Bob Strother's story "New Blood" has been chosen for publication in the "Midnight Times 4th Annual Vampire Fiction Issue." (Of course that title makes you wonder if they have a non-fiction issue.) The e-zine can be downloaded at www.midnighttimes.com. Congratulations Bob, even if you are getting pretty scary.

While Leland Beaudrot's mischievous Muse, Thaleia, is away (last seen headed for Vegas), he turned his talents to non-fiction. His article, "Turning an upside-down world right-side up," will appear in the May 2007 issue of ARP Magazine. Early in May, this issue will be featured on the magazine's web site www.arpmagazine.org, which Leland serves as web master.

Check out the last item in this newsletter, Observations from the Editor's Corner, for an explanation of SCWW membership renewal and payment procedures.

The young Matthew Prince spends an evening at dinner and dialogue with his betrothed Penelope, her concerned English mother, Mary Kent, and the religious Dutch widow Lijsbet. Jim McFarlane's chapter 8 of Penelope dives into some interesting yet humorous conversation over what the wedding plans and attire should be in front of a "mere" magistrate and what strict Pilgrim leanings require, citing scripture by a self-assured yet unworldly naïve Matthew. Penelope manages to mediate between her mother's apprehension and feelings about less than tolerant "Separatist" views of Matthew and even Lijsbet's acceptance toward her wedding plans in six weeks, then eventual voyage to America within a year. The group chuckled over Lijsbet's thoughts with the remark: As usual, men quoted St. Paul. Aside: Do WE really do that? Good work, Jim.

David Burnsworth's enthusiasm shines through like a hot Charleston sun in his novel-in-progress, Palmetto Heat. Chapter One began with a slick robbery at the Ports Authority. Chapter Two introduces Annie, a local motel owner (and potential love interest) who has just been stiffed by a threesome of "tourists." When protagonist John Trent stops by the High Tide Motel, he and Annie discover a stranger going through the trash in the recently-vacated motel room. A footrace and concussion follow in quick succession.

This work has all the elements for providing a good private detective yarn and David's eagerness for getting it on paper shows. The plot advances quickly and there's plenty of action to keep the reader turning pages.

During the critique, there were questions about the appropriate treatment for a concussion and what models of police cars were prevalent in the mid-1980s. Others mentioned that the language was a bit stilted in the character's dialogues, and advised the more frequent use of contractions. Rearranging some of the scenes for better flow was also mentioned, along with a reminder to avoid passive verbs and sentence structure whenever possible.

Problems like the ones noted above are common to most new writers, and are easily addressed with thorough research and strict attention to detail. Learning the craft is what it's all about, and that's what the critique is for. David shows lots of raw talent and Panama hopes he'll keep at it. Perseverance pays off.

John Migacz's latest offering from his novel A Second Chance has Jolly pursuing Sara all the more as he helps her with chemistry homework. He is even so bold as to tell the coed that she might not see the big picture of chlorine and sodium, but she knows the chemistry between them works.

Jolly advises Sara so well that she decides to drop chemistry and enroll in paleontology classes. She is impressed when he reveals he has shaken the hands of the Leakeys at a party in Geneva.

Sara had enrolled in the chemistry program to please her mother. Reading Jolly's thoughts, it's evident that a confrontation between mother and daughter is inevitable.

One reader at Thursday's gathering suggested Migacz edit his adjectives and adverbs. Is "greatly" overused? Does "quickly thrusted" sound amateurish? Is a girl "incredibly lovely" or "stunning"? All writers should heed this advice.

Another reader advised the author to consult the periodic table if he intended to describe Sara's problems with her chemistry class. He could write the symbols for elements. More good advice. Science is a serious topic.

Several readers wanted Sara and Jolly to react to the other's flirtation on a more emotional level. Migacz, like his leading man, might be too gallant with his prose.

All readers look forward to the next meeting. Jolly has offered to help Sara with calculus. Ah, matrix inverses in a hot-tub!

It was so nice to have Susan Boyer bring some of her writing to the last meeting after a long drought. Susan deserves our praise and admiration for all her great accomplishments as SCWW Vice President and 2007 Conference Chair, but these efforts have gobbled away at her available time for writing. Thankfully, she found time to produce a delightful story titled "Everything is Relative."

