"The Upper Hand"

Johnny Shaw is the author of the award-winning Jimmy Veeder Fiasco series, including the books Dove Season, Plaster City, and Imperial Valley, as well as the stand-alone novels Floodgate and Big Maria. He has won the Spotted Owl and Anthony Awards and was the Grand Marshal of the 69th Annual Carrot Festival Parade.

Shaw applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Upper Hand, and reported the following:

From page 69:

“Your stuff is right here,” Stephanie said, setting it on the sink counter

“Thanks,” the coffee woman said.

“I should be thanking you, I had no interest in getting hit with a dick. Even if it probably wouldn’t have hurt, now that I think about it.”

The coffee woman looked at herself in the mirror. “I’m covered in coffee.” She took off her shirt and put it under the water in the sink Stephanie found herself staring at the woman’s nude torso. She was young, pretty, and in shape. She was also covered in ink. A dragon, some quotes there were too far away to read, a dollar sign, a dozen more.

When the woman turned and smiled, Stephanie looked down at the cover of the binder on the counter. The title read, “San Diego-Poway Highway Proposal, Routes, Maps, Proposed Land Buys.”

The woman wrung out her shirt, put it on, and looked in the mirror. “Great. A wet T-shirt contest.”

Stephanie took off her jacket. “Try this. It should work until you can get something else.”

“Thanks.” The woman smiled, took the jacket, and put it on. “Are you doing the symposium, too?”

“I am.”

“Perfect. That puts us on the same schedule. I have gym clothes in my car. I can return your jacket.” She buttoned the front of the jacket and reached for the binder and her stuff. “Thanks for grabbing my stuff. I’d be in hot water if I lost it. Top secret.” She smiled and winked.

Stephanie handed the woman the notebook that she definitely wanted to read. There had been talk about that highway expansion for years. That kind of inside information was potentially the $1 million find that could her out of her current $300,000 racket.

“I’m Patricia,” Stephanie said. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

“Gretchen. Nice to meet you, too.”

The Upper Hand is a story about an extended family of confidence tricksters and thieves That family includes Gretchen. In this scene, Gretchen is in the process of drawing Stephanie into a confidence game designed for her. Stephanie, herself, is a con woman (hence the fake name) that had dated Gretchen’s brother and conned him. It’s your basic sister getting payback for her brother by seducing ex-girlfriend type of scenario. I know that sounds convoluted, but it’s that kind of story. And this is just the beginning. It gets more bananas as it goes.

It’s funny to read how a scene plays out of context of the rest of the story, but I actually like how this holds together on its own. It is the introduction of an important character and the last page of the chapter, so there’s a sense of momentum to it, even if it’s mostly dialogue.

What I like about this moment is that it’s one of the few chapters that’s not in the point of view of one of the three main characters: siblings Axel, Kurt, and Gretchen. It’s an opportunity to see the con from the outside, from the mark’s point of view. In the chapters that follow we see the inner mechanism from the inside point of view.

Visit Johnny Shaw's website.

The Page 69 Test: Plaster City.

The Page 69 Test: Imperial Valley.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Wrong in All the Right Ways"

Tiffany Brownlee was born in San Diego, California, and, as with many authors, her love for reading and writing began at an early age. Because her father was in the Navy, she and her family moved around far more often than she would have liked (she went to five elementary schools–not kidding!), but despite the many moves, her love of education, books, and writing remained.

Her family’s final move brought her to New Orleans, Louisiana, where she went on to study for and earn her B.S. in Psychology at Xavier University of Louisiana. Immediately after graduation, Brownlee began work as a Teacher’s Assistant while also pursuing a teaching certification from The University of Holy Cross. Juggling both school and work as a full-time teacher’s assistant was a little hectic for her, but she still managed to squeeze in some time to read and work on a YA novel idea that she’d thought up while rereading Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (one of her favorite classics). That idea eventually became Wrong in All the Right Ways, her newly released debut novel.

Brownlee currently works as a middle school English teacher in New Orleans.

