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Melding the Real Now and Fiction

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:48:36 GMT

Writing is often a chance to escape. But, if writing contemporary mysteries and thrillers, wouldn’t it be a crime to erase the world in which the characters are interacting?

I do not get up on a soapbox and preach politics, religion, or social issues. But they do exist. If my goal is to bring the people of the pages to life, well then, these people must have beliefs and opinions. They do not live in a vacuum. The characters need to have passion, to love, to hate, and most of all, to live.

My writing often reflects the issues of the Long Past or the Real Now. In Love in a Time of Hate , I take the reader back to Reconstruction New Orleans. Reconstruction always sounded like too humdrum of a title for an era that was defining, tumultuous, brutal, and chaotic. My novel focuses on the fight for social and economic equality that took place at that time and that place. The book is raw, brutal, and pulls no punches. It was a tough time, and my protagonist, Emmett Collins, is fighting for something worthwhile against forces of hatred and oppression.

My contemporary novels, those in the Real Now, take on many social issues. Just a few so far are the impact of Big Pharma, cults, genome editing, Covid, private interest groups, and the separate laws and rules for the ultra-wealthy.

The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed has Max and the band taking on a morally corrupt billionaire with aspirations to the presidency with swirling foreign complications. The sequel, EveryThing vs Max Creed , out in May, finds the enemy to be a social media mogul looking to combine his information gathering sites into world domination. Impossible to believe? I think not.

I believe that the popular opinion is that writers, much like a Thanksgiving dinner gathering, should avoid pitfalls of social issues, politics, and religion. The opinion of your protagonist promises to alienate half the readers, well, maybe I offend half the people, but I doubt it is half the readers. Still, it is stepping onto a precipice to take a stance with the opinions and values of my protagonist. But how can they be real people of the pages if they don’t have opinions and values?

My current work in progress is tentatively titled Mainely ICEd. You get the gist.

What say you, readers and writers? Would you rather shy away from the Real Now? Or do you feel that the people of the pages resound stronger and with greater impact for having opinions and values?

Writing Goals for 2026

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 13:38:45 GMT

Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, success is the result of hard work and does not happen overnight. I wrote my first novel in 1991 and twenty-nine short years later, in 2020, it was my first traditionally published book. I am Cuba. Last August, my eighteenth book was published. Three historical fiction novels, thirteen mysteries, and two that combine historical and mystery. That takes sitting in the chair and getting the work done. This dedication also requires organization and goals.

What are my writing goals for 2026?

I plan on publishing three books this year. EveryThing vs Max Creed , Book 2 of the Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed is out on May 21st and 1955 , Book 1 in the Jazz Jones & January Queen will pub on October 13th. I’m hoping also to have an August release of Mainely Iced , the 7th in the Mainely Mystery series. Although the inspiration, the writing, and the editing is done for these books (except Mainely Iced ), there is plenty of work left to be done.

EveryThing vs Max Creed is a modern-day Robin Hood thriller where Creed and his band of people try to bring justice to those wronged by the ultra-wealthy in a world where the law overwhelmingly favors those with money and power. He is bound only by the laws of humanity and not those of the legal system. It is the second book in the Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed where Max and his band take on a social media mogul who is trying to enact chaos to grab the reins of world power.

A breathless thrill ride that will keep your heart pounding long after the last page is turned.

I have begun the marketing phase by emailing libraries offering four different kinds of presentations.

COST TALK

Matt Cost will talk about the process of writing a book with emphasis on his latest, EveryThing vs Max Creed , the second book in the Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed. He will talk about where ideas come from, the research process, the writing itself, and of course, editing. Cost will read a short excerpt from the book and field questions.

Two Authors in Conversation (TAC)

Matt Cost will share the stage with another author, and they will discuss their writing process and latest books. A nod will be given to the IREAD national library summer theme touching on how writing and reading is like how farmers nourish crops, sparks imagination, and grows the culture.

Writers on Writing (WOW!)

Mat Cost will moderate a panel of authors speaking about the writing process with an emphasis on their latest books. A nod will be given to the IREAD national library summer theme touching on how writing and reading is like how farmers nourish crops, sparks imagination, and grows the culture.

Mystery Making Panel

The final possibility would be a panel of authors doing a Mystery Making event with audience participation where they take suggestions and make a mystery right in front of your eyes.

I am in the process of sending these options out to over a hundred libraries. If you would like for your library or organization to feature one of these events, please reach out to me. Once EveryThing vs Max Creed is available for purchase (with an ISBN), I will start reaching out to bookstores to do signings and talks.

I hope to do more book clubs this year and will actively be pursuing that option as well. Next month, I have my first of the year at Illume in Newburyport, Massachusetts. I only have one other book club set up at this point, at the Richmond Public Library in May.

Last year I did sixty-two various events and hope to do more this year.

My writing goals will be to finish Mainely Iced, write the third Jazz Jones & January Queen Mystery, and write my second Bob Chicago Mystery. That is if I can get a contract for a three-book series with the first one, Bob Chicago Investigates . I also hope to sign a contract for three more of the Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed. Maybe a couple of short stories.

Those are my goals for 2026. Library events, podcasts, bookstore signings, sign two contracts, and write and edit three books. Write on!

2025 By All the Numbers (BAN)

Sat, 27 Dec 2025 10:00:32 GMT

2025 in Review

2025 was a good year for me.

This year, as of tomorrow, I will have completed 62 writing presentations of one sort or another. Let’s break that down into categories.

23 COST TALKS at libraries.

11 PODCAST interviews.

9 Bookstore Signings.

8 Festivals, Fairs, and Sidewalks.

3 Mystery Making Events.

2 Crime Conferences.

2 Television Interviews.

2 Noir at the Bar.

1 Interview for a Book Launch (Jule Selbo & 7 Days).

1 Judge of a writing competition (Joy of the Pen).

It was an off year for publishing, as only two of my books were published. The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed was released on April 8th and Glow Trap pubbed on August 13th. The interesting piece of this is that Max Creed is the first book in a new series, The Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed and Glow Trap is the final book in the Clay Wolfe Trap series. The truly interesting aspect of these two books is that it is quite possible that they will weave together at some future point in time….I did get a short story into an anthology. Dead Men Don’t Kiss appeared in Celluloid Crimes in August. I wouldn’t rule out the possibilities that Elton Connor, a 1950s Hollywood PI, might just get his own series one of these days.

