Suspense, Mystery, Horror and Thriller Fiction MAY 2013 Masters of Their Game M.J. Rose Lisa scottoLine DaviD MoRReLL Authors to add to the Shelves Thomas m. malafarina lisa manneTTi Stranger Than Fiction The MysTery of oak Island Anthony J. Franze sits down with HeatHer GraHam on the Rules of Fiction From David Morrell, the Acclaimed Author of First Blood and The Brotherhood of the Rose . 1811—the ratcliffe Highway mass murders rival Jack the ripper’s for terrorizing london and all of england. 1854—the notorious thomas De Quincey returns to london. along with his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, he is infamous for a blood-soaked essay about the murders. Five days later—the killings begin again. Murder as a Fine Art “One of DaviD MOrrell’s strongest and boldest books in years.” — Dan SimmonS, New York Times bestselling author of Drood and The Terror “a Masterpiece— i don’t use that word lightly. a brilliant historical thriller, beautifully written, intricately plotted, and populated with unforgettable characters. if you liked The Alienist, you will absolutely love this book.” — DouglaS PreSton, #1 bestselling author of The Monster of Florence Murder as a Fine Art Available in hardcover, audio, and e-book formats May, ISBN 978-0-316-21679-1, $25.99/$28.99 Canada Mulholland Books, an Imprint of Little, Brown and Company davidmorrell.net • mulhollandbooks.com David Morrell is an Edgar, Anthony, and Macavity nominee, a 3-time Stoker recipient, and ITW’s 2009 Thriller Master. Illustrations by Tomislav Tikulin From the Editor C r e di t s John Raab President & Chairman Is it possible that readers can’t trust book Shannon Raab reviews anymore? Creative Director For years, readers had to rely on reviews to Romaine Reeves see what to read, but can the reader trust that CFO the reviews they say to be real? We have talked before about the new “sock puppetry,” in which Starr Gardinier Reina Executive Editor authors pump up their own books or bring down the books of rival authors in their genres. For Jim Thomsen authors just getting out there, what are they to do? Copy Editor Some of the main outlets that used to be staples Contributors for reviews have become “pay to play” services. Authors, especially self-published ones, Donald Allen Kirch will spend hundreds of dollars to submit their books. Often there’s no guarantee of a Mark P. Sadler Susan Santangelo positive review. DJ Weaver I’ve talked to many authors who now refuse to have their book reviewed by the CK Webb “big” review companies because of this. What goes on behind the scenes is something Kiki Howell Kaye George that should be scary to the reader that relies on companies like this for honest book Weldon Burge recommendations. Word of mouth is probably still the most reliable way for the reader Ashley Wintters Scott Pearson to find that next good book to read. One author that we know very well—and I’m not D.P. Lyle M.D. going to name any names in here—received a bad review from a large review house. Claudia Mosley Christopher Nadeau Because of that, the author’s publishing contract was cancelled, forcing the author— Kathleen Heady who had published some successful books—to start back at square one. Luckily, the Stephen Brayton Brian Blocker author was able to overcome this, but it took a couple of years. Andrew MacRae Now, looking back, it seems that if a couple hundred dollars was paid to that Val Conrad company, a five-star review might have been published—whether or not the book was Laura Alden Melissa Dalton good—and that would have saved the author. But I think that it is utterly irresponsible Elliott Capon for any company to charge a fee to review a book. Basically, what that company is J.M. LeDuc Holly Price saying is, “pay us some money for a good review.” Kari Wainwright Readers and fans need to do their homework even more and dig deeper into the David Ingram Bill Craig authors’ work. Check them out on their webpage, Facebook, etc, to see if their subject Jodi Hanson matter is what you are looking for. More often than not, you will have some good blog Amy Lignor Susan May sites that still think it is important to give honest reviews and let people know exactly J.S. McCormick what is in a given book. Kestrel T. Andersen However, too many times, opinions can cloud their judgment—especially if, for Cassandra McNeil Jenny Hilborne example, a cozy mystery is not something they like, but have been forced to read and Tanya Contois review. Such reviewers are probably not the best Sharon Salonen Anthony J. Franze people to offer advice on what you should read. Jeanine Elizalde Readers beware—the review on which you might Kristin Centorcelli Jerry Zavada decide how to