BOOK BLAST: THE BLESSED EVENT

The Blessed Event (The Professor Molly Mysteries)

Publisher: Hawaiian Heritage Press (June 10, 2016)
Paperback: 344 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1943476251
Kindle ASIN: B01GW5WUAE

ABOUT THE BOOK

"You may wonder what my least-favorite student was doing in my living room. In a twist of fate that might seem hilarious if it happened to someone else, he was now my stepson."

Professor Molly Barda is looking forward to a quiet summer in Mahina, Hawaii working on her research and adjusting to married life. But when a visit from her new husband's relatives coincides with a murder, Molly wonders what she's married into--and realizes she might have a killer under her roof.

Other books by Frankie Bow

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Like Molly Barda, Frankie Bow teaches at a public university. Unlike her protagonist, she is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, a loving family, and a perfectly nice office chair. She believes if life isn’t fair, at least it can be entertaining.

In addition to writing murder mysteries, she publishes in scholarly journals under her real name. Her experience with academic publishing has taught her to take nothing personally.



Connect with Frankie:

Webpage     Twitter     Facebook     LinkedIn    Goodreads

Buy the book:
Amazon

GUEST POST BY FRANKIE BOW

ABOUT THE BOOK

Professor Molly Barda is thrilled to be included in a grant to investigate attitudes toward biotechnology. But she immediately finds herself embroiled in the deadly fight between big biotech and anti-GMO activists. When Molly and her best friend Emma Nakamura stumble onto the scene of a brutal murder, they realize that everyone has something to hide–and there are some questions you don’t ask.

The Professor Molly mysteries are the first campus murder mysteries set in Hawaii.

GUEST POST BY FRANKIE BOW

The most dangerous animal is not what you think

As a mystery author, I’m always on the lookout for death and danger, and the animal kingdom is a great place to find both. Nature, Tennyson reminds us, is “red in tooth and claw,” and a quick perusal of the Netflix catalog confirms that ferocious animals continue to capture our imagination. Sharks (Jaws), dogs (Cujo), giant snakes (Anaconda), birds (The Birds), bears (Grizzly), rats (Willard), even cockroaches (that episode of Creepshow . . . *shudder*).

But when it comes to human fatalities, none of these creatures holds a candle to deer.

That’s right, deer.


In the United States, deer rack up (ha!) 120 human deaths a year, on average. Bears, alligators and sharks murder a paltry one human per year, and rattlesnakes, those slackers, are responsible for 0.23 annual deaths.

So where’s the scary deer movie? Aside from this one scene from The Ring Two, there doesn’t seem to be anything.

Maybe it’s because deer don’t look that fierce.

Also, they aren’t really out to get us; we’ve expanded into their habitat, and most of the fatalities result from humans in cars running into them. The deer, it must be said, don’t benefit from these encounters any more than we humans do.

So would I consider a death-by-deer plotline? Sure.

It could even be seasonally appropriate.

Like Molly Barda, Frankie Bow teaches at a public university. Unlike her protagonist, she is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, and a perfectly nice office chair.

She believes if life isn’t fair, at least it can be entertaining.


In addition to writing murder mysteries, she publishes in scholarly journals under her real name. Her experience with academic publishing has taught her to take nothing personally.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Like Molly Barda, Frankie Bow teaches at a public university. Unlike her protagonist, she is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, a loving family, and a perfectly nice office chair. She believes if life isn’t fair, at least it can be entertaining.

In addition to writing murder mysteries, she publishes in scholarly journals under her real name. Her experience with academic publishing has taught her to take nothing personally.

Connect with Frankie:
Webpage  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  |  LinkedIn 

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

FEATURED AUTHOR: FRANKIE BOW

ABOUT THE BOOK

Professor Molly Barda investigates a mysterious paddling accident and realizes it isn’t just business majors who cheat to get what they want. Whether it’s moving up in the college rankings, getting a seat in the big canoe race, or just looking out for themselves, some people will do whatever it takes-including murder.




