8:30 Sandra [moderator]:
Welcome to the Writers Chat Room. Today we are joined by Eric Hinske, whose new mystery Four and Twenty Blackbirds has been published by St. Martin’s Press.
8:31 Eric:
H-lo to all. Some of you I met at the Carolina Authors Workshop in Greensboro last Sat. A very good confernce.
I’m a litte nervous about writing fast without spell check. Pardon the sloppy.
8:31 daffknee:
hi, Eric (^_~)
8:32 Miss Terry:
Good afternoon evre1. At least it’s afternoon here in Calif. Sunny.
8:32 Bobbi42:
Hi 2u all.
[Chatter Classicfan joins]
8:34 Classicfan:
Greetings!
8:36 Sandra [moderator]:
Eric, you teach creative writing. You have published stories in literary journals. But this book is an action-packed mystery. How did you like doing this kind of book?
8:38 Eric:
I did not set out to be literary, but those were my favorite books. Now I appreciate a broader range of writing. I would love to writ more mysteries.
8:38 gordon:
Wish I could stay longer. Cats are crying, kids too.
[Chatter gordon has left]
8:38 Bobbi42:
Gbye Gordon.
8:40 Miss Terry:
Bcuz now you read mysteries? Congrats on gettin pubbed. I hope UR committed, and not one of those litty writers who IMHO think they can take over any genre and do a better job than mystery, sci-fi and romance writers who know WTF they doing.
8:40 Eric:
Most of my cre-wri students don’t like this book because its too commercial. And some of them are not shy about that. So I take gas from boths sides. Enuf to heat a kettle of tea sometimes.
8:41 Classicfan:
I hope we’re not about to hear what a great thinker Dean Koontz is!!! LOL!!!
8:43 daffknee:
it was good to see you at gboro. don’t know if you saw me, you were rather busy with a certain blond young thing.
8:44 Eric:
Some of us went to the bar across the square. Looked for you but didn’t find.
8:44 daffknee:
i had to leave early :-<
8:45 Eric:
Those who want to deny the worth of mystery and suspense always tar it with the names of a few mega selling authors, as if selling lots of books is in fact a bad and even evel thing.
8:45 Miss Terry:
And mystery/suspense/romance at least gets READ.
8:45 Bobbi42:
Ive noticed a definite sexual undertone at writers workshops. I used to think I was imagining it.
8:45 Classicfan:
Genre fiction is about soothing, and cuddling, as you would a baby. Literature challenges, engages, and delivers the true pleasure of involvement. It’s the land of irony, of poetry, true mystery, not clockwork whodunit or tweaker level fantasy.
8:46 daffknee:
bobby42, no undertones to my previous comment. lylab, Eric, from undergrad days. otoh, i noticed this also about writers workshops etc, but it’s a strange ritual. it’s not the best writer who gets the girl or guy, but the one who most fulfills their romantic expectations. btw, i hate irony and poetry, because i never know if i get it (>.<)
8:47 Classicfan:
Daffnee, and Bobby, so life imitates art. Its all about cover porn, barechested paper towel brands and heaving cleavages!!!
8:48 Bobbi42:
Okaaaaay. Anyway at this one conference the female “successful writer” clearly chose the most appealing man almost like a queen bee. He was all soulful and earthy and stuff and I assume they went off somewhere and mated to produce a race of super writers. I went home and got drunk on merlot I think it was.
8:48 Eric:
Let’s not forget Tolstoy, Henry James etc. were POPULAR mainstream writers.
8:49 Classicfan:
Anyone who says Henry James would write suspense or romance series today is just pimping their own brand.
8:49 Miss Terry:
Irony and cynicism have become the junkfood of pop culture. They bloat but do not satisfy.
8:50 Eric:
Classicfan sounds very much like a young writer from my class. Seriously are you on form a dorm room at UNCA? Just kidding. We’re posters anonomyous here.
