In Memory of Bonnie (B.K.) Stevens

In Memory of Bonnie (B.K. ) Stevens by Debra H. Goldstein

In the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, there is a line “No man is a failure who has friends.” The outpouring of testamentary comments on list servs, Facebook, and exchanged through private e-mails as people learned of the sudden death of Bonnie (B.K.) Stevens demonstrates what a success she was.

Her success was based on talent as a writer, but more importantly the ability to be a mensch as a person. Whether through a congratulatory note, post, or other gesture, Bonnie let people know she cared about them. In a date of social media, she took the time to use those devices to connect with a human touch.

Bonnie and I became list serv acquaintances in 2014, but our true friendship began in January 2015 when, while reading back issues of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, I came across her short story, Thea’s First Husband. I didn’t know it had been nominated for Macavity and Agatha awards, only that it moved me in a way few stories, other than Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, had. As a bottom of the heap short story writer, I recognized I was reading how a master interweaves plot, dialogue, and setting to escalate tension and intrigue a reader. I wrote Bonnie a fan e-mail telling her this and asking if she ever taught classes. I told her I had had some success with having stories and two novels accepted, but hadn’t had the guts to try for AHMM or EQMM, but reading her story moved me and I hoped there was a way I could learn from her.

Her reply was, as I came to learn, classic Bonnie. Humble and a lesson in itself:

Hi, Debra--

Thank you so much for your kind words about "Thea." My goodness! That didn't just make my day--it made my week, possibly my whole month.

No, I don't teach any online classes. I'm a retired English professor  (at least a temporarily retired

one--who knows what the future holds?), but even when I was teaching, I usually taught composition and literature; I taught creative writing only a few times, and I'm not sure I was very good at it. I don't know of any classes to recommend, but I can tell you that my favorite books on writing fiction are Stephen King's On Writing (especially the second half of the book) and Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer. I also like Renni Browne and Dave King's Self-Editing for Fiction Writers--I don't agree with everything the authors say, but it's a thought-provoking book. Blake Snyder's Save the Cat focuses on screenplay writing, but I find the advice on story structure helpful (especially Chapter 4). And if you'd be interested in some old-fashioned advice that still seems sound to me, you might look at Anthony Trollope's An Autobiography, especially chapters 12--14 (though there's good advice scattered in many other chapters,too).

I hope that's helpful. Again, thank you for what you said about "Thea." I'm going to treasure those words!

Regards,
 Bonnie

We exchanged further e-mails and posts of mutual encouragement and congrats in the next few months and agreed to meet in person in Raleigh at Bouchercon. We met, embraced, talked and began a tradition with Paula Benson and Art Taylor of sharing a meal.

In the months that followed I read more of her stories, as well as her adult and YA novels: Interpretation of Murder and Fighting Chance. We talked a lot about Fighting Chance, which I five starred and she wrote a blog about on my personal blog, “It’s Not Always a Mystery.” The book also was nominated for an Agatha and other awards.

We agreed to have dinner at Malice, but she couldn’t join Paula, Art and me after she fell and was injured just before the conference. We toasted her in abstentia, but made up for it with a delicious group dinner at Bouchercon New Orleans and drinks at Malice 2017.  Because she couldn’t do a private dinner at Malice 2017 (I sat at her table during the banquet where her novella, The Last Blue Glass, was honored as an Agatha nominee), we made definite plans for dinner in October at Bouchercon 2017. Malice, in Bethesda, was only drinks because she used her dinners, other than the banquet, to visit with her daughters Sarah and Rachel.

That brings me to the true passion in her life. Family. Bonnie was like a school girl in her love and adoration for her husband, Dennis. Seeing them together at conferences or in pictures she posted on Facebook from their wedding, there was no difference in the looks of devotion and joy they shared. Her talk of her two daughters, Sarah and Rachel, and of Sarah’s children’s accomplishments combined praise, love, and pride. This year, we compared nachas (happiness) of having our first grandchildren’s bar/bat mitzvahs and kidded we should introduce her unmarried Jewish daughter to my single Jewish son.

