MYSTERIOUS MONDAY: Pet Peeves in Mysteries

by Libby Sternberg

Years ago, I read a mystery with all the elements for a super satisfying tale: exotic locale and time period, great historic detail, multi-layered characterizations and complex plot. But the resolution involved a culprit who turned out to be the equivalent of a supernumerary, a walk-on role, someone who didn't even have a name or presence in the book, a real "face in the crowd." Grrrr....I thought. Cheap trick! Unfair! It's one of my mystery pet peeves--making the culprit someone the reader couldn't possibly guess.

I asked a bunch of mystery readers and writers what really irritates them when reading/watching mysteries, and below is a round-up of their answers. Enjoy their analyses and then share your own peeves.


The TSTL (too stupid to live) heroine:
"One of mine is the kind of mystery--you can usually tell after the first few pages--where you know the heroine is going to do something stupid and get herself into a sticky situation in the next to last chapter." Carola Dunn, author of the Daisy Dalrymple mysteries

"My pet peeve is when the heroine goes down to the basement in her nighdress when a storm has knocked out the electricity and the phone, knowing that there is a serial killer loose in the neighborhood! I try not to let my heroines be too dumb, although occasionally they are!"  Rhys Bowen is a bestselling mystery novelist and an Agatha- and Anthony-award winner.

The TSTL (too skinny to live) heroine:
When the female detective (police or amateur) eats like a horse but she's skinny because she has such a white-hot metabolism And she eats lots of junk, too. Or she forgets to eat. When a woman (it's always a woman), real or fictional, says 'Oh, I forgot to eat,' I want to hurt her. Bad." Siobhan Kelly is the author of Through a Shot Glass Darkly: A Nebraska Mystery.

The tortured protag and the guest villain
"For me, it's the LEO (law enforcement officer) with 'demons' whether it's alcoholism or a murdered loved one. It was the one thing I didn't like about Castle. Becket's dead mother drove too many of the episodes and the conclusion really made me question watching the show anymore. But the alcoholic cop is beyond cliche. In any serial TV show, you can always tell who the villain is -- the well known guest star."  Pat Brown is the author of series of L.A.-based mysteries


Coinkydinks, miraculous recoveries, and bad grammar
"Whopping coincidence to solve the crime. Coincidence does happen in real life. Okay, but let's not use it to solve the mystery. Unrealistic physical action such as the PI is seriously  beat up and then within hours or minutes is back to full function. Bad grammar revealing the writer/editor merely used a computer program to check spelling and sentence construction. Over-use of current slang." Carl Brookins is the author of several mystery series.

Speaking of coincidence...
"When the detective protagonist, especially when he or she is a private investigator, happens to be in exactly the right place at the right time and thus is suddenly embroiled in a case instead of being sought and hired by a client. It happened to Mike Hammer in most of his cases, and has happened to, among other luminaries, Philip Marlowe (the opening of Farewell, My Lovely) and Lew Archer (Find a Victim)." Barry Ergang is a Derringer winner for best short flash fiction and a former mystery magazine editor.  

Cast of thousands
"Too many characters mentioned briefly and sometimes randomly.... I just wish the author would add a character key. Good example of an excellent character key is in St. Zita Society by Ruth Rendell (2012). She uses the inside cover to show the characters in her book. This made reading the book a true pleasure. If I get the notion early on that there will be many characters, I create a running list--but it is a pain, especially if I catch on too far into the book. I am sure I am not the only one with this complaint or problem remembering names. I also agree 100% with you about the person briefly mentioned being the culprit!" Janis Rothermel

Speaking of culprits arriving late...
"My pet peeve is when the detective pulls the killer out of thin air. All of a sudden the killer shows up in the last chapter and he's the guilty party. They have been doing this a lot on TV lately because there are so many commercials that there is not enough time left to create sufficient clues for a good story." Richard Brawer is the author of numerous books, including the Silk Legacy series.

Too much rock 'em sock 'em
"I get sick of knowing that the hero/heroine has to get beaten up before the book can end. I don't really enjoy that part any more than I do violence in movies. I understand that the author wants to create suspense, etc., but wouldn't it be nice if they had sufficient talent to do it some other way?" Leslie S. Lebl

Experts who know experts...

