Author: Andi Marquette

Andi Marquette once wanted to be a seafaring pirate. But she realized that could be a problem, growing up in the Rocky Mountain West and Southwest. So she became an editor, anthropologist, and historian instead. But that, too, didn't satisfy her weird cravings for stories and strange realms. Now, she's a writer ensconced in Colorado and when she wants to go pirate-ing, she just makes something up.

Sunday readin’ and watchin’ tip

Well, okay, it’s actually a Sunday readin’ tip and a Monday watchin’ tip.

Tomorrow (Monday) begins the new season of the detective show Rizzoli and Isles, on TNT. The show features Boston detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles. It’s a great buddy cop show, and actresses Angie Harmon (Rizzoli) and Sasha Alexander (Isles) have a really excellent rapport. Not since Cagney and Lacey have I been as thoroughly entertained by a chick buddy cop show as I am by this one.

So what’s in store for the new season? Here you go!

All rightie, here’s a cool thing, and feeds right into the “readin’ tip” aspect of this here blog. The series is based on books by author Tess Gerritsen. Now, don’t think that means the TV series follows the book series exactly. It doesn’t. The first in what could be called the loose “Rizzoli and Isles” series is Gerritsen’s The Surgeon (2001), in which Detective Jane Rizzoli is introduced, working with Thomas Moore. Boston-based, they’re trying to head off a serial killer who seems to have targeted a doctor who survived an attack by a serial killer elsewhere and two years earlier. Rizzoli is not the primary character in this book, but she is a strong secondary character.

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You’ll find Maura Isles introduced as a secondary character in one of her standalone medical thrillers, 2007’s Bone Garden as well as in the Rizzoli and Isles books.

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So what’s reading Gerritsen’s mysteries like? She’s dark. That is, it’s like reading Patricia Cornwell‘s brilliant first Scarpetta books. Grim but engaging, with accurate medical details because of Gerritsen’s own background — she’s a physician. The TV series has a dark edge, but you’ll find light touches of humor and family that maybe don’t get expressed as readily in the books. I like what TNT has done with Rizzoli’s character, and I like the softer edges of some of the episodes. With regard to the books, Gerritsen is a strong writer, employing excellent craft with an eye for character and dialogue. But it’s not light-hearted work, so if you’re expecting the TV show in book form, you will be disappointed. Instead, think of the TV show as a nice alt-universe for two strong Gerritsen women. Enjoy both books and TV show, for different reasons.

Happy reading, happy writing, happy watching!

by Categories: Books, Coolness, The Awesome, TV showsTags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

Zombie Saturday and some food for thought

Hi, all–

A couple of quick things today. First, if you’re looking for a slightly different take on a zombie tale, try Gina Ranalli’s Praise the Dead (2010).

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Gina’s a bizarro/horror writer who injects her work with sly little winks and quirks. In “Praise,” you’ll meet Andrew, a kid who discovers he has the power to bring things back from the dead. The problem is, they’re not quite right when that happens. But Andrew’s ability leads him on a scary power trip and a showdown with a group of people who have to stop him. For more info about Gina, you can find her here, at her website.

And the other thing I was thinking about has to do with overall health of not only you, but the nation, especially if you want to be fighting zombies effectively. Overall health of the nation is something that concerns me personally.

New stats were just released, and as usual, the American South is the unhealthiest and most obese region in the country, but it’s not the only unhealthy part. America, as a whole, is unhealthy. Mississippi is considered the worst off; almost 34 percent of residents there are obese. Almost 32 percent of the residents of the state of Alabama are considered obese. That’s A THIRD. 9 of the 10 fattest states in the country are in the South.

There are also racial, ethnic, and class disparities at play here, and access to foods that are beneficial rather than damaging. Here are some of the other issues that a fat and unhealthy nation contributes to.

Click on to see.

Continue reading →

by Categories: Inspiration, Random WTF stuff, Things that might make you thinkTags: , ,

Follow the Evidence

Hi, kids–

Well, there’s been a major freak-out over the Casey Anthony verdict (as I knew there would be), but I’m also hearing some really hateful and ignorant things being tossed around about the case and the jurors. Just a little reminder about manners, friends. Sure, disagree with someone. And sure, disagree strongly. But threats? Really? Behaving like that doesn’t make your case hold up that well, either. Just a friendly tip from the etiquette gallery.

