Notes For September 15th, 2009
Marketplace - New Fairy Tales
The online magazine New Fairy Tales is seeking submissions for its fourth issue. New Fairy Tales is dedicated to publishing new, original fairy tales that are suitable for all ages. They are looking for fairy tale short stories, (3,000 words maximum) flash fiction, and poetry. The deadline for submissions for the fourth issue is October 20th, 2009. For more information, click on the link below:
http://www.newfairytales.co.uk/
This Day In Writing History
On September 15th, 1890, the legendary mystery writer and playwright Agatha Christie was born. She was born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller in Torquay, Devon, England. Her mother was the daughter of a British Army captain, her father an American stockbroker.
During World War 1, Agatha worked as a hospital nurse. She liked nursing, calling it "one of the most rewarding professions that anyone can follow." After the war, she worked as a pharmacist - a position that would prove helpful to her future writing career, as many murders in her books are committed by poisoning.
Although their courtship was rocky, on Christmas Eve, 1914, Agatha married her boyfriend, Archibald Christie, a pilot for the Royal Flying Corps, which, along with the Royal Air Naval Service, would later be merged and renamed the Royal Air Force. Agatha bore him one child, a daughter, Rosalind, who would found the Agatha Christie Society and serve as its president until her death.
In 1920, Agatha Christie published her first novel, The Mysterious Affair At Styles. Set during World War 1 England in a country manor called Styles Court, the novel introduced one of Christie's most famous characters - the brilliant Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Narrated by Poirot's lieutenant, Arthur Hastings, the story tells of a case where Poirot is called to investigate the mysterious poisoning of wealthy widow Emily Cavendish.
Filled with a half-dozen suspects, red herrings, and surprise plot twists, Christie's debut novel introduced her distinctive style of detective fiction to the world. It was a big hit with critics and readers alike. Christie would write 33 novels and 51 short stories featuring Hercule Poirot, whom the public loved, though Christie described him as a "detestable, bombastic, tiresome, egocentric little creep," however, she refused to kill him off. She believed it was her duty to write what the public liked, and what the public liked was Poirot.
In her 1927 short story, The Tuesday Night Club, Agatha Christie introduced another detective character, one that would become just as beloved as Hercule Poirot. Her name was Jane Marple, and she was an elderly British spinster and amateur detective. When she wasn't knitting or weeding her garden, Miss Marple was using her brilliant mind and keen understanding of human nature to solve crimes.
Christie's first full-length Miss Marple novel, The Murder At The Vicarage, was published in 1930. In the village of St. Mary Mead, Colonel Protheroe is so hated that even the local vicar once said that killing him would be a public service. When Protheroe is found murdered in that same vicar's study, two different people confess to killing him. So, Miss Marple sets out to solve the crime and uncover the real killer. The Murder At The Vicarage would be the first of twelve Miss Marple crime novels.
In late 1926, Agatha Christie's life would imitate her fiction. Her husband, Archie, told her that he was in love with another woman, Nancy Neele, and wanted a divorce. After a nasty fight on December 3rd, Archie took off to spend the weekend with his mistress in Surrey. Agatha also took off, leaving a note for her secretary saying that she was going to Yorkshire. Instead, she mysteriously disappeared. Her disappearance led to a public outcry, and a massive manhunt took place.
Eleven days after she disappeared, Agatha Christie was found at a hotel in Yorkshire, where she had checked in as Mrs. Teresa Neele. She gave no account of her disappearance. Two doctors diagnosed her as having amnesia. Some believe that she suffered a nervous breakdown, but at the time, most of the British public believed that Christie's disappearance was a staged publicity stunt. Some have suggested that Christie was trying to make the police think that her husband had killed her - an act of revenge for his affair. The couple was later divorced. In 1930, Christie married her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan, whom she had joined in a dig. It was a happy marriage that lasted until Christie's death in 1976 at the age of 85.
In her lifetime, Agatha Christie wrote over 80 detective novels, as well as several romances under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. She was also a playwright, and wrote over a dozen plays. Her play The Mousetrap (1952), which opened in London on November 25th, 1952, is still running as of 2009 after more than 23,000 performances - a record for the longest initial run of a play.
Of course, Agatha Christie will always be known as the grand dame of crime fiction. Her crime novels and short stories, which have been adapted numerous times for the stage, radio, screen, and television, have sold approximately four billion copies combined - the only book to outsell her is the Bible.
Quote Of The Day
"Understand this, I mean to arrive at the truth. The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it." - Agatha Christie
Vanguard Video
Today's video features a rare recording of Agatha Christie herself, discussing her most famous characters, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Enjoy!
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