I wrote three books this year.

Bob Chicago Investigates is looking for an agent with hopes of going to the big dance. Bob is a retired schoolteacher, recently divorced, and struggling mystery writer who gets mistaken as a real PI and takes a case looking for a stolen katana, which turns out to be a priceless Japanese sword originally gone missing at the end of World War II.

Max Creed Takes the Spice Road is the second in the Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed slated to come out with Level Best Books in May of 2026. Max and his band take on a social media mogul who has developed a terrifying new algorithm called Triangulation meant to cause anarchy.

1956 is the second book in the Jazz Jones & January Queen Mysteries set in 1950s Raleigh, North Carolina. The first, 1955, is slated for an October of 2026 release, and this one will publish in October of 2027. Jazz Jones, with January Queen, is hired to prove the innocence of a civil rights leader arrested for embezzlement and is filled with shadowy figures, Irish gangsters, and J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI.

I was asked to join the Crime Wave committee this year and helped plan a rousing crime conference in September that incorporated the exciting new feature of Round Tables for conversation about various writing topics to go along with the regular components of panels, speakers, workshops, and networking opportunities for writers and readers.

And most importantly, I met many new friends in the crime writing community, both writers and readers—people who make all the work so special and rewarding in my life.

That is my 2025 in a nutshell. How about you? What did the year hold for you and what makes it all worthwhile?

Write on!

Glow Trap. The Final Trap.

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 15:09:29 GMT

Glow Trap. The Final Trap.

Glow Trap. The Final Trap.

I currently have four crime series out in the world. Two contemporary Maine, one historical, and one thriller series. I have another series set to debut in October of 2026. And there is a sixth series being shopped around.

That is a serious amount of series. Sorry. But on August 13th, something new happened. While sequels have been piled on one after another in my mystery novels, for the first time, I have ended the sequence. Glow Trap, published eight days ago, is the Final Trap.

In an interview once, I was asked how I knew it was time to end a series. My answer at the time was that I have no idea, I have never done that. My reasoning now is that Clay Wolfe as we know him just plain seemed to have run his course. It was time to say goodbye to Port Essex, Baylee, Crystal, Westy, Murphy, and Cloutier.

Glow Trap ties together and unravels quite a few threads all at the same time. A documentary film crew wants to make a movie based on Baker & Wolfe Private Investigators. A man with an alias washes up on shore dead. A trio of suspects included a retired spy, a former gangbanger in the WITSEC program, and a wealthy art thief hiding out in Port Essex.

In a blast from the past, the idea is floated that the death of Clay’s father, mother, and grandmother when he was just a child was not just an accident. That a man who Mack Wolfe had put away for dealing drugs had reached out from prison and snuffed their lives in revenge.

The pharmaceutical billionaire that Clay built a case against in Wolfe Trap has the charges dismissed due to technicalities that most likely involve bribes and blackmail. Is he ready to let bygones be bygones or is he set on a path of retribution?

Goodbyes are always difficult. But it is time to say goodbye to Port Essex.

The fireworks are so explosive, the action so packed, and the suspense so tight—it only seemed right to cap the climax and call it complete.

Glow Trap. The Final Trap. Or is it?

The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 15:05:00 GMT

The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed

The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed

They tell us, sir, to not chase trends in the writing business. But often something pops my writing impulses from the headlines, and I engage. I dig in. I explore and research and learn. And then the words appear on the screen, the printer spits them out, and we have the makings of a book.

Two years ago, I wrote The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed about a billionaire playboy who has political aspirations, perhaps inclined in that direction from powerful forces beyond his knowledge. It publishes in April and is the beginning of a new series with a new publisher.

Max Creed is a fictional person created to bring justice to those wronged by the ultra-wealthy in a world where the law overwhelmingly favors those with money and power. He is bound only by the laws of humanity and not those of the legal system.

When Sevyn Knight hires Max Creed and his disciples to right the wrongs done to her father at the hands of billionaire playboy, Rupert Hastings, the game is afoot. Creed must enmesh himself into the world of the immoral tycoon in order to destroy him, but the temptations of sin and the allure of the pleasures of the rich and famous tease the very fabric of his being.

Aided by his business manager, John Little, the former assassin, Scarlett, the tech wizard Scads, the attorney, Marian, and the financial guru, Tucker, Creed races against time to stop Hastings from becoming all powerful as murky figures appear on the darkest edges of his fiefdom.

A breathless thrill ride that will keep your heart pounding long after the last page is turned.

The fact of the matter is that it takes time from typing the first sentence of a new book to publication date. I write diligently and will finish the first draft of a book in four months, but then take a couple of months to edit. I recently submitted a new book, 1955, the start of another series, to Level Best Books. It took five months to get accepted, even though I am an established author with them now. I have been told it might sneak into publication at the end of 2026, or maybe 2027.

The timeline on this is four months to write, two months to edit, five months to get accepted, and twenty-four months to publication. All in all, from the beginning of the book to its publication date is three years (give or take a month). This series has less complications due to the length of time because it is a historical fiction PI mystery set in 1955. There are not many changes to the events of seventy years ago, unlike writing contemporary thrillers.

In The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed, Max Creed and his band of not so merry people will fight a crusade to fight evil and worse from seizing power in a world determined by the super wealthy. The beauty of Max is that he is not forced to play by any set of rules. He will give the justice system their chance to set things right, but if they prove incapable, he will take matters into his own hands.

Sometimes, breaking the law is the only way to achieve justice. Do you agree?

Breathing Life into the People of the Pages

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 09:36:48 GMT

How does one go about creating characters? I would be most interested to hear how other writers go about the process as well as thoughts from readers on what they like and don’t like about character development.

I first get an image in my mind of who this person is going to be, and this is often modeled upon traits that I possess, those that I admire or detest in others, and conflicting flaws that I find fascinating. Sometimes I scroll the internet to find a picture of somebody who fits the blurry image coming into focus in my mind and put it into my notes, character sketch, and outline document.