8:50 Classicfan:
I am here to discuss the topic. No need to bring up personal s**t. But even I, unlettered bumpkin that I am, know that most literary authors are child debauchers and most mystery writers are drunks, so I guess you really have achieved some kind of a melding of the two!!!
[Chatter Porsche has joined]
8:51 Porsche:
hi, y’all.
8:51 Sandra [moderator]:
The rules of the author’s chat forbid personal attacks. Classicfan you have been warned.
8:52 Classicfan:
And ‘he’s on from his dorm room’ is not personal? It implies I’m a lonely geek with no life. OK that’s where I’m at. Figuratively if not literally. Don’t ASSUME anything about me.
8:52 Sandra [moderator]:
Maybe we can move on. Yes genre writing has shallow characters, convenient plots and happy endings. But I would have to say as to two of the challenges of any writing, setting a scene and moving people around, some suspense/mystery writers are simply masters of it.
8:58 Eric:
Sorry, I had to step away. Everyone still here? My dog was going nuts. Their seems to be a storm coming in. What inspires me about mysteries and genre books is the way that they seduce the reader. Even though we read an obvious clue early on and even think to ourselves “Now THAT’S a clue, remember that.” When it turns up again in the thrid act, if the writer is any good, we are surprised and gratified. That’s a kind of reaction you don’t get to literary allusions or whatever .
We just had the lights flicker but I didn’t lose the computer.
8:58 Miss Terry:
Switch to battery.
8:59 Eric:
Can’t. I’m on my desktop at home. I don’t have a laptop so I can’t sit at a coffee shop and stair at it. This is another argument I hav w students. Find an empty room with a chair and sit in the chair. That’s how something geets written.
9:00 Classicfan:
So now it’s about what type of computer you have? This chatroom is a perfect example is the elitism of those who have been published over those who have not!!! It’s a medieval hierarchy. Published by Major House lords it over University Press, who dumps on self-published. And the serfs are the mass of us hopeful writers with cheap Toshiba notebooks, being bled by self-help magazines, college classes, conferences etc.
9:01 daffknee:
so what we’re getting at Eric, and you keep ignoring, is the question of what happened with you and miss blondie after you went to the bar. you’re not married and we’re all big kids here. tell us the story 😉
9:09 daffknee:
was it something i said? was it everything i said?
9:10 Sandra [moderator]:
Eric is still on.
9:11 Eric:
Sorry. The storm hit and it’s a whapper. A branch blew into the back door and broke the glass. And the dog freaked out and ran away.
9:13 Classicfan:
Yes, Eric, what happened with Miss Blondie?. You can tell us!
9:14 Eric:
Nothing happened. A lot of talk, no action. Typical writers. We talked for about four hours about her lousy childhood in some litte town in Montana. And more recent problems.
9:15 Porsche:
I know I’m late, and chat rooms can get off topic, but what the philly cream cheese is going on here?
9:15 Sandra [moderator]:
I will remind everyone that personal information is discouraged, if not forbidden.
9:15 Classicfan:
Oh, come on Eric, you can brag about your conquest. I bet she was a young student and you are at least 35. A delicious seduction perhaps? Since you were out of town, it must have involved a motel room.
9:16 daffknee:
lets drop it 😡
9:16 Porsche:
Okay with me.
9:16 Eric:
I’m afraid the persona firewall is already down. Classicfan is indeed one of my students, and he’s here for revenge in a public forum. Let me just tell you something Classicfan. That girl was trying to get away from you and I just happemed to be there. What she told me sounded more like a stalker scenario than a love affair. I advised her to brake it off with you and nothing I’m reading tonight makes me want to reasess that advice. You can vent all you want about how unfair and sold out the publishing business is but lets keep the personal stuff out.
9:18 Classicfan:
Too bad the personal spills over into the professional when a teacher misses three classes because he was flying to NY to boink an editor which is, so they say, how his book got published.
9:18 Eric:
That rumor was put out AS A JOKE by someone in the department. It reflects some good-natured (I think) jealosy among colleagues but I repeat it was a joke. And you are not a colleague. You are an infant who picks at scabs until they bleed.
