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.
I finished Vendetta Stone this morning about 3 am. The book is FANTASTIC. Fast moving, easy to read. Thank you. My Memphis daughter and I spent Easter in Nashville with my Nashville daughter & granddaughter and we ate breakfast at the Loveless Café on Saturday before Easter. You were there signing copies of your book. I talked to you about a book I read on “Machine Gun Kelly” living in Memphis. I mentioned the author was impressed I saw a blurb in the newspaper about his book.
Anyway, thank you for your book. I hope you sell a million. I will pass it on to my daughters. The Nashville daughter should really enjoy it as she identifies with the locations you mention throughout the book.
Don Bennett
Hey, thanks, Don! Glad you enjoyed the story. I need to get to Memphis soon. If you have any suggestions, know a book club, etc., I’d love to hear back from you.
Saw this review posted today by singer Demetriss Tapp, a friend I made on the ‘Nashville’ set, and thought I would share:
VENDETTA STONE..A Novel by Tom Wood…
I finished it a couple of nights ago and I realize it’s a novel because Tom says it is…..or is it..?
Gripping crime-thriller that will take you tearing through the streets of Nashville..(nothing at all to do with music)..witnessing a cat and mouse game between Jackson Stone, ad exec, and his wife’s killer…
Tom allows….No!!….Tom forces you, to crawl up into the mind of a serial killer and ride with him…that alone will scare the wits out of you…makes you start looking at the people around you in a whole different light.
I thought I had it figured out at the end..ok, it’s a NOVEL…THEN..came the Epilogue!!!…and my head was totally messed up again.
At Tom’s request, I just wrote a review at tomwoodauthor.com (it’s on the reader review page) and I shamelessly begged for a series of Jackson Stone…This could easily turn into a major film. Tom has been in Nashville for years but is originally from Greensboro, NC. and I’m proud to support a fellow Tarheel..!!
JUST BUY THE BOOK..!!!!!! Also, available @ Amazon and, no..Tom did not ask me to say any of this…
Thanks Tom…I’m honored to have a signed copy.
Demetriss/Nashville
Tom – Wonderful story. As I read your words, I could see him. He was a fantastic man.