Usurping Cats

Have been thinking about my late kitties recently. Know so because I've been watching old cat videos and longing for the days when I had two cats on my lap. But I'm also thinking about how smart cats are...or aren't.

Discovered Leighann Dobb's cat/ghost mystery, Ghostly Paws. It seemed a purrfect read for my mood. Dobbs is a prolific writer with good reviews and even awards. I'm missing my cats, and I love ghost stories, right?

What's bothered me about the book was the cats being smarter than humans. Chauvinistic of me? I don't think so, even when considering a paranormal mystery.

Oh, I found the book an acceptable, light-weight entertainment of the conventional kind. The mystery contains all the crucial parts, even was book one in the series. The problem is that the cat made the better detective than the human...even if it didn't talk.

Willa, the protagonist, moves to Mystic Notch where her sister is sheriff to take over her grandmother's book store and house after a car accident ended her journalism career. Willa took over her grandmother's cat. too. Actually, the cat took over Willa in the sense it goaded her into the finding of the clues to the murder

What I missed the most in the book was the lack of tension. Oh, Willa gets yelled at as she's also pushed by the ghost of the fussy librarian to find her murderer. She even pukes on the developing love interest.

Still, I finished the book. But, it didn't hold my interest or keep me up. The gauge: I found I reread two of Tamora Pierce's Tortell quartets while reading Ghostly Paws. It's not unusual for me to read two books in tandem according to my mood, but I felt real reluctance in returning to Willa's problems.

The ghost didn't do much for me, either. Thought she was one dimensional. Granted I think I'd like to think I'd goad someone who could see me to solve my murder, too. But the victim never gets beyond the fussy librarian trope.

Bottom line: Ghostly Paws is a nice beach book or a book to read when you know you'll be interrupted a lot. You can learn more about the book on 

Amazon     Barns & Noble  

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My Writing Rut

You're reading book reviews from me again because I trying to project a more professional writing presence for the book I've almost finished: The Pig Wars. My website and blog have been upgraded. I've also gone and commissioned another cover for The Pig Wars which is

now in copy edits. I really think I'll meet my Fall publishing date. The prequel to the book is also in edits. I may have to decided which I'll publish first.

One funny thing. When I sent my manuscript back to the editor for copy edits, I expected to add a few more pages to my total. Then, I got them back for me to make the changes. They are mostly deletions. The manuscript will still be above 80,000 words. But the editor has been right for the first four chapters. The manuscript is littered with superfluous phrases.

I have a semi-mystery of my own hanging out on my desktop: The Ghostly Killing Fields or some such title, featuring Dumdie Swartz of The Ghost in the Closet and The Ghostcrow. I'm hoping it'll be close to 100 pages. I sporadically add to the current chapter. The draft needs major work, but I'm trying to get an ending on the piece before I revise.

Only I have another Half-Elven novel with first edits not transferred/rewritten that I found when I moved chewing on me...Dark Solstice, featuring Mariah discovering she has a granddaughter some 400 years after The Pig Wars.

Decisions. Decisions.

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My Reading Pile

Finally broke down and bought the hardcover of Patricia Brigg's Wild Sign, part of her werewolf universe as in her Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega series. I won't be reviewing it. But I've been sneaking peeks as I copy edit The Pig Wars. If you haven't tuned into Brigg's worlds, you should go haunt some used book stores...or new ones too.

Cute is as Cutesy Does: Describing a Villain

Guessing who the villain is is the fun part of reading mysteries...in all genres. Dare I say, I like a mystery with my romance or fantasy or any other type of fiction. And, villains are the key ingredient in a mystery. Good villain almost always equals good story.

We all know a villain signals. Basically, they are unattractive with small eyes and large noses or other unsavory characteristics. Just came across a couple of them, aka hulking bullies, last night in the trilogy I'm rereading.

But what if a writer wants to conceal the identity of their perp? I'd guess they go for cute.

Maybe "cute" is stretching it a bit. Maybe attractive is a better word? After all, Ted Bundy, a infamous serial killer, had large eyes and a small nose and smiled a lot. I suspect many of his victims didn't grow suspicious of him...until the end.

Science has proven that our brains are wired to like cute. Some scientists say cute led to us becoming human by learn to cooperate. But writers use attractive traits to fool their readers. No, serial killers don't need to look like Hello Kitty, the ultimate cute fad product. But they aren't necessarily on the rat end of the feature spectrum either. Even Mickey Mouse has evolved over the years to look more and more like a baby.

It's the writer's job to keep their readers in suspense, but readers have their own tools to solve the "mysteries". The exceptions often prove the rule.

My Daily Rut

My rut has changed. I no longer live in my house but an apartment. The move is mostly done, and it's basically comfortable...given all the things I don't have to think about anymore, especially climbing stairs.

Now I'm writing again...sort of. Editing is the better word. While moving, I discovered the content edits for a Half-Elven sequel. I pulled an old manuscript of Troublesome Neighbors out of my computer to combine the two novellas into a novel. At the moment, I'm slowly rewriting it, like adding mostly back story, a couple new chapter from the villain's point of view, and more sharply defined motivations. I've got about 50,000 words in the file now, from about 44,000.

My Reading Pile

I've been mostly rereading...though I've been visiting a couple bookstores in town. Am almost finished reading the Carson Springs trilogy of Eileen Gouge The books are set in Neverland, but the characterizations are deep and three dimensional. All except one major relationship among the main people are heart-warming. I reread the series every couple of years just to remind myself that there's possible warmth still left in the world. Of course, the books were written in the early 2000's.

The books are worth digging up, though.Gouge's description of the southern California landscape, before the forest fires, is lush, and for me, nostalgic...like before the orange grooves were replaced by urbanization.