The Long, Hot Summer of Writing Peaking With ‘Smoking Guns’ and ‘In Tangled Lives’
By TOM WOOD / August 4, 2024
Hey, folks. It’s been a while since I last posted anything here … and now you know why. A busy, busy summer with the recent release of a second anthology Smoking Guns: A Sisters in Crime Anthology. Here’s the cover and a little info on how it came about.
I am a member of the Middle Tennessee chapter of the Sisters in Crime national mystery and thriller writing community. The East Tennessee chapter, which bills itself as “the Smoking Guns,” came up with the idea, the plan, and the execution of the publication with acclaimed and award-winning mystery author Kaye George serving as editor and one of the nine writers.
Her team reached out to area chapters, and I submitted one story and a flash fiction piece — “Takeout” and “The Wrong Guy” — that were accepted. The only requirements for publication (besides the usual length limitations) were that the genre stories be original and that the tale must include a gun. A smoking gun. Challenge accepted.
The new anthology will make its debut at Killer Nashville and Bouchercon mystery writing conventions in the Nashville area later this month. Other Nashville area authors are Robert Mangeot, Carmen Amato, Patrick Connolly, Ronald Demmans. Also featured are Sharon Marchisello, Paula Gail Benson, Jeffery Phillips
And here’s the cover of In Tangled Lives: A Harpeth River Writers Anthology and we’re darn proud of this creation. Here’s a little info about this relationships-themed book. In Tangled Lives: A Harpeth River Writers Anthology features an eclectic collection of stories for every mood—sad and dark, heartwarming and hopeful. Indeed, we all are in tangled lives.
HRW is a collective of acclaimed Nashville-area authors who have individually published short stories, essays, memoirs, novels, poems, and songs. HRW has published two previous anthologies: By Blood or By Marriage (2015)and Words on Water (2019). Contributors are Sandy Ward Bell, John Neely Davis, Micki Fuhrman, Cindy King, Cate Moore, Kathy Rhodes, Michael J. Tucker, Tom Wood, and Bill Woods.
I have two stories in the book. Here’s a synopsis of each to whet your reading appetite:
Maggie’s Hope: After losing her husband in the Gulf War, a woman with newborn twins spirals out of control until she is forced to make a difficult decision about what is best for her girls.
Food Fight: A woman shouts insults across the kitchen table toward a man, screaming “fat, fat, fat,” and other epithets.
Here are some of my other recent stories for the Ledger and other things.
Tanger Outlet Center Boosts SE Nashville
This date marks the grand opening of the Nashville Tanger retail outlet center in Antioch, which will officially end the two-decade-old “shopping and dining desert” in southeast Nashville as Councilwoman Joy Styles calls it.
I write about the rebirth and revitalization of the Antioch area in the Oct. 27-Nov. 3 edition of the Nashville Ledger. The Tanger Center has 60-some retail and food shops and there are more to come as the 300-acre Century Farms mixed-use development off I-24 continues to add tenants.
Four hotels are planned and Tiger Woods will open PopStrokes, a golf entertainment center, in Century Farms in early 2025. I also write about all that’s coming to the former location of Hickory Hollow Mall. It’s an exciting time for the area.
Southern Festival of Books On the Move
A huge success! That’s my take on the prestigious Southern Festival of Books’ 2023 move from its downtown traditional Nashville location to Bicentennial Mall. The green space was much more welcoming as the Festival spread out across the park and author lectures were held inside the Tennessee State Museum and Tennessee State Library and Archives.
I was there in both the Authors Circle – Mid Tenn and Sisters in Crime Middle Tennessee booths with more than a dozen local authors, and met folks visiting Nashville from the East Coast to the Pacific. I sold books to women from North Carolina to Los Angeles and Seattle and spoke with a couple from Hawaii, in town to attend a wedding.
The Authors Circle – Mid Tenn had a great time at the Southern Festival of Books and is looking forward to the 2024 edition on the weekend of October 26-27. It is one of several book festivals in Nashville this summer. Look for my story in the May 17 Nashville Ledger.
As always, thanks for reading.
Author’s Note: I went to high school in East Point, Ga., with Frank and recently got a message from him that he’d read my book. I asked for his reaction and here’s what he had to say:
“I have not been not much of a fiction reader the past few years, and haven’t read mystery or crime books since “The Hardy Boy” series long ago. I enjoyed the book. I learned a lot of jargon and terms of the newspaper trade to which I have never been exposed. I enjoyed the shorter chapters because I normally read right before bed. I planned to read a chapter or two a night. Once I reached the middle of the story, I had a hard time quitting and ended up reading 5 or six chapters a night. Well, done, Tom!”
To that, I can only reply, “Thanks, Frank!”
Author’s note: I got this review the other day from fellow Tennessee Screenwriting Association member Stephen Delos Wilson, and thought I would share:
I so seldom read anything in the crime thriller genre that I can’t recall what – if ever – I last read before Vendetta Stone. However, my casual acquaintance with the author piqued my interest and I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised, so much so that I had difficulty putting the book down. The author’s career as a Nashville journalist is evident in both his smooth writing style and his very detailed knowledge of the local culture and landscape. A bonus is the insight this novel provides into the workings of modern journalism. The story’s narrator is a print journalist assigned to cover the hero of the piece, an approach which affords sufficient detachment to provide an objective view of the hero’s mindset as well as those of the chief characters.
It’s not difficult to imagine Vendetta Stone being adapted to film, and I think such a film would be welcomed by a large audience. Anyone who enjoys a good crime thriller as well as a realistic glimpse into Southern life should read this novel.
-Stephen Delos Wilson, 5 October 2013
Tom, Congrats on your achievement, on the handsome website and your book. I will be checking it out soon. Best wishes for the holidays. Peter