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As mentioned in a post last week, I spent four days in Chicago with my daughter and son-in-law. Have you ever wondered why it is that Chicago has so many nicknames? The Windy City, The City of the Big Shoulders (from a Carl Sandburg poem), Second City, Chitown, That Toddlin’ Town, My Kind of Town, just to name a few. Perhaps it’s because it is THE major city of the Midwest and has played such a role in the history of this country? We’ve been back a couple of times since moving from Evanston in 1981, but this was our longest visit. What impressed us the most is the cleanliness and neatness of the downtown area, the amazing architecture (old, new and under construction), the ease of getting around, and the incredible number of things to see and do. Hard to squash everything into 3 ½ days. We ate our way across the city, but more of that later. I’d like to talk a little about the architecture, which is a favorite subject of mine and which I hope has come through in my books via the interests of The Brewster. Much of the amazing architectural history began with Mrs. O’Leary’s cow, which knocked over a lantern and supposedly caused a fire that leveled the city. The fire started at about 11:30 P.M, October 8 1871,but according to the Chicago Republican reporter who wrote the O’Leary account, he had made it up as colorful copy. The official report could not find the exact cause but there has been speculation suggesting the fire was caused by a person, instead of a cow. The fire’s spread was aided by the city’s use of wood as the predominant building material, the highly flammable tar or shingle roofs, sidewalks and roads made of wood, strong southwest winds that carried flying embers toward the heart of the city, and last but not least, the fact that Chicago had only received an inch of rain from July 4 to October 9. In 1871, the Chicago Fire Department had 185 firefighters with just 17 horse-drawn steam engines to protect the entire city. The initial response was quick, but the firefighters were sent to the wrong place, allowing the fire to grow unchecked. The fire destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles, including much of the city’s business district, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. Damages were estimated at $200 million. Reconstruction efforts began quickly and spurred great economic development and population growth, so literally from the ashes of old Chicago grew the city we now know. Today, the Chicago Fire Department training academy is located on the site of the O’Leary property where the Great Chicago Fire started. In 1997, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution exonerating Catherine O’Leary, an Irish immigrant who died in 1895, and her cow. In my next post on Chicago, I’ll have pictures of some of the old and new architecture that makes Chicago so amazing. 0 0

Here’s is the address for Grayson (Dave) Queen’s wife, Rara: Radhika Jaini WF0124 CIW LA 249 LOW 16756 Chino-Corona Road Corona, CA 92880 0 0

Just a quick note – I’m in Chicago, meeting my daughter and her husband who are here for a wedding. It’s hard to see them often because they live in LA. Anyway, I have limited time to check out everyone’s posts, and didn’t want you to think I wasn’t interested or had deserted the blogosphere. I’ll be back with photos next week! 0 0