"We read and scoffed at a series where the protagonist just happened to have not only all of the necessary skills, but just happened to know an expert who could help." Judi Maxwell

"Wait and I'll reveal all...."
"I hate it when the characters say, 'I can't tell you until I ---' and then, of course, they go off on their own and bad stuff happens. I like to be in the character's head, and if the author can't figure out a way to stick to the character's POV while withholding information, that irritates me.  And, in reference to your pet peeve -- Lee Lofland reviews Castle for police procedure every week on his blog, and he says he can always guess the killer because it's the character they bring in early, ask a few questions, and dismiss." Terry Odell is the author of romance, romantic suspense and mystery

The killer next door
"The heroine's new boyfriend turns out to be the one killing people (and trying to kill her). Some well-known writers have committed this sin. Please. How lazy can you get?? I also hate thrillers in which one of the cops or FBI agents chasing a serial killer turns out to be the serial killer. Again, some well-known writers have done this. And again, it's just plain lazy and unimaginative." Sandra Parshall is author of the Rachel Goddard mysteries

 "One of my biggest pet peeves is the twisted, sick cop as killer. I'm sure there are twisted, sick cops out there who have killed.... I don't think the percentage is greater within law enforcement, but too many novels would have you believe otherwise. My other huge pet peeve is the stupid law enforcement professional, like the FBI agents who don't check the house next door to their safe house because it's a vacation home and not occupied off-season. Well, guess where the serial killer was hiding all along?" Lois Winston is the author of The Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries

The recapitulation sermon
"One thing that drives me nuts...We get to the solution of the mystery, the bad guy is caught (or dead), and then we get 10-15 pages of the hero explaining how he/she figured it all out. What I say is that the reader, at the end, should be able to get that without a huge amount of recapitulation..." Don Coffin 

The evil twin
"Call it bad luck or whatever, but two recent reads from  two favorite British authors (who shall be nameless) where in each story a villain at the end was a twin of the suspect! I couldn't believe the coincidence. I think that having one villain turning out to be a twin is asking a lot of patience from a reader, but one after the other put me off both writers for a while!" Kit Sloane, author of The Margot & Max series.

Super cyber buddies
"The super hacker cop buddy bugs me. When a PI or cop is at a dead end in the investigation, or there's critical but unobtainable information out there, they go to their super hacker buddy who can break into anything. Sure enough, he gets the key data. It's a crutch. In pre-computer days it was informants lurking everywhere.  'Word on the street is....' The computer-related pet peeve that's really annoying, though, is guessing a person's password in one or two attempts."  Michael Allan Mallory (along with Marilyn Victor) is the author of the Snake Jones Zoo mysteries

The perp prologue, the closeted killer
"I have two (pet peeves). The first is the prologue told from the unnamed adversary, be it a serial killer or lunatic, who reveals a small amount of the plot as he/she plans to make the first move. The second is the gay killer who kills to stay in the closet.. Oy, what a tired old chestnut that is...." Jeffrey Marks is the author of both fiction and nonfiction. He is working on a biography of Ellery Queen

What's in a name?
"This one was in a mystery but doesn't involve the mystery itself. The writing otherwise was fairly well done, but in conversations, the characters mentioned each other by first name in nearly every sentence. It was quite distracting and totally unnecessary. It was obvious from the conversation who was speaking, and people just don't address each other that way." Chester Campbell writes a series of post-Cold War political thrillers.

Yes, what is in a name? 
Pet peeves:
--giving someone who turns out to be bad an angelic name to divert suspicion from that character.
--giving someone who turns out to be the killer a name that's clearly a pseudonym . Michael Connelly did that and I stopped reading him.
--throwing in a gratuitous sex scene that doesn't advance the story or deepen insight into the characters . Lev Raphael is the author of mystery and historical novels

Gotta .... confess!
"My pet peeve is when the detective provokes a confession on the slimmest of evidence. I find it hard to believe that a clever murderer who knows that there is not sufficient physical evidence to charge him would confess when presented with what amounts to a 'guess' on the part of the detective. " Mary Ann Myer

