FEATURED AUTHOR: COLETTE R. HARRELL

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

In 1859, Junie Benson was a twelve-year-old genius and enslaved. His older sister, Sari, had her own difficulties, including being auctioned to the highest bidder. She was also beautiful, flighty, and had a repetitive dream about a hazel-eyed white stranger. Everybody with the good sense God had given them knew even her dream was forbidden.

In 2022, three things troubled ex-Special Forces Lt. Colonel Zachary Trumble . . . his new job as director of security for Burstein Labs, his loveless marriage, and the green-eyed siren who won’t let him sleep in peace.

Then time’s fickle hand brewed a recipe for a miracle . . . Stir in three runaway slaves, an avalanche, one mad scientist, and an unhappy, in-love hero to create a dish for revenge best served . . . Later.

Book Details
Title: Later
Author: Colette R. Harrell
Genre: inspirational, historical, interracial, African American, fantasy
Publisher: Intentional Entertainment LLC (September 1, 2022)
Print length: 204 pages

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH COLETTE R. HARRELL

A few of your favorite things: books, cheesecake, cold nights under warm blankets.
Things you need to throw out: worry, other peoples expectations, clothes no longer in my size.

Things you need in order to write: silence and light.
Things that hamper your writing: multiple sources of noise and a ringing phone.

Things you love about writing: I love seeing my words bring characters to life.
Things you hate about writing: editing, over and over. Ugggh!

Easiest thing about being a writer: the excitement of seeing the story unfold.
Hardest thing about being a writer: marketing your baby to the world.

Things you love about where you live: my husband, my family, and my house.
Things that make you want to move: the news. Is there a hole we can all burrow into?

Things you never want to run out of: ideas for a new novel.
Things you wish you’d never bought: the car that sits in my driveway. I never go anywhere.

Words that describe you: talkative, humorous, fun, loving.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: anal, fiery/passionate, stubborn.

Favorite foods: pound cake. Texas Sheet Cake. cheesecake. Oh, yeah, cake.
Things that make you want to throw up: when someone else throws up.

Favorite song: “I Hope You Dance.”
Music that make your ears bleed: heavy metal.

Favorite beverage: I don’t drink it often, Squirt soda.
Something that gives you a pickle face: fingers on a chalk board.

Favorite smell: bread baking.
Something that makes you hold your nose: someone throwing up.

Something you’re really good at: writing. (Easy one.)
Something you’re really bad at: sewing.

Something you like to do: read.
Something you wish you’d never done: took time off from college, it just took longer to finish in the long run.

People you consider as heroes: those who fight for the underdog. Those who work in service to others.
People with a big L on their foreheads: rude and inconsiderate people. It is never okay to be a jerk.

Last best thing you ate: oh my, a slice of pound cake that was so good, and I didn’t have to bake it.
Last thing you regret eating: a White Castle Hamburger. I love them but they don’t always love me.

Things you’d walk a mile for: a hug from my love ones.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: horrible table manners. Please can I not see or hear your food? Thank you.

Things you always put in your books: a happy ending.
Things you never put in your books: a sad ending.

Things to say to an author: I love your work. Can I please have more?
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I really hated your characters. And, you’re a writer? (While holding your finished book in hand.)

Favorite places you’ve been: Savannah. Caribbean.
Places you never want to go to again: my first trip to Jamaica was horrible. My next
trip there was wonderful. Must have been the company.

Favorite books: romance. inspirational. historical.
Books you would ban: any focused on hate.

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): now we are getting so personal. Hmmm . . . Oprah. Barbara Streisand. Michelle Obama.
People you’d cancel dinner on: Why are you getting me in trouble? Let’s go easy. Hitler. OJ. Nixon.

Favorite things to do: read.
Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: mopping floors.

Things that make you happy: spring days with no expectations.
Things that drive you crazy: when people do not return important phone calls.

Proudest moment: the birth of my children, graduation from graduate school, my first book.
Most embarrassing moment: when my slip fell off while walking into a building.

Best thing you’ve ever done: learning to love myself unconditionally.
Biggest mistake: wasting my time worrying.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: writing a book. It’s not for the faint-hearted.
Something you chickened out from doing: running for Homecoming Queen in high school.

