Mix and Match

 I’m a fan of mix-ups, mash-ups, and cross-overs. I love it when a book or film combines elements from different genres to create a story. So I asked my fellow Missdemeanors, if you were going to write a mash-up or cross-genre novel, what two genres would you combine? (For example, western and crime fiction, romance and sci-fi,…) Bonus question, Why? PaulaShort answer for me: Unless I had a really high-concept idea, I wouldn’t do it. Because as an agent I know how hard it is to sell mash-ups. If you have a really high-concept idea, or if you are truly creating a new genre, then it’s easier. But that’s lightning in a bottle—and a high bar to meet. MicheleI’m afraid I’m pretty traditional and am unlikely ever to write a mash-up. As far as cross-genre goes, combining romantic comedy with traditional mystery is about as daring as I get. Why? Because that’s what I like to read. SusanI did actually do that when I wrote a novel that combined time travel, mystery and Anne Boleyn. I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that her execution was postponed by a day, giving her an unexpected day of life, and that opened to me all sorts of magical possibilities. Also, because so little is actually known about her–even her year of birth is a matter for dispute–it seemed to me that there was a lot of room to explore her character. However, what Paula says is absolutely true. It’s hard to sell. RobinI’m taking this question as a fun thought experiment rather than an actual career goal. With that in mind, I’d write a musical cyber thriller. Something like Wicked or Frozen but about sibling hackers, one who works with law enforcement and one who’s a criminal, then juxtapose them by circumstances. All set to a peppy soundtrack. There’d be a big ensemble number in the second act, like the reprise of “Tonight” in West Side Story, where all the main and secondary characters sing about the impending showdown and their goals or fears about how it’s going to turn out.Why? Because, hey, maybe I could persuade Lin Manuel Miranda to collaborate AlexiaI would totally buy tickets to your cybercrime musical. Orchestra seats. AlisonLove this, Robin! I can completely imagine sitting in The Gershwin Theatre watching your musical.Hmmm. I fall in the same camp as Michele. I can’t imagine writing anything other than traditional mysteries. Having said that, I like the idea of a future history mystery. I’m drawn to playing with “what ifs.” What if a Supreme Court decision had come down differently? What if a war never started? What if an election went the other way? I spent most of my twenties studying political science and international relations where there’s a long and illustrious history of academics writing science fiction (think George Orwell). A mash up can be great reading, but I’m not likely to be the one writing it. AlexiaI’d combine mystery with sci-fi or fantasy. Because you can add a dead body to almost anything (except maybe romantic comedy) and, voila, you’ve got a whodunit. With robots and rockets it’s a sci-fi whodunit. (Philip K. Dick comes to mind.) With dragons and magic it’s a fantasy whodunit. I take back what I said about romantic comedy. I can picture dead bodies involved. Foul Play, with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase is one of my favorite rom coms. PaulaMine, too! RobinAlexia, you said it before I could – romcom + dead body = Foul Play.The more I think about the musical idea, the more fun it sounds. Writers can be EGOTs, right? Maybe that should be a goal after all 😀 TraceeI’m part of the straight and narrow….. mystery with RomCom or history. And I’ll add that every good story has a mystery at its heart so it doesn’t to be a traditional mystery.Alison, your mention of altered future made me think about my love of history. I did enjoy Stephen King’s altered version of the death of JFK, but I’ve not been a big fan of other altered past/future stories. I’m not entirely certain why. Maybe because once we alter then the permutations are endless so why now that specific future. On the other hand it is more likely because history (good old fixed in time) is already so flexible with interpretation and revised information that it’s enough for me! But if you write one, I’ll be sure to read it!  

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Authors and Books and Readers, Oh My

 Crime conference season is still in full swing. Thrillerfest takes place in New York City in a couple of weeks. (Yes, I’ll be there!) Bouchercon happens in Florida in September. Dozens of other events are scheduled worldwide between now and November. I counted 17 on Sisters in Crime’s upcoming events calendar. Libraries also kick off their summer reading programs this time of year. They host author events in conjunction with their efforts to encourage people to get out and read. This Saturday, June 30, from 1-3pm, I’ll be at the Dixon Public Library in Dixon, IL as part of their Summer Author Series. Author events and conferences have several things in common—authors, books, and readers. Beyond that, they’re as different as, well, authors, books, and readers. Some feature moderated panels. Several authors answer questions they may or may not have received in advance. Some feature interviews. Someone, usually an author, interviews the featured guest author in front of an audience. Authors read from their works at some events and give prepared speeches at others. Sometimes an author hosts a table. Readers may spend the entire event seated with the table’s host or they may move from table to table and meet several. These events usually involve food. Yum. This weekend’s event at the Dixon Public Library is a meet and greet and Q and A. Readers will ask me questions and I’ll try to answer them. What’s your favorite format for author events?

