Haunted Halloween Bits from the SSA Authors

We're sharing our personal haunts this week. Feel free to share your own when you're finished reading -- if you dare.

Scariest book I ever read.....

The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith, and its sequel Passenger. -- Elle Cosimano



Salem's Lot by Stephen King - "I read it while visiting my aunt over Christmas in sixth grade. She had this old radiator that hissed when it came on and it was right under the window. I didn't sleep the entire time -- but I didn't stop reading the book either!" -- Laura Ellen



 It by Stephen King -- Deron Hicks 


The Hot Zone by Richard Preston -- Elisa Ludwig



The Sandman by Neil Gaiman - "I know it's not really straight-up horror, but some story arcs in that series are profoundly chilling and disturbing." -- Mary McCoy


A House in The Sky by Amanda Lindhout - "Nonfiction, but reads like a novel. Captivity narratives in general freak me out, but this one packs a punch." -- Diana Renn

 

 

 

 Spookiest place I ever visited...

St. Mary's

"I spent four nights in the St. Mary's Art Center in Virginia City, Nevada during the NV SCBWI Mentor Retreat. http://www.hauntedhouses.com/states/nv/saint_mary_louise_hospital.htm" -- Elle Cosimano

Holy Trinity Church

"In college I used to cut through a cemetery to get to work. I t freaked me out every time. I'd get jumpy and hear things -- I took to timing myself to see how quick I could get through." -- Laura Ellen

"Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon. We were there on a cold, overcast day. The grounds surrounding the church are packed with ancient graves. If ghosts are real, that's the place you would find them." -- Deron Hicks

"The cemetery behind my college campus, when a few of us decided to visit at midnight with a Ouija board. " -- Elisa Ludwig

The Capuchin Crypt from debbzie.com

ParaPedia

"The Capuchin Crypt in Rome - each room is decorated wall-to-wall with the bones of friars. In one room, there's a plaque that reads 'What you are now, we once were; what we are now, you shall be.' In another room, a woman's heart is entombed in the wall." -- Mary McCoy

"Zelve National Park in Turkey. Lunar landscape, centuries of buried civilizations, caves, isolated hikes, creepy guys following my husband and I around." -- Diana Renn

The one thing that creeps me out the most. . . 

 

"I really, REALLY dislike spiders and scary clowns." -- Elle Cosimano

"I am with Elle on the clowns -- and dolls with porcelain faces. Just too creepy." -- Laura Ellen

"Snakes. Ugh." -- Deron Hicks

"Rats. And serial killers." -- Elisa Ludwig

"Anything having to do with demon possession I just cannot handle." -- Mary McCoy

"Spiders! I grew up in a house by a lake, and we always got supersize spiders on all our windows. They would spawn more spiders, and eat their dinners right in front of us, and fight -- I am truly traumatized by this." -- Diana Renn

 

The freakiest thing that ever happened to me . . 

"I used to sell real estate. One day, I was showing an historic property (an old farm house built in the 1800s on the edge of a Civil War battlefield) to a lovely couple who were considering a purchase. The house itself had some very strange features. The upstairs bedrooms on both sides of a long, crooked hallway had padlocks that locked from the outside, and the entire house had a very creepy, cold feeling about it. In the dining room, there was a hidden stair behind a door in the wall (an old servant staircase). While we were discussing the property, the door unlatched and swung all the way open, very, very slowly and all three of us felt we weren't alone. Needless to say, we left post haste!" -- Elle Cosimano

"I was staying with my sister in her rental house in Eugene, OR. Alone in the house and taking a shower, l I heard someone yell something outside the bathroom door. When I came out, no one was there, but the microwave was on and I heard a shuffling sound in the living room closet. To get out of the house, I would have had to pass the closet so instead I stood watch  in the hall with a kitchen knife, scared out of my mind, until mys sister and brother-in-law got back a few minutes later. When we checked the closet, no one was in it."  -- Laura Ellen

"My grandmother had a large old photograph of some distant, stern looking relative that she hung in the extra bedroom in her home. The house was old and constantly creaked and groaned. When I was young, I had to sleep in that room. It always seemed that the moonlight would illuminate that photograph. My creepy relative would stare down at me in bed from his spot on the wall as the house creaked and groaned around me." -- Deron Hicks

