05/29/2024 – Hello and Happy Summer from Curious Penman! Spilled In VA was held on Friday, May 24, 2024 at Jirani Coffeehouse at 9425 West St in Manassas VA at 6 pm, and it was a blast! Curious Penman and the host of Happy Hour Café were among those in attendance. Curious Penman and the host of Happy Hour Café were among those in attendance. Curious Penman read excerpts from an upcoming book in the Knight Shade series to be published later this year. Jirani Coffeehouse is a regular hub of writing activity during fourth weekends, with Happy Hour Café moving to Jirani from 4-6pm every fourth Friday, followed by Spilled Ink VA from 6-9pm. Happy Hour Café is a place for aspiring writers to meet and discuss work, accompanied by exercises to encourage creativity (Bring pen and paper). Spilled Ink VA is an open mic venue for new and established writers to road test new material in front of a built-in audience. And beginning in June, the Java Press Book Club will host monthly get together venues at Jirani every Fourth Saturday at 12:45 pm! If you’re looking to grow your writing skills, meet fellow scribblers, or just see what there is to offer, be at Jirani Coffeehouse every Fourth Friday at 4 pm and every Fourth Saturday at 12:45 pm!. Catch you on the flipside!
Tag: crime
Ian Fleming Biobite
Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Ian Fleming, born May 28, 1908.
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.
To read more, go to Wikipedia.
To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.
Dashiell Hammett Biobite
Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Dashiell Hammett, born May 27, 1894.
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), The Continental Op (Red Harvest and The Dain Curse) and the comic strip character Secret Agent X-9.
Hammett is regarded as one of the very best mystery writers. In his obituary in The New York Times, he was described as “the dean of the… ‘hard-boiled’ school of detective fiction.”
To read more, go to Wikipedia.
To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.
Arthur Conan Doyle Biobite
Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Arthur Conan Doyle, born May 22, 1859.
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.
Doyle was a prolific writer; other than Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle’s early short stories, “J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement” (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the Mary Celeste.
To read more, go to Wikipedia.
To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.
Ben Elton Biobite
Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Ben Elton, born May 3, 1959.
Benjamin Charles Elton is a British comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. He was a part of London’s alternative comedy movement of the 1980s and became a writer on the sitcoms The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as continuing as a stand-up comedian on stage and television. His style in the 1980s was left-wing political satire. Since then he has published 17 novels and written the musicals The Beautiful Game, We Will Rock You, Tonight’s the Night, and Love Never Dies, the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. His novels cover the dystopian, comedy, and crime genres.
To read more, go to Wikipedia.
To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.
Dorothy Salisbury Davis Biobite
Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Dorothy Salisbury Davis, born April 25, 1916.
Dorothy Margaret Salisbury Davis was an American crime fiction writer.
Davis, an adopted child, was born in Chicago and raised in Illinois by Margaret (Greer) and Alfred J. Salisbury. She worked in Chicago in advertising as a research librarian and as an editor of The Merchandiser, prior to taking up fiction writing. She was married to Harry Davis, the character actor, from 1946 until his death in 1993. She published many novels and short stories. Among them are two sets of series novels, but she mainly wrote standalone novels.
To read more, go to Wikipedia.
To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.
Dana Stabenow Biobite
Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Dana Stabenow, born March 27, 1952.
Dana Stabenow is an American author of science fiction, mystery/crime fiction, suspense/thriller, and historical adventure novels.
Many of Stabenow’s books are set in her home state of Alaska, where she was raised by her single mother who lived and worked on a fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska, and feature numerous descriptions of Alaska’s geography, geology, weather, and wildlife.
Stabenow received a BA in journalism from the University of Alaska in 1973 and, after deciding to try her hand as an author, later enrolled in UAA’s MFA program.
Her first novel, Second Star, was bought by Ace Science Fiction in 1990. It was followed by two other science fiction books. Her first Kate Shugak mystery, A Cold Day for Murder, won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original in 1993. Her 2011 Kate Shugak mystery, Though Not Dead, received the 2012 Nero Award.
To read more, go to Wikipedia.
To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.
Flannery O’Connor Biobite
Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Flannery O’Connor, born March 25, 1925.
Mary Flannery O’Connor was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries.
She was a Southern writer who often wrote in a sardonic Southern Gothic style and relied heavily on regional settings and grotesque characters, often in violent situations. The unsentimental acceptance or rejection of the limitations or imperfections or differences of these characters (whether attributed to disability, race, crime, religion or sanity) typically underpins the drama.
Her writing reflected her Roman Catholic faith and frequently examined questions of Catholicism-defined morality and ethics. Her posthumously compiled Complete Stories won the 1972 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and has been the subject of enduring praise.
To read more, go to Wikipedia.
To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.
ScribbleCon ’24
02/14/2024 ‑ Greetings one and all from Curious Penman! It was that time of the year again, where local writers, poets, and storytellers get together and share their passion with interested participants at ScribbleCon, a writing event that welcomes students of all levels and anyone who loves writing. ScribbleCon ’24 was held at Benton Middle School on Saturday, February 10, 2024, and it was a blast!
The keynote speaker, Maryel Stone, opened the event with a talk on “Strong Female Characters,” Curious Penman brought back his crime fiction workshop, “Creative Crimeology: Fun with Fictional Felonies,” John Dutton of Spilled Ink VA presented a workshop on how to write horror fiction with “Let’s Talk Nightmares,” and Andrea Yarbough gave conference goers something to chew on with her workshop “Table Tales: The Art of Food Narrative,” just to name a few of the 18 learning experiences to be had. ScribbleCon also had tables for local authors to promote and sell their literary wares during the lunch break. The event closed with Spilled Ink Jr., where kids could take the stage and share their stories with a ready-made audience.
We here at Curious Penman certainly look forward to next year!
#WriteTheWrongsforCrimeFiction!
Auberon Waugh Biobite
Today’s Happy Birthday shout out goes to Auberon Waugh, born November 17, 1939.
Auberon Alexander Waugh was an English journalist and novelist, and eldest son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was widely known by his nickname “Bron”.
After a traditional classical education at Downside School, he was commissioned in the army during National Service, where he was badly injured in a shooting accident. He went on to study for a year at Oxford University.
At twenty, he launched his journalism career at the Telegraph Group, and also wrote for many other publications including Private Eye, in which he presented a profile that was half Tory grandee and half cheeky rebel. As a young man, Waugh wrote five well-received novels, but gave up fiction for fear of unfavourable comparisons with his father.
To read more, go to Wikipedia.
To check out “Poems in the Key of Carlin,” or to see what else Curious Penman has to offer, check out our Browse Books page.
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