First Up: Carl Brookins:
A great many
influences, large and small, affect character development. That’s true for
every kind of literature. My focus, naturally, is crime fiction. I began
writing about a Twin Cities detective. Because one of my literary heroes as a
randy teenager, was the enormously successful Richard Prather, I wanted to
create a character who might accomplish what he did, but from the opposite
perspective.
Prather sold more than
20 billion books in many languages. His detective was Shell Scott, a six-four
former marine whose buzz-cut hair turned white due to his experiences in the
South Pacific. He worked as a private eye in Los Angeles. He would bed any
woman who could walk and he was quick to shoot anyone who looked at him
cross-eyed. After some years I began to realize that the Shell Scott stories
were not only good stories, but also satires of the genre, clever and in some
scenes, excruciatingly funny.
My detective is named
Sean NMI Sean. He’s not Irish. He’s short, barely an inch over five feet and
he’s committed to a monogamous relationship with a wealthy woman who stands
six-feet-four inches in her stocking feet. Sean has qualified with many
different weapons but more often than not he does not carry and prefers to talk
his way out of situations, rather than shoot someone. As he remarks, bullets
cost money and the recoil hurts his elbow. When he get knocked on the head, he
goes to the hospital.
Sean has a thing about
his shoes. When he learned Converse was going to discontinue a certain shoe, he
bought 150 pairs of bright red white-soled tennis shoes so he’d have a supply
for the rest of his life.
All this brings me to
my new characters. GRAND LAC is my latest murder mystery. The aging population
in America deserves an aging detective. Think a seventy-year old Travis McGee.
Alan Lockem, a retired military intelligence officer, makes his living solving
troubles in an unlicensed, often extra-legal way. His companion is a lusty
former exotic dancer, stripper, headliner show-girl named Marjorie Kane, stage
name, Kandy. She is a top-notch off the cuff evaluator of men, a high-level
computer geek and an excellent foil and companion for Lockem.
This pair, by
combining their natural and learned talents are able to right many crimes for
their clients often using their abilities to be overlooked. Think about it.
Retired older people are largely ignored in our society. They are dismissed out
of hand as being of little or no consequence in the society at large because
they are retired and wield little professional influence, unless elected to a
government position. They are essentially invisible, which, when they choose
to, gives them a considerable advantage.
The next time you
visit the mall and encounter an older gentleman or woman shuffling along,
minding their business, pause and wonder what sort of life they may be leading.
You might be surprised.
Win a signed copy of Grand Lac! Leave a comment and a form of contact for your chance to
win.
Before he became a mystery writer and reviewer, Carl Brookins was
a counselor and faculty member at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul,
Minnesota. Brookins and his wife are avid recreational sailors. He is a member
of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Private Eye Writers of
America. He can frequently be found touring bookstores and libraries with his
companions-in-crime, The Minnesota Crime Wave.
He writes the sailing adventure series featuring Michael Tanner and Mary
Whitney. The third novel is Old Silver. His new private
investigator series features Sean NMI Sean, a short P.I. The first is titled The
Case of the Greedy Lawyers. Brookins received a liberal arts degree
from the University of Minnesota and studied for a MA in Communications at
Michigan State University.
Next: Fiona McGier and Her Love
of Minnesota During the Few Months of Not-Snow!
One of my husband's brothers lives in St. Paul, blocks from the
state fairgrounds. Yes, we've gone to the State Fair a few times over the
years. Practically everything you eat is on
a stick, and my husband is partial to the deep-fried candy bars, like Snickers, and the state treasure, Pearson's Nut Logs. I liked the fried
green tomatoes so much that when I got home, I downloaded a recipe.
One time we tromped all over the Mall of America, with an entire amusement park in the center,
including roller coasters. We didn't do that much shopping, but the
people-watching was fantastic! We also
toured the University of Minnesota campus, and ate at a few of the great local
restaurants, like Punch Pizza, which
is thin-crusted Neapolitan pizza made for each individual. They also have
excellent salads. It's a campus treasure.