She applied the Page 69 Test to Wrong in All the Right Ways and reported the following:

Page 69 of Wrong in All the Right Ways is a scene in which Emma tries to distract herself from her growing feelings for Dylan by trying out for their school’s dance team. While this page is not a complete representation of the entire novel, it does introduce us to Emma’s go-to coping mechanism: dance. As the Dylan drama escalates, Emma realizes that dance is the perfect distraction from her romantic woes. She leans on this activity and her network of dance friends to help her through every issues throughout the novel.

Dance also gives Emma the chance to become such good friends with Karmin Ortega, the captain of the dance team. Karmin brings a ton of sass and humor to Wrong in All the Right Ways, and I know that readers are going to fall in love with her character and the tight-knit relationship Emma builds with her.

Visit Tiffany Brownlee's website.

My Book, The Movie: Wrong in All the Right Ways.

Writers Read: Tiffany Brownlee.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Furnace"

Prentis Rollins has over twenty-five years of experience working as a writer and artist in the comics industry.

He applied the Page 69 Test to his debut full-length graphic novel, The Furnace, and reported the following:

There are three narratives unfolding simultaneously in The Furnace; page 69 [inset below left; click to enlarge] cuts to the heart of one of them. In that narrative, told in flashback, we learn the history of the US ‘Gard Program’—a scheme, launched in 2027, to release dangerous prisoners back into society, the catch being that each would be followed by a floating drone that renders the convict invisible, inaudible, and totally unable to interact with other people. Page 69 shows us the shutting down of several ‘supermax’ prisons and the relocating of the prisoners they housed to GARD facilities.

The second narrative, also told in flashback, is the story of young physics grad student Walton Honderich, the growth of his relationship with the brilliant but unstable physicist Marc Lepore, and how the two of them were jointly implicated in the development of the GARD Program in 2023. Lepore, an alcoholic and repressed homosexual, recruits Honderich to assist him in developing GARD software; when Honderich refuses Lepore’s advances their relationship sours, but it’s too late—Honderich has provided the crucial help that will enable the GARD program to commence.

The third narrative is the crucial present of the story. It’s 2052: Honderich is a middle-aged, alcoholic physics professor living in London with his wife and six year-old daughter. Having returned to the US for a conference, Honderich is forced to finally confront the enormity of the human tragedy the GARD Program entailed—the nearly wholesale die-off of the prisoners subjected to this untested form of psychological isolation. Struggling through his guilt and feelings of thwarted ambition, he explains to his daughter (in a sanitized form) what the GARD Program was and how he was involved in it. And in the end, his daughter inadvertently reveals to him the one remaining route along which he can rise above and be the man he’d once felt so sure he’d be.

The Furnace is a science fiction story about the hideous uses to which technology can be put—page 69 captures that well. But more importantly, it’s about guilt, acceptance, letting go, and the many forms human greatness can assume—that’s what I mainly hope its readers will remember.

Visit Prentis Rollins's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Furnace.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Emperor of Shoes"

Born in Boston, Spencer Wise is a graduate of Tufts University and the University of Texas at Austin and worked in the editorial departments at Sports Illustrated and Time Out New York. His work has appeared in Narrative magazine, Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Florida Review, and New Ohio Review. He is the winner of the 2017 Gulf Coast Prize in nonfiction. Wise teaches at Florida State University and lives in Tallahassee.

He applied the Page 69 Test to his debut novel, The Emperor of Shoes, and reported the following:

Yes! Page 69 couldn’t be more representative of the book. I love this page. Might be one of my favorite pages in the whole darn book. This is the scene where our narrator, Alex, first confronts his father about what he suspects are unethical business practices going on at their shoe factory. The father plays dumb. Alex has to use all the business acumen his father taught him to cajole the truth out of him. So there’s a great cat-and-mouse game here between two manipulative, cagey men, both of whom are hiding something from the other. It also resonates with Alex’s fear that he’s merely his father’s pawn. Alex calls himself a Golem, which is a monster from Jewish folklore created out of clay and brought to life by the breath of its master. On this page, Alex says, “I was staring straight ahead, but I could feel Dad side-eyeing me. I knew he was thinking: I created you. Like how the old rabbis would mold a mystical golem to follow orders—I honestly think that’s how Dad saw fatherhood. And now he was worried that his divine creation was beginning to turn against him.” This page perfectly captures the clash between the father and son as well as the ethical of quandary of how global capitalism, in this case, shoe manufacturing, can be run ethically.