The last thing you did for the first time: self-publishing this book.
Something you’ll never do again: allow myself to go against my best instincts.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Colette R. Harrell made her debut as an author with the book The Devil Made Me Do It.
As a published author, she has enjoyed meeting her readers; for her, it’s all surreal. She
holds a master’s degree and worked as a director of social services, which allowed her a
front-row seat to the conflict and struggles of everyday people.

Her days are filled as an author, playwright, story editor, wife, mother, and grandmother. She wears many titles allowing twenty-four hours a day to meet the challenges.
 
Her goal in writing is to engage readers and provide them with golden nuggets of wisdom that feed and engage. Her biggest lesson is that it takes a village to raise a dream. She loves and appreciates her village.


Connect with Colette:
Website  |   Facebook   |  Twitter

Buy the book:
Amazon   |   Barnes & Noble   |   Kobo 

SPOTLIGHT ON ARABELLA SEYMOUR

ABOUT THE BOOK

The paths of two generations of women cross, when researcher Rhiannon Harrowdine, fact-gathering for a book, traces the elderly widow of Battle of Britain pilot Harry Sartain, now an arthritic 96-year-old in a nursing home run by nuns.


The Sartains once lived at Green Court, now an imposing country house health spa, the focus of Rhiannon's fascination; illegally adopted at birth, she discovered that her real family lived there after the Sartains, and that three unsolved mysteries are attached to the house that she longs to investigate further: the disappearance of a young graduate there during the war, a rock star who claimed it was haunted, and the mysterious death of an American romantic novelist that was never solved.  


The two women strike up an immediate rapport, but Eveleen is still holding back old secrets.  Escaping from abusive fosterers, she falls into the clutches of a callous confidence trickster who bigamously marries her for his own ends, then abandons her to face a prison sentence for his own crime.  On her release at the outbreak of war, she volunteers for the WVS and finds herself escorting evacuees into rural Kent, where she meets and marries the charismatic Harry Sartain.  But the marriage falls apart when he becomes morose and bitter at the savagery of war and the loss of his comrades and close friends, and Eveleen falls in love with his brother, Rufus.

Rhiannon's own marriage to barrister and now judge Stephen Harrowdine, is also falling apart, but she struggles to keep their increasing dissension from their young children.  Ultimately, sustained by her passionate enthusiasm for her work, her friendships, and a new relationship formed during the search for facts for her book, she finally finds the strength to leave the family home, free at last to take the next steps towards a new life.

Book Details:


Title: Orphans Of The Storm

Author: Arabella Seymour

Genre: intrigue, romance, mystery, historical

Series: Gree Court Trilogy, book 2

Publisher: Peach Publishing, (July 20th 2018)

Print length: 434 pages





FROM THE AUTHOR


Even bestselling authors receive very, very few customer reviews in proportion to the number of their books actually sold.


However much a reader has enjoyed a book, only a tiny minority actually bother to leave a review – this is even more important to the author of the book than other prospective readers – because getting to learn of their readers' opinions and what they like or dislike about a book is very important to most authors, myself included.  There is too little interaction between writers and readers at the moment – and I hope this will change.
     



ABOUT THE AUTHOR



Arabella comes from a creative family on her mother's side – mum was a music hall artiste – and has loved writing from an early age – poems and short stories to begin with, first novel published in her teens. She thinks of a new book as a dressmaker might think of a new garment – put the fabric on the tailor's dummy and go from there: change the hem, tweak the neckline, add or take away as needs be. An idea can come from nowhere; sometimes from the stimulus of a memory, a personal experience, a piece of music, a picture. Then it gradually takes shape, growing and changing as it goes.
     
Arabella was born in Greater London and educated at various girls' schools, and worked in London libraries until she married and moved to Canterbury with her husband. She is divorced with one daughter, and was able to write her first really successful novel A Passion In The Blood, while at home when her daughter was small. This was published by Collins in the UK, Putnam in the USA and translated into French, where it sold out the entire first edition. 
     
She is currently writing the third and final novel in the Green Court saga.

Connect with Arabella:

Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads
 (official author website)

Buy the book:

Amazon 

FEATURED AUTHOR: JONATHAN FESMIRE

ABOUT THE BOOK

U.S. Marshal James Creed has known loss, starting from the untimely death of his wife and daughter in a sudden fire. His work, chasing down and arresting outlaws across the Wild West, is all he has left to live for. Then one day, in 1876, the infamous killer Corwin Blake catches Creed by surprise and guns him down.