Underneath this image I start building the description. Tall, short, slim, thick, eye and hair color, and so on. I also like to give characters a descriptive defining trait like the nose of a falcon’s beak or some such thing. But a description is much more encompassing than physical traits. Who are they and how did they become that? Humor, foibles, wit, trigger points, compassion, attention to detail—well, you get the picture. A real, live, breathing human being.

The Protagonist: I have five different protagonists in my books, three out there in the world, and two not yet born.

Goff Langdon is the star of my Mainely Mystery series. He is a PI as well as the owner of a mystery bookstore. Langdon’s father left at an early age, making him the man of the house before he was even a teenager, and a father to his younger twin brothers. This experience shapes who he is and how he interacts with the world.

Clay Wolfe is a PI and a lead in my Port Essex Trap series. He returns to his small coastal hometown in Maine after becoming jaded on the job as a Boston homicide detective. He is a snazzy dresser, perhaps to cover up his insecurities, and has a difficult time committing to a love interest due to his own tragic beginning being orphaned at age eight.

Brooklyn born Hungarian 8 Ballo is a naturally large and strong man who has trouble finding clothes that fit. He is ‘woke’ long before his time (1920s), is a product of WWI, and consorts with gangsters as easily as celebrities, even though he is an honest and average person.

Max Creed will grace the pages of my new series debuting in April of 2025. His life takes a horrific twist when his bride is killed on their wedding day by an assassin hired to take her life by a billionaire who Max tried and failed to bring to justice for his crimes. After a downward spiral, Max re-emerges as a modern-day Robin Hood looking to bring justice to those wronged by the ultra-wealthy.

Jazz Jones is my latest creation. He is a white PI in 1950s Raleigh who was raised by his aunt and her Black husband. This shapes his life as he has one foot in each of two worlds in that turbulent time, and at the same time, belongs in neither. It will be interesting to continue to breathe life and bring to life this man who has his own emotional baggage, some of it foisted upon him, and some of his own doing.

The Antagonist: The five PI mystery and thriller series that I have created all need an antagonist, none of whom make the jump from one book to the next. That means that I have now fabricated sixteen villains. Men and women who are just plain bad and evil, but sometimes complicated and with redeeming qualities. They are the most fun to manufacture. A man with rancid breath like the smell of burning tires. That sort of thing never gets old.

The Regulars: I like to cloak my protagonist in the warm embrace of a supporting ensemble of friends who throw their efforts into helping, bailing out, saving, and doing whatever necessary to help our hero win the day. They, along with the protagonist, continue to evolve and grow from book to book as the traits not visibly seen continue to be added to complete them as living, breathing, human beings.

The Nameless: And then there are those who have not risen high enough in the ranks to get a name. Sometimes they get nicknames based on their physical features. The Mountain. Mouse. Scarface. Crooked teeth. And sometimes, these same people grow and gain a name. The deli owner Tony. The newspaper journalist Marie. Real people who refuse to leave the pages like Dorothy Parker.

Creating life is one of the best perks of being a writer. I’d love to hear input from writers and readers on what they think works and doesn’t work in breathing heart and soul into the people of the pages.

Tracing Genome Editing Back to the Eugenics Movement

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 11:22:02 GMT

In my Clay Wolfe book, Mouse Trap , I traveled down the rabbit hole into the world of genome editing, which some consider Wonderland. On the one hand, it is a place of wildly creative science trying to banish disease and disorder. On the other hand, it is a process that could lead to the demolition of human uniqueness, or what Wonderland represents, a world of absurdity, irrationality, uncertainty and disorder.

Genome editing is a process in which the DNA of individuals can be changed at the embryo stage to edit traits such as height, eye color, and just about anything you can imagine using a technology called CRISPR-Cas9. The FDA frowns upon this being used on human subjects, but as often is the case, the science has outpaced the laws on putting any real teeth in restrictions on this being done.

It could be used to make super soldiers. It could be used to change skin pigmentation. Do you want your child to have DNA traits common among geniuses, athletes, musicians, or artists? Mouse Trap posits that there are labs out there helping, for a very healthy fee, you to accomplish these aspirations for those goals for your unborn child.

At the time of researching that book, it led me to the eugenics movement of the early 20th century. The primary place of research in the U.S. was at Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island, New York. It started in 1904 as a record gathering facility under Charles Davenport, a zoologist, and would quickly expand to a large part of the Carnegie Institute trying to declare certain individuals as unfit due to mental health, gender, race and other things that would lead to the involuntary sterilization of at least 60,000 people in this country.

This movement funded by the wealthiest Americans, backed by a majority of politicians, spearheaded by the lead scientists and medical innovators, was the foundation of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party. Of course, when the horrible atrocities of the Nazi’s and Hitler were revealed to the world, people began to distance themselves from the Eugenics Movement and it went dormant for years, but is now reappearing full-cycle in the form of genome editing.

The research I did on Mouse Trap led me to the information that is the basis for my upcoming Brooklyn 8 Ballo book, City Gone Askew . 8 is confronted by the possibility, in 1924, of a horrifying triumvirate of the Eugenics Movement, the resurgence of the KKK, and the emergence of the Nazi party. Coming to you July 31st.

Pirates in Maine!

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 20:32:31 GMT

Pirate Trap

Dixey Bull is generally considered the first pirate in Maine. As these things so often go, even if he dreamed of being a pirate when he was a kid, living the life of a buccaneer of the seas was not his first intention. But, given his moniker, perhaps becoming a corsair was merely his manifest destiny.

In the early 17th century, Bull started life off as an honest merchant, but when a roving band of French men attacked him along the coast of Maine, moored in Penobscot Bay, and relieved him of trade items of knives and beads as well as the furs he was bartering them for, something clicked in his brain. The raiders left him his small sailing vessel, but nothing else.

Destitute and desperate he visited several English settlements and recruited fifteen men to be in his band of pirates. They started out ransacking small vessels, expanded their treachery to settlements along the coast, and then The Dread Dixey Bull and crew disappeared into thin air, never to be heard from again.

Almost one hundred years later we come across Black Sam Bellamy. Much like Bull, Bellamy started off as a sailor, but he was with the British Royal Navy. Stationed in Cape Cod, he’d fall in love with a young lass named Goody Hallett. It is not quite known whether she was already married, and her husband disapproved (funny that), or she was too young, and her parents rejected Bellamy, but either way, he felt it necessary to go find his fortune so that he could return and take Goody away.