Visit Spencer Wise's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"City of Islands"

Kali Wallace studied geology and earned a PhD in geophysics before she realized she enjoyed inventing imaginary worlds more than she liked researching the real one. She is the author of the young adult novels Shallow Graves and The Memory Trees.

Wallace applied the Page 69 Test to her new middle grade fantasy novel, City of Islands, and reported the following:

From page 69:

For two years the master of the Winter Blade had been the man Mara hated most in the world. The man who killed Bindy.

Mara's chest ached as though she had dove too deep, too fast.

On page 69 of City of Islands, twelve-year-old Mara has been asked by her employer to perform a dangerous task: to sneak into a magical island fortress and spy on its master.

What her employer doesn't know is that same man is a special enemy of Mara's. He's the one who murdered her beloved guardian, leaving Mara alone in a world that does not treat orphaned children kindly.

If Mara could get into the Winter Blade, she might be able to find the spell books as proof of what the Muck had done. Nobody had wanted to listen to a bone-mage's little servant girl, but they would listen to the Lady of the Tides.

"Think before you agree, child," said Professor Kosta. "It could be very dangerous."

"But it could also be very rewarding," the Lady added. "For both of us."

City of Islands begins with Mara working for a wealthy woman and dreaming of a brighter future. But at this point, on this very page, her work becomes a personal mission. Suddenly, Mara is given a chance to not only earn a reward for herself, but to reveal the truth of what happened to her guardian. The danger does not concern her. She has a chance to expose a murderer, and she takes it.

As for whether it works out like that… Well, let's just say that there are quite a few twists and turns in store for Mara ahead. But the decision she makes on this page sets the course for the rest of the book, and once she's made it, she never looks back.

Visit Kali Wallace's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Memory Trees.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Wild Dead"

Carrie Vaughn is the New York Time bestselling author of more than twenty novels and over eighty short stories.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Wild Dead, and reported the following:

The Wild Dead is a post-apocalyptic murder mystery, the sequel to my Philip K. Dick Award-Winning novel Bannerless that came out last year. Page 69 of The Wild Dead is an odd one, in that it’s only a quarter of a page of text, right at the end of a chapter. In it, what little there is of it, my main character, Investigator Enid, and her partner Teeg are having to stop their investigation for the night, and continue the next day to hunt for the killer of a young woman whose body washed up on the. On the one hand it’s mostly movement, logistics that move the story from one scene to the next. At the same time, I do think it’s representative – this is a murder mystery, even against the backdrop of the unfamiliar post-apocalyptic setting, and this is one of those classic murder mystery scenes in which the detective is explaining her thoughts, listing out clues, giving her take on the setting. I think this is one of the attractions of the murder mystery genre, both written and on TV, particularly series in which we follow the same investigator from one case to the next, and we get to see the world through her perspective.

Learn more about the author and her work at Carrie Vaughn's website and Facebook page.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Contagion"

Erin Bowman grew up in rural Connecticut, where she spent most of her childhood penning tales. She studied web design (and minored in Creative Writing because she couldn’t stay away from stories) at the Rochester Institute of Technology. After several years working in advertising and designing websites for various brands, she moved from Boston to New Hampshire, where she now lives with her family and writes full-time.

When not writing, Bowman can often be found hiking, geeking out over good typography, and obsessing over all things Harry Potter. She drinks a lot of coffee, buys far too many books, and is not terribly skilled at writing about herself in the third person.

Bowman is the author of the Taken trilogy, Vengeance Road, Retribution Rails, and the newly released Contagion.

She applied the Page 69 Test to Contagion and reported the following:

Page 69 [at right; click to enlarge] is completely representative of Contagion. The hotheaded captain. The ominous setting. And shy, reserved Thea coming out of her shell. She spends the majority of the book fighting for people to take her seriously and she follows her intuition constantly (which keeps her alive through some pretty hair-raising moments that follow this scene).