There won’t be any more dinners or talk of introducing our children, but what I will remember is a package I received a week after Malice 2017. It contained a note and five copies of the May/June 2017 issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine that Bonnie and Dennis collected from their registration bags and the giveaway room. The note told me she knew I would want extra copies of the issue that had my name on the cover and my first AHMM story, The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place in it and that she thought it was an award winning story. Who knows if it will be nominated for anything at the next events at which it is eligible, but it won the biggest award in my book – Bonnie’s approval.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A few other excellent tributes to Bonnie can be found at:

Remembering B.K. Stevens - Art Taylor - Sleuthsayers  http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2017/08/remembering-bk-stevens.html

B.K. "Bonnie" Stevens: True Friend and Good Writer - Paula Benson - The Stiletto Gang http://thestilettogang.blogspot.com/2017/08/bk-bonnie-stevens-true-friend-and-good.html

B.K. "Bonnie" Stevens, True Friend and Good Writer

My first panel at Malice with Sally Goldenbaum, Liz Stauffer, Bonnie, me, and Wendy Tyson

by Paula Gail Benson

“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.”
― E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

When we learned last week about B.K. “Bonnie” Stevens passing, Shari Randall (writer, librarian, blogging partner, and friend) reminded me of E.B. White’s novel and his description of the barn spider Charlotte who, by weaving carefully chosen words into her web, saved Wilbur the pig’s life.

Bonnie embodied the phrase, “true friend and good writer.” Her life was a testament to the importance of constantly reaching out to others, eagerly opening your mind to learn, and joyously communicating.

Like Charlotte, Bonnie spoke truthfully, honestly, and with respect for the complexities of the world. She also understood the power and wonder of individuals sharing their lives with each other.

Chronologically, I did not know Bonnie for a long period of time, but our connection and friendship is enduring. I know that her inspiration, advice, and encouragement are part of my life forever.

Maybe one thing that drew us together, besides my great admiration for her prose, was our backgrounds in and appreciation of education. Bonnie spent a good portion of her life as an instructor and I came from a family of teachers. From that environment, you realize how delightful discovering new facts and information can be.

As I read Bonnie’s longer biography on her website, I realized that her philosophy of remaining open to whatever life brought her continued to enrich her own experience. Through her fiction and nonfiction, she passed that joy along to her readers.

While reading Bonnie’s stories or being able to discuss writing with her were incredible treats, experiencing her generosity of spirit was truly humbling. I once got up the nerve to ask if she would read one of my stories and give me feedback. She did so promptly with excellent suggestions, but also asked what others had told me about the story. All perspectives of the writing process were fascinating to her. Later, she asked me to read and react to a play she had written. I hesitated, wondering if my comments possibly could be of any help to her. After all, she had won an award for this play. She assured me that she wanted to hear from me because I wrote plays and directed them for a drama ministry, and my view, as someone who had staged a play, would give her valuable insight.

One of the kindest and most incredible gifts that Bonnie and her husband Dennis gave me was a phenomenal birthday celebration during Bouchercon in New Orleans. In advance, Bonnie sent me a list of possible venues, each sounding more wonderful than the last, and asked me to pick the location. She gathered good friends Art Taylor, Debra Goldstein, and Riley Miller to join us. By the end of the blissful evening, we had a table full of desserts (including the most delicious jalapeno lime cheesecake as well as an Almond Joy chocolate cake) and the great satisfaction of an unforgettable time spent in lovely conversation. [Please look for Art Taylor’s “Remembering Bonnie Stevens” message and other tributes by fellow bloggers on SleuthSayers.org and Debra Goldstein’s “In Memory of Bonnie (B.K.) Stevens” to be posted on Friday, August 25, 2017, here on The Stiletto Gang.]

Bonnie gave selflessly to so many. Just recently, I saw Kaye George’s remembrance of meeting Bonnie when she came to Kaye’s book signing at Malice Domestic. Kaye asked, “Are you the B.K. Stevens?” Bonnie said she was and asked Kaye, then President of the Guppies, the online chapter for Sisters in Crime, how she could join. From the time she became a member, Bonnie was constantly sending out words of welcome and congratulations.

When she began her blog “The First Two Pages,” Bonnie set out to highlight other writers’ work by allowing them to analyze the beginning of a short story or novel. Her initial post came from Kaye George and the latest messages are from the contributors to Kaye’s anthology to celebrate the solar eclipse, Day of the Dark (Wildside Press), some of whom are making their debut publication.