He initially went looking for the treasure of the Lost Spanish Armada of 1715, but when that didn’t work out, he turned to piracy. In a little over a year, he became the wealthiest pirate ever, capturing the loot for up to fifty-three different ships.

And this is where it becomes interesting. Loaded down with loot, he came to Maine. He stopped in Pemaquid Point before continuing to Machiasport with the thought of creating a Pirate Utopia, a democratic community of buccaneers enjoying the splendors of their booty. He had one task left to do first, though, and that was to retrieve his love, Goody Hallett, from Cape Cod.

Unfortunately, his ship was caught in a fierce storm and sunk, and he and all but two of his men went down with the ship.

And this is where my latest Clay Wolfe adventure begins. One of those survivors carries with him a treasure map that suggests that the stolen riches of Black Sam Bellamy were actually buried/hidden in the area now known as Port Essex. This map is uncovered in a King James Bible by two antique dealers who hire Clay and Baylee to help them find the treasure.

Of course, it is not that simple. Pirates, Motorcycle Clubs, and Sex Doll Manufacturers round out the mix of those hunting the treasure.

Pirate Trap publishes March 27th. Dead men tell no tales. Or do they?

The Holidays

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 18:19:09 GMT

The Holidays

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens is writing about the French Revolution, but he might as well have been writing about the Industrial Revolution that was his time period, or maybe even the world of today, if he was an oracle in line with George Orwell.

All three of these eras are ages of paradox. The rich live safe and leisurely existences far removed from the realities of most of the population. The French Revolution, Industrial Age, and Now are times of extreme wealth and of extreme poverty, a polarization of the whole truth, with a middle class plunked down on the lower side of the stratosphere.

And this best of times and worst of times is also representative of the paradox of the holidays. Whether you celebrate Bodhi, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Hannukah, Yule, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or something else, it can be a wildly chaotic time. For those with money, family, friends, and love—it can be a wonderful celebration of life. For those struggling to pay the bills, it can be an enormous financial weight similar to cement shoes in a river. Many people feel alone and isolated as the world revels around them.

The holidays are a time where it is stressed that is important to ask for help when help is needed. Whether it be money, sadness, remorse—it is essential to realize that you are not alone. And this means that those on the other side of the paradox, those with the means and the relationships of love, are ready to extend a hand.

The holidays should not be the worst of times for anybody, not with so many of us living the best of times. None of us should live alone on a mountain top, nor need the visit of three spirits to wake us to the true meaning of the holidays. Nobody should feel the isolation of the Grinch nor the miserliness of a Scrooge.

Let us make this the best of times and the season of light. We are all one people. Happy Holidays.

Write on.

The Evolution of a Book

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 12:05:36 GMT

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WRITE ON!

Mon, 01 May 2023 19:17:01 GMT

When is Enough Enough?

When is enough enough? That is a question we struggle with on a daily basis in America. We are born into a culture that always wants more. I am a product of this exposures and experience of my edifying enrichment. It is the American way to always want more.

The Algonquin people told tales of the wendigo, a malevolent spirt that appeared as a man that had feelings of insatiable greed and hunger, and in their telling, had a desire cannibalize other humans. The more flesh the wendigo ate, the hungrier it grew, wanting more, more, and still more.

This has come to be symbolic of any person, group, or movement with an overwhelming appetite and greed for ever greater consumption of food, power, wealth, or material possessions. This is the America that we live in, a place where enough is never enough. We need bigger houses, fancier cars, more clothes, appliances—the latest in technology and gadgets. More.

This voracious hunger that can never be fulfilled is something that I often see and most certainly have experienced as a writer. There is always a desire for more, a reaching past what is had, to spy upon what could be next. As writers, we need to sometimes hit the pause button, and stop to smell the proverbial roses.

I’ve always wanted to be a writer, or have since the age of eight, anyway. There were many bumps along the way. I wrote my first manuscript when I was twenty-two years old, fresh out of college. I am Cuba. A mere thirty-one years later, that book was published, creating my first traditionally published novel.

I might interject that this was a rather patient time for me, and many roses were smelled, perhaps too many. But it was not for a lack of wanting. And when that first book came to fruition, my hunger grew ravenous. I signed a contract with Encircle Publications. Then came the cover reveal. Then the ARC. Then it was launch day. Book signings. I had written, published, and was selling copies of my own book. But I wanted more.

Here, I will discuss the potential more that was desired, without commenting upon which rung of the ladder I have currently reached. In my mind, I have already reached the top, and realized that the peak might not be quite as exciting as the climb. You know, that old thing, it’s the journey and not the destination that matters.

A writer writes a book. Edits it. Feels pretty good about it. Decides to shop it an agent or maybe directly to a publisher. A publisher decides to offer a contract, the deal is signed, and roughly a year later, the writer, now an author, receives ARCs in the mail. A fabulously exciting milestone that is only eclipsed by book release day, which coincided with a launch party in which the newly crowned author is praised by family, friends, and perhaps a solitary stranger from the wild he wanders into the celebration by mistake.

Okay, so Velma had a pub date of April 12th. Maybe this will be the one? The one what?

A book has been written, edited, sold, published, and launched. Then what? The author wants to be recognized for their work in terms of awards and sales. A modest award is realized by a company that nobody has ever heard of, and a trickle of sales leak out, the author following the Amazon Author Central page to see how the book is doing, even though the algorithm developed by Amazon has almost nothing to do with actual sales.

More. This is not enough. The author wants more and bigger awards. Increased sales. Slamming their way through social media sites to promote their baby, attending expensive conferences to network and brand themselves and their book—scrapping and scraping to gain notoriety and fame, the author manages to win a more substantial award, one that people have actually heard of, and sales tick up another notch.

But this is not enough. The author wants to win an Edgar, a Booker, a Nobel, or a Pulitzer. They want to open the New York Times and see their name on the list, and if really greedy, they want that name to be on the very top. The author wants the major conferences to woo them, offer them to be the guest of honor, wined and dined, and treated like royalty.

But what happens when there is no more more to lust after? When the awards have piled high and the sales are on par with Stephen King?