"I was pretty sure at the time that I saw a UFO during a high school Astronomy Club visit to a field at night. Not sure I'd be as convinced now." -- Elisa Ludwig

"My dorm room sophomore year may have been a little bit haunted. More than once, I saw a shadowy figure standing by the window that disappeared the moment I reached out to touch it. I did some research and found out that somebody had died in my room a few decades before. I might add that I relate this story as a person who doesn't believe in ghosts AT ALL." -- Mary McCoy

"I can't think of one single freaky thing, but I've often felt that I have a vague psychic connection. I will think of someone, or dream something, and soon after find my thoughts or dreams are true, something really happened to that person (nothing horrific), or I will run into that person somewhere. Unfortunately I have not been able to channel this vague, intermittent psychic vibe into anything useful like predicting lottery numbers." -- Diana Renn

Interrogation Room #34: Deron Hicks

Guess who's in our Interrogation Room today?

 Oh, wait, sorry. Wrong mug shot. It's actually this guy:

That's Deron Hicks, one of the mystery writers here on this blog. But this time, we, as an organization, are guilty.

Our crime? We somehow neglected to interview Deron Hicks about his first middle grade mystery novel, SECRETS OF SHAKESPEARE'S GRAVE (Houghton Mifflin) when it came out last year! Okay, so Deron wasn't blogging with us back then. Still, it's no excuse. His wonderful Shakespeare Mysteries series was launching, and we let him slip through our hands.

Not this time. Deron's second book in the series, TOWER OF THE FIVE ORDERS, just released this week, and we've brought him in here for a long-overdue questioning!

First, here's a bit about TOWER OF THE FIVE ORDERS:

Colophon Letterford’s life changed overnight when she uncovered Shakespeare’s lost manuscripts. Now the authenticity of those manuscripts is in question . . . and the centuries-old family publishing business is in danger. In this exciting mystery, thirteen-year-old Colophon travels from Oxford’s lofty Tower of the Five Orders to the dank depths of London’s sewers in her pursuit of truth and honor. But the stakes are high. Budding cryptologists, Shakespeare fans, and mystery lovers alike will revel in the twists and turns of this fascinating middle grade sequel to Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave.

And from the Deron Hicks file:
Deron lives in Warm Springs, Georgia, with his wife and two children. He has a degree in painting from the University of Georgia and a degree in law from Mercer Law School. Deron currently serves as the Inspector General for the State of Georgia. 

And now for Deron's long-overdue questioning!

Your Shakespeare Mysteries cover a dazzling amount of time and space. What kind of research did you do for this series? Do you visit the places you are writing about?

Visits to the various locations described in my books -- Mont Saint-Michel, Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford, Cambridge, and London -- have played an essential role in my research and perhaps, more importantly, in the inspiration for the books. There is simply no substitute for going somewhere like Oxford and experiencing it in person. On my trips to England, I would rush back to my hotel each evening after a day of traveling and try and record every detail from the day in my journal -- where I ate, how I traveled, the weather, the people I met, the places I visited . . . everything. I've also found that the staff at the various locations can be very generous with their time and knowledge. I once had a question about a painting at Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University. One of the administrators at the college offered to show me the painting in person. I spent a wonderful morning getting a behind the scenes tour of the college. It actually became a chapter in my second book -- TOWER OF THE FIVE ORDERS. Books, of course, continue to be a primary resource for research, although the Internet has proven to be a great vehicle for teaching obscure issues.

What was the original seed of this series? Do you remember where you started? 

I have a tendency to pick a topic and then read as many books as I can reasonably find about that topic. (I once spent six months reading a series of books about Einstein's Theory of Relativity. My wife thought I was crazy). For most of my life, I was not a fan of Shakespeare. However, a few years back, I ran across Bill Bryson's book on Shakespeare -- THE WORLD AS STAGE -- and decided to give it a try. I was hooked. Shakespeare came alive. I then read another book about Shakespeare, and then another and another. I was in the middle of this endeavor when I had the idea for the final chapter in SECRETS OF SHAKESPEARE'S GRAVE. It just popped in my head. I wrote the final chapter, liked it, and simply decided that I should write the rest of the book. My daughter was in middle school at the time, so I wrote the story with her in mind as the audience.

