CHAPTERS 1-10

CHAPTERS 11 – 20

CHAPTERS 21 – 32

NOTE: This audiobook was made using a synthetic male voice (AI). If you don’t like that or it troubles you, skip it! No professional audiobook narrators were harmed in the production of this audiobook, since I can’t afford to hire them anymore. This is for people who enjoy the story regardless, and for me because … writing is hard work.

Narration provided by Wondervox.

I am so excited to bring one of my favorite stories to life for your listening pleasure… a novella, actually, that had an incredibly long gestation in the recesses of my imagination. I’d put it off as an audio option because the voice technology I use wasn’t quite good enough. Now I think it sounds terrific. Yes, it’s AI/synthetic voice. I would never pretend otherwise. So fasten your headphones, and let’s get this dark, dark party started.

About Fatal Mistake: A Harry Hell Novella
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The year is closer than you think. The world has collapsed under the weight of its own insatiable needs, leaving shattered cities where those who still have anything fight to keep it that way, and those who don’t are a constant threat. It’s a danger that must be contained through a tightly controlled society where everyone is observed and everything is kept in its place. Harry Hellerman and his twin brother, Elliot, enter this world three minutes apart. By the time they’re teenagers, they’ve been surrendered to Control to be molded into the perfect assassins. A boy named Harry Hellerman enters, and a man named Harry Hell emerges: a killing machine of the highest order.

Actually, we can

(Photo: Clinton, NJ, library writers’ group)

Among the many talismans spread around my work (sacred) space is a simple wooden block with the words, ‘Actually I Can’ on it. It’s been a reminder every day that life isn’t over till they put a small hand mirror under your nose to make sure you’re dead. Until then, as Saul Bellow said (and Anne Sexton quoted in her Pulitzer Prize winning book of poetry ‘Live or Die’), “Live or die, but don’t poison everything.”

I’m living as fully as I can. The photo is the Clinton New Jersey Library adult writers group I just started facilitating last night. I don’t call them students. I prefer ‘participants’ for everything I’m doing. I even said last night, “I’m not a teacher. I’m a facilitator.” I want to facilitate other people’s creativity and desire to express themselves. That’s what I hope to be and do. This past year (2024) the universe showed me a different road to take if I was willing to let go of some of the baked-in ideas I had about who I am and what I can do.

I love to teach (I’ll allow myself to use the word in this context). I love sharing my 50+ years of experience and skill. And I love being good at it! My favorite part of book readings was the conversation with the audience afterward. People kept telling me I had a talent for talking to people, that I become animated and enthused speaking about writing, and they were right.

It invigorates me. It challenges me. It humbles me (as much as I’m willing to be humbled), and it reminds me that I have something to offer even now.

Let go, let goodness, and don’t be afraid of being someone new … that person, with those talents and gifts, was there all along.

Rec Room: Jazz Maestro Kurt Elling and the Sounds of Perfection

One of the takeaways from our latest cruise to the Caribbean was my introduction to virtuoso jazz singer Kurt Elling His music was on the lounge playlist, and the first time I heard it I stopped whatever I was doing and asked myself, “Who is that?” I immediately Shazam-ed it (the popular app that let’s you identify any song you hear playing) and was introduced to Elling’s very seductive, masterful jazz vocalizations. While I can’t say I’m a jazz aficionado—I’ve never spent much time listening to the genre—I can say this singer had be obsessed. There’s something about his voice and his delivery that keeps me going back for more.

Elling has long been considered one of the premiere male vocalists in modern jazz. His ability to blend traditional jazz forms with contemporary influences has earned him the kind of respect reserved for the greats. Let’s take a look and a listen …

If you’re like me, and there are millions of us, you simply cannot reconcile yourself to staying on Meta (Facebook, Instagram and Threads). And while there is no Faceook shaming here – I understand how spectacularly Meta has been in making itself seem indispesable to our lives – it is dead to me. I, too, thought for years that I had to stay for family and friends, but the reality for a long time was that I only saw posts from about a dozen people, and very few ever “liked” mine or engaged with me in any meaningful way. Facebook wants us to pay for that by “boosting” posts. Uh, no.

I somehow made it 50 years without Facebook, and guess what? I haven’t missed it for five minutes. There is something deeply illusory about social media, and the people who create it know this.

Given that I enjoy dispensing pearls to swine and other creatures I value for their intelligence (pigs are really smart), I’m on Bluesky, and I have reactived my Tumble for photos. If you didn’t know, Tumbler has been around since 2009, but it’s not really microbloggng. It serves peole whose attention span is longer than an influencer’s. I’ll use it for photos only for now, since I have … a website! Enjoy!

– Mark

Gather round, girls and boys. Let me tell you a story … Once upon a time there was a world without Facebook. (Children gasp.) Friends, families and complete strangers stayed in touch with one another …

“How is that possible?” the children ask.

“Well, they emailed each other.”

“What’s email?”

“Don’t interrupt me, little ones. Anyway, they had blogs and websites and even email lists, and they called each other on the telephone.”

“What’s a telephone?”

“… It was a different world, some say a better world, although that’s debatable. But imagine it, girls and boys, a world where human beings communicated, and anyone you called a friend was really a friend.”

Fasten your headphones for another MWA-NY member interview. Ann Aptaker is the author of the Cantor Gold series, featuring the irrepressible Cantor Gold, art smuggler and rebel living on the edges in late-1940s New York City. The series currently includes Criminal Gold,  Tarnished Gold, Genuine Gold, Flesh and Gold, and Murder and Gold.

Ann is a Lambda Literary Award (The Lammy) and multiple Goldie Award winner for her popular novels. A native New Yorker, she has earned a reputation as a respected exhibition designer and curator of art during her career in museums and galleries. Exhibitions Ann has curated have garnered favorable reviews in the New York Times, Art in America, American Art Review, and other publications.

Her short stories and essays have appeared in several major anthologies and in other crime and mystery fiction publications and journals. In addition to curating and designing art exhibitions and writing crime stories, Ann is also an art writer and was adjunct professor of art history at the New York Institute of Technology.

I had the pleasure of finally meeting Ann at the MWA-NY annual Holiday Revels gathering in New York City this past December, and I couldn’t wait to speak to her again for this interview.

Are you a MWA-NY member? Would you be interested in an interview for this feature? Contact interviews AT mwany.org for information. – Mark McNease/Comms Team

I wanted to make a short introductory video for visitors, curious, and drive-bys to see what I look and sound like, and to get an idea of what Your Write Path is all about. – Mark McNease

I received an email from my own account informing me I was a pervert and they had video to prove it. It had indeed come from my account so I logged in, fished around and found an activity log I didn’t know existed. What I saw was alarming. Nefarious people are constantly trying to hack us – or at least me – so I immediately changed all my email passwords (I have several accounts) and set up 2-step verification. As annoying as it may seem, having to get a code on my phone or at an alternate email is actually a very good security measure.

If you can check the activity with your email account, you may be startled. We have to have layers of security these days. Be prepared to gasp if you views your activity log and see this kind of thing, and take measures now to prevent hackers from being successful.

Here are some essential tools to enhance your email and password security:

1. Use Strong Passwords

Create strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts. A robust password typically contains a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters, and is at least 12 characters long. Avoid using easily guessable information, such as birthdays or common words.