Author, editor, attempter of this thing called life. Social anxiety warrior. Re-Connections, a collection of short stories, published with Ocelot Press, 15/10/2025.
I’m delighted to welcome back friend and fellow author, Olga Swan, to tell us about an exciting new book.
Thank you, Miriam, for welcoming me onto your author blog. It’s fitting really, because there’s a scene in my new novel where my character’s father is transported to Jerusalem, where you live.
Several months ago, I was watching a TV documentary, which spoke of an unsung hero from WWII. I did some research and discovered that he’d saved 20,000 Jewish citizens of Vienna between 1938 and 1940. His name was Ho Feng Shan, and he never told a soul – not even his family – what he’d done. He died in 1997, and was awarded the posthumous ‘Righteous Amongst the Nations’ honour by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. But I was determined to make this Chinese ‘Schindler’ more widely known, so began writing.
I’m now excited to tell your readers about my new novel, which has just been published. It’s called The Mandarin Seeds. Here’s what it’s about:
In 1935 Vienna, the demi-monde enjoy the delights of the Grunberger patisserie. Eva and boyfriend Michael love dancing in the illicit American jazz clubs, but Nazi terror is rising. For Michael, there is an added anxiety over his previous liaison with mercurial showgirl, Marta. Soon, the desperate situation for the Jewish civilians of Vienna forces them to try to leave, but where can they go?
Step forward an unlikely Chinese hero who miraculously helps them obtain visas for Shanghai.
As showgirl Marta seduces local businessman Sassoon, what will happen to shy Eva in Shanghai?
And what has happened to brave Michael, left behind in Nazi controlled Vienna?
Cross continents to an electrifying and surprising ending in post-war San Francisco.
I got homework to explain why I write books – in a one-minute video. How can I condense all that into one minute? Could you?
Whenever I have limited time or word count to deliver a message, I write down what I want to say and then cut it down to size. I’ve decided to use this blog post to write my thoughts in full. While you read it, think about how you would explain why you do what you do in one minute. I think it’s a great exercise for focusing your reasons, which in turn helps you to move in the right direction.
This is an interesting question. It’s not why did I begin writing. I’ve answered that question many times. I begin my answer with my late friend, Gill, who told me about social anxiety, leading to my becoming passionate about raising awareness of social anxiety and eventually finding an outlet in writing.
But this question is different. It asks why I write now, and it deserves a different answer.
Firstly, I love writing. I love combining words that make sense together, whether fiction or non-fiction. I love creating characters and exploring how they react and interact in familiar settings and in usual or unusual situations. I love the freedom writing gives me to clarify my thoughts, something I’ve never been able to do in conversation.
And I love editing, because editing lets you refine those words to read in the best way that they can. And it lets you find all the typos, point-of-view changes, repeated words and other issues in the text. I know, lots of authors don’t like editing, but I get a thrill out of spotting errors and possibilities for improvement.
I’ve met some wonderful people through writing, people who have helped, provided support, or just popped into in my life.
Just as important are the readers. Without readers, all my hard work would seem pointless. I write so that people can enjoy reading. That’s the main reason. But also, I write so that readers can empathise and sympathise, love and hate. I hope to arouse emotions in them. I also hope they learn something from the experience; we are all constantly learning, as long as we keep our minds open.
Why else do I write? I hope that, through my writing, I will become better known. I hope that more people will read or listen to me, and I’ll be able to promote better understanding of the issues I stand for.
You know what? If I were better at spontaneous verbal communication, I could probably say all of that in a minute. But I’m not, and so I’m going to concentrate on the three topics: writing, readers and raising awareness.
This particular video will appear only in a private Facebook group, but I will be producing public videos in the coming months.
Did you think about how you would transmit the why of what you do in a one-minute video? I’d love to hear about your thoughts.
Recently, I saw the TEDx Talk by Daralyse Lyons, in which she explains how she’s always said she’s biracial despite being told that she has to choose to identify as black or white.
(I have to say this whole concept is alien to me. Here in Israel I see skins of various hues, but never identify people as anything but Israeli. But I understand this practice of putting people into colour boxes is common in the USA, where Daralyse lives, and probably in other countries.)
You can find Daralyse’s talk here and I can tell you it’s worth a listen.
On the same day that I heard that talk, I saw an interesting post from Jennifer Gilmour. The post ends with:
Have you ever struggled with being “unapologetically you”?
I commented:
Have I ever not struggled with it?
Growing up, I was taught not to mention being Jewish where it wasn’t necessary. Because that was a big part of who I was, I found this difficult, especially as there were several other secrets I had to keep.