That suspect is too obvious to talk to
"One of mine (pet peeves) is when the investigation is prolonged because no one questioned the right, very obvious person. (This happened) in a well-reviewed series, smart and witty, but the book was about a girl from a strict, religious family who disappeared. If such a person had a near-in-age sister, who would you talk to first? And keep talking to. Yes, me, too. (I had two daughters) I never read another book by the author." Triss Stein is the author of Brooklyn Bones, an Erica Donato mystery

Dreams, loose ends, random action
1. An unexpected letter or phone call that arrives or turns up at the end and reveals a vital clue.
2. A dream that reveals that vital clue. (Note: I have no problem with dreams revealing the detective's mind at work while asleep, but an out-of-nowhere dream revelation not based on facts already presented will make me close the book.)
3. No logic or thought to lay a foundation for action so the sleuth's moves appear random and we readers wonder why he or she is doing something.
4. Too many loose ends or confusion at the end. Carolyn J. Rose, author (Who has been guilty of doing all of this in early works and may do it again because I'm not getting any younger)

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Libby Sternberg is editor-in-chief of Istoria Books. She is also an Edgar-nominated novelist.

Istoria Books's "Mysterious Monday" program features posts about mystery writing, reading, bookselling and more by writers from beyond the Istoria stable. Stop back on Mondays for insightful posts on the mystery genre. Check out Istoria Books's mystery offerings here.


Mysterious Monday posts from the past:

• Carola Dunn writes about her experiences with a mysterious bookstore display: Downton Abbey, Barnes & Noble, and Carola Dunn
• Jenny Milchman writes about "Putting the MIST in mystery: obscuring facts"

Coming up: Authors Gary Alexander and Joyce Yarrow talk about favorite characters and favorite character types in mystery.

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MYSTERIOUS MONDAY: Downton Abbey, Barnes & Noble, and Carola Dunn

by Carola Dunn

A few weeks ago, my editor told me Barnes and Noble had picked my 19th Daisy Dalrymple mystery, Anthem for Doomed Youth, to be part of a nationwide promotion for Downton Abbey. Yes, I was excited!

The third season of the popular series is set in England between the wars--WWI and WWII, that is. Besides books about the period, B&N were looking for novels set at that time. They planned to have 5 or so copies of each chosen book on display near the checkout counter, in every store in the US. St. Martin's was to do a special reprint of the paperback edition for them.

My editor said the four-week promotion was to begin on January 8th. So on the day, I trotted along to the local store. I must have circled the store 3 times before I decided I just wasn't going to find the display. All the booksellers were busy, so I came home disappointed and tried to call them. Impossible to speak to a Real Person, or to leave a message, or even to stay on hold. At last, later that evening I got through.

The person I spoke to had never heard of a Downton Abbey promotion. He looked it up on his computer, and couldn't find anything that mentioned it. :-( 

I emailed my editor. I also asked my Facebook friends to pop into the nearest B&N if they happened to be passing and see what they could see. My editor contacted Macmillan's "B&N person," who promised to get onto it.

The responses I had from FB friends were not encouraging:

"There is a Downton Abbey display here in Naples, FL, but no Anthem for Doomed Youth."

"Checked the store in Fort Gratiot, MI. No Downton display but Anthem is on display in the new Mystery section."

"This was unfortunately the case last night at the W. 82nd location in Manhattan as well. I had called ahead and put Anthem on hold, but before I retrieved it, I sought out the Downton display to check out what else they had out. I found it on the endcap of the aisle that contained Mystery. So when I didn't see Anthem on display, I found it only a few feet away. I feigned ignorance tho just so I could ask an employee to find it for me and then mention I thought it was part of the Downton promo. I doubt it did any good, but I did want to mention it to them. Still glad to have a brand new copy of Anthem, which I hadn't read yet, but it was disappointing."

"I found the Downton Abbey display at the Ithaca Barnes & Noble - it was about 7 books on an endcap (no Anthem!). I caught a fellow and asked where the Anthem books were. He pulled out a paper with the particulars about the display, and it didn't include yours. He checked the computer and they had 5 new Anthems, it said they were supposed to be in a "Cash Wrap" (?) "up front". We found them stacked on a desk; so I don't know where they are going to end up. But I did impress upon him that all your 'Facebook friends' would be looking for the Anthems." 