And this one author, wonders, if perhaps, it is not just enough to write. Write on.

The Roaring '20's

Sun, 19 Feb 2023 21:25:15 GMT

The Roaring ‘20s was quite arguably the most exciting time in the history of the US. It was a time just after the Great War, women recently having got the right to vote, Prohibition, speakeasies, rum runners, gangsters, baseball, jazz, moving pictures, and a period of fantastic writers producing books.

Paris has always been spoken of as a hot spot in this time period for all of this, but New York City was filled with legendary figures and events like no other place and time in the entire world. Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Round Table, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and the start of The Great Gatsby, Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees VS the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers, Coleman Hawkins, Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong and so many other monumental jazz musicians; these are just the tip of the iceberg that was New York City in the 1920’s.

When I decided to combine my love of history with my passion for mystery, thus, I needed to look no further than a setting of Brooklyn in the ‘20s. It didn’t hurt that I have a daughter living in Bed-Stuy there in the city, giving me the opportunity to research as well as visit. I decided to base my PI, 8 Ballo, in the next neighborhood over in Bushwick, based off a graffiti tour I participated in, and Velma Gone Awry; a Brooklyn 8 Ballo Mystery , set in 1923, was born.

The starting point is a German businessman coming into the dingy PI office of 8 Ballo and hiring him to find his missing flapper daughter. 8 will learn through the course of the search that the twenty-five-year-old Velma is an incredibly talented young lady. And perhaps she is missing on her own volition, hiding from something in her past. It is also possible she’s been abducted by the Jewish gangsters Bugsy Siegel and Mayer Lansky.

The investigation leads 8 to befriending Dottie Parker, conversation with Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, meeting with Coleman Hawkins and Smack Henderson, and being threatened by Siegel and Lansky. And that is just the first day. In the days that follow, other legendary figures such as Babe Ruth, Ethel Waters, and Mae West will be encountered in the search, all having connections to the intriguing Velma.

8 Ballo got his curious moniker when his mother was certain that he was going to be born a girl that she had the name Margrit picked out, but no male name. When he was born a boy, and his dad was out to sea, she merely wrote the number 8 down on the birth record, meant as a placeholder to be changed later, but never was. He is college educated, a veteran of the Great War, is in his mid-30’s, and has relationship issues.

He is aided in his investigation by a colorful group who represent the melting pot that is 1920s Brooklyn. His best is Pearle Hill, a business entrepreneur he has known since they were boys playing stickball on the streets around the turn of the century. Marty Feldman is a journalist for the Brooklyn Eagle and Stephen McGee is a cop in Bushwick. 8 occasionally sees a woman by the name of Asta Holm, until the mysterious Velma complicates things.

Where is Velma and why has she gone awry? Follow 8 Ballo through the streets of New York City in the Roaring ‘20s to find the answers to these questions. Velma Gone Awry is publishing on April 12th. Read on. Write on.

Bringing Characters to Life

Sat, 28 Jan 2023 19:54:20 GMT

Should characters in books have political leanings? I mean, most people do. Some people claim that they hate politics, politicians, and never vote because they’re all crooks. But that is a political belief as well. Most of the rest of the population are just as adamant in their beliefs, be it left, right, or somewhere in the middle.

I understand that you don’t want to alienate a segment of the population. But the same can be said for just about any belief that a person has. Religion. Football fan. Soccer fan. Support Immigrants. Oppose Immigrants. Eat meat. Vegan. The list goes on and on.

It is my belief that creating a character in a book is like taking a store mannequin and bringing it to life. To do so, you have to provide a hairstyle, clothing, and mannerisms But this is still merely scratching the surface. If you want to truly bring this mannequin to life, you have to go deeper and reach the core essence.

What is the backstory of my protagonist? Sure, Clay Wolfe has commitment issues. But why? The writer has to know this, and share it with the reader, sometimes subtly, sometimes bluntly. His parents died in a car crash when he was eight, is the short version, and the longer version continues to leak out over the course of four books now, with a fifth due in December.

Goff Langdon in my Mainely Mystery series votes Independent, sometimes Democrat, and never Republican. Is that wrong? I welcome discourse, of course, on whether his political beliefs are right or wrong. The argument can certainly be made that Republican beliefs are more valid than that of Independents are Democrats. The question is: Is it wrong for him to have an opinion?

There seem to be two major rules of thumb of what not to do in a book. Don’t kill a pet, especially a dog or cat, and don’t allow your protagonist to have a political belief system. I am good with the first but question the second.

When a writer starts writing to not offend, then the creative process has been stymied. I don’t think we should use fiction to get on a high horse and use our novels as a podium to preach our politics, but to omit something as major as political leanings from our characters seems to be taking a step back to become an inanimate and thoughtless mannequin.

Audio Books & Movies

183:686774830 (Matt Cost) — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 21:02:25 GMT

Audio Books & Movies by Matt Cost

I have recently become engaged with the process of turning my novels into audio books. This has been a fascinating process and has created a few questions in my mind.

I believe writers and readers have long thought it was almost impossible to make a good adaptation from book to movie. This is not an easy process as I became aware when I went to write a screenplay on my novel Wolfe Trap. You must strip away just about everything and then allow the director to recreate it in their vision.

Thoughts inside the heads of characters disappear. Description of people and places are peeled back to expose the underlying structure but not the flesh and bones of the people nor the richness of the place. The story created by the author is denuded and left to the mercy of the elements in a Maine winter.

I can think of several movies that were good, maybe even as the book, but certainly not better. The Shining with Jack Nicholson was pretty darn good, but did it exceed the writing of Stephen King? In mystery books to film you’d have to include Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Big Sleep (1946), and The Maltese Falcon (1941).

Perhaps the best book to flick adaptation was The Godfather. Francis Ford Coppola worked closely with Mario Puzo to create an honest replication of that towering and intense novel. I’d be glad to hear feedback from others on what books to movie adaptations they think were wildly successful.

I recently heard an author saying they didn’t care if the movie made from their book was any good or not (I can’t remember who it was). Their reasoning made perfect sense. Either way, they got paid for the rights. If the movie was a bomb, everybody would say the book was better. If the movie was a success, everybody would say good book, good movie. Win, win.

