In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.
Tracy Clark has plenty to celebrate—and I’m thrilled for the opportunity to celebrate with her. Not only is today the launch of Borrowed Time, her second Cass Raines PI novel and the subject of her First Two Pages essay today (find the new book at Amazon and Barnes & Noble or at your local independent!), but the first novel in the series, Broken Places, has just been named a finalist for this year’s Anthony Award for Best First Novel. And this recent nomination is only the latest in a string of accolades that her debut has earned—among them, finalist for the the Lefty Award for Best Debut Novel, a starred review from Publishers Weekly, a stellar review from Kirkus, a TOP PICK selection by Romantic Times, and a spot on Library Journal’s list of the Best Crime Fiction of 2018.
Discover more about Tracy and her work at her website and be sure to connect with her on Facebook or Twitter. In the meantime I hope you enjoy her essay here on Borrowed Time—and the glimpse at the opening scene that we don’t get. Now I want to read that too!
Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.
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