry, who has a photographic memory and Type-1 Diabetes, and her colorful friends end up helping Assistant State’s Attorney Joe Poli in his investigation. Along for the ride: her giant tuxedo cat, Cookie, Ed and Garrett’s big red mutt Norm, and Joe’s tiny dog Cannoli! Woodworking, embroidery, old poisons, and vintage weapons all figure in the case, which comes together in a wild scene at the Historical Society on Fourth-Grade Field Trip Day.

 

Buy at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CKWFXQ3S/

 

Kathleen Marple Kalb © 2023

 

Kathleen Marple Kalb describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels including The Stuff of Murder, and the upcoming Ella Shane mystery, A Fatal Reception, both from Level Best Books. As Nikki Knight, she writes the Grace the Hit Mom and Vermont Radio mysteries. Her stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, and others, and been short-listed for Derringer and Black Orchid Novella Awards. She’s currently the Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and a co-VP of the New York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.

 

Website: https://kathleenmarplekalb.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kathleen-Marple-Kalb-1082949845220373/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KalbMarple   

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathleenmarplekalb/           

SMFS Member Guest Post: YOU NEVER KNOW UNTIL YOU PITCH by Kathleen Marple Kalb (Nikki Knight) SMFS Vice President

Please welcome our Vice President, Kathleen Marple Kalb, to our SMFS blog today.

 

YOU NEVER KNOW UNTIL YOU PITCH

Guest Post by Kathleen Marple Kalb (Nikki Knight) SMFS Vice President

           

            Never be afraid to pitch.

            At SMFS Watercoolers, we hear that a lot from people like Michael Bracken and Robert Lopresti, who sell and/or edit incredible amounts of great work.

            But it applies to us ordinary hopefuls, too.

            With one very important caveat.

            Unless you’re a legend, if you pitch widely, you’re going to get a lot of rejections. I’m (mostly) okay with that. If I take a long shot and it doesn’t pay off, well, at least I have the consolation that I took a risk.

            But your mileage may vary. So, if you’re one of those folks who curls up in a pained ball for weeks over a rejection, the following advice may not be for you. If, on the other hand, you view rejection as simply an annoying and painful part of the process, ride with me.

            Submitting work is never going to hurt you.

            Well, clarifying a little: properly submitting your best work is never going to hurt you. That means rigorously following call rules and submission guidelines, and turning in clean, well-thought-out pieces that really represent what you can do.

            As long as you’re doing that – fire away. 

            Got a great story that probably fits an anthology call? Easy – send it.

            Think your work is good enough for one of the top magazines? Go ahead, take a chance.

            The absolute worst that happens is that an editor looks at your work, decides it’s not for them, and rejects it. If you’ve followed all the guidelines and you’re not doing anything stupid or outrageous (submitting a rom-com fairy story to a noir mag, say) you’re doing your job as a writer, and everyone respects that.

            Of course, in rejecting it, they’re also doing their job as an editor – so you have to deal with all of those no’s in the in-box.

            But you might also get acceptances. Or you might impress the editor with the quality of your work and your professional approach and get a personal rejection of the “I’d like to see your next piece” variety.   

            The editors I’ve asked say they don’t send rejections like that to be kind – they do it because they really DO want to see more from you. So that’s definitely a win. Or at least a move in the right direction. It’s never bad to have someone aware of and interested in your work.

            On a larger level, it’s never bad to be out there, doing good work, whether or not you’re selling to a given editor at the moment. Remember, writing is a small world, and it does you no harm to develop a reputation as a pro who does good work. At least that’s what I tell myself when I get one of those nice graceful rejections!

            And sometimes, taking a wild chance really does pay off.

            Just ask Grace the Hit Mom.

            Back in the winter, I heard about a new startup publisher who was looking for lighter mysteries, but not conventional cozies. I knew one of the editors at Charade Media, so I pitched. With the understanding that this proposal wasn’t for everyone, and if it didn’t work out, I’d be back again later with something else.

            And so, I sent off the proposal for WRONG POISON, a cozy mystery featuring an amateur sleuth who’s a suburban mom with a secret life as an assassin.  The proposal had been written for another publisher who took one look and ran screaming into the night.

            I’d even had a hard time selling a short story featuring Grace the Hit Mom. (To this day, it’s in my files waiting for a home!)

            But Charade Media said they wanted different, out-of-the-box ideas, and this definitely met that bar. So I sent the proposal, figured it probably wouldn’t go anywhere, and went on with my day.

            Except…

            They got it. They loved it. And the first Grace the Hit Mom mystery, WRONG POISON, was published July 11^th.

            Never be afraid to pitch!

 

WRONG POISON: She's a nice suburban mom and an assassin...and Grace Adair’s secret life has just become a problem. When a death at the Library Book Fair turns out to be murder – by a poison used only by Grace’s ancient sisterhood, she knows she’s in trouble. Now, she’ll need all her skills as a PTA mom and former prosecutor to find the killer and protect her friends…and their secrets. Hopefully without using her other skills. About those other skills: Grace and her sweet senior pal Madge are members of a 700-year-old order of lady poisoners, sacred to the Archangel Gabriel and sworn to remove evil men who elude human justice. Think #MeToo with untraceable poison.  Call it a cozy with a twist. You’ve never met anyone like Grace…and you’ll never forget her.   

Check it out here: Wrong Poison: Knight, Nikki: 9798987684740: Amazon.com: Books

 

 

Kathleen Marple Kalb ©2023

 

Nikki Knight describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York City’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels. Her stories appear in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Black Cat Weekly, online, and in anthologies – and have been short-listed for Black Orchid Novella and Derringer Awards. Active in writers’ groups, she’s currently Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and Co-Vice President of the New York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime. As Kathleen Marple Kalb, she writes the Ella Shane and Old Stuff mystery series. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat. https://kathleenmarplekalb.com/nikki-knight

SMFS Member Publication News: Larry Chavis

SMFS Vice President Larry Chavis’ poem, “The Hunt,” is published online today at The 5-2. Inspired by a form of Welsh poetry, the piece is Mr. Chavis’ first poetry publication at the long running site operated by SMFS list member and former officer, Gerald So.

International Short Story Month: Larry W. Chavis

StoryADay.org proclaimed May International Short Story Month back in 2013. As the short story, in the mystery genre is the reason why the Short Mystery Fiction Society exists, we join in the celebration each year.

The SMFS spin on festivities is to highlight one or more members' online stories per day. Today, our Vice President, Larry W. Chavis shares, “School Spirit” published in 2017 at Flash Bang Mysteries. The story can be read online for free here.

If you'd like to be included, email the link to your story to KevinRTipple  at Verizon dot net.