This brings us to audio books which is much easier to adapt, as everything from the book goes into the audio. But there are other factors to consider. For my Trap books, I have a narrator who is pretty straight forward. Jason Arnold. I like his approach and his voice is a perfect match for Clay Wolfe.

He has only a slight change of inflection, accent, and dialect from character to character, which works well for Maine. I’ve heard male narrators who try to sound like females and vice versa and it is usually a disaster. In a perfect world, you have a male and female narrator, or an entire cast, but that is not my reality.

Wolfe Trap is now available, Mind Trap will be next month, followed by Mouse Trap, and then Cosmic Trap.

And then there is the dreaded mispronunciation. My narrator for Mainely Power did a marvelous job, and nailed toughies like Topsham, but thought that Bowdoin College was pronounced like it is spelled, with an oin on the end. This has hopefully been corrected to the release next month of book two, Mainely Fear.

It turns out the narrator for my At Every Hazard historical about Joshua Chamberlain during the Civil War is a pastor. This worked fine for that particular book, but it raised problems for the sequel, Love in a Time of Hate, as that book has graphic violence, sex, and language. It looks like Emmett Collins’ voice will be changing between books….

My upcoming book, Velma Gone Awry, coming in April, posed another set of difficulties. It is set in the melting pot of Brooklyn in the 1920’s. The protagonist, 8 Ballo, is a second generation American, so his voice is pretty straightforward. But you also have the Irish cop, the Jewish journalist, the Black entrepreneur, as well as a whole host of Italians, Germans, and eccentric characters.

For Velma Gone Awry, a narrator with a wide range of voices was necessary, and I absolutely love the job that Colin Martin is doing. It should be available in the middle of January. His range is wonderful and brings the book to life. I find myself thinking, oh, that’s how so and so sounds. Are there any audio books that do that for you? I’d love to hear.

I am quite excited to announce the paperback release this past week of the fourth book in the Clay Wolfe Trap series, Cosmic Trap. This time, a government task forces hires Clay and Baylee to investigate unexplained aerial phenomena over the skies of Port Essex.

Write on.

Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAPs)

183:686774830 (Matt Cost) — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 19:45:37 GMT

What is that in the sky?

On Aug. 4, 2020, Deputy Secretary of Defense David L. Norquist approved the establishment of an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force.

That’s right. UAPs are the new UFOs.

On June 25th, 2021, the task force presented a preliminary report that there is definitely something going on in the skies, but they have no idea what it is.

The Pentagon confirmed the authenticity of pictures and videos gathered by the Task Force, purportedly showing “what appears to be pyramid-shaped objects” hovering above the USS Russell in 2019, off the coast of California, with spokeswoman Susan Gough saying “I can confirm that the referenced photos and videos were taken by Navy personnel. The UAPTF has included these incidents in their ongoing examinations.”

I believe that the government is trying to obfuscate what is happening above our heads so as to not create alarm. The task force has gone through various increasingly confusing name changes over the past two years and have had little luck in getting to the bottom of hundreds of sightings.

The phenomena of UFOs began during WWII when pilots began to see unexplained oddities in the sky that they called ‘foo fighters’.

This was followed by the Roswell incident of 1947 in which debris was found at a ranch in New Mexico. The government claimed it was the debris of a weather balloon. People did not believe them. Some conspiracists believe the wreckage was spirited to a hush-hush military site in southern Nevada called Area 51, where study of the aliens and their craft continues to this day.

From 1952-1969, the US government investigated 12,600 mysterious sighting through a program called Project Blue Book. This investigative committee was disbanded and there was no official program looking into UFOs or UAPs for almost fifty years.

On November 14, 2004, a UAP was recorded about 100 miles southwest of San Diego, CA. The USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, including the missile cruiser USS Princeton, were performing drills. Among the group were two F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter pilots. During the training, they were suddenly asked to proceed to new coordinates for a possible real-life situation. Before this, a radar operator in the group had been picking up anomalous aerial vehicles (AAVs) — the Navy’s term for UAPs — for several days at an altitude of over 80,000 feet.

However, after detecting AAVs at lower altitudes, the two pilots were sent to intercept the objects. At first, the pilots couldn’t see the AAVs, but they did notice a disturbance in the water. Suddenly, a Tic Tac-shaped aircraft appeared, moving quickly and erratically before speeding off. While the encounter wasn’t captured on video, a different pilot was able to record the aircraft leaving. This report was buried for almost twenty years, until the implementation of the Unexplained Aerial Phenomena Task Force in 2020.

This and 143 incidents have so-far been unexplainable by the UAP task force. They have recently listed five purposes of the program. Number four is to mitigate and defend US airspace. Possible explanations include foreign aircraft (Russia, China), secret US programs, or aliens.

It would seem that UFOs or UAPs are real and fascinating. And now, for the shameless plug. This is also the basis for the December 21st publication of my fourth Clay Wolfe/Port Essex mystery, Cosmic Trap. Clay, Baylee, and gang are tasked with being the local liaison for two UAP Task Force members investigating multiple sightings in the skies of Port Essex.

About the Author

Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.

Cost has published four books in the Mainely Mystery series, with the fifth, Mainely Wicked, due out in August of 2023. He has also published three books in the Clay Wolfe/Port Essex series, with the fourth, Cosmic Trap, due out in December of 2022.

For historical novels, Cost has published At Every Hazard and its sequel, Love in a Time of Hate, as well as I am Cuba. In April of 2023, Cost will combine his love of histories and mysteries into a historical PI mystery set in 1923 Brooklyn, Velma Gone Awry.

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.

The Ties Between Eugenics and Genome Editing

183:686774830 (Matt Cost) — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 19:43:20 GMT

From Mouse Trap to City Gone Askew

The Ties Between Eugenics and Genome Editing by Matt Cost

Ken Burns is on to something. But I beat him to the punch. In his new documentary, The U.S. and the Holocaust, he delves into the influence that America had on the Nazi Party and Adolph Hitler through the study and implementation of the Eugenics Movement.

This past April, I published Mouse Trap , which I began writing in December of 2020. As my mysteries often do, the plot began as one thing and morphed into another beast entirely. As I dug further into the topic of genetic engineering, currently being experimented on with mice, I realized how much bigger this topic really was.

