Happy 2025! A new year, a clean slate. Time certainly does not slow down for anyone, especially a writer on a deadline. Even self-imposed deadlines have a way of getting the better of you. Those can be motivating, if taken seriously. Here’s the latest notes from me on writing, works in progress, a writing contest, notification of a new release, an interview with another author and this month’s music selections! Got all that? Ready? Let’s rock. Writing. At a craft show in mid-December, I had my table set up with copies of all my books. Things were going well, with plenty of interactions with shoppers. I had just sold a couple of books when a lady hesitated in front of my spot. “Books! You brought books to a craft show! That’s brilliant!” It is always a pleasure to interact with readers like her. As she checked out the covers, she had questions for each one. After looking them all over she asked when the stories took place. I explained that each was contemporary, set in today’s world. It was worthwhile explaining that the timeline in both series covers less than a year. Of course, it took me a lot longer than that to write each book. “I don’t like books that are set way in the future. Or too far in the past. That bothers me if they don’t get the details right,” she said. I understand that all too well. It’s important to me that the stories I write are accurate. Often that requires research, especially in areas such as technology. That’s especially important with the crime novel I’ve been working on since most of it is set in 1992. Research is essential to your writing. Even with fiction. Good stories need that connection with reality. That makes the tale believable. And it’s good entertainment. A Writing Contest My good friend, Diana Kathryn Penn, is hosting a writing contest. There will be cash prizes available. Diana has three elements to the prompt, to help get you started. Deadline for submissions is March 1, 2025. All qualified submissions, whether you win a prize or not, will be published in an anthology. More details are available on the website, which is listed below. https://www.pagespromotions.com Works in Progress The last few weeks of December proved to be very productive for me. I was able to complete the first draft of “Part Time Criminal” the novella that demanded my attention since October. I was able to share that draft with several beta readers who are willing to read my crazy efforts and give me feedback. Once those reactions have been received, I’ll make the necessary revisions. Then it’s off to the editor for the serious polishing, formatting and shaping. This also allowed me time to return to Leo Agonasti’s novel. After being away from Leo for so long, it was necessary to reread the manuscript to pick up where I left off. Meanwhile, ideas for the fourth Chene mystery keep arriving. And there’s also a certain redheaded female who is growing impatient. Jamie does not like to be left out of the action. ![]() A New Release Inkspell Publishing, which produces the Jamie Richmond series, has many talented authors in the family. Recently I’ve connected with Penelope Holt, whose latest book was released this month. ![]() Polly Wants a Lover Polly wants a lover to outmatch her cheating husband and heal her broken heart. From childhood, Polly Sullivan was obsessed with one thing—becoming a professional dancer, right up until the day Christian Caldwell strode into her life. A sexual magnet and force of nature, he seduced her with his irresistible lovemaking, taking over her life and undermining her ambition, until he alone was her sole obsession. Six years later, and now Christian’s wife, Polly’s career and confidence are in tatters. As she tails her husband’s latest mistress through a parking lot, fate puts her on a collision course with love when she runs her Subaru into a pick-up truck. Its owner, Marcus Bell, is heir to the legendary Turner-Bell horse farm, although he is currently estranged from his family and slumming as the manager of a dive bar. As she discovers just how many affairs lie in her cheating husband’s past, a shaken Polly longs to recover her confidence and the career she abandoned to become Christian’s wife. She yearns to rekindle passion with a man she can trust. But as her lithe dancer’s body cries out for Marcus Bell’s touch, her injured heart screams no. Is Marcus the devoted lover she craves, or is Polly dancing from one heartbreak to another? Excerpt Polly set her wine glass down on the bedroom dresser. Her lingering doubts and worries about her marriage had crushed her self-confidence. Once hot nights in bed with Christian were growing colder. They still had sex, and he was still hungry for her, but his desire seemed fleeting, and once satisfied, she could see how his thoughts turned elsewhere. Today, in the parking lot, she’d gotten an eyeful of his mistress, so at least she knew now why he was so distracted, and where his thoughts went when he had that distant look on his face. She took the blue nightie from her dresser drawer and unfolded the sexy garment. Now it only mocked her naive notion that she could fix her marriage with a home-cooked