My newest release from FireStar Press, "The Case of the CatWalk Saint," is on the shelves now. Enjoy!

For more, see: http://www.harolmarshall.com/CatWalkSaint.php .

To purchase: https://www.amazon.com/Case-CatWalk-Saint-Berger-Mystery-ebook/dp/B079PQXBB2/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

How weird is this? I'm in the middle of reading Michael Connelly's latest Detective Harry Bosch book, "The Burning Room," (from his detective series set in L.A.), when I come across (on page 233) a character by the name of Bernard Contreras. Not exactly a common name, right?

Here's the weird part. The name of one of my two lead characters (P.I. Polly Berger's secretary) in each of my three "Holy..." books (a detective series set in Hollywood), is Bernardo Contreras. Hmmm. . .

Returned last week from a trip to visit relatives in Upstate New York (Schenectady and Rochester), and have finally gotten back to working on my books. I credit my diligence to the 95+ degree weather we've been having, thank you global warming. I can't help but wonder how much longer the climate change deniers will be able to hang on while tornadoes, droughts, animal extinctions (the greatest since the age of the dinosaurs), and dramatic temperature swings plague our poor abused planet. But back to writing. I'm thinking of changing the title of my fourth P.I. Polly Berger book from "Holy Cannoli, Who Killed Spinnoli" to: "Holy Shmoly, Who Killed Spinoli?" Can't decide.

It’s been so long since I posted on this blog (4 years!! How time flies), that I now have nine books out instead of four. They include a third ‘Polly’ book in the Holy series: Holy Kow! Who’s Dead Now? (with a fourth in the works); a book of short stories, Growing Up With Pigs, two political thrillers—The Shadow Cabinet, and The Singapore Assassin; and the first in a new mystery series starring Sam (Samantha) Clark, Curator of Horticulture at North Carolina’s Jefferson County Zoo, Adieu at the Zoo. A little something for everyone! :-)

In addition to writing, I’ve been traveling to and from various parts of Asia (Singapore, Thailand, and China) since my daughter and family moved to Shanghai (hence, the political thrillers). The travel was exciting and I learned a lot, some of which does and will make an appearance in my thrillers.

Currently, I’m hard at work on three books, which I hope to finish by the end of 2015, but that might be a bit optimistic. Working titles are: The Shanghai Contract, Zoo Brewha-ha-ha, and Holy Cannoli, Who Killed Spinoli? In addition, I've promised a friend (who twisted my arm) to write a quarterly column on beer. I'm not a beer drinker, but my husband's an aficionado so I plan to lean on his expertise. I'll link to those columns here. 

My latest good news comes from the Winston-Salem Second Spring Arts Festival. In 2014, my poem, I Look in the Mirror, won gold, and this year, my short story, A Summer Romance, won silver. Thank you Winston-Salem! I’ll post the poem on my website as soon as my webmistress returns from vacation. Meanwhile, I’ll try to come up with some interesting posts for the blog, now that I’ve caught everyone up on my life. So, keep watching, and don’t be like me and wait four years before you come back. :-)

Books on Kindle

My first two books--Holy Death and A Corpse for Cuamantla, are now available as e-books (on Kindle and other readers).

The sequels -- A Corpse for the Matadora and Holy Mole Murder are now on Kindle (as well as all other e-book formats) and will be available in print by the end of the summer.

Follow this link: Harol Marshall books for Kindle, and this link for other readers.

On Happiness

I just finished reading a Newsweek article about Senator Ted Kennedy in which an interviewer asked about his aspirations for the Presidency. Kennedy responded that he was happy in the Senate, explaining his ambitions in a paraphrase of poet Robert Browning: "If one's reach does not exceed one's grasp then what is heaven for?"

Browning wrote: "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?"

There is wisdom in both versions. Kennedy concentrates on the end result counseling not to waste time striving for what you can't have, while Browning focuses on process wherein happiness lies in the striving, highlighting the difference between a politician and a poet--the politician intent on achievements, the poet content to write.

About Resolutions

Well, so much for New Year's resolutions! This has been a busy year. I've completed two more books (sequels to the first two) and am trying to decide between finding an agent (a super hard task) or a new publisher (also difficult). Meanwhile, I've written a few stories and am in the middle (literally) of a political thriller. If I can only make myself stop writing and start sending out queries, I'll be happy. I won't make a resolution to that end though, given my success rate with the previous one!

New Year's Resolution

Now that my books are finally hitting the open market (next week!!), my New Year's resolution is to exert due diligence and maintain an updated blog. This is different from promising substantive material, of course, but I'll do my best. More likely, I'll talk about my writing, respond to comments and whatever else pops into my head. Oh, and since I love to cook, there'll be a few recipes here and there.

On the weekend, I talked with a friend who owns a local Mexican restaurant about having a book signing there sometime in March. He responded enthusiastically, so I'm now excited about the prospect. I'll let you know how it goes!