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Hit Reset

 Writing is exhausting. Forget all those movies and TV shows where an author sits down in front of their computer or typewriter or notebook and whips out a masterpiece without effort. The scene in The Shining where Shelley Duvall discovers Jack Nicholson has typed (*spoiler alert*) nothing but “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” feels more accurate. So after I finish a manuscript, whether it’s a first draft or an edit, I have to take a break from writing to recharge my mental and emotional batteries. This time around, I got sick right after I turned my manuscript in. I could feel the sinusitis coming on the night I sent the email to my editor. I don’t recommend getting sick. I have to remember that lack of sleep and self-care at my age is not as easy to bounce back from as when I was in college. Fortunately, a bout of illness is not usually the way I recover from a bout of writing. Usually, I watch crime shows. Seeing crime portrayed in a medium different from the one I work in helps me get out of my head and lets me study story development, characterization, and pacing without second- (and third- and fourth-) guessing every word I just wrote. (I confess I binge-watched Netflix while fighting sinusitis but I went for mindless entertainment rather than quality drama. It’s hard to concentrate while under the influence of decongestants.) I also try to do something in a field unrelated to writing. Right now, that’s embroidery. I embroider because it lets me exercise a set of creative muscles that were neglected while working on my fiction. Speaking of exercise, I decided it’s time I did some of that, too. I signed up with a Pilates studio. Two reformer classes and I already feel good, physically as well as mentally. What are some ways you recharge after finishing an all-consuming project?

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Crime and Speculation

 I turned in my first round of edits on book four in the Gethsemane Brown series last week. I needed to reset and recharge after I hit “send” to my editor, so I did what many in need of a reality break do. I grabbed my smartphone and navigated to Netflix. Having been immersed in crime fiction, I browsed the streaming service’s myriad offerings for something different. I binge watched Season Two of “Queer Eye,” which reminded me that good people who love others exist. Then I started scrolling through Netflix’s speculative fiction (which I’m defining broadly as sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and paranormal) offerings to find titles to add to my queue. Turns out, “different” wasn’t that different after all. As I browsed Netflix this weekend, I noticed something about the movies that most interested me. While they were billed as speculative fiction, they all contained a strong crime element. Instead of being labeled sci-fi (or horror or paranormal) with a mystery, they could have been labeled crime fiction with a futuristic (or fantastical or paranormal) spin. “Altered Carbon,” “Bright,” “Ascension,” “Hotel Beau Sejour”—all involve a mystery that must be solved and/or a crime that drives the action. Movies “Alien Nation,” “Blade Runner,” and “Minority Report,” series “Twin Peaks” and “Scream,” and novel “The Space Merchants” are other works that combine crime with speculation. Barnes and Noble posted a couple of listicles on their blog about sci-fi crime novels. “5 Genre-Bending Science-Fictional Crime Novels” lists several sci-fi noir mysteries and “10 Fiendishly Clever Sci-Fi Locked Room Mysteries” lists some classic mysteries that just happen to take place on space stations and in space ships. Some crime writers, like John D. MacDonald and Chris Brookmyre, also wrote science fiction. It’s not surprising that crime blends well with speculative fiction. Mystery and intrigue are page-turners and speculative fiction is often set in mysterious worlds. Both genres often involve a protagonist trying to bring order to chaos or solve a puzzle. And the stakes in both genres are often high—life or death, good or evil. What are some of your favorite speculative crime novels and films?