And have to laugh at this one, I guess: "Went to B&N in Woodland Hills yesterday and they were gone. Had been there just before Christmas. The sign said they closed 12/31/12."

I forwarded all these and more to my editor, at his request. Whether they helped or not I don't know, but I'm very grateful to all those who took the time to check. Three cheers for Facebook friends!

On Sunday, I returned to the local (Eugene) store. There was Anthem, right by the cash registers, with a selection of other books set in the time period! I asked if they'd like me to sign them, which they did, and even dug out some of my other titles for me to sign.

When I got home and turned on the computer, there was an email from my editor--he had found the same in his local B&N.

I'm not sure what the moral of this story is. Be patient and they'll get around to it? Or persistence pays--keep bugging till they act?

One way or another, I'm happy to announce that if you go into a Barnes and Noble store in the next few weeks, you may--or may not--find a Downton Abbey promotion that includes Anthem for Doomed Youth!

Read about the book here: 
http://caroladunn.weebly.com/1/category/anthem%20for%20doomed%20youth/1.html
  (scroll down a bit)

Or read an excerpt here:
http://historicalfictionexcerpts.blogspot.com/2013/01/anthem-for-doomed-youth-ii.html 

It's also available as an ebook. 
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Istoria Books's "Mysterious Monday" program features posts about mystery writing, reading, bookselling and more by writers from beyond the Istoria stable.  Stop back on Mondays for insightful posts on the mystery genre. 

This post, by Carola Dunn, first appeared at the Murderous Musings blog on January 16, 2013.

Mysterious Monday posts from the past:
Jenny Milchman writes about "Putting the MIST in mystery: obscuring facts"

Coming up: Authors Gary Alexander and Joyce Yarrow talk about favorite characters and favorite character types in mystery.

___
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No sex, no swearing, no drugs, no alcohol: Istoria Books YA line

by Libby Sternberg

During the Christmas holiday, I received a charming card from a family we know. On it, the twelve-year-old daughter had written her own message to me: "I love your books! When I'm not reading them, I'm thinking about them!"

She was referring to my first two published novels--the Edgar-nominated teen mystery Uncovering Sadie's Secrets, and its sequel, Finding the Forger. There's a third book in the series, Recovering Dad, that I will dispatch to her this week.

Not only did her comments warm my heart, they affirmed for me a commitment I, as an author, made to myself when I first wrote "young adult" fiction. That is, I would write the kind of YA books that I enjoyed reading as a preteen, books that didn't shock or startle or depress but instead invited the reader into a world worth visiting. In this world were people who set good examples, tried their best, loved their families, and didn't try too hard to be part of the cool crowd.

Notice, by the way, that I mention "YA books that I enjoyed reading as a preteen."  Many preteens read YA, while teens themselves have moved on to adult fiction. So, when I write YA, I assume my audience is more likely to be nine- to twelve-year-olds than it is older readers.

In my YA mysteries, the characters don't swear. They don't use drugs or alcohol. They don't have sex or talk about it. And I know--this doesn't reflect reality for all teens. But for a good number of kids, it does; or, at least, it's the life they aspire to. Their parents scold them if they swear. They're expected to abide by their family's rules. They're expected to try to be good, even if they sometimes fail. They're not trying so hard to be cool that they'll fall into trouble easily.

Many teen novels don't follow this pattern. Many YA novelists believe their books would betray the worlds they want to create and a sense of verisimilitude if the characters don't confront coarse situations and use coarse language. Some of these authors, I learned from participating in a YA writers email group years ago, take a perverse pride in being provocative, as if shocking parents of teen readers with dark tales is the goal, rather than telling a good story or even offering a good lesson.

The Wall Street Journal's children's book reviewer shared some thoughts on the dark state of YA fiction in a June 2011 article that generated controversy. Meghan Cox Gurdon wrote in that article:

How dark is contemporary fiction for teens? Darker than when you were a child, my dear: So dark that kidnapping and pederasty and incest and brutal beatings are now just part of the run of things in novels directed, broadly speaking, at children from the ages of 12 to 18.

