My short story, Crazy for You has just been published in Silly Tree Anthologies’ first collection, Scared Spitless. An interview with Silly Tree regarding the writing of this story is available on the Silly Tree Anthologies web site.

Crazy for You is a simple tale of a dysfunctional marriage involving cutlery.  I wrote it in response to a challenge posed in Steven King’s book, On Writing, to write a story based on a scenario he posed.

Scared Spitless presents some lively and hair-raising stories in a variety of styles, and is available on Amazon.com.

Thanks to all who attended the August 3rd book signing. Both my fellow author, Myrna Daly, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting our delightful readers.

The Heard Museum of Native American Art and Culture now carries Dyed in the Wool in their book store. What an honor! The only other non-Native fiction author they carry is Tony Hillerman. If you have never visited the Heard and will be in the Phoenix area, you are in for a treat. This museum comprises many buildings with exhibits depicting early native culture, geologic time lines, examples of Native icons like the Navajo rugs, Hopi Katsinas and more. They host an annual art competition for Native children from all 50 states with Native artists serving as judges. They also lead guided trips to the surrounding areas where Anasazi cliff dwellings still exist and rock art is found in some unlikely locations. The Heard has classes, as well. The Museum itself is worth the trip. The white buildings, gracious courtyards with sculpture and fountains and leaf shaded walkways are uniquely inviting. For a sneak peek before you go, click on www.heard.org.
And, of course … go to the book store and buy a copy of Dyed in the Wool.

Happy travels. If you do go, or have been, write and tell me about your experience.
Joyce

Winter 2013

Dyed in the Wool is set in Arizona and the Navajo Nation and features Annie, a chemist, weaver and stepmother of two teens, Dylan and Walt. Annie’s husband has been assigned to Uruguay to launch a communications satellite and will be gone for three months. This leaves Annie and the boys to learn to live with one another, and the boys are soon in trouble. Annie decides to take them out of town, away from bad influences  and the Navajo reservation is her destination. Once the three are ‘on the rez’ they find toxins in the water. So the saga begins.

Preparation for this book encompasses a lifetime of interest in other cultures, particularly Native American, an anthropology course on Native Peoples at Stanford University and a great deal of library and internet research. The most important additional research involved interviews with many who have spent years of their lives in the Navajo Nation, and the Navajo people themselves. The story itself grew out of my own experiences and the generous sharing of expertise by others, especially my daughter, Elaine, a geologist who spent years working in the hazardous waste industry.

Those unfamiliar with the Navajo culture will have a glimpse of it through this book. Should you want a look at one woman’s parenting skills under trying circumstances, you’ll find it here. Most important of all, this is a mystery.
Enjoy!