THE ART OF STORYTELLING: PART II: A BRIEF HISTORY OF ORAL STORYTELLING by Penny Hutson

Storytelling is one of the oldest art forms. Historians believe people told stories orally long before the invention of written language or any writing instruments. The earliest stories were likely simple chants and myths created to explain natural occurrences. Over the years, more intricate stories of gods and goddesses, monsters, and people with superhuman qualities emerged, creating the hero tale.

During the Middle Ages, oral storytelling became a favorite pastime. Minstrels, bards, and troubadours roamed the countryside in Eastern Europe. They knew all the popular tales, noteworthy university theses, scandals of the royal court, and the healing power of herbs and simple medicines. Many learned to play whatever instruments were in favor at court and compose verses at a moment's notice. In a way, they acted as modern-day journalists keeping society informed of local and world of affairs; but they were also entertainers, which is likely why they were welcomed at the royal courts, villages, and marketplaces alike.

With the invention of moveable type and the printing press, however, interest in oral storytelling declined as more people learned to read. By the 1800s folktales became popular with the publication of the Grimm’s Fairytales, Hans Christian Anderson folktales, and other collected regional stories.

By the early 1900s, there was a rise in oral storytelling again thanks to Marie Shedlock, a schoolteacher in England, who became the first professional oral storyteller. She toured in Europe and the United States and proposed oral storytelling as a natural way to introduce literature to children. She’s also credited with inspiring the first storytelling organization, The National Story League, created in 1903, which is still in operation today.

Then, with the invention of the television, oral storytelling declined again until the 1970s when other storytelling organizations formed. In 1973 the first National Storytelling Festival was created in Jonesborough, TN, and is still held annually. Similar scenarios began happening in England and other places around the world. Currently, there are dozens of storytelling festivals and hundreds of professional storytellers around the world, including an international celebration on World Storytelling Day every March 20.

Since the early 2000s, the internet has connected storytellers from all over the globe and helped to increase interest in telling stories, both written and oral. Ordinary people’s personal stories, true crime, and the lives of famous people are particularly popular right now.

There are many online sites, as well as television programs dedicated to storytelling, such as the Public Broadcasting Service’s (PBS) “On Story” and Music Television’s (MTV) “Storytellers.” Currently, people’s personal stories – funny, sad, scary, and just plain interesting ones are very popular.

I don’t know what storytelling will look like in the future, but I am certain it will still be around in some form or another. Storytelling has stood the test of time and appears to be endemic to the very fabric of humanity itself.

So, when’s the last time someone told you a good story? If it’s been a while, tune into a radio station like the Moth Radio Hour, find a storytelling program on TV, listen to a podcast or Utube channel, or check out an audio book from your local library. Experience the magic and power of the spoken word. It may surprise you.

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO: SHADOWS OF FRENCHMEN by Michael Rigg

 

It’s been quite a year.

My debut novel, Voices of the Elysian Fields, released in May 2025. I participated in new author programs at Malice Domestic, Thriller Fest, Killer Nashville, and Bouchercon 2025. And the novel received nominations for an Agatha at Malice Domestic 2026 and an Anthony at Bouchercon 2026.

Wow—and Whew! Time to take a breath? Not a chance.

Cinco de Mayo is my new favorite holiday. Shadows of Frenchmen, my second novel, released as an eBook on May 5^th (2026) and in paperback about two weeks later. Both versions are available on Amazon.com (Shadows of Frenchmen: A Jonathan Gray, M.D. Mystery: Rigg, Michael: 9798898202354: Amazon.com: Books) and other online retailers. Here’s a synopsis:

On a frosty Sunday morning in February, Dr. Jonathan Gray, Coroner of Orleans Parish, faces a gruesome sight. A dead man splayed against the circular steel and cut-glass blocks of the city's AIDS memorial in Washington Square Park has strange symbols carved into his forehead and chest. A coded note-a cipher-has been placed under one hand. The body mutilation and note are hallmarks of a serial killer dubbed by the news media as the "Mardi Gras Sweeper," because he strikes during Carnival season and leaves coded manifestos taunting police and giving hints about his next victim.