9:19 Sandra [moderator]:
Classicfan, you are booted.
9:19 Classicfan:
You can’t kick me. I quit. BTW, Eric has no clue who I am, he’s exorcising his guilt over what DID happen with the “Blondie,” who has a real name of course!!! That’s the best indicator that he took advantage of her. I am only her fr
[Classicfan has left]
9:21 Sandra [moderator]:
Okay, he is gone. That was sure unpleasant. Sorry to all.
9:23 Eric:
Let me state that in case anyone from the university or anyone who knows me is monitoring, since I am the only person here who has a real identity and a real reputation, that this girl was not one of my students and I had and have no relationship with her. I don’t know her personally. She’s a sweet kid who got involved with a jerk. The one who just signed off. Nuff said.
9:27 daffknee:
you can’t be too careful. people can just get so kookoobananas on the internet =:-0
[Chatter Porsche has left]
9:29 Miss Terry:
I am willing 2 try 2 resume this. Eric, I love the way you played off the nursery rhyme in this book. Esp when the “blackbird” snapped off the maid’s nose. FOCL
9:32 Eric:
Now that’s odd. The lights went off in the house, but the computer stayed on.
9:33 Miss Terry:
So U do have a batt.
9:33 Eric:
no
9:35 Eric:
someone is in house
9:35 Miss Terry:
NFW
9:37 daffknee:
what’s going on?
9:38 Eric:
Its ok. I thought I heard something. But I don’t get about the lights.
9:38 daffknee:
that storm has you spooked.
9:39 Eric:
You’re right. Its not just the storm thats got me nervous. This is not the best neighborhood.
9:41 Sandra [moderator]:
Perhaps we should just call this quits. I do not know what to do, I am just a grad student from Dayton. My prof asked me to do this.
9:42 Eric:
lights out someones here
9:43 Bobbi42:
Whats going on?
9:43 Miss Terry:
It’s poss Eric is doing a Jeckle and Hyde act for us, praps to make some kind of point about mystery fiction or lit. I’m not sure why, tho.
9:44 Eric:
I 8cde3udfg
9:49 Eric:
Sorry. It’s alright, now. There was no one there. I just got a little freaked out!!! Yes, I’ll admit, I did something I shouldn’t have. The girl is named Heather and she is only twenty. Someone with my experience, she was putty in my hands. The only thing is, she’s now fallen in love with me, which is a total waste because I’m a self involved asshole. I say that with all honesty. After all, as a mystery writer I’m supposed to be cynical.
9:51 Miss Terry:
Actually I think most mystery writers R highly idealistic. Most mystery heroes are anyway. I wonder about this posting.
9:54 Eric:
If you ask me am I guilty, I’ll deny it of course!!! I think I better sign off. I cut my hand from the window and its hard to type without getting blood on the keyboard which is a bitch to clean off!
9:56 Miss Terry:
This conv has turned very strange.
9:59 Eric:
Also, i jus dropp d th k yboard, som k ys f ll on floor
[Chatter Eric has left]
10:00 daffknee:
what’s going on 😕
10:01 Miss Terry:
Did ne1 else notice a marked change in Eric’s posts after 9:48? Look at the log.
10:04 Bobbi42:
Yes I agree.
10:04 daffknee:
what should we do?
10:05 Sandra [moderator]:
How do you connect with the real world from here? He said he was in Asheville, where is that?
[Chatter 848810**** from AllCom Texting has joined]
10:05 Miss Terry:
Someone should call 9-1-1. NE1 here from Asheville?
10:06 daffknee:
north caroline. i’m in greensboro. asheville is 848 area code. who do I call?
10:07 Miss Terry:
The last post from Eric’s loc was not written by him. I think it was Classicfan. He’s a student? That post was totally bizR.
10:10 Sandra [moderator]:
OMG
10:11 daffknee:
how do you know it wasn’t Eric typing?
10:12 Miss Terry:
Strange statements, his spelling improved, and !!! Check the log.
