CHARACTER INTERVIEW WITH REBECCA ADLER'S JOSIE CALLAHAN

ABOUT THE BOOK

Tex-Mex waitress and part-time reporter Josie Callahan is about to serve up some Lone Star justice in this spicy Taste of Texas Mystery from the author of Here Today, Gone Tamale.

Tourists are pouring into the town of Broken Boot for the annual Homestead Days Music Festival. Opening the celebration at Two Boots dance hall is smooth-talking country singer Jeff Clark, the ex-boyfriend of Josie’s best friend, Patti Perez. When the charming Clark woos Patti onstage in an attempt to rekindle some sparks with his old flame, Josie fears her friend will end up as just one more notch on the singer’s guitar strap.

To impress her editor at the Broken Boot Bugle, Josie and her Chihuahua, Lenny, pursue the singer to Patti’s house, hoping for an interview. Instead, they discover Clark facedown in a bowl of guacamole with a bloodied guitar at his side. With Patti suddenly a murder suspect, Josie must use her reporter skills to find out who had a chip on their shoulder—before the killer double dips . . .

INCLUDES TEX-MEX RECIPES!

ABOUT THE CHARACTER

Josie Callahan was living the dream, engaged to a musician while building a career she loved at the Austin Gazette. Then her pitch perfect life hit a sour note. Forced to move home after losing her job and her fiance in one fell swoop, she's living above  Milagro, her family's Tex Mex restaurant, and trying to find a new path while delivering plates of delicious Tex Mex to quirky tourists and locals alike.

INTERVIEW WITH JOSIE CALLAHAN

Josie, how did you first meet Rebecca?
She answered an ad in the Broken Boot Bugle. I wanted someone with skills and a sense of humor to tell my story.

Want to dish about her?
All I can say about my author is that woman works harder than any one I've met. How she teaches middle school, directs plays and musicals, and write my books, beats the heck out of me.

Why do you think that your life has ended up being in a book?
That's easy. First, my fiance deserts me at the altar and then the Austin Gazette lays me off. Sounds like a soap opera. But dwelling on the negative is just not not me, I've got more grit than that. I moved home determined to lay low, lick my wounds, and find my happy place again.

Tell us about your favorite scene in the book.
If I do say so myself, the best part of this book is when I solve the crime with the help of my trusty colleague, Lenny—who's also my pet long-haired chihuahua. I can't reveal any secrets, but I can say there's football, Tex Mex, and country music involved.

Did you have a hard time convincing Rebecca to write any particular scenes for you?
Funny. I tried really hard to convince her to write me a love scene, but she's convinced I'm not ready. Something to do with me being left at the altar and needing to heal.

Tell the truth. What do you think of your fellow characters?
I think the guys in this book are hot. She may not have allowed me to have a full-on romance yet with Coach Ryan or Detective Lightfoot, but at least she made them easy on the eyes and full of heart.

Tell us about your best friend.
Patti Perez is my great friend. We've known each other since my parents died and I came to live in Broken Boot with my Uncle Eddie and Aunt Linda Martinez. She may have bottle-black hair and a few tattoos and piercings, but she's a marshmallow underneath. Why else would she run her parents Feed & Supply store?

Beats me. What are you most afraid of?
I'm always looking out for Lenny, my tough as nails chihuahua. He's a brave little tyke, but he's an easy target for folks looking to stir up trouble.

What’s the best trait Rebecca has given you? What about the worst?
I've been told I'm generous and kindhearted and that I look on the bright side. That trait, uh, kind of leads to my worst quality—I can be a bit of a ditz.

What do you like best about Senora Mari?
On good days Senora Mari lets me call her abuela, but she's actually my aunt's mother-in-law.

What's her least attractive quality?
She's prickly as a cactus—or at least she wants me to think so. She runs the kitchen at Milagro with a strict hand; but she secretly loves me and Lenny, which is why we could both stand to lose a few pounds.