Pathologies that went undescribed in print 40 years ago, that were still only sparingly outlined a generation ago, are now spelled out in stomach-clenching detail. Profanity that would get a song or movie branded with a parental warning is, in young-adult novels, so commonplace that most reviewers do not even remark upon it.

If books show us the world, teen fiction can be like a hall of fun-house mirrors, constantly reflecting back hideously distorted portrayals of what life is. There are of course exceptions, but a careless young reader—or one who seeks out depravity—will find himself surrounded by images not of joy or beauty but of damage, brutality and losses of the most horrendous kinds.

Don't get me wrong--I don't begrudge YA authors success if they happen to tell grittier tales than mine. And I'm not suggesting that YA fiction should be censored or have the real world whitewashed within its pages. (Neither was Gurdon in her article.)  But I do think there's a place--an important place--for YA fiction that does not focus on what's wrong in a teen's world, for stories that make readers feel good about themselves and perhaps even affirm the good choices they are making.

These are the kinds of YAs Istoria Books is looking for.

That kind of "clean" YA fiction doesn't have to be boring. In fact, this spring Istoria Books is proud to release a sweet and fun YA, The Body Electric by Allie Duzett, that doesn't include a single curse or reference to sex or substance abuse. It's a rollicking journey to the "end of the world," an exploration of young love and ancient curses. It's the exact opposite of boring. But it doesn't have a single element in it that would make a parent cringe.

Editing Allie Duzett's debut novel reinforced my belief in this kind of YA fiction. It's the epitome of our mission: we publish "good stories, well told."  Good stories--where you want to keep turning the pages to see what happens. Well told--where you want to keep hearing that author tell the story to you (instead of jumping ahead to the finish). And while our adult fiction does handle adult themes, sometimes explicitly and realistically, our young adult fiction will be a place of refuge for the preteen and teen reader who wants stories where they feel comfortable with the characters and don't mind inviting them into their own lives.

In The Body Electric, an eighteen-year-old Colorado girl meets and falls for an odd new fellow in town. He seems to possess heroic strength, is a gentleman of the old school, dresses as if he stepped off the pages of a menswear ad spread, is cheerful, honest and...has a family of grudge-bearing maniacs. As Lena learns more about Zach, she finds more to admire...and also fear. She learns just as much about herself in the process, about what values she holds dear, about what is most important in life.

I hope young readers will enjoy The Body Electric as much as all of us at Istoria have. Watch these blog pages for an interview with Allie Duzett in the weeks before its spring release!
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Libby Sternberg is an award-winning novelist. She is editor-in-chief of Istoria Books. If you have a young adult novel you'd like to submit to her, send a query to IstoriaBks@gmail.com

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MYSTERIOUS MONDAY: Putting the MIST in Mystery: Obscuring the Facts

by Jenny Milchman

Mysteries are the most challenging genre of all.

 

I can already hear the indignant responses from romance writers (how do you keep boy-meets-girl fresh), the historical writers (all that research!), and the horror ones as well (hey, it’s grisly in there). Not to mention the literary authors. Writing a story that doesn’t rely on plot to pull the reader along is no easy task.

So, all right, perhaps each kind of book has its own unique challenges.

I’d like to go over a few that I’ve found in writing mysteries.

• Knowing when to resist formula and when to make use of it. Should a body appear in the first chapter? A dead one, I mean—presumably most novels have people in them. And should the rest of the novel go on to unravel how the dead body got there? If you don’t keep to this rubric, but your novel is fast-paced and dangerous, is it still a mystery, or some other beast? Suspense, maybe, or thriller? Defining what you’ve written is hard and getting harder all the time, given the new sub-genres out there. Yet agents and editors will want to know your definition.
• Knowing what to reveal to your reader and when. As author, you know everything, at least by the time your book is in publishable form. But if you lay out your cards too soon, you’ll have a boring book that isn’t very mysterious. Too late and your solution will be either anticlimactic or a deus ex machina—a solution delivered from above without the appropriate groundwork being laid. Navigating between these two extremes takes an ability to climb into your reader’s mind—and out of your own.
• Related to the above is the challenge of obscuring the facts throughout your mystery. They have to be there, or else you haven’t played fair with your reader. But you don’t want readers to figure out clues or see plot twists coming like a Mack truck on a narrow road. Instead what you want to do is create a highway…populated by many vehicles…driving on a misty night. Those other lanes are your subplots and dead ends. The different vehicles are your red herrings, your distractions, and characters that fill out a story and make it feel fully realized. While the mist is there for atmosphere and to obscure the one truck barreling down the road…and into your victim’s life.