The stated goal is to eradicate disease such as diabetes, cancer, etc. The reality is that the first genetically altered baby was born in the U.S. twenty-two years ago. Since then, new technology, such as CRISPR has been designed to improve this process, and while the FDA frowns upon genome editing on live human embryos, there is little teeth to their position, as the science is outpacing the law.

The reality is that the science is out there to create babies with specific eye color, hair color, (skin color?), body shape, increased mental facilities, and improved physical prowess. With the backing of a wealthy benefactor, the very real possibility of a secret lab creating superbabies does exist.

But this is not something new. It all started in the late 19th century and really began to pick up speed at the turn of the century. In the United States of America. With the Eugenics Movement. In my current WIP, City Gone Askew , 8 Ballo becomes enmeshed in this fraudulent science that attempts to eradicate criminals, the feeble minded (as they termed it), and undesirables such as Blacks, Jews, Italians, and many more.

On the surface, the way toward achieving a purer (their word, not mine) American race was to be through forced sterilization and stringent immigration laws (the 1924 Reed-Johnson Act). These scientific and medical procedures and experiments were supported by many wealthy families of the time such as Carnegie, Harriman, Rockefeller, and Ford. The few dissenting scientist and doctor voices were drowned out in a tidal wave of support.

In Mouse Trap , Clay Wolfe discovers a secret genetic engineering lab, which has come full circle from the Eugenics Movement that 8 Ballo is thrown into in City Gone Askew. Discovering and learning about fascinating subjects such as this is one of the pieces of writing that enthralls me the most, even it often scares me to the core.

When is it time to say enough when trying to improve humanity? When does it go too far? What, really, is an improvement? These are difficult questions that we face today, but they certainly are not new. Being knowledgeable about eugenics and genetic engineering are far too important to not pay attention to.

Next up? Unidentified Aerial Phenomena coming this December!

Summer Selling

183:686774830 (Matt Cost) — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 14:05:09 GMT

Selling books in Maine

I like to write. That’s why I do it. But I also like to sell. Promote. Market. Make people aware of what I’ve written and let them decide on whether they are interested. And there is never a better time to do this than summer selling.

Summer selling includes bookstore events, library events, craft fairs, music festivals, and just about any opportunity that comes along to talk about, sign, and sell the books I’ve written. Sometimes it is with other writers, sometimes it is just me, but I am never alone.

I began my summer selling in June, three days before the official start of summer, at the Maine Blues Festival in Lisbon Falls. What could be better? I spent the day listening to fantastic blues music, working on my tan, and trying not to be blown away by the insistent wind. There were food vendors, my publisher, Eddie Vincent, came to hang out for the day, and I managed to stay away from the beer tent. And, of course, I sold books.

July has brought variety, starting with my hometown of Brunswick’s 2nd Friday Artwalk! I was given a sidewalk location right in front of the band, Blue Fuse Gypsy Swing, sat next to a gentleman clattering out poems on an ancient typewrite, and was joined by friend and fellow author, Anne Britting Oleson, who danced a number with my dad! And, of course, I sold books.

The day after the Artwalk, I went to Books in Boothbay. I was joined in the drive by friend and fellow author, BJ Magnani, who was spending the night with my wife and I. Books in Boothbay is an author signing event broken into morning and afternoon sessions, and of course, it is wonderful to interact with the readers, but it was a true joy to see and talk with so many wonderful writer friends. I walked in the door and chatted with Kate Flora, Jule Selbo, and Bill Anthony before I even reached my assigned table. The day was filled with too many people to mention all the names, but it was, indeed, fabulous. And, of course, I sold books.

I’ve also had two library events during the month, one in Boothbay Harbor, and the other in Readfield, Maine. Both were outside, had wonderful audiences, and were hosted by terrific librarians. My Clay Wolfe/Port Essex series is loosely based on Boothbay Harbor, and it gave me an opportunity to poke around and get a feel for the town. The climax of my 2023 release, Mainely Wicked, takes place in the town of Readfield and is horrific, so it might be the last time I’m invited back, but it was a wonderful time. And, of course, I sold books.

Sherman’s Maine Coast Bookshops have invited me to do upcoming signings, one on July 30th in Topsham, and the other on August 13th in Damariscotta. They will be inside, but will give me the opportunity to interact with the staff of two separate stores of the best bookshop in the world. There will be another 2nd Friday Artwalk in Brunswick. I also am planning an event at my local golf club, with music, cocktails, and food. I will be attending Killer Nashville, a book conference, where my mystery, Mainely Money, is a finalist for the Silver Falchion Award in the mystery category. The common theme? And, of course, I will sell books.

Summer in Maine is a grand thing. Especially when I’m selling books.

THE THREE ACTS OF A NOVEL ARE MUCH LIKE SEX

183:686774830 (Matt Cost) — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 16:38:06 GMT

By Matt Cost

The three acts of a novel are much like sex. Foreplay, building tension, and climax. In doing a radio interview yesterday for The House of Mystery (https://www.alanrwarren.com/house-of-mystery-radioshow), I realized that writers and readers might be interested in the particular model that I’ve adopted and tweaked for my own writing.

I further break up the three acts of a novel into eight parts. Much like if I were to try to run a mile (yes, just one), I wouldn’t be able to do it if I didn’t break it down into smaller parts, the same is true in writing a book. It’s a massive undertaking and can be daunting if you think of the blood, sweat, tears, failure, success, and ultimately, critique, that you will face on this journey. It’s enough to keep one scrolling through Facebook instead of writing.

Therefore, I break my books into eight equal parts. I’ve decided after much research that the length of a mystery novel would best be 88,000. Some would say shorter, some would say longer. This works for me.

I’m also a sprinter regarding writing. I like momentum. Because of this, I have to go back and flesh out characters and scenes when the first draft is complete. In my WIP, at the midpoint of the book Mainely Wicked, I just realized who the antagonist is. This means that I’ll have to go back and build their character with subtle references and tweak the plot line.

Thus, my model suggests that I’m going to write 80,000 words, and then add 8,000 words with the edits. I’m hoping this isn’t too much math for the readers and writers out there. Don’t worry, this actually simplifies things. This means that I have eight equal parts of 10,000 words each. Every eighth of the book, every 12.5%, every 10,000 words, something must happen.