What aspect of Rebecca’s writing style do you like best?
She's got a sense of humor--I'll give her that. Plus, she gives me challenging mysteries to solve.

If your story were a movie, who would play you?
Easy one. America Ferrera, Sandra Bullock, or Mila Kunis are all pretty, intelligent, and funny brunettes. Any of the three would do an excellent job.

Describe the town where you live.
I live in the high desert town of Broken Boot, Texas. It's a quaint place of only 3000 or so, nestled close to the mountains and deserts of Big Bend Country in far West Texas. We have antique stores, novelty shops, art galleries, not to mention the restaurants and Two Boots Dance Hall.

Tell us about an average day in your life.
I wake up and walk Lenny, eat some yogurt, work on a story for the Broken Boot Bugle, walk Lenny, and work the lunch shift at Milagro--my family's Tex Mex restaurant. After a delicious taco salad, I work on Lenny's blog—a killer blog followed by at least three hundred citizens of Broken Boot. Then I walk Lenny, work the dinner shift, and then collapse . . . after taking Lenny on one final walk. It might sound dull, but the town council is always coming up with a bigger and better event, like The Homestead Days Festival, in an attempt to draw more tourists.

What makes you stand out from any other characters in your genre?
I stand out because I'm down on my luck, but I'm plucky. Not like Supergirl, more like Lois Lane. And even though I've been unlucky in love, I'm not rushing into another relationship on the rebound.

Will you encourage Rebecca to write a sequel?
I didn't have to twist her arm too hard. On my better days, she's my best friend. (But don't tell her I said so.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rebecca Adler grew up on the sugar beaches of the Florida Gulf Coast. Drawn to the Big Apple by the sweet smell of wishful thinking, she studied acting on Broadway until a dark-eyed cowboy flung her over his saddle and hightailed it to the Southwest.

Prior to writing women's fiction, Gina always found a way to add a touch of the dramatic to her life: dinner theatre in Mississippi, can-can club in Florida, and playing a giant Furskin in the New York Toy Fair, plus the occasional play and musical.

She's currently content to pour her melodramatic tendencies into writing her Taste of Texas culinary mystery series. Set in far West Texas, her humorous stories are filled with delicious suspense and scrumptious Tex-Mex recipes. Her alter ego, Gina Lee Nelson, writes sweet contemporary romances with a sweet, Southern-fried flavor.

Connect with Rebecca:
Website   |   Facebook   |   Twitter  |  Goodreads
Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

FEATURED AUTHOR: JOHN ENRIGHT

ABOUT THE BOOK

Dominick is always just passing through. He is a professional houseguest who follows the sun and the leisure class from resort to resort. But this winter he lingers on a quaint New England island and in spite of his best intentions becomes involved in the travails of his eccentric geriatric hosts. An environmental protest against a proposed liquid natural gas terminal turns ugly, and by accident and happenstance Dominick becomes a mistaken suspect in terroristic bombings.

But the book, of course, is really about its characters, and the plot is just to keep them busy as we get to know them. None of them are young — white-bearded men and blue-coiffed women — dealing with aging, dementia, and ungrateful children. Dominick strives to float above it all in a life of itinerant escape. A New England comedy of sorts, on another level the book is an extended meditation on history and identity.

INTERVIEW WITH JOHN ENRIGHT

John, how did you get started writing?
When I was 17 I was with a date in the backseat of my best friend Michael Joyce’s ’57 Chevy when he recited a poem he had written to his date in the front seat. We were on South Park Avenue in Buffalo, New York, headed out of town for some reason. I remember the line, “Run run run, children on a sugar cube road.” I was impressed. No one I knew had ever written a poem before. The next day I wrote my own poem, and I couldn’t stop. Up to that point I had figured I would be a painter like my mother. That was 53 years ago. I haven’t stopped writing.