10:12 daffknee:
i’m on with the 911. does anyone know Eric home address?
10:13 Sandra [moderator]:
I can contact the chatroom operator. I donot know if they are online. Give me a minute.
10:13 Bobbi42:
blood on the keyboard? In case anyone wants to know Im Bobbi42 and I don’t know anything. My real name is Danielle Degroot and I am in Kansas City.
10:14 848810****:
im in tennessee.
10:15 Sandra [moderator]:
No luck.
10:15 daffknee:
found him in the directory. they are on their way (^-^’)
10:17 daffknee:
anyone still there?
10:18 Miss Terry:
BTW I am in LA, Calif. Should we leave our numbers or something?
10:18 Bobbi42:
IS this even real?
10:20 daffknee:
i know Eric. he is a nice guy. and yes he has been known to play strange jokes or whatever. i hope this isn’t some king of stunt. especially since i called 911. i’m accountable.
10:22 Miss Terry:
Is Eric still off?
10:24 Sandra [moderator]:
Yes.
[dcronshey@ashevillepd.gov/remotelink has joined]
10:26 dcronshey:
This is officer Don Cronshey of the Asheville Police. I am informing the administrator that the logs of this chat session are identified as evidence in an official investigation and must be held for police review. Reference No 0961440. I would like to also get a name and address and phone no. of each person who is now on.
10:27 Bobbi42:
Is this guy real?
10:27 Sandra [moderator]:
He seems to be on from a government email account. Do police carry PCs now?
10:28 dcronshey:
You don’t have to believe I am real. This is not some communikay from outer space. I have a dead body here, and I am going to use any means.
10:29 Sandra [moderator]:
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG
10:31 daffknee:
what happened? 911 won’t tell me.
10:31 Miss Terry:
Eric is dead.
10:33 daffknee:
that’s not posssible.
10:33 dcronshey:
I am now going to collect info from you all. Be very clear that if you withhold your identity and address we will track you down.
10:33 Sandra [moderator]:
I am Sandra Katarski. I live on Dixon Ave in Dayton Ohio. I am unsure if I should say more at this point.
10:34 daffknee:
how can this happen?
10:35 Miss Terry:
Did he get hit on the head with a laptop?
10:35 dcronshey:
please identify yourself and explain that statement.
10:35 Miss Terry:
I’m a mystery suspense writer from California. Look 4 loose computer keys on the floor. I’m guessing they might fit a Toshiba laptop. You’ll see what I’m talking about when u look at the log from earlier.
10:36 daffknee:
and find a woman, probably young and blond, named heather who attended the carolina authors conference in greensboro last saturday. It was at the four seasons hotel.
10:37 Miss Terry:
We suspect this was done by a person who was an acquaintance, possibly a boyfriend of heather, who was in the chat. He made threats. Then he was booted off. He could be a student of Eric’s.
10:38 Sandra [moderator]:
But the guy said he was at his dorm room.
10:39 Miss Terry:
But we don’t know how far away that is from Eric. Also he could have been lying. He probly was lying. Are you getting all this officer?
10:43 daffknee:
he did not deserve to die! there is no emoticon sad enough to express this.
10:46 84810****:
he got what he deserved!!! dont cry for him argentina!!! now this fone is going in the river ok sleuths figure out which river!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10:49 dcronshey:
anyone know the cell texter?
10:50 Miss Terry:
no, TBTG. That’s him. Classicfan. The student. The suspect.
10:52 Bobbi42:
I am in shock.
10:55 daffknee:
i have to say something, and i’m not hiding anything here. i myself wanted to kill Eric when he dumped me, even though I knew it was my fault. but something would not let me let go.
10:56 Miss Terry:
you should probably shut up.
10:58 daffknee:
that’s ok. when I saw eric with her at the conf, it was like a slap in the face. then I knew I was over him. is that ironic?:-/ and now he’ll never be mine, or anybody’s. OMG, the internet is a dangerous place.