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Literary Pilgrimages

  Michele: I once went to a mediation conference in San Francisco determined to find Barbary Lane from Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin. It wasn’t easy, especially with a foreign cab driver thinking he had a nut case for a passenger, but I did it. It felt like a religious experience when I finally came upon those long steps. Another time, a friend and I forced my husband to drive through a tiny Cape Cod village in search of the scene of the crime where the murder in a true crime book we both were reading occurred. I’m not sure whether these qualify as literary pilgrimages, but they were definitely pursuits of passion!I also seem to find myself touring writers’ homes wherever I travel. One of my favorites is the Mark Twain Home in Hartford, Connecticut where you can now write in the same room he did (for the price of a donation, of course)  So, the question of the week to my fellow Miss Demeanors is, what literary pilgrimages have you gone on, or if you’ve resisted the urge thus far, where would you venture?  Robin: That’s an easy one for me. I went to New York and stayed at the Algonquin Hotel to soak in the literary history and see the Round Table before the hotel remodeled and removed it. A year later I went to Pere Lachaise in Paris to pay homage to the cultural and literary luminaries buried there, like Oscar Wilde and Gertrude Stein. I planned the trip when I heard Jim Morrison’s grave was going to be moved to the States. It’s still there but the threat got me to Paris.Fun fact: after I rocked the New York Pitch conference and knew I’d be signed by a rock star agent in the next few days, I celebrated with a glass of champagne at the Blue Bar at the Algonquin.   Oh, and I’m fortunate that living in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are lots of local pilgrimages, too. Last summer I joined my local chapter of Sisters In Crime on a walking tour of Dashiell Hammett’s homes and haunts in San Francisco.  Paula: When we first moved to New England, my son and I took a literary pilgrimage to Concord, Massachusetts, and toured Walden Pond, Emerson’s house, and Louisa May Alcott’s house. It’s one of our favorite memories together. I try to find a literary pilgrimage wherever I go. My friend Susan Reynolds and I have been to Emily Dickinson’s house in Amherst, my daughter and I went together to the Dublin Writers Museum, I’ve been with my fellow writers to visit such places as Jack London’s house, the Algonquin Hotel, the House of Seven Gables, the Globe Theater, and all the haunts in the French Quarter where the likes of Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and Anne Rice have written great work.I loved them all. But the most moving place I’ve ever visited was in Amsterdam, where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis. I was 12 years old and I still remember that terrible empty space vividly. I went home and read her diary for the first of many times.   Susan: Robin, I would love to go on a walking tour of Dashiell Hammett’s homes. How wonderful! I have a lovely book called Seeds by Richard Horan in which he goes to various writers’ homes and takes seeds from their trees and tries to plant them. I was so inspired that I resolved to get pine cones from various writers’ homes, but so far I’ve only made it to Mark Twain’s library in Redding, but I did get a pine cone! I did once spend a considerable amount of time tracking down the composer Alexander Scriabin’s home in Paris. It was very moving to see where he lived. I had used him as a character in one of my novels. Alison: I love this question, Michele, but I have no answer. The fact is, I’ve never made a specific literary pilgrimage. I don’t know why I haven’t. Reading about yours, Robin’s, and Paula’s journeys, I want to start. Count me in for the Dashiell Hammett tour!  Tracee: I’m with Alison! Maybe I should plan a few.  Cate: Ditto. Though I am going to Ireland In August and plan to visit some of Oscar Wilde, Yeats and James Joyce’s haunts.   Alexia: I haven’t been on any literary pilgrimages, probably because most of my favorite novels are set in fictional places, like Wonderland, Midsomer County, and St. Mary Mead. I do go to places where I’m thinking of setting stories, like Irish villages, English inns, and ancient churches. I rode the train from Chicago to West Virginia (the Greenbrier resort) because Nero Wolfe traveled by train to a fictional resort based on the Greenbrier. I seek out existing pieces of Route 66 to travel because of the song, Route 66. Writing this reminds me of one trip I took that might count as a literary pilgrimage. I went to Vassar College, which is in the Hudson Valley, Washington Irving country. So, one summer, when my parents came to pick me up to take me back home to Maryland for summer break, I made them drive through Sleepy Hollow and stop at all the places associated with Irving’s short story. I still think it’s hysterical that Sleepy Hollow High School’s team is named the Horsemen.          

