"The Bane Witch"

Ava Morgyn grew up falling in love with all the wrong characters in all the wrong stories, then studied English Writing & Rhetoric at St. Edward’s University. She is a lover of witchcraft, tarot, and powerful women with bad reputations, and she currently resides in Houston with her family, surrounded by antiques and dog hair. When not at her laptop spinning darkly hypnotic tales, she writes for her blog on child loss, hunts for vintage treasures, and reads the darkest books she can find. She is the author of YA novels Resurrection Girls and The Salt in Our Blood, and paranormal women's fiction The Witches of Bone Hill.

Morgyn applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Bane Witch, and reported the following:

From page 69:

Her eyes slide to my booted foot. “You’re in trouble,” she says plainly. She looks concerned but not surprised.

“Not anymore,” I tell her. Henry will never find me up here, miles from the comforts of urban living. I felt unsure until I arrived, but being tucked into the forest like a chick beneath the wing of a hen, so much unadulterated nature pooling for miles and miles—I can’t imagine it. And by now he’s found my note, knows I’m dead. Even without a body—it could have easily washed into the Atlantic—he won’t know to look at all if I did my job right. I permit myself a modicum of relief.

Myrtle leans back into a leather armchair, watching me eat. Beside her, a stack of old books glow arsenic green. “It’s been a long time, Piers,” she says quietly. “Why now?”

“I don’t go by that anymore.” My eyes meet hers. I’m not ready to talk about Henry yet, about why I came, how I got here.

The Page 69 Test gives readers a solid grasp of what The Bane Witch is about and its primary characters, Piers and Myrtle Corbin. On this page, readers see Piers and Myrtle interacting for the first time, as Piers finally allows herself to relax a little bit after her escape from her abusive husband, Henry. Just prior to the portion I quoted, Piers recalls an example of Henry’s toxic and controlling behavior, which gives readers a condensed glimpse into her tortuous marriage and past, making the following dialogue, quoted above, more chilling and understandable. In this scene, there is a sense of Piers’ desperation and all she’s risked to flee her home and marriage, which is important to understand as the groundwork is laid for who she really is as the main character—a bane witch—and everything that implies. Likewise, there is a sense of her great aunt Myrtle’s maternal instinct toward her, as she prepares Piers a sandwich earlier on the page, and her inherent wisdom as she cautiously notes and asks about the circumstances of Piers’ sudden and unexpected arrival.

While I wouldn’t say this singular page sums up the entirety of the novel, it does capture many of the complexities of this story—Henry’s abuse, Piers’ motivation and survival instincts, Myrtle’s role as Piers’ mentor. And while readers don’t meet Henry face to face on this particular page, they do get a disturbing introduction to who he is as a husband and a man, and the role he will go on to play in Piers’ story.

I do hope readers will find this peek into The Bane Witch tantalizing enough to consider reading well beyond page 69. It is a darkly fantastical tale that touches on the deeper, much more real issues of violence against women.

Visit Ava Morgyn's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Just Want You Here"

Meredith Turits is a writer and an editor.

She specializes in business, economics, sports, and literature (but she’s written about and edited nearly everything). Currently, she is the editorial director, features at Front Office Sports.

Turits is the former editor of business features at BBC.com. Prior, she was a founding editor of Bustle, where she launched and ran books coverage, and has held other senior strategic editorial roles at both startup and legacy media companies.

The newly released Just Want You Here is her debut novel.

Turits is a magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University, and attended the Yale Writer’s Workshop for fiction. She lives and writes in Connecticut, and has more useless sports knowledge in her brain than you can possibly imagine.

Turits applied the Page 69 Test to Just Want You Here and reported the following:

From page 69:

Ari feels trampled by his frigidity. He’s been distant all week, but she’s chalked it up to how busy he is, how there’s no way he could possibly talk about them here. Yet there’s something about the staccato of his voice that makes her feel like he’s closed the book on them, even if he’d barely cracked it at all.

In this passage, my main character Ari has a conversation with her boss, Wells, after they've slept together once. He has a conversation with her at the office that feels too normal for her after what they've done, and her brain is scrambled by it. She doesn't know if their relationship will go forward or not.