INTERVIEW WITH FRANKIE BOW

Frankie, do you write every day? 
I should, but I don’t. My ideal routine would be this: Get up and while my brain is at its freshest, set the Pomodoro timer and bang out a thousand or more words on my work-in-progress. Then go exercise, come back, and write some more. My actual routine goes something like this: Check email (my first mistake). Find blog post opportunity. As I am acting on blog post opportunity, notice that the headlines on my website sidebar are misaligned. Spend the rest of the day trying out different WordPress themes. 

I hear you! What do you think is more important—characters or plot?
Characters. The characters will drive the plot. Let me give you a maddeningly vague example (to avoid spoilers): In The Black Thumb, Molly goes back and forth on an important decision in her personal life. If you know her and the other characters involved, you realize that neither option is a realistic possibility for her. Then there’s a turn of events, which puts the choices in a different light for the characters. At that point they follow a course of action that makes sense. If you populate a story with different characters, you’ll end up with a different story.

Very true. What books do you currently have published?
In addition to the Professor Molly Mysteries, I’ve been writing fanfic for Kindle Worlds in Jana DeLeon’s Miss Fortune world (Sinful Science, Once Upon a Murder, and Tabasco Fiasco).



What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
Ken Brown’s Let’s Chat guy.

Do you have any secret talents?
More of an “enthusiasm” than a “talent,” but I really enjoy partner dancing, especially swing, blues, and tango. I don’t know if dancing actually makes you smarter, but dancers seem to hang on to their cognitive function better than non-dancers. It’s the only sport that involves embracing someone for an extended period of time, so maybe there’s something about extended hugging that’s good for your brain.

Do you have any marketing tips you could pass on to indie authors?
This is a hard question to answer, because as soon as something looks like it’s working for someone, the rest of us come stampeding in and then whatever it is doesn’t seem to work so well anymore. I still like Goodreads giveaways. They don’t seem to translate directly into sales, but they do get you added to a lot of to-read lists.

How do you feel about Facebook?
I really like Facebook. It’s exactly the right intensity of social interaction for me: low.

Who is your favorite fictional character?
Hilary Tamar, from Sarah Caudwell’s Oxford mysteries. They were written in the 80s, but they have a very Golden Age feel to them.

What are you working on now?
I’ve started doing coloring books for grownups. A lot of people I knew personally use coloring books to relax and de-stress, and I thought I could add a little more variety to what’s out there.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Like Molly Barda, Frankie Bow teaches at a public university. Unlike her protagonist, she is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, and a perfectly nice office chair. She believes if life isn't fair, at least it can be entertaining. In addition to writing murder mysteries, she publishes in scholarly journals under her real name. Her experience with academic publishing has taught her to take nothing personally.

Connect with Frankie:

Website and Blog  |  
Facebook  | 
 Twitter   |  Goodreads

Buy the book:
Amazon |  Powells   |  IndieBound  |  Barnes & Noble

BOOKS BY FRANKIE BOW

RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FEATURED AUTHOR: FRANKIE BOW

ABOUT THE BOOK

A graduate student from Hawaii visits the tiny bayou town of Sinful, Louisiana to investigate the effects of the oil spill on the local wildlife. Sinful resident Fortune Redding, who happens to be a CIA operative hiding out from a ruthless arms dealer, worries that the nosy newcomer might blow her cover. In fact, he does make a disturbing discovery – and unleashes forces that will go to any lengths to protect Sinful’s darkest secret.

INTERVIEW WITH FRANKIE BOW

Frankie, what do you think is hardest aspect of writing a book?
I think it’s the middle. Outlining the plot is fun; polishing the manuscript is rewarding; forcing myself to sit down and translate the plot outline and story beats into a manuscript, that’s the toughest part for me.

How often do you read?
I read a little every day, while I’m exercising on the elliptical machine. It’s really the only chance I get to read for pleasure.

