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| Laura Bernheim, Head Reference Librarian, introduces It's a Mystery To Me! | program |
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| Angela Gerst, Susan Conant, Gary Goshgarian |
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| Panelists enlightening us about their writing process |
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| Susan Conant, a prolific writer who loves to set mysteries in Cambridge, MA |
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| Angela Gerst, whose book A Crack In Everything takes place in Waltham, MA |
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| Gary Goshgarian who introduced the very successful science fiction course at Northeastern University where he is a professor |
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| taking questions from the audience, autographing books |
On Tuesday, May 14th at 7:00PM we had a lovely program made possible with federal funds provided by the Institute of Museum of Library Services for the Library Services and Technology Act and administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. Whew! That was a mouthful.
Partnering with Sisters In Crime, we at the WPL hosted Susan Conant, Gary Goshgarian whose pen name is Gary Braver, and Angela Gerst. Here are some of their answers to the questions asked by Laura Bernheim, the Head of Reference at the Waltham Public Library, and the audience.
I have not included all of the questions as I think the answers will make it clear what they are talking about. Please feel free to use the links to help you learn more about these fabulous authors!
Angela Gerst, author of A Crack In Everything featuring amateur sleuth Susan Callisto writes "all over the house". She is not the sort of writer who always knows everything that will happen in the book. She uses an outline, writes the book and then checks the facts. Writing short stories has moved her into a totally different direction. Angela Gerst has a writing group of four writers that she finds necessary for her writing process.
Susan Conant's first contract was for four books. She got into the habit of doing outlines. She is planning to self-publish her 20th dog mystery.
Gary's first novel had eighty seven pages of outline. Now he will write 1 sentence for each chapter to say this is what will happen in this chapter and so on. He writes quasi-scientific thrillers. He likes the Frankenstein model of watch out what you wish for. Read more about the Frankenstein model in this interview with Gary.
His book Tunnel Vision explores the question of whether or not there is an afterlife. He is able to fact check with other professionals at Northeaster. Fay Weldon has had a near death experience.
His book, Skin Deep, explores plastic surgery. Plastic surgeons earn a lot of money..
Angela Gerst likes the escape aspect of mystery. The villian is always more interesting than the goody two shoes! Here's an interview with Angela.
Susan Conant--"Blackie Lanagan". She says, "If Whitey Bulger had read my book the Dogfather, he would have had a good disguise and he would be around now!"
Gary--Thriller vs. mystery....thrillers: Power, money, sex, voyeuristic Mystery: Whodunnit?
Agatha Christie: Mysteries such as Murder On The Orient Express a puzzle that needs to be solved.
Gary was jogging around the track with his friend Robert Parker. There was very little mystery in Parker's books. Spencer is the archetypal white knight. Talking with Robert inspired Gary to write!
Susan Conant--the puzzles (a la Agatha Christie) have gone out of style. Forensic science has replaced that. It's easier to find things out now than it used to be. You can use google and your cell phone so the mystery novel has changed.
Question to Susan Conant: Why are you self-publishing?
She hates deadlines. Has published 27 books. Amazon pays 70% royalites. Publishers say that they will promote your book. However, her daughter, Jessica Conant Park, had such a good experience with self-publishing. The publisher said that her main character at 18 was too old for a young adult novel. Her daughter's essay How Amazon Saved My Life was picked up by the Huffington Post.
Angela lives in Newton. She saw a famous building on Moody Street in Waltham that was owned by Rex Trailer. Angela said "that's where my main character's office is".
Susan likes eccentricities so she set a lot of books in Cambridge. She loves the Waltham Ocean State Job Lot and Russos. She has some scenes set in Waltham. She wanted to use a "gritty" section of the river. She has created a couple of characters who "belong there".
Gary's book Tunnel Vision is set in Arlington and Boston. Skin Deep the last scene takes place in Flora which is the favorite restaurant of his wife and himself. Gary's book Elixir was optioned for film for two years by Ridley Scott!
Regarding the future of publishing, all three writers are concerned about maintaining the quality of books. Writing vs. authors. Editors and copy editors can be so important for fact checking, looking for accuracy, grammar, consistency and maintaining integrity and quality.
Gary Braver's favorite books One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Of Mice and Men. These authors inspired him to write.
Susan Conant loves Barbara Pym and Nancy Drew. Pym has the cozy piece and Nancy Drew has the mystery piece! Susan pointed out that there is a Barbara Pym Society!
This program was truly delightful. I am currently reading Skin Deep by Gary Braver and loving it! Next up will be A Crack In Everything by Angela Gerst. Ater that? Creature Discomforts by
Susan Conant!
This article originally appeared in the Waltham Patch
Louise Goldstein
Head of Circulation
Waltham Public Library
