The Wind in the Door

Someone very very dear to me died yesterday.
   
Although he was given a good long run--98 years of robust life --I wished even longer for him.

Once again, I'm reminded that I'm not God. (Thank God).
   
For many years, I've prayed daily for this man's soul. In the last six months, my family and I prayed his heart would open to the truth, that he would renounce his adamant atheism; that God would have mercy on his soul (which at least one atheist now acknowledges is necessary).

But this side of heaven, I'll never know what my dearly departed decided during his last days on earth.

In my heartache, which is severe, my hope keeps returning to something like this:

     A man on his deathbed turned to his physician and mumbled, "What is Heaven like, Doctor?"  
       How could the physician describe Heaven in such brief moments? As his mind searched for an answer for his friend, the doctor heard his dog, scratching at the door. 
        "Can you hear my dog, scratching at your door?" inquired the physician.
        The sick man assured him that he could. 
       "Well," the doctor said, "Heaven must be like that. My dog does not know what is in this room. He only knows he wants to be with me. So it is with Heaven. Our Master is there. That is all we need to know!" 
 -- James Jeremiah, The Place Called Heaven

Say What?

How do writers come up with dialogue?

Eavesdropping, that's one way.

But some genius just put together an entire break-up scene using only movie titles.

Brilliant and witty.

Here's the video.

Top 10 Reasons: #1

This is it.

This is your last day to grab The Mountains Bow Down for $2.99.

Tomorrow the price shoots up 81%. (Don't blame me. I can't set these prices).

I've been posting my Top 10 Reasons for writing this Raleigh Harmon mystery, the fourth book in this series. And now we've reached (...drumroll, maestro...) Reason #1:

                                    ALASKA

In my last post, I mentioned my family's Alaska roots that reach back to 1885. Most pioneer families didn't manage to stay four generation because, frankly, Alaska's a tough place to survive. Winter sunlight hours can be counted on one hand; summer lasts about 70 days. 

But yesterday, after the Seattle Seahawks won their first Superbowl (just had to get that somewhere), quarterback Russell Wilson said the team's guiding philosophy all season long was: "Why not us?"


I knew exactly what Wilson meant. Not because of football. But because I grew up among this country's tallest peaks, in the only rain forest in North America, eating the biggest fish, the hugest crabs, in the coldest temperatures, with the most colorful human characters. 

Alaska owns the patent on superlatives. And that landscape inspires writers to push farther, aim higher, go beyond all limits. From John Muir to Robert Service to Jack London--even your humble mystery writer--we chose to write about this place because it's like nowhere else on earth. It must be told.

The Mountains Bow Down. 

It's why I chose to open the novel with a favorite poem:

        "There's a land where the mountains are nameless,

        And the rivers all run God knows where;

        There are lives that are erring and aimless,

        And deaths that just hang by a hair;

        There are hardships that nobody reckons;

        There are valleys unpeopled and still;

        There's a land--oh, it beckons and beckons,

        And I want to go back--and I will."

                                                    -- from "The Spell of the Yukon" by Robert Service

Top 10 Reasons: #2 and #3

Here's the deal--and I do mean deal.

Until tomorrow, February 3, Amazon is practically giving away my fourth mystery.

A mystery starred by Booklist. Rated 5-stars by nearly 40 reviewers. And you get to tour Alaska by cruise ship. 
      
For $2.99.

Try buying a real ticket for that price.

In honor of this amazing Amazon deal, I'm posting my Top 10 Reasons for writing this Raleigh Harmon mystery. 

We're now at duel reasons #2 and #3:

                                                       MY GRANDMOTHERS

When I was 16 years old, I rode up the ski lift with a complete stranger who gazed down at my skis, read my name, and said, "Sibella, I know your grandmothers. They're amazing."

Yeah, it was like that. All the time.

My grandmothers, Belle and Frances, also happened to be my best friends. A late child, I was the last of their ten grandkids. And the only girl.

Departing Juneau 10 pm, first week of May

Although my grandmothers appear in all of my books, one way or another, I fully reveal their importance to me in The Mountains Bow Down.

Without these two women, my family wouldn't be able to call Alaska its native country. 

This novel is dedicated to these Alaska pioneers. In the acknowledgements I also reveal a bit of their remarkable lives:

"In 1885, a family of fierce Othodox Jews carved their way from Russia to Juneau, Alaska. That same year, the Goldstein family opened a mercantile on the town's muddy docks and welcomed their eighth child, Belle. That daughter would live one hundred years and see Alaska change from a distant US District into a Territory into our 49th state.

"In 1934, amid the Great Depression, a young actress and widow named Frances Kennan Connor sailed to Juneau by steamship. Classically educated, from an affluent mid-West family, Frances was completely ill-suited for the rugged atmosphere of a gold-mining town. And she stayed.