Visit Erin Bowman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Scream All Night"

Derek Milman has worked as a playwright, screenwriter, film school teacher, DJ, and underground humor magazine publisher. A classically trained actor, he has performed on stages across the country and appeared in numerous TV shows, commercials, and films.

Milman applied the Page 69 Test to his newly released first novel, Scream All Night, and reported the following:

Yes, page 69 totally representative of Scream All Night. Dario has been called home for his father's live funeral (Lucien Heyward, terminally ill, chooses to be buried alive on the Moldavia grounds as a tribute to the heroine of his first film--The Curse of the Mummy's Tongue) and that night Dario re-connects both with his estranged brother, and Hayley--a girl at the castle he always loved--who he had to leave behind when he got legally emancipated from his family and moved into a group home. But they were children then. Now, they're both grown up. On page 69, they meet after midnight in the Moldavia castle, on the set of a fake graveyard, with fake wraiths crawling out of fake graves. Dario reflects on the fact that Hayley, for a variety of factors, belonged in his family more than he ever did. As they share their first kiss as the people they are now, Dario remembers the physical abuse he suffered at the hands of his director father, who was bullying Dario into giving him the perfectly monstrous performance as main child zombie Alastair, in what would become one of Moldavia's biggest cult hits--Zombie Children of the Harvest Sun.

Visit Derek Milman's website.

My Book, The Movie: Scream All Night.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Into the Darkness"

Sibel Hodge is the author of the number-one bestsellers Look Behind You, Untouchable and Duplicity. Her books have sold over a million copies in the UK, USA, Australia, France, Canada and Germany.

Hodge applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Into the Darkness, and reported the following:

From page 69:

‘Toni…um…she asked for my help to show her how to get on the dark web because I know about computers. I’m studying computer science,’ Laura added for my benefit. ‘She thought we should do it together. But I didn’t want to go into the darkness. That’s what I called it. Those same words. That’s what Toni must’ve meant when she wrote that in her notebook. She must’ve done it without me. She must’ve started looking around down there.’

Corinne clenched her hands together in her lap. ‘I’ve never even heard about this dark web. If it exists with all this heinous stuff on it, why haven’t the police shut it down?’ Corinne asked incredulously. ‘How is it possible it even exists?’

‘Because the sites are really hard to find,’ Laura said. ‘The dark web is made up of encrypted networks that have been hidden. It’s super secure and anonymous. If you use proper OPSEC, it’s really hard, if not impossible, for the police to find what’s out there or who’s using it because IP addresses or location of devices on a network and servers are obscured.’

This is the point where ex-SAS operative Mitchell has firm confirmation that his missing goddaughter, Toni, was searching on the dark web and that it's connected to her disappearance. He realises his worst fear then. That Toni has been taken by a dark criminal enterprise intent on committing the most heinous crimes, and he's in a race against time to track her down and bring her back alive. This is both representative of the rest of the novel and not at the same time. It's a lull in the fast pace of Mitchell's investigation as he questions Toni's best friend for the first time. But an indication of the darkness that Toni has been caught up in.

Visit Sibel Hodge's website.

My Book, The Movie: Untouchable.

My Book, The Movie: Into the Darkness.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Corpse at the Crystal Palace"

Carola Dunn is the author of many mysteries featuring Daisy Dalrymple, as well as numerous historical novels. Born and raised in England, she lives in Eugene, Oregon.

Dunn's latest novel is The Corpse at the Crystal Palace, the 23rd Daisy Dalrymple mystery.

She applied the Page 69 Test to The Corpse at the Crystal Palace and reported the following:

From page 69 of the manuscript:

Daisy wished she could hear what was being said.

"Mrs. Fletcher, I'd like to talk to the children now."

"Before Mrs. Gilpin?"

"Yes, I'm hoping they'll give me a better idea of what I need to ask her. Besides, you must be wanting to get them home, dry, and properly clothed." He had a straight face and a twinkle in his eye.

"We've got to wait for our cars. I can't imagine how I'm going to get the boys out to them without causing a scandal."