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Finding Truth in Advertising

 Most of the books I have loved best have evoked a strong emotional response from me. I have cried, felt triumphant or despondent, but never indifferent. Those are the books that stay with me. To Kill a Mockingbird, Mystic River, Angela’s Ashes and so many more. As a writer, I long to create that emotional connection with a reader. But how?            I’ve started a silly little experiment, which will require that I confess what an emotional SAP I am. I adore good romantic comedies and am fanatic about Cinderella stories. I’ve noticed since I stopped teaching evening classes and watch more television that I occasionally react emotionally to commercials. Yes, I know they’re contrived. I am the daughter of a man who worked in television advertising. I am still not immune to the ploys of Mad Men.            Take the Sebastian Gets Into College McDonald’s commercial. https://www.ispot.tv/ad/AX01/mcdonalds-committed-to-being-americas-best-first-job I’m smart enough to know how phony it is and have read the scathing criticism about McDonald’s corporate practices and horrible food, neither of which McDonald’s college scholarship program fully mitigates. I can understand why people may think it is a racial insult to see a young African American male bring his college acceptance letter to his white boss. But there is something very appealing to me in Sebastian’s expression when his boss reads the letter aloud to his burger-flipping colleagues who shout with joy for him. The look on Sebastian’s face vacillates between joy and apprehension. I may not be inspired to run out and buy a Big Mac, but the commercial reaches a level in me that wants to see underprivileged young people succeed and be encouraged by a community of workers. I want to live in a world where we have a sense of community and celebrate Sebastian on the brink of a new world that will also celebrate and welcome him. You go, Sebastian!            The TD Ameritrade commercials are harder to explain. They feature a man with a beard and glasses conversing with everyday folks about their lives and finances in a room with a very green couch and green walls.  In one ad, the bearded man learns his client would like to run with the bulls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm2BGd1vcDo These ads have inspired some viewers to want to punch the guy-in-the beard. https://hauntedcoconut.com/2017/05/17/i-want-to-punch-the-td-ameritrade-commercial-guy-in-the-beard/ But I am as captivated as I am confounded by how they draw me in. I like that a professional trained to give financial advice cares about the lives of the people whose money he is trying to manage. I guess I’m looking for a world where someone can make a living without compromising principles. The guy-in-the-beard seems honest and earnest. I like that. I’ve become aware that his voice is soothing and that the room where he has these conversations is tranquil and green. It reminds the writer in me that you can’t underestimate the value of tone and the impact of setting.            I’m entertained by many of the Subaru ads, particularly the one where the dogs driving a Subaru have it washed by a team of other dogs. But the one that reaches me most on an emotional level is the one where Grandma tells Grandpa to have fun as he sets off in his ancient Subaru for a fishing trip, while his grandson is on a parallel road trip in his new Crosstrek. Their paths converge at the ocean as they head into the water with their surfboards and Grandson conspiratorially gets Grandpa to admit Grandma thinks he’s gone fishing. https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wBov/2018-subaru-crosstrek-ever-young-song-by-vetiver It’s a sweet moment that bridges generations and celebrates family. I already own a Subaru or I might go out and buy one.  I picture Grandma, who left home in her own Subaru shortly after she got rid of Grandpa. She’s heading for the mountains where she’s going rock climbing. Don’t worry, she’ll be back before Grandpa ever knows.            Inexplicably, each of these commercials seemed to have unlocked a longing in me. That’s what I’m looking to do for my readers.            Do ads ever reach you at an emotional level? What can you learn from those that do?  

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Anthony Bourdain: The Legacy of a Storyteller

  “Why do you write?” is a question frequently posed to writers. It’s a question I’ve often asked myself. The answer for me is simple. Why do I write? Because there are stories in me waiting for me to tell.            Storytelling isn’t just an art. It’s a way of connecting people, places, and ideas. When celebrity chef, travel documentarian, and author, Anthony Bourdain died earlier this month, he was most fondly described as a superb storyteller, but not only by his professional peers. While tributes poured in from fellow celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay, Nigella Lawson, and Jamie Oliver to dignities like Barack Obama, the most revealing praise came from the ordinary people Bourdain liked to share his time with.                       Outside Les Halles, the French restaurant where Bourdain was once executive chef, notes were attached to the storefront, along with flowers and other gifts. Some notes were brief, written on tiny post-its. “You were loved. No reservations.” “Mr. Bourdain, you for made faraway places seem not so far away. Like home. Rest easy.” Many were written in foreign languages. Longer notes thanked Bourdain for being “an authentic and inspiring storyteller…reminding us to experience and savor life.” “Thank you for bringing a respectful view to the people of Palestine, Libya, Iran & more.” Some were as irreverent as Bourdain. “Dear Anthony, You were such a kickass mother****er.”              Bourdain was unpretentious and humble. “It would be an egregious mistake to ever refer to me in the same breath as most of the people I write about.” He was unabashedly passionate. “Your body is not a temple: it’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.”            He may have hinted that there can be a cost for being a storyteller. “As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life — and travel — leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks — on your body or on your heart — are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt.”            Bourdain didn’t lecture. Writers understand that means he didn’t tell. He showed. By bringing us stories about the food, culture, and people from around the globe, he made his audience feel as if it had a seat at the table. He connected people, which is what a good storyteller does best.            Rest in peace, Anthony Bourdain. Your stories are your legacy and your gift. 

