For your reading pleasure, an excerpt from my short story "The Low Waters" published in this month's Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine:

 "The tedious task of writing has to become second nature to you. If you sit down and write quietly the whole day, you’ll have written at least two or three pages, even if it’s a struggle. And if you keep at it, you’ll eventually have a couple hundred pages. I think young people today don’t know the trick of it. They start and want to get to the end right away. When you go mountain climbing, the first thing you’re told is not to look at the peak but to keep your eyes on the ground as you climb. You just keep climbing patiently one step at a time. If you keep looking at the top, you’ll get frustrated. I think writing is similar. You need to get used to the task of writing. You must make an effort to learn to regard it not as something painful but as routine."--Akira Kurosawa

 THE LOST ARE THE LAST TO DIE (A Sonny Burton Novel) is .99 cents for a limited time.

https://amzn.to/3IwMPCs

After Texas Ranger Sonny Burton loses his arm in a shootout with Bonnie and Clyde, he is asked by the Rangers to help find an escaped convict, Billy Bunson, who took a pregnant woman hostage. Once he begins his investigation, Sonny suspects there is more to Billy's plan than meets the eye. He suspects it's a plan for Billy to be free of Sonny once and for all. The story unfolds over a period of twenty-five years as Sonny Burton's life as a Texas Ranger intersects with Billy Bunson's life as a simple thief, who then transforms into a ruthless killer. Sonny uses all of his skill as a lawman to track Billy down, where they face off one last time.

"This is some marvelous storytelling." -- Cathy Cole

 Here's a podcast that I really enjoyed. Thanks Verena Rose! The podcast is available from a link from Audible, Spotify, I Heart Radio, or Amazon Music. Here's the Audible link: https://www.audible.com/podcast/Episode-48-Sunday-Tea-with-V-and-Larry-D-Sweazy/B0CWVRPTC1?clientContext=134-7556624-7270013&creativeId=6c5159d7-bb10-4fb4-929b-ae2b2f5000c7&loginAttempt=true&pageLoadId=w3xikRfeW6nv9ba5&ref=a_podcast_S_c3_lAsin_0_0&ref_pageloadid=KZkQsWDvxctVmTf0

 The year of the short story continues with "Billy Moon" my first PI (private investigator) story and first story I've set in Anderson, Indiana (in 1972) is in the new issue of Hoosier Noir (#6). Check it out. Support Midwestern writers.

https://amzn.to/49IUtVE

 “You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” ― Cormac McCarthy

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