What’s your relationship with your TV remote and your cell phone?
This is easy — out front — there is no relationship. Maybe it was my quarter century in the South Pacific bush whilst everyone else was getting addicted. I’ve never watched much TV, these days maybe a couple of innings of baseball in a sports bar where the sound is muted. I have a cromagnon fliptop phone thing, but I like it turned off. I don’t text or tweet. I miss getting letters in the mail. When was the last time you got a postcard?

I take your point. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
I’m a mesovert.

I had to look that one up. The word isn't in the dictionary, but there are several blogs talking about it, so I found out that a mesovert is someone who needs solitude sometimes but also needs social interaction at times. This makes much more sense than when people say they're both an introvert and an extrovert. I think it's much more accurate to say you're a mesovert. Next question: YouTube is. . .
Someone else’s waste of time.

Do you spend more on clothes or food?
I find this an amazing question. Are there really people who would have to stop and ponder this one? The world is sicker than I thought.

Some people wear clothes only so they won't be naked. Others are fashion conscious. The question isn't one to ponder, but speaks more to your personality, which readers are often curious about. Moving on . . . Have you ever been to a fortune teller? What did she tell you?
That I played the piano. I don’t.

You can be any fictional character for one day. Who would you be?
Nick Carraway.

Do you have a favorite book that was turned into a movie?
Moby Dick — the original Gregory Peck version. I loved the real whale-hunting sequences.

What’s the hardest thing you ever had to write?
Funeral eulogies for bosom friends.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“Be good and you will be lonesome.” -Mark Twain

What would your main character say about you?
Where’d he go?

Who would you invite to a dinner party if you could invite anybody?
Barack and Michelle, and then a few dead friends. We can only seat six at the kitchen table.

If you had to choose a cliché about life, what would it be?
The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty; it’s half-way to being refilled.

What are you working on now?
Books four and five of the Dominick Chronicles series — Port Athens and Unholy Grail.

Other books by John Enright

Pago Pago Tango (2012)
Fire Knife Dancing (2013)
The Dead Don’t Dance (2014)
Blood Jungle Ballet (2014)
14 Degrees South (2012)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Enright was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1945. After serving stints in semi-pro baseball, the Lackawanna steel mills, and the publishing industry in New York, San Francisco, and Hong Kong, he left the United States to teach at the American Samoa Community College and spent the next twenty-six years living on the islands of the South Pacific. Over the past four decades, his essays, articles, short stories, and poems have appeared in more than seventy books, anthologies, journals, periodicals, and online magazines. Today, he and his wife, ceramicist Connie Payne, live in Jamestown, Rhode Island.

Connect with John:
Website  |   Blog  |   Facebook  |   Goodreads

Featured Author: Brent Hartinger

About the book:

Brent Hartinger's tenth novel, The Thing I Didn't Know I Didn't Know, tells the story of a young gay guy, just out of college, trying to make sense out of life and love in the boomtown that is Seattle in 2014. The book, his first in the "new adult" genre, will be released December 15, 2014.

In 2003, Hartinger made a big splash documenting the lives of gay teens with his humorous young adult novel Geography Club. It spawned three sequels, one of which won the Lambda Award. Geography Club was eventually adapted as a feature film, released in 2013, co-starring Scott Bakula.

In The Thing I Didn't Know I Didn't Know, Hartinger turns his attention to the lives of gay twentysomethings. The result is a book with plenty of Hartinger's trademark humor, but with a sexier, more contemporary edge, exploring topical issues like online hook-ups, FWBs, and PrEP HIV prevention.

Russel Middlebrook, the protagonist of The Thing I Didn't Know I Didn't Know, is also the lead in Geography Club and its sequels, making him the rare literary character to jump genres (from young adult to adult books). This latest book is also the start of a new series, Russel Middlebrook: the Futon Years.

Like Armistead Maupin's classic Tales of the City books, The Thing I Didn't Know I Didn't Know is set in a very specific place and time—in this case, Seattle in the summer of 2014.