Hoping to avoid a panic during the city's most profitable season, Mayor Max Jamerson asks Gray to investigate the murder "on the sly," without formal assistance from the New Orleans Police Department. Time is of the essence as Gray races to figure out the cipher and track down the Sweeper in order to prevent additional killings-and save Mardi Gras.

Here are a few snippets from endorsements for Shadows of Frenchmen:

“…A chilling, razor-sharp mystery set against the explosive energy of Mardi Gras…  Dr. Jonathan Gray is a hero you won’t forget—and the Mardi Gras Sweeper is a nightmare you won’t escape.”

—Kathleen Antrim, Bestselling Author, President-Outliers Writing University 

“Michael Rigg does it again, with another thrilling mystery that you won’t be able to put down … Shadows of Frenchmen takes readers into the darkest corners of New Orleans’ lush settings and spooky cemeteries as Gray and his colleagues hunt for a possible serial killer, all against the backdrop of raucous Mardi Gras celebrations…”  

—Ellen Byron, USA Today Bestselling & Agatha Award Winning Author

“… Dr. Jonathan Gray is the new Kay Scarpetta…”  

—John DeDakis, Former CNN editor, writing coach, and author of the Lark Chadwick mystery-suspense-thriller series, at johndedakis.com.

 “Great action from the get-go! Atmosphere, characters, and all the right ingredients. A great read by Michael Rigg!”

—Heather Graham, New York Times Bestselling Author

“Featuring smart and complex characters, Shadows of Frenchmen pulses with energy, taking the reader on a breathless chase for a serial killer terrorizing the city in the days leading up to a city-wide Mardi Gras celebration...”  

—K.L. Murphy, Author of the Detective Callie Forde Mysteries, The Great Forgotten, and the award-nominated Her Sister's Death

“…Shadows of Frenchmen has it all—taunting coded notes from a serial killer, seemingly resurrected from the dead, bodies with mysterious carvings stacking up all over New Orleans, and a race-against-time urgency as pulse-pounding as an episode of 24...”  

—Christi Keating Sumich, author of the Old New Orleans Bookshop Mysteries

“…A propulsive thriller set against the backdrop of Mardi Gras season, Shadows of Frenchmen takes the reader on an unrelentingly tense exploration of the sinister underbelly of the Crescent City’s carefree façade...”

—Norman Woolworth, Author of The Lafitte Affair and The Bolden Cylinder, Books 1 and 2 in the Bruneau Abellard Novel series

And you can check out the book trailer at: SHADOWS OF FRENCHMEN | Book Trailer | New Orleans Mardi Gras Mystery.

Please spread the news about Shadows of Frenchmen far and wide. Check out the book trailer and, if you like the description, download an eBook or purchase the paperback today. I hope I’ll earn a five-star review!

PROMPTS TO INSPIRE YOU, PART SIX, by Max Jason Peterson

Among many favorite memories of my father, one is the writing sessions we had together. These were quiet, companionable times when we’d both sit with paper and pen or pencil (Dad often wrote with a red mechanical pencil I gave him as a child; I knew how important writing was to Dad, and I already wanted to be a writer myself). Sometimes we chose comfortable folding chairs in the back yard on a sunny morning. Others we might sit at the kitchen table with coffee, and maybe music, especially jazz; or at Grandma’s picnic table in the downstairs patio when we visited Colorado. Our shared love of writing meant that even if we didn’t sit in the same room, knowing the other one was writing inspired us. Many times on our family lake reunions (back to my childhood home in upstate New York) Dad might sit sequestered on the sunporch, while I sat outside on the hill: both of us gazing at the lake, writing, feeling the inspiration flow.

