What If? Guest Post by Larry & Rosemary Mild

As authors, all of us resort to brainstorming at one time or another, looking for our next great plot. We unshackle our minds and freely fantasize. One day, delighting in our high-rise view of the Pacific Ocean, we wondered…What if we pursued some of our most ridiculous ideas that gave us a smile and a snicker before we discarded them? 

What if Adam, the first man, had erectile disfunction. Where would the rest of us be? Or not be? Would some other being step up, some master intelligence, and become the top being on Earth? Don’t pooh-pooh too quickly. Some prize-winning authors have already run away with intelligent animals.

What if Eve, the first lady, resisted the evil snake and didn’t partake of the apple of knowledge? Would we still be a bunch of goody-two-feet running around with fig leaves? Why did Adam and Eve wear fig leaves when they were the only ones around? How much does a fig leaf cover, anyway? Were fig leaves plentiful, or were they wash-and-dry reusable? Do you properly wear them stem up or stem down?

What if the Tower of Babel construction was halted mid-height by lack of oxygen instead of language diversity? Would there have been mass unemployment of the workers? Did they receive unemployment compensation? What was the existing portion of the building used for afterward? 

What if Noah cheated on the length of the cubit and built his ark too small? Which animals would he have to leave behind? Would he feel guilty about them? Would he have to build a second ark to accommodate all the animals? Did Noah’s wife nag him about leaving some behind? Did he brood about it every one of the forty days and nights of rain? 

What if Joseph, who wore the snazzy jacket of many colors, was never kidnapped by his brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt? Who would have built all those pyramids? Would he still be able to predict fourteen years into the future from his dreams? 

What if Moses hadn’t killed the cruel guard with the loose whip? Would he have remained a prince of Egypt and one day become Pharaoh? Would today’s Promised Land be located in Egypt? How much rewriting of the holy books would this cause?   

What if David, the kid with a slingshot, missed Goliath altogether with his last rock? Is that why we are overrun by so many Philistine-types today? Did he at least look around for more rocks? Would Dave be in the market for a sports trainer or did he really need an optometrist for a new pair of glasses? 

What if Daniel of the Lion’s Den fame was actually eaten by the lions? Did the lions get indigestion? Was he tasty or did he need seasoning? Can you blame the lions for disobeying menu orders from Upstairs when they were confined to a den?

What if Solomon couldn’t pass the third-grade intelligence or logic tests? Would he have become king? Would he have become confused when he needed to make decisions? Which of the two women claiming to be the mother would he have awarded the child? 

What if there was only one universal language in the world? How would parents keep secrets from their kids? Would we lose all the idioms, double-meanings, and hard-to-pronounce words? What would we do with all our extra books and videos? What would become of language teachers and translators?     

What if the Messiah actually came, but took one look at the chaos on Planet Earth, turned around, and went home? 
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Not all of our fantasies focus on the biblical domain. What if George Somebody, trying to assemble Junior’s bicycle, grumbled, “I need an extra hand.” And he received one. What would he do with it afterward? Which hand would he use to zip his trousers? 
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Back to reality in our condo as we watch ships enter and leave Honolulu Harbor. What if we unleash our lovable golden retriever and welcome back her owner, our disabled ex-cop-turned-PI? Yes, indeed. We’re writing the sequel to Copper and Goldie, 13 Tails of Mystery and Suspense in Hawaii (2019). Sam Nahoe will continue to hobble on his two canes as he stalks criminals and orders Goldie to chase them down. 

Our newest novel is Kauai Spies and Bald-faced Lies—sequel to Kent & Katcha: Espionage, Spycraft, Romance. Check us out at www.magicile.com.  

Pushing the Keyboard Past Ninety: Guest Post by Larry and Rosemary Mild

Is there any limit to when an author’s creativity declines or even shuts down? The fully alert writing team of Larry and Rosemary Mild is still cranking out fiction, even though they have become young nonagenarians. He’s ninety-three and she’s ninety, and yet together they have just published their fourth Paco and Molly Mystery, The Moaning Lisa (Five stars according to Readers’ Favorite). And that’s not all. Since they married in 1967, they have published eight mysteries, three adventure-thrillers, one historical thriller, a spy novel, four short-story collections, and one sci-fi novella (plus four memoirs). Many of their books have received five-star reviews plus awards.

