“The Amiable Fleas” and John Steinbeck in Paris, 1954 In 1954, living in Paris with his third wife Elaine, John Steinbeck was a comfortable man. He had recently completed difficult work: the film treatment for Viva Zapata! (1952); his third play/novelette, Burning Bright (1950, where characters struggle with notions of fatherhood—as did the man himself); […]

6 THRILLERS THAT FEATURE TOXIC PERFECTIONISM It’s never been easier to appear perfect, all it takes is the right angle and filter. Yet, the pursuit of perfection doesn’t always push one to greatness, but rather to commit all kinds of ugly. My novel, The Retreat, is set on a wellness retreat where my characters are […]

Does The UK Music Scene Have a Dark Underbelly? British rock music still, hopefully, holds a place in your American hearts. And if you like both British noir AND rock music, here are a seven excellent crime fiction books set in and around the UK music scene that all give you glimpse of music’s darker […]

My Top Ten Psychopathic Crime & Thriller Characters    Everyone loves a story with a terrifying villain, as long as in the end justice is done. Psychopathic characters fascinate readers because while they can appear just like the rest of us, underneath the surface lurks an alien and dangerous creature. You might be surprised to […]

“Crazy Night” and the Echoes of Later Works (Tennessee Williams scholar Augustin J. Correro was given access to a copy of “Crazy Night” by Tennessee Williams and writes a detailed analysis of the short story for strandmag.com.)Tennessee Williams wrote a lot. Describing him as prolific would be an understatement. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to […]

Five things that Foreign Writers get wrong when they write about Russia   This blog post was born in trauma. Never miss an opportunity to write for money, they said. So when an assignment came out of the blue to read through a newly-written novel set in Russia and makes corrections on authenticity for a […]

Lessons We Can Learn from Authors with Distinctive Voices As a writer, you’re often asked who influenced or inspired you. That’s not always an easy question easy to answer, because writers tend to be voracious readers, magpie-like in their tendency to incorporate snippets and stylistic details from a myriad of sources. I’m sure there are […]

I TAKE THEE: Five Favorites with “Wife” in the Title For better or for worse, for richer or poorer… that’s how it’s supposed to go. Only it’s not always how it turns out in the long run. When soulmates often find themselves drifting apart and the most reliable spouse can turn out to be an […]

 Serial Killers in Fact and Fiction Five of the best serial killer thrillers – Margaret Murphy, “write” arm of Ashley Dyer Thomas Harris’s Silence of the Lambs must surely take pole position on any list of serial killer novels. Harris researched the background meticulously, including talking to FBI agents Robert Ressler and John Douglas, originators […]