Max and Rocco

So perhaps there’s a reason I love Sisters in Crime’s ongoing Zoom write ins (worth the price of membership alone: generally around 13 or so available per week, except during January and November, when there are at least five write ins every day). Or prompt-based inspiration sessions, like the ones hosted by Keuka Writes (the writing group affiliated with my childhood home, and the literary journal of the Finger Lakes, Bluff & Vine, where I’m proud to say both Dad’s and my works have appeared). Or hosting such inspiration sessions myself, for Max’s Writers Café (free, ages 18+, online via Zoom, hosted by Hampton Public Library: I lead five or six sessions each fall and spring, which require individual registration via Eventbrite; here’s the overall collection where you can find all events).

The purpose of my inspiration sessions is simply to help fellow creatives get started on something new. It can be refreshing to let yourself dream up something unexpected from a prompt; and something about writing with a time limit, especially in the company of others, with an idea you didn’t expect, can help overcome that “stuck” feeling. So I wrote these with the intention of inspiring some new rough drafts. Don’t expect them to be perfect!

For each numbered concept below: read the prompt first, then set a timer for ten minutes and start writing. Stop when the timer ends. Though you’re writing on your own, obeying the timer should still help train your brain to take the prompt seriously and get down to business. (For me, this can help circumvent how daunting it can be to get started.) You might be surprised by how much comes to you that you didn’t expect! And I hope that some of these rough drafts will intrigue you enough to polish and/or continue them later.

Ready? Begin.

Stress and Gratitude: Think about a situation that your character finds so stressful or painful that it is causing them deep anguish or worry. Imagine a moment in which gratitude for anything or anyone in their life brings them peace or an ability to carry on (including experiencing a moment of beauty, or a phone call from a loved one). How do they get to this place of appreciation or gratitude? How does it change things for them, even if just internally? Alternative: Explore the point of view of a character such as a supervillain who might feel gratitude for things that cause stress to others.

Long or Sleepless Nights: Long nights might be good or bad, maybe even both. Does your character enjoy sleeping a lot, or do they stay up late or lose sleep at night? Is it a choice they make, something they enjoy, or feel some drive to do? Or do they feel they have no choice but to stay up, or maybe have insomnia, can’t stop worrying, or fear what will happen when they close their eyes? How do they feel about fall and winter’s longer nights? Alternative: Delve into your character’s dark night of the soul.

From Farm to City: Your character might be literally driving produce from the family farm to a city market, or metaphorically “fresh off the farm,” entering a new job or school, or a new city or home. Does this new environment feel overwhelming, or simply different? Have they always “longed for the city,” or do they have regrets in “leaving the farm behind”? What brings them joy or heartache about their circumstances? Alternative: Wax poetic about farm life, gardening, or working the earth; or celebrate city life or community events (including those on a farm).

Seeing beyond the Ordinary. Imagine a person who works in any of the arts or sciences. Write about someone real or imaginary who invents technology or creates/participates in art (of any form). Your character might live in any time, past, present, or future; they might live by their imagination, live in a world of dreams, or experience visions in a spiritual, chemical, or science fiction/fantasy context. What goes into making things that touch other hearts or change lives (for good or ill)? What are the costs of this creative or dedicated life? Alternative: Imagine what your own ideal creative life might look like, and what steps you might take to get there.

If you’d like more prompts, here are some earlier installments in this series:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

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Max Gardner (he/they) is a fiction writer & award-winning poet published under a variety of bylines, including Max Jason Peterson and Adele Gardner. A poetry collection, Halloween Hearts, is available from Jackanapes Press, while over 500 stories, poems, art, and articles appear in Analog, Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, PodCastle, Daily Science Fiction, and more. Gardner serves as literary executor for father and mentor Delbert R. Gardner; Muse Mansion, a collection of poems by both father and firstborn, will be released soon by San Francisco Bay Press. 

