Grab Bag
At this house the grab bags are filled with a multitude of candy from trick-or-treating. Too much around to be good for anybody. So I’ll offer a literary grab bag, which is much healthier.
Another wonderful author has gone to the great writer’s retreat in the sky. Michael Crichton has left us at the young age of sixty-six. His books range in theme, but always are heavy on science, and the havoc it can wreak. From his first, The Andromeda Strain, to Airframe, to Jurassic Park, his books were interesting, provocative, and sometimes even controversial. Each of his large and best-selling list is well-written and a joy to read. I can’t help but think that he and Tony Hillerman, not to mention mystery’s own Elaine Flinn, who left us last week, are finding a whole new world of things to observe and tell stories about. Perhaps C.R. has met up with them. We all know he would be able to hold his own in any conversation, and is probably making God laugh as we speak.
This weekend I will be in Wisconsin at the lovely Murder and Mayhem in Muskego conference. The wonderful Jon and Ruth Jordan of Crimespree Magazine put this on annually with the Muskego Public Library, and it’s a weekend jammed full of fun. I’m honored to have been invited to appear this year, and will be interviewing Caroline and Charles Todd, who write the Ian Rutledge series, which takes place just after WWI.
If any of you have young boys who are into reading and athletics, I just found a fabulous new series called the Winning Season series, by Rich Wallace. The books feature all different sports, and are heavy on the details of the game. My nine-year-old loves them. Even though they don’t have pictures.
Wherever you are, I hope you’ve been having the same gorgeous weather and fall colors as we’re enjoying here in NW Ohio. I feel blessed to be surrounded by so much beauty, which includes the trees, the harvested fields, and the huge sky — day and night.
Well, that’s it for the grab bag. Hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as chocolate. (as if) Have a great day!
