WHAT'S IN YOUR "TO BE READ" PILE? by Curious George, PHD

 

Writers hold one truth to be self-evident: To write, you must read! Stated more eloquently by William Faulkner in a 1951 interview for The Western Reserve, "Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you'll find out." And from Ben Johnson, the Seventeenth Century English playwright, "For a man to write well, there are required three necessaries: to read the best authors, observe the best speakers, and much exercise of his own style."

So for writers, "Reading is Fundamental." But there are so many books and so little time. How can we possibly fit them all into our busy schedules? The answer, of course, is that we can't. But we try. Oh, how we try. Some writers keep a list. Some writers have e-books filling the "cloud." And some writers have a physical location for their "To Be Read" pile. A bookshelf, maybe. Or a plastic bin filled with books we're going to get to, as soon as humanly possible. There are probably as many approaches to the "TBR Challenge" as there are writers.  

This week's guest blogger, Curious George, PHD, wants to know about YOU.  What books are on your TBR list? Where do you keep your books? How do you figure out what to read next? George is, well, curious!  (And by the way, PHD stands for "Piled Higher and Deeper," which describes George's TBR stack.)  

Take a few minutes and give us some feedback about your TBR preferences and practices. Inquiring minds want to know. 

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PART THREE: IS THE PEN STILL MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD: THE VOLTAIRE CONCLUSION: CALAS AFFAIR PAMPHLET By: Kimberly Thorn

 Part Three: Is the Pen Still Mightier than the Sword: The Voltaire Conclusion: Calas Affair Pamphlet By: Kimberly Thorn

After Jean Calas was executed, his family was saved from suffering the same fate, but they were punished, as well.  Pierre, their other son, was banished.  Madame Calas, Gaubert Lavayse (who was their guest and Pierre’s friend) and Jeanne Viguiere, who was their servant, were granted their freedom but the authorities never actually confirmed any of their innocence. Even though the Calas’s two daughters could not have had anything to do with the death, as they were not there, they were sent to convents. It seemed that the authorities as well as the public had their scapegoats, but the public wanted more punishment for the family (Davidson 320).

 Voltaire started out in his campaign to bring justice for the Calas family and to clear their good names by writing over 100 letters. His aim was to overturn the decision to clear the family’s good name. This problem he felt could be solved by three things that he could do. “Voltaire’s strategy for his Calas campaign developed on three fronts: delving into the facts of the trial, pulling strings with influential people at court and, finally, mobilizing public opinion,” (Davidson 322).

FIVE FAVORITE TROPES OF AN IRISH MYSTERY by Yvonne Saxon

 

When you think of a cozy Irish mystery, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Castles? Abbeys? Ghosts? Me too! I readily admit that I enjoy the Irish mystery stereotypes. In fact, I’m of the opinion that if a mystery is set in Ireland, it better have one or more of the following familiar elements!

First and foremost, the mystery must have ancient ruins! Give me castles with high battlements, broken walls, and stone staircases so I can question if the victim jumped or was pushed? Lots of drafty secret passages great for spying, kidnapping, or escaping, and centuries old weapons affixed to the wall or the requisite suit of armor. Also at least one ancient church or abbey must make an appearance. Gravestones and a wandering monk or two (either alive or dead) add to the atmosphere. Disappearing relics or Celtic artifacts really get my attention. Stone circles, like the Piper’s Stones in County Wicklow with their mystic background tend to send a shiver up my spine.

DNA AND THE SAVVY WRITER by Maria Hudgins

Police have identified the person whose sweat was left on a button on the knife sheath found at the scene of the bloody murder of four college students in Idaho. Think about that. One touch and he has left his calling card.

Reading this takes me back to the most exciting time of my young life. I was a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, taking a course on current work in biochemistry. This was about 1964 or 1965. It was a seminar course where we would read and discuss the latest publications about a new thing called DNA. At this time Watson and Crick had received the Nobel Prize. We knew that this was the molecule found in every living cell and that it contained the instructions for making a new mouse, a new rose, or a new you. But we didn’t know how it did it.

I remember that some of our seminar discussions ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. How could a chemical spell out something as wonderful as . . . us? Looking back on it now, it seems obvious. Why couldn’t we see it then? DNA contained four smaller units called, A, T, G, and C. Never mind what these letters stand for. These four units were like a tiny alphabet. It took a few more years for scientists to learn how to read the words. A few. Once the basic idea was accepted, the rest followed like water through a broken dam. It was mind-blowing.

By 1984 DNA could be used to identify individual people. By 1990, gene therapy could be used to treat immune deficiency diseases. 

In 1995, jurors in the O.J. Simpson murder trial ignored definitive DNA evidence because, they told reporters, they “didn’t understand it.”

In 1997 Dolly the sheep was cloned from a cell taken from an adult ewe. By 2003, the Human Genome Project containing the entire map for human chromosomes was complete.

As writers and readers of mystery fiction, we should know this history. A story set in World War 2 must not have a detective sending a blood sample off to the lab “for analysis”. Beyond the basic blood types, A, B, O, and AB, there would be nothing the lab could tell them. A story set in 2001 should not have a detective sending off a hair to the local lab and getting back anything in a few days. Today, the FBI keeps a database of DNA profiles called CODIS, and your perp may be in it if he or she has had unpleasant business with the feds.The amount of information, the cost of tests, and their reliability have improved dramatically and at lightning speed, but they are not yet perfect.

As the science has improved, we have found deep flaws in some accepted techniques like bitemark ID, hair analysis and blood spatter analysis. The more sophisticated DNA science becomes, the easier it becomes to make mistakes. We are now working with teeny-tiny samples.

The mystery writer must keep up with the science because the reader may know more than you do. Then again, he may know much less and you don’t want to bore him with dry lectures. Writers, you can avoid the whole problem by setting your story in the past. But then you must know your history. There are no easy options. No wrist watches on George Washington’s men. No cavemen fighting dinosaurs, and no way to identify a person from a sample of his blood.