The underlying emotion in this paragraph is about desire and confusion, looking for signs and signals to know what's right and what's next. In that regard, it's a good litmus test for the overall tenor of the book, which is all about the emotional journey of forging your path after the one you counted on swerves. In another sense, however, Ari and Wells's affair ramps up quickly and this is the only point at which she questions whether something will happen, which doesn't reflect their relationship throughout the book. But overall, I'd say this does a good job of reflecting the book and its prose.

In general, Just Want You Here has plenty of plot, including twists and turns, but it's overall a book about relationships and desire and the emotional journey people go on to navigate them. There's a lot of interiority from the four main characters, and I really wanted that to shine as you navigate growth and regression with them. Passages like this, even though they're just moments in time, are indicative of what I hoped to do on the page, which was bring readers as close to my characters as possible.

Visit Meredith Turits's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Boy"

Nicole (N.D.) Galland’s novels span the spectrum from historical (The Fool’s Tale, Revenge of the Rose, Crossed, Godiva) to Shakespearean (I, Iago) to contemporary rom-com (Stepdog, On The Same Page) to speculative fiction (New York Times bestselling The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. co-written with Neal Stephenson). She has a MFA in Creative Writing from University College Dublin, and loves teaching workshops on world creation.

She has also worked as a stage director, dramaturg, and X-wing fighter pilot.

Galland applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Boy, and reported the following:

Page 69 starts with the tail end of a conversation between the 19-year-old actor Sander Cooke (one of my two protagonists) and his mentor in Shakespeare’s theatre company. The story’s other protagonist is Joan, Sander’s best friend from childhood, who wishes to become a scientist (or natural philosopher, as they were then called). Sander, who’s played nothing but female roles his whole career, is anxious about life and livelihood after his apprenticeship ends in a few months, when he’ll no longer be considered fit for female roles. His mentor, John Heminges, disapproves of Sander’s desire to seek out aristocratic patrons.

“Can you fault me if I do?” demanded Sander. With his fingers he caressed the air, showing off their length and gracefulness. “I am a delight to the eye and the ear. Charming and winsome. An attentive listener. I can speak at length on some few topics – not so many as Joan – and what I speak of is of interest to lords and ladies. I bring with me a whiff of celebrity. ‘Tis the sole capital I have – I’ve no money or jewels or land or brawn, and no other marketable competencies. So please do not begrudge me investing in my future with the qualities I have.”

“Remarkable how a boy with not a penny to his name is so eager to sell himself into England’s most fickle market,” sniffed Hemings. He rose with obvious annoyance and walked back into the tiring house.

The remainder of the page is Sander’s strategizing about which lords to woe for patronage, as he spends a free afternoon roving his London neighborhood, at loose ends, avoiding his many admirers.

The Page 69 Test does a startlingly good job of showing one-half of the story’s dynamic duo. It perfectly summarizes Sander’s personal crisis, appearance, and status in the world. And even though he breaks the “show, don’t tell” rule, it’s appropriate here, because he’s obsessively preoccupied with how to sell himself to others.

And while Joan doesn’t even appear, this brief excerpt still tells us a lot about her: with no other context, we hear of her intelligence and curiosity about the world, in a way that reveals Sander is close to her and respects her; he sees her as his superior in one regard, despite his urgent need to up-talk himself. All of this information is both accurate, and vital to the story. I hadn’t realized I’d crammed all that into a single paragraph! And how remarkable the paragraph happens to be on page 69!

What we learn about them shows us what’s important to each, and in that sense, the excerpt hints at where the plot might go… but in fact, the plot goes to extreme places the reader would not intuit or even guess.

Visit Nicole Galland's website, Facebook page, and Threads page.

Coffee with a Canine: Nicole Galland & Leuco.

The Page 69 Test: Stepdog.

My Book, The Movie: Stepdog.

Writers Read: Nicole Galland (August 2015).

My Book, The Movie: Boy.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Broken Fields"

Marcie R. Rendon is an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation, author, playwright, poet, and freelance writer. Also a community arts activist, Rendon supports other native artists / writers / creators to pursue their art, and is a speaker for colleges and community groups on Native issues, leadership, writing.

She is an award-winning author of a fresh new murder mystery series, and also has an extensive body of fiction and nonfiction works.