Relative is a play on words, because Susan is referring to about thirty of them, and they make up the guest list for the Thanksgiving dinner at the home of the narrator's parents. Her mother is doing her usual over-kill with two Whirlpool side-by-sides slam full of food and every flat surface in the house covered with something to eat.

Once Susan set the scene, the rest of the story is a series of humorous vignettes about the various Thanksgiving guests — eighteen of them, actually. If this were a story with a plot, we could never keep them all straight. However, we can enjoy each of this odd bunch as Susan describes them, and then move on to the next certifiable lunatic (Susan's description, not mine). My favorite was cousin Natalie, who goes to work at the Department of Homeland Security wearing a ring in her nose, a stud in her eyebrow, and a blue streak in her hair.

Group critique included admonition about a very long sentence, a full page of narration, and repetitive use of the words "turn" and "indulgences." Minor stuff. Nice work, Susan. Please bring more to the next meeting.

As Kevin Coyle's Saga continues, the Icelanders travel upriver with the Skraeling guides to their village. When they arrive, a crowd of villagers lining the banks awaits their visit. The Icelanders are lead ashore and then on a journey through dense woods to a rock formation that resembles an amphitheatre. An old woman is sitting in the center.

The old woman, Pequawus, is the Chieftain of the Skraeling village. She speaks to the Icelanders in her native tongue. When it is apparent that they do not understand, she changes to Gaelic. The different languages prohibited the story flow and the table suggested the use of them be minimized. A background chapter, which the Kevin says is in keeping with the style of sagas, describes her rise to position after the death of her brother and father. She has become a strong and powerful leader.

The reading closes with a meeting between emissaries from surrounding Clans and the Skraeling Chieftain. At this meeting, they discuss the threat of the Icelanders to their villages and examine the metal objects found on them such as shields and chain. Metal is new to all of the natives and is considered "strong medicine." Many representatives of the surrounding Clans are afraid of the Icelanders and want war. Pequawus describes meeting peaceful men like the Icelanders years ago. An emissary reminds her that these Icelanders have already proven that they will attack and are not peaceful. The table felt that this chapter slowed down the rhythm of the strong work thus far.

Once again, Phil Arnold shared with us his seemingly never-ending knowledge of Elvis. The first of his two blogs told us of Graceland's new exhibit Elvis Jumpsuits: All Access, coming this summer.

Though born in 1951 and a life long fan Elvis's music and movies, I learn many new facts every time I hear one of Phil's blogs. I had no idea that as many Jumpsuits, which Elvis was famous for, were ever created and that two male designers produced all of them.

This summer's exhibit will display 58 of the 72 jumpsuits in Graceland's possession for an entry fee of $7. I was unfamiliar with renowned designers, Bill Belew and Gene Doucette, who created all of Elvis's jumpsuits. Today's cost, just for a reproduction of the jumpsuits, tells of the impact Elvis and his stage attire has had on the entertainment industry.

One of the few suggestions made of Phil's script is that the cost of the reproduced jumpsuits should be listed in descending price, $4100 to $1300.

In the third paragraph which read, " . . . and he originated the capes at the suggestion of Priscilla", could be cleaned up to read, " . . . and he originated the capes at Priscilla's suggestion."

Also, a couple times Phil overlooked the conjunction 'and' written in italics when listing Doucette's best known jumpsuit designs.

Long live the King!

Russ Haddad read an essay about Daisaku Ikeda, a Buddhist philosopher and man of peace that Russ compares to Nelson Mandela, Mohandas Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Russ's essay was certainly interesting to this reviewer, who had never heard of Ikeda before. My criticisms are twofold.

First, the essay lacks a "lead" or "hook," so it reads more like an encyclopedia article disgorging a long list of biographical data. Second, in reciting Ikeda's accomplishments, Russ often employs run-on sentences that fill out entire paragraphs. These problems are not so serious that a little rewriting couldn't fix them.