Usually when we go to Minnesota, it's to camp. We've camped in
every corner of the state. We started in the parks near the Wisconsin border,
since we come from Illinois, but we've been all of the way to the west end of
the state also. Years ago our family joined the Minnesota State Parks Hiking Club, which means that there's a trail
in each park that has a key word at the half-way point. The idea is that you
hike the whole trail, since by the time you find the word, it's just as far to
hike back the way you came, as to finish the hike...plus you'll see new
scenery. Every 25 miles you log gets you a patch (we put them on jeans jackets.)
75 miles gets you a free night's stay in a state park. Even with the many the
years we've been hiking, I think we're at 65 miles. Each trail ranges from 1-12
miles in length. But you will see interesting topography that's unique to each
of the area's you are hiking.
Some parks we enjoyed so much that we returned there a few times.
We don't like campsites that are right on top of each other, so we usually look
for places where the sites have some woods, and therefore privacy, in-between
you and your neighbors. So we've never camped at Itasca State Park, preferring instead to camp at Bemidji, which is about an hour's drive
away. Lake Itasca, of course, is the headwaters for the Mississippi River.
There's even a small wooden bridge, about 6-8 feet long, that has a sign on it
saying that you are now crossing the Mississippi River, in its entirety. Great
photo op for the kids! The beach at Lake Itasca is white sand, and the water is
clear. There is a concessions stand there, and many picnic areas. You can even
rent bicycles and helmets, and hit the many trails that run through the park.
When we got tired of playing at Itasca, we'd drive home to
Bemidji. Downtown Bemidji has a lakefront also, on Lake Bemidji, which is quite
large. There are giant statues there, of Paul Bunyan and Babe, his blue ox,
more picture opportunities for all. Bemidji State Park also has a marsh with a
boardwalk, so you can walk along the nature trail, learning about the many
kinds of plants that thrive there, including a couple of carnivorous ones: the
pitcher plant, and sunspots. And once when we were camping there, we heard lots
of people walking by our site, quite late at night, like 11, which is late when
quiet hours usually start at 10. Our fire was about burned out, so we asked
what the fuss was about. All we had to hear was Northern Lights, and we rounded up all of the kids, took a blanket,
and went to see what was happening. We joined the many people who had put
blankets on ground of the parking lot by the beach, where there were no trees,
and an unobstructed view of the night sky. That night we saw the kinds of
colors that are usually in professional pictures or paintings. It was magical,
the way the colors shimmered and shifted. We felt so lucky to be there to see
it.
But one year when we had our plans all made for a 2-week vacation,
spending a week up at Scenic, in the
north-central part of the state, and the rest of the time at Bear Head Lake, up in Ely, by the west
end of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
(BWCA), the governor disagreed with the state congress over the budget, so
he closed all of the state parks...2 days before the 4th of July weekend! Since our vacation was to start two weeks
later, my husband scrambled to find us a campsite anywhere in the state. That's
how he discovered the Federal parks in northern Minnesota.
We had camped at the various state parks along the west side of Lake Superior (code for coldest water you've ever immersed yourself
in, and swim at your own risk!)
Minnesotans refer to this area as the North
Shore. But this time, after going through Duluth, we headed further north
than we had ever gone before. We went almost all the way up to the border with
Canada. That's how we ended up in Grand Marais: my all-time favorite small
tourist town. A small slice of heaven, and the jump-off point for some of the
best camping we've ever done! Outfitters abound for those who want to do
rougher camping, out in the eastern portion of the Boundary Waters, with
guides. We haven't done that...yet.