Are they done yet? Of course not. While Rosemary puts her finishing touches on their second spy novel, Kauai Spies and Other Lies, Larry is busy writing stories for a fifth collection. Larry insists that he will stick with writing short stories from now on. “I like to complete what I start,” he says, “and who knows what the future in my nineties holds?” Larry is wheelchair-bound, tied to a permanent catheter, and sees out of one eye—but he remains optimistic. Rosemary is his loving caregiver. They wake up every morning knowing they have their writing to do. But she also takes time to do her Jazzercise classes on Zoom: “They satisfy my suppressed desire to be a Rockette.”

Larry says he’s more devious than Rosemary, so he generally comes up with the story ideas and plots. When a “Hey-that’s-neat-idea” strikes, he mulls over it for a day or two, then sits down and writes a five- to ten-page statement of work for a novel. He discusses it with her and then commits to writing the first and sometimes the second draft. Then he hands the manuscript over to Rosemary, who fleshes out the characters and streamlines passages to increase suspense. She calls it “judicious pruning,” an expression she learned as an assistant editor at Harper’s Magazine. Originally, Larry would reply, “It’s slash and burn—I worked hours on those paragraphs!” Rosemary would remind him what Stephen King once said: “To write is human, to edit is divine.”

 
The Milds use their personal experience as a touchstone for much of their fiction. In Cry Ohana, Adventure and Suspense in Hawai‘i, they have the killer chasing young Kekoa in Chinatown on Chinese New Year—where they themselves used to slog through the spent firecracker papers. In Copper and Goldie, 13 Tails of Mystery and Suspense in Hawai‘i, Sam Nahoe is a disabled ex-cop-turned-cabbie and private eye. Larry gave him his own disability. Sam has to ski walk with two canes. His Auntie Momi asks him, “You still walkin’ wit’ dem giant chopsticks?” Goldie is based on a friend’s golden retriever. She rides shotgun and chases down villains. Death Steals a Holy Book is based on a rare Yiddish volume that Larry inherited. Hot Grudge Sunday is a tour the Milds took through the national parks out West. They injected a harrowing event at each site and reversed their itinerary to have the heart-stopping climax at the Grand Canyon. 

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Larry and Rosemary Mild have recently been named recipients of the 2024 Elliot Cades Award for Literature, the state of Hawai‘i’s most prestigious literary honor. They were named co-recipients of the award for established writers. A second award was given for emerging writer at the November 1^st, 2025 ceremony held at the Hawai‘i State Library.

Rascals Be Gone! Guest Post by Larry Mild

Do you suffer from rascalitus, those nasty, well-hidden little rascals? I’m talking about the accidental nuisances that crop up when I’ve allowed my phonetic brain the controlling leash. Misspelled words; incorrect punctuation; rambunctious hyphens; and roving space gaps. Equally elusive—and even worse: inconsistencies, like my heroine entering a room in jeans and T-shirt and leaving in a cocktail dress. These rascals are downright embarrassing, especially when one of my fan readers brings it to my attention.  

I proofread forward and backward, intending to absolutely annihilate any errors. I start with two guns blazing, but it’s a tedious task and the enemy is resourceful. Soon I’m sliding more and more over obvious mistakes. It’s a losing battle. Proofing shorter segments of text over a span of time does help, but I’m often rushing unnecessarily toward some imaginary publication date. The greatest joy of writing is creating the first draft. My impulse is just to plunge into my next story, instead of reworking and correcting that first draft. But that’s a no-no.

Reading aloud is a step in the right direction. But reading aloud to myself can be a trap. I’m so delighted with my writing that I unconsciously skip over any rascals. It’s like reading in a vacuum. Reading aloud to a partner is a step up, but only if the partner is another writer willing to fully invest in my work. My coauthoring wife, Rosemary, and I have had the advantage of writing together and reading aloud together for some time. We alternate the proofreading and listening tasks between us to cut down on stressing our voices—especially if it’s a whole novel.   

Recently, I discovered an even better rascal eradication tool. The funny part is that it’s been right in front of my face for years. Two of the most popular programs in the writing arena have “Read Aloud” features. 

The first is Microsoft’s Word word processor. Here’s how it works. We select the starting point in our text with a Left mouse click. Then we Right click on “Read Aloud” and the program will speak to us. Right clicking on “Read Aloud” a second time affords a stop or pause. A good practice for those of us who work in Word would be to use the feature as we write—to complete a section or chapter, say.

Adobe Acrobat formatting program has a number of useful tools worth exploring. For Rosemary and me, the tool most useful is their “Read Aloud” function. First, we turn our document into a pdf. Next, on the Tool Bar at the top of our screen, we click on “View” and select “Read Mode” or “Ctrl H.” Then we use the “View” menu a second time. Selecting “Read Out Loud” affords us the use of five commands: “Activate Read Out Loud”; “Read This Page only”; “Read to End of Document”; “Pause”; and “Stop.” We can pause and edit the pdf document directly or make a note to correct the original document later. 