Here in Israel, I don’t have that problem. I also don’t have a problem with saying I’m Israeli at home, while abroad that can also be hard to say.
And then, of course, there’s social anxiety, which I’m keen to discuss in order to raise awareness, but that’s also hard. What’s lies behind all of those difficulties is a fear of being judged for who I am.
Following that introduction, I want to pass the question on to you. Have you ever struggled with being “unapologetically you”?
Friend and fellow author and editor, Sue Barnard, posted this image from the Metro newspaper on Facebook last week.
I imagined the scene in the newspaper offices.
“Is it a boy or a girl?” “I haven’t heard yet.” “Let me know ASAP. I’ll write boy for now and change it if it’s a girl.”
Then I remembered the term for this from my hi tech days: reverse engineering. The Oxford Shorter English Dictionary says this is:
the reproduction of another manufacturer’s product following detailed examination of its construction or composition.
Well, maybe that’s not quite what I meant, but you get the idea. I’m thinking about working out how mistakes arise. That reminded me of those weird automatic translations. We’ve seen plenty of those around the world.
In Hong KongIn China
But the translations that make me laugh the most are the ones I see here in Israel, because I can work out how they came about. Take this one that I saw recently in Akko (Acre):
The word ‘character’ doesn’t describe the privileged residents; it means a letter or digit. But it’s incorrect here because it’s translated from the wrong meaning of the Hebrew word ‘tav’. ‘Tav’ can mean many things, including a ‘character’, but in this case it refers to a car sticker. So, there’s a double confusion here.
Conclusion
Automatic translations do not replace editors.
And changing something in a text often has implications for the rest of the text.
Look out for my next post, which will be about identity. That’s who you are, rather than the card you do or don’t carry.
The last day of 2021 sees the publication of eleven dark and compelling stories set in the French capital.
Bravely, we looked down from the top of the roller coaster of stories, searching for themes in six of them, and came up with three:
An Unusual OfferHidingIgnoring a Warning
An Unusual Offer
A Sacrifice Fit For a King by Cathie Dunn The Marquise de Montespan strikes a deal with the Devil to become King Louis XIV’s maîtresse-en-titre, but it comes at a high price.
The Camera Never Lies by Sue Barnard The narrator’s coffee arrives with a free glass of cognac and a madeleine, which she accepts even though it’s a bit early in the day for spirits…
Train Trouble by Miriam Drori The narrator, though wary of returning to France, can’t resist the offer of a free luxury holiday in Paris.
Hiding
Lost and Found by Mary Kendall A little girl in a red sweater hides in the edges of the Catacombs.
The Rose of Montmartre by Christopher Stanfield A serial killer, believed to be dead, has been living a quiet life in Paris under a fake name.
Ignoring a Warning
The Corpse in The Grave by Val Penny A soldier comes to the rescue when a girl falls and warns her to be careful, but she doesn’t heed the warning.
Charities
Two charities will benefit from sales of darkstroke’s upcoming Dark Paris anthology:
The Restaurants du Cœur (literally Restaurants of the Heart but meaning Restaurants of Love), is commonly known as the Restos du Cœur. Its main activity is to distribute food packages and hot meals to those in need across France. It does not only target homeless, but also all those with a low or very low income, and helps people to find housing and supports other projects.
The Fondation Brigitte Bardot fights against all forms of animal abuse in France and abroad. It participates in projects of reintroduction into the wild and the creation of sanctuaries and rehabilitation centres for wildlife.
Over to You
What do those themes mean to you? Do they remind you of something you experienced or heard about? We’d love to hear your stories.
You can write here in the comments, or on social media wherever you saw the link to this post.
Remember that novel I was going to write in November? Well, I wrote it. I didn’t reach the magic total of 50,000 words, by I did pass 40,000, and now I have the first draft of a sequel to Style and the Solitary that will need a lot more work before I can submit it for publication.
As well as spending time writing every day in November, I wandered around Jerusalem and further afield, gathering information for the novel. Here are a few of the pictures I took:
As every year, there was plenty of support from our local group of writers, and in particular Melina Kantor and Shoshana Raun. I wouldn’t have managed without them.
Now, I’m trying to catch up on all the tasks I postponed in November.
I’m also looking forward to the publication of Dark Paris, an anthology of dark stories set in Paris, all proceeds of which go to two charities: Restaurants du Cœur and Fondation Brigitte Bardot. My contribution to the anthology is called Train Trouble.
I’m delighted to welcome friend and author, Val Penny to tell us about social anxiety in her Edinburgh Crime Novels and in particular the brand new Hunter’s Rules.
In the real world, many people consciously restrict their contact with others due to the social anxiety they suffer, and I try to illustrate this in my series of Edinburgh Crime Novels through the character of Frankie Hope.