How To Make Tortillas

For years I've tried to make my own tortillas using the Mexican corn flour found in most grocery stores, masa harina (you don't pronounce the 'h') and was never pleased with the results. Forget masa harina. Instead, visit your local Mexican grocer (they're in every city large or small) and purchase these ingredients: masa (you'll find it in bags in the refrigerated section), a tortilla press, and a comal (it's a thin metal flat wok). You can use a griddle or heavy frying pan but a comal works best.

Step 1. Heat the comal (the correct setting on my gas stove is just a tad higher than medium. Don't add oil.

Step 2.
a) While the comal is heating, prepare your first tortilla. I don't use wax paper in my press because it often sticks to the tortilla. Rather, I save those thin plastic bags from the grocery store's produce section.
b) Cut two sides of the plastic bag, open and lay it onto the tortilla press leaving a large overhang all the way around.
c) Scoop out 1/3 C. masa and form into a small patty and place it onto the plastic near the middle of the press (a tad toward the back) and press the lid down with your hand until the handle catches. Press down lightly.
d) Open, turn the tortilla (which may not be evenly thin) until the thinnest side overhangs a bit. Then press again a little harder.
e) Lift the lid and slide the plastic onto your flat right hand, then flip the tortilla onto your left hand and gently remove the plastic (do the opposite of course, if you're left handed like my granddaughter and step daughter).
f) Slide the tortilla from your left hand onto the hot comal (don't flip it over and slap it down).

Step 3.
a) While the first tortilla is cooking, make another but don't let the first one burn.
b) When the tortilla on the comal starts to puff, flip it over with a metal spatula. It should be lightly browned (you can always flip it back if it's not sufficiently cooked but that's not too cool).
c) Next, use a square wooden spatula and press down lightly near and around the center of the tortilla to help it puff.
d) When the tortilla has puffed in places and is lightly browned on both sides, you can transfer it onto a dish towel and cover it to keep warm. The new popular tortilla warmers, which you can also find in the Mexican markets in the U.S., are straw with a styrofoam liner. Line it with a dish towel and it keeps tortillas warm for a very long time.

Step 4. Repeat the procedure and enjoy those tortillas plain or in enchiladas, fried and cut in strips for tortilla soup, etc.....they're GREAT!

The Mexican Cooking School

My husband and I returned last weekend from our week at The Mexican Cooking School in Atlahapa, Tlaxcala, which exceeded our expectations in every way. Estela Silvas is a lot of fun. She began her cooking career at the age of seven working in her family's restaurant in Puebla and she is a brilliant cook. The secret of central Mexican cuisine we learned, is in the sauce. There's a different sauce for every dish. We were amazed at how many variations existed from the same basic set of ingredients: chiles, tomatoes, tomatillos, onion, garlic, and of course, tortillas. I'll post a 'how to' for tortillas because whether you make an occasional Tex-Mex meal at home or you're into some serious authentic Mexican cooking, making your own tortillas dramatically changes the taste of the dish.

how to get a short story published

The latest issue of a respected literary magazine to which i subscribe arrived by email today, and by respected i mean a magazine that publishes the likes of joyce carol oates and t. coraghessan boyle, and i downloaded the first short story anxious to confront the literary touchstones to which i might aspire in my own writing journey and as i read i was struck by the style and a light kindled in my brain, igniting the most blatant realization that oh my god, this is how you have to write in order to get published, word after word, sentences running into each other wildly, never ending, consuming the page, leaving you breathless as you read them wondering what in the hell the writer is thinking and doesn't he have a clue about periods and capital letters and how to parse a paragraph in ways that make sense or maybe it all makes sense to him even if it doesn't to some narrowly focused reader like myself who enjoys knowing when one thought ends and another thought begins but to him the eminent writer, the published writer, the writer published in an eminent literary magazine, all thoughts are amorphous, integrated one into another like waves into the sea crashing and blending and melding in a never ending . . . . you get the idea. Or maybe you just have to know somebody.

Google Street View

If you haven't used Google Street View yet, take a look. To check it out, click on Maps on Google's main page, then click Street View. You will see a map of the U.S. covered in cameras. Everywhere you see a camera you'll find Street Views available for those cities. The streets photographed are outlined in blue.

You can drive up and down the streets and click around for a 360 degree view. It's a terrific writing aid. Right now, I'm working on a novella that's set in West Hollywood. I visited there numerous times when my son lived there, but that doesn't mean I remember street names or where the nearest LAPD station is located (it's on Wilcox) or where there's a Money Mart, for example, but between Google's search engine and the street views, everything is easy to find (and thus describe).

Thank you Google!

About Writer's Contests

In the course of researching pressess, I've run across a number of contests for writers. Short story contests, first novel contests, best novel contests. I'll start a list here of those that do NOT require a fee. If you know of others, post a comment and I'll add those to the list.

1. The Nero Wolfe novella contest (ends May 31): http://www.nerowolfe.org/htm/neroaward/black_orchid_award/BO_award_proc.htm
2. Idaho magazine fiction writing contest (current contest ended Jan. 31)
http://idahomagazine.com/news_fiction.asp

Short Stories

Today I decided to post three of my short stories on my website. You can view them by going to: http://www.harolmarshall.com/new.html

They're all 'firsts'--my first short story, my first 'flash' story, and the first chapter of a 'noir' (or sort of noir) novella. The protagonist is a female private investigator by the name of Pauline (Polly) Isabel Berger. Yeah, she goes by P.I. Berger. Oh well, she's fun...we'll see how it goes. I'm still busy with Anna and Commander Cortez in book three of the Mexico series.