meal and a night of smoldering sex in lacy lingerie. In the mirror, she caught sight of her frowning face and saw early signs of elevens, the two vertical worry lines between her eyes. She thought about the last few months and Christian’s guilty behavior. More than once, he’d come home in the early morning hours, claiming business meetings had kept him out late. He kept his phone on him at all times, clearly worried that she might get her hands on it and discover something damning. And he was throwing off a strange energy. Sometimes distant, and then, at other times, almost too affectionate, like he was compensating for something. “Penny for your thoughts,” she would say, when she caught him with a far-away look in his eye, but he would brush her off. “Just work stuff.” Instead of acknowledging the signs that her husband was cheating, it had been easier to put the blame on herself and vow to work harder at fixing a marriage she hadn’t broken. She smoothed away the frown lines with her finger and talked to her reflection in the mirror. “You’re not a kid anymore, Polly. You’re coming up on thirty-three. You’ve given Christian six of your best years. Don’t waste any more on what can’t be saved.” But even as she said this, she was filled with insecurity. On what planet would she ever be able to walk away from Christian Caldwell? Handsome, successful, going places, with the world at his feet. He had captured her heart long ago, and she worried that now, even after he'd broken it, she wouldn’t be able to take it back from him. Balling up the nightie, she crushed the soft fabric and crammed it in the drawer. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DK7VXXLN Author Spotlight Many years ago (okay, more than five but less than twenty) in the early stages as a vendor, I started connecting with other authors. That’s where I met Donald Levin. We both wrote mysteries that were set in the metropolitan Detroit area. Since that time, we’ve become good friends, sharing the occasional meal and connecting at events. Don is an extraordinary author. A gifted storyteller, he’s an expert at weaving intricate stories filled with unique characters and plenty of conflict. And he does all this with style. Everyone takes a different path to becoming a published author. What was your journey like? My journey has been a series of zigzags, dead ends, and end runs. I always wanted to be a fiction writer, ever since I was a little boy. As I grew older, I paid my dues in the usual ways. . . I worked regular jobs during the day (or at night; for a time, I managed movie theatres) and when I wasn't working I wrote as much as possible--short fiction, novels, journals, anything that I thought would help me learn to write. I collected rejections by the score, along with just enough acceptances to keep me plugging along. People I met along the way promised to help me find an agent (they didn't), to publish me in their literary journals (they didn't), and to represent me (one agent who said she wanted to represent me died before anything could happen) --but still I kept at it. And then, in the early 80s, a hotshot New York agent agreed to represent a novel I’d written. He was the real deal, and I thought it was just a matter of time until I broke through. Except in the end it wasn’t. After three years of trying to place it, the agent regretfully sent the manuscript back, saying he couldn’t do anything more with it. Nobody wanted it. He didn’t want it anymore. And he turned down the novel I’d written in the meantime. I was crushed. That final rejection was it for me. I’m not meant for this, I thought. I failed. I left imaginative writing behind. I became a writer, yes, but not of fiction. I earned my living by my pen (or word processor, as the case may be) as a professional who wrote speeches, grants, newsletters, annual reports, video scripts, and everything else you can think of for hospitals, government, and businesses as big as IBM and GM and as small as one-man computer start-ups. But the urge to write fiction never went away. Whenever I felt that urge, though, the memory of having failed stopped me. Nobody wants what you have to say, my inner demon insisted; just stop already. Why put yourself through this aggravation again? Eventually the relentless urge to write fiction became too insistent to ignore, and in the early 1990s I wrote another novel. By that time self-publishing was starting to be a thing, so I put it out myself with my rudimentary computer skills. It went nowhere . . . but at least I finished it and it was out in the world. Eventually, I became a college professor, and I started writing short fiction again. I published a few but, still smarting from failing as a novelist, I began writing poetry, which I hadn’t failed at yet. And then to my surprise, people began to publish my poems. One poem won a prize. Then I wrote and published some more short stories and one of them won a prize. Finally, my confidence restored and bolstered by disciplined work habits honed as a writing professional, I tried my hand at another novel, this time a mystery. I signed a contract with a small publisher