I was intrigued by the title of this book and discovered I had selected a true British cozy, a murder mystery with an alluring setting: an old inn on the west coast of England’s largest lake, Lake Windermere, in Cumbria, England. Cumbria is the Lake District National Park, and the author describes its beauty well in the pages of this book. Nora Tierney, an American writer, has agreed to help Simon Ramsey, co-owner of Ramsey Lodge (the inn), run the inn while his sister, the other owner, is away in France on her honeymoon. Simon is the illustrator of Nora’s children’s books and was once in love with Nora. When Nora did not reciprocate, his affection found a new object: Maeve Adams, who is the manager of Ramsey Lodge. On this weekend a troupe of actors will encamp in the Lodge to stage Noel Coward’s play “Blithe Spirit,” and Simon needs help managing his peripatetic guests and all their needs. Nora’s love is Detective Inspector Declan Barnes, who works for the Oxford police. He is taking a much needed vacation at Ramsey Lodge, ostensibly to hike but really to spend time with Nora. Complicating their relationship is the fact that Nora has a six month old son, Sean, whose father is dead; his parents, whom Nora met at his funeral and dislikes, don’t know they have a grandson. The actors recruited for the play are wonderful characters in themselves: Grayson Lange, the head of the troup and an aging, narcissistic playboy, accompanied by Fiona Church, whom he recently broke off with and the voluptuous blonde Gemma Harwell, the new object of his attentions. Poppy Braeburn doubles and the troupe’s costume designer and has designs on Grayson. Rupert Denton and Lydia Brown are aging actors with a grudge against Grayson: their daughter committed suicide shortly after Grayson ended their relationship. The most amusing troupe member is Helen Mochrie. She plays Madame Arcati in the play and is in character practically the whole time. Spoiler alert: she is also Grayson’s mother. The reader is drawn into the difficult, interwoven relationships of the troupe from the moment they arrive at the Lodge, and I found myself wondering why they were there and what were they up to? A series of pranks sets the action in motion – a dead rabbit on a pillow, a trip wire on the stair – nasty deeds which escalate to a murder. A massive storm traps the troupe and the staff at the Lodge, and Nora who has become increasingly worried for the safety of her child, is determined to stick her nose into the mystery and help Declan unmask the killer. She agrees to take on the role of the person murdered in the play to get closer to the principle actors, but is under more pressure because a lawyer representing Sean’s grandparents is scheduled to meet her after the weekend. In true British mystery form, there are a number of ancillary characters, any one of which could be the killer: the cook, the part-time staff person, and the Lodge’s handy man, who lost his wife some months before in a hit and run and who was hired as the stage manager. Who might have done the crime? To augment the format of a British mystery, there is a cast of characters and a map of the Lodge at the beginning, along with chapter epigrams which are all lines from the play and which give the hint that the play’s plot is subtly influencing the action. If I had any criticism of the book, it would be its rather slow start – but isn’t that typical of a British mystery? – and the fact that the baby Sean is practically perfect in every way. Would that my son had been that good at six months! This is the third in the Nora Tierney mysteries, and I recommend it to anyone who loves this type of mystery – and many who might like to try one. I think a read of the previous two is definitely in order, but this one can be read as a stand alone. About the author: Marni Graff is the author of The Nora Tierney Mysteries, published by Bridle Path Press (http://www.bridlepathpress.com). She writes the weekly crime review blog Auntie M Writes (http://auntiemwrites.com) and is a member of Sisters in Crime. A former registered nurse who wrote “on the side,” Graff has published articles, interviews, poetry and creative nonfiction. She wrote for seven years for “Mystery Review” magazine and is also the Managing Editor of Bridle Path Press. The Nora Tierney mystery series is set in the United Kingdom and centers around Oxford, a setting inspired by Graff’s literature studies at Exeter College. Her first book in the series won first prize as Best British Cozy from Chanticleer Media in 2013. Graff leads a full life, teaching creative writing, running the Writers Read program in Bellhaven NC, and participating in writing. She lives in rural coastal NC on a river and shares her home with her husband. The Scarlett Wench can be found on Amazon: And Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22320225-the-scarlet-wench   0 0

I got a brief message today on my blog from someone whom I don’t know.  This person wanted to tell me that Grayson Queen, a blogger whom I follow, had died. His last two posts told us he had to leave work because he was bleeding from his ears and nose, apparently from an infection. He was given antibiotics and sent home. As an anatomist, I know that any infection in the middle ear and nasal sinuses has a good chance of spreading to the brain. I wasn’t told how he died, but I suspect it might have been that. Grayson was young, 35, and a remarkable young man. Here is how he describes himself from his blog, Posting Tuesdays: “Grayson Queen is a full-time novelist and painter located out of Orange County, California. His artistic passions range from deeply philosophical to unusual science fiction and fantasy. In his free time, Grayson dabbles with music, sculpture, and various explorations of geek culture. He is happily married to a dinosaur, and is happily owned by two amazing cats.” Grayson’s  wife, Rara, about whom I wrote last year, is also a  blogger, an exceptional writer,and is currently doing time in a California prison for a white collar crime. She has been told of his death. I cannot imagine how awful this is for her. You can visit her blog, Rarasaur, at http://rarasaur.wordpress.com/. Grayson would post pieces sent from her on her blog. Rara will be released this coming November. I am deeply affected by Grayson’s death. He had struggled hard in the past two years with the arrest and incarceration of his wife, a low-paying job that meant he had to live in an unsafe place, and an inability to continue writing. His blog stories were amazing. I don’t know whom to contact to find out more, to send my regrets and sympathy, but felt I needed to mark his passing. Our world is poorer for his passing.   0 0

