Crab Cakes -- recipe

Birdie DeCoursey’s Killraven Island Crab Cakes

1         lb. Crab meat (more if crabs are plentiful)
2         eggs
2/3     cup corn meal ( or left over mashed potatoes)
1/4     cup milk
1/4     cup grated onion
½         cup grated green pepper
1         tsp. Salt
½        tsp Pepper
½         tsp curry powder* more if you like it spicey

In a bowl, beat eggs, milk, and seasonings. Add onion, pepper, and corn meal, or mashed potatoes and mix well. Gently add in crab meat and shape into cakes about as big around as a water glass and half an inch or so thick. Drop into hot shortening and fry (turning only once) until golden brown.

Fry with plenty of shortening in a heavy iron skillet.

(*The Curry Powder is Birdey’s secret ingredient. Coursey gets it for her in  Baltimore and only her dearest friends know about this.)

Contributed by Arline Chase, author of The Drowned Land, a collection of short stories where Birdy made her first appearance,  and Killraven, a novel where  Hope Voeschell, a gentle young woman, falls in love with DeCoursey Rogers a violent man.... but when their island community encounters rape and murder, Coursey’s “eye-for-an-eye” reaction may cost him everything.

Catching UP!

Paper Books that went to press, or went to press again this week:

LAST STOP FREEDOM, by Ann Nolder Heinz

CLASS REUNION, by Michael E. Field

ALBEMARLE AFFAIR, by C.M. Albrecht


Problems:

Thanks to a tip from author K.S. Brooks, we discovered that a number of e-books at amazon.com had mysteriously changed themselves to "draft" or "not for sale" status. We did NOT un-list these books and have no idea why their status changed from "on sale." 

We have repaired the list below, but please check your listings at amazon.com to see that everything that is supposed to be there, IS there.  E-books that went to press or back to press at amazon.com this week:

FIRST WALTZ, by Terry L. White
ROUGH WATERS, by Gianni Devincent Hayes
HIDDEN GOLD OF MU, by Milton Brown
MR. PISH'S WOODLAND ADVENTURE, by K. S. Brooks
CATHARINE'S RING, by Elena Bowman
THE IMPOSTER, by Elena Bowman
NIGHT UNDONE, by K.S. Brooks
LUCIFER'S LEGION, by Gianni Devincent Hayes
FAILED SLAVE, by Dolly LaMar
REAP THE WHIRLWIND, by Josh Aterovis
TOBY MARTIN: SCHOOL SLEUTH, by Barbara Grengs
POLARIZING YOUR LIFE TOWARD PERFECTION, by Philip Harris


Galleys that went out, or went out again this week:

THE COMFORT OF THE SHEPHERD, by Barbara Garro


NOOK Sales in March 2012

Nook sales for March topped  $260 for the month, with most titles selling 1 copy there. Nook is gaining in popularity, but the devices are still not as widespread as Kindle, the demand for Nook formatted titles is inevitably less, so their market share is still far smaller...

The following titles sold more than one copy for Nook:

A MEDIC IN IRAQ, by Cole Bolchoz
STARWOLF, by Warren Graffeo

Maine Potato Candy -- recipe

Nina M. Osier’s “Writer Who Has a Day Job” Variation on Classic Maine Potato Candy for Busy People

Mix thoroughly:
2/3     cup mashed potatoes (without butter, salt, or anything else added)
2         pounds powdered sugar
1         large package shredded coconut
1         teaspoon vanilla

Butter a 9 x 9 inch baking pan, and spread mixture in it evenly.  Then melt in a quart-sized microwave-proof bowl (or on the stove in a double boiler) 1 large package of semisweet chocolate chips, with 1 stick of butter or margarine.  Spread evenly over the potato mixture, and then chill for about 15 minutes.  “Mark” the chocolate (which hardens quickly) with a knife so you can cut it more easily later.  Chill until firm, several hours at least, before cutting into small pieces (these are very rich!).  Keep refrigerated until ready to use, and refrigerate the uneaten pieces if you have any…but you won’t.

Contributed by Nina M. Osier, author of Second Chances, Interphase, the Epic Award winning Regs, and the High Places series...

Research?

Question from the e-mail:  I write fiction. People in my writers' group keep telling me I have anachronisms and need to do more research. Why? If I'm going to make it up, why do I have to spend hours LOOKING it up???

Answer: Someone once told me they couldn't understand why I wrote fiction, because "it was nothing but lies anyway."  This is true. No less an authority than William Faulkner said, "All fiction writers are liars and the best ones tell the best lies."

So it's important to tell a good lie.  If you don't do the research, your work can be full of anachronisms  that will take the reader right out of your story into her present saying, "What???"

As John Gardiner said, our job as a writer is to create a dream world for your reader and not to allow anything to wake them up. Don’t break the dream by getting things out of place. You must make that dream world real and free of anachronisms or other “wake up calls” as possible. Don’t put up Christmas trees in July without an explanation.

I once paid an obscene amount of money to attend a conference where Jean Auel (Clan of the Cave Bear) was scheduled to speak. She said, "The way to become a good writer was to keep writing. It's hard work, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. There is no substitute for practice." I reviewed my own experience and felt it was considerable, as she proceeded to say that research, too, was important.  Just when I was wondering how one could research cave dwellers -- no books back then --she sat down and proved research was important by knapping a perfect Folsom point out of flint.