MEMOIR WRITING by Judy Fowler

With the rollback of the Voting Rights Act this month and a wave of restrictive policies targeting certain American voters, I recalled a lesson from a Wesleyan professor on how to write an effective piece of memoir.

Two of the professor’s tips helped our submissions hit harder, especially when no personal expertise or famous name provided a rationale for reading us or giving us a million likes. The suggestions? Have the other characters speak, at least once—their lines of dialogue can be proximate and not word-for-word exact. Secondly, blend into the writing some public event—something that had made the papers around the time of the memoir’s setting—to ground the reader in history, especially if the memoirist themself is not a well-known personality.

Here’s my example:

I was three years old when, on May 17, 1954, Brown v. Board of Education made integrated education in America the law of the land.

Some states did their best to pretend they hadn’t heard the news.

I lived in a Long Island community whose school board was paid to set up one model integrated classroom a few years later. By random assignment, I began first grade in that classroom. Looking back now, I see why our class met in a classroom at a Jewish temple far from the comprehensive elementary school in town. Although the synagogue was elegantly nestled into some tree-filled acreage, the temple was also located near a series of dilapidated streets in the downtown area.

During class hours, we learned what every first grader did. We went outdoors for recess, where I read books on the sidewalk while more active girls jumped rope. We pledged allegiance to the flag, practiced the box step in pairs, and helped each other learn math. 

By 1959, American class photos were taken in color. When I brought mine home, my older brother—himself the product of white-only classrooms for nine years longer than I’d been alive—mocked me for “being in love with” the black boy who had been posed by height next to me. To be accused of being in love was the insult I took away; it was years later that I understood that the well-dressed, smiling second grader named Sammy who stood next to me was, to my brother, the joke.

In third grade, my classmates and I were folded back into the elementary school. Right away, we experienced a change. All white boys, even the ones we’d had to help over and over again to multiply or to sound out words, got assigned seats in the front four rows of class. Behind them were the white girls. Our black classmates were assigned to seats in the last row. On the playground, the black girls’ Double Dutch tournaments were gradually elbowed over to the far end of the field, until they went on as if held in a foreign country. Close to the school were the cemented-in equipment and the running games organized by white kids. We waved to former classmates as we passed each other in the hall, until our assimilation into the new place was completed. A day came when I was standing at the far end of the playground, saying goodbye to a new (white) friend who had to go home early. 

A former classmate called out to me from the sandy field to ask if I’d turn ropes for her jumping game, as they were down one turner. I did an adequate job until it was my turn to jump. Again, I was more of a reader than a jumper.

“Just jump in,” my old classmate encouraged, but I hesitated, and when the ropes stopped turning abruptly, my hesitant entry resulted in me crying on the ground. I’d broken my arm.

I cried. My old classmate came rushing to me and cried with me. It felt good that she’d come to my side.

Hearing that someone was hurt, the teacher assigned to monitor the playground that day rushed towards us.

“What did you do?” she shouted at my old classmate. That teacher, all sympathy toward me, helped me stand and then circled my waist with her arm as she led me to the nurse’s office.  

My old classmate and I only had time to look at each other briefly before the teacher escorted me away. In that look, we admitted to each other that our new teachers had little we wanted to learn from them.

As the anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education comes around this May, I share this bit of history, especially with those kids who started school when I did, when integrated education lit the way to an America that has turned back to something as disappointing and confusing as my brother’s jarring reaction to that class photo. We went to the Moon more easily than we repaired inequality. And now we’ve gone again toward the Moon, without once shaking our fists at the rocket ship, and shouting, “What have you done to us?”

 

  

 

A TRIBUTE TO MOTHERS By Sheryl Jordan

 

On Mother’s Day, we pause to honor the women whose love has shaped our lives—mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, adoptive mothers, and every mother-figure who has cared, guided, and stood strong.

