January 21, 2016

Dear Hildie:

I indeed think it’s immoral for governments to encourage citizens to throw away their money on gambling. People who buy lottery tickets are indulging in fantasy. But we humans do that and I can understand somebody saying, “It’s a small amount to pay for the chance to be rich,” even though the mathematical expectation is piss poor and, as someone calculated, your chance of being hit by a meteor is four times as great.  And your syllogism is flawless: ALL DEMOCRATS BELIEVE IN WASTFUL WELFARE SPENDING. MALCOLM IS A DEMOCRAT. MALCOLM THEREFORE BELIEVES IN WASTEFUL WELFARE SPENDING. The only flaw is your premise.  And that’s a pretty big flaw!

I see Derrick Todd Lee died and there’s said to be lots of gloating on the Internet. I can’t see that. As Yogi Berra might have said, “Monsters are human, too.” And I’ll bet he didn’t tell where all the other bodies are buried.

Have to prepare a budget now. Take care. Have fun buying more lottery tickets (i.e., flushing money away).

 

Love,

M

January 20, 2016

 

Dear Hildie:

 

Went to a cemetery yesterday, to get measurements and see whether it could be avoided by a project we’re working on. Like Bill Haag once said, “A cemetery’s the last thing I want to see!”

 

Ah! Now I see from your letter about the Natchez commune and cemetery why the Furies part of my novel struck home for you.

 

Have to write up my results. Take care. Love.

 

M

 

January 18, 2016

 

Dear Hildie:

 

Happy MLK Day!

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence for CRIMES OF ARTEMUS KEEL. I value your ideas on revisions. I don’t know about one of the great American novels, but thanks, anyway. My problem is I have so many stories in me I feel like I’m letting one risk dying if I spend too much time on another. I have this urge to get all these stories out. I know, that’s amateurish—my former agent said I never gave my “talents a chance to mature.” New York-speak for concentrate on quality, not quantity. But I feel; like I’m in such a race against time, and the other night I had a dream with a plot that really seized me, which is rare, because I seldom get anything creative from dreams. It was a familiar plot, the theme of which I dream about often—Going into the jungle to visit a lost tribe or place. Typical her-quest stuff. Arch-typal.

 

Oh, well.

 

Good to have seen you even for a little while.

 

Love,

 

M

Dear Hildie:

Too bad you didn’t win the Powerball. You could’ve bought that whole Mexican prison where your sons now reside. Mala suerte!

 

Finished THE BONES OF PARIS. Very disappointing end. No real suspense. No figuring out who did it. Zilch.

 

Take care.

 

Love,

M

January 13, 2016

 

Dear Hildie:

 

Right now I’m about finished with THE BONES OF PARIS. A good read. I’m not sure what to go to next—the Erik Larson book or a biography of Lou Gehrig.  I keep adding thoughts to the thing I’m working on now—I hate jumping the gun, getting halfway in, and finding I have to tear it all up.

 

Take care.

Love, M

January 12, 2016

 

Dear Hildie:

 

There’s very little happening here—Another sudden trough regarding work. All these projects that are posed to take off, like planes on a runway, but the tower won’t give the go-ahead.

 

I finally got a couple of hundred dollars royalties for the ebooks yesterday. Wow! I’m rich.

 

Powerball? I’d as soon flush my money down the toilet. I think it’s absolutely immoral for governments to sponsor these things. But I understand the attitude of “what’s a dollar to me when I might win a billion.” That’s human. But the government should be encouraging people to work, not gambler.

 

Enough moralizing for now.

 

 

Take care,

Love,

M

 

Jan. 11, 2016

 

Dear Hildie:

I read Felix Francis’ latest Dick Francis mystery. OK but confusing—two sets of unrelated crimes—not fair to the reader. Am now reading Julie King’s THE BONES OF PARIS. Good, but for one typo—She has a character back from the WW I front in 1913!

Things slow here.

 

Take care.

Love,

M

 

 

Dear Hildie:

 

They caught el Chapo. Now, if they hand him over to the US, maybe you can get Murphy and Riley included in the deal.

 

Love,

M

January 7, 2016

 

Dear Hildie:

 

Watched the KILLING FIELDS night before last, where they “re-opened” the Eugenie Boisfontaine case—You know, the 34 year- old LSU grad student who was abducted from Stanford Avenue in 1997 and turned up as a skeleton in Bayou Manchac. They say the DNA doesn’t match Derrick Todd Lee, but everything else seems to. But, God, who can believe anything on TV? I see the most ridiculous programs on the “Discovery” and “History” channels, that have nothing to do with real discoveries (except the ones they’ve manufactured) or history (e.g., ancient aliens). And the ID channel, which deals with crime, is so low in production values it should be convicted of a crime against their audience; I think they use the same generic police car for all their programs. I get so tired of seeing these 20-something writers and actors having their “policeman” of the 1960s and before using two-handed pistol grips.

 

Working on another proposal. Devil’s Swamp. I remember my grandmother telling me about people who wandered into it and were never seen again. I’m sure every locality has such stories.

 

Take care.

Love,

M

Dear Hildie:

I seem to be about over my cold. Not bad as colds go, I guess. I’m trying to get another book going but it’s hard–so much to work out beforehand. I find I’m running down, like a clock with an old spring.

Take care,

Love,

M