Creed awakes after a mysterious young woman resurrects him in a basement laboratory beneath a brothel. Half alive, Creed feels torn between his need for justice and his desire to fall back into the peace of death. Creed's instincts drive him to protect the city of Santa Cruz, California, from the outlaws it harbors while searching for Blake.
 
He uncovers a secret criminal organization, likely protecting Blake, determined to use resurrection technology for its own ends. The former marshal, now faster, stronger, and a more deadly shot than ever before, must work with a brothel madam, a bounty hunter, and the remaining marshals to uncover the criminal syndicate before they can misuse the machines of rebirth and create more mindless zombies. Meanwhile, he must also stop Blake, before the outlaw kills the only people he cares about.
 
His own death can wait.

INTERVIEW WITH JONATHAN FESMIRE

Jonathan, who are you?I am Jonathan Fesmire of Santa Cruz, First of His Name, the Geek, the Steampunk, the Intellectual, Writer of Fiction, Father of Gingers.

Where’s home for you?
I still think of Santa Cruz, California as home. I grew up in Santa Cruz County and got my BA at U.C. Santa Cruz. In fact, Bodacious Creed takes place in an alternate version of Santa Cruz in 1876.

Where did you grow up?
More specifically, I grew up in Watsonville, California, part of Santa Cruz County, though my heart has always been in Santa Cruz itself. I’ve lived all over the county, including in Aptos, Soquel, Capitola, and Santa Cruz.

What’s your favorite memory?
I have two. My daughter’s birth, and my son’s birth. There’s no more amazing feeling than seeing your own children come into the world.



So true. What’s the dumbest purchase you’ve ever made?
I bought a 3D printer a couple of years ago, thinking I would somehow make money with my 3D model designs, but the printer had too many problems.

What do you love about where you live?

I live in Anaheim, California, so my son and I are close to the Disneyland Resort. When we have annual passports, we’re able to go often. It’s pretty amazing being able to go to Disneyland just for the evening, go on a few rides, get a bite to eat, then come home.


I'll bet! Have you been in any natural disasters?
I was in the heart of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, on Cathcart Street, oddly enough, in the main area where Bodacious Creed takes place in its alternate reality.

The roof collapsed at the Ford’s store across the street from where I was. The popular Cooper House, made primarily of stone, fell to pieces. Many other buildings suffered significant damage.

That was an amazing night in the sense that everyone came together to help each other, just incredible cooperation. But Santa Cruz is like that. The busses ran for free to get people home, and since I took the bus to work at the time, that’s how I got back to Watsonville.

As it turned out, the area where I lived had also been hit hard. Many of the houses had slid off their foundations. Our fireplace had fallen into the driveway and the indentation in the pavement remained for years. My family, and a friend of mine who was able to make it to my place but not his, slept in the back yard that night.

Wow. What’s one thing that you wish you knew as a teenager that you know now?
I wish I had known that writing was the thing I wanted to pursue, and I wish I knew that, once the Internet came, I could start building my reader base.


What makes you bored?
Standing in line or waiting at an office with nothing to read.


Do you have another job outside of writing?
I’m lucky that for my day job, I’m a copywriter. I get to write for a living. That’s amazing.

Yes it is. Would you rather be a lonely genius, or a sociable idiot?
A lonely genius. Stupidity is ruining the world.

How true is that! If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?

I would love to live in Paris. I speak French but rarely get to use it and loved Paris when I visited. There’s great cuisine, amazing little cafes, many fascinating museums, and you can get anywhere quickly on the metro. Besides, there’s a Disney park nearby.

What’s the story behind the title of your book?
This book started as my thesis project for graduate school. It wasn’t even a story exactly at first, but a background and set of characters for my 3D modeling demo reel. Since I was already a writer, I also thought it would make a great novel.

I had ideas for a gunfighter type character and a young brothel madam who was secretly an inventor, but didn’t have names yet. One morning as I was waking up, the name Bodacious Creed popped into my head. I figured I must have heard it before. It had to already be the name of a character somewhere. So, I looked it up. To my surprise, it wasn’t being used. I decided that I’d better take it before someone else did!

Is Bodacious Creed part of a series?
This is the first book in an intended series. I’m doing research and brainstorming for the sequel now. At this point, there’s not much readers need to know aside from what’s in the first novel.

As a primer, however, I’ll share a bit. Bodacious Creed takes place in an alternate history, a