"That, I'm happy to say, is entirely up to you."

"If you have any bright ideas, let me know. The same goes for Mrs. Gilpin as for them. She ought to be in bed."

"I'll wait until she is before I see her."

"You don't believe she just slipped and fell and knocked her head?"

"I'll no rule out the possibility, Mrs. Fletcher, but there are altogether too many nannies in this story to just ignore them. When she's more comfortable, likely she'll be better able to give her mind to remembering. You may take her home as soon as convenient."

"Thank you! Sakari," she called to her friend, who had moved to a discreet distance, "we can take Mrs. Gilpin home as soon as Truscott or Kisin gets here, if we arrange for a stretcher to carry her to the street. Would you mind awfully—"

"Leave it to me, Daisy."

"Mrs. Prasad, please make use of the uniformed constables outside as errand boys."

Belinda and Ben exchanged a swift glance.

"We don't mind running errands," said Ben.

"We'd like to run errands," said Charlie. "It's pretty dull here."

Outspoken Charlie! He and his older brother, Ben, are soaked to the skin, having helped Daisy's stepdaughter, Belinda, fish the unconscious Mrs. Gilpin out of a pond. While they were so occupied, Daisy was discovering an unknown nanny dead in the ladies room. A third nanny has vanished, seen only by the children--and, presumably, by Mrs. Gilpin but she can't remember.

The patient, good-humoured detective is DI Mackinnon, who knows Daisy from previous encounters. She is painfully aware, however, that this latest adventure can't be kept from her husband, DCI Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard. His patience and good-humour are apt to wear thin when she finds herself in this sort of situation, especially when she helps with the investigation. “Helps” is her word. “Interferes” is his.

Despite his certain displeasure, Daisy's duty is clearly to find out what her children's nurse had to do with the second nanny's death and why Mrs. Gilpin went charging off after the third nanny, deserting her charges.

This page is an amazing microcosm of the characters and the story line so far. I would never have thought one page could reveal so much.

There is the puzzle. Now they just have to solve it...

Learn more about the book and author at Carola Dunn's website and blog.

Coffee with a Canine: Carola Dunn and Trillian.

The Page 69 Test: Heirs of the Body.

The Page 69 Test: Superfluous Women.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge"

Lisa Jensen is the author of the novels Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge, Alias Hook, and The Witch From the Sea, proprietress of the entertainment blog, Lisa Jensen Online Express, and longtime film critic for the alt weekly, Good Times, in Santa Cruz, CA.

Jensen applied the Page 69 Test to Beast and reported the following:

From page 69:

I know the wisewoman's strange powers. Surely, she will serve him some reprimand for his cruelty!

But she shrugs deeper into her cloak. "As you wish." She sighs, and turns away. We all watch her creaky progress as she heads for the trees and the wood far beyond, keeping clear of the place where the snarling hounds are held in check.

"Crone," mutters the grand Chevalier de Beaumont. "Witch!" There is something more than impatience in his voice. Could it be fear?

He bends over his agitated dog, petting and stroking. "Quiet there, Zeus. Good boy. Easy, now," he soothes, softening his voice, drawing deep breaths. He might as well be speaking to himself. Then he looks around to see his gatekeeper trotting toward him, alerted perhaps by one of the other servants.

"Andre!" the chevalier shouts. "How did that damned insolent hag get on my property?"

"Hag?" echoes the gatekeeper, mystified. "But ... I saw no such person, monsieur le chevalier — "

"If you can't do your job, I'll find someone who can!" roars the chevalier. "Get your things and go!" And before poor Andre can utter another word in his own defense, the chevalier is marching back for the park with his hound at his heels.

But my heart is sinking. I let Mère Sophie beguile my wits, but she has no more power against him than I have.

This turns out to be a pivotal scene in my book! My heroine, Lucie, the narrator, is a serving girl who has suffered at the hands of her master, the handsome but cruel young Chevalier de Beaumont, lord of the estate. The mysterious old wisewoman from the wood, Mère Sophie, has promised to become Lucie's ally in her quest for revenge.