A mother’s love is often quiet and constant—heard in the early-morning check-ins, felt in the extra plate of food, and seen in the way she shows up again and again, even when she is tired. It is the kind of love that makes a house feel like home and a hard day feel survivable.

Mothers teach us long before we understand the lesson: how to be brave without being loud, how to care without keeping score, how to keep going when life demands more than we thought we had. Their sacrifices don’t always look like grand gestures; more often, they look like patience, persistence, prayer, and the steady work of loving a family well.

Mother's Day, we say thank you—for the hugs that healed, the words that guided, the boundaries that protected, and the hope that never let go. Thank you for the strength you carried, the kindness you modeled, and the love you gave in a thousand ordinary moments that turned out to be extraordinary.

To every mother: may you feel celebrated, valued, and deeply loved today—and may the care you’ve poured into others return to you in peace, joy, and gratitude. Happy Mother’s Day.

Jeff Tanner Interview by Teresa Inge

Meet Jeff Tanner, whose novel The King's Collar will be released by Koehler Books on June 30, 2026.

Jeff holds a PhD in marketing and published fifteen books on sales and marketing, including two bestselling textbooks. He spent his career in higher education, retiring as dean of the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University. You may recall his daily business program on NPR.

In addition, he has published short stories in several anthologies and written/produced multiple plays. He, his wife, and a four‑pound Maltese named Boo divide their time between grandkids in three states and Virginia’s Eastern Shore. They add a bit of excitement by owning and racing thoroughbreds.

He is a member of Sisters in Crime and its Southeastern Virginia Chapter, Mystery by the Sea.

Tell us about your new novel, The King’s Collar.

I wanted to write a mystery that was part Maltese Falcon, part Indiana Jones. I’ve been surprised at how many readers described The King’s Collar that way without any prompting.

Expelled at Harvard and disowned by his father, Charlie “Bones” Bohannon quickly falls to the underworld’s fringe. Befriended by former sailor Punchy, he begins buying and selling smuggled items. Charlie discovers a statuette in a speakeasy bar, similar to one stolen from his dean, who says return it and graduate. But it vanishes, and the man who took it is found murdered. The dean accuses Charlie, whose ironclad alibi doesn't deflect the pressure to find the statuette.

Through a series of misadventures, Charlie and Punchy become members of the Solomon mob. Solomon demands the missing statuette and its legendary counterpart, the jewel-encrusted King’s Collar. Charlie, Punchy, and bold Beacon Hill socialite Olivia search while dodging rivals for the Collar, one of whom gives Charlie a week or face death.

When Olivia and Punchy are kidnapped, and the Collar is the ransom, Charlie’s time is running out. But finding the Collar is no guarantee that he—or his friends—will survive.

What kind of research did you do for the book? Any strange or odd fact that you uncovered in your research?

Comprehensive! I relied on books, archival websites, and historians’ YouTube videos. I even followed Charlie’s walks through Boston to ensure that I reported the distance and time accurately.

Irish Catholics weren’t permitted in the elite Protestant men’s clubs, so in the book, they meet at the Parker House Hotel. I visited the hotel and learned that my choice was accurate. In fact, Joseph Kennedy proposed to Rose at Table 40, which you can now visit!

Where are your books available for purchase?

The King’s Collar is now available for pre-order on Amazon, and Bookshop.

What are you currently writing?

Dolls, book two in the series, publishes in December. Books three and four I intend to bring out in 2027. I’m currently working on book five.

Anything else you want readers to know about you?

Besides being an avid golfer and skier, I’m also a furniture-maker. I took up the saxophone after a very long hiatus, and I’m loving it!

Jeff Tanner https://www.authorjefftanner.com

WHO RODE WITH YOU, PAUL REVERE? by Yvonne Saxon

“Listen, my children, and you shall hear

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,

On the eighteenth of April in Seventy-five,

Hardly a man is now alive

Who remembers that famous day and year.”  -from “Paul Revere’s Ride” 

 

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow-1860