I think it's important to point out that Southern California is in the Southwestern United States. Would someone please send a map to the people at St. Martin's Press? (And what do you mean, L.A. isn't underrepresented in the genre?)

Hm. I wonder if I could quickly re-write Ye Olde Mystery so it takes place in Tempe, Arizona rather than Santa Monica, California.

So: "She could feel the sea air over her skin" becomes "she could smell the scent of the cactus as she drifted off to sleep." The problem being that cacti don't have much of a smell.

Or: "She checked for slugs in the grass as she walked across the yard" becomes "she saw a lizard dart over the gravel ahead of her."

Or: "the air got misty" becomes "it rained hard and was freezing cold and why is the weather so extreme in the freaking desert, anyway?"

Easy shmeasy.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:06 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Whel, you could always take up residence here for a year and a day. Get a more genuine sense of place and all. But it would have to be Tucson, because Phoenix is just LA East.

Posted by: Desert Cat at April 03, 2007 09:04 PM (xdX36)

2 Hm. If my subplot is in Bisbee, my main plot would have to be in Tucson. Once I win the Hillerman prize, I'll talk A the H into getting us a vacation property somewhere in southern AZ, and that will solve all the problems.

Posted by: Attila Girl at April 03, 2007 09:28 PM (cJnPC)

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