That said, I write a character who is an Albuquerque homicide detective named Chris Gutierrez, and in her first book, State of Denial, she has to solve a murder. A suspect presents early, but Chris — like any good detective knows — must prove the case. That is, she must find the evidence that clearly demonstrates a link (hopefully, more than one link) from the dead person to the suspect, and between what happened to the dead person to the suspect. She has her suspicions, but she also knows what happens in court is contingent on the quality of the evidence she collects and the procedures she employed to collect it. There must be little, if any doubt, that the evidence clearly links a suspect to the victim. As a writer of mysteries and police procedurals, I have to get this stuff as accurate as I can. I’m trying to write a convincing detective who does a good job. In order to do that, I have to educate myself about police procedure and criminalistics.

I want to be very clear about something here. I noticed that many of the “polls” circulating on the Interwebs ask the following question: “Do you believe Casey Anthony is guilty?” I think that’s the wrong question to ask about this case. It is my belief that clearly, something happened in the Anthony household (which has been called “dysfunctional” in the trial, with accusations that Ms. Anthony was abused by her father) that led to the death of Caylee Anthony. The question remains as to what specifically that was. The question, I think, that should be asked is whether you think there was enough concrete evidence to convict Ms. Anthony on a charge of 1st degree murder.

To prove 1st degree murder, you have to prove that a suspect planned out a murder with malice ahead of time, and then acted out that plan. I don’t think the prosecution had that concrete evidence, and the jury had to assess whether or not the evidence the prosecution provided was strong enough to lead them to conclude that Ms. Anthony plotted her daughter’s murder, carried it out, then disposed of her body.

So let’s chat about this a bit more, yes?

Continue reading →

by Categories: Random WTF stuff, Things that make you think, Writing tipsTags: , , , 1 Comment

Awesomely cool writing tip

This comes from one of my fave bloggers and writer-guys, Chuck Wendig. He can be a little raunchy with the tips, but he’s always right on.

This week, Chuck enlightens us with 25 tips for writing dialogue, and I gotta tell you. I think dialogue can make or break a character, pacing, and a story. Here are some of MY thoughts on that.

What I really like about Chuck’s tips here is that he nails the importance of good dialogue and its role in plot. Here’s a taste:

3. Sweet Minimalism
Let’s get this out of the way: don’t hang a bunch of gaudy ornaments upon your dialogue. In fiction, use the dialogue tags “said” and “asked” 90% of the time. Edge cases you might use “hissed,” “called,” “stammered,” etc. These are strong spices; use minimally. Also, adverbs nuzzled up against dialogue tags are an affront to all things and make Baby Jesus pee out the side of his diaper, and when he does that, people die. In scripts, you don’t have this problem but you can still clog the pipes with crap if you overuse stage directions. Oh, heavy dialect and sland? Just more ornamentation that’ll break the back of your dialogue.

6. Shape Determines Speed
Short, sharp dialogue is a prison shiv: moves fast ’cause it’s gotta, because T-Bone only has three seconds in the lunch line with Johnny the Fish to stitch a shank all up in Johnny’s kidneys. Longer dialogue moves more slowly. Wanting to create tension? Fast, short dialogue. Want to create mystery? Longer, slightly more ponderous dialogue. Want to bog your audience in word treacle? Let one character take a lecturing info-dump all over their heads.

And there are 23 more, just waiting for you to peruse
RIGHT HERE.

Happy writing, happy reading!

by Categories: Cool blogs, Cool stuff to read, Coolness, Inspiration, The Awesome, Writing tipsTags: , , ,

Cheesy action movie tip

Just saw one of my fave action flicks again–and probably one that most of you have never heard of: The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), starring Geena Davis. Samuel L. Jackson plays the awesome sidekick. Some of you might remember her. Thelma and Louise, anyone? Beetlejuice?


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“Kiss” is the story of Samantha Caine, a teacher in a small PA town with a nice husband, nice daughter, nice life. Some kind of accident left her with amnesia, so she doesn’t remember who she might have been prior to all of this. Until one day, she’s slicing veggies and some muscle memory kicks in and she goes all kinds of ninja with the veggies. So she thinks that maybe she was a chef. But then some other stuff happens, some nightmares, and then it all comes back. She was a super-trained spy, super bad-ass. And sure enough, her past is trying to catch up to her. She enlists the help of low-rent detective Mitch Hennessey (Jackson), and the two of them make a great pair.

This is a rollicking, action-packed (and yes, violent) ride. It’s in the spirit and tradition of Bruce Willis’ Die Hard movies, and Davis and Jackson basically get the crap kicked out of them and still keep on going, like the Energizer Bunny.

