Five Binge-worthy Television Shows

A lot of my fiction is inspired by real life crime. Not that I lift cases wholesale, but I'll pick a murder from here, a motive from there... But there's nothing like a familiarity with true crime to teach you how often real life has to be toned down to create believable fiction.

Since so many of us are still stuck home with 57 channels and nothing on (I'm assuming you've already seen Tiger King -- SHE DID IT, SHE TOTALLY KILLED HER HUSBAND!!!!!)  here are some of my favorite true crime documentaries, guaranteed to keep you entertained, and possibly amazed at the perfidy of your fellow humans.

The Imposter - I've recced this film a few times on this blog BUT YOU STILL HAVEN'T WATCHED IT, HAVE YOU? It strongly influenced my own Stranger on the Shore, although it's quite a different story. This one is sad and creepy and completely fascinating.

Don't F**k with Cats - The hunt for an internet troll turns into something very different and alarming for a team of online amateur sleuths. WARNING there's some truly disturbing cruelty to animals in this, but it's well worth watching (although I advise closing your eyes at those scenes).

The Jinx - HE DID IT, HE TOTALLY KILLED HIS WIFE!!! The documentary of the case that the Ryan Gosling film All Good Things is based on. This is another weird and creepy story that will have your scalp prickling when you're not actually gasping out-loud.

Soaked in Bleach - SHE DID IT, SHE TOTALLY KILLED HER HUSBAND!!! Documentary/Docudrama exploring the possibility that Courtney Love murdered Curt Cobain. Unsurprisingly, not everyone is persuaded by investigator Tom Grant's conclusions, but he makes a credible and convincing witness, in my humble opinion.

Amanda Knox - I CAN'T TELL IF SHE DID IT!!! Previous to watching this film, I didn't have much of an opinion about this case. I like to assume the police usually get it right, though familiarity with true crime docs have shaken that innocent confidence. This was a really alarming example of what happens when investigators go in with their minds already made up.

Do you have any fave documentaries you want to rec to our viewing audience? ;-)

So that was summer?

We had a sudden snap in the heatwave, and all at once last night was cool and breezy. What a relief!

But at the same time there was a sense of No! Is summer over? Not yet!

It needs to be over for the sake of the wasteland that was my garden. But I need that quiet solitude of water and sky. Where it's just me and the hummingbirds.

My summer was spent writing. I wrote two novels. Fair Play (out in November) and Boy with the Painful Tattoo (out in October). In between the writing there was time spent with kidlings who are now taller than me. I read some good books, I had some nice meals. watched a few interesting documentaries, I argued with the SO. But really...that was about it. This was a working summer.

I heard coyotes last night -- loud and nearby. When I woke this morning, it smelled like autumn. Summer is fading. The clock is ticking.

So time for another FIVE THINGS I LOVE. I suppose this is the autumn edition. We've already had summer.


1  - Action-Adventure movies.

Edge of Tomorrow. Well, they changed the name (Live, Die, Repeat?) and it's still wrong. But the movie is right. Possibly the best action-adventure movie I saw this summer. I loved it. Yes, lurved it.

It's now on video/stream, so go treat yourself to an entertaining Friday night.

2 - Mournful sounds.

The wind through the trees. Coyotes at night. Train calls in the moonlit distance. I had ALL of them last night, so I maybe be sleep-deprived right now. There were no sobbing ghosts, so that's something.

3 - The light in Autumn

The light changes in Autumn. Everything is more intense, more luminous. It's a sunshine and shadow thing, but...it really gives a strange power to every afternoon. The days linger. You feel reminiscent and weirdly anticipatory. It's a strange time, these few weeks while everything changes. It is a time of possibility, and yet I feel more connected to the past. I am always both melancholy and excited in the fall. In short, I am harder to live with than usual.

4 - Black and White photos

This often pops up on my Goodreads lists of Daily Things I Love. I saw a documentary lately about a woman -- an amateur photographer by the name of Vivian Maier. Anything I tell you will be too much. You must discover this story for yourself. I think it speaks to the nature of creativity and art.

5 - The Mysteries of Frances Crane

Well, vintage mystery in general. But I am really enjoying the Crane's extensive backlist. I like to hunt down original editions with the gorgeous (or sometimes just crazy) cover artwork. Right now I'm reading The Golden Box, which I've started several times before but just was never quite in the right frame of mind. Now I am loving it, and looking forward to reading every night before I fall into bed.

So now it's your turn. Five things you love about autumn. Maybe you'll pick the very same things you picked last year at this time. That's always interesting. Some things are universal.  The seasons are changing. But how much do we change? ;-)

It's all relative

How the heck did it get to be Friday so fast?

Well, readers comment frequently on the interesting places I write about (I mean, the places I haven't actually made up -- although I hope those are interesting too). I haven't written about this place -- or been there yet -- but it's on my list.

I give you MOBA. The Museum of Bad Art in Boston.

Seriously. Take a moment to peruse the online gallery.

Can't Miss TV

In fact, I don't watch a lot of TV, but I do stream a lot of documentaries. Some of the documentaries are for research on a particular project, but sometimes I watch just to spark creativity, get those juices flowing (not THOSE juices, idea juices).

 Every so often I'll come across a documentary that really stay with me. That stays in my mind, keeps me thinking, wondering. Even...haunts me.

Here's a couple of them.

If a Tree Falls - I was considering subplots for Winter Kill and I got the idea of eco-terrorists. By the time I finished watching the documentary I was on the side of the eco-terrorists, but maybe that will make for a more interesting and nuanced book.

The Imposter - This was absolutely riveting -- and rather chilling. Stranger on the Shore revolves around a missing child, and I thought this might be useful. And it was very much so -- especially in helping to understand how grieving loved ones can convince themselves of anything. Even when all the evidence points in another direction.

Dreams of a Life - This doesn't tie into anything I'm writing, but wow. Fascinating character study. Depressing too, to be honest. But more fascinating than depressing.

The Weather Underground - This one was for background on Fair Play, the sequel to Fair Game. I'm trying to put the proposal together for Carina Press this month, and it turns out that watching documentaries is easier than writing a synopsis.

You can actually watch The Weather Underground documentary for free right here.

What about you? Watch any good documentaries lately?