who never brought it out. I decided to bring it out myself. Then I published six more. Then I published three historical novels set in Detroit, and I'm about to work on the fourth. I guess if there's a lesson here, it's this: never quit. What's important is the writing, not the publishing or the reception. Let’s get wild. Your latest book has been selected by a streaming service to be made into a movie (or series). The producers have asked for your thoughts on casting the top three characters. Who would you choose? I'll preface this by saying I have no interest in getting movies or series made of my books. My father was in the film business and I saw up close what a horrible, back-stabbing business it is. But of course it's fun to think about what your characters look like, and what actors might embody them. So for my latest book, The Ghosts of Detroit, here's what I'm thinking: A central character in all three books in the series is Clarence Brown, one of the first African American detectives on the Detroit Police Force. Clarence could be played by Ernie Hudson. Another main character in the last book is Clarence's adopted son, Malone Coleman, who wants to be an artist. I see Malone played by John Boyega. Another main character is Jewish WWII veteran Jake Lieberman, who struggles with the horrors he saw in the extermination camps of Europe. I can see Jake Gyllenhaal in this role. Anna Miller is another main character, a young woman striving to overcome her history of sexual abuse. I'm looking at you, Elle Fanning. Finally, war widow Sgt. Bridget McManus of the Detroit Police Department's Women's Division rounds out the cast. I wouldn't turn down Rosario Dawson for this role. Do you prepare an outline before you start writing a story? No. I tried once and strayed from the outline almost immediately. I generally start out with a general sense of the characters and the vaguest idea of a possible narrative arc (or crime, in the case of the mysteries), and let characters and events bounce off each other and develop the story as I write. I usually don't start out knowing where I'm going with a book. When the first draft is finished, then I'll outline it so when I start the rewrites I can see how the story develops, what needs more, what needs less, where weak spots are, and so on. Tell us about your latest book. The Ghosts of Detroit brings together four shattered souls in Detroit in 1955, a troubled time of factory closings, the Red Scare, and racial hatred. Jewish WWII vet Jake Lieberman struggles to live with the horrors he saw in the extermination camps of Europe. Gifted artist Malone Coleman negotiates a world of relentless racism to find the informer who betrayed him and cost him his job. Photographer Anna Miller strives to overcome her heart-rending history of sexual abuse. And war widow Sgt. Bridget McManus of the Detroit Police Department's Women's Division desperately searches for a serial child-killer. This third volume in my Detroit series takes this quartet of seekers on a journey through the forces that shaped mid-century America. Here's the prologue, set on February 26, 1952. “State your name for the record.” “Jacob Lieberman.” “Where were you born?” “I would first like to make a statement.” John Stephens Wood breaks in. “You may file your statement,” he says. The chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee hearing, Wood has a lazy drawl that shows his origins in northern Georgia. “I would like to read it,” Jake says. “That will not be permitted.” Wood regards Jake with a dismissive sneer. “You may file it with the Committee.” Fahl it wit’ the Committeh. At which point no one will ever see it, Jake knows. And Wood knows it, too. The statement will end up buried in the voluminous proceedings of this committee’s poisonous activities. If it isn’t “misplaced” first. Counsel for the HUAC hearing Frank Tavenner moves things along. “Where were you born?” he asks Jake again. “Detroit, Michigan.” “Who do you work for?” Tavenner asks his questions in a calm, methodical voice, without looking up. From Virginia, he also has a marked southern drawl, but without Wood’s deep-south twang. “I’ve worked for the Detroit News for eight years.” “What is the nature of your work?” “I’m a newspaper artist. I retouch photographs, create advertising layouts, and so on.” “Have you drawn cartoons?” “Yes.” “For other papers besides the News?” “Yes.” “What papers?” Jake leans toward his attorney seated next to him at the witness table in room 740 of the Federal Building in Detroit. This is the third day of the HUAC Communist-hunting hearings being held in the city, Jake’s first as a witness. Heads together, they confer briefly. His attorney, Charles C. Cornish, whispers something and Jake straightens up and says, “I invoke my privilege under the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer.” Now Tavenner looks up at Jake. “You are taking the position that to divulge the name of the papers would incriminate you?” “Correct.” Tavenner signals his displeasure by holding Jake’s eye for a second too long before returning to his notes. “Have you always used your own name in signing