I have always loved mysteries. I voraciously read mysteries, I enjoy television shows with a mystery or someone who solves them (have you seen Lydia Poet?), and I love narrating them.
The biggest mystery in my life: Why does my husband love living with a goofball? JK! August was filled with mystery and adventure that has spilled into a lovely September. Yup, I am elbow deep into three mystery experiences!
The Mysterious CHIRP
I love adventuring into the world of the Mysterious CHIRP Podcast, a science fiction mystery series I’ve created that unfolds over the course of 6 episodes. At first, I drew a diagram with a column for each of the 6 episodes and rows for categories, such as “where” “who” “critical action” “critical moments/relationships” and so on, and it is waaaay more populated than it was a few weeks ago. Last month, we also livestreamed our first ever recording of Episode 1 Scene 2. I am loving our blend of actual science with science fiction and my dedication to a genre I adore, the MYSTERY.
Our special guest star for Episode 1 was NASA physicist Dr. Robert Forsythe, who worked on Apollo missions 11-17. His script said things like “Tell us a story about a challenge on Apollo 11.” The stories are AMAZING. Some will make it into Episode 1, and some will be in later episodes, and some of his stories will be available on our YouTube or Patreon pages this fall. Our special guests for Episode 2 and 3 are John G Hertzler (known to many of you Trekkies as Colonel Martok) and Dr. Erin MacDonald, astrophysicist, writer, and TableTop Role Player, and the Science Advisor for the Star Trek Franchise. We wrap recording this week for these episodes, and I am in full ‘write and schedule’ mode!
BOUCHERCON, an International Mystery Conference
I actually began writing this blog from my hotel room in Nashville, where I was attending the wonderful mystery-lovers conference, Bouchercon. Mystery fans and mystery writers come together in this delightful experience, and you can attend author interviews and panels — on marketing or character development or forensics, for example (there are soooo many panels). You can opt to meet up with friends, pitch your new book at ‘speed dating’, and more. It’s in a different place every year.
In addition to meeting up with friends, discovering new authors to read, and learning more about marketing and forensics, I was also on the panel “I Like the Sound of That” about audiobooks. The panel had a half dozen or so people, including other audiobook narrators, but also a publisher and a person who acquires audio rights for RecordedBooks. I narrate lots of mysteries, and I LOVE doing so! There were so many terrific questions from the audience, and we converted lots of crucial topics for authors ready to take the plunge into audio.
Mystery Events
As many of you know, I have a physical theatre company, which includes Mystery & Adventure Agency. Part of what we do is mystery events — most are tailored to a specific event and group and are deeply interactive. This summer, we had two Murder Mystery Dinners at the Stratton Creek Inn, with a third coming up in October. For the first, the host wanted to create the atmosphere of an 1880s western saloon! Our characters were railroad men, ranch owners, the saloon keeper, and the like. The second took place during Prohibition. What a blast, and the location is beautiful!
As I look ahead to the schedule for the rest of the month, I’m shifting gears to more audiobooks (mostly mysteries by Patti Larsen). Still, I will be pen to paper and mouth to mic getting all of these mysteries out into the world, especially the CHIRP, which launches in January. You don’t have to wait to get on board though — we’ll have the Instagram and YouTube live this month.
