First Post

Thank you very much for reading!  This blog will be dedicated to children’s mysteries for the most part, though a Western may eventually appear.  Stories of this sort are my favorite type to write.  Though the characters are juveniles, I hesitate to set a specific age range, as I think people of all ages may enjoy them.  However, I can assure you all stories on this blog will be family friendly.  So many books and movies today have parts that not only are inappropriate but frequently detract from the quality of the story.  Either they get in the way of the plot, or they leave the viewer disgusted.  Such scenes will not happen here.  I’ll start out with short stories, but I’ll probably do a serial eventually.  Longer stories are easier for me to write and are what I normally specialize in.  I’ve published many books, including the Anderson Family Mystery Series.  You can find them all on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Matthew+Zisi   However, I’m still just starting out, so I’ve started this blog for two reasons.  First, I want to get my name out there, and a free blog is a great way to do it.  You can read it and decide whether my writing is worth anything or not.  Second, if you’re not interested in spending money on a book, this is a perfect way to get a taste of my writing for free.  Not that my writing is anything special; success is determined by the audience, not the participants.  If you like the stories here, comment!  If they’re pathetic, tell me what I can do better. Of course, I hope that you enjoy them, and that will be my main focus as I write.  Expect posts about once a week.  Again, thank you for reading!

Oh, one more thing: the name.  Back in the 1940s, there were many great mystery programs on the radio.  Some focused on one detective (Boston Blackie; Nick Carter, Master Detective; The Adventures of Sam Spade) and were named for the main character.  However, I don’t plan for this blog to have a main character yet, though there are ones that will frequently pop up.  Anyway, there were other shows that featured different characters from week to week, and these were often named for a sponsor (Molle Mystery Theater, Lux Radio Theater, Campbell Playhouse, etc.)  The latter two weren’t mysteries, specifically, but it was this type of name that inspired the title of this blog.  Unfortunately, I have no sponsor.  Hence, I have picked a “sponsor” name that is not advertising anything.  Alco was the abbreviation for American Locomotive Company, a legendary locomotive builder in the 1900s.  It was also more recently the name of a retail store.  Neither of these still exist, though, so I borrowed their moniker to make this blog look more official.  And that’s where the name comes from.  Enjoy!