On Very Short Stories

I've figured out why I'm very fond of short stories—especially the 300–1500 word range—it's from years of writing short journalistic pieces. Whether in the form of a poem, column, essay, letter to the editor, or terse pay-by-the-word ad content, or blog entry, brevity is often the soul of expression.
So when an article by Sandra Seamans on "flash fiction" at
Bookspot Central came to my attention, I was thrilled to read about its popularity in the mystery genre.
Any short fiction demands succinct delivery, all the more so with short-short fiction. In fact, there's a newish form, the six-word biography (see article in New Yorker). It was reputedly started by Hemingway, who is said to have written the tragic “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
Try it out and let me know what you think!

Book Voyeur on the #18

What's almost as good as seeing someone read one of your own books? Seeing them reading a book by someone you know!
This morning on the bus, I was seated across from three people reading books. First, a man with a thick sheaf of pages of a braille book held against his ample stomach, fingers rapidly dancing through the bumpy white text. Naturally, I couldn't read the title. Next to him, a small white-haired woman held a well-read copy of They Call Me Mother Graham by Morrow Coffey Graham, mother of the evangelist Billy Graham. And next to her, a young, hip-looking gal with leggings, short skirt, bracelets and piercings—her colorful hair sticking out in all directions—who was glued to a book whose cover I couldn't see. Of course, that just made me more curious.
When she at last shifted the book to her other hand, I got a glimpse of the cover. To my delight, it was not only a book I'd read and liked—Iron Lake, but it was by someone I knew—my colleague from Resort to Murder William Kent Krueger.
Ironically, I'd just seen Kent the night before at the launch for his new book Red Knife, which I'm looking forwards to reading. The young woman and I began talking. She confided that Iron Lake was the first book of Kent's she'd read, and she was really enjoying it.
"He's from around here, you know that?" I asked.
She nodded, and quickly ducked her head back down to the book, captivated.

New DaCosta Story "Hands" Premieres at Penny Dreadful

I promised I would write some non-creepy stories, and so here is one. "Hands," can be found in the interesting new blog of online stories called Penny Dreadful. The blog is being run by Hotbutton Press, which is also host to Blog Booktours. Penny Dreadful will post a new story almost every day, all by different authors. (All anonymous, though we authors are allowed to spill our own beans.)
Penny Dreadfuls were pulp magazines printed on cheap paper and circulated to the lower classes in nineteenth-century Britain. You can read more about them on Wikipedia.
"Hands" was written and published in one day, a new experience for me. Its genesis was simply in wondering about the many chance encounters at libraries—specifically that of a library circulation desk clerk—and what if...?
Enjoy these stories!

READ PENNY DREADFUL www.pdreadful.blogspot.com

The World of Short Stories

I didn't really set out to write "disturbing" stories, but a reviewer recently described my debut mystery story "Cabin 6" from Resort to Murder with just that label. There's a reason, though, that the story came out the way it did. Let me explain.

When I first met veteran legal mystery/thriller writer Lisa Scottoline (who's one of the most personable and entertaining writers out there), I had not yet begun to write mysteries, but had recently had a bizarre encounter with a scary person that just begged to be written about. I asked Lisa how writers live with the evil and creepiness of some of the characters and scenarios found in a typical mystery. Her answer was that it was important to choose one's on-the-page companions carefully, as you had to be able to live with them for a long, long time while you did the heavy lifting of creating a novel.

Several years later when I began working on Death by the Depot, my current novel-in-progress, I remembered Lisa's words. I began crafting a world populated mostly by people I wouldn't mind meeting, and situations that seemed close to real life. I decided to leave the psychopaths, car chases, and gore to some other writer who could do better by them.

My short stories are another matter. Short stories have become the place where I can take a scary situation or odd personality and let them develop in their own little petri dish. Since a short story can be written in hours instead of years, they have become a way for me to experiment with writing about "darker" sides of life. Thus, the above-described "disturbing" short story. But never fear, not all of my stories can be called disturbing! There are some lighter fare as well.

In any case, here's what the reviewer wrote about my Resort to Murder story: that DaCosta's "disturbing story 'Cabin 6' ... is her first story and it is a good one...."

"Good"? Now, there's a word that doesn't beg any explanation!

Read Kevin Tipple's entire Resort to Murder book review at Blogger News (7/13/08)

Celebrate National Train Day Saturday, May 10th!

National Train Day, May 10th, 2008.

If you're like me, you remember the joys and wonders of taking a train trip. For people in my parent's generation, it was THE way to travel. Hundreds of passenger trains rolled through the Twin Cities each day, bound for Duluth, Winnipeg, the Dakotas, Omaha, Chicago, and Iowa...now, there is the lone Empire Builder, from Chicago to the west coast once a day in each direction. Efforts are underway to reinstate a train to Duluth (which ceased in 1985), and a high-speed train to Chicago.

The National Association of Rail Passengers and Amtrak will join together for National Train Day, to be held at train stations across the country. The event is designed to highlight the growing popularity of train riding, its environmental benefits, and to emphasize the need for rebuilding a strong passenger train network. Why May 10th? That day commemorates 139th anniversary of the laying in 1869 of the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit, Utah, the final link in America’s first transcontinental railroad.

Sixth Annual Write of Spring Event 2008

When the snow and ice begin to melt every March, one of the Twin Cities' favorite independent bookstores, Once Upon a Crime goes wild and invites almost every single mystery writer in the area to the store for the annual Write of Spring event. This year, I'll be appearing for the first time, along with such luminaries as Robert Alexander, R.D. Zimmerman, Pete Hautman, Mary Logue, Laura Childs, Monica Ferris, David Housewright, William Kent Krueger, Gary Bush, Ellen Hart, Carl Brookins, Sujata Massey, Lori Lake, and many other writers who've helped put Minnesota on the mystery map!

Write of Spring is Saturday, March 22, from 12 noon till 4 p.m. Come meet your favorite writers—see their site for schedule!

Once Upon a Crime is located at 604 West 26th Street (just east of Lyndale Av. S.), lower level of apartment building.
612-870-3785