So, an new anthology is out--NONFICTION, no less.  Villains, Victims, and Violets: Agency and Feminism in the Sherlock Homes Canon, is out this month!

Here's the background: Modern writers have reconsidered every subject under the sun through the lens of Sherlock Holmes. The overlooked subject is agency: the opportunities available to these women for independence and control. What we find all too often are the silences around them. And yet, these clients--villains, victims, and Violets--are pivotal in the world of Sherlock Holmes.

Perhaps more enigmatic than Holmes’ methods is what Watson sees: the woman in the shadows. Whether lady or lady’s maid, if she does speak, it’s often not recorded in her words. That was life for half the population of Victorian England. A woman’s role was written before she was born; it merely required her to don the starched white apron of a maid, or the rough, stained skirts of a "char"--who did the dirtiest of household jobs—or the fine silk gowns of a lady.

Enter Villains, Victims, and Violets to spy and report on these women in their darkest, most vulnerable moments. How does Irene Adler—pursued by a powerful king, and by Sherlock Holmes--outwit them both? Can Lady Hilda conceal the secret that only Holmes unravels? When Violet Hunter takes the last job offered before she loses everything, can Holmes free her and her doppelganger?

To understand Holmes’ world is to gaze unsparingly into the lives of its women: the villains and what drives them astray; the victims Holmes races to rescue; and the Violets, who make up the strongest characters from Holmes’ unforgettable cases. The authors pull back the curtain on their private spaces, revealing their "proper" place in a man’s world at the dusk of the 19th century and the dawn of the 20th.

Foreword by Nisi Shawl, noted Sherlockian and the James Tiptree Jr. Award-winning and Nebula-nominated author of the brilliant steampunk, feminist, Afrofuturist novel Everfair.

This time Myrl and Faye are in the Middle East with T. E. Lawrence and Gertrude Bell, "The Queen of the Desert."  

Meet the woman who warned the British and French governments what would happen if the promise of self governance evaporated. The woman who mapped the Arabian Desert by herself. The woman who gave Iraq her name. And now the same woman has gone missing.

In a world of kidnapping and illegal mining comes a tale that puts Faye face to face with a predator from her past and Myrl with a woman nearly as imperious as she is.
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Please join me and my good friend, author April Wilson, for a book signing and author chat at Epic Books in Yellow  springs, Ohio, Dec. 8 from 6:30-8:00. Food, drinks, and fun are all to be had. I will be reading from my newest work, After Bohemia. 
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..But the paperback version of DANCE OF THE SPIDER MONKEY just came out and I am just thrilled. Ordered my own copies and am waiting every day with bated breath for delivery. I can't believe Faye's writing will once again grace the  stacks of libraries and be found in coffee shops! It is one of those things...you have a vision, you work hard, and then there is something of value. Writing is EXACTLY like that. Even on the crappy days when nothing seems to be coming out right. 

Learning to respect your brain is a good place to start. If you haven't seen the interview yet with Conan Doyle, I urge you to watch it. The sound quality is actually pretty good. It is amazing that we can get our hands on this kind of historical footage at the tap of a finger. I am sure he would have been impressed!
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If you've ever wondered about how Conan Doyle saw himself, how he came up with the concept of Sherlock Holmes, and how he turned to all things spiritual later in life, here is a chance to hear directly from the man! Please click here to see Doyle in person. Quite an amazing piece of footage.

I love the way Faye didn't try to hide the real people who lived during that time in her stories. Irene McAuliffe was one of those women whose story needs to be told. She was one of six women who were first hired in the U.S. to serve as officers of the  Boston City police department. She was also an avid horsewoman and the daughter of a police chief. Read more about her here