Mack Clarke continued his "Week of Foolishness" with relish — and fried chicken. Uncle Juggzy and Baby Boy are still on the hunt for a vehicle worthy of their character. Armed with an ad from the paper, they check out Bushel Red's Dodge Swinger but decide it couldn't be resurrected with a battery of prayers and move on to a '69 Malibu. Baby Boy goes through a groin tightening bout of lust seeing the big V-8 with original wheels and valid inspection sticker.

The group loved this story and the style Mack has with casual observations — "She was so thin that when she turned sideways I thought of a weed with hair" or "She had no eyebrows." The down home pace and the tale's characters are so well done you can almost hear the crickets chirping when the thunder of Juggzy' 'Olds has died down.

The table hit a few potholes over the meaning of "factory issue," and the car needing paint but had no scratches, but the Olds held steady as Juggzy put petal to the metal and sucked up readers into a "Week of Foolishness."

Bob Strother's "Cavern of the Mind" was definitely something dark, for Bob that it is. In this thriller, Bob takes us through the wicked, summer adventures of Josh and his friend, Paul. The boys find a girl in her early twenties with a broken leg in the cave and then leave her there saying they will return with help. Josh leaves his flashlight and some of the food he had packed in his backpack. Josh and Paul return home.

As the story unfolds, the reader finds that several months have passed and Josh never did return for the lady. Josh's friend Paul, who turns out to be imaginary, convinced him to return to the scene to see if anyone else had found the girl. The remains were there clutching the flashlight with the snack food papers littered around the girl.

As far as crits for this story, everyone was surprised at the dark side Bob presented to us. Bob's writing is still very tight. The group did have a few things to say about some of his imagery like the phrase "something of a transcendental nature" not being very clear but this was explained as being his way of not having to explain exactly what happened.

Bob submitted this story to a magazine and it was returned with a note from the editor saying that the ending was too predictable. When the group heard this, we all resounded a "no" that it wasn't what we expected. No one guessed that Paul was an imaginary friend and that Josh was a demented 12-year-old.

Steve Stewart has rewritten Chapter 1 of his novel—set in 1840s South Carolina—again, actually twice, because I've procrastinated writing this review and thus heard another version at the third Tuesday meeting. Now the book starts with Stephen Taylor, the protagonist, in the middle of the action. Some complained that Stephen received the shipwreck news second-hand but I think that's better than seeing a minor character hear it first-hand.

Dialogue dominated the first five pages, but Steve hasn't dominated dialogue yet. On the positive side, the dialogue is broken up with beats, those little pieces of minor action—Stephen raced to the coat closet, etc. Also the author eliminates the tedious banalities of ordinary conversation, which keeps me from eavesdropping on my wife's phone conversations.

However, I will cite John Kingsbury as my source that a single paragraph should have no more than three separate pieces of dialogue and beats. Steve should break up his paragraphs into smaller chunks. "White space" is very important in the appearance of modern novels—in contrast to the work of Charles Dickens—and is achieved mainly by short paragraphs.

Two other ways to get short paragraphs are to eliminate information dumps in conversation and to restrict a single piece of dialogue to three lines or less.

Three things are missing from the dialogue. The reader needs to see more of Stephen's reaction to what others are saying as well as his emotional reactions, such as when he sees Ann Agnew again after nine years. A Nora Roberts description of the woman is telling, not showing. Furthermore, the dialogue lacks tension. My colleagues wanted Stephen to have to work to pull the unfortunate details from a reluctant O'Shea, rather than having O'Shea spill it out.

Overall, Steve continues to show improvement and we are happily along for the ride.

Bob Strother's novel Burning Time jumped forward two years to a 12-year-old Louise coming home from school and announcing that she won the sixth-grade reading prize at school. Louise had to read until she made a mistake, and she went four pages until she hit the word "flabbergasted." The family goes to dinner to Will's parents' house. After supper, Fannie and Miss Mary sit on the front porch talking while Louise and Henry lie on their backs on the walk looking at the late summer stars. Louise hears the women talking, and learns that her father Will has married a woman with three children. When she gets tucked into bed that night, Louise asks, "Why would Daddy want other children, but not Henry and me?" Fannie is unable to answer that, but she tries to reassure Louise. But Louise "falls asleep wondering how someone could be your daddy and then not be your daddy."