What's your favorite Shakespeare play? (Or character?)

It changes constantly, but I have always enjoyed A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. It has a timeless quality to it.

What do you find to be the hardest part about writing mystery novels for a younger audience? And what's the best part?

The hardest part is trying to balance a realistic view of the world (which can sometimes be dark and violent) with age-appropriate content and language. I always have my own children in mind as I write, and I want young readers to see a world that is realistically portrayed without resorting unnecessarily to gore, violence, or other mature topics.

The best part of writing for a younger audience is, in some weird way, the same as the hardest part. I was an art major in college. Sometimes a professor would challenge us to paint with a limited color palette, which is very similar to trying to convey a realistic view of the world without bowling the reader over with some of the darker, more mature elements. I found the use of a limited color palette liberating and a stimulus for real creativity. I think the same is true in writing for younger readers. There are certainly limitations as to what may or may not be appropriate, but those limitations can serve to further the creative process, not hinder it.

Did you find writing the second mystery in the series easier or harder than writing the first? Did you change your process at all in writing the second book?

When I wrote my first book, I was not working on a deadline. I would write for a few nights and then forget about it for a week or two. There was no stress or pressure to finish. The second book was completely different. I had a specific deadline that I had to meet. To do so, I established a fairly rigid writing schedule. I had to put in at least an hour each night no matter what else was going on in my life. In many ways, this actually made the writing process a little easier. As I settled into my routine, I found that I could produce more and more every week. I didn't lose focus or drift away for a week (except, just maybe, once or twice).

What have been some of your favorite mysteries, real-life or fictional? 

Two of my favorite books are by Caleb Carr -- THE ALIENIST and THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS. Both books are set in New York City in the late 1890s, and feel as if they were written during that period. There are elements of historical fiction in my books, so I know how hard it can be to get the details right -- the dialogue, the setting, the mood, the pace, and the feel of another point in time. Carr is a master at this -- and he creates a perfect setting for his crime dramas.

Have you ever solved a "real life" mystery?

I have been an attorney for twenty years, and served as Inspector General of the State of Georgia for almost three years. In my job as Inspector General, my office investigated fraud committed against the State of Georgia. Unlike most mystery novels which compress time and events, a real "mystery" can take one or two years to solve. It's often a very slow, meticulous process. Occasionally, however, we would have our "a-ha" moment where everything would fall into place at once, which was pretty cool.

You have an interesting day job. Do you uphold justice by day and write about crime by night? How do you juggle the demands of your day job, your family life, and your writing life?

At a literary festival last year, I was grabbed by another writer and asked if we could talk for a few minutes. She had just published her first novel, as had I. We sat down at a table in the restaurant at the hotel and grabbed a cup of coffee. She asked me how I handled the demands of a day job, family, and writing. I told her that I was often stressed and simply content to make it from one day to the next. But I told her it was totally worth it. She laughed, and said she felt the same way. I think we were both happy to see that someone else was dealing with the same problems, hurdles, and struggles. But as I said, it is totally worth it.

What writing secret will you reveal only under the harsh light of this interrogation room?

I've kept a journal since I was in 5th grade. My journals are filled with decades of thoughts, impressions, ideas, drawings, and emotions. I use them to organize my research, to record story ideas, and to work through issues that I encounter as I am writing. My journals -- and the process of keeping a journal -- are essential to my writing process.

Thank you, Deron, for all your great information and insights into the mysteries of mystery writing!

For more about Deron Hicks and the Shakespeare Mysteries, here are some links to check out!
Deron's website
Also on Deron's site, a great photo gallery related to the series
Follow Deron on Twitter:  @deronhicks
Like Shakespeare Mysteries on Facebook

Fresh Blood!

Happy New Year! We're back from our holiday break . . . and we're bigger! (And not in the ate-too-many-holiday-desserts way). (Though some of us might have done that too). (Oops).