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To Cuss or Not to Cuss

 Cussing. Swearing. Cursing. Blaspheming. Call it what you want. Many people do it, some don’t. Writers know how important word choice is. Dialogue is more authentic when it sounds like how ordinary people talk. So what is a writer to do about “The Seven Dirty Words You Can Never Say on Television” made famous by George Carlin when arguably all but one of those words are heard frequently in the conversations of ordinary people.            My father had a master’s degree in English from Boston University, uncommon in his generation. He worked in promotion and advertising throughout his career, beginning with a stint in the Navy under Admiral Halsey working on the Victor at Sea series. Believe me, this man knew his words. An excerpt from a little parent bickering: “Kay, don’t be so banal.”Would this man ever start a sentence with “Gosh”? Hell, no. Kay, on the other hand, replaced words she considered “vulgar” with ones acceptable to her. Sh*t became “burp.” “When are you going to pick up all that burp in your bedroom, Michele?” I’ll save how she renamed body parts for another day.            How we use our words is a reflection of who we are and what we have experienced in life. This should also be true of the words our characters speak in a novel. Would Sabrina Salter, my protagonist in No Virgin Island and Permanent Sunset, ever drop an F-bomb? After being abandoned as a toddler by her mother, raised by an inebriated father, betrayed by a husband she managed to shoot, and then exiled to an island, you bet she would. All the time. But does she on the pages of the books containing her story? No.            Here’s why. Editors and agents advise that readers may be offended or distracted by cussing, affecting sales. No sane author wants to contribute one more obstacle to selling books. Unless you are a New York Times best selling author with an established faithful audience, the conventional wisdom is that it is best to exercise restraint. My father might still buy your book with its salty language, but my mother probably wouldn’t.            I find it frustrating to eliminate the words that my characters seem to spill naturally onto the page. Sabrina’s pal, former lawyer, now bar keeper, Neil Perry doesn’t want to say, “What’s going on here?” He wants to say,”WTF?” and spell it out. And I want to let him speak his own words, not stymie them, so I do. On the first draft. The one just for me and my beta readers, who know I will take out the scalpel and excise them during the next edit. It’s the only way I know how to write the dialogue a character is whispering in my ear without losing who she is.            So until I hit the NY Times Best Sellers list, gosh it’s been nice talking to you. Golly, how do you handle cussing with your characters?    

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Pitching

 This past weekend I worked at the New York Pitch Conference, which is always a fun/exhilarating/exhausting experience. I’m the workshop leader for the general fiction group, which includes women’s fiction, literary, upmarket and so on. One of the great perks of my job is that I get to listen to editors and hear what they’re looking for and one thing I heard a lot this time was how important it is to know very clearly who you are writing like, and, if at all possible, to try and make connections with that person. Or, as one person said, more or less, if you want to be the next Michael Chabon, you should try to go to his readings, meet readers who are interested in his work, and, if at all possible, get him to write a blurb for you.  That led me to think about how one of the nice things about the mystery writing community is that the writers are so accessible. At the most recent Malice Domestic, I chatted briefly with Louise Penny and Nancy Pickard, was on a panel with assorted great writers, was in an anthology with other assorted great writers and went to the bar and met other great writers. The fabulous Hank Phillippi Ryan wrote a blurb for Maggie Dove. All of this came about because I crept out of my office and forced myself to get out there. So get out there, writer friends, and make friends. Starting with the Miss Demeanors. We’re happy to know you! 

