Of books and serial killers (with gratuitous complaints about the Arizona heat)
No, this post isn’t about our resident backyard serial killer of tomatoes. That little beast has disappeared, because it’s now too hot here in Satan’s Anus for the tomatoes to produce fruit. Instead, they’re wilted and sad, hoping desperately for temperatures below 100F. Kind of like me.
But the plants and I shall hope in vain, because our forecast for the weekend looks like this:
At least we might get some rain.
Maybe.
But don’t worry, I’m not going to spend the rest of this post complaining about the weather. I’m saving that topic for next week. This week it’s time for the monthly What’s on Your Bookshelf Challenge, hosted by Debbie, Sue, Donna, and Jo. At least I hope this challenge is still happening. As of Friday morning, their posts aren’t up yet. Maybe they’re all on vacation, toes in the sand and books in hand. Update 7/22: the challenge is happening this week. I was a week early. It’s just like me to show up to a party at the wrong time… *sigh*.
It’s also time for the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. Her post is up–and she has iceberg pics, y’all. I’m gonna stare at them for the next three hours to see if I can convince my body that I do not, in fact, live in Satan’s Anus.
Have a seat, grab a treat, and let’s get to it.
Writing News
I’ve started a new short story (as yet untitled) to submit for, yes, another contest. (Hi, I’m Janet, and I’m addicted to writing contests.) This one’s limited to 2500 words, which I’m finding refreshing. No subplots. No big cast of characters. Just two people and a night to remember. Well, one of them will remember it.
I attended an amazing webinar last night courtesy of the Grand Canyon Writers chapter of Sisters in Crime called Independence Day for Writers: Take Control of Your Writing Career. It was recorded and will be posted on their website. For an annual membership of $25, you can watch it and their many other excellent programs. I’ve mentioned here before that I’ve been in a bit of a writing slump this year. This program inspired me to tackle my first novel manuscript, Vanishing, Inc., again and–dare I say it–get back in the querying trenches (as soon as I finished the as-yet-untitled short story). Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Books, Baby!
I’ve also been in a bit of a reading slump. The year’s more than half over, and I’ve read only 26 books. I’d like to say that’s because I’m writing more and exercising more, but… nah. It’s because I waste hours scrolling the news and social media in a haze of doom and misery. I mean seriously–have you seen the news and social media lately? And yet I go back for more. Every. Damn. Day.
And now I get to embarrass myself by owning up to how little I’ve read in the last month. And to the fact that a good portion of it is about serial killers. I mean, I literally read about serial killers to relax before bed at night. Because have you seen the news lately? A few grisly murders from the 1970s are a definite improvement.
And then there’s this:
And this:
Books I finished in the last month
- A Killer by Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind – Ann Burgess. Burgess was the first woman in the FBI’s famous Behavioral Science Unit (a/k/a the Mindhunters). She was recruited as a consultant based on her doctoral research into the victimology of rape and ended up working in the BSU for many years. She provides detailed insights into some of the most infamous serial killers of the 1970s-1990s, but you can find that information in lots of other places, including books by some of her BSU colleagues. What I haven’t found elsewhere is her perspective as a woman in a field that is still (as far as I know) dominated by men. Her stories of the BSU itself and its famous male pioneers are fascinating.
- The Killer’s Shadow: The FBI”s Hunt for a White Supremacist Serial Killer (Cases of the FBI’s Original Mindhunter Book 1) – John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. Douglas is one of those famous male pioneers at the BSU. I loved his first 2 true crime books, Mindhunter and The Killer Across the Table. This one’s a little different, because the killer he profiles, Joseph Paul Franklin, wasn’t your typical serial killer. Fascinating and chilling.
Books I’m currently reading
- The Cases that Haunt Us – John E. Douglas. Why yes, I am becoming a John Douglas fangirl. In this book, he takes us deep into famous murder cases like Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, and JonBenet Ramsey. After recapping the murders and suspects, he analyzes the case the way an FBI profiler would, and it’s fascinating.
- Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them – Francine Prose. First, may I point out the wonderfulness of a writer with the last name of Prose who writes about writing? That’s like an orthopedic surgeon named Dr. Bonebrake. Anyway, Prose’s prose (heh, heh) is all about illustrating various aspects of writing by dissecting passages from various literary authors old and new(er). I was an English major and am now a librarian and fiction writer, and I’ve learned a ton (and I’m only halfway through the book). She points out something about point of view that I’d never heard before–that it’s not only about who’s telling the story, but who the narrator is telling the story to–that changed my entire approach to the short story I’m working on. Love, love, love this book so far.
- Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence – Derald Wing Sue. Still reading this one for a book discussion group associated with my day job. It’s a bit academic so not a quick read, but it’s well worth the time and effort required.
- The Best American Mystery Stories 2012 – Robert Crais, editor. These stories are more literary than the average crime fiction, and I’m loving them. It’s fascinating to see so many different techniques and approaches, and of course the stories are entertaining too.
