Thursday, December 28, 2023

Burnt Cove: A Murder Mystery Set in Maine

Originally titled "Memory," the novel "Burnt Cove" will be my 22nd published book when it is finished sometime in the year 2024.

This is the opening.

Chapter 1

Thursday, June 15, 2023

“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal. Love leaves a memory no one can steal.” – Irish headstone

A passerby traveling the road that descends into the village of Stonington on Deer Isle, Maine, at eleven o’clock on that cloudless morning of Thursday, June15, would have observed a scene that could have been described as peaceful and pretty.

Framed by a white chapel to the left and the harbor with the emerald stepping-stone islands of Merchants Row beyond to the right, a cemetery with its carefully trimmed grass and abundance of weathered tombstones presented itself as picturesque in that quintessential old coastal New England way. The oaks and maples shimmered with fresh young leaves in a spring that last week had turned unseasonably warm, a delightful development, all agreed, after a winter that had continued stubbornly past Easter, when four inches of snow fell, ruining the egg hunt and sunrise services. Only the irregular mound of back-hoed earth beneath an old green tarp would have brought unpleasantness into the passerby’s mind.

A new grave had been dug.

And there, next to it in a coffin, was its designated occupant, about to assume permanent residence.

Measured numerically, the living who had joined the deceased in her final moments above ground constituted an unimpressive assembly.

These were them: Fr. Bertrand Lombardi, the octogenarian pastor of Saint Mary Star of the Sea Church, home of the island’s only Roman Catholic parish; three part-time employees, the full staff, of Bragdon-Kelley Funeral Home; and 16 mourners, all but one middle-aged or older. The oldest was a wheelchair-bound man who was in the care of an aide and encased in an Afghan, despite the humidity and heat, 76 degrees and climbing.

And thus a passerby might have assumed that the dearly departed had been a person of no particular import, in the larger sense: a local who had passed a quiet existence, troubling no one outwardly and likely having made a meritorious contribution to the gene pool; and/or a native-born returned after decades from a more tax- and climate-friendly place (Florida, if one had to guess). The sort of ordinary person who had been the subject of ordinary obituaries with an outdated head shot in the regional weeklies, The Ellsworth American and Island Ad-Vantages -- obituaries laced with “dearly” and “beloved” and “loving” and other such flowery adjectives composed by a funeral-home director with tearful input from a family member with no desire for candor, let alone full disclosure, at this Most Difficult Time of Greatest Need.

Monday, December 11, 2023

Twenty-one years ago today. RIP, Dad.

                                      

 Roger L. Miller as a boy, early 1920s

Author's Note: I wrote this 11 years ago, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of my father's death. Like his memory, it has withstood the test of time. I have slightly updated it for today, December 11, 2023, the 21st anniversary of his death. Read the original here.

My Dad and Airplanes

by G. Wayne Miller

I live near an airport. Depending on wind direction and other variables, planes sometimes pass directly over my house as they climb into the sky. If I’m outside, I always look up, marveling at the wonder of flight. I’ve witnessed many amazing developments -- the end of the Cold War, the advent of the digital world, for example -- but except perhaps for space travel, which of course is rooted at Kitty Hawk, none can compare.

I also always think of my father, Roger L. Miller, who died 21 years ago today.

Dad was a boy on May 20, 1927, when Charles Lindbergh took off in a single-engine plane from a field near New York City. Thirty-three-and-a-half hours later, he landed in Paris. That boy from a small Massachusetts town who became my father was astounded, like people all over the world. Lindbergh’s pioneering Atlantic crossing inspired him to get into aviation, and he wanted to do big things, maybe captain a plane or even head an airline. But the Great Depression, which forced him from college, diminished that dream. He drove a school bus to pay for trade school, where he became an airplane mechanic, which was his job as a wartime Navy enlisted man and during his entire civilian career. On this modest salary, he and my mother raised a family, sacrificing material things they surely desired.