How do you rise to the above challenges? I imagine that every writer has his or her own tried-and-true methods. Here are three I’ve tried, which may turn out to be true for you:

1. Don’t worry about any of the above while writing your first draft. Let the danger and excitement of the situation your character has gotten himself into carry you along. Because if you’re carried along, it’s a good bet your reader will be, too. Fine-tuning details that are too obvious or too obscure, layering in red herrings, and making sure the solution is fully satisfying are for drafts two, three, and…thirteen.
2. No? Does the thought of writing thirteen drafts scare you like your heroine is scared by the killer? Then consider the five-point structure, brought to you courtesy of film-writing guru Robert McKee, with a few tweaks by me for mystery writers: Know the beginning, middle, and end of your story. By this I mean a key scene or two you can envision. If necessary, write up background material for these, or rough versions of the scenes before you begin. Sketch out their high points, conflict, and who stands to lose or learn what. Then do the same thing for two turning points in your story—one at the 1/3 mark, between the beginning and the middle, and the second at the 2/3 mark between the middle and the end. You now have a road laid out, and should be able to see from point one to five without getting too lost.
3. See your novel as a movie and write down exactly what you’re watching at any point where you feel stuck, or even at the beginning of the process. By visualizing the scenes, you make them that much realer in your mind. Later when you’re writing, you can come back to scenes you’ve already experienced.

The biggest mystery of all to be unraveled may be how a mystery is created. I hope that in this post I’ve given you a few clues.

Jenny Milchman is a suspense novelist from New Jersey whose short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Adirondack Mysteries II, and an e-published volume called Lunch Reads. Her first novel, Cover of Snow, was released by Ballantine this January.  

Istoria Books was proud to publish Jenny's short story "The Very Old Man" in Lunch Reads Volume 1. All four volumes of Lunch Reads shorts are now available in one set digitally at Amazon's Kindle store!

Check out Istoria's mysteries here!

Humor: The Best Nonexistent Books of 2012

by Hannah E. Sternberg

Nonfiction
Soft as a Petal: A History of the World, Told through Handkerchiefs
Jason Smithson

Hannah Sterberg

This elegant little history is an excellent primer for anyone fascinated with the role of textiles in law, love, and literature. Many authors of popular history have hunted for the perfect "frame story" that would inspire general readers to make sense of the long and tangled threads of world civilization. Smithson's Soft as a Petal puts it in your back pocket. From the hankie's humble beginnings as an all-purpose rag and surrender flag for meek craftsmen on ancient trade routes, to its heyday in Victorian parlors, its near-extinction after the disposable tissue revolution, and its triumphant renaissance alongside the return of the handlebar mustache in the 21st century, the common pocket handkerchief has seen virtually every major turning point of history. Smithson weaves the hankie's story in a humorous, readable style that will make this book one to reach for for years to come.

Runners-up
Eating Will Kill You: The definitive diet book of 2012. Don't miss 2013's The "Eating Will Kill You" Cookbook: 415 Recipes That Will Leave You Hungry for Less.

Guiscard's Lists: Famous People Who Aren't Dead Yet: Perhaps the most useful Guiscard list book this year, it will save you from embarrassing mishaps. Sadly, this one only made our runners-up because of our doubts about its enduring relevance.

Continue reading this humorous post at Hannah's own site here.