My grandmother's store on an Alaska postcard

"Perhaps more than anyone, Belle and Frances are responsible for [The Mountains Bow Down]. They were my grandmothers and they poured stories into me. Belle talked about her life, which was epic and included a kidnapping by Tlingit Indians when she was five years old and a thiry-year feud with her eldest brother, Charles, who rescued her from that kidnapping. (In Juneau the buildings that Belle and Charlie erected continue to glare at each other across Seward Street.) 

"Meanwhile, Frances--ever private about her own personal tragedies--fed me books. A city librarian, she designated a shelf behind the front counter and left adventures there. Lloyd Alexander, Joan Aiken, C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle. Better still, she was eager to discuss them.

"Whether writers are born or made, I can't say. But it certainly helps if their tribe cherishes stories."

How much of the story began...

Reason #4

You have four days.

Four days to steal my fourth mystery. 

Until February 3, Amazon is offering The Mountains Bow Down for $2.99.

That's cheaper than a gallon of gas. Cheaper than a cup of Starbucks' coffee. Cheaper than Raleigh's favorite meal of cheeseburgers and fries--with a side of mayo.

Those real-life prices bring me to Reason #4 in the Top 10 Reasons why I wrote The Mountains Bow Down:

                     REAL PEOPLE IN MY LIFE

Novelists get plenty of cathartic miles out of recycling annoying people into fictional characters--especially villainous characters. 

But I've found even greater joy by doing the exact opposite: Honoring people I love within the pages of my books. 

For instance, in Mountains I used the names of two adored friends: Bob Barner and Robert Stoller.

Readers get to meet Bob Barner in Skagway, when he races after a fugitive. In real life, I met Bob Barner in Virginia, when I was a reporter.  

Bob was 34 years old, handsome, with a gorgeous wife, and four perfect children.

And he was dying. 

He had a terminal brain tumor; hospice was called in. 

With reportorial chutzpah (or, more accurately, rudeness) I asked Bob Barner if I could write about his hospice care. Long-term. Like move in with the family until, you know, whatever happened.

I know. But that's how God built me. Deal with it. Because I also asked to bring along uber-photogrpaher Dean Hoffmeyer.

After thinking about it for several days, Bob Barner agreed to my request. With one condition: "Make God famous." I really wasn't sure what he meant, but Dean and I did indeed spend months watching Bob die. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. And among the greatest blessings. The story did indeed make God famous: The Barners were Christians who walked the walk and the resulting story was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize after Bob died. Not because of me. It was because of this family, and Dean Hoffmeyer's tender yet unwavering way with a camera. Those photos still make me cry.

On a lighter note, the second real name in Mountains belongs to Robert Stoller. A brilliant attorney in Alaska, Robert Stoller was the first person to teach me Chess. I was about six years old and he was the second smartest person I'd ever met (my dad gets first-place). 

Many years later, at my dad's memorial service, Stoller delivered a laughter-through-tears eulogy that landed on my heart like a healing balm.  Later still. Stoller sent me some autobiographical sketches of his early years in the law. One story was about an attorney he met. The sketch was titled: "The Lawyer Who Pissed in the Sink." (Not Stoller, by the way). 

In Mountains, Raleigh Harmon interviews the Alaska Medical Examiner about a suspicious death. (Aanother cool thing about writing fiction? I can hand out medical degrees--to lawyers!).  Since I knew this fictional ME was super-smart, didn't suffer fools, and was funny, I chose to name him Robert Stoller.

Here's an excerpt, when Raleigh's speaks to Dr. Robert Stoller from the cruise ship:

         “You continue to assume," [he said] "Haven’t you heard the saying?”

“I’m from the South, sir. I’ve heard quite a few sayings.”

“Indeed,” said Dr. Stoller. “But perhaps you need to hear this one. Though it sounds vulgar initially, it provides an unforgettable mnemonic device. Would you care to hear it?”

“Please.”

“You can remember how to spell ‘assume’ because it puts an ‘ass’ in front of ‘u’ and ‘me.’”

I almost laughed. 

“Thus, assuming nothing, we cannot say how she was suffocated her. Only that I’m fairly certain she was suffocated.”

Top Ten Reasons: #5

Here's the daily preamble: For a limited time, Amazon is offering The Mountains Bow Down for $2.99. 

That's an 81% discount! For a mystery starred by Booklist that also includes Alaska, priceless gems, misbehaving movie stars, and our ever-intrepid forensic geologist, Raleigh Harmon.

If you don't buy Mountains for $2.99, you're either cheap or crazy. 

Or drunk. Which I can forgive. 

To honor this fantastic deal, I'm posting my Top Ten reasons for writing The Mountains Bow Down. 