My father was a smart and gentle man, not prone to harsh judgment, fond of a joke, a lover of newspapers and gardening and birds, chickadees especially. He was robust until a stroke in his 80s sent him to a nursing home, but I never heard him complain during those final, decrepit years. The last time I saw him conscious, he was reading his beloved Boston Globe, his old reading glasses uneven on his nose, from a hospital bed. The morning sun was shining through the window and for a moment, I held the unrealistic hope that he would make it through this latest distress. He died four days later, quietly, I am told. I was not there.

Like others who have lost loved ones, there are conversations I never had with my Dad that I probably should have. But near the end, we did say we loved each other, which was rare (he was, after all, a Yankee). I smoothed his brow and kissed him goodbye.

So on this 21st anniversary, I have no deep regrets. But I do have two impossible wishes.

My first is that Dad could have heard my eulogy, which I began writing that morning by his hospital bed. It spoke of quiet wisdom he imparted to his children, and of the respect and affection family and others held for him. In his modest way, he would have liked to hear it, I bet, for such praise was scarce when he was alive. But that is not how the story goes. We die and leave only memories, a strictly one-way experience. 

My second wish would be to tell Dad how his only son has fared in the last 21 years. I know he would have empathy for some bad times I went through and be proud that I made it. He would be happy that I found a woman I love, Yolanda, my wife now for nine years and my best friend for almost two decades: someone, like him, who loves gardening and birds. He would be pleased that my three wonderful children, Rachel, Katy and Cal, are making their way in the world; and that he now has three great-granddaughters, Bella, Livvie and Viv, wonderful girls all. In his humble way, he would be honored to know how frequently I, my sister Mary Lynne and my children remember and miss him. He would be saddened to learn that my other sister, his younger daughter, Lynda, died in 2015. But that is not how the story goes, either. We send thoughts to the dead, but they send nothing back. We treasure photographs, but they do not speak.

Lately, I have been poring through boxes of black-and-white prints handed down from Dad’s side of my family. I am lucky to have them, more so that they were taken in the pre-digital age -- for I can touch them, as the people captured in them surely themselves did so long ago. I can imagine what they might say, if in fact they could speak.

Some of the scenes are unfamiliar to me: sailboats on a bay, a stream in winter, a couple posing on a hill, the woman dressed in fur-trimmed coat. But I recognize the house, which my grandfather, after whom I am named (George), built with his farmer’s hands; the coal stove that still heated the kitchen when I visited as a child; the birdhouses and flower gardens, which my sweet grandmother lovingly tended. I recognize my father, my uncle and my aunts, just children then in the 1920s. I peer at Dad in these portraits (he seems always to be smiling!), and the resemblance to photos of me at that age is startling, though I suppose it should not be.

A plane will fly over my house today, I am certain. When it does, I will go outside and think of young Dad, amazed that someone had taken the controls of an airplane in America and stepped out in France. A boy with a smile, his life all ahead of him.

 

                                          My dad, second from top, with two of his sisters and his brother.

 

 

Dad, near the end of his life.

Saturday, November 4, 2023

What a year has brought: From Projo to Pell

One year ago today, I left The Providence Journal, where I had been a staff writer since 1981. I soon transitioned into the director of OceanStateStories.org, a new non-profit media outlet based at Salve Regina University’s Pell Center, where I had been a visiting fellow for several years.

Last day at The Providence Journal: Nov. 4, 2022.

After weeks of planning with Ocean State Stories co-founder Jim Ludes, Pell Center executive director, and a great staff at Pell, we launched Ocean State Stories on Feb. 7. Since then, we have published at least one major story and one Q&A every week – 40 weeks without interruption as of this writing.

Jim Ludes, left, and me at my Pell Center desk.

We have formed partnerships with print newspapers – notably John Howell’s Warwick Beacon, Cranston Herald and Johnston SunRise – and partnerships with other online media outlets including ecoRI News, RINewsToday and East Greenwich News. We offer all of our content for free to our partners, and they in turn offer theirs for free to us.

We publish every story and Q&A in both English and Spanish. I write many of our stories, with the rest provided by a growing corps of freelance writers – some well-established and others still journalism students in college. We pay for their work and I mentor the students and other young freelancers.

