Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Eliot Parker’s “Old Lady” from SNAPSHOTS is #165 in the never-ending series called INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION


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 ****Eliot Parker’s “Old Lady” from SNAPSHOTS is #165 in the never-ending series called INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific excerpt from a fiction genre and how that fiction writer wrote that specific excerpt.  All INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links are at the end of this piece

What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction?
I started working on this collection of short stories in 2011 and finished them in 2018.

Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work? I have an office in my house in Oxford, Mississippi where I did most of the writing and revision of this short story collection. I am an “early bird” when it comes to writing. My office has a computer with a printer close by and all of my books surrounding me (for inspiration). It take and make notes about my work in progress on yellow legal pads and will refer to them often when I write. For the most part, I type on the computer as I write.
What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? I usually get up early in the morning and I will write for a couple of hours. I find that my mind is fresh my thoughts more clear in the morning. Plus, since I am a college professor, writing in the mornings doesn’t conflict as much with my work schedule. I don’t put myself on a word count. Instead, I just write for the two hours allotted. Some days, I will write four sentences and other days I might write 5,000 words. It just depends.

What is the summary of this specific fiction work? Each story within Snapshots places the characters in situations where their past behaviors will be changed in a moment that is like a snapshot picture: freezing in time who they are in a moment but facing new challenges that will alter that snapshot and create a new reality. Eudora Welty’s quote “A good snapshot keeps a moment from going away” is a theme that permeates all of the stories in Eliot Parker’s collection of short stories, Snapshots

          These stories are set in West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky. In the plots of the stories, the makeup of the characters is more interesting and important than the circumstances that the characters find themselves trying to manage. Each protagonist finds themselves in a complicated set of personal and professional relationships. By their nature, relationships are complicated. The protagonists in these stories are shaped by their backgrounds, life experiences, and expectations of other people. Conflicts arise for these protagonists when decisions and choices made by others alter the expectations and circumstances expected by the protagonists.

          In each of these stories, the lives, values, and beliefs held by the characters are deconstructed and each of them face a new reality brought on by an experience or situation that forces them to reexamine who they are and who they need to become. Each of these characters occupy a variety of professional spaces: cops, a rich, successful couple, convicted criminals, and others grieving the loss of a loved one and grieving the absence of love.

Please include just one excerpt and include page numbers as references.  This one excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer.
          She slammed the empty can on the counter and chewed on a fingernail for a moment. No other beverage, not even alcohol, sounded satisfying to her at that moment. She tossed her head back and stared at the low-hanging light rack. Rachel groaned and grabbed her purse from a chair near the kitchen island.
          When Rachel reached the front door, she swallowed hard. She could still feel Mason’s presence and sensed the anguish in his voice as he told her he was leaving. The thought made her mind foggy. For a moment, Rachel forgot why she was standing there clutching her car keys in a clenched fist (page 192).

Why is this excerpt so emotional for you as a writer to write?  And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? This is an emotional passage for me because Rachel is such a broken person. She has endured such loss and tragedy in her life that she really struggles with the basic, “everyday” responsibilities of life. However, Rachel is someone that is stronger than she realizes and it takes a chance encounter with a total stranger for Rachel to realize that about herself.

Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? And can you please include a photo of your marked up rough drafts of this excerpt. This passage was rewritten several times. Here is one of the revisions:

          “She slammed the empty can on the counter and chewed on a fingernail for a moment. No other beverage, not even alcohol, sounded satisfying to her at that moment. Rachel felt like she needed drink at that moment. The alcohol would’ve tasted good to her in that moment. She needed it; wanted it. She tossed her head back and stared at the low-hanging light rack. Rachel groaned and grabbed her purse from a chair near the kitchen island.
          When Rachel reached the front door, she swallowed hard. She could still feel Mason’s presence and sensed the anguish in his voice as he told her he was leaving.
          The thought made her mind foggy. For a moment, Rachel forgot why she was standing there clutching her car keys in a clenched fist. “

          It was determined by my editor, Kat Mazurak, that this passage was unnecessary and pulled the reader away from the action/tension of the scene.

