Best

Author Interview

Reviewers Corner

Multicultural Fiction

Spine Chiller

Genre Happenings

Devotional

Author Interview

Meet Victoria Murray

Wow, here we go again! It’s already the second month of 2009. It’s a beautiful day in Florida. My hubby, Bill, and my dog, Jake, relax on the porch with me as I prepare for my monthly interview. “It’s such a perfect afternoon for back porch writing.” I begin by checking my calendar. “Let’s see. It’s February . . . and we have Groundhog Day, Ash Wednesday, Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, and I believe this month most schools will close for a winter break.”

Spine Chiller Thrillers

The Thrill of Suspense

Something terrible had happened. I could tell by my wife’s expression as she hung up the phone that it was something serious.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

My heart rate climbed as I watched her search for words. And before she even answered, I knew it would change our lives forever . . .

Now before I go any further, let me just say I love writing suspenseful stories. After all, suspense is at the heart of what makes a great thriller. Thrillers cut across many genres: action thrillers, romantic thrillers, psychological thrillers, scifi and supernatural thrillers to name a few. But writing a good thriller can be very challenging, especially for a new novelist.

Genre Happenings

PLAYING FAIR

For the past year, I’ve been writing my first real-deal whodunits for Barbour’s imprint Heartsong Presents Mysteries.

Those who have been with me a while may wonder if these new books will be something of a departure from the zany blood-and-knuckles hijinks in my Kansas City Blues thrillers. But in those books, even with all the cops and mobsters and hit men running around, astute readers noticed an increasing level of experimentation with the detective form. (In fact, my third novel, Tribulation House, hinges on a reversal of a classic Agatha Christie trick.)

So I thought it was time to try my hand at some actual fair-play mysteries. And as I have been exploring this process, several people have asked how the traditional or “cozy” ...

Multicultural Fiction

Multicultural Fiction is Fun!

Many people tell me, “I don’t know if I’d like your books because I’m not Asian,” or, “I don’t think I’d like your books because I don’t know any Asian people.”

To which I reply, “If you like fun fiction, it doesn’t matter if the heroine is Asian or African American or alien. Fun fiction is...

Reviewers Corner

This month's featured reviewer:

MJ Chind

As avid readers know, you get pulled in many directions as far as genres are concerned. It's the same for a reviewer; I tend to find myself drawn into a genre and wanting to explore it exclusively for a while. Speculative Fiction is just such a juicy genre, especially Science Fiction and Fantasy. Spec-Fi encompasses Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and even Horror...

Devotional

ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE

In this month of Valentine’s Day, let us consider love. And marriage. The whole “Two shall become one” phenomenon.

Or is it more like one-and-a-half? Or negative three?

When two people become engaged, love sounds easy. Idealistic. As easy as I John 4:19: “We love because he first loved us”(NIV). Two separate human beings will join lives...