Well. We are thrilled to announce some big changes here on the Sleuths Spies & Alibis blog!

1. We're expanding our subject matter to include THRILLERS. 

You'll still find plenty of mystery talk here -- blog posts about the craft of mystery writing, recent and forthcoming books we're excited about, and interviews with new and established authors. But there are so many books where the mystery and thriller genres converge, we decided not to limit ourselves. If a book's mysterious, thrilling, or dealing with crime, we'll consider it on our beat. Besides, there are just so many great thrillers out there now for younger readers, and many more coming in 2013 and 2104. We can't wait to share our reading lists -- and find out what you're reading too! (You can click here for a previous discussion of mysteries vs. thrillers on this blog).

2. Fresh Blood: FIVE new authors joined our blogging team!

These fantastic YA and MG authors have recently published their first books or are soon-to-debut.

This brings our total to 13 authors on this blog, which seems particularly auspicious for 2013!

Starting tomorrow, we'll be blogging every Tuesday and Thursday, as before, with Interrogation Room interviews and guest posts added at whim. We'll let our new recruits introduce themselves more fully in their first posts, but for now, here are some mug shots and rap sheets! (Oh wait, these are the good guys -- here are their dazzling author photos and bios!)

ASHLEY ELSTON lives in Northwest Louisiana with her husband and three sons. She spent ten years working as a wedding photographer but quit to focus on her writing. She has been in cake withdrawal ever since. Her YA debut, THE RULES FOR DISAPPEARING, will be published by Disney/Hyperion in May 2013, and the sequel in Spring 2014.

ELLE COSIMANO is the daughter of a prison warden and an elementary school teacher who rides a Harley. As a teen, she spent summers working on a fishing boat, baiting hooks and lugging buckets of bait. She majored in Psychology at St. Mary's College of Maryland, and set aside a successful real-estate career to pursue writing. She live with her husband and two young sons, and divides her time between her home near Washington, DC and a jungle tree house in the Mayan Riveria. Her YA novel NEARLY GONE will be published by Kathy Dawson Books/Penguin in Winter 2014, with a sequel (NEARLY LOST) coming in 2015; she is also working on two other YA thrillers.

DERON HICKS is a lifelong resident of the state of Georgia who currently resides in Warm Springs, Georgia with his wife and children. Deron is a proud graduate of the University of Georgia, where he obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting. Having obtained a degree in painting, Deron took the next logical step in life -- he went to law school (more specifically, Mercer Law School, which he loved). Deron currently serves as the Inspector General for the State of Georgia. His first MG novel, THE SECRETS OF SHAKESPEARE'S GRAVE (Book 1 in the Letterford Mysteries series) was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2012.

MARY McCOY is a librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library, and has been a contributor to On Bunker Hill and the 1947project, where she wrote stories about Los Angeles's notorious past. Mary grew up in western Pennsylvania and holds degrees from Rhodes College and the University of Wisconsin; she currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband. Her debut novel, DEAD TO ME, will be published by Disney/Hyperion in 2014. It's a YA mystery set in Golden Age Hollywood about a teenage girl who uncovers some sinister business while trying to get to the bottom of her aspiring film star sister's disappearance.

SARAH SKILTON After growing up in the suburbs of Chicago and graduating with a TV/Radio degree from Ithaca College in upstate New York, Sarah moved to sunny Los Angeles, where her blood promptly thinned out, preventing her from returning to either location. Kicking around Hollywood for ten years, Sarah worked as a movie-of-the-week production assistant, a TV extra, a freelance writer, a film reviewer, and a blogger at a Japanese marketing group. She currently reads TV and film scripts for a company that streamlines the casting process for agents and actors. She and her husband, a magician, live in Santa Clara, CA, with their young son. Sarah is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, a fact that came in handy while writing her martial arts-themed debut YA novel, BRUISED (Amulet Books, March 5, 2013). Her second book, HIGH AND DRY (Amulet, 2014) is a YA mystery about corruption in high school.



To find out more about their books (as well as those of the other eight sleuths here), please see the "Our Books" tab at the top of our blog!

And please join us in welcoming our new Sleuths!