Tell you what, Geena Davis makes a seriously awesome action hero. The dialogue in this is snappy, funny, and the rapport between Jackson and Davis is great. I wish those two had made more movies together. So yeah, this is from 1996. I know, it’s kind of dated. But it’s a heck of a fun film if you like action.


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Happy watching, and happy Fourth!

by Categories: Movies, The AwesomeTags: , ,

Independence Day, U.S., and reading tips

Hi, folks–been kinda crazy here. Didn’t get to a zombie tip this week, but I DID watch the movie Zombieland again. Love Woody Harrelson’s character. You can tell he had a hell of a good time with that role.

At any rate, I know a lot of folks are doing the long weekend stay-cation thing (and maybe vacation, if you can afford it). But also keep in mind what this holiday’s all about. It ain’t about shopping, or buying new furniture, or retail sales. If you’ve got kids, remind them why we observe this holiday. It ain’t just a nice weekend to have a nice BBQ on.

I’ll help with that. Read on…

Continue reading →

by Categories: Books, Cool stuff to read, History, Inspiration, Things that might make you thinkTags: , , , , , , , ,

snazz up your wardrobe

with some groovy tees from my webstore, Funk Munkee Junction!

You’ve read my mysteries. Why not wear ’em? Here’s a sample:

Huh? Huh? SEXY, right? You’ll also find the designs for State of Denial and The Ties that Bind over there, too. And you’ll find some cool-ish designs that promo Funk Munkee Junction, an outlier of Andi Land. 8)

Heads up–the book covers and photo work best on cups and tees, and stick to lighter colors on the tees. The ringer tees look pretty cool, too.

And there’s also some personal artwork from a previous life available. This photo of Chimayó, New Mexico, looks pretty cool, I think:

I’m working on getting some images for my sci fi ready, too. But in the mean time, maybe you’ll find something you like.

Happy reading, happy writing, happy dressing!

by Categories: Coolness, Inspiration, Random WTF stuff, T-shirtsTags: , , , , , ,

Tips on writing stronger characters

Hi, all–

Usually on Sundays I provide some reading material or share with you a title of an article or book I’m reading. But since I am a writer, I also like to share tips for those of you who, for whatever reason, thought being a writer was a good idea. Welcome to my circus! I thought it was a good idea, too! LOL

Anyway, since we’re on this journey together, here are a couple of articles from Writer’s Digest that might help you create stronger, more nuanced characters. Plus, there’s another link to a blog that fellow writer Clifford Henderson did on it. And readers, if you ever read something and the writer makes it look easy, I hope you can appreciate the amount of work that went into that tract. Because it’s when everything’s working properly and smoothly that you know it’s the best kind of writing. Most writers work hard to achieve that — I don’t know if I have, yet, but dang it, I keep trying.

Want some more?

Continue reading →

by Categories: Cool articles, Cool blogs, Inspiration, Things that make you think, Writing tipsTags: , , , , , , , 6 Comments

JD Glass rocks! And she’s got a new project!

Hi, kids–

Detracting from my Saturday apocalyptic ramblings to let you know about a super-cool project from JD Glass, the ultra-cool and edgy writer of books like American Goth and Punk and Zen.
 

source: Bold Strokes Books

JD is a modern-day Renaissance woman. Not only does she write (she’s a 2006 Lambda Literary Awards finalist), but she’s also the lead singer in the band Life Underwater AND she’s an artist of the drawing variety. She’s also an EMT. See what I mean? JD is one of the hardest-working women in and out of showbiz, and probably one of the nicest people I’ve had the good fortune to meet. She’s also got a ragingly cool new project in the works.

If you’re not familiar with her writing, check out Punk and Zen, which is a great lead-in to her latest project, called Core, a rock n’ roll novella with the soul of a graphic novel and the heart of a garage band.

source: Outlines Press

I have this feeling that you’re going to want to check this out, because what it does is what a really cool DJ mix does: two seemingly disparate elements seamlessly fused together into one helluva performance reading experience. Reading and looking through Core is like going to see your fave punk band at New York’s CBGB back in the day, when you wore your leather biker jacket and your black Converse high-tops with your skinny jeans and ripped Ramones shirt and you freakin’ spazzed your head near the stage, screaming “I Wanna be Sedated” at the top of your lungs. It’s your favorite artsy postcards taped right next to your concert ticket stubs, a novella/scrapbook/picture book that I guarantee will make you dig in your closet for your Converse and Wayfarer shades.

You can pre-order your copy now, via PayPal.

And for those about to rock, I salute you!

by Categories: Books, Cool stuff to read, Coolness, The AwesomeTags: , , , 1 Comment