I mean, have you met me? There is now a podcast of Saturday’s event, too. Click here to eavesdrop in. Abduction of a Slave, the fourth Eye of Isis novel, now on sale at a bookstore or etailer near you! The drums of war are sounding again across the Middle Sea as Julius Caesar plans…
Pre-order Signed Hardcover → Pre-order for Kindle (US) Pre-order for Kindle (UK) Today at 5pm we launch Abduction of a Slave, the fourth Eye of Isis novel, at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona! If you can’t attend in person you can watch (and ask questions) on the…
[repurposed from November 2010] An interview with Les Wanner of TheCrimeofitAll.com.
Len Wanner: Should crime fiction get more critical attention?
Dana Stabenow: No, I think it gets plenty nowadays, both online and off.
LW: Have you read any Scottish crime fiction?
DS: Scottish crime fiction isn’t separated out as a separate subgenre on Amazon or at Barnes and Noble, so I don’t know.
LW: What are the merits of crime fiction for you?
DS: The merits of good crime writing are the same merits of any good writing: The better I tell a story, the more engaged the reader will be.
LW: Did you choose this genre because it gives a voice to those we rarely listen to?
DS: If I wanted to bang the drum for a cause I’d write non-fiction. I do believe evil exists in human form, however, and the snake always has the best lines.
LW: How do you see yourself as a writer?
DS: I’m an entertainer. I’m the one sitting around the fire, spinning tales, hoping to get a few coins in my bowl before turning in for the night. If I don’t deliver, no coins, and no supper.
LW: Would you say that crime fiction is becoming ever more popular because it offers ersatz justice?
DS: Yes. Most of the time in crime fiction justice prevails. If we can’t have the reality of social justice, at least we can escape to it in fiction.
LW: Can the genre be too heavy-handed on questions of corrective measures?
DS: Only by accident, if the writer is doing their job properly.
LW: Does the genre afford us an opportunity to identify with a person driven to crime?
DS: Some people are just plain mad, bad and dangerous to know. No crime fiction writer can afford to underestimate the human propensity for evil. But no crime fiction reader should forget they are reading fiction.
LW: What makes a hero?
DS: All the best crime fiction heroes share at bottom the core characteristic of decency and many of them a willingness to sacrifice for their code or an individual or the common good. That’s what makes them heroes, they are better than you and me.
LW: Is the crime novel read as the new social novel – to identify with people in distress, to feel that we are not alone in our fears and uncertainties?
DS: The social novel has disappeared? Wait, I don’t even know what a “social” novel is. This could apply to any novel in any genre.
LW: Would you agree that crime fiction is read with a view to sounding out one’s own lived experience through the contrast between idealized patriarchy and how things actually work?
DS: Judging by my fan mail, some do. Some just read for the thrill.
LW: Do you write crime fiction because this genre doesn’t hesitate when it comes to the extremes that human beings are capable of?
DS: Crime fiction is a very versatile genre. There is nothing you can’t do in crime fiction and make it work. So yes.
LW: Who does it best?
DS: Reading is a wholly subjective exercise, and every book has a different effect on each individual reader. You’re casting a pretty wide net here. I will simply say that lately I’ve been enjoying Ariana Franklin, Craig Johnson, Barbara Cleverly, PD James and Reginald Hill.
Abduction of a Slave, the fourth Eye of Isis novel, publishes in January 2025. I'll be launching the book at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale. Hope to see you there!
The statue of a Greek archer, found in the temple of Aphaia on the island of Aegina, just offshore of Athens. The temple was built circa 600 BC. This statue is a 3D printed copy of the original and painted to what they think it looked like back then. –currently on display at the “Chroma”…
The first chapter from the third Eye of Isis novel. prologos “How deep is it?” In spite of every effort to keep it steady, Henu heard the tremor in his voice. “If you fall in you won’t care because you’ll be dead, and if you don’t fall in you won’t care because you’ll be rich,…
From the second novel in the Eye of Isis series. 4 His last remark had interfered with her dreams and was interfering again with her work the following morning. What did he mean, when, not where? She felt he was being unnecessarily cryptic. It annoyed her. Men were supposed to be simple and easy to…
The third chapter from the second novel in the Eye of Isis series 3 They parted from their new friends when they reached the Way, crossing it to walk through the Emporeum. Here, Tetisheri was obliged to stop and say hello to every shopkeeper and business rival who called out her name, which was most…
The second chapter of the second novel in the Eye of Isis series. 2 Apollodorus was waiting for her at the bottom of the marble steps that ran the length of the building. He was facing the Way, a broad boulevard stretching the breadth of the city from the Gate of the Sun in the…
The first chapter of the second novel in the Eye of Isis series. 1 The scroll was written in Greek. The hand was neat, the label tied to the scroll easily read. The sixteenth máthima of the twenty-seventh Eye of Isis By her own hand for the record Twelfth Bay, Seventh Shelf The Room of…
The second chapter of the first novel in the Eye of Isis series, set in Alexandria in the time of Cleopatra. 2 (Part 2) “What are you working on?” Tetisheri said. The queen watched the pot as it came back to a boil. “Dried powdered willow bark ground fine, pomegranate juice, and honey.” “What’s it…