The Memery
No pretty pictures this month. If you’re wondering why, scroll up and look at that screenshot from the National Weather Service. If I go outside, this will happen:
But fear not. I promised I wouldn’t spend the entire post complaining about the heat, and I’ll keep that promise (but next week, all bets are off. I have an entire folder of hot weather memes ready to go). Instead, since it’s book week, we’ll do book memes.
I just bought a used IKEA desk last weekend to match my IKEA bookshelves, so now my entire home office is IKEA. Why not books too?
Long-Suffering Husband is far too smart to even suggest I don’t need more books (or more plants). In fact, he’s a total enabler. We went to the Tucson Festival of Books back in March, and every time I’d agonize over whether to buy another book, he’d either encourage me or pull out his wallet. That man is a keeper.
Or a nursery.
Me as a kid:
I walked face-first into a building once, but I wasn’t reading. I’d taken an over-the-counter antihistamine and literally fell asleep while walking. You kids today don’t appreciate how good you have it with all those non-drowsy allergy meds.
Me reading about either the Dursleys or Severus Snape in every Harry Potter book:
I don’t get the people who make Snape out to be some kind of hero. He was a damn incel who tormented the child of the woman he supposedly loved. And if you don’t know what an incel is… consider yourself lucky.
Truer words were never posted.
Time for me to sign off and start my day job. How’s the weather where you are? Whatcha reading?
34 Comments
Bobbiem91
I understand your obsession with the weather. We were lucky and got a rain storm yesterday, dropping the temp to 69. I was loving it. It’s been in the upper 90s and lower 100s here. I adored the Ikea book. that could be a fun won to put together without the directions. Good luck on your story.
Janet Alcorn
69–I don’t think we’ve even had a nighttime temp that low in at least a month. Glad you got some rain. We’ve had maybe 3 monsoon storms that dumped a noticeable amount of water. Definitely need more.
Elizabeth Seckman
Our weather isn’t nearly as wicked, but it has been dry. A bit of rain would make my yard happy. But nothing like you’re experiencing. I know some realtors…want me to hook you up? LOL
Online can be a wicked place to maneuver. Al the nice people are out living and not trolling people’s posts. I set my phone to 15 minutes of news reading. That’s enough to help me play trivial pursuit in fifteen years, but not enough to depress me now.
Janet Alcorn
I like the 15 minutes/day of news–and the Trivial Pursuit goal! I *loved* that game in college (Why yes, I am a nerd. Why do you ask?) I like being informed, but most of what passes for news these days is intended to enrage rather than inform.
Lydia C. Lee
I love some of those memes. The anger at the being in the book is a good one – we do experience real emotions at unreal situations and that’s what makes it the best book!!
Janet Alcorn
Yes! The books I go back to again and again are the ones that make me feel strong emotions–love, sadness, terror, fury. Mostly love and terror (horror romance needs to be a genre), but the others too.
Writing Sparkle
Morning Janet, thanks for the virtual coffee! Good luck with the writing contest. That’s great. Where do you find all these contests? The Sisters in Crime group sounds like a good group, thanks for the info.
Janet Alcorn
Most of the contests I’ve entered have been state and regional ones that I learn about through membership in various organizations. The one I’m working on now is sponsored by the Arizona Mystery Writers.
And yes, Sisters in Crime is wonderful. Super supportive with outstanding educational opportunities.
Writing Sparkle
That makes sense. I only belong to one writing group and they did share a Indie Author ebook contest not to long ago. Perhaps I need to get more involved… Thanks Janet. Have a great week.
Gary A Wilson
Hahahah Janet,
You had me laughing at several things already, but when I hit the IKEA meme – a great snort was heard throughout the halls of our home.
Then – you had me cringing, in shaking pain, when I (am willing to admit I had to) looked up the definition of “Incel”, and YIKES!.
I knew these guys existed but I thought they’d be, as they were when I was young, too isolated to have any kind of group, on or off line.
Another great visit.
In your place, I’d be collecting heavier plastic sports drink bottles and freezing them for hot room and the space between my chair and my lower back deployment during the week that’s coming your way. ugh.
Stay cool – if possible. Maybe your husband could dig down about 25 feet and lower folding backyard recliners into a carved out room where the temps would be more like paint-peeling rather than incendiary.
Janet Alcorn
Always happy to make people snort-laugh–bonus if it involves liquids 🙂
Incels are terrifying. At least 2 mass murderers have been linked to incel groups, yet one doesn’t hear much about them outside of their own communities or feminist circles. And of course the behavior of many serial killers is rooted in misogyny, so… yeah. Terrifying stuff.
So far I’m surviving the heat by laying under a ceiling fan in my air-conditioned house and binge-watching Mindhunter. Nothing like a bunch of misogynistic serial killers to take my mind off the fact that it’s 107 outside.
Gary A Wilson
You humble me. I’m sitting here near a window fan sucking in 50-some-degree air to fill the house so we can endure the high 80-stuff coming this afternoon. It’s what passes for fun when you don’t have AC. Each time I visited Tucson when my daughter was there – it was like the outdoors was trying to suck the life out of me. I concluded that people who like it there must have come from a planet much closer to their star than ours and came here to cool off.