     Eliot Parker is the author of four novels, most recently "A Knife's Edge", which was an Honorable Mention in Thriller Writing at the London Book Festival, and is the sequel to the award-winning novel "Fragile Brilliance". 


     His novel "Code for Murder" was named a 2018 Finalist for Genre Fiction by American Book Fest. He is a recipient of the West Virginia Literary Merit Award and Fragile Brilliance was a finalist for the Southern Book Prize in Thriller Writing. He recently received the Thriller Writing Award by the National Association of Book Editors (NABE) for his novels.
     Eliot is the host of the podcast program "Now, Appalachia", which profiles authors and publishers living and writing in the Appalachian region and is heard on the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network and Blog Talk Radio. A graduate of the Bluegrass Writers Studio at Eastern Kentucky University with his MFA in Creative Writing and Murray State University with his Doctorate in English, he teaches English at the University of Mississippi and lives in Oxford, Mississippi and Chesapeake, Ohio.

INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links

001   11 15 2018 Nathaniel Kaine’s
Thriller Novel
John Hunter – The Veteran

002   11 18 2018 Ed Protzzel’s
Futuristic/Mystery/Thriller
The Antiquities Dealer 

003   11 23 2018 Janice Seagraves’s
Science Fiction Romance
Exodus Arcon

004   11 29 2018 Christian Fennell’s
Literary Fiction Novel
The Fiddler in the Night

005  12 02 2018 Jessica Mathews’s
Adult Paranormal Romance
Death Adjacent
006  12 04 2018 Robin Jansen’s
Literary Fiction Novel
Ruby the Indomitable

007  12 12 2018  Adair Valerez’s
Literary Fiction Novel
Scrim

008  12 17 218 Kit Frazier’s
Mystery Novel
Dead Copy

009 12 21 2019 Robert Craven’s
Noir/Spy Novel
The Road of a Thousand Tigers

010 01 13 2019 Kristine Goodfellow’s
Contemporary Romantic Fiction
The Other Twin

011 01 17 2019 Nancy J Cohen’s
Cozy Mystery
Trimmed To Death

012 01 20 2019 Charles Salzberg’s
Crime Novel
Second Story Man

013 01 23 2019 Alexis Fancher’s
Flash Fiction
His Full Attention

014 01 27 2019 Brian L Tucker’s
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POKEWEED:  AN ILLUSTRATED NOVELLA

015 01 31 2019 Robin Tidwell’s
Dystopian
Reduced

016 02 07 2019 J.D. Trafford’s
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Little Boy Lost

017 02 08 2019 Paula Shene’s
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018 02 13 2019 Talia Carner’s
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Hotel Moscow

019 02 15 2019 Rick Robinson’s
Multidimensional Fiction
Alligator Alley

020 02 21 2019 LaVerne Thompson’s
Urban Fantasy
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021 02 27 2019 Marlon L Fick’s
Post-Colonialist Novel
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022 03 02 2019 Carol Johnson’s
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Silk And Ashes

023 03 06 2019 Samuel Snoek-Brown’s
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There Is No Other Way to Worship Them

024 03 08 2019 Marlin Barton’s
Short Story Collection
Pasture Art

025 03 18 2019 Laura Hunter’s
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Beloved Mother

026 03 21 2019 Maggie Rivers’s
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Magical Mistletoe

027  03 25 2019 Faith Gibson’s
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Rafael

028 03 27 2019 Valerie Nieman’s
Tall Tale
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029 04 04 2019 Betty Bolte’s
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030 04 05 2019  Marianne Maili’s
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Lucy, go see