Frankie is now a young man, but as a child he was bullied by his mother and insulted by his father. This has left him cautious of interaction in the wider world. He fears being thought of negatively so, in Hunter’s Rules, the most recent book in my crime fiction series, he waits in two long lines during a prison visit to his uncle, Ian. Otherwise, he would have had to return empty-handed and get scolded by Ian. That is not an option for Frankie.
Frankie also finds it difficult to initiate conversations with strangers. They cause him a great deal of embarrassment. However, he works in the family business, a car showroom where new customers are always unknown to him, so rather than approach them, he will usually leave his more ebullient cousin, Jamie, to make the first approach.
Social anxiety also usually holds a fear for those who suffer from it that they may humiliate themselves in some way or do or say something out of place. They worry about drawing attention to themselves and getting a negative reaction. Frankie is no different.
During his adolescence, he suffered from severe acne and, although he dated the prettiest and nicest girl at his high school, he did not have the confidence to understand why she might like him. The girl had to make the first move; Frankie certainly would not do so.
The only people Frankie is really relaxed around are those he knows best, his twin daughters, Kylie-Ann and Dannii-Ann, his fiancée Donna and his cousin Jamie. They live together in the house Frankie inherited from his parents and I doubt Frankie will ever move – the anxiety would be too great.
Set in Edinburgh, the beautiful capital city of Scotland, Hunter’s Rules revolves largely around Frankie, Jamie and their loved ones. There is no doubt that they are impatient for DI Hunter Wilson and his team to solve the case that has touched them so deeply.
Thank you for explaining that, Val. Here’s some more information about Hunter’s Rules, which launches on 1st January, 2022.
About Hunter’s Rules
A bloody scene brings Hunter and Meera’s romantic plans to an abrupt end.
A young woman was attacked in a hotel lift. She has life changing injuries, but she is alive. Hunter notes that her wounds are like those inflicted on two women who previously died.
Can Meera keep the injured woman alive long enough for her to identify her assailant? Is the same person responsible for all three crimes? When Hunter is identified as a suspect in the crime, can he establish his innocence and lead his team to solve the crime and keep Edinburgh safe?
This is the sixth book in The Edinburgh Crime Mysteries series of novels. Val Penny’s other crime novels, Hunter’s Chase Hunter’s Revenge, Hunter’s ForceHunter’s Blood and Hunter’s Secret form the rest of this bestselling series set in Edinburgh, Scotland, published by darkstroke.
You can also start at the beginning of The Jane Renwick Thrillers with The First Cut.
Her first non-fiction book Let’s Get Published is also available now and she has most recently contributed her short story, Cats and Dogs to a charity anthology, Dark Scotland.
Val is an American author living in SW Scotland with her husband and their cat.
That’s all I remember of the nursery rhyme about the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 by Guy Fawkes and others. I don’t know if it’s still recited, but Guy Fawkes Night is definitely still celebrated with bonfires and fireworks. Of course, like all festivals, it has unfortunately become more commercialised than it was when I lived in the UK.
But this post isn’t about Guy Fawkes Night. It’s about the month of November and how I’ll be spending it.
As I’ve been doing for several years, I’ll be writing a novel. Unlike in previous years, this won’t be part of NaNoWriMo, or at least part of that organisation. As I explained in a previous post, although not in detail, I left the organisation in July. I considered writing more about my reasons today, but really, that’s not what this blog is about.
So, I’m calling it MyNoWriMo. The ‘National’ part of the name hasn’t been true for a long time, anyway.
I have a spreadsheet ready to record my daily word counts and show them in graphs. I have a name (which I’m not ready to reveal) and a temporary cover.
I also have lots of plans and ideas for this sequel to Style and the Solitary. Today, I read about the lion and the lamb, and the lion of Judah. They might just fit into the novel, somehow.
Our local group of writers has been getting more active lately, and I’m looking forward to all the encouragement and help it provides during November.
If you’re also writing a novel in November, I wish you lots of luck. If not, well I hope you manage to enjoy November nonetheless. 😉
Release. What an amazing feeling. To be free to walk, on his own, out of the police station. Free to go in any direction, do whatever he liked. No one pushed him or shoved him or shouted commands at him. He took deep breaths and released them into the cold, welcoming air.
Finally, it’s the end of his incerceration, or so Asaf believes. In the Liberty Bell Park, his elation is boosted:
The path was almost deserted on this dull, wet day, but the bell welcomed him with its message of liberty.
Sadly, these feelings are short-lived. And so it is with the novel itself.
Yes, Style and the Solitary, published by Darkstroke Books, is free to download for a short period only, so get it while you can, no strings attached.