The Young Jaguar by Zoe Saadia is the first book in a pre-Aztec trilogy, and introduces us to Atolli, a teenager in the Tepenic Empire of Central America, whose father is Tecpatl, the Chief Warlord. Prior to the rise of the Aztec Empire, this Empire was strong and growing. Tecpatl’s position is very high within the social structure and he is very content, having returned from a series of successful wars, and he loves his family. His wife, Sakuna, followed Tecpatl home when he warred in her native land of the Anasazis, and theirs is a deep and respectful love that has withstood the criticism of the Tepenic elite. Atolli is a hot-headed daredevil, who climbs the walls of the palace with the skill and cunning of a jaguar, just for fun. The story begins when Atolli, his best friend Mecatl and some other adventurous boys from the warrior school that Atolli attends, roam the palace walls at night, drinking octli, a potent drink reserved for the warriors of the tribe. This is a serious transgression, but an adventure they have taken before. This time, they are discovered and chased and Atolli and Mecatl fall over the wall into one of the palace gardens. There they meet Chictli, the beautiful daughter of the second son of the Emperor, and Atolli is smitten. His position as Tecpatl’s son saves him from serious punishment, but he has to vow to support Chictli’s father in the future as one of his warriors. At the same time, the Emperor dies, making Tecpatl vow to support his first son as the new Emperor, thus putting him at odds not only with his son, but much of the Tepenic elite. Tecpatl is thus forced to choose between his duty to the new Emperor and his family, which ultimately puts them all in danger. Sakuna uses her skill with herbs and healing to deal with the crisis. I become completely immersed in Zoe Saadia’s historical novels. The characters come alive; because of her detailed research on everything involved in tribal life – customs, food, clothing , jewelry – the reader feels like they are there, amidst the action. Family dynamics, especially in this book, are very recognizable, even though the tribal dynamics are complex. Zoe makes it clear that people haven’t changed much over the centuries: they are greedy, power-hungry, loving, driven, devious, envious, bored and frustrated. These emotions fuel this story. I highly recommend this book to any lover of historical fiction but more widely to any reader who likes a barn burner of a story with great characters and lots of action. What’s even better is that you can follow Atolli on his journey to adulthood through the next book in the series, The Jaguar Warrior. Zoe Saadia is the author of two trilogies and one series (11 full-length novels), all covering the turbulent history of Mesoamerica when the Aztecs were busy coming to power. All are based on more than a decade of research of pre-contact cultures. She is convinced this history of the Americas has been completely overlooked, and she brings it to life through her writing. She has also written The Peacemaker Series of four books, stories surrounding the creation of the famous Iroquois Confederacy, one of the oldest democracies on earth. I reviewed Two Rivers, one of these books, in a previous post. When I can fit them into my copious free time, I intend to read all of these! You can find Zoe Saadia at http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5056466.Zoe_Saadia http://www.zoesaadia.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Zoe.Saadia   0 0