your cartoons?” “I invoke my privilege under the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer.” “Have you ever used the name of Gordon?” “I invoke my privilege under the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer.” Tavenner reaches across the gap separating them to hand Jake a sheet of paper. “I am handing you a photostatic copy of a page from the Michigan Worker from October 3, 1948. You will note the cartoon deals with the relative strength of the Progressive Party in Michigan, and it is signed with the name of Gordon. Would you examine it and state whether you drew it?” “I invoke my privilege under the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer.” “I am placing this cartoon in evidence as Exhibit 1,” Tavenner says. “Are you acquainted with Richard F. O’Hair, the man who testified here yesterday?” “I invoke my privilege under the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer.” “In testimony yesterday,” Tavenner continues, “Mr. O’Hair said you were the treasurer of the Communist Party of Michigan. Did you serve as the treasurer of the Communist Party in Michigan?” Jake thinks this explains why, at one point several years before, O’Hair walked up to him and handed him two dollars with a wink. Jake thought O’Hair made a mistake thinking he owed Jake the dough, but now Jake knows O’Hair was trying to establish his bona fides as the Party treasurer. “I invoke my privilege under the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer.” Tavenner reaches across again and hands Jake a photograph. “I am handing you a picture and asking you to identify it.” Jake examines the photo. It shows a dark-complected woman with deep circles around her eyes, high cheekbones, and curly salt-and-pepper hair. Of course Jake knows who she is: Bereneice Baldwin, the Detroit housewife who testified last week in Washington that she has been an undercover spy for the FBI. She has been giving them information about Communist activities in Detroit for years. In her testimony, she named names, one of which was Jake’s. “I invoke my privilege under the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer.” Tavenner says, “Have you ever met Mrs. Bereneice Baldwin?” “I invoke my privilege under the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer.” Representative Wood breaks in again. “Under what provision of the Fifth Amendment are you referrin’?” “To the provision relating to self-incrimination.” Wood sits back, shaking his head. He is a southern Democrat, a segregationist and former member of the Ku Klux Klan. This is who’s passing judgment on me, Jake thinks. Tavenner returns to his questions. “Did you attend the Michigan State Communist convention on January 23 and 24, 1941, at which Carl Winter complained about the slowness of the drive to recruit new members?” Winter was the head of the Michigan Communist Party in 1941. “I invoke my privilege under the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer.” “Are you now a member of the Communist Party?” “I invoke my privilege under the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer.” Tavenner sniffs, shuffles his papers together, glances at Wood. Nods. Wood leans forward. “You are excused.” “I would like to read my statement now.” “No. You may file it on your way out.” Fahl it on yo way aht. “I would like to read my statement.” “The witness is excused.” What’s the next project you’ll be working on? Currently I'm working on reprinting a novel I published in 1992, The House of Grins, a mainstream novel, not a mystery. After I get this off my desk, I'll start working on the last novel on what I think of as my Detroit Quartet, this one set in the early 1960s. After that, it's all up for grabs. If you participate in any upcoming author events (library programs, craft shows, bookstores) where readers can meet you and get a copy of your books, include those details here I'm the inaugural author in the Detroit Jewish News Book Club. Participants will have read The Ghosts of Detroit and we'll talk about it at Schuler's Bookstore on Orchard Lake in West Bloomfield at 11 am on Sunday, January 19, 2025. I have planned a talk and reading at the Main Library on Woodward in downtown Detroit on Saturday, March 15. Details will be announced as the date draws near. Books are available through Don’s website, www.donaldlevin.com on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-Levin/author/B00J9U9HN8?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true, and on order through independent and chain bookstores. Music
When it comes to music, we all have favorite genres or artists whose work we appreciate and enjoy. I’m old school so my tastes run to songs from my misspent youth. Joe Cocker has always been a star in that category. Here are five of my favorites from Joe Cocker. You are So Beautiful: https://youtu.be/wlDmslyGmGI Feeling Alright: https://youtu.be/-RK9NpGr2-s Leave Your Hat On: https://youtu.be/hfgwrdYUQ2A Unchain My Heart: https://youtu.be/ZtFUX4Y2U84?si=crE8atPbYhp_Ng6x Have a Little Faith: https://youtu.be/pwOg88GMmbA?si=AN3Qo7Ggk-Uuwsg5
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