Do you have any marketing tips you could pass on to indie authors?
If you can participate in Kindle Worlds, do it. I’d never written fan fiction, but then Amazon introduced Kindle Worlds, a forum for “legit” fanfic. Bestselling authors granted permission for fans to write in their worlds, the resulting works were put up for sale, and the fanfic writers split the royalties with the original authors. Now, I’d already read and loved a lot of Jana DeLeon’s work, so when I saw that her Miss Fortune world was open on Kindle Worlds, I just had to try it. I was comfortable writing in the Miss Fortune world because I was already a fan of the books and had read the whole series, and I really had fun with it! Sinful Science has done very well on Kindle Worlds, and I’m seeing some sell-through to my other books. If you can find a Kindle World similar to your own writing, it’s a great way to connect with new readers.

How often do you tweet?
I’m a haphazard Tweeter. I’ll always retweet NASA’s Picture of the Day, just because it’s cool, but that’s the only think I do consistently. My “method” is that every so often I open up Twitter and then retweet things I think are funny or important.

Would you make a good character in a book? 
Maybe I could be the “straight man” foil to the wacky main character, but I’m too boring and sensible to carry a story by myself.

What do you love about where you live?
Well I live in Hawaii, so there’s a lot to love. Of course there’s the weather and the beautiful scenery. But one thing that’s great about here, especially when you have kids, is how indifferent most people are to brand names and status symbols. There’s no pressure on kids to wear a certain brand of shoes, and no one cares what kind of car you drive. When people have money they spend it on experiences like travel.

What’s your favorite thing to do on date night?
A casual Pau Hana, or happy hour. Invite a few friends over for potluck, have someone bring a guitar, and spend the evening eating, drinking, listening to live music, and unwinding.

What do you wish you could do?
Star Trek-style teleportation. Hawaii is the most isolated inhabited land mass in the world; it’s a five-hour flight to the West Coast. As safety regulations have become stricter, and the number of flights has declined, flying has become less and less enjoyable. And there’s really no alternative.

Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
Like me, my protagonist Molly Barda has a touch of social anxiety, so she shows up late to Mass on purpose to miss the Passing of the Peace.

What would you name your autobiography?
“Let me get back to you.” Seriously, procrastination is a struggle for me.


Scroll down for the Rafflecopter. One lucky winner will get paper copies of The Case of the Defunct Adjunct and The Musubi Murder.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 

Like the characters in her campus murder mysteries, Frankie Bow teaches at a public university. Unlike her protagonist, she is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, and a perfectly nice office chair. She believes if life isn't fair, at least it can be entertaining. In addition to writing murder mysteries, she publishes in scholarly journals under her real name. Her experience with academic publishing has taught her to take nothing personally.

Connect with Frankie:

Website and blog  |  
Facebook  |   
Twitter  |   Goodreads

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FEATURED AUTHOR: FRANKIE BOW

ABOUT THE BOOK

When the lecherous Kent Lovely, Mahina State’s one-man hostile work environment, collapses face-first into his haupia cheesecake, the faculty retreat goes from dull to disastrous. Now Professor Molly Barda has to fight to keep an innocent out of prison — and herself off the unemployment line.

Launch date: December 1, 2015. Preorder for $0.99 through November 30.

INTERVIEW WITH FRANKIE BOW

Frankie, what books do you currently have published?

The Musubi Murder is Book One of the Molly Barda Mysteries, and the events in that book happen after those in Defunct Adjunct. However, the books can be read in either order, and if you read Defunct Adjunct second, you might recognize some minor characters that will play a larger role later.

Can you share some of your marketing strategies with us?
Well, first I looked at what other people were doing. There are a lot of wonderful online resources, and an aspiring author wouldn’t go wrong starting with Blue Million Books! I also listen to the book publishing podcasts regularly — Rocking Self Publishing, The Creative Penn, The Author Hangout, Self Publishing Podcast, the Sell More Books Show, and a lot more.

I followed Simon Whistler’s tutorial and set up a Wordpress site. Then I claimed my author identity on Goodreads and Amazon, and got accounts on all of the usual social media suspects: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn. I run giveaways like the Rafflecopter giveaway that’s going on right now (see bottom of this post). The winner will get two signed books and a Mahina State University t-shirt. The giveaways are to entice people to sign up for my mailing list. Subscribers get advance notice of promotions, releases and events, and I’m looking at creating exclusive offers for subscribers in the future.