On a 1,000 mile round trip trek to Columbus, Georgia a couple of weekends ago, we passed the Gaffney Peach or the Peachoid, it’s real name, by the side of I 85 in South Carolina. We’ve seen the Peach many times as we travelled up and down I 85 on various trips. This time we noticed that it’s been repainted. It now looks more like a lemon. I rather liked it when it was “peachy.” I decided to do a little research on the structure. The Peachoid is a 135 foot tall water tower, which holds one million gallons of water. It’s certainly a unique example of novelty architecture. If any of my readers are watching the series House of Cards, you’ll recall that the Peachoid was a focal plot point in Chapter 3, where it was joked that the structure resembles large buttocks, complete with gluteal crease (butt crack). Maybe that’s why it is also called the Moon Over Gaffney? The Peachoid recently got a lift from Kim Kardashian, a celebrity famous for her backside. Timothy Griffin posted the picture on his Facebook page with the caption, “Kim Kardashian spotted in South Carolina!!!” In 1981, the Peachoid was commissioned to be built by the Gaffney Board of Public Works, and the shape of the peach was selected for the town’s needed elevated water storage because the Gaffney economy was then dependent upon peach orchards, The people of the town wanted to make clear that South Carolina, and at one time, Cherokee County alone (where Gaffney is located) produced more peaches per year than the entire state of Georgia (known as the “Peach State”). The Peachoid was built by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company, of steel and concrete. An overlay stem and leaf were laid across the structure, an enormous “cleft” was created with steel paneling. Peter Freudenberg, an artist who worked with macro-art, painted the structure to realistically pass for a peach. Repeated cycles of freezing and warming caused the Peachoid’s paint to peel in 6-foot swaths, mostly in its cleft, leaving patches of dull yellow that Gaffney boosters saw as a blemish on the reputation of this former mill town. So in 2013, the Peachoid is underwent its first complete overhaul—$120,000 worth of sandblasting the old lead-based paint down to the steel and starting over with high-tech but finicky primer and paints that could only be applied to a dry, empty tank. Maybe that’s why it now looks more like a lemon? Anyway, folks, the next time you’re traveling south on I 85, look for the Peach!   0 0

This past month, I became a formal part of the University of North Carolina’s Southern History Program. I guess I’m that old, and if you want to know more about my life before becoming a writer, this is it! Since 1973, the Southern Oral History Program has worked to preserve the voices of the southern past, collecting more than 5,000 interviews with people from all walks of life—from mill workers to civil rights leaders to future presidents of the United States. Almost 400 of those interviews focused on the history of the University of North Carolina and created source materials for study by future generations. There were four students working on the project for the past semester, focusing on the history of feminist activism at UNC:Samantha Gregg, a senior History and English double major; Liz Kennedy, a sophomore at Duke University studying History, Environmental Science and Policy, and Women’s Studies; Holly Plouff, a freshman Anthropology major; and Bryan Smith, a senior with a Linguistics and Women’s & Gender Studies double major. Bryan interviewed me. Women for this study were chosen from the Mary Turner Lane Award winners. The award, established in 1986, is named to honor Mary Turner Lane, founding director of the Curriculum in Women’s Studies. Mary Turner (in the South, women are frequently called by both their first and middle names) was a friend of mine, and she was a formidable woman who served as a role model and mentor for many women faculty. The award is given each year to a woman judged to have made an outstanding contribution to the lives of women on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, and I was profoundly honored to be given this award a number of years ago. Samantha, Liz, Holly, and Bryan presented the culmination of their semester’s work via a mixed media presentation, following feminist activism at UNC from the 1960s to the early 2000s. The presentation was quite simple in its concept: with visuals behind them, the students took turns reading quotes from the interviews, standing behind placards with the names of the women being quoted. The quotations drew a temporal picture of life as a woman at UNC, the challenges, the defeats and the successes. When I arrived at the UNC School of Medicine, only 4% of the 700+ faculty were female full professors and only 13% were female assistant professors. There was no maternity leave, paternity leave, proximate day care, faculty associations for women to support them in their careers, formal mentoring programs, or elder care leave. Among the things I was involved in were the founding of the Association of Professional Women in Science and Medicine, the establishment of maternity and paternity leave policies, the creation of the Carolina Women’s Center, the development of a policy to stop the tenure clock for a year to allow faculty to deal with family/personal issues, and the founding of BRIDGES, a professional development program for women in any aspect of higher education. Since 1993, over 750 women have completed the annual BRIDGES programs, and I am proud to have been part of its establishment. We even had a small informal group of senior women who met to discuss life at UNC over drinks and dinner. I named it “The Ladies Knitting and Terrorist Society!” The conclusion of the students’ program was basically “We’ve come a long way, baby” but that we have a way to go, now mostly dealing with the subtleties of gender bias. I love the idea that I will be around as part of UNC’s feminist history.   0 0