Rendon applied the Page 69 Test to Broken Fields, her newest Cash Blackbear Mystery, and reported the following:

Not only does Broken Fields start with a dead man and young child mute with shock, but by page 69 Cash is also trying to track down Sheriff Wheaton, who she knows drove to Twin Valley to check out a bank robbery.

At the bank Cash is in conversation with a female bank clerk and a barely-of-legal-age male bank clerk. Both were victims of the robbery and both are good eyewitnesses, able to describe the robbers. “It was two young men, didn’t look like hoodlums at all. Dressed like ‘going to town’. Tall, skinny guy and a shorter one. Both wore handkerchiefs over their mouths. After we handed over the money they ran out and jumped in the car. Driven by a young woman. All I could tell was she was wearing a yellow dress, yellow blouse maybe.”

That particular scene foretells Wheaton’s misconception and misfortune a few pages on.

The last time either bank teller saw Wheaton he was headed southwest of Twin Valley.

In typical Cash fashion, Cash leaves the bank and stands by her Ranchero, observing the near-empty streets of the small town while lighting a cigarette and inhaling, exhaling. Then she gets in the Ranchero and drives west on the trail of Wheaton.

In the Cash Blackbear series, Wheaton has been Cash’s rescuer and mentor. He is the one benign person the troubled nineteen year old can count on. Page 69 doesn’t describe the worry she feels. In typical Cash fashion she keeps her feelings under wrap and key. It isn’t until page 75 that her inner turmoil erupts.

Visit Marcie R. Rendon's website.

The Page 69 Test: Sinister Graves.

Q&A with Marcie R. Rendon.

My Book, The Movie: Sinister Graves.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Butterfly Trap"

Before turning to a life of crime (fiction), Boston Globe-bestselling author Clea Simon was a journalist. A native of New York, she came to Massachusetts to attend Harvard University and never left. The author of three nonfiction books and 32 mysteries, most recently the psychological suspense The Butterfly Trap, her books alternate between cozies (usually featuring cats) and darker psychological suspense, like the Massachusetts Center for the Book “must reads” Hold Me Down and World Enough. She lives with her husband, the writer Jon S. Garelick (another Boston Globe alum), and their cat Thisbe in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Simon applied the Page 69 Test to The Butterfly Trap and reported the following:

Page 69 of The Butterfly Trap captures Greg and Anya in a rare domestic moment. Anya is attempting to cook dinner and failing miserably.

“I think the tomatoes were a bad idea,” she says, looking into the pot. “Now I keep stirring it and trying to think about what to add. I don’t think it’s edible. Want to try?”

He does, and when she sees his reaction, she starts laughing and he joins in.

“How about we make reservations instead?” is his response (acknowledging that he’s repeating an old joke) and – after dumping the disaster down the disposal – she goes off to change clothes, “her eyes bright with anticipation.” It’s a lovely moment between a young couple trying to make a home, a life, together.

If only more of Greg and Anya’s life were like this scene! While page 69 captures one side of their relationship, it misses so much else that is going on, often covertly or not spoken about, between the two, especially once they move in together.

Still, there would be no tension, no drama in writing about a mismatched couple that was always at odds. Why would such a couple even be together? Page 69 here may describe a rare and atypical moment of domestic harmony for Greg and Anya. But showing what they had – or could have had – only ups the ante on what they have to lose.

Visit Clea Simon's website.

The Page 69 Test: To Conjure a Killer.

The Page 69 Test: Bad Boy Beat.

Writers Read: Clea Simon (May 2024).

Q&A with Clea Simon.

My Book, The Movie: The Butterfly Trap.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Fourth Consort"

Edward Ashton is the author of the novels The Fourth Consort, Mal Goes to War, Antimatter Blues, Mickey7 (now a motion picture directed by Bong Joon-ho and starring Robert Pattinson), Three Days in April, and The End of Ordinary. He lives in upstate New York in a cabin in the woods (not that Cabin in the Woods) with his wife, a nine pound killing machine named Maggie, and the world’s only purebred ratrantula, where he writes—mostly fiction, occasionally fact—under the watchful eyes of a giant woodpecker and a rotating cast of barred owls. In his free time, he enjoys cancer research, teaching quantum physics to sullen graduate students, and whittling.

