Carol Potenza

New Mexico Mysteries

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Carol Potenza

(Time) Traveling on My Mind

As you might have guessed, I always weave science into my fiction. Hearts of the Missing, genetics and genealogy (Tony Hillerman Prize) The Third Warrior, toxic waste clean-up with infective biological organisms Spirit Daughters, parthenogenesis (Daphne Du Maurier Award) Sacred Ghosts (hopefully out in 2025), pre-Columbian dog genetics as a subplot In Sting of Lies (Silver Falchion Finalist), I chose to research the Pleistocene epoch and learn as much as I could about Clovis culture and Mammoths because I wanted to. This book received a WONDERFUL Publisher’s Weekly review. The reviewer said it has a “rip-roaring” plot. I love that …

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So Long, Tony Hillerman Prize (2007-2024) Rest in Peace

Tony Hillerman Prize for Best First Mystery Set in the Southwest After many great years, the Tony Hillerman Prize competition has come to an end. Minotaur Books is grateful to all who worked on this wonderful prize throughout the years. A special thanks to Anne Hillerman for her support of aspiring authors of the American Southwest, and as always, grateful acknowledgement to the legacy of her father, Tony Hillerman. (from the MacMillan Website) Excuse my ego, but I have gmail account set to search for Tony Hillerman/Prize alerts, so I’d know when a new prize winner was announced.. But the …

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Original Thought? Probably not. Especially in fiction.

Human thought—well, probably >99.9% percent of it—is derivative. Derivative? What does that mean? That most thoughts are not new but are developed from other ideas or copied or extremely similar to something else. Most human thought is not original but is built on the ideas, theories, works, even the life, of others. Example? The movie Julie and Julia (2009). Julie was a woman who received fame and a movie because she cooked all the recipes in Julia Child’s cookbook in a year and blogged about it. She even felt like Julia Child should meet with her because of this secondhand fame built …

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Demystifying the Beats Uncovers the Secrets of Mystery…

Demystifying the Beats: Dire Disruption The Dire Disruption will be at the end of Act 2, right at the midpoint climax. And like the midpoint climax in any story, it’s a watershed. After it occurs, everything changes. It’s the point where the sleuth is on the downward slope to solving the case, and the villain knows it. For a Whodunit, the Dire Disruption will probably be focused on the sleuth. In my Nicky Matthews mystery series, when you reach the Dire Disruption, you will DEFINITELY know it. It’s a slap in the face for both the reader and the sleuth. …

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