031 04 10 2019 Gregory Erich Phillips’s
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032 04 15 2019 Jason Ament’s
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033 04 24 2019 Stephen P. Keirnan’s
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034 05 01 2019 George Kramer’s
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035 05 05 2019 Erika Sams’s
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036 05 07 2019 Mark Wisniewski’s
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037 05 08 2019 Marci Baun’s
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038 05 10 2019 Suzanne M. Wolfe’s
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039 05 12 2019 Edward DeVito’s
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040 05 14 2019 Gytha Lodge’s
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#062 07 12 2918 Vic Sizemore’s
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#063 07 13 2019 Deborah Riley Magnus’s
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#065 07 15 2019 Lori Baker Martin’s
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#066 08 01 2019 Sabine Chennault’s
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#067 08 02 2019 Margaret Porter’s
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#068 08 04 2019 Hank Phillippi Ryan’s
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069 08 08 2019 Diana Y. Paul’s
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070 08 10 2019 Phyllis H. Moore’s
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071 08 11 2019 Sara Dahmen’s
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072  08 19 2019 Carolyn Breckinridge’s
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073 08 21 2019 Alison Ragsdale’s
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074  08 22 2019 Lee Matthew Goldberg’s
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075 08 23 2019 Jonathan Brown’s
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076 09 02 2019 Chera Hammons Miller’s
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077 09 09 019 Joe William Taylor’s
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078 09 15 2019 Linda Hughes’s
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079 09 19 2019 Max Elliot Anderson’s
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080 09 22 2019 Danny Adams’s
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081 09 24 2019 Arianna Dagnino’s
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082 09 29 2019 Lawrence Verigin’s
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083  10 05 2019 Emma Khoury’s
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#084 10 07 2019 Steve McManus’s
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#085 10 08 2019 Sheila Lowe’s
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#086 10 10 2019 Jess Neal Woods’s
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#087 10 11 2019 Karen Odden’s
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#88 10 14 2019 Kate Maruyama’s
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#89 10 17 2019 Sherry Harris’s
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#90 10 18 2019 Linda Mooney’s
Science Fiction Apocalyptic/ Post Apocalyptic
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#91 10 19 2019 Jayne Martin’s
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#92 10 22 2019 Janice Cole Hopkins’s
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#93 10 29 2019 Kristi Petersen Schoonover’s
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#94 11 01 2019 David Henry Sterry’s
Fiction: Sexual Violence
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#95 11 03 2019 Jay Requard’s
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#96 11 04 2019 Caroline Leavitt’s
Fiction
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#97 11 06 2019 Kelsey Clifton’s
Science Fiction
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#098 11 13 2019 John F Allen’s
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#99 11 16 2019 Damian McNicholl’s
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#100 11 19 2019 Stacia Levy’s
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#101 11 24 2019 Charlotte Morgan’s
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#102 11 26 2019 T. L. Moore’s
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#103 11 27 2019 Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg’s
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#104 11 29 2019 Charlotte Blackwell’s
Adult Paranormal
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#105 12 07 2019 Mike Burrell’s
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#106 12 09 2019 Phil McCarron’s
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#107 12 11 2019 Wendy H. Jones’s
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#108 12 13 2019 Sandra Arnold’s
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#109 12 16 2019 Amalia Carosella’s
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Fiction
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#110 12 19 2019 Laura Bickle’s
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#111 12 27 2019 Brian Pinkerton’s
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#112  12 28 2019 Sandra de Helen’s
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#113 12 29 2019 Jo Wilde’s
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#114 12 30 2019 Sam Richard’s
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#115 12 31 2019 Duncan B Barlow’s
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#116 01 02 2020 Allison Landa’s
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#117 01 03 2020 Pablo Medina’s
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#118 01 06 2020 William Trent Pancoast’s
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#119 01 07 2020 Jane Bernstein’s
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#120 01 09 2020 Terry Kroenung’s
Young Adult, Historical and Fantasy
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#121 01 12 2020 Melissa Yi’s
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#122 01 15 2020 Marcie R. Rendon’s
Crime Thriller
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#123 01 16 2020 Tori Eldridge’s
Multi Genre Novel
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#124 01 17 2020 Kristen Joy Wilks’s
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#125 01 20 2020 Susan C. Shea’s
Cozy Mystery
“DRESSED FOR DEATH IN BURGUNDY”


