It’s easy to blame Amazon.com for the downfall of on-site shopping, but there are larger social forces at work, generational and technological shifts in how people buy and move their goods. Still, many of the shrines erected to shopping over the last half-century stand empty, a testament to the continued migration to the digital world.
The enclosed shopping mall began life in the mid-1950s in Sweden, Wisconsin, and New Jersey, part of a movement from urban flight to suburban sprawl. The rest of America followed.
In the Gulf Coast resort town of Sarasota, Florida, the Sarasota Square Mall opened on September 28, 1977. Forty-six years later, it lies virtually empty of anyone except walkers seeking shelter from the sun. During its heyday, it featured more than a million square feet of shopping with storied merchants such as Macy’s, Sears, and JCPenney, a 12-screen AMC Theatres, and—as an add-on—a Costco. As late as 2019, the mall’s website listed 44 stores and other businesses. Today, only AMC, Costco, and two restaurants in the food court remain.
Plans to redevelop the mall into everything from senior housing to county offices have floated for years. The current owner, Torburn Partners, wants to build 1,200 apartments on the site, with grocery, retail, and restaurant space. JCPenney, Costco, and AMC would remain.
The long awaited (at least by me) sequel to Distant Early Warning arrives today. Cold Fire continues the saga of the Andersen family as they struggle with the tragic aftermath of the Flood of ‘55. Georgia redoubles her fight to recover from unbearable grief. Marsh yearns for a safer home and the affection of his once-vibrant wife. And ten-year-old Wil retreats into the fantasy of TV to escape the confusing world of bullies, air-raid drills, and the girl next door.
There are new challenges, too, at home and abroad. While Sputnik has launched the space race, America’s conspicuous consumption has fueled a class war. Cold War paranoia pits neighbor against neighbor as word spreads of a spy in their midst. An explosion at the Russian couple’s farm, a near-fatal blizzard, and the death of a close friend threaten to shatter everyone’s peace.
Yet the Andersens’ greatest challenge has less to do with Communists than compassion. Each carries a secret fear—that unyielding fate is responsible for the tragedy consuming their lives. As each will discover that they alone hold the key to surviving their brave new world.
The launch of Cold Fire coincides with the 68th anniversary of the Flood of ’55. You can find both e-book and print versions here: https://amzn.to/44NtUMC
What people are saying about the work:
“Widmer’s writing is compelling, filled with empathy for his characters and sprinkled with gentle wit.”
— Ellen Brosnahan, The Second Mrs. Ringling
“Jeff Widmer is a master at putting the reader in the setting, and his gift for dialogue is unparalleled.”
— Jo Horne, Monica’s War
“Gripping and poignant, a satisfying and enlightening read.”
— Eric Sheridan Wyatt, In Loco Parentis
“A magnificent story. This book deserves a second read. And maybe more.”
B. Aline Blanchard is a writer, sculptor, and visual artist based in Sarasota, Florida. We discussed writing for a presentation to the Kanaya Book Club. This is the conclusion of that Q&A.
Detective stories generally follow a formula. How does being an independent publisher allow you to deviate from that formula?
I don’t follow a formula, but there are general principles that apply to both commercial and independent crime fiction. Start with the end in mind and work toward it. Give your characters challenges but don’t make them insurmountable. Provide subplots that are more personal than professional. And if you raise a question, try to answer it.
The process of setting up an independent publishing company and marketing a book is quite complex. You have now published nearly a dozen books under the imprint of Allusion Books. How does the cover design impact sales?
The goal is to make an independently published book indistinguishable from a commercially published one. That means engaging professionals to edit, proofread, and design the interior and the exterior of the book. As long as the cover looks professional, I don’t know that it affects sales as much as reader reviews.
Your newest book, Distant Early Warning, is based on a flood that took place in 1955. Were you living there at that time?
Yes, but I was too young to know what adults did and why. Unfortunately, I never asked my parents about their experience. I was able to talk to neighbors and share experiences through social media. Memoirs from that period provided more hands-on experience.
Did you interview people to see how it changed their lives?
Every few years, the local newspaper published a special section about the flood. I was assigned to interview a woman whose family had survived by climbing into the attic of their house. The water rose quickly and trapped them. There were no windows, no way to escape. The woman read the Bible and prayed. On the trip back to the office, I passed the creek that had taken so many lives and had the unnerving sensation that the flood could happen again, at that very moment. That story has haunted me for decades.
How much research did you do to write this book?
Path of Hurricane Diane as it hit North Carolina
I spent six months reading books about the DEW Line and the 1950s in general. That included government publications about building a fallout shelter and surviving an atomic attack. I watched the movies and television shows young Wil Andersen would have watched to gain more insight into the culture. I watched and read with an eye toward placing myself in the position of the characters who not only coped with the flood but dealt with the challenges of the culture, from clothing and appliances to geography and weather. That even included charting the position of the stars on one fateful night.
