It’s been a while, but at long last I have a little news to share: events in August and September, cat pictures (because one can never have too many cat pictures), and some hints about what’s in the works.
August 2021
Scappoose Centennial Celebration
When: August 13, 2021
Where: Heritage Park, Scappoose, Oregon
Signing Books: August 13, 2021 at 3:30pm
I’m pleased to be one of several authors participating in the Scappoose Centennial Celebration. If you’re in the northwest Oregon/southwest Washington area, come out for a day of all kinds of fun, and while you’re there stop by the author’s tent hosted by Two Rivers Bookstore. I’ll be signing Friday afternoon at 3:30, but others will be there throughout the two-day celebration—including my friends Emmeline Duncan and Warren Easley.
I’ll have copies of my books for sale, all at a discount!
Southwest Washington Writers Conference 2021
When: September 10–11, 2021
Where: Walton Science Center at Centralia College
Then, in September, I will be part of a great line-up of authors and presenters at the Southwest Washington Writers Conference.
Workshops and presentations will focus on oral history, public speaking, marketing, humor writing, fiction-writing careers, world-building, character development, crafting captivating conflict, speech tags and narrative action in dialogue, seven steps to designing and publishing a book on Amazon, advertising hacks for indies, writing a novel in four drafts, and plotting.
My own contribution will be a presentation and a workshop.
- World Building for the Real World
In this presentation, we’ll explore strategies and pitfalls when using real world settings we know (or want to know) in our fiction. - Getting to Know Them
In this interactive workshop, we’ll use a variety of exercises to create characters who are messy, engaging, troubled, powerful, scary, and so much more.
But I won’t be alone. There will be a dozen other writers and presenters at the one- or two-day event which will also include a live poetry reading and plenty of chances to meet and engage with other attendees and the presenters.
Crossroad Kindle Deal
During the week of August 9–15, 2021, Crossroad will be on sale for Kindle at $1.99 (regularly $12.99). If you haven’t read Crossroad yet, this is your chance to grab it at a great price.
About Crossroad
On a desolate road in the Oregon high desert, apprentice mortician Melisende Dulac stumbles upon a horrific car crash–and into a vortex of treachery, long-buried secrets, and growing menace.
What’s Next
At present I’m working on a historical mystery set at the Oregon Coast during the opening months of World War II. I have no news about when it will be available, but if you’d like a hint of where and when the story takes place, I’ve posted a couple of maps of the setting.
The map renderings, like the novel, are works-in-progress. And fair warning: there’s nothing to indicate any real details about the story, either in terms of plot or characters. At this point, all I can tell you is it’s a mystery reflective of the place and the period. But just in case that wasn’t quite enough of a tease, here are a pair of possible epigraphs (possible but not certain, because until a book is published, anything can change):
“History spoke over the radio . . . in the brisk, cultivated voices of studio announcers giving us a few hints of the end of the world between dance tunes.”
“Women may not win the war but the war will not be won without them.”
For those of who’d like to see more of Melisende Dulac from Crossroad, check out A Beast Without A Name, an anthology of short stories inspired by the music of Steely Dan. My contribution, “Hey Nineteen,” takes place about six months before the events of Crossroad, and sees apprentice mortician Melisende on one of her first solo body removal jobs, where she discovers an old man’s sad end may not be all it seems.
Melisende will make a future appearance, date yet to be determined, in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. I’ll let you know you as soon the publication date is set. Beyond that, I’m also at work on a couple of Melisende novellas, though there’s no ETA as of yet. Once I finish my historical novel, I’ll return to them.
Critter Corner
A moment can’t go by without me taking a chance to brag about my editorial assistants. Here are Frank and Beans in their natural states. The images kinda speak for themselves.
Grow Your TBR Pile
My books, writing as both Bill Cameron and W.H Cameron, are available in a variety of formats from your favorite bookseller. Learn more at bcmystery.net/books.
When not tending his chickens, BCMystery shapes unruly words into captivating people caught in harrowing situations. As Bill Cameron, his work includes the critically-acclaimed Skin Kadash mysteries and, as W.H. Cameron, the high desert mystery Crossroad. He’s presently at work on a historical mystery set on the Oregon coast. 