That's when I realized why her scenes of cave life were so realistic. She really knew how they did things.

I agree with her about practicing your craft. There's no real substitute for doing the work. But research, too, can be important.

Dandelion Wine -- Recipe

Mary Cox-Bilz’s Dandelion Wine

1     ga1lon Boiling water
2     qt. Dandelion blossoms
3     lb Sugar
1      Lemon; thinly sliced
1     tbsp Good yeast (If using powdered yeast, mix 1 pkg. in half a cup of lukewarm water before adding to the pot and do NOT add it until after pot cools to lukewarm.

Put blossoms in a large kettle and pour boiling water over them. Let stand 1 hour. Strain, add sugar to liquid, boil a little and skim. Allow to Cool.

When lukewarm, add lemon and yeast. Let stand 24 hours, then strain and put into sterilized clean Mason Jars or wine jugs, filling full as it’s working (with some room at the top) until only the impurities (lemon, etc.) are left in the bottom of the pot. The wine will be a beautiful pale gold color.

(In making this wine, be careful to keep all stems out, as they make the  wine taste rank and give it a dark color). Seal tightly.

Contributor’s Note:  Since I’m quadriplegic, I’ll get my sister Donna or my niece Jennifer to pick the dandelions. Then my Mom or Dad will do the thing with the boiling water, sugar,  and Mason Jars. Then if it turns out well, I’ll just smile and say, “It’s my recipe!”

Contributed by Mary Cox-Bilz, author of Letters in my Casket

Amazon.com and the anti-trust suit

I have seen many, many, many articles accusing Amazon.com of "ruining" the publishing industry and implying that the Justice Department is after them in an anti-trust lawsuit that is making on-going news.

Recently the NY TIMES (who should know better) posted yet another such inaccurate article. Someone with actual knowledge of the e-book industry dissected it and if you want to see what they said, click here: http://mikecanex.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/the-worst-article-about-the-ebooks-anti-trust-suit/


For those who want to know the facts:

1. Nobody is suing Amazon.com! Anti-trust means the company is cheating their customers.

2. The Justice Department filed the price-fixing anti-trust lawsuit against the Big 6 paper publishers and the Apple computer corporation, not against Amazon.com.

3. Amazon sets prices on the books that they sell. This is Big News?  Every retailer in the country sets prices on the goods they sell. Some offer discounts. :) Customers like discounts.

4. Amazon sold books from the Big six at $9.99 instead of the $15.99 the paper publishers set as their LIST price.  Okay, they discounted the suggested retail price. Nobody gets sued for giving the customer a price break. This means they will clear less money per copy on the discounted books, but that they will likely sell more copies. THIS MEANS THE PUBLISHERS WILL SELL MORE COPIES AND MAKE MORE MONEY. High sales and benefit to the consumer are, and always have been, an Amazon business policy.

5. Each e-book sales site pays the publisher and author whatever percentage of the list price they choose. Some pay as little as 15%. Publishers and authors can decide whether they want to sell through sites like that and take that company's price or not. NOBODY forces them to sell for lower profits. They can CHOOSE NOT to sell there. The choice is theirs, but they should also remember that selling more books is a desirable outcome for publishers and if the percentage is less, the remuneration from those low-percentage sales will still be more than zero.

6. Before Kindle was ever released --we know because at that time we were selling books on Mobipocket.com, an Amazon company -- Amazon learned that another sales site was paying publishers 70% while they paid 35%. Publishers were linking to the other sales site and sending customers there to buy, and why not? They would make double the earnings per sale if customers went to the higher paying site to buy instead of one that paid less.  Amazon's response to this little-known-fact was to immediately raise their royalty percentage to 70% to meet the competition.

Bottom line: Amazon pays more per sale to publishers and authors. Amazon sets prices that give their customers a price break.  HOW DOES THAT MAKE THEM THE BAD GUY???

Catching UP!

Print Books that went to press, or back to press this week:

CLASS REUNION, by Michael E. Field

LAST STOP FREEDOM, by Ann Nolder Heinz


Missing Market Listings, or reformatted e-book listings repaired and uploaded this week:

FIRST WALTZ, by Terry L. White
GHOST AT STALLION'S GATE, by Elizabeth Eagan-Cox
ROUGH WATERS, by Gianni Devincent Hayes
TOBY MARTIN: PARK PATROL, by Barbara Grengs
OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS, by Michael E. Field
HIDDEN GOLD OF MU, by Milton Brown
SNOW ESCAPE, by Roberta Goodman
LUCIFER'S LEGION by Gianni Devincent Hayes
YOUR PLACE OR MINE, by Lynette Hampton
THE WRITE HONOR, by Anna Dynowski

Galleys that went out this week:

LAST STOP FREEDOM, by Ann Nolder Heinz
CLASS REUNION, by Michael E. Field


Editorial Work began or continued on the following:

DRAGON SPEAKER, by Raye Morand
COMFORT OF THE SHEPHERD, by Barbara Garro
CONSORTIUM, by Steven Clark Bradley
TERROR REIGNS, by Amanda Cross

Our best selling paper book for March was GOOD FRIDAYS, by Diane Marquette.