As I prepare to post these words on Monday, August 21, 2017, the day our country experiences the eclipse from coast to coast, I’m reminded of a special theatre tradition to recognize the passing of well known members of the Broadway community -- the simultaneous dimming of all the marquee lights for one minute at the 8:00 pm curtain hour. When the lights come back up, the shows go on.

While I experience this solar eclipse, I’ll remember Bonnie, my true friend and good writer, and think about all that she has done for the many lives she has touched. Thank you Dennis and daughters Sarah and Rachel for sharing her with us.

My New Orleans Bouchercon Birthday

Celebrating the Short Story: the 2016 Agatha Short Story Nominees

by Paula Gail Benson

Malice Domestic has become a wonderful homecoming for me each year. Held in late April or early May near Washington, D.C. (for the last several years in Bethesda, Maryland), it celebrates the best in the “traditional mystery,” written in the style of Agatha Christie, where the emphasis is on resolving the puzzle of the crime rather than delving into the more gruesome aspects of the deed.

Excellence is recognized at Malice Domestic by the annual Agatha Awards, given to living authors for works published during the previous calendar year. Short stories are included in the nominated categories and this year’s group of nominees features a group of outstanding writers. Not only are the authors well-respected and prolific, but also the publications demonstrate how short fiction is experiencing a new golden age for mystery readers’ enjoyment.

Following are the nominees and links where you may read the short stories:

Best Short Story:
"Double Jinx: A Bellissimo Casino Crime Caper Short Story" by Gretchen Archer (Henery Press)
"The Best-Laid Plans" by Barb Goffman in Malice Domestic 11: Murder Most Conventional (Wildside Press)
"The Mayor and the Midwife" by Edith Maxwell in Blood on the Bayou: Bouchercon Anthology 2016 (Down & Out Books)
"The Last Blue Glass" by B.K. Stevens in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
"Parallel Play" by Art Taylor in Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning (Wildside Press)

Gretchen Archer, who writes the Davis Way Crime Caper series for Henery Press, uses the setting for her novels, the Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, for her short story about a holiday host investigating the death of a slot machine tournament player. Henery Press issued the story in electronic format on Amazon. Gretchen is a Tennessee housewife, who lives on Lookout Mountain with her husband, son, and a Yorkie named Bently. Her first Davis Way Crime Caper, Double Whammy, was a finalist for the Daphne du Maurier Award and appeared on the USA TODAY Bestsellers List.

Barb Goffman has won the Agatha, Macavity, and Silver Falchion awards for her mystery short stories. She received the Silver Falchion was for her collection, Don't Get Mad, Get Even. She also has been nominated for the Anthony and Derringer. Her nominated story was published in  Malice Domestic 11: Murder Most Conventional. It’s a great joy to see Malice Domestic resume its practice of issuing short story anthologies, particularly this volume that concentrates on mysteries at conventions. Barb’s story reveals how the best laid plans of two honored guests at Malice Domestic can take a bad turn for the worse.

Edith Maxwell, an Agatha nominated and Amazon bestselling author, writes two series under her own name (the Quaker Midwife and Local Foods Mysteries), two under the name Maddie Day, and previously wrote the Lauren Rousseau mysteries as Tace Baker. Her nominated short story appeared in the Bouchercon anthology, Blood on the Bayou: Bouchercon Anthology 2016 edited by Greg Herren (Down & Out Books), and featured her Quaker midwife protagonist, who must solve the mystery of a death in a New Orleans’ family that has come to Amesbury in 1888.

B.K. Stevens has published over fifty short stories, most appearing in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and eleven of which have been collected in Her Infinite Variety: Tales of Women and Crime, published by Wildside Press. In addition, she has written a novel featuring a deaf interpreter, Interpretation of Murder (Black Opal Books), and a young adult martial arts mystery, Fighting Chance (Poisoned Pen Press). She has won a Derringer and has been nominated for Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. Her nominated story, published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, was described by editor Linda Landrigan as: “A young wife finds her life’s disappointments measured in broken glass.”

