May 2026
I decided to do the same thing with what I call my non-Gil Tanner stories and accumulate them in a book, titled Small Doses. Once again, Bookemon produced an excellent product. Three hundred seventy-three pages of short stories.
April 2026
Recently, I decided to accumulate my Gil Tanner mysteries into a series of volumes, putting the stories in chronological order by year. I found a company, Bookemon.com, that will publish your book for either your personal use or to be put on the commercial market. Bookemon was easy to work with and produced a great product. The result was eight volumes of tales, from year 1930 to 1937, and ranging from 175 to 365 pages in length.
December 2025
It’s turning very cold here in the mountains. Winter is coming on hard and fast. That means more time inside, which translates to more time for writing. The funny thing is, I already have stories written and stored in my website as drafts, requiring only the push of a key to publish. Staying with my schedule of posting a story in the middle of every other month, that adds up to tales to last until mid-2028. But write, I will. If God wills it. I am ever mindful of Jesus’s parable in Luke 12 of the unthinking fool who made plans for his future.
December 2024
I received yet another response from someone to my short story “Havana Daydreaming.” It pleases me that people enjoy reading my work. I’m even happier when they recognize the effort I put into research for the stories. I try to paint an accurate picture with my words while leaving something to the reader’s imagination. The person wrote: “I just finished reading “Havana Daydreaming.” Loved it! Kept hoping Gomez might find a happier ending, but someone in his condition and profession wouldn’t be a candidate for happy endings. You nailed the atmosphere of that time and all the places. It was obvious you did a great job of research, as always.”
March 2024
This month’s Gil Tanner mystery features a painting by my favorite contemporary artist. The portrait of his client’s beautiful young daughter catches the private detective’s attention. It’s an image that lives in his head while he is pursuing an investigation into an attempted blackmail scheme. You can view this and the artist’s other great work at her website, diwoodwardart.com.
February 2023
For anyone interested, I have an Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/looseshadows/. I invite any of you who may be interested to follow me there. Thank you.
November 2022
Someone recently posed an interesting question. Why, they asked, do I put a fair amount of historical perspective, e.g., tidbits regarding national and international headlines, people, and events, in my Gil Tanner stories? They pointed out my author-heroes, such as Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, did not. The answer is simple. First, those authors were writing contemporaneous tales. Their consumers were aware of what was going on in the world around them at that time. Second, aside from the fact that I’m fascinated by history, the material gives my readers a measure of the 1930s background in which my characters worked and lived, about which today’s citizen may know little.
August 2022
I’m pleased to announce another of my stories, “Circle of Confusion,” has been chosen for publication in the latest edition of Mysterical-E online magazine. This is a great publication and worthy of a read!
July 2022
A friend recently asked me about the review of my novel, Shortening Shadows, by the Historical Novel Society several years ago. He wanted to know why I hadn’t posted the article itself. Truthfully, because I provided a link to the review, it hadn’t occurred to me to post the thing. Anyway, at his suggestion, here it is.
June 2022
June ended as another very successful month regarding the sale of my books, Shortening Shadows and Loose Ends. Several of each were sold at Victoria’s Antiques, an upscale antique shop located at 3196 GA-515, Blairsville, GA, and at the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association, located at 420 West Main Street, Blue Ridge, GA. Both are great places to spend some time! Stop by and visit! Now, to write a check to Wounded Warrior Project for my royalties, all of which go to this great cause.
January 2022
My favorite artist is concentrating on a different subject matter each month of this year. In January, she is doing cloud studies. She finished one, showed it to me, and asked what I thought. When I looked at it, I immediately saw in the cloud the profile of a clown’s face (looking to the left) with a big nose, its mouth open, a tuft of hair on top and on the side. At the risk of being confined to the sofa indefinitely, I quoted the title character from my most recently posted story, “The Professor” : “Every clown has a silver lining.” You can see her beautiful artwork at diwoodwardart.com and Instagram at diwoodwardart.
December 2021
I’m pleased to announce one of my stories, “The Third Monkey,” has been chosen for publication in Mysterical-E online magazine. This is a great publication and worthy of a read.
February 2021
Because of the volume of stories I’ve already written ahead of time and my age, I’ve decided I may not live long enough to post them all at the current schedule of one every other month. (Sarc.) But I intend to keep to my established schedule. The website has had a fair number of visitors. If you visit the site regularly and care to do so, you can click on the pop-up and select the email icon or send me your e-mail address at looseshadows16@gmail.com, and I’ll let you know when something has been posted. Rest assured, I will keep your email addresses confidential, and the information will go no further. Thank you.