Ashton applied the Page 69 Test to The Fourth Consort and reported the following:

Page 69 of The Fourth Consort finds our protagonist, Dalton Greaves, contemplating a job offer he's just received from the representatives of Unity, an interstellar confederation dedicated to finding budding sentient life wherever it arises, and guiding it away from self-destruction and onto the path of peace and enlightenment.

That's what they told him, anyway. A quick internet search reveals that the few stories out there from people who have signed on with Unity and returned don't seem to have much to do with enlightenment. Seems like the humans Unity takes are mostly being used for either scut work or something that sounds suspiciously like plunder:

A man from the Netherlands claimed to have spent ten years doing equipment maintenance on an ammie ship without ever seeing the surface of a planet. A Korean woman said she'd been taken to an administrative center somewhere on a world with no moon and a fat red sun that never budged from its place on the southern horizon, where she provided cultural context to ammie researchers wading through ten thousand years of human literature looking for something worth replicating. Someone going by the handle Anger Man claimed to have participated in what sounded like a research study into the mechanics of human reproduction.

That one didn't sound so bad.

A reader browsing to page 69 would actually get a reasonably good idea of the setup of the book. The Fourth Consort is a twist on the old trope of humanity joining a benevolent galactic civilization. In particular, it wonders how that might play out if the civilization actually isn't actually all the benevolent--more than that, what if there is a benevolent civilization out there, but we've inadvertently signed on with a criminal gang? Because this page lays out Dalton's thinking as he considers Unity's offer, it gives a fair overview of the premise.

What we don't get at all from this page, however, is a feel for the characters, the tone, or any idea of the details of the plot. The Fourth Consort is heavy on snappy dialogue and interesting, conflicted characters, with a heavy dose of dark comedy. Because this page is really all about filling in the background, we don't get any of that here. We also don't learn much of anything about Dalton himself, and much of the focus of the book is on his journey up from a very grim place in small town West Virginia to a slightly less grim place in the cosmos.

Bottom line for me is that while you could do worse than this page if you were looking to determine what this book is all about, you could definitely do better. I might suggest pages 114-115 as better representatives. Bob and Randall are the real unsung heroes here.

Visit Edward Ashton's website.

The Page 69 Test: Mickey7.

Q&A with Edward Ashton.

The Page 69 Test: Antimatter Blues.

Writers Read: Edward Ashton (March 2023).

The Page 69 Test: Mal Goes to War.

Writers Read: Edward Ashton (April 2024).

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Drowning Game"

Barbara Nickless is the Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author of Play of Shadows, Dark of Night, and At First Light in the Dr. Evan Wilding series, as well as the Sydney Rose Parnell series, which includes Blood on the Tracks, a Suspense Magazine Best of 2016 selection and winner of the Colorado Book Award and the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence; Dead Stop, winner of the Colorado Book Award and nominee for the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence; Ambush; and Gone to Darkness. Her essays and short stories have appeared in Writer’s Digest and on Criminal Element, among other markets. She lives in Colorado, where she loves to cave, snowshoe, hike, and drink single malt Scotch―usually not at the same time.

Nickless applied the Page 69 Test to her latest novel, The Drowning Game, and reported the following:

In The Drowning Game, Nadia and Cassandra Brenner are the heirs to a prestigious yacht-building firm. Cass is in Singapore overseeing a build for a Chinese billionaire when she falls to her death from the 40th floor of one of the word’s most expensive hotels. In the novel, page 69 offers only a glimpse into the novel’s themes of betrayal, treachery, and family secrets. The page is focused on Nadia’s decision to look into her sister’s unexpected death—be it suicide, an accident, or murder. We get a few leads on this page as to where Nadia’s investigation might take her in Singapore: an astrologist Cass was apparently seeing (even though she didn’t believe in astrology or fortune telling), secretive behavior by Cass’s assistant, and an invitation to dinner from the man hired to handle security for the almost finished yacht. While this page offers only a small peek into the avenues Nadia will explore, she is haunted by her father’s advice, which will stay with her throughout the novel: “Trust no one."

Visit Barbara Nickless's website.

The Page 69 Test: At First Light.

Q&A with Barbara Nickless.

The Page 69 Test: Play of Shadows.

Writers Read: Barbara Nickless.

--Marshal Zeringue