Please Welcome Reluctant Sailor and Happy Mystery Writer, Terry Shames

About Terry Shames: 

Terry Shames grew up in Texas. She has abiding affection for the small town where her grandparents lived, the model for the fictional town of Jarrett Creek. A resident of Berkeley, California, Terry lives with her husband, two rowdy terriers and a semi-tolerant cat. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. Her second Samuel Craddock novel, THE LAST DEATH OF JACK HARBIN will be out in January 2014. Find out more about Terry and her books at www.Terryshames.com.

What Terry Has to Say:

Thank you to the Spunky Seniors for having me as a guest. This has been a whirlwind time for me with the debut of my first novel, A KILLING AT COTTON HILL. I hope readers enjoy the connection between the book and the sailing life.

                                      *****

The Best Days and the Second Best Days by Terry Shames

Leaving out days like marriages and births, they say the best day of your life is the day you buy your boat and the second best day is the day you sell it. And they are right—at least for sailors.

I’d argue that the best day of my life was last week when my debut novel, A KILLING AT COTTON HILL, came out, but then I’m not an avid sailor; I’m a reluctant sailor who has had some days on a boat.

 I thought my husband and I had had all the best and second-best days we were going to have with respect to boats. But two weeks ago we signed papers to buy another one. Another best day for my husband. And, oddly, for someone like me who doesn’t really love sailing, a happy day for me as well. For one particular reason.

Our last boat was a 45-foot catamaran, a big boat.

 Last fall we sold her after we decided sailing and maintaining her had gotten to be too much for us—physically as well as financially. “Good riddance!” my husband said. Finally completely retired from both working and boating, he then made a valiant effort to turn his attention elsewhere. He took classes; tried kite boarding; and insisted that we double our pet population, promising he would take on all the responsibility for caring for them. But after a few months both of us realized that he was not making a success of being retired from sailing. He was restless and unfulfilled. He wanted another boat. “Couldn’t you take up something like golf?” I whined. No, he wanted to be on the water.

I have to admit, that although I wasn’t as enthusiastic as he was, there were things I missed about our boat: lovely evenings sitting on deck watching the sunset; jumping off into the water in the heat of the day; sailing when the wind was just right. So we decided to get another boat. We looked at a few, kicking tires, so to speak, and then we went to Los Angeles to examine a promising prospect. We walked onto the Catalina and I immediately felt good about her. But there was one thing I needed to test out before I gave my wholehearted love. While my husband was talking to the sales rep, I went below to do my “test.” Eventually my husband came downstairs and found me in the master cabin, sitting propped up on the pillows. “What are doing?” he asked.

I grinned. “Checking out whether I can write here. And it will be just fine,” I said. Sold. 

I wrote most of A KILLING AT COTTON HILL while we were on our catamaran in the Caribbean. Every morning I got up at 6 AM, booted my husband out of the cabin and worked feverishly for three hours, our dog snoozing on the bed while I typed. Learning to write on the boat freed me from feeling unproductive and slovenly. Now I know I can do it. We have a smaller boat that we can both handle physically, but big enough that I can prop myself up and write to my heart’s content.

Happy Sailing!
                                                     
About Terry's New Release:

In A KILLING AT COTTON HILL the chief of police of Jarrett Creek, Texas, doubles as the town drunk. So when Dora Lee Parjeter is murdered, her old friend and former police chief Samuel Craddock steps in to investigate. He discovers that a lot of people may have wanted Dora Lee dead—the conniving rascals on a neighboring farm, her estranged daughter and her surly live-in grandson. And then there’s the stranger Dora Lee claimed was spying on her. During the course of the investigation the human foibles of the small-town residents—their pettiness and generosity, their secret vices and true virtues—are revealed.

Reviews:

 “…if you’re as fond of good writing as I am, it will be the characters in Cotton Hill that will keep the pages turning until late in the evening…” - Mysteryfile

                                                            

 “Shames’ novel is an amazing read. The poetic, literary quality of the writing draws you in…” - RT Book Reviews 

 “Readers will want to see more of the likable main character, who compassionately but relentlessly sifts the evidence. Convincing small town atmosphere and a vivid support cast are a plus.” - Publisher's Weekly

                                                  

 “Terry Shames offers readers a wonderfully-told tale that kept me turning pages… what kept my interest more than anything was the writing. It was absolutely superb.”  -  Lee Lofland, The Graveyard Shift

Please welcome Terry Shames to Spunky Senior Authors and Talents by leaving a comment.

