Windchill: Crime Stories for a Blustery Day

Okay, that’s not the real title. The real title is Windchill: Crime Stories by New England Writers. But — it’s here! I saw Susan Oleksiw yesterday and got several copies and spent most of last evening on the couch under a warm shawl, with a cup of tea and the book. It’s such fun!

I already wrote about my contribution to it in my blog Cooking Up Homemade Pie and Sausage but actually opening a really beautiful book and seeing it there among 21 other stories, turning to it and reading it IN A BOOK was so cool. Mark’s story, "Imprisoned in Maine", is also in the book and I turned to that next. Yup, just as much fun as I remembered it. Then I started at the front.

Even before I got involved with Level Best Books, first as their web master, then as a writer, I was an ambivalent mystery reader. That seems a strange thing to say for someone who grew up on Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys - and Edgar Allen Poe. But, as an adult, I tended more toward more classic writing and literary fiction. When I chanced to read a mystery I usually liked it - I read most of Iain Pears and Ellis Peters - but it wasn’t something I sought out. Now, as I try to learn to write crime fiction, I find myself reading it more.

I was talking to my neighbor the other day who asked me to get a copy of Windchill for her. She asked me what my story was about and I said she had to read it, I didn’t want to spoil that, but that it was something that was totally out of character for me. That’s what the people who have read it keep saying to me - "that story is so different from all your other stuff!" Well, yes and no.

My fiction writing tends to be very sensory, something that readers either love or avoid. Clearly I write for the former. When I wrote "Homemade Pie and Sausage" I had to be careful with that because the ending would be a bit hard to take if the reader was too involved in the world I was creating. But to was fun to do.

Last night, as I read four of the stories in the book, I was struck by the difference in style and approach by the writers. The book opens with Brendan DuBois’ "The Forever Reunion" which won the Al Blanchard Award for Short Fiction. It is a beautifully crafted story with faint shivers throughout and a heart-breaking ending. The guy writes well. The second story, "Feral" by Margaret Press, really kept my attention. I skipped around a bit after that and read a couple more stories but I don’t want to rush through them. Reading short stories should be like eating chocolates - it is best to exercise restraint.

So, Windchill is here and just in time for a stretch of weather that looks to be good for reading if not much else. Level Best is trying to get it into local bookstores as soon as possible. Distribution has become and issue for a lot of small presses and that makes it hard to promote books until you are sure there are books available in the stores. But you can order it right away through their web site.

The weather folks say we are in for a nor’easter and the coming winter looks long and cold so order your book and curl up for a good read.

Let me know if you want my mincemeat pie recipe...

Thanks for reading.