Your descriptions of the flood and its devastation brought goose bumps. How did you put yourself into so many characters’ lives?
I interviewed as many people as I could about their lives during and after the flood. I also read personal accounts posted by several Facebook groups. Their stories inspired me to dig deeper into the experience.
The conflict, man against nature, is particularly potent with all the floods we’ve had recently.
Those of us who live in Florida expect major storms. The idea that back-to-back hurricanes could devastate the Northeast is sobering. It’s an object lesson for all of us.
Research for the crime fiction is ongoing. For Distant Early Warning, I spend a good six months reading about the 1950s and watching dozens of movies and television programs from the era. Research into the Flood of ’55 was especially intense, given that my parents had lived through that natural disaster.
B. Aline Blanchard is a writer, sculptor, and visual artist based in Sarasota, Florida. We discussed writing for a presentation to the Kanaya Book Club. This is part two of that Q&A.
As a reporter/photographer early on in your career, did you come across many female detectives?
I didn’t meet female officers until I got to Florida. As a journalist, I did have several years on the police beat, and the ear of a very helpful state police commander who helped flesh out the character of Walter Bishop in the CW McCoy novels.
What made you choose the case of the scheming investor in Peak Season?
I was reading the saga of Aubrey Lee Price, who boarded a ferry in Key West, stripped, and dove into the water. The disappearance initially was ruled a suicide. He was declared dead, but not before allegedly stealing millions from investors. Reading this I thought, in this day and age of surveillance, how could anyone disappear? And if he knew his actions were wrong—he penned a rambling confession to his family before vanishing—how could he justify his actions? CW discovers the unfortunate answer in the first book.
Why did you change some of the Sarasota landmarks?
When asked the same question about Santa Barbara, Sue Grafton said she wanted the flexibility to move buildings and streets. For people who are not familiar with Sarasota, I wanted to simplify the landscape. I also didn’t want readers to confuse the corrupt officials in the novels with the people who actually occupy those offices, many of whom helped me to research the books.
Besides being a writer, you are also a musician and a photographer. How did these experiences give authenticity to your writing?
Born Under a Bad Sign is the best example of how a profession can bring nuance and authority to a work. Quinn’s knowledge of music and his obsession with playing Woodstock come directly from my work as a guitarist. Elizabeth’s drive to become a photographer arose from my experience and that of the photographers who mentored me.
Did you also live on the farm you depicted in Born Under a Bad Sign?
I grew up next to a farm owned by our bus driver. He used to let the neighborhood kids swim in the cow ponds in summer and ice skate in winter. Much later, when we built our first house, we became friends with the couple who owned it.
Did your work at an advertising agency give you the material to write Mr. Magic?
Yes, a decade in advertising gave me a mixed view of public relations and marketing, just as my years as a journalist provided the material for Mr. Mayhem, the first of the Brinker books.
How much research do you do for each book?
Research for the crime fiction is ongoing. For Distant Early Warning, a novel of the Cold War, I spend a good six months reading about the 1950s and watching dozens of movies and television programs from the era. Research into the Flood of ’55 was especially intense, given that my parents had lived through that natural disaster.
B. Aline Blanchard is a writer, sculptor, and visual artist based in Sarasota, Florida. We discussed writing for a presentation to the Kanaya Book Club. This is part one of that Q&A.
How did you get started writing detective stories?
B. Aline Blanchard
I took a class where we had to turn a short story into a news article and an article into a short story. For a journalist, the first part was easy. The second gave me pause. I finally chose an article about Aubrey Lee Price, a Florida Ponzi-schemer hunted by the FBI. He became the inspiration for the character of Bobby Lee Darby in Peak Season, the first novel (of five) in the CW McCoy series of crime novels.
I understand you researched the police work by riding with the police. Which came first , the research or the idea?
The ride-alongs happened about the same time I was writing the first of the McCoy books. As a way of exploring this new place to which we’d just moved, I took a number of classes, including Sarasota County’s Civics 101 to learn about government and a pair of courses to study police procedures—the Sarasota Police Department’s Citizens Academy and the Sarasota Sheriff’s Citizens Law Enforcement Academy (CLEA) program.
How did riding with officers and deputies change your conception of police work?
The ride-along is the final session of the SPD’s Citizens Academy. I saw firsthand the danger and the boredom the officers face. Initially, I wrote a blog post after every class. But after the ride-along, I decided to bundle the posts into a slim volume that tries to encompass some of what lies between those two poles. The result was Riding with the Blues. (Thanks to the SPD for providing the cover art.)
What made you choose a female narrator?