In the book, Russel is twenty-three years old and living in this trendy and completely pro-gay city. But Russel's life isn't keeping up with the hype. Most of his friends have a direction in life—either ruthlessly pursuing their careers or passionately embracing their own aimlessness. But Russel is stuck in place. The only thing he knows for sure is that crappy jobs, horrible dates, and pointless hook-ups just aren't cutting it anymore.

What's the secret? What does everyone else know that he doesn't?

Enter Kevin, Russel's perfect high school boyfriend. Could rekindling an old flame be the thing he needs to get his life back on track? Or maybe the answer lies in a new friend, an eccentric screenwriter named Vernie Rose, who seems to possess more than a bit of the wisdom of the universe. Or what the hell? Maybe Russell will find some answers by joining his best friend Gunnar's crazy search for the legendary Bigfoot!

One way or another, Russel is determined to learn the all-important secret to life, even if it's a thing he doesn't even know he doesn't know.

Brent Hartinger Answers the Dirty Dozen

1.    What’s one thing that drives you crazy?
Self-centered people. I run into people all the time who seem completely oblivious to the fact there are other people in the world. Either that, or they're aware and they just don't care. I'm not sure which is worse.

2.    What is your guiltiest guilty pleasure?
My secret shame is . . . all-you-can-eat sushi bars! In the case of sushi, I sometimes will choose quantity over quality. Maybe even often!

3.    What is your most embarrassing moment?
This may not be the most embarrassing, but I got home from Christmas shopping at the mall yesterday, and I realized that I'd had my fly down the whole time. And not just a little bit down -- it was wide open. Yikes! At least I was wearing underwear.

4.    At least! What is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done?
Let's just say I've accidentally thrown more than one iPhone into the washing machine and leave it at that, okay?

5.    Yikes. What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
In all seriousness, it might be deciding to become a writer -- although I didn't think of it as "daring" at the time. I was absolutely determined, and I never really had a back-up plan. If I'd known how incredibly impractical it is, I'm not sure I would've done it!

6.    On what life choices would you like to have a re-do?
Yes, yes, if we redo things, then we wouldn't be the person we are, blah, blah, blah. Let's get real. If I had a choice, there's one two-year relationship that never would've happened and an entire website, now defunct, that I wouldn't have founded. Both were complete wastes of my time.

7.    What makes you nervous?
I just produced a music video (for a song based on my latest book, The Thing I Didn't Know I Didn't Know). I had absolutely no idea how much work it would be -- all for a three-minute video.

For days before, I was a complete wreck. But mostly I was nervous that I would disappoint all the people who had put their faith in me, that they would feel like they wasted their time.

Interestingly, it all worked out pretty well!

8.    What makes you scared?
I'm often scared I'll fail as a writer. I've been doing this long enough that I now know that not everything I do works. And I've also been at it long enough to know that my own judgment of my work is sometimes very skewed. Then, of course, everything is complicated by the fact that sometimes the work really is good, but not everyone can see it.

It's the hardest thing in the world, knowing when to stick to your vision in the face of criticism and when to say, "Hold on, wait, I think my vision sucks."

9.    What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told?
Whenever I teach creative writing, I act like I know what I'm talking about. Sometimes I even feel that way at the time.

But the truth is, I'm not sure writing can be taught, and even if I can, I'm not sure I'm smart enough to do it. Good storytelling is the hardest thing in the world, which is why it's so incredibly rare.

Still, I always do the best I can, so maybe it's not really a lie.

10.    What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made?
Other than that two-year relationship?

Yes, other than that!

Honestly, there was a girl in my Catholic high school who was once berated for getting pregnant by a teacher in front of the whole class. It's one my huge regrets in life that I didn't stand up and say to that teacher, "Shut your pie-hole, you miserable, small-minded, pathetic excuse for a human being!"

Even now, it still makes me furious. That might be the exact moment I became a liberal.