I was honored to be asked by Joanne Guidoccio to participate in her Second Act Series. My contribution: From Human Anatomy to the Anatomy of a Murder, was posted today and can be found at: http://joanneguidoccio.com/2015/05/08/ So if anyone out there is wondering more about my life (so exciting, so riveting!), read on! And my thanks to Joanne for asking me. 0 0

Bob enjoys a cup of good black coffee, so over coffee in my kitchen, I pried some answers out of him about his background, writing career, and his plans for his next book. Oh what the heck, I brought out some cinnamon rolls, too.    Where did you grow up, Bob? On a sheep farm in North Carolina. My father was a civil engineer, but ran the family farm. No one around had sheep, but he very much liked the idea of living the life of a country squire, so by the great horn spoon, he got some sheep and learned how to raise them. He was moderately successful at it, but it was a lot of work. Watching him do that when other folks around were not doing anything with sheep was very instructive. It’s possibly where I got my stubborn streak and my determination to make my work completely my own, rather than copying other styles.  Why did you start writing? The first writing I did was at about 8 years old on my dad’s old 1947 Woodstock typewriter, pounding out little James Bond short stories because I had these ideas I thought were better than those in the movies. Little did I know, of course, how much there was to learn.  How long have you been writing? That would be … uhh … over 50 years. Gosh, I now officially feel old. What sparked the idea for your book (The Fur, Fish, Flea and Beagle Club)? It was originally a short story about the two boys working in the saw mill that I expanded into the book. I was working on a piece that was much too long for my head to hold without exploding so I decided to drop that one for a while in favor of a nice little short book. I limited myself to the time period of the summer of 1936 in order to keep it short and sweet. The joke was on me, as the book ended up being 180,000 words, though I’m told it is a fast read.  Which character, if any, has a personality that most closely resembles yours? That is a very difficult question, because all the characters have elements of me. Jamie is a romantic who is good with his hands, Ned more of a mystic who feels the most alive surrounded by nature, the fly-fishing and philosophy of Sabastian, the woodworking of Tom Parsons and so on. All of them are me.  Which character was the hardest to write and why? I think perhaps the women, because I’m not a woman. To write them I just held in my head that women are just as strong, just as silly and just as intelligent as men with the same feet of clay, and let their characters write themselves.  What’s your next project? It’s a light-hearted romantic mystery set in 1936 on the coast of North Carolina. The working title is at present ‘Suzy and Dodge’ and it has a set of quaint and quirky characters that entertain me every time I enter their world. Hopefully they will be as entertaining to my readers.  Is there one place where you find writing the easiest? In the early morning just as the world turns from black to charcoal, at the beach whilst it’s quiet.  Do you prefer e-books, hardcovers or paperbacks to read? I prefer the actual book in my hands, whether hardcover or paperback. I do read e-books whilst I’m traveling or waiting in line for take-out at the local Asian restaurant.  Whom do you admire and why? This is a tough one. As writers, I admire Mark Twain for his expression of the optimism of the young and his feeling and grasp of mirth. I admire J. D. Salinger for the cleanliness of his prose. The third writer I admire was a remarkable woman by the name of Beryl Markham who was a famous aviatrix. She was the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean the hard way, against the head winds. She wrote not only of her experiences flying in the classic West with the Night, but her experiences as a horse trainer in Africa (she was a contemporary of and knew Isak Dinesen of Out of Africa fame) bore fruit as well, in a collection of some of the best short stories I’ve ever read, called The Splendid Outcast.  Where can readers find out more about you and your work? Right now on my blog, Byrdwords.wordpress.com, and on Amazon and Goodreads. I’m working hard on the new book and hope there will be much more for my readers to follow later in the year. Thanks so much for reading; I do deeply appreciate it. *** Thanks to Bob for the interview and the excuse to eat a cinnamon roll. You can find his first book, The Fur, Fish, Flea and Beagle Club on Amazon at: Check out Bob’s blog: https://byrdwords.wordpress.com/  For the A-Z challenge, he posted about all things nautical, so if you like the sailing and/or the ocean, stop by. He covered everything from grog to pirates.   0 0