Editing by Elizabeth

May 02, 2018

Writing About Race: Do I Have The Right? by Jon Bennett

I had the honor of working with Jon Bennett on his novel Reading Blue Devils, in which Bennett uses a fictional high school student rebellion to tackle serious topics such as bullying, the struggling American educational system, and racism. During the course of writing the book, and since its release, Bennett has struggled with the question of whether he, as a white man, has the ability to adequately represent Black and Latino characters or, indeed, if he even has the right to do so. →

April 03, 2018

A Series of Extraordinary Crimes By R.N. Morris

It’s a pleasure to welcome R.N. Morris back to the site today. I first started reading Morris during his Porfiry Petrovich series, in which Morris took the magistrate from Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and put him through the paces of original mysteries. After four successful books in that series, Morris switched gears, and advanced the timeline a bit, with his current DCI Silas Quinn novels. The fourth in the Quinn series, The Red Hand of Fury, is out now in the UK. Those outside the UK can order it from the Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide. Today, Morris talks about the challenges of keeping a series fresh. →

March 26, 2018

Sometimes The Toughest Thing Is To Live In Your Own Skin by Charles Salzberg

Shamus Award nominated novelist Charles Salzberg is here today in conjunction with the publication of his latest novel, Second Story Man, out now from Down & Out Books. In the book, Charlie Floyd and Manny Perez, investigators from Salzberg’s novel Devil in the Hole, team up to catch self-described “best damn thief in the whole goddamn world” Francis Hoyt. The story unfolds from their alternating points of view, and Salzberg explains the challenges that can occur when trying to capture the authenticity of multiple voices, especially when they represent backgrounds and experiences far removed from the author’s own. →

March 17, 2018

Steady Madness

“I’ve worked with Elizabeth on both self-published and traditionally published books. Each time I found her to be extremely professional, timely and she provided a great knowledge of the genre of crime fiction, as well as fixed my grammatical travesties. I could go with any number of people to correct my spelling, but Elizabeth gave my writing a bit more that I feel really helped push it to its final stage.” — Mike McCrary →

March 01, 2018

Reading Blue Devils

“Elizabeth came highly recommended, and I learned why. She truly amazed me with her personalized approach to editing. When it came time to give her feedback, she presented it as a conversation in which I could enter rather than a mere summative opinion piece. She opened herself to answer questions and give suggestions. I really valued that. My novel is to be published in large part because of her work, and my writing is greatly improved because of working with her.” — Jon Bennett →

February 19, 2018

Third Time’s A Charm by Eric Beetner

It’s always a great day when Eric Beetner stops by the site. You can check out Eric’s previous guest posts, as well as my reviews of his work, in the Eric Beetner archive. Eric’s most recent book, The Devil At Your Door, was released last week by Down & Out Books. It’s the final entry in the Lars and Shaine trilogy, and both Eric and his characters traveled from pillar to post to finally make it to this point. Read on to see just how convoluted a journey it’s been for the devil to finally be at your door. →

February 09, 2018

On Stitching a Fictional World into the Real One by Nick Kolakowski

It’s a pleasure to welcome Nick Kolakowski back to the site. Nick’s work has appeared in publications including The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, North American Review, Thuglit, and Crime Syndicate Magazine. His debut novel, A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps, was released in 2017 and introduced Bill and Fiona, “chattery and gun-happy anti-heroes,” to the world. The sequel, Slaughterhouse Blues, is out today, and Nick has stopped by to talk about what it was like to change the setting from one entirely of his own imagination to one that required a careful interweaving of real locations and details. →

February 07, 2018

The Straggler by Scott Adlerberg

It is an honor to welcome Scott Adlerberg to the site today. Not one to anchor himself to any one genre, Adlerberg has previously written crime fiction (Spiders and Flies), psychological thrillers (Graveyard Love), and even noir-fantasy (Jungle Horses). With his newest release, Jack Waters, Adlerberg has shifted gears yet again, this time giving readers a story set in the early 1900s South and Caribbean that tackles issues of race, class, and revenge, and how titular character Jack Waters deals with each. Today, Adlerberg explains his aim in bringing Jack to life as both “racial straggler and social class chameleon.” →

February 05, 2018

Waiting for inspiration to write? Never going to happen by Khaled Talib

Khaled Talib is a Singapore-based former journalist whose articles were syndicated worldwide and whose short stories have appeared in literary journals and magazines. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Khaled on two novels, Incognito (World Castle Publishing) and his latest, Gun Kiss (Imajin Books). Today Khaled stops by to warn that if you’re waiting for inspiration to write, you may be waiting for a long time. →

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