Small Presses, Agents, and Salt Lake City

Whew!! I dedicated most of this week to researching small presses (with occasional lapses given over to viewing Salt Lake City houses for my daughter who is moving there this summer). Oh yes, and I researched an agent or two.

Researching small presses has been a HOOT. Of course, there are the mystery presses, some of which are receptive to a little romance with their mystery, others want only hard-boiled detectives. Some love cozies others hate cozies, etc., and that was just the tip of the iceberg. There are the Christian romance publishers who allow nothing more than hand holding and kissing (even by implication) and their opposites the Erotica presses which made me blush just to read their submission guidelines. And the lesbian presses, the gay/lesbian presses, the presses with special requirements such as the 'big girl' heroine (she canNOT lose weight to please a man, for goodness sakes), and the horror, sci-fi publishers with their own weird set of requirements.

So, I'm thinking that maybe I should go back into my novels and add a few pounds to Anna, take away her penchant for fitness, eliminate the scene (though no details are provided) where she spends an overnight with (oh gosh) one of the male characters. Or maybe I should add a (chaste) lesbian, a ghost, a spaceship and some Bible verses. Voila! Publishing success.

Something to consider. . .

Flash Fiction

Sent off my first 'flash fiction' piece today, titled: "Mama's Little Boy," which I spent far too much time editing last week and over the weekend. My son-in-law had a few good suggestions about what he thought the story was missing. It's much better now, I think. A flash fiction story is under 1,000 words. This one was 998.

Also added a Short Story section to my harolmarshall.com website. I think I'll post some short stories there since it takes a lot of time to get them ready for publication and even longer to send them out. I really need to let them sit and fester for awhile before I go back and edit and revise, so why not fester on my website. Maybe someone will tell me what they like or don't like.

The find of the day was http://www.duotrope.com/ with lots of information on publishers. I found many new outlets, but was equally surprised to see how many I've turned up on my own that were NOT listed on duotrope.

All in all a pretty good day, though I need to get back to work on book three before I forget what's supposed to happen! Less than a month before we leave for our Mexican Cooking School trip...I can't wait.

Once in a Lifetime Story

On a visit to see my son in Melbourne Beach, Florida last month, I saw an unusual sight. About 9:30 in the morning, standing on the balcony of our hotel room with my binoculars, scanning the ocean, I spotted a group of dolphins moving toward the beach. Suddenly, in their midst the square black nose of a whale surfaced.

After watching the group for several minutes, I realized the group of about a half dozen dolphins were turning the whale away from the beach and guiding it back out to sea. I couldn't help but think they put humans to shame.

I have no idea how common this behavior is for dolphins, but I know it's a once in a lifetime scene I was fortunate to have witnessed. Wish I'd had a video camera instead of the binocs!

The Harol Hoffman Movie

This is funny (at least to me). The other day I googled myself (using my legal name, not my pen name) and I turned up a listserv posting about The Harol Hoffman Movie," which, it turns out "never got made." I couldn't resist emailing the person at Liberty Pictures who posted the comment. He wrote back asking if I was from Dallas. He told me "Harol Hoffman" was the money man behind the movie, but that's all I've learned so far and I've yet to turn up this 'money man' on the Web.

Seemed odd to me since I've never met anyone with my first name let alone both names, but as my son reminded me, 'there are 7 billion people on this rock.' I guess he's got a point about probabilities.

On the other hand, an old boyfriend of mine lives in Dallas. . .

Crunching Lunch

Florida weather today in the 70's so I'm outside on the patio editing manuscripts when my cat Savannah decides to present me with the gift of a dead mole (or vole, I can't tell the difference).

After tossing it in the air several times hoping to amuse me, she turned it into lunch. I tried to ignore the spectacle since I'd just had lunch myself, but tuning out the crunch of skull bones taxed my powers of concentration. This happened not once but twice.

On the upside, my stomach's getting stronger.

Oh, I went to see Juno last night, mainly because it won the Oscar for best screenplay. I was underimpressed and came away thinking Hollywood must be seething with hard working experienced screenwriters who choose not to pave their way to success via the route of hype and porn. (Just my opinion.)

Re-Naming a character

Okay, at least three people have told me they dislike my female protagonist's last name, which sounds like a "German charlady," says one friend. I need to come up with a different name now while I still have time to save her. The name Anna is a keeper. It's "Diehl" that's the bad deal (sorry).

Maybe Ryan? Or Slade or Shaw? McKensie, McKinnon, McPherson, McMaster?
Fury, Bartholomew, Bevin-Evans, LaRouche?
Higgenbottom, West, Dean, Romero? I don't know. I'll sleep on it.

Okay, I slept on it. Anna Merino. Spanish (not Mexican) surname with no charwoman overtones.