I’d been reading Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series as well as several other novels with wise-cracking, hard-drinking tough-guys at the center. Unfortunately, that kind of character has become a trope of crime fiction. I was fascinated with how women writers—Grafton, Paretsky, Crusie, and Evanovich—transformed that cliché. I wanted to create a well-round character who was both brazen and domestic, someone who took risks but put family first. After talking to a female chief of police about her difficulties in getting recognized and promoted, I realized that in CW McCoy I had a character who could explore that terrain.
Was your detective based on an actual person?
As with many of my characters, CW is not based a single person but a combination of several from whom I’ve borrowed physical attributes, mannerisms, and patterns of speech.
How did you authenticate the female point of view?
For years, I’ve been friends with a pair of real estate agents in Pennsylvania. They were kind enough to let me hang out in their office and observe the nuances of the job. As luck would have it, in buying our house in Sarasota, my wife and I became friends with another pair of agents. They’ve been invaluable in providing operational and personal detail about life as a female agent. For issues that transcend real estate, several women in my writer’s group provide insight and advice. And my wife reads every manuscript for accuracy and consistency.
Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews has given Distant Early Warning, my novel of the Cold War, a five-star review:
It’s an amazing plot that has multiple subplots that help the reader get to know the Andersens and the incomprehensible events that have affected their lives. The characters had a lot of depth and were very realistic. This book deserves a second read! (And maybe more). It’s definitely un-put-downable!
You can read the full text on the review site or on Goodreads. And, if you’d like to explore the effects of natural and human disasters on a family already facing the fear and paranoia of the 1950s, you can read a sample and buy the book on Amazon.
People living in the 1950s did a lot more than worry about Communists and atomic bombs. They raised families, excelled at work, and built the most prosperous nation in the world. Here are ten influences that reverberate today.
10. Tail fins on cars
9. Marilyn Monroe
8. The novel Peyton Place, novice author Grace Metalious’s blockbuster expose of societal undercurrents of sex and violence
7. Elvis joins the Army (March 24, 1958)
6. The movie Ben Hur (1959 epic starring Charlton Heston, second highest-grossing film in history at the time)
5. Invention of the credit card (in 1950 by Ralph Schneider and Frank McNamara, founders of Diners Club)
4. The Twilight Zone
3. Interstate highway system
2. Rock ‘n’ Roll and it’s antecedent, rhythm and blues
People living in the 1950s faced a host of existential issues. Many reverberate with us today. Here are ten episodes and influences that shaped the culture, then and now.
I recently had the honor of discussing fiction and publishing with the Kanaya Book Club in Sarasota, Fl. The event also gave me the opportunity to catch up with a friend from our days in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania—B. Aline Blanchard, who founded Pocono Writers circa 1981. Aline, who organized the event, is a writer, sculptor, and visual artist now living in Sarasota. She has a pair of novels, several chapbooks, and a book of poetry to her credit.
We had a lively discussion of Peak Season, my first novel and the first book (of five) in the CW McCoy series of crime novels. Given that our adopted home of Sarasota just suffered a swipe from Hurricane Ian, the conversation migrated to storms and a reading from my latest work, Distant Early Warning, a Cold War novel set in a fictionalized version of my former hometown (Stroudsburg/East Stroudsburg, Pa.) during the devastating Flood of ’55.
Despite the grim complications of crime novels, the conversation turned lively, and a good time was had by all. The wine helped.
Thank you, Aline, for your generosity, and everyone who attended.
From left: Ginny Reck of the Kanaya Book Club, myself, and B. Aline Blanchard
In the 1950s, a relatively unknown senator from Wisconsin reshaped America by alleging that Communists had infiltrated the U.S. State Department. By 1954, Joseph McCarthy was accusing the Army of harboring Reds. In riding those accusations to fame, the senator created a state of fear and paranoia that ruined careers and destroyed Americans’ trust in their own institutions.
That legacy that lives today, in the litmus tests of political loyalty.
The Red scare, which predated McCarthy, lasted well into the 1960s. It was fanned by publications such as the 1949 U.S. government pamphlet entitled 100 Things You Should Know about Communism.It defined the objectives of the Communist state and told Americans how to identify supporters and spies. “What is Communism?” the first question reads. “A system by which one small group seeks to rule the world.”
Here are two more examples:
Number sixty-two. “How can a Communist be identified? It’s easy. Ask him to name ten things wrong with the United States. Then ask him to name two things wrong with Russia. His answers will show him up even to a child.”
Number seventy-six. “Where can a Communist be found in everyday American life? Look for him in your school, your labor union, your church, or your civic club.”
Image reading this and other Cold War propaganda as a child. What kind of a world would that create? One you recognize today?
Jeff Widmer 