Jennifer Jones
The Cases That Haunt Us sounds like a book I’d enjoy. I’ll look out for it. I was expecting What’s In Your Bookshelf yesterday too so not sure what happened. For once I was organised.
Janet Alcorn
So far it’s fascinating. I’m listening to the audiobook on Audible (it was even free with my membership), and it’s made my treadmill time at the gym a lot more interesting.
Hopefully What’s on Your Bookshelf is coming back. If not, I’d be happy to host a similar challenge. Maybe we could co-host?
leannelc
Hi Janet – the weather down under is cold and rainy (just so you know where all your cool temps have gone!) Your reading list is definitely much darker and deeper than mine – I’m in the middle of binge reading all of Ilona Andrews’ books – kind of dystopian fantasy (both favourite themes of mine).
Janet Alcorn
I’d say send some of that cold weather here, but that wouldn’t be fair, because when I’m basking in mild temps in January, you’ll probably be sweating. So enjoy it!
My reading list is usually all over the place. I’m reading a lot of crime–fiction and true–now, partly to inform my writing (just finished a short story about a serial killer, am writing a short story about a rapist, and am working on a novel about a serial killer) and partly because I’ve always been fascinated by the dark side of human behavior. No idea why–I’m boring as hell in real life and entirely too soft-hearted for my own good–but I find psychopaths fascinating.
Natalie
Janet, Thank you for your weekend coffee share. I hope you get some relief from the high temperatures and intense heat. All the best with your writing contest.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! Hope you have a great week!
Rowena
Hi Janet,
Commiserations about your heat. It’s Winter here and I bought myself a pair of Ugg boots the other day and I’m also in a very snug fleecy dressing gown. It got up to 22 degrees Celsius yesterday and I was out in a thin jumper. What was wrong with me?
Thanks for putting me onto Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them – Francine Prose. I just ordered a second-hand copy on eBay. You gave it a great wrap.
I’m currently doing a 5 week course in Freelance Journalism so I’ve been madly reading magazines and getting research done as well as doing my assignments. I am reading the third book in a series by Ethel Turner set in WWI: Bridget and the Cub. I’m also reading: Brene Brown’s “Atlas of the Heart”.
Hope you have a great week.
Best wishes,
Rowena
Janet Alcorn
I hope you love Reading Like a Writer!
The journalism course sounds interesting. Are you planning a career change, or would this be more of a side gig?
I need to get back to reading Brene Brown. She’s great.
Thanks for stopping by!
Julie
My two tomatoes have finally ripened last week. Also last week, the weather kind of cooled down where more flowers were starting to produce more fruit. It’s hot in my part of LA — I don’t live close to the beach so I don’t get that nice breezy air.
Janet Alcorn
I used to live in Glendora in the San Gabriel Valley–definitely the hot part of the LA area. We had so many tomatoes almost every year.
Sue from Women Living Well After 50
Hi Janet, there was a little confusion about the dates this month for WOYBS but it is the 3rd Friday (Australian time) of each month. At least you had your post ready to go! Good for you writing a short story for a contest. Thanks for sharing what you have been reading – I’ve not read any of the books you’ve listed so more to discover! Enjoy reading (and writing) and see you next month.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! And thanks for hosting the challenge. It’s so much fun to see what everyone is reading.
Retirement Reflections
Hi, Janet – I add my apologies about the confusion around posting for WOYBS this month. We plan for the third Thursday (NA) and the third Fri (AU) For this month it would have made it two different weeks so we went with NA. Next tine we’ll go with AU! Thank you for your patience and your great post!
Janet Alcorn
No worries! I was just happy to learn the challenge was still happening. Thanks for all you do!
Debbie
Hi Janet, love your take on WOYBS this month and a great selection of appropriate memes too 🙂 Thanks for joining us and we’re off to UK this week so the weather talk is very important!
Janet Alcorn
Hope you have (had?) a great trip!
Debbie
Thanks Janet, we’re on Day 3 and we’re having an absolute ball!
Jo
I laughed out loud at your opening paragraphs and subsequent update. We really must do a reminder post each month… maybe it’s the third Friday (our time) of the month that confuses people? Anyways, serial killer books and insane weather… there’s a parallel in there somewhere. Thanks for linking up (and persevering with the link up!).
Janet Alcorn
July 1 was a Friday, so July 15 was the third Friday. I know it’s a day later there, though, so maybe that’s the source of the confusion?
Glad I could give you a laugh!
Jo
OMG you’re right – all 4 of us missed that! The next WOYBS is 19/8/22…
rawsonjl
I would say I didn’t hate Snape nearly as much at the end of the book but was still surprised that Harry named one of his kids after him because seriously that man was so mean to him for so many years! And not in that teacher way of being gruff and expecting more work from the lazy student that can do better but just straight up mean.
Janet Alcorn
Snape was intentionally cruel, and I hate that. Honestly, I had more sympathy for him when I thought he had just been bullied. Once I learned he was in love with Harry’s mother, I lost all respect for him. He thought he was entitled to her no matter how poorly he acted, and when he didn’t get what he wanted, he took out his anger on her child. That’s not love.