With all of that, I’d say that the best thing for me has been finding community. I write because I love to read, and finding like-minded readers is wonderful. So when I’m not touring with my own books, I’m hosting cozy mystery blog tours, and I get to meet all kinds of great new authors that way.

Yes you do, and I thank you for recently hosting me! You have a day job . . . how do you find time to write?
I think that except for those lucky mutants who only need four hours of sleep, you have time for only one non-day-job activity. Since I started writing, I’ve let other things fall off my plate, and I spend most of my non-work time on writing and related activities. Fortunately, since my day job is college professor, the things I read to keep up with my profession also inspire my writing. Stories about administrators going to jail for grade-fixing, or teachers forbidden to give failing grades, illustrate the kinds of conflicting goals and perverse incentives in our profession. When no one thinks they’re the bad guy, because in their own mind they’ve found a way to justify tampering with student records or redefining the meaning of “zero,” that kind of thing can give depth to a story.

If you had a swear jar, would it be full?
No, I think swear words should be reserved for special occasions. That’s the whole point of taboo words. When they’re overused, they lose their punch and you have to find new ones.

What’s the worst thing someone has said about your writing? How did you deal with it?
Well, one reviewer said that listening to my audiobook made her want to kill herself, but she finished it to find out who the murderer was. I was relieved that I’d only crushed her will to live temporarily. Probably the worst was a reviewer who seemed genuinely angry that the book had been published at all. She said a number of mean things about the characters and the plot, and then likened the humor to The Three Stooges. That really hurt.

I don’t understand the impulse to hate-read; with so many choices out there, why finish reading something you don’t enjoy? Why not just say something like, “The humor was too broad for my taste, so I didn’t finish it?”

I appreciate and use constructive criticism, but if a negative review doesn’t have any usable suggestions for improvement, then I just ignore it. I never respond to reviews.


What are you working on now?
I have the next four Molly Barda mysteries lined up:
Molly Barda and the Cursed Canoe
Molly Barda and the Black Thumb
Molly Barda and the Invasive Species
Molly Barda and the Blessed Event

I’m also bringing out a series of children’s books, starting with The Adventures of Alice Mongose and Alistair Rat in Hawaii.

The Alice Mongoose stories were written and illustrated by Mary Pfaff, known in her day as “The Beatrix Potter of Hawaii.” Mary’s granddaughter, Dorothy, is a major donor to Mahina State University, where my protagonist Molly Barda works.

And I’m trying my hand at fan fiction. I enjoy Jana De Leon’s books, and Kindle Worlds is now offering the opportunity to write in her Miss Fortune world.

Justin Lao, a grad student from Hawaii, visits Sinful, Louisiana to do fieldwork for his thesis in conservation biology. He planned to spend the summer poking through the woods and picking up swamp rat droppings. Instead, he discovers something that leads to Sinful’s darkest secret so far.

The title of my fanfic-in-progress is Sinful Science, and the talented Dani Alexander is doing the cover.

Lightning round:
Cake or frosting? Frosting, and a big spoon.
Laptop or desktop? Laptop allows for a quicker escape. Grab it and go.
Chevy Chase or Bill Murray? Can I choose Gilda Radner?
Emailing or texting? Email. Easier to find it later.
Indoors or outdoors? Indoors, definitely. I’m very indoorsy.
Tea: sweet or unsweet? Unsweet. I used up my sugar allowance on the frosting.
Plane, train, or automobile? Well, I live in Hawaii, so if I want to leave the state, it’s gotta be a plane.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Like Molly Barda, Frankie Bow teaches at a public university. Unlike her protagonist, she is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, and a perfectly nice office chair. She believes if life isn’t fair, at least it can be entertaining. Her experience with academic publishing has taught her to take nothing personally.

Connect with Frankie:
Website  | Facebook   | Twitter  |  Goodreads  

a Rafflecopter giveaway