To see the types of stories we write, visit our mission page.

Along the way, we have become members of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Online News Association, the New England First Amendment Coalition, the Alliance of Nonprofit News Outlets (ANNO), and LION Publishers (Local, Independent, Online News).

All of this is possible thanks to the support of generous individuals and organizations who see our model – one similar to many others across the U.S. – as a big part of the future of news in an era when many legacy newspapers have disappeared and others, barely staffed, have become ghost papers. Our gratitude to all of our supporters today and in the future.

Our plan for Year Two is to grow – stay tuned for details of that!

I also must mention another initiative based at the Pell Center: Story in the Public Square, the multiple Telly-winning national PBS TV and SiriusXM show that has just been renewed for a 12th season. It starts in January. Since beginning weekly production in January 2017 as a show seen only regionally on our flagship station, Rhode Island PBS, we now are in more than 86% of the nation’s television markets with nearly 500 weekly broadcasts nationally – and we have taped more than 300 guests, including journalists, filmmakers, editorial cartoonists, scientists, musicians, advocates, bestselling fiction and non-fiction authors, poets, academics, still photographers, physicians, public health experts, actors, and Pulitzer-Prize winners. 

A shout-out to our great team at Rhode Island PBS, led by Chief Content Officer Jan Boyd and Production Manager Cherie O’Rourke!

In closing, let me express my hope that in all the work that flows from the Pell Center, we have helped advance the public good. That was the aim of the late Senator Claiborne Pell, for whom the center is named, and it’s ours, too.


Thursday, August 10, 2023

One book, four signings in Newport, Providence, Barrington and West Warwick

 

I will be speaking and signing copies of “Unfit to Print: A Modern Media Satire” on just four occasions. First will be the evening of Wednesday, October 11, at a free wine-and-cheese event at the Pell Center in Newport, R.I. Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unfit-to-print-tickets-699816248237?aff=affiliate1

After that, I will sign at three geographically diverse independent bookstores that I support and encourage all readers to do likewise!

The bookstores and dates:

-- Thursday, October 26, 6 p.m., Books on the Square in Providence.

-- Saturday, October 28, 3 p.m., Barrington Books in Barrington.

-- Thursday, November 2, 6 p.m., the New Stillwater Books location in West Warwick.



Monday, July 31, 2023

What they're saying about "Unfit to Print: A Modern Media Satire"

 And the reviews of "Unfit" are here!

                                                             ORDER THE BOOK             

 -- Kirkus Reviews

"In Miller’s satirical novel, a failing columnist at an imperiled newspaper gets unexpected help in resurrecting his career.

"In director Billy Wilder’s searing film Ace in the Hole (1951), a disgraced journalist lands a job on a small Albuquerque, New Mexico, newspaper and waits for a story he can hype that will return him to the big time. Here, Nick Nolan, a former Pulitzer Prize–nominated social justice columnist for the Boston Daily Tribune, has only one month—12 columns—to turn his click total around, or the bean counters at SuperGoodMedia who just bought the centuries-old paper will banish him to the suburban beat. His fortunes change when he writes a column about Amber Abbott, an 8-year-old in a persistent vegetative state, whose mother—Nolan’s former lover—claims that the Virgin Mary speaks to her daughter. The story goes viral, attracting thousands of new subscribers, and the paper’s new publisher demands that Nick stay on top of the story. As the new owners institute rules promoting “good news,” Nick finds himself in thrall to the clicks his story generates—until he meets Benjamin Franklin in a diner. Yes, it’s the historical Benjamin Franklin, who offers his help. “You’ve hit a low point,” he says, adding, “I am here to help you and hopefully others in a profession that was so dear to me.” 

"While reader mileage will vary on the introduction of this fantastical element, the author’s anger at the state of journalism is palpable and will speak to readers who, like Nick, see Seymour Hersh and Maggie Haberman as heroes. Satire is heightened reality, but this book too often reads like grim nonfiction, with its click-bait headlines (“She Hid Under the Bed To Spy on Her Husband but Instantly Regretted It”) and odious hedge funds buying up community newspapers, only to decimate these former pillars of the community. Still, Miller is fighting the good fight, and unlike Ace in the Hole, his tale offers a sense of hope.

