#WriterWednesday Interview with the Moonlight and Misadventure Authors
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I’d like to welcome Joseph S. Walker, Sharon Hart Addy, M. H. Callway, Tracy Falenwolfe, Kate Fellowes, Jeanne Dubois, Robert Weibezahl, K. L. Abrahamson, and Susan Jane Wright to the blog today to celebrate their latest anthology, Moonlight and Misadventure, edited by Judy Penz Sheluk.
JOSEPH S. WALKER, ‘Crown Jewel’
The most exciting thing about your writing life: I’d say there are two genuinely exciting things about writing. The first is the feeling of getting into a groove where a story is just clicking along, seemingly without any conscious guidance from me. At least in my experience, starting a story is sheer agony; actually writing, once you’re in that place, is simply fun. The second exciting thing has been the contacts I’ve made because of writing. Because of my writing, I’m now in regular touch with many other writers, including a number I’ve admired for many years. There’s also the pleasure of hearing from people who enjoyed your work, and just being part of the mystery community in general. Especially over the past couple of years, that’s been a godsend. I suppose it’s a paradox that the fundamentally solitary activity of writing has greatly increased my social circle.
The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life: Start sooner! I always knew I wanted to be a writer, but I was paralyzed by self-doubt. I started dozens of stories and never finished them. I was forty before I started submitting fiction, and it’s really only been in the last few years that I’ve really dedicated most of my (non-work) time to it. Maybe I needed those years to fully develop, but my sense is that I just cost myself a lot of productive writing years for no reason.
SHARON HART ADDY, ‘The Library Clue’
The nicest thing a reader said to you: Your book Lucky Jake is my son’s favorite.
The craziest thing a reader said to you: My son Jake thinks you wrote Lucky Jake for him.
M.H. CALLWAY, ‘The Moon God of Broadmoor’
Something you wish you could do: I’d love to be a mountain climber. I run, ski and hike, but I’ve never tried rock climbing. Tales of “exposure” or dangling over a fall of thousands of feet are too scary. I’m happy to remain an armchair adventurer and to read about climbing feats.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: To write and read bureaucratese after spending a working career in government. Mind you, it’s given me great comedy material to use in my writing.
JUDY PENZ SHELUK, ‘Strawberry Moon’
Favorite thing to do when you have free time: Golf.
The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list: Clean the house (especially dusting, I mean, it’s just dusty again the next day, right?)
TRACY FALENWOLFE, ‘Cereus Thinking’
Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: A panda bear. No kidding. When we were kids, my brother and I rode our bikes around on adventures and called each other Bebs One and Bebs Two. Bebs was a panda bear. I was even making stuff up back then.
Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: I spend a lot of time yelling at people to take shorter showers, to stop holding the refrigerator door open for so long, and to keep their hands off the thermostat.
KATE FELLOWES, ‘The Currency of Wishes’
Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: A child detective, like Trixie Belden.
Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: Punch a clock.
JEANNE DUBOIS, ‘Moonset’
Favorite places you’ve been: St. Augustine Beach in September, northern California in June, anywhere in spring, Ireland anytime.
Places you never want to go again: Boston in winter. Too many layers. For one visit in February of 2013, I purchased a clearance puffer coat online. I soon discovered why it was so cheap. The coat was white. I “disappeared” in the blizzard that weekend.
ROBERT WEIBEZAHL, ‘Just Like Peg Entwhistle
Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Tried out for Jeopardy! It took a few online tests and a couple of auditions but I was finally selected to be on the show … and I won!
Something you chickened out from doing: Going to graduate school. Had even sent in the deposit and was making plans but changed my mind the summer before. 30+ years later I finally went back to school and got that elusive masters.
K.L. ABRAHAMSON, ‘Chicken Coops and Bread Pudding’
The funniest thing that happened to you on vacation: My 'vacations' may not be like most people's. I like to grab a backpack and go off on my own to strange places in the world. This story happened travelling in Northern India along the Indo-Chinese border. Now you have to understand that I am six feet + tall and I wear my hair short. When I travel in placed like India this can be an advantage because I am rarely harassed by men. I also wear baggy clothing and a photographer's vest so people can't see my shape. Along the border the local bus I was on had to frequently stop for armed security checkpoints. Foreigners had to disembark and present their passports. There were only a few foreigners on this bus so we all lined up with passports at the ready. When my turn came they opened the passport and took down most of my information. Then the guards (who spoke no English) stopped and looked at me, then down at their ledger and back at me. Then they laughed nervously. That was when it hit me. They didn't know whether I was a man or a woman because of my 'disguise'. In response I opened my vest and showed them that I had breasts (through my t-shirt of course). Much laughter ensued, but they gave me back my passport and my travels continued…
The most embarrassing thing that happened to you on a vacation: Picture the ruins of Angkor Wat. Picture monsoon rains and two tourists and their guide huddled in a hut waiting for the rain to lessen. Unfortunately, the Cambodian cooking took a bad turn in my stomach and I urgently needed to relieve myself. Finally, the guide allowed me to go out to find a private place in the brush. I did.
I thought. I pulled down my trousers and squatted among the ferns and vines in the pouring rain just in time for line of villagers peddling bikes through the underbrush. I was three feet from a trail that I hadn't seen through the downpour! Again, much laughter, but I still color-up at that memory.
SUSAN JANE WRIGHT, ‘Madeleine in the Moonlight’
Something you're really good at: I can count large groups of things very fast. I discovered this as a summer student working for biologist. I could count the number of butterfly eggs on the back of a leaf in a flash. I was accurate too. It's an interesting skill but not highly valued in the real world.
Something you're really bad at: Watching scary movies. My daughters refuse to take me with them to the cinema because I scream at the slightest provocation and scare the audience.
About the book
Whether it’s vintage Hollywood, the Florida everglades, the Atlantic City boardwalk, or a farmhouse in Western Canada, the twenty authors represented in this collection of mystery and suspense interpret the overarching theme of “moonlight and misadventure” in their own inimitable style where only one thing is assured: Waxing, waning, gibbous, or full, the moon is always there, illuminating things better left in the dark.
Featuring stories by K.L. Abrahamson, Sharon Hart Addy, C.W. Blackwell, Clark Boyd, M.H. Callway, Michael A. Clark, Susan Daly, Buzz Dixon, Jeanne DuBois, Elizabeth Elwood, Tracy Falenwolfe, Kate Fellowes, John M. Floyd, Billy Houston, Bethany Maines, Judy Penz Sheluk, KM Rockwood, Joseph S. Walker, Robert Weibezahl, and Susan Jane Wright.
About our Editor, Judy Penz Sheluk
A former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the author of two mystery series: The Glass Dolphin Mysteries and the Marketville Mysteries. Her short crime fiction appears in several collections, including The Best Laid Plans, Heartbreaks & Half-truths, and Moonlight & Misadventure, which she also edited.
Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime National, Toronto, and Guppy Chapters, International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she serves as Chair on the Board of Directors.
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