This breaks my novel into eight short stories in effect. While I generally start with an idea, I usually have no idea where I’m going until I get there. Sometimes I have a general destination in mind, but no idea of how I’m going to get there. Occasionally, I just have no idea. So, I try to come up with the action that drives the book every eighth of the way through. Take the first checkpoint, the inciting event. What is it? I establish that, and then I work toward it.

Let’s look at those eight pieces of pizza equally cut and what each has on it for a topping.

12.5%—or 10,000-words

Now, I don’t fish, but even I know that you if you don’t throw a hook in the water, you’re not going to catch anything. At the beginning of every book, I throw a hook in the water, just to get the attention of the reader (sorry for comparing you to a fish). I will then propel the story toward the first checkpoint, the one/eighth- or 10,000-word mark. This is the inciting event that really gets the novel rolling, the point where I hope to have hooked the reader into not being able to put my book down.

25%–or 20,000-words

This is what the story is about, even if the main character has not yet grasped all of the intricacies of what is going on, the dye is now cast. At this point in the story, the life of the protagonist is completely changed. This is also the transfer point from the end of the first act and into the second act of the book, or the point of rising tension.

37.5%–or 30,000-words

This is known as the first pinch point. It is here that the antagonist flexes their muscles and makes a statement. The protagonist begins to get an inkling of the truth of the nature of the conflict in which they have become embroiled. For the first time, the reader is aware of the stakes, and that this might not be all nice and pretty. The game is on.

50%–or 40,000-words

The midpoint of the mystery is the moment when the protagonist stops taking punches and starts fighting back. Up until this point, they have been on the defensive, but here, something happens to put them on the offensive. They are no longer being reactive but become proactive.

62.5%–or 50,000-words

Okay, the antagonist must flex their muscles again, and show that this is no gravy train. Just as the protagonist starts to get a handle of the nature of the conflict, they get a slap to the face, a punch to the gut—a rude awakening that this is going to be a dogfight.

75%–or 60,000-words

It all falls apart. The antagonist gains the upper hand, and the protagonist is up a tree, with the bears circling below and no help in sight. Things are not looking good. The fish has slipped the hook. This propels us into the third act of the book and hurtling toward climax.

87.5%–or 70,000-words

This is when the protagonist regroups and begins to make plans to turn the tables and reach a successful conclusion. The cards are now all on the table, the stakes are set, and the final confrontation looms.

98%–or 78,400-words

Okay, I tweak things a bit here to leave a little room at the end for the summary. A little pillow time to recap the events and outcomes of the book. But at this mark, climax occurs, and the protagonist (or the antagonist) wins the day in a spectacular fireworks fashion that leaves the reader gasping at what just happened.

Do I follow this model to a T? Of course not. There are blemishes, hiccups, and detours along the way. But, as Robin William’s says in Good Will Hunting, those imperfections are the good things. I hope I’ve inspired some, given insight to others, and welcome any feedback, or pillow talk, on what I’ve set forth here today.

Matt Cost is the highly acclaimed, award-winning author of the Mainely Mystery series. The first book, Mainely Power, was selected as the Maine Humanities Council Read ME fiction book of 2020. This was followed by Mainely Fear, Mainely Money, and Mainely Angst.

I Am Cuba: Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution was his first traditionally published novel. He had another historical released in August of 2021, Love in a Time of Hate.

Wolfe Trap and Mind Trap were the first two in the Clay Wolfe Port Essex Trap series. Mouse Trap, coming out April 13th, is the third in this series.

Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.

Researching and Writing Place

183:686774830 (Matt Cost) — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 16:25:41 GMT

by Matt Cost

It took me far too long into my life to realize the significance of place in the writing process. It started off by writing a historical novel about Cuba without ever having gone there. It then evolved into beginning a mystery series set in my hometown of Brunswick.

Not that there is anything wrong with Brunswick. I set my Mainely Mystery series here because I know the town so well. I’d had children in Brunswick. Owned businesses in Brunswick. Taught school in Brunswick. And now I write in Brunswick.

This was why I chose to write about Joshua Chamberlain, as he was a Brunswick legend, and I had easy access to Bowdoin College and the Chamberlain House for research. But then I realized that it would help to visit the battlefields upon which he fought, as well as Washington D.C. where he spent a chunk of time during the war.

And visiting these places was fun. All in the name of research, of course. I frequented and toured Gettysburg, the battlefield where Chamberlain became a legend, so much that my son ended up going to Gettysburg College. No, really.

In 2016 I finally got the opportunity to go to Cuba. I developed an itinerary that followed the revolutionary war trail of Fidel Castro and his band of bearded guerrillas. For two weeks I crisscrossed the island nation and gained a deeper sincerity about the place I was writing about. It was trudging to the top of the Sierra Maestra through the jungle and rugged terrain in a 95° day with extreme humidity and this was in December that I fully realized how 300 men were able to repulse and turn back an army of 10,000 soldiers.

Cuba was such an eye-opening experience that I chose New Orleans as the setting for my next historical. Sure, the theme of writing about the fight for social equality in the south after the Civil War fascinated me, but New Orleans was purely selfish. It gave me and my wife the opportunity to vacation there, researching place and setting during the day, enjoying food, drink, and music at night. What a bewitching place, both past and present.

With my Clay Wolfe/Port Essex series I chose something new. I created a fictional town set on the coast of Maine. Sure, it might have a loose basis in Boothbay Harbor, but very loose. The town is the figment of my imagination. I’ve created a map of Port Essex, and every time I add a place or street, on the map it goes. Over the past couple of years, it has grown, and become real.

What’s up next? I’ve decided it would be fun to merge the two writing loves of histories and mysteries into one. Velma Gone Awry; An 8 Ballo Mystery , will be coming out next April and is about a PI in 1923 Brooklyn. As my daughter lives there with her wife now, I thought it’d be great setting to visit and research at the same time. And what an astounding place Brooklyn was in the 1920’s. Speakeasies, jazz, writers, baseball, the shimmy, and a plethora of legendary people.

The long and short is we as writers can pick our place. Whether it be our hometown, places we’d like to visit, or creations of our own—place is of our choosing.

Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.