I am viewing the last two years more like a clarification than a transition. I started out butch, I incorporated trans*, I am still muddling through. Either I will figure it out or I will just keep reading and thinking.

What does it mean to me (this week) to say that I am trans* but I am not transitioning? I’ve been reading the classic text, Harry Benjamin‘s “The Transsexual Phenomenon”.  It is out of print (and very dated since it was written in 1966 post Jorgensen but pre Stonewall); you can download it  from tgmeds.org.uk/downs/phenomenon.pdf (I would provide the link but I got bounced out of the WordPress Reader last week for linking to something that annoyed the system and I am not taking any chances this week). The is the link to last week’s post.

The simplest description of transgender is that what is “between the ears” doesn’t…

This is the inaugural blog of the merry Mesdames of Mayhem! Since the Mesdames have named me, M. H. Callway, as the erstwhile founder of our autonomous collective, it is my honour and privilege to pen this our first entry.

And just in case, here is the definition of an autonomous collective via Monty Python:

We are a group of fourteen crime fiction authors. One of us is the winner of the prestigious Edgar, awarded by the Mystery Writers of America. Several of us are winners and finalists of the Arthur Ellis awards, Canada’s national prizes in the field of crime fiction.

Some of us are winners and finalists of the Bony Pete, sponsored by Bloody Words, Canada’s national conference for crime writing. And finalists for the famous Debut Dagger.

For details on our awards and publications, do check out our bios!

We writers are living through a revolution in…

Q: I am currently doing research for a historical novel, one of my main characters, a prosperous middle aged male, was an arsenic-eater who used this drug regularly for some time, at least two years probably longer, he became addicted to it and took increasingly large doses. He eventually died from an overdose of arsenic, possibly intentionally (as in suicide). Could you give me some information about what type of physical as well as psychological symptoms he may have had both as a habitual user as well as dying from n overdose of this drug?

Brandy Purdy, author of The Boleyn Wife, The Tudor Throne, and The Queen’s Pleasure

www.brandypurdy.com

http://brandypurdy.blogspot.com

A: Arsenic (AS) can cause both chronic and acute poisoning and it was indeed used in the past by many people as a folk remedy for almost anything. So was strychnine. Though chronic users can tolerate increasing…

Admit it. Somewhere in your family there’s some young person who is still riding that CSI craze toward a career. They see themselves wearing lab coats and pipetting mysterious liquids under cool blue lighting to the tune of a rock music montage. Or they imagine striding inside the yellow tape, pulling on latex gloves and snapping a sharp “What’ve we got?” at the hot homicide detective. Or they imagine running down a dark alley, dodging behind the dumpster to squeeze off a shot at the serial killer they just figured out is the serial killer by the aftershave he wears, the unique scent of kumji berries blended specially for a boutique in Greenwich Village where the first victim had a temp job.

Okay, first off—if it’s that last one, tell them to become a cop. CSIs don’t chase suspects. Most of us don’t even carry guns; that’s…

From Scarfolk Council, one of the finest sites I’ve seen in sometime. Their self-description:

Scarfolk is a town in North West England that did not progress beyond 1979. Instead, the entire decade of the 1970s loops ad infinitum. Here in Scarfolk, pagan rituals blend seamlessly with science; hauntology is a compulsory subject at school, and everyone must be in bed by 8pm because they are perpetually running a slight fever. “Visit Scarfolk today. Our number one priority is keeping rabies at bay.” For more information please reread.

The site’s got this wonderfully weird Wickerman / Ballard / Prisoner vibe to it. Very cool stuff.

You used photos, videos, drawings — visuals!

I’m amazed, and dismayed, by how few bloggers consistently add visual content to their posts. A sea of words is daunting and dull. Magazines and newspapers know they must seduce readers into their material, not simply subject them to an unbroken and wearying sea of type.

You thought more like an editor

When you write for an editor, your ideas, and how you plan to express them, have to pass muster with someone else, often several. They usually ask you to explain, a little or a lot, why you think this story is worth doing now. Blogging offers writers tremendous freedom of expression — please don’t abuse it.

You remembered that your readers are busy, easily bored and quickly distracted

Journalists are taught to use the “inverted pyramid”, in which the most essential information in any story is at the very top, usually…