The town itself is very arty, with galleries and artist shops all
around you. There is also a small donut shop called World's Best Donuts, and according to my family, and the line that
stretches out in the morning, they certainly are! Nearby is Sydney's Frozen Custard, which is right
on Lake Superior's beach, and features pizzas and burgers, along with the best
frozen custard around. We've eaten at Sven and Ole's, a cafeteria-style pizza
place, with free wi-fi, which is important when traveling with teenagers who are
getting twitchy from camping for
multiple days in an area where there is no cell-phone signal. We've also
enjoyed My Sister's Place, a casual
eatery that has great pizza, as well as burgers and lots of other choices. Many
places serve breakfast, but since we camp along The Gunflint Trail, which heads up into the mountains, we usually
have to drive over an hour to get down to town, and we're not ready to wait
that long for morning coffee. So we choose instead to dine at one of the many
resorts along the Gunflint Trail, especially at the Trailhead Cafe.
In fact, I love being up in Grand Marais so much, that I was
crying one year, as we drove out of the town to head home. That's when I began
to think about how wonderful it would be to fall in love with a native, so you
would have an excuse to move up to Grand Marais permanently. Unfortunately,
whenever I suggest retiring up there, my husband says, "One word: winter." Yes, the weather can be
brutal during the 7 months or so, of winter temperatures. We've even been up
there the end of July, and had it be raining cats and dogs for days, with
temperatures in the low 60's, dipping down to the 40's at night. But still,
it's so beautiful! Great fishing, friendly people, gorgeous nature abounds.
What's not to like?
And if you leave a comment below, I'll wait 2 weeks, and on May
11, I'll pick a winner to receive a PDF of my first Minnesota Romance, For the Love of His Life, so you can
fall in love with Grand Marais also.
Following with Pamela Nowak: Minnesota’s
Dakota Conflict of 1862:
I’m a Minnesota girl, despite having lived
little of my adult life there, and the history of my native state has never
stopped inhabiting my imagination. In fact, it has occupied it almost non-stop
for the past year, as I’ve researched, written, and revised my current
work-in-progress.
Most non-Minnesotans know about the state’s
abundant lakes, its fertile farmland and rich immigrant heritage, and the
sparkling winter snow. Fewer are aware of the major conflict that ripped
through the state while the rest of the country was occupied with the Civil
War.
In 1862, Minnesota was the frontier. Most
towns were situated in the southeastern corner of the four-year-old state. The
eastern division of the Dakota nation, the Santee, lived in villages to the
west or within the two reservations along the Minnesota River (the area of
which had been reduced by half when Minnesota became a state). That spring, the
Homestead Act was passed and settlers began to flood in. Though it seemed annuities
were delayed every year, this time, they didn’t arrive for months because of
complications related to the Civil War. The arrogant, unstable Indian Agent,
Thomas Galbraith, refused to bend the rules and advance food from stored agency
food.
By August, the Dakota people were suffering.
Hunting, which previously supplemented food supplies, was more difficult with
the advance of white settlement. On the Upper and Lower Sioux Agencies, the
Dakota were starving. Tensions brewed. On August 17, four young Dakota men were
denied when they asked a storekeeper for food and told they could eat grass.
The situation grew hostile and five white men were killed.
That night, the Dakota held a council,
debating what to do. Representatives from the five Santee bands and even a few
of the western Teton bands met. Some thought the time was right to force the
whites to leave; others wanted to kill them. The Soldiers’ Lodge agreed that
force was necessary to at least acquire food for the Dakota people. A reluctant Taoyateduta
(Little Crow) led an assault on the Lower Agency the following day, to demand
the release of food stores. They were met with resistant and fighting ensued.
Though most Dakota did not participate,
small bands attacked throughout the state. Some told the settlers to leave and
engaged in battle upon white refusal. Other bands struck without negotiation.
During the next days, towns and settlements along the Minnesota River and along
the western frontier were assaulted. The town of New Ulm was engaged in two
battles and finally burned. Fort Ridgely was attacked. Hundreds were killed or
taken captive—whites, half-breeds, and peaceful “Farmer Indians” who refused to
participate in war efforts.