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The overflowing nightstand aka TBR stack

 TRACEE: Give us an update of your nightstand and the TBR stack for summer. Are you going light and easy or diving into meaty questions? Mine is a mix….. and I think I see a few in the pile that have been read but are kept on hand for reasons that exist only in the depths of my subconscious. My dog nosed his way into the picture of my nightstand TBR pile, the expression on his face says: I can’t believe you would show anyone this mess.  I just finished Roger Johns’ “River of Secrets” in specially bound preview form…. Everyone mark the August appearance in bookstores in your BUY calendar. Currently I’m finishing “The Geographer’s Library” by Jon Fasman and “A Necessary Evil” by Abir Mukherjee. I’m also re-reading Primo Levi’s “Survival in Auschwitz.” Elizabeth George’s “The Punishment She Deserves” will likely be next. It is too high on the stack to be in the photo which means it is perched precariously on top of the more orderly books. Must be read next or the entire assembly will collapse. Of course I also watched Wim Wenders movie “The American Friend” a few days ago, starring Dennis Hopper as Tom Ripley. I confess to pulling a few Patricia Highsmith books off the shelf thinking maybe this is what I’d like to read….. ROBIN: Let’s see, I just finished Chris Holm’s “The Killing Kind,” which had been on top of the TBR stack for a while. Now I’m reading “Death in D Minor” by our own Alexia Gordon. Next up, I’ve got “The Undertaker’s Daughter” by Sara Blaedel, “Hacked” by Ray Daniel, “Into The Black Nowhere” by Meg Gardiner, and “The Force” by Don Winslow. So, you know, light and easy 🙂   SUSAN: I am attaching a picture of my nightstand with books upon it, mainly because I just got the nightstand and I don’t think I’ve had one for my adult life. Usually I’ve gone with a pile of books on the floor. Anyway, on this fabulous new stand is Nancy Pickard’s The Virgin of Small Plains, Martin Edwards, “The Golden Age of Murder,” Ann Cleeves, “The Glass Room,” James Scott’s, “The Kept,” David Starkey’s, “Six Wives,” Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories,” Marilyn Robinson’s “Gilead” and Eric Metaxas’ bio of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I’m almost done with two of them, as long as I don’t put anything else on the pile. MICHELE: My TBR pile was so tall, I worried it would topple off my nightstand and crush me so I placed the books in a stand where they stare at me begging to be next. Of course, there’s still the queue on my Kindle and Audible.   PAULA: If only I could call my TBR pile a “pile” and not two rooms full of books and manuscripts and devices loaded up with stories.But I wouldn’t have it any other way….  ALISON: My TBR stack is also on the floor for the obvious reasons. I’m almost finished with Laura Griffin’s “At Close Range.” When I’m done, I’ll be on to Elizabeth George’s “The Punishment She Deserves.” Come July 10th, it will be Linda Castillo’s “A Gathering of Secrets.” I’m also reading for background research, which includes the “1823 View of the Hebrews,” the “Book of Mormon” (again), and non-fiction focused on collecting rare books and making bombs (don’t ask!).    TRACEE: Alison, you can’t throw out a teaser like rare books and making bombs then say don’t ask! Now I have to ask another question to get our minds off this.  Does anyone else find that when the book is on Kindle it can REALLY get lost and nearly forgotten?  ROBIN: Yes! I have to remind myself to go through my Kindle library for TBR’s (there are 4). I balance out eBooks and physical books to avoid the towering stack syndrome.  ALEXIA: My TBR pile defies words. And logic. (Yes, all of those. Plus more I couldn’t squeeze into the shot)  Were we supposed to count eBooks, too? In that case, I’m going to have to live to 210 in order to make a dent. 276 eBooks on Nook (some, but not most, in the read pile), 80 on Kindle app, 5 on Aldiko. Chicago U Press and Tor/Forge keep giving away free eBooks and they add up. And the Audible audio books. Forgot those. TRACEE: Alexia, I hope that there is a correlation between the TBR stack and longevity….. maybe we will all live to 210 in order to finish! I am going to look through my digital ‘stack’ now…. 443 titles. Hopefully most are read (I confess that some are duplicates of favorite books so they are always available when I’m traveling). But there are sure to be a few treasures waiting for my full attention.           

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