Crystal Smith Paul

Here are my favorite Hollywood thriller recommendations for the @nytimes ! 🤩 I had so much fun writing about these amazing books by Charles Yu @ellamberman @csmithpaul @catsteadman @may_cobb Katherine St. John @izkaplan and @staceyleeauthor ! Pls check out these fabulous books along w my piece in today’s NYT! 🔥 #HollywoodThrillers #TheTake #KellyYang

Is the grass ever greener? In this case, probably so. Billie’s story continues tomorrow 🌹 #linkinbio to subscribe on #substackreads

After a big launch month for Blair House— my Substack where I tell the stories behind the women in “Did You Hear about Kitty Karr?” — April was a slower month, with book edits for my second novel landing on my desk + one of my best friends visiting, and some bucket list moments like seeing Dave Chapelle for the first time & #KittyKarr landing (again!) in @nytimes

Some of the files (what I call each article in @blairhousesociety ) could be classified as a novella - stretching to longer than 20k words. The first file on Mrs. Billie Long is just over 15k words. I use the term short stories liberally….. If I had my way Blair House short stories could be called novelettes. *(I didn’t because iykyk and most people don’t know what a novelette means. And for marketing purposes, we made it simple.)* Although, I’ll admit writing this we may change it because the word has a nice ring to it. Welcome to my libra rising mind. And yes I’m into astrology and mythology and conspiracy and past lives and… all the modes of philosophy and thought. I’m also a reflector, if you know what human design is. An artist can always find something in their own work to change, because the job is to reflect and interpret life. Life is in constant flux. But at some point you have to walk away, even if you come back a few times. And in a way that is what is Blair House is. Eventually though, you have to be okay with never returning. I’m not there with Blair House obviously so expect your story subscription to run at least for the next two years. But then again, (hey once more, libra rising)…

So excited for these dreamy west coast events with fellow @reesesbookclub authors: @mariaescandon @chaucersbooks and @csmithpaul @dieselbookstore I am happiest in California, ploughing through stop signs and eating @paznation home food. 🌴🔜✨

Kitty Karr Hallelujah. Happy 3rd Birthday to my wildest dream. #didyouhearaboutkittykarr

If he wasn’t a man, Billie would have slapped him. Read @blairhousesociety first character’s fourth story file, out now. Just joining us? It’s never too late! Subscribe on #substack #linkinbio to begin reading. New story files drop every other Thursday at 6am PST 🌹

Introducing Mrs. Billie Long part III: You met her at a funeral in 2017 and thought her story was finished. It was not. It begins today. A short story subscription on Substack. Join Blair House Society at the link in bio. #DidYouHearAboutKittyKarr #BlairHouse #BookTok #HistoricalFiction #LiteraryFiction

Introducing Mrs. Billie Long part II: She sang in rooms where no one knew who she really was. She raised children who would never know what she had done (or who they really were for that matter). She covered up the truth about a woman who disappeared and carried that weight for decades without setting it down. #DidYouHearAboutKittyKarr #BlairHouse #BillieLong #HistoricalFiction #LiteraryFiction

Introducing Mrs. Billie Long part 1 I have been holding this story for a long time. Longer than you know. Longer, perhaps, than I should have. Billie built something in the dark — with many other women, with nerve, with discretion, with the kind of shrewdness that looks like charm but could really be called. Fraud. A scheme. A ring. But most of all, Justice. #DidYouHearAboutKittyKarr #BlairHouse #BookTok #HistoricalFiction #LiteraryFiction

Six chapters. Sixty-two years. You have met Billie before, darling — scattered across someone else’s story, in glimpses that were never quite enough. Before her story begins tomorrow, I suggest you go back and find her. Chapters 15, 22, 23, 26, 39, and 45. She has been waiting there this whole time. #DidYouHearAboutKittyKarr #BlairHouse #substackreads #HistoricalFiction #serializedfiction

Some of you found your way here through Kitty. Some of you have not met her yet — and that is fine, she is patient. But if you have loved stories about women who performed one life in public and lived another in private, who built something dangerous and beautiful out of nothing but nerve — pardon me, but you are in the right place. Billie’s story begins March 19th. #BookTok #HistoricalFiction #LiteraryFiction #DidYouHearAboutKittyKarr #BlairHouse