11.    When was the last time you did something for the first time?
Wow, good question. Lately, I've been learning type-setting (of books?). There are certain "rules" that aren't supposed to be violated. At the same time, the manuscript itself can't (usually) be altered. So how do you set the type in such a way that you don't violate these "rules"?

Compromises, compromises. In type-setting, as in life, sometimes there simply are no good choices.

12.    One of your main characters has to die. Which one would you kill off?
In my next book, I just killed off all the main characters except one. Which makes sense since it's a thriller. But even so, it was really hard. You spend all this time creating characters, and in some sense you "like" them (or you wouldn't have written them).

Needless to say, there won't be a sequel.

Check out the video: The Thing I Didn't Know I Didn't Know

About the author:

Brent Hartinger is an author, playwright, and screenwriter. His latest book, about a gay 23-year-old trying to make sense of life and love in Seattle 2014, is out now. His first novel, Geography Club, is also a successful stage play and a feature film co-starring Scott Bakula and Nikki Blonsky. He also has a number of film projects in active development.

In 1990, Brent helped found one of the world's first LGBT teen support groups in his hometown of Tacoma, Washington. In 2005, he co-founded the entertainment website AfterElton.com, which was sold to MTV/Viacom in 2006. He currently co-hosts a podcast called Media Carnivores from his home in Seattle, where he lives with his husband, writer Michael Jensen. Read more by and about Brent, or contact him at brenthartinger.com.

Brent Hartinger is available for podcast, blog, newspaper, and other media interviews.

Connect with Brent:
"Brent's Brain"  |  Facebook  | Twitter  |  Goodreads

Check out Brent's new podcast, Media Carnivores.   

Subscribe to Brent's newsletter (and get a free book!) 

Buy the book!

Other books by Brent Hartinger

Featured Author: Steven Manchester

The Story Plant brings Steven Manchester here today to talk about his latest release, Pressed Pennies. To read an excerpt from the book and see the schedule for Steven's virtual book tour, click here.

About the book:

Rick and Abby grew up together, became best friends, and ultimately fell in love. Circumstance tore them apart in their early teens, though, and they went on to lives less idyllic than they dreamed about in those early days. Rick has had a very successful career, but his marriage flat-lined. Abby has a magical daughter, Paige, but Paige's father nearly destroyed Abby's spirit.



Now fate has thrown Rick and Abby together again. In their early thirties, they are more world-weary than they were as kids. But their relationship still shimmers, and they're hungry to make up for lost time. However, Paige, now nine, is not nearly as enthusiastic. She's very protective of the life she's made with her mother and not open to the duo becoming a trio. Meanwhile, Rick has very little experience dealing with kids and doesn't know how to handle Paige. This leaves Abby caught between the two people who matter the most to her. What happens when the life you've dreamed of remains just inches from your grasp?



Pressed Pennies is a nuanced, intensely romantic, deeply heartfelt story of love in its many incarnations, relationships in their many guises, and family in its many meanings. It is the most accomplished and moving novel yet from a truly great storyteller of the heart.


Steven, you have twelve published books. How long have you been writing, and how did you start?


I’d just returned home from Operation Desert Storm and was working as a prison investigator in Massachusetts. Needless to say, there was great negativity in my life at that time. I decided to return to college to finish my degree in Criminal Justice. During one of the classes, the professor talked about police work but nothing else. I finally raised my hand and asked, “The criminal justice system is vast. What about the courts, probation, parole – corrections?” He smiled and told me to see him after class. I thought I’d done it! In his office, he explained, “There’s no written material out there on corrections or prisons, except from the slanted perspective of inmates.” He smiled again and dropped the bomb. “If you’re so smart,” he said, “why don’t you write it?” Nine months later, I dropped the first draft of 6-5; A Different Shade of Blue on his desk. From then on, I was hooked. I was a writer.

Is your book based on real events?