"A novel that illuminates what the author calls 'a sickening reality' but could use more dark humor."


 --Sandeep Jauhar, New York Times bestselling author of My Father’s Brain:

"G. Wayne Miller’s 'Unfit to Print' is a scathing satire about how greed and profiteering have led to the demise of American newspapers. Read this irreverent novel to understand what’s wrong with journalism today."

Sandeep Jauhar

-- Berkley Hudson, a journalist for 25 years including at the Providence Journal and the Los Angeles Times; author of O.N. Pruitt’s Possum Town: Photographing Trouble and Resilience in the American South; and emeritus associate professor of the Missouri School of Journalism:

“Read All About It! Ben Franklin Dreamscape Reveals Cures for What Ails American Newspapers! G. Wayne Miller’s ‘Unfit To Print: A Modern Media Satire’ creates wacky caricatures in a layered, funny and painful world of journalistic horrors and fiddle faddle, tempered by examples of bold investigative reporting. Miller entices us to grapple with crucial 21st Century issues of a free press, democracy, and the public’s need and right to know the stories essential to our common well-being and, perhaps, even our survival.”

Berkley Hudson

-- Padma Venkatraman, award-winning author of The Bridge Home and Born Behind Bars:

Unfit to Print is easily the best Miller book so far -- and I've read more than a few of this author's works. I truly enjoyed this engaging and entertaining satirical story, which like all important satires is also a terrifying and tragic commentary on our current media culture and politics. 

"Underlying the sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic plot are two vital questions: what is considered ‘news’ today and how do we distinguish fact from propaganda? Written by a dedicated leader in the field of news media -- a journalist for four decades, most as a newspaper staff writer -- and a prolific storyteller who has experimented with many different genres, Unfit to Print is a work of fiction built on a substantial foundation of fact. 

"This book will make you laugh, and think, and perhaps, spur you to act to save and enhance the quality of local journalism.’’

Padma Venkatraman

--Vanessa Lillie, bestselling author of Little Voices and Blood Sisters:

"Do not miss Unfit to Print by G. Wayne Miller where he turns his expert journalistic pen toward the Fourth Estate and provides an unflinching, deeply entertaining, and often satirical take on our modern media.

Vanessa Lillie

-- William J. Kole, longtime AP foreign correspondent and author of THE BIG 100: The New World of Super-Aging:

"America's newspapers are in a mess of their own making so preposterous it falls under the broad heading of 'Can't make this sh*t up.' How fitting, then, that G. Wayne Miller's UNFIT TO PRINT is such a deliciously farcical take. Miller's ingenious 21st book deserves a 21-gun salute."

William J. Kole

-- Chip Scanlan, award-winning journalist, former director of The Poynter Institute’s writing programs and the National Writer’s Workshops, and author of of “33 Ways Not To Screw Up Your Journalism” and other books:

"In 'Unfit to Print,' G. Wayne Miller delivers a biting satire of our contemporary newspaper industry, unraveling the media frenzies that have come to define our age. Artfully holding up a mirror to its flaws, contradictions, and unexpected hilarities, Miller's critique is trenchant, wittily inventive, and irresistible. This is more than just a satire—it's a clarion call for introspection amidst the chaos of headlines.”

Chip Scanlan


-- Elizabeth Massie, best-selling and Bram Stoker-winning author of Sineater, Hell Gate, and Desper Hollow:

"Does news shape who we are or do we shape the news? And who defines what becomes news? How easily are readers lulled into the comfort of non-controversial headlines and stories to soften the world for them? How easy is it for those who write those headlines and stories to go along with the demand for the sake of their jobs? And who pulls those mighty puppet strings in the first place? G. Wayne Miller’s clever, compelling novel digs deep into these questions, using facts, humor, a bit of surrealism, and his experience as a journalist to sound the alarm and to shove in our faces what is going on. This eye- and mind-opening book is timely and not-to-be-missed." 