Granted, these “Read Aloud” voices sound somewhat stiff, without the valuable expression quality of a good actor. If you have no one to listen with you, it’s still a useful function (hoping your attention doesn’t stray). Rosemary and I discovered that, with two of us listening, we not only nail the short rascals, but our scene inconsistencies are exposed as well. Whatever method you choose, don’t be shy. You too can wipe out rascalitus.  

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Larry and Rosemary Mild’s newest books are Kent and Katcha: Espionage, Spycraft, Romance; and their novel set in the Great Depression, On the Rails: The Adventures of Boxcar Bertie. Larry also published his autobiography, No Place To Be But Here: My Life and Times. 

 
                                                          

Getting Personal to Enhance Our Fiction: Guest Post by Rosemary Mild

ROSEMARY MILD:

Getting Personal to Enhance Our Fiction

My husband, Larry, and I coauthor mystery and suspense fiction. We use both first-hand research and personal experiences to enhance our novels and stories. (Visit us at www.magicile.com.) 

Our first book as full-time Hawaii residents was Copper and Goldie, 13 Tails of Mystery and Suspense in Hawaii (2019). It features Sam Nahoe, a disabled ex-cop-turned-cabbie, and his golden retriever (with a touch of Doberman). They take on Honolulu bank robbers, kidnappers, and vengeful wives. Even killers, compelling Sam to get his P.I. license. In “The Snake Lady,” Sam’s Auntie Momi visits her fortune teller, but finds her dead—murdered—and Heki, her gentle pet python, missing. 

But wait! Snakes are illegal in the Aloha State. Detective Danny groans, “Not another reptile! No matter how hard we try, the black market thrives.” Larry and I researched how Hawaii deals with these illegal critters. The penalty is up to three years in prison and a $200,000 fine. But the Department of Agriculture has an amnesty plan: Turn it in, no questions asked, no penalties. 

Our research was satisfying, but our plot was at a standstill. It was missing an irrefutable piece of evidence that would nail the killer. A happy personal coincidence solved our problem—and the case. Our cousin, a master jewelry designer in Atlanta, had just posted her newest creation on Facebook: an exotic snake ring! With her delighted permission, we incorporated the ring into our plot. 

“As Valerie angrily crossed her arms over her chest, Sam’s gaze landed on her left hand. Exposed on her third finger was the fortune teller’s ring! Valerie followed Sam’s gaze. ‘So I stole the ring. So what? She had no more use for it. But that doesn’t mean I killed her.’ Silence reigned as four pairs of accusing eyes bore into her.” 

We’ve also added a special personal touch to Copper and Goldie: a picture at the beginning of each story. For “The Snake Lady” it’s a picture of our cousin’s ring, which we show at the top in this post.

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"Getting Personal" appears in Rosemary Mild's new book of personal essays, In My Next Life I'll Get It Right—in the chapter "On Writing Together." She and her husband, Larry, stalk villains and solve crimes in their fiction: the Paco & Molly Mysteries; the Dan & Rivka Sherman Mysteries; two suspense novels and a book of stories set in Hawaii; and a sci-fi romance.

PARTNERS IN CRIME: Rosemary and Larry Mild

Today Rosemary Mild joins me in our continuing feature: Partners in Crime, collaborating writers. Rosemary and Larry Mild, cheerful partners in crime, call Honolulu home. They’ve published six mystery novels; two Hawaii suspense/thrillers; a sci-fi novella; and two books of short stories—with settings reaching from Hawaii to the Far East. Visit the Milds at www.magicile.com.

ROSEMARY MILD:
PARTNERS IN CRIME

When a husband and wife write as a team, how do they create fiction that comes out seamless, sounding like one author? Big question.

Larry and I came from different worlds in 1986. We met on a blind date. He had lost his wife to cancer, and I had been divorced for eight years. In the car on the way home from dinner, he said, “When I retire I’m going to write a novel, and I want you to help me.”

Now neither of us had ever written fiction. I was an editor; Larry was an electrical engineer, and we’d only known each other for four hours! Still, I chirped, “Okay!” We’d gotten along so well that I knew he was Mr. Right. We married a year later.

True to his word, when Larry retired he wrote the first draft of Cry Ohana, Adventure and Suspense in Hawaii. Then he handed it to me—the halt leading the blind! After umpteen drafts, three titles, and a critique group, we published it. It’s always been our most popular book.

