Alan Cook's Blog - Posts Tagged "carol-golden"
Blog on a Blot: Backgammon Anyone?
My new mystery/suspense novel, HIT THAT BLOT, has a backgammon theme, but since there don’t seem to be many backgammon players around I’m glad people are telling me it’s a good read even for those poor souls who don’t play the game.
Backgammon is a game of chance (using dice) with a strong element of skill. People who know the odds of certain events happening have a big advantage. My understanding is that it used to be much more popular in many places, such as the US, than it is currently.
I, myself, learned to play backgammon many years ago. I even read a book on backgammon and learned good opening moves and the chances of hitting my opponent’s checkers or getting hit. At that point I figured I was ready for a tournament being held nearby. I entered the advanced category instead of novice because the prizes were better. Of course, I was quickly handed my head by a bunch of Armenians who were born playing backgammon, but in spite of that I’ve been playing on and off ever since.
Not long ago I started playing backgammon on the Internet, using a Microsoft app that hooks up players from all over the world, and did quite well. This led me to the idea for a new Carol Golden novel, since Carol is a mathematician and likes to play games. In doing research for the book I discovered that the backgammon guru (or MFIC—don’t ask what that means) for the Los Angeles area is Patrick Gibson, a man I used to work with in a previous millennium.
I entered one of Patrick’s tournaments and got handed my head again, but I also found that I’m not that bad. I had some good games, although I lost the matches. So I wrote the book, making Carol a better player than I am. Then I had the hubris to add a series of appendices giving backgammon tips and a glossary of terms. The feedback has been positive, I’m happy to say.
Whether or not people play backgammon I hope they enjoy the book. But deep down inside I’m hoping to start a backgammon revival.
Backgammon is a game of chance (using dice) with a strong element of skill. People who know the odds of certain events happening have a big advantage. My understanding is that it used to be much more popular in many places, such as the US, than it is currently.
I, myself, learned to play backgammon many years ago. I even read a book on backgammon and learned good opening moves and the chances of hitting my opponent’s checkers or getting hit. At that point I figured I was ready for a tournament being held nearby. I entered the advanced category instead of novice because the prizes were better. Of course, I was quickly handed my head by a bunch of Armenians who were born playing backgammon, but in spite of that I’ve been playing on and off ever since.
Not long ago I started playing backgammon on the Internet, using a Microsoft app that hooks up players from all over the world, and did quite well. This led me to the idea for a new Carol Golden novel, since Carol is a mathematician and likes to play games. In doing research for the book I discovered that the backgammon guru (or MFIC—don’t ask what that means) for the Los Angeles area is Patrick Gibson, a man I used to work with in a previous millennium.
I entered one of Patrick’s tournaments and got handed my head again, but I also found that I’m not that bad. I had some good games, although I lost the matches. So I wrote the book, making Carol a better player than I am. Then I had the hubris to add a series of appendices giving backgammon tips and a glossary of terms. The feedback has been positive, I’m happy to say.
Whether or not people play backgammon I hope they enjoy the book. But deep down inside I’m hoping to start a backgammon revival.
Serial Killers
I had never written a book about a serial killer until Your Move, my seventh Carol Golden novel. In writing it I came to realize how scary serial killers are, because once they start killing they will probably continue killing until they are caught—or die.
The Golden State Killer, recently identified using DNA analysis, started killing in the 1970s, but hasn’t killed recently, apparently because he became too old. It’s difficult to commit murder when you’re in a wheelchair. Serial killers used to be hard to catch, but now, using DNA, their days may be numbered. That’s a good thing, but the use of DNA to identify people raises important questions of privacy for us all.
Serial killers are also almost impossible to recognize. Ann Rule writes about serial killer Ted Bundy in The Stranger Beside Me that she once worked with him on a crisis hotline, and that he was charming, sensitive and trustworthy. Of course, these traits made it easier for him to lure his victims. It’s possible he may have starting killing back in his youth when he was a paperboy.
Fortunately, most people who kill others aren’t serial killers. There are many more serial killers depicted on television crime shows than there are in reality. Which brings up the question of whether these shows plus lurid news accounts of real killers make us more fearful of people who at most account for just a few murders a year than of other dangers such as auto accidents that kill thousands of people. Perhaps we’re afraid of the wrong things.
My serial killer in Your Move appears to want to receive recognition for what he does, because he leaves clues that seem to be some sort of puzzle. That’s where Carol Golden comes in because she is a mathematician and puzzle solver. Hopefully, with her help, this person’s career as a serial killer will be a short one.
The Golden State Killer, recently identified using DNA analysis, started killing in the 1970s, but hasn’t killed recently, apparently because he became too old. It’s difficult to commit murder when you’re in a wheelchair. Serial killers used to be hard to catch, but now, using DNA, their days may be numbered. That’s a good thing, but the use of DNA to identify people raises important questions of privacy for us all.
Serial killers are also almost impossible to recognize. Ann Rule writes about serial killer Ted Bundy in The Stranger Beside Me that she once worked with him on a crisis hotline, and that he was charming, sensitive and trustworthy. Of course, these traits made it easier for him to lure his victims. It’s possible he may have starting killing back in his youth when he was a paperboy.
Fortunately, most people who kill others aren’t serial killers. There are many more serial killers depicted on television crime shows than there are in reality. Which brings up the question of whether these shows plus lurid news accounts of real killers make us more fearful of people who at most account for just a few murders a year than of other dangers such as auto accidents that kill thousands of people. Perhaps we’re afraid of the wrong things.
My serial killer in Your Move appears to want to receive recognition for what he does, because he leaves clues that seem to be some sort of puzzle. That’s where Carol Golden comes in because she is a mathematician and puzzle solver. Hopefully, with her help, this person’s career as a serial killer will be a short one.
Free Kindle Mystery-Suspense Novel
I'm feeling kind-hearted and am giving away Kindle copies of my 7th Carol Golden novel, "Your Move." If you have an Amazon Kindle account you can have one if you send me your Amazon Kindle email address: alcook@sprintmail.com Of course, I would appreciate reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Limited time offer (whatever that means).
Somebody is killing people who work for subsidiaries of conglomerate Ault Enterprises and playing some kind of game while doing it. Carol Golden is called on to help identify the killer because she has experience in breaking codes and playing games. Amy O’Connor, a former scam artist and long-distance hiker with an eye for men, becomes her partner by accident, and together they search for clues in interesting places. The hunt takes them to the tops of significant mountain peaks in the United States, including Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the continental U.S., and to other unusual locales such as the thinly populated Lost Coast region of northern California. Carol finds that incidents in her past that are lost to her because of her amnesia may come back to haunt her before she can win this deadly game.
Somebody is killing people who work for subsidiaries of conglomerate Ault Enterprises and playing some kind of game while doing it. Carol Golden is called on to help identify the killer because she has experience in breaking codes and playing games. Amy O’Connor, a former scam artist and long-distance hiker with an eye for men, becomes her partner by accident, and together they search for clues in interesting places. The hunt takes them to the tops of significant mountain peaks in the United States, including Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the continental U.S., and to other unusual locales such as the thinly populated Lost Coast region of northern California. Carol finds that incidents in her past that are lost to her because of her amnesia may come back to haunt her before she can win this deadly game.
