Like Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler, Sara Paretsky and Thomas Harris, you, too, can learn the trade secrets of quality detective fiction.
It's true. Just one year from now, you can deliver a completed mystery novel to a publisher--by writing only on weekends. Authors Robert J. Ray and Jack Remick guide you through the entire mystery-writing process, from creating a killer to polishing off the final draft. Each weekend you'll focus on a specific task--learning the basics of novel-writing, the special demands of mystery-writing, and the secrets professionals use to create stories one...

The stories in Throwback open a window on characters living calm everyday lives but underneath that calm there's a violent, bloody, painful, suicidal world and a savage god waiting for them to make a mistake. The hurt oozes up driving each of these people to find a way out-- The kid with a heart murmur wants to be a Marine. A guy finds his lost sister but doesn't know how to handle a fallen angel. A woman with a fatal disease loses all her hair and doesn't want to live without it. Looking for love, a writer finds a demon muse who rips his heart out. A traveling salesman falls in love with a...

A woman stands on a windmill tower in Kansas, ready to jump. The woman is married, two kids. The farm is driving her crazy. She can escape by jumping or she can escape to the city. Olive needs to say goodbye to the kids. Saying goodbye, she changes her mind. She drops the kids with grandparents, steals her husband's car, and heads for Wichita. Three women guide Olive on her journey from farm girl to city woman: Janey, a waitress shows her the sexy, seamy side of night life. Eileen, a transgendered former basketball player teaches Olive how to dress. Rose, a psychiatrist opens Olive's dreams...

In California's Central Valley an epic love story plays out between Ricky, a seventeen year old Anglo boy and his Chicana girlfriend, Josie Delgado. Driven by social class mores to hide their love, Ricky and Josie are caught between two cultures: Josie's brother distrusts all Anglos, while Ricky's mother forbids him to cross the racial barrier. But the lovers don't listen. Josie will do anything for the boy she loves and loving Josie drives Ricky crazy. When her brother discovers Josie's involvement with Ricky, he sends her away, breaking Ricky's heart. Separated, the two teen-age lovers know...

Black Madonna in Blue: In a film noir world of back-street hotels and suitcases full of money, two men duke it out for love but only one of them can win. Kress, the mechanic with magic hands falls for Falcon, a black Madonna looking for a knight. Grace Regis, the gambler, is a sick man who plays poker for body parts and blood and he won't let Falcon go. Then the ax falls...

Pacific Coast Highway - A BMW Mechanic. A troubled heiress. A red Ferrari. Murder. The City of Angels-Today. A neo-noir story about a love triangle getting very ugly. Jonny's trip to the dark side of love hits a bump when Bea's jealousy derails his career...

A dying poker king with one more game to play. A love-sick mechanic with Jesus issues. A mysterious black woman wearing gold chains. Money and sex, love and death and a showdown in the Sierra Nevada.

After the Waning of Government and the collapse of the Bureau of Entitlement, which was a degenerate form of Kapitalism that amalgamated all corporations into a single ruling class whose sole purpose was its own enrichment, the logical development is the Sixth Phase of Civilization. In its early days, the Sixth Phase will open the door to Utopia.