November 2019
My favorite artist recently gave me a painting of Private Investigator Gil Tanner’s 1930 LaSalle roadster parked outside Harry ’ s Paradise Tavern.
April 2018. A review of my novel, Shortening Shadows, which can be found on Amazon.
March 2018
During a recent move, I was going through my research materials for my novel, Shortening Shadows, and came across the license plate pictured here. In 1935, when the novel takes place, America was still in the early stages of its love affair with the automobile. The many characters in the book drove a variety of cars. Unfortunately, I can’t recall to which character’s heap the plate belonged. Was it on Atlanta PD Detective Jim Greerson’s 1931 Hudson 8 Coupe, in which the three main characters raced across Atlanta searching for clues to the murders which eerily mirrored those of the “Atlanta Ripper” from two decades earlier? Or could it have belonged to police beat reporter Matt Grimes’ gray 1932 Ford V-8 Standard Tudor? Maybe you’d have seen it on black Private Investigator Lincoln Mallard’s 1934 Hupmobile, as he joined the detective and the reporter trying to track down the killer or killers of the young women. Was it on the 1934 Plymouth Six, belonging to Dixie and Rhamy Fleming, who owned the boardinghouse Matt called home? It might have been found on Dave the Dude’s black 1934 Brewster Ford Town Car, the Durant belonging to the unwelcome visitor’s to the boardinghouse in Chapter 9, the businessman’s Cadillac, which made an eventful appearance in Chapter 10, or even the 1935 Packard Cabriolet V-12 on the book’s cover.
July 2017
This month’s story introduces a new, recurring main character named Gil Tanner. He’s a cynical, hard-drinking, somewhat reckless 1930’s private investigator with an off-beat sense of humor and less-than-Hollywoodish good looks (by his own reckoning). He lives and works in a large city “east of the Mississippi.” There will also be other assorted characters who appear with him regularly, such as Gil’s policeman-brother, Marty, his full-time bartender / part-time shrink, Harry, and so on. All of the Gil Tanner stories will be written as an author would have created them at the time in which they take place, the 1930s. As a result, the narration and dialogue contain terms and slang words as they would have been used by the characters and authors at the time. A number of the words and their usage in this context have passed from the common language. The Jargon page is provided to assist the reader.
May 2017
A review of Loose Ends from the Amazon website.
I must add that Jack Mallard is a former prosecutor, who tried the Wayne B. Williams case for the murder of the children in Atlanta, Georgia, in the 1980s. Jack is a highly regarded author, having published two books, The Atlanta Child Murders: the Night Stalker and Two Faces of a Serial Rapist.
April 2017
I’m very happy to announce that my novel, Shortening Shadows , set in the historically rich ambiance of 1935 Atlanta, has been found worthy of a book review by the Historical Novel Society. Although the May issue of the magazine will be not out for a little while, the review has already been posted at the Historical Novel Society’s website and can be read at https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/shortening-shadows/. So, if world/national/Georgia/Atlanta history is your cup of tea and / or you love a good murder mystery (the Historical Novel Society can’t be wrong, right?), give Shortening Shadows a read. Please remember that all royalties are donated to The Wounded Warrior Project. Thank you for your support!
March, 2017
I’m happy to announce that I’ve been invited back for a second book signing for both my books at The Book Worm Bookstore, located at 4451 Marietta Street, Powder Springs, Georgia. On Saturday, March 25th, from 11:30 to 1:30, I’ll be joining former Powder Springs Chief of Police Charlie Sewell, who will be signing his book, I’d Rather You Call Me Charlie, and former Powder Springs Mayor Brad Hulsey, who will be signing his book, 60 cents. Of course, I’ll be signing both of my books, Shortening Shadows and Loose Ends. It should be a fun time! I look forward to seeing some old friends and to meeting some new ones. You can learn more by visiting http://www.thebookwormonline.com or https://www.facebook.com/TheBookworm.PowderSprings/posts/10154571654382869. As always, all of my royalties will be donated to The Wounded Warrior Project. The Book Worm is a great bookstore that I never seem to leave without picking up a literary gem to keep me company. I hope to see you there!
January 2017
I’m very pleased to say that I just received an email advising me that Shortening Shadows has been nominated for the 53rd Georgia Author of the Year Award (GAYA) in the First Novel category. Win or lose, thank you for the recognition of my effort and thank you to all those who have supported it!
January 2017
I’ve decided to share some of the Amazon reviews of my books.