General Sibley commanded U.S.
forces in counter-attacks, concentrating his efforts on Little Crow. The Battle
of Wood Lake, on September 23, was a decisive defeat for the Dakota and
effectively ended the war. Over the next year, the fleeing bands of Little Crow
and White Lodge are pursued and punitive expeditions are formed.
As fighting dwindled, the
governor of Minnesota declared the Dakota must be exterminated or expelled.
Troops rounded up 1600 Dakota and drove them from the Lower Agency to Fort
Snelling. En route, they were attacked by angry mobs of whites. An internment
camp was formed where 300 died as a result of white attacks, starvation, and
exposure. 303 Dakota men were hastily tried and convicted of participation in
events, murder, and rape and were sentenced to hang. Lincoln commuted the
sentences of all but 39; another was later reprieved. On the day after
Christmas, 38 were hung, the largest mass hanging in the U.S.
Hundreds of captives, freed at
Camp Release in late September, remain refugees, their homes and families gone.
A few other captives are freed in November, ransomed in Dakota Territory by a
group of young Teton men, called the Fool Soldiers, who disagreed with the war.
Dakota who did not fight or surrendered early are equally without homes.
In the following months, nearly
all remaining Dakota were expelled from the state and relocated to new
reservations in Dakota Territory. Only four small settlements remained. News
accounts and published accounts of attacks abounded, most highly sentimental
and reeking of exaggeration. Bounties were offered for scalps of Dakota people.
In the years since, Minnesotans
and the Dakota people have struggled to reach understanding with 1987 declared
a year of reconciliation.
Growing up as I did, just a few
miles from Lake Shetek, one of the settlements attacked, this was always a
troubling piece of history. I went to cabin sites, Fort Ridgely, the Lower
Agency and heard about what happened at Lake Shetek. First person accounts were
collected from the Shetek survivors about twenty-five years after the events
and preserved by the Minnesota Historical Society.
A little over a year ago, I
decided the Shetek stories needed to be told—but not in a dry history. I wanted
to write a novel so readers could experience what happened. Thus began my
research journey. I read the sensationalized news accounts, the secondary
reports, and primary documents and I investigated Dakota culture and talked to
tribal members. I tried to get a sense of how reported history might not
reflect reality so I could represent the Dakota fairly. Using census, land, and
vital records, I traced the lives of the settlers before they arrived at
Shetek.
Then, I created personalities,
dialogue, motivations, and events around all that to make them come alive. My
story follows the five white women who survived, exploring their dreams and
hardships, the defeats of life, and the strength each developed that would
allow them to survive the events of 1862. It is their story as well as a story
of the Dakota and of Minnesota. Pick up your copy once it’s published by visiting my links below.
Until the release, I will share one
of my previous books, CHANGES, which centers on the Trial of Standing Bear—the
court case which declared Native Americans to be people—and the involvement of
a fictional part-Dakota librarian. Comment and I will randomly select one of
you to receive a free digital copy.
Thanks for letting me share a bit
of history with you all. I hope it provides a new and different glimpse of
Minnesota.
www.pamelanowak.com
Colorado Book Award, WILLA Finalist,
HOLT Medallion & HOLT Awards of Merit,
RMFW Writer of the Year, Booklist Top 10,
Denver Area Bestseller
(info provided/released by authors)
I could keep going about how much I love
the northern part of Minnesota. But I put that love into a romance novel,
For The Love Of His Life, where the area is like one of the
characters. A bad-boy action-movie star with a drug and drinking problem,
is sent up there by his new director to dry out to get ready to star as
one of the founders of Grand Marais. He meets the director's cousin, a local
woman who rejects him because actors Lie for a living. As he grows to
love the serenity and beauty of the area, he discovers that he's been floundering
his way through life, and he's fallen in love for the first time in his
life--with someone other than himself. I wrote this book because I was so
sad leaving to head back home a few years ago, that I wanted a reason to stay
up there. If I can't be there, at least I can live up there with
my characters! 