Kevin Coyle took us back through some old events from a new point of view in The Saga of Snorri the Priest. The skraelings sit in council and discuss how to deal with the Icelanders. Pequawus says, "We must learn the pale ones' intentions. If they plan to take Auidnect from us...we must show them that such a course of action would be a mistake." They fashion a message of warning, a snakeskin wrapped around four arrows, and Pequawus' grandson, Mishquashim, delivers it to the Icelanders. The next day, a runner comes to tell the council that the strangers have answered their warning with nine metal-tipped arrows wrapped in snakeskin. Although the others are spooked, Pequawus believes they are just men who have knowledge that they don't yet have. She decides that "for now, we'll watch and wait...When the time is right, I will speak with them. Perhaps we can form an alliance with them."

The Elvisblog master, Phil Arnold, shared two more blog articles. "Fool's Gold" describes the first item on Maxim Magazine's list of "Dumbest Rock Star Extravagances" - the night that Elvis flew with four fans/buddies from Graceland to Denver to snack on 22 Fool's Gold sandwiches (i.e.: peanut butter, jelly and bacon,) spending a whopping $16,000. "Was this the dumbest rock star extravagance ever? I don't think so, but it is a great example of what made Elvis special. You don't do things small when you are the King of Rock and Roll."

The second article, "Is It A Sausage? No, It's A Rusty Foghorn" describes a 1956 Time Magazine's review of Elvis' first movie, Love Me Tender. "To say the least, they didn't like it." In describing Elvis' face, they said, "Is it a sausage? It is certainly smooth and damp-looking, but who ever heard of a 172-lb. sausage 6 ft. tall?" Phil says, "Give me a break." About his body motions and singing, "As the belly dance gets wilder, a peculiar sound emerges. A rusty foghorn? A voice? Or merely a noise produced, like the voice of the cricket, by the violent stridulation of the legs?" Phil: "Now, I like a good simile as much as the next reader, but that's the dumbest comparison I've ever seen." In the end, they predict that Love Me Tender will be a box-office bonanza - "At least [they] got that right."

Steve Stewart's novel Unto the Least of These started (yet again) with Stephen Taylor learning of the loss of the ship the Princess Caroline, along with 26 men and 80 tons of cotton. He is upset to hear that his father was only concerned about the loss of profit to the company. Stephen rushes to the home of Ann Agnew, who was supposed to marry the first mate of the Caroline on its return. He hasn't seen Ann since she was a child, and he is stuck by her beauty. He is invited into the kitchen to wait for Ann's father to return.

Jim McFarlane treated us to Chapter 1 of Long Island, the sequel to his novel Penelope. It's 1655, seven years have passed since we last saw her, and Penelope is living in a village named Gravesend in the Dutch colony of New Netherland on what is now Long Island. She is happily married to Richard Stout and they have five children. Looking out the window, she notices that the flag of the West India Company has been replaced by the Cross of Saint George, the English flag. Suspecting that either George Baxter or James Hubbard are the ones who switched the flags, Penelope says, "The war with England ended six months ago, but [Governor] Stuyvesant will call it treason and hang them anyway." She rushes out to help translate between the Dutch soldiers and the mostly English villagers "before they shoot each other and start a war."

Elysabeth Eldering finished up her story "Butterfly Kisses". Younger sister Samantha shows police photographer Smitty the butterfly necklace half and asks him for help getting back to her own world. But as time passes, both girls manage to forget completely about their sister and where they came from. About a year later, each sister stumbles on her forgotten butterfly half. Each finds that the butterfly is glowing, and is advised to "follow the light and see where it takes you." They each step through an invisible wall in their alternate worlds, and end up together on the street corner where they had initially argued and broken the butterfly necklace. They agree that they should try to be better sisters to each other from that point on. "Even as the girls grew up and lived their own lives, when one needed the other, all she had to do was pick up her half of the butterfly and follow the glow. "

Aimee Caruso began her screenwriting career by reading "The Summer of the Electric Fence." In his living room, a rangy sixteen-year-old boy, Stefano Morales, complains that his cat's fleas keep biting him. His father, Jesus, ignores him, and Stefano goes to the store, then into the bathroom to wash the cat. From the kitchen, there is a crashing sound and Stefano's mother, Elena, shouts. Stefano runs in, but finds his parents tickling and kissing each other. He looks at his father with hatred. The next morning, they leave Jesus asleep with his empty beer cans. Elena tells the priest at the church that Jesus is a little sick today.