I do, however, have a little request. If you enjoy reading it, I would very much appreciate a review. It doesn’t have to be long and detailed. “Loved it” is fine – really.
Review
Here’s the latest review on Amazon.com: “I loved this innocent young woman who stood by her social phobic coworker when he was accused of murder. Her compassion and tenacity for finding the actual killer puts her in danger but demonstrates how much Nathalie cares for Asaf. The help she gets from her roommates is funny and caring as they bumble their way toward freeing Asaf. Will they survive this investigation, or will the murderer lead them off the deep end. Great story. Nice setting.”
Thank you, Sandy.
About the Novel
An unexpected murder. A suspect with a reason. The power of unwavering belief.
A murder has been committed in an office in Jerusalem. That’s for sure. The rest is not as clear-cut as it might seem.
Asaf languishes in his cell, unable to tell his story even to himself. How can he tell it to someone who elicits such fear within him?
His colleague, Nathalie, has studied Beauty and the Beast. She understands its moral. Maybe that’s why she’s the only one who believes in Asaf, the suspect. But she’s new in the company – and in the country. Would anyone take her opinion seriously?
She coerces her flatmates, Yarden and Tehila, into helping her investigate. As they uncover new trails, will they be able to reverse popular opinion?
In the end, will Beauty’s belief be strong enough to waken the Beast? Or, in this case, can Style waken the Solitary?
Jessica Thompson is an author of culinary cozy mysteries. (She’s in the US, so the ‘cozy’ spelling is correct.) Here’s her take on the power of belief.
The Power of Belief is a wonderful concept that I employ when writing characters, especially in mysteries with “good guys” and “bad guys.”
First off, I think belief is our relationship to truth and how we have processed it and packaged it. Our grasp of truth cannot be perfect and entire, but we try to get as close as we can with what we believe.
My friend consistently mentions that our brains process information by talking about it. Thinking about it, rehashing it, replaying it, and yes, talking about it, are all ways of processing it all into beliefs.
What do you believe happened in that situation? What do you believe they were really trying to say? What do you believe about yourself or that person or thing?
That filter of belief makes all the difference. It’s the difference between passing a polygraph test and failing it, a verdict of guilty or not guilty, and the difference between a confident person and a timid one. In my stories, it’s the difference between the hero and the murderer.
It’s all belief.
I think that is a wonderful gift. That means we can choose. We can choose which person we want to be. We pick a lane and go farther and farther down that path.
I think about this a lot while I am writing characters.
My “good guys” are making selfless decisions because this is who they are choosing to be and who they believe they are. More interestingly, my “bad guys” are making decisions that may be destructive to others but are self-interested. He is doing what he believes will be good for him. In that way, he believes he is right, and those are my favorite kinds of villains.
SONY DSC
Violet, my main character in “A Caterer’s Guide to Holidays and Homicide,” is a “good guy.” She tries to help people, she seeks justice, and she genuinely cares about the people around her. She may get caught up in her plans, her cooking, and her pursuit, but that just makes her human. The point is, she chooses to be “good” and she believes in herself and the people around her.
Without giving away any spoilers, my “bad guys” from both “A Caterer’s Guide to Holidays and Homicide” and the first book in the series, “A Caterer’s Guide to Love and Murder,” both believe they are right, too.
Didn’t they deserve what I did?
I had to do it or else they would _____.
It may have helped me, too, but I was doing it to save other people!
These are all examples of ways they have justified their actions to themselves. Right or wrong, these are the beliefs they have as a result of their choices. The twisted ways they have packaged their ideas into beliefs that work in their best interest.
After all, isn’t that what we all do?
Thank you for that, Jessica. Plenty of food for thought, there. (Oops!) No really, I mean that.
About the Author
When Jessica discovered mystery novels with recipes, she knew she had found her niche.
Now Jessica is the author of the Amazon best-selling culinary cozy mystery, A Caterer’s Guide to Love and Murder, and will be publishing her second book of the series, A Caterer’s Guide to Holidays and Homicide, on October 19, 2021. She is active in her local writing community and is a member of the Writers’ League of Texas and the Storymakers Guild. She received a bachelor’s degree in Horticulture from Brigham Young University but has always enjoyed writing and reading mysteries.
As an avid home chef and food science geek, Jessica has won cooking competitions and been featured in the online Taste of Home recipe collection. She also tends to be the go-to source for recipes, taste-testing, and food advice among her peers.
Jessica is originally from California, but now has adopted the Austin, Texas lifestyle. She enjoys living in the suburbs with her husband and young children, but also enjoys helping her parents with their nearby longhorn cattle ranch.
Miriam Drori, Author 