          

Meet Spunky Fargo Mystery Author and Environmental Engineer, Karen E. Hall

Karen E. Hall

Karen Hall, environmental engineer and writer, lives with her husband Jeff Nelsen (and their orange tabby, Junior, who really owns the house) in the Black Hills outside Rapid City, SD.  Her first Hannah Morrison mystery, Unreasonable Risk, a thriller about sabotage in an oil refinery, was published in 2006 and the second in the series, Through Dark Spaces, set in South Dakota’s mining industry, followed in 2012.  Karen is currently finishing a novel about infertility and working on the third Hannah Morrison mystery.  She is also a member of the Pennington County Planning Commission and is currently president of the Black Hills Writers Group. Website: http://www.karenehall.com   

And now, here's Karen to share her unusual occupation, as well as her books:

Karen E. Hall

Hi, everybody, 

I grew up in Fargo, North Dakota (pronounced “Nortdakota” if you’re looking for authenticity), and spent almost every Saturday of my youth at the public library.  Fargo was, in those days, a pretty big city, especially by North Dakota standards, but it still felt like the middle of nowhere.  Fargo’s old Carnegie library helped me to compensate for that isolation, and contributed greatly to my lifelong love of books.  I’ve since lived on both coasts and in Texas, but my heart really belongs to those “ota” states:  North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota.  I graduated from both the University of Minnesota (English lit) and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (chemistry and chemical engineering), and worked for many years in Minnesota’s oil industry as an environmental engineer, trying to make sure that the refinery met its environmental obligations under the law. 

Through all of that experience, I learned a lot about working as a woman in a male-dominated field – both in engineering school and, of course, in the refinery, where women were outnumbered by 20 to 1.  I learned to dish it out, suck it up, and swear like a…well, like a refinery worker.  I wore smurf-blue fire-retardant overalls, steel-toed boots and a hardhat, and carried a clipboard much more often than a purse. 

I loved the oil industry.  We refined a lot more than just gasoline; we produced butane, home heating oil, kerosene, asphalt and more, even carbon dioxide that, once a year, was blessed by a rabbi so it could be used in the manufacture of kosher Coke!  It was a fascinating business, and I was dismayed at how little people knew about it.  After all, the oil industry touches everybody’s life in many ways every day.  So about a dozen years ago I turned to writing as a way to introduce people to that business.  And in that process, I found the true love of my life:  writing fiction. 

My first mystery, Unreasonable Risk, is set in a mythical Minnesota refinery where a saboteur causes no end of trouble for my able young protagonist, Hannah Morrison.  

More About Unreasonable Risk

First in the series, Unreasonable Risk introduces Hannah Morrison, a young environmental engineer ensnared in a series of violent events which threaten the refinery. She knows it’s sabotage. Who’s behind the spate of near-catastrophes that plague the plant? Who can she trust? And what will the saboteur try next?  Unreasonable Risk tells the story of a resourceful young woman fighting to save the refinery, the city surrounding it and, ultimately, her life.

Amazon: Unreasonable Risk (e-book) -- http://tinyurl.com/7pz7qbo

The second, Through Dark Spaces, is set in the mining industry of western South Dakota, where I live now.  In this book, Hannah, my environmental engineer, must figure out why her only employee, Dooley Arnold, was clubbed over the head and left to die in an old mine tunnel.  And, she wonders, what does it have to do with water?  A lot.  I hope you’ll read it and see.

 More About Through Dark Spaces

When Hannah Morrison takes an environmental consulting job at a South Dakota surface mine, she doesn’t expect to have to confront her darkest, most personal fears. In the course of her work, as she discovers secret after secret, Hannah realizes that somebody is poisoning the water in the beautiful Black Hills. Who—and why? Driven to solve the problem and find the people responsible, Hannah finds herself deep underground, trapped in the darkest of spaces—with a murderer.

Amazon: Through Dark Spaces (e-book) -- http://tinyurl.com/78dqns3 

Amazon: Through Dark Spaces (paperback) -- http://tinyurl.com/6sm8eyv

Createspace: Through Dark Spaces (paperback)-- https://www.createspace.com/3787163

Water is really important here in western South Dakota because there isn’t very much around.  The Black Hills are like a pine-capped oasis in a high desert.  Part of my life in recent years has been dedicated to keeping our groundwater clean.  I used my environmental background by serving on a county-wide ad hoc committee to draft and implement an ordinance to inspect and repair septic systems. 

Karen E. Hall & Husband, Jeff Nelson

It’s not very glamorous (my husband occasionally calls me “the princess of poop”) but in my opinion is absolutely necessary to protect the integrity of the aquifers that allow us to live in this beautiful place.
So now I’m a member of the county’s planning commission, too.  

Roughlock Burr

I also hike, downhill ski like a crazy woman, and take tons of photographs.

I’ve included a couple from recent hikes in the woods with this post.  

Whitetail buck

Although I used to do a lot of art stuff, including pottery, painting and several crafts, I’ve determined that my media are these:  words, photographs and yarn.  Although I don’t have any photos of my yarn projects, I have five wonderful grandchildren who wear and/or wrap themselves in those projects.  I know I have a lot more books in me, and I’ll never stop doing yarn projects or taking photographs, either.  If I’m still skiing at 80 (I’m nearly 63 now), I’ll be a happy woman. 

Thanks so much, Morgan, for hosting me.  I’d love to hear about your readers’ media of expression – what arts, crafts and activities float your boat?  What keeps all of you other spunky seniors going?

Website:

http://www.karenehall.com

        

Thanks very much, Morgan, for hosting me!

Warm regards,

Karen Hall

Please welcome Karen Hall to Spunky Senior Authors and Talents by Leaving a Comment.