We're now on Reason #5: 
                                                  
                                                               POETRY

That's right. I said it: Poetry. 

Yes, I do realize my books are murder mysteries. But I love poetry. If you're not reading it, you're not living.

Alaska's Inside Passage

Readers constantly comment on these Raleigh Harmon titles, and the overwhelming majority really-really-really like the series' names. But every now and again someone feels the compulsion to tell me, "These titles don't sound like other mystery/thriller/romantic suspense novels."

My usual reply, in all graciousness: "Duh!"

I chose these titles for some good reasons (including poetry), and fortunately my publisher agreed. The Mountains Bow Down harmonizes with The Stones Cry Out, The Rivers Run Dry, The Clouds Roll Away and The Stars Shine Bright (and future books, coming soon-- promise!). 

My hope is that these titles will tip-off readers, right from the start. Although the protagonist is an FBI agent, the Raleigh Harmon mysteries are not just-the-facts-ma'am. She's also a geologist with a keen eye for nature, and a struggling believer constantly pondering how earth-faith-good-evil can all coexist together.

Of the five titles so far, The Mountains Bow Down might be my favorite. It has what my scary high school English teacher called "internal rhyme." Can you hear it -- the "ou-ow-ow" progression of the words? I love it. (P.S. While I name these books, I can't explain from where the names come. They're more grace for an underserving scribe).

Ketchikan's version of Google Maps

Another poetic element in The Mountains Bow Down is the imagery, especially considering Alaska's towering peaks. It's an image vivid enough to capture the passion of various writers of scripture, each referencing how nature will "bow down" to God (hello, sweet Christian nitpickers: please check Nahum, Joel, Isaiah or the Psalms . . . .). 

I do try -- really, really -- to keep "purple prose" away from these murder-mysteries. Nothing worse than too much description (except maybe too little). But geologists study the earth all the way down to grains of sand, and they tend to notice things -- things other people miss.

So: 

That string of bruises across a victim's throat looks to Raleigh like "violet pearls." Hymnals left behind in an abandoned church have "the atmospheric damp of books stored in wet basements." And beams of sunlight are "translucent."

It's a big beautiful world, full of poetry. And Raleigh knows it. 

So do her readers. 

     "The mile-wide tongue of blue-and-white ice stretched five miles back, reaching up to a mountain peak that pointed straight to God. I heard Jack gasp, then gasp again as the front of the glacier snapped and a falling block of ice the size of an office building plunged straight down into the water . . . . In the bright sun, the water glistened like jewels. 
     And the block of ice bobbed, already hiding how much lay beneath the surface."
   

Top Ten Reasons: #6

Right now, The Mountains Bow Down is on sale for $2.99, thanks to Amazon.com. The ten-day sale (get it now -- the discount won't last) has prompted my Top Ten reasons for writing this Raleigh Harmon mystery. 

I've already revealed reasons #7, 8, 9 and 10.
                                                                     
                                                                            Today, Reason #6: 

                       

                   The Sheer Challenge

With every book, Raleigh Harmon raises the bar on me. For Mountains, she wanted to try solving crimes through geology, even though she's stuck on water.

      
"You're on," I said. 

      
 Not only do normal people not converse with imaginary friends, I also learned that geology positively riddles building products. Gypsum minerals in wallboard. Limestone in tile grout. Marble floors, silica in glass windows, granite countertops---the geology is everywhere.

     
Even on cruise ships.

So throughout The Mountains Bow Down, the redoubtable Raleigh exploits all her knowledge of land and solves several crimes committed entirely on water.

My research benefitted immensely from a wonderful textbook, Forensic Geology. Written by Ray Murray and John C.F. Tedrow, Forensic Geology is the bible of its field. I've been reading it since the Raleigh Harmon series began, and even absconded with Tedrow's last name in The Stones Cry Out, pinning it to a minor character. Which reader can find that character now . . . ?

Forensic Geology contains a particularly good section on earth-based products used to insulate safes. No spoilers, but here's an excerpt from The Mountains Bow Down where Raleigh Harmon uses her geology expertise to solve a crime committed on the high seas:

        The powder-coated safe was roughly the size of a microwave. The stainless steel door was secured to a titanium baseplate, and I ran my eyes over the knob, searching for nicks in the striated surface. But there were no obvious signs of forced entry. 

     Bending at the waist, I stared at the baseplate from below. A fine-grained dust stuck to a tiny circle, no more than one-sixteenth of an inch, at the bottom of the baseplate. My fingers twitched, tempted to tap the ashen circle . . . . Whoever cracked the safe had done an excellent job cleaning up. But any high-speed drill spiraling into a safe had to tunnel through fireproof layers, flinging a dust into the air so fine it could remain suspended for hours, even days . . . .