spend your hard-earned dollars might Ray Palen not be all that it seems. Customer Service and If you have questions, please email editor@ Subscriptions: suspensemagazine.com and put Letter From the For 24/7 service, please use our website, www.suspensemagazine.com or write to: Editor in the subject line. SUSPENSE MAGAZINE at 26500 Agoura Road, #102-474 John Raab Calabasas, CA 91302 Suspense Magazine does not share our CEO/Publisher magazine subscriber list to third-party Suspense Magazine ■ companies. Rates: $24.00 (Electronic Subscrip- “Reviews within this magazine are the opinions of the individual reviewers and are provided solely to provide readers assistance tion) per year. All foreign subscrip- in determining another's thoughts on the book under discussion and shall not be interpreted as professional advice or the opin- tions must be payable in U.S. funds. ion of any other than the individual reviewer. The following reviewers who may appear in this magazine are also individual cli- ents of Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine: Mark P. Sadler, Starr Gardinier Reina, Ashley Dawn (Wintters), DJ Weaver, CK Webb, Elliott Capon, J.M. LeDuc, and Amy Lignor.” SuspenseMagazine.com 1 CONTENT Su Sp E n se M ag a z i n E May 2013 / Vol. 047 Lisa Gardner on Conquering the Dreaded Synopsis: Part Four . 3 Plain, Simple, Beautiful By D . Warren Miller . .8 Rules of Fiction with Heather Graham By Anthony J . Franze . 13 Meet Bram Stoker Winner: Lisa Mannetti By Weldon Burge . 15 Interview with a Monster: The Werewolf File By Thomas Scopel . 19 Come Into my Parlor By Elliott Capon . 24 A Bright Glimpse Into a Very Dark Mind: Thomas M . Malafarina . 28 Inside the Pages: Suspense Magazine Book Reviews . 32 Suspense Magazine Movie Reviews . 39 Featured Artist: Priscila Santos . 41 From Their Pen . to the Silver Screen By CK Webb . 45 Stranger Than Fiction: The Mystery of Oak Island By Donald Allen Kirch . 52 Excerpt of “Season of the Wolf” By Jeffrey J . Mariotte . 63 The one 'Cold Case' That Will Never be Solved By Amy Lignor . 66 Back in the Ring By Richard Godwin . 69 Daytime Nightmare By Sherri Nemick . 77 Conquering the DreaDeD SynopSiS: A Series of Ten Lectures By Lisa Gardner Press Photo Credit: Philbrick Photography This continues the series of ten lectures, which started with the first installment, “Introduction.” LeCture Four: Short SynopSiS exampLeS Following are two synopsis examples. The first, “Vested Interests” by Moni Draper, contains the first three pages of a five- page synopsis targeted for the mainstream suspense market. In it, Moni faces the challenge of trying to best represent a large cast of characters and a complicated plot in a very short space. Moni overcomes these hurdles by using a simple structure and crisp writing style. First, she introduces all her characters, including the villain who is a main character in a thriller novel. Once Moni has established the players, she then moves on to summarizing the key plot points in the novel. Notice, she’s focusing on major plot points, not a scene-by-scene summary. We will get to this more in future lectures, but a common beginner mistake is to try to summarize every scene in your novel. Using that method, it would be impossible to capture a 100,000-word mainstream novel in only five pages. Thus Moni wisely keeps her synopsis focused on the major events in her novel, providing a smooth, narrative flow. This is a nice example of plot-focused synopsis. The second synopsis example is “Illusions of Innocence” by Peggy Hendricks. This is an 80,000-word romantic suspense novel targeted for Silhouette Intimate Moments. While Peggy is summarizing a shorter novel, she faces the challenge of adequately explaining a fairly involved murder mystery and an emotionally compelling romance in only three pages. You’ll notice she also chooses a very simple structure to get the basic information across. Once she has introduced her characters and provided an overview of the major conflict, she delves into the emotional implications of the unfolding drama for both the hero and heroine. Also, since Peggy’s synopsis is for the category romance market, she doesn’t include secondary characters such as the villain, but keeps her synopsis appropriately focused on the hero and heroine. This is a great example of a wonderfully balanced romantic suspense synopsis. After each synopsis is a more detailed analysis. In future lectures, we will cover specific points of the synopses in SuspenseMagazine.com 3 more detail. For example, how to write a good introductory And again, Joey fails, this time hook, what structure is the best structure, how to determine through the timely intervention of Tony.