Art Taylor, associate professor of English at George Mason University and frequent contributor to the Washington Post, the Washington Independent Review of Books, and Mystery Scene Magazine, won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel for On the Road with Del & Louise: A Novel in Stories. For his short stories, he has won two Agatha Awards, two Anthony Awards (one for his own short fiction and the other for editing Murder Under the Oaks: Bouchercon Anthology 2015), a Macavity Award, and three consecutive Derringer Awards. His nominated story, about a parent’s efforts to protect her child, was published in Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning.

If you haven’t already discovered these extraordinary authors, I hope you’ll take this opportunity to read their nominated work. And, if you already love their writing, as I do, enjoy these wonderful nominated selections!

Summertime and the reading is . . . WONDERFUL!

by Paula Gail Benson

A significant part of my vacations as I grew up was participating in the library summer reading program. Now, that I work for a state legislature with a session ending in early June, the summer months still mean a time of less activity so I can catch up on all those lovely books on my TBR pile. If you’re looking for some terrific summer reads, here are my recommendations, in two categories. First, short story collections, which are great travel companions, and, second, academic mysteries, in case you crave a vicarious trip back to school.

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS:

K. B. Inglee’s The Case Book of Emily Lawrence (Wildside Books 2016)

K.B. writes historical mysteries and learns about the time periods in her stories by being a reenactor and living interpreter. Her Case Book features intrepid Emily Lothrop Lawrence, whose professor father characterized as “intelligent” while calling her older sisters “beautiful” and “talented.” Emily, with her husband Charles, operate a Pinkerton style detective agency in post-Civil War Washington, DC. Reading about their investigations and techniques is both a journey back in time and an appreciation for how technology has influenced detection.

B.K. Stevens’ Her Infinite Variety (Wildside Books 2016).

 

B.K.’s (or Bonnie’s) stories have frequently found a home in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. In this fascinating volume, they’ve been collected, so you can enjoy four that feature her series detectives, Iphigenia Wodehouse and Leah Abrams, and seven of her “stand-alones,” including one of my favorites “Thea’s First Husband.” For excellent writing, intriguing situations, and clever deductions, this collection is a true reader’s delight.

Art Taylor’s On the Road with Del and Louise: a Novel in Stories (Henery Press 2015).

Winner of two Agatha Awards, the Anthony Award, the Macavity Award, and three consecutive Derringer Awards for his short fiction, Art uses a series of stories to tell the adventures of two intricate and compelling characters. Louise, a Southern girl working in a New Mexico 7-Eleven, is held up by the ski-masked Del, a frugal man seeking enough to meet his “academic” expenses, and gives him her telephone number because she thinks he has nice eyes. She finds it exciting when he calls, then sets out with him on what becomes a cross country journey with stops at such diverse locations as Southern California, Napa Valley, Las Vegas, North Dakota, and Louise’s North Carolina hometown. At first, I wasn’t sure I could like either of these complex characters, but after following them through traditional crime stories and hilarious capers, I had to wait as long as I could to finish the last installment so I didn’t have to say goodbye. Winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel and finalist for the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, this novel in stories is an engaging read.

ACADEMIC MYSTERIES:

Cynthia Kuhn’s The Semester of Our Discontent (Henery Press 2016).

The first book in a new series, Cynthia’s novel features English professor Lila Maclean, who in her first year at a prestigious university finds herself as involved in solving murders as she is in steering clear of academic intrigue. Unfortunately, she keeps turning up on the scene where her colleagues are being murdered. When her cousin becomes the chief suspect, Lila has to find a way to clear her name. A fast-paced whodunit with lots of quirky, yet familiar characters from higher education, which received the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant.

Lori Rader-Day’s The Black Hour (Seventh Street Books 2014).

Lori’s suspenseful novel alternates between two narrators: (1) sociology professor Amelia Emmet, who is returning to the campus where a student with whom she had no apparent connection shot her, then killed himself, and (2) Amelia’s new graduate assistant, Nathaniel Barber, who came to the college not just to earn a degree, but to study her attack. As they each investigate separately, then in tandem, the reader is plunged through every emotion watching the fascinating plot unfold. Winner of the Anthony Award, Lovey Award, and Silver Falchion for Best First Novel, this is truly superb reading!

I want to assure you that you can’t go wrong with any of these books. So stay out of the pool, pour yourself a tall glass of lemonade, and settle down for some fabulous summer reading!