Pressed Pennies is one of my favorite works because it’s so personal to me. And if I didn’t admit to that, then I’m fairly certain that my wife, Paula, would have my neck. At its foundation, Pressed Pennies is autobiographical. After both suffering failed marriages, Paula and I were blessed with a second chance at love. Just like Rick and Abby, we met at the party of a mutual friend. And from the moment we laid eyes on each other, the adventure had begun. Although Rick and Abby’s details are completely fictional, the feelings are the same. As a writer, my greatest goal is always to make my readers feel. By placing myself within the scene, I have a much better shot at successfully pulling that off.


One of your characters has just found out you’re about to kill him off. He/she decides to beat you to the punch. How would he kill you?


Being from frigid New England, he’d impale me with an icicle...watching as the evidence just melts away.

Diabolical! 
How do you get to know your characters?


Characters: Learn them. Know them. If they become real enough, your characters will tell the story for you. Think about it: The raised eyebrow from a well-established character is worth more than a paragraph or two. The saddest time for me is when a novel comes to its end. This is mostly true because I start to miss the people that I’ve grown to love and hate. And if you don’t feel that for your characters, then your readers won’t, either. When I'm completely vested in a story, the first thing I think about in the morning is the characters (what they’re thinking and feeling, and how they might act), and the last thing I think about before turning in at night is the characters.


Which character did you most enjoy writing?


Abby...because she’s primarily my wife, Paula.

What song would you pick to go with your book?

The Dance by Garth Brooks.



I love that song! Who are your favorite authors?

Stephen King, Mitch Albom, and Lou Aronica.

You get to decide who would read your audiobook. Who would you choose?

Morgan Freeman.

Where’s home for you?

Massachusetts

.



You’re leaving your country for a year. What’s the last meal you would want to have before leaving?

My wife’s Fettuccini Alfredo.

You’re given the day off, and you can do anything but write. What would you do?


Hang outdoors with my kids.

You can be any fictional character for one day. Who would you be?

Addicus Finch.


What would your dream office look like?

Some historical library.

With you living in Massachusetts, you should

 check out the Stockbridge Library, if you haven't already. The upstairs room in particular. Best. office. ever. What’s one of your favorite quotes?

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney.



What’s your favorite candy bar?

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!



Excellent choice. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

With my wife and kids...location wouldn’t much matter.



What are you working on now? 


Although it took me nine months to pen Gooseberry Island, it’s been a novel in the making for better than twenty years. Again, I served in Operation Desert Storm and have both experienced and witnessed the terrible suffering that accompanies combat service. More times than not, the wounds that are invisible prove much more painful than those that can be seen.

On the heels of Pressed Pennies, we decided to create another love story. In Gooseberry Island, David and Lindsey fall deeply in love, but quickly face a monstrous obstacle—the after effects of war.

Gooseberry Island is a tribute to all who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as those who stayed behind and suffered every moment until their loved one’s return.

The novel’s excerpt depicts David during his first few days of returning home from combat in Afghanistan. He is suffering terribly from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and must decide whether to continue seeing Lindsey, the woman who helped him survive the twelve months of hell. My life is in complete chaos, but maybe if I tried talking to Lindsey? David thought, shaking his head. No...it wouldn’t be fair.

About the author:

Steven Manchester is the author of the #1 bestsellers, Twelve Months and The Rockin' Chair. He is also the author of the critically-acclaimed, award-winning novel, Goodnight, Brian, as well as A Christmas Wish (Kindle exclusive), Pressed Pennies (released May 13, 2014) and Gooseberry Island (due out January 2015). His work has appeared on NBC's Today Show, CBS's The Early Show, CNN's American Morning, and BET's Nightly News. Three of Steven's short stories were selected "101 Best" for Chicken Soup for the Soul series. When not spending time with his beautiful wife, Paula, or their four children, this Massachusetts author is promoting his works or writing.


Connect with Steven:
Website | 



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