#126  01 22 2020 Phong Nguyen’s
Improvisational Fiction
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#127 01 23 2020 Kate Thornton’s
Mystery Short Story In Its Entirety
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#128 01 24 2020 Phil McCarron’s
Semi Fictional Essays
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Normality”

#129  01 27 2020 Kenneth Weene’s
Historicized Literary Fiction
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#130 01 28 2020 Graham Storrs’s
Science Fiction Thriller
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#131 02 08 2020 Angela Slatter’s
Short Story “Terrible As An Army With Banners”
From her Short Story Collection THE BITTERWOOD BIBLE AND OTHER RECOUNTINGS

#132 02 11 2020 Joan Joachim’s
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#133 02 16 2020 Kelsey Clifton’s
Science Fiction
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#134 02 17 2020 Soraya M Lane’s
Women Historical Fiction
THE GIRLS OF PEARL HARBOR

#135 03 07 2020
Linked Fiction
BLEACHERS Fifty-Four Linked Fictions
By Joseph Mills

#136 03 15 2020
Science Fiction Romance
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By Marie Lavender

#137 03 17 2020
Crime Fiction
12 Bullets
by O’Neil De Noux

#138 03 18 2020
Flash Fiction Piece
Radical
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#139 03 20 2020
Mystery
HERE BE MONSTERS
By Jamie Sheffield


#140 03 21 2020
Character Driven Novel
UNBROKEN
By Jamie Lisa Forbes

#141 03 23 2020
Literary Murder Mystery
COLD COUNTRY
By Russell Rowland

#142 04 01 2020
Sci-Fi/Paranormal
SWEET SLEEP
By Kim Cormack

#143 04 02 2020
Western Noir Short Story
“Night Rounds”
by James Reasoner

#144 04 03 2020
Southern Fiction
LITTLE TEA
By Claire Fullerton

#145 04 04 2020
Mainstream novel with elements of crime, mystery, and magic
THE FORGETTING FLOWER
by Karen Hugg

#146 04 07 2020
Historical Fiction
MEDICIS DAUGHTER
by Sophie Perinot

#147 04 08 2020
Dark Urban Fantasy with elements of Paranormal Romance
COVEN BORN
by Stephanie Reisner aka AUDREY BRICE

#148 04 13 2020
Mystery With A Fantasy Twist
DEATH LIVES IN THE WATER
By Shoshana Edwards

#149 04 14 2020
Historical Fiction
ASHES
by Sharon Glogal Friedman

#150 04 19 2020
Vampire Horror Novelette
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#151 04 25 2020
Historical Fiction
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by Marly Youmans

#152 04 29 2020
Historical Fiction
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by David Blixt

#153 04 30 2020
General Fiction (Family)
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by Steven Manchester

#154 05 01 2020
Adventure-Thriller/Horror
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#155 05 06 2020
Coming of Age/Crime Novel
All Things Left In The Wild
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#156 05 10 2020
Paranormal Mystery
Southern Bound
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#157 05 13 2020
Mystery/Crime Novel
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#158 05 15 2020
Horror/Crime Novel
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#159 05 16 2020
Satire/Crime Novel
THE LYING BASTARD
by Clint Margrave

#160 05 19 2020
Southern Gothic Fiction
REVIVING THE HAWTHORN SISTERS
by Emily Carpenter

#161 05 21 2020
Women’s Domestic Life Fiction
MERCY HOUSE
by Alena Dillon

#162 05 26 2020
Screenplay/Film
BEAST MODE
by Drew Fortune and Spain Willingham

#163 05 31 2020
Coming of Age/ Psychological Thriller
MY SISTER & OTHER LIARS
by Ruth Dugdall

#164 06 01 2020
Psychological Thriller
IN HARM’S WAY
by Owen Mullen

#165 06 02 2020
Small Town Short Story Collection
SNAPSHOT “Old Lady”
by Eliot Parker