This is the first encounter between the wisewoman and the chevalier: the old woman crossing his property on foot politely asks the young lord for a drink of water from his well, and is roughly turned away. This scene is useful, on one hand, because it underscores the chevalier's capacity for thoughtless cruelty, which is second-nature to him.

But it's disappointing for Lucie (and the reader) who is expecting some sort of magical reckoning to repay the chevalier's wickedness. Lucie has witnessed some of the astonishing enchantments Mère Sophie is capable of, back in her snug little cottage in the wood, and Lucie fervently hopes the wisewoman will unleash some of the dark forces at her command to punish the chevalier.

Alas, it is not to be — not on page 69, anyway. But fear not! By page 79, Mère Sophie's magical powers are put to spectacular use, in ways that change everyone's lives forever!

Visit Lisa Jensen's website.

Writers Read: Lisa Jensen.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Deep Roots"

Ruthanna Emrys lives in a mysterious manor house in the outskirts of Washington DC with her wife and their large, strange family. She makes home-made vanilla, obsesses about game design, gives unsolicited advice, and occasionally attempts to save the world.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Deep Roots, and reported the following:

On page 69, Aphra meets with her least favorite FBI agents, and learns why their team of supernatural affairs experts are investigating the same disappearance that she is:

Peters didn’t look pleased, but he took a clothbound volume from one of their stacks, and opened it to a marked page. There lay sketched my childhood recollection: crablike claws, overarched with bat wings fading to fog at the edges, and an eyeless head covered with irregular protuberances like some exotic fungus. Barlow retrieved a folder from across the room. Inside, another drawing in a more formal style: where the book showed the creature poised for flight and clutching some device in its foremost claws, the folder showed it splayed as if ready for dissection. I repressed a shudder. The two figures could have been drawn from the same verbal description, but the details were all different: the folder showed the head rounder and the protuberances more varied, the placement of the claws completely different and more lobster-like than crab-like.

“This one’s a composite,” said Barlow, tapping the folder. “From reports a few years back of bodies seen in a flooding river. No corpses were found, of course, and it was dismissed at the time as mass hysteria.” Mary’s eyes tracked his finger. Her gaze passed over the drawings and back to us.

“Mass hysteria,” she said, “usually means someone’s worked hard to convince people that they didn’t see anything.”

Aphra spends most of Deep Roots wrestling with the Outer Ones—the aliens behind Barlow’s sketches—about their interference in human politics, and trying to untangle the dangers of their own inhuman conflicts. So page 69, where she gets her first glimpse of them, foreshadows a lot of what’s coming. And her friction with Barlow’s team, who nearly got her killed in Winter Tide, will continue to make the whole thing more difficult.

Trying to understand the agents’ interplay makes Aphra think about the differences between her culture and theirs:

The scene in front of me slipped further into focus: Barlow, trying to pretend that he and [Aphra’s brother] Caleb were in charge; Mary and [Aphra’s friend] Deedee, trying to let him. That might be the best way to get work done, but I couldn’t imagine keeping up the pretense. Innsmouth women might deck themselves in gold for a man’s pleasure, recite passages of lore to show off their learning, or cultivate an interest in stories about fishing expeditions. But my mother had never taught me how to efface myself to bolster male self-importance—nor had my father taught any need for it.

These differences play their own roles in the book. It’s easy to imagine how the common prejudices of 1949 America might get in the way of a woman trying to get things done; the less familiar biases of Aphra’s own people are ultimately just as problematic. I love drawing conflict from cultural pressures—mutual incomprehension between people who think they’re being obvious, or situations that put what needs to be done up against what someone can’t imagine ever doing.

“We’ve had an uptick in sightings over the past couple of months, all along the Berkshires and White Mountains,” said Barlow. “Clusters in the vicinity of disappearances, cutting off after each one. Even a few possible cases here in New York, though they’re pretty vague.”

“I hate this city,” added Peters. “One of these monsters could walk down Fifth Avenue, and people would only report if it stopped traffic.”

Also representative: Peters being a douchebag. He’ll get worse over the next few chapters…

Visit Ruthanna Emrys's website.

--Marshal Zeringue