John Migacz continued with his romance novel A Second Chance. Sara tells Jolly that her mother won't let her change majors. Jolly holds her and comforts her while she cries. In an uncharacteristic move, Sara tries to seduce Jolly, but he recognizes it as a knee-jerk reaction to her mother's decision and gently turns her down. He leaves soon after, promising to start fresh with Chemistry studies in the morning. "Of all the things he had had to do in his long life, that may have been the hardest... but it was the right thing to do... He found it hard to walk down the stairs with one hand patting himself on the back for being noble and his foot kicking him in the ass for being a fool."

Paul Garret brought a review written for amazon.com called "I've never cried over a how-to book before..." He reviews the book The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. The book presents an argument "against your rope-a-dope of lame excuses for not getting down to businees and writing that book that has been in the back of your mind since college." Paul says, "This book is a call to action for us all to find our niche in the universe and tap into its assiduous power."

Marjorie Garret read her rewritten version of "Mikoyla's Place." The story is told from the point of view of an autistic teen named Mikayla Saunders. After an altercation with a housemate in the Briargate group home, Mikayla runs to a hiding place near a railroad yard. She overhears first that a small teenaged girl is dead, and later that they identified the body as being her. She climbs into a train boxcar and after a long ride, ends up getting out and connecting with a Mexican worker and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Garcia. She tells them she has an Uncle George in Abilene, Texas. The Garcia's agree to let her help with the harvest in exchange for a ride to Uncle George's house. At her uncle's house, they watch a video of Mikayla's funeral service as they eat popcorn.

The next meetings of the Greenville Chapter of SCWW are as follows:

• Thursday, May 3 - First Thursday Meeting, 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book
• Tuesday, May 15 - Third Tuesday Meeting, 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book

All genres welcome at both meetings. Suggested limit for reading selections is five double-spaced, typed pages, although longer selections may be possible if time permits. Due to time constraints, only the first ten readers will be allowed to read.

The Open Book, 110 S Pleasantburg Drive, Greenville, SC

New SCWW Board Member and Membership Coordinator, Jim McFarlane, reports that we have 300 active members.

Since January of this year, Jim (jimmcfarlane@juno.com), has e-mailed reminders to members shortly before their dues expire. He has discovered a few errors in the records, so let him know if you disagree. The Bylaws state a member whose dues are thirty days overdue are dropped from the membership. If you stop receiving The Quill, there's a good chance your membership has expired.

The categories of membership are

Individual, $50 per year
Family, $75 per year
Student (Full-time, high school or college), $25 per year

There are three convenient ways to pay your dues:

1. Make out a check to SCWW Membership and mail to the post office box in Columbia:

SCWW Membership
P. O. Box 7104
Columbia, SC 29202

2. Pay via PayPal on our website (www.myscww.org). Go to the JoinUs! page and scroll down some.
Note: Instructions for new members to join are also on that page.

3. Pay when you register for the annual October conference and get a $5 dollar discount. This is probably the most convenient method for a member whose membership expires in July through November.

In case of change of address, e-mail address, or name, contact Jim (jimmcfarlane@juno.com) so he can update the records. The Quill obtains its mailing list from those same membership records and the literary journal checks to ensure that only members apply. A non-member who registers for the annual conference will be charged an extra fee and thus will become a member.

Printed Matters is the newsletter of the Greenville Chapter of South Carolina Writers Workshop.

Thanks to our contributing writers and news reporters:
Russ Haddad, Bob Strother, Mack Clarke, Phil Arnold, David Burnsworth, Steve Stewart, Kevin Coyle, John Migacz, Leland Beaudrot, Elysabeth Eldering, and Jim McFarlane

Copyright 2007 by Marcia Migacz, Editor. Contributing writers retain all rights to their work.

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