Holiday Memories: The Gift

by Ellen Holzman

It’s not unusual for Meredith to get up before me, get the dog out, start the coffee and turn on the heat in our home office. What I didn’t know was that she was also checking emails on my computer to make sure I didn’t see any of the order confirmations or shipment notifications that were coming through for a gift. And I was bringing home so many presents for nieces and nephews from the post office, that I didn’t notice an extra one. I just handed them all over to her for repackaging and reshipping. I had no reason to be suspicious. 

 

This year, we had agreed not to buy each other gifts. Since we’re both too close for comfort to age 60, and we generally buy what we want for ourselves anyway, it seemed practical to me. I should have known when she agreed so readily and calmly that something was up. And, looking back on it, there were the questions about where the Menorah was, did we have enough candles for all eight nights of the Festival of Lights, where exactly in the house they should be lit. 

But I was completely surprised when, on the first night of Chanukah this year, Dec. 8, she said, “I can’t wait anymore!” And she handed me a gift-wrapped box. It had odd angles and some soft spots. “Go ahead, feel it,” she said, and the light in her eyes was just as bright as any that would be on the Menorah. “What do you think it is?” 

I rubbed and squeezed and shook it up and down. A nightgown? No. A pair of hiking boots? No. A Scrabble game? No. 

“Open it!” If she had had a tail, it would have been wagging ferociously. So I opened it. 

And we spent hours that night enjoying it. She guided me through starting it up, and trying it out. I will long remember the gift she gave me this year. Not because of what it is — an iPad — but because of how much she enjoyed giving it to me. That’s the gift that will keep on giving.

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Ellen Holzman is the talented author of the short story "Call of the Riled," a hilarious and complex mystery told entirely in letters to the editor of a small-town newspaper. It appears in volume three of Istoria's Lunch Reads series--short stories you can devour on a lunch hour.

Holiday Memory: Lost in the Forest

by Mary Fisherov

When I was fourteen or fifteen years old, and it was still the Soviet Union, and the winters in Russia were very cold, I went to stay with my grandmother in a village for the school winter break. The village was surrounded by dense forests stretching far and wide, its spruces and pine trees covered by a thick layer of snow. If, with your ski pole, you hit a branch of a spruce (branches so thick we called them "paws"), you would be covered by a waterfall of snow descending from it – a pastime that gave a lot of pleasure to us children.

One morning, on January 6^th, I could not find any companions willing to go cross-country skiing with me, so I went alone. I was confident that I knew the nearby part of the forest quite well and that I could never lose sight of the tracks. A small blizzard started blowing, and at first I did not pay much attention to it. Then I noticed that the tracks were now covered with a layer of snow. I still thought I knew my way around, but then it started dawning on me that one clearing in the woods looked exactly like another clearing in the woods. Suddenly I had no idea in what direction my house was anymore. I realized that I was lost.

Panic seized me. I was running in one direction, then in another. It was getting darker, and the pine trees in the wind made a noise that resembled the howling of wolves. I started crying and thought that maybe I should try to spend the night in the forest and then start searching for my way again in the morning once the sun came up. But the fear kept me going.

Several hours later I finally stumbled on a highway. The highway at that time of night was empty, but after a while, to my great luck, a truck was passing. To my even greater luck, the driver stopped at my frantic waving and agreed to take me to the village I came from, although he was very much puzzled how I'd ended up so far away from it. When we arrived at the village, we were greeted by everybody and the local police who were, in turns, congratulating me on my miraculous return or seriously scolding me for taking off alone into the forest.

A week or two later, when I was back in Moscow, I received a letter. It was written by somebody in the village, yet it was unsigned and I never learned the name of the sender. The letter told me that, unbeknownst to me, I had gotten lost on the Eve of the Orthodox Christmas (January 7^th). And that my calamitous disappearance and my miraculous return turned out  to be a reminder of Mary and Joseph’s strenuous and exhausting journey to Bethlehem and the miracle that happened in a manger. 

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Istoria Books is proud to publish in print and digitally Mary Fisherov's historical romance, Love's Destiny Foretold, the sweeping tale of a Russian countess on the run in fin de siecle New York. It is her first work of fiction in English. Enter a Goodreads contest to win a free print copy!

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Love's Destiny Foretold

by Mary Fisherov

Giveaway ends December 31, 2012.
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