Our newest work is the long-awaited sequel: Honolulu Heat, Between the Mountains and the Great Sea, the continuing saga of the Cry Ohana families.

Many readers ask how we started writing together. Early on, with hot-headed arguments and wounded feelings. For example:

Larry: “You cut that whole paragraph. I worked for hours on it.”
Rosemary: “Less is more, darling.”
Larry: “Oh, yeah? You gave a back story to the grocery bagger.”

Somehow we survived as we both improved our writing—and respect for each other’s.

Larry considers himself more devious than I, so he conjures up all our plots and writes the first draft. He’s at the computer writing five to six hours most days. He has a much longer attention span than I have. Then he turns the manuscript over to me. And waits.

Larry rolls his eyes. “Rosemary could work a little faster. We’re getting behind by the day. Her strength as a writer? She has this wonderful feel for human nature. She breathes life into my minimalist characters: physical appearance, sharpening the dialogue, and often adding a defining trait.”

I admit that there are times when his elegant passages don’t work for me; they can stop the action. So I’ll do “judicious pruning,” an expression I learned as an assistant editor at Harper’s. Larry calls it “slash and burn.” But you know how it is. Stephen King said, ‘To write is human. To edit is divine.’ Then, with sleeves rolled up, we negotiate.

According to Larry, “The best thing about working as a team is that we’re never writing in a vacuum. There’s always someone close by to listen to your story’s direction and your choice of words. The helping hand when you can’t find that ever-so-right word or story twist is a godsend. After we agree on the final draft, we read the entire book aloud to each other. Amazing the inconsistencies we discover.”

So what’s the toughest thing about writing as a team?

Larry says, “If you’ll excuse my Latin, there’s this co-writus interruptus thing. Working back-to-back in the same bedroom-turned-office. it’s too easy to stop her and ask: “Does adrenaline have an e? rather than look it up myself.

Writing together does have its tough parts. For starters, I don’t interrupt. I disrupt. I was fishing a hammer out of his toolbox. He asked me, “Where are you going with that?” I told him I was going to discipline the vacuum cleaner; it was stuck on High. He said, “Bring it here.” He turned the vac upside down and in five minutes had it fixed. I asked, ‘Would I have broken it if I had given it a few whacks?’ Larry was quick to reply, “Definitely!”

As a team we do face a potential snag working together. I have my own nonfiction life—personal essays and memoirs. Love! Laugh! Panic! Life with My Mother is my newest. Miriam’s World—and Mine is my second memoir of our daughter Miriam Luby Wolfe, whom we lost in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. She was 20 and my only child; Larry’s stepdaughter. Larry published an op-ed piece in the Baltimore Sun, “Six Ways To Prevent Airline Terrorism.” Our Maryland congresswoman wrote it into the Congressional Record.

Somehow, we manage to juggle our separate interests. Recently, we gave talks at the University of Hawaii’s Lifelong Learning Institute. Mine was “From Hurt to Healing: Writing Your Personal Story.” Larry’s was on “Engaging Elements of the Mystery.”

In our second series, the Dan and Rivka Sherman Mysteries, we created a Jewish couple very much like ourselves (but younger). Dan and Rivka buy the fictional Olde Victorian Bookstore in Annapolis, Maryland, and become reluctant sleuths.

Larry says, “Rivka is a lot like Rosemary: feisty, super-smart, affectionate, and addicted to chocolate.

Dan, like Larry, is analytical and practical, a born problem-solver—and an incorrigible punster. On our blind date he made a pun and told me he was born in the year of the Zaniac.

We love using our own experiences in our fiction. In Hot Grudge Sunday, sleuths Paco and Molly are on their honeymoon out West. Their itinerary is based on a tour we took, but with hair-raising consequences ending at the Grand Canyon. In Death Steals A Holy Book, the Menorat ha-maor (“Candlestick of Light”) is based on a rare Yiddish book that Larry inherited.

We currently have a series of stories called “Copper and Goldie” in Mysterical-E, an online mystery magazine. Sam, a disabled Hawaiian ex-cop, is a cabbie and P.I. He and his rescue golden retriever (with a dash of Doberman) always land in trouble in Honolulu and still manage to solve crimes. Sam walks with two canes. Larry gave Sam his own chronic back trouble; he too walks with two canes. Sam’s Auntie Momi asks: “You still walkin’ wit’ dem giant chopsticks?”

Larry and I really enjoy working as a team. With more books to come, life is mysteriously good.