Elizabeth Massie

-- Mark Thompson, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and former Time magazine correspondent:

“EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL OF IT! Veteran newspaper reporter and columnist Wayne Miller has hunt-and-pecked at the carcass of the American newspaper industry in his bittersweet romp. This novel will send shivers of schadenfreude and sorrow through any ink-stained wretch or newspaper reader, past or present. Not to mention those concerned with the need to keep tabs on the current crop of miscreants and scoundrels overlording America — as well as those ‘reporting’ on them. Read it and weep, despite the laughs.”

Mark Thompson

-- Dante Bellini Jr.,  filmmaker whose credits include Ken Burns Here & There and Demons and Dragans: Mark Patinkin’s Cancer Journey:

“ ‘Unfit to Print’ is an outrageous spin on the newspaper industry right now. Maybe the whole media ecosystem, actually.

“G. Wayne Miller gives us a front row seat in what appears, at first glance, a farce. Then you realize, it’s actually not. And that’s both the joy and horror of this brilliant novel.

“The characters are richly drawn from Miller’s long, distinguished career as a newspaper reporter and that makes all the difference. He intimately knows their dreams, joys and sorrows. And their strengths and inadequacies.

“And he knows the pain and frustration when the bean counters and MBAs start calling the plays.

“Unfit to Print is a cautionary tale that we may already be too late to learn from. But it’s a heck of a lot of fun to read!”

Dante Bellini Jr.

-- Mike Stanton, New York Times bestselling author and University of Connecticut Journalism professor:

"G. Wayne Miller’s wickedly fun skewering of vulture capitalists and clickbait grifters paints a darkly satiric picture of the decline of journalism. But he also pens a love letter to American journalism and offers a road map for restoring local news – and our democracy."

Mike Stanton

-- Mark Silverman, retired editor and publisher of The Detroit News, former editor of The Tennessean at Nashville, and a former corporate news executive:

"In 'Unfit to Print,' award-winning journalist G. Wayne Miller uses satire to show the real-life damage to local communities caused by profit-obsessed companies that decimate newsrooms and reduce newspapers to bare shells of themselves, filled with pap and lacking substance. His fiction resonates in today’s world where democracy is challenged by an absence of crusading and honest local journalism."

Mark Silverman


-- Jon Land, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author:

" ‘Unfit to Print’ is a witty, zany and outrageously effective take on the state of print journalism today. G. Wayne Miller's latest plants him squarely in the turf of fellow newspaper men Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry for whom no topic is too sacred to skewer. Miller writes what he knows in penning a tale that's one part cautionary tale and two parts laugh out loud, sidesplitting fun."

Jon Land

-- Tom Nichols, author and Staff Writer at The Atlantic:

"Unfit to Print is a story that will stay with you, much as Ben Franklin's ghost gleefully haunts its hero. Only a real, old-time newspaper reporter could give us a satire - and a parable- about the demise of old-time newspapers and the damage their vanishing has done to American life. Wayne Miller is that reporter."

Tom Nichols


-- Llewellyn King, Executive Producer and Host of "White House Chronicle" on PBS:

“I have long admired G. Wayne Miller's writing. Now he has written a book, ‘Unfit to Print: A Modern Media Satire,’ that seems almost written just for me. It deals with the decline and fall of regional and local newspapers: how, as they were bleeding to death, hedge funds swept in and stripped what was left, firing staff and producing pamphlets in the place of newspapers. Miller knows this too well from his own experience.

“But Miller is a storyteller as well as a witness to history. So here he delivers a fantastical satire, bringing in, via the dreams of the protagonist, none other than Benjamin Franklin to excoriate the money people and to lament the damage their greed has done to democracy.

“This is a must-read for newspaper people and an engrossing yarn for everyone else -- those luckless ones who have never stepped into a busy newsroom and savored its intoxication.

“As to the message, it might have been called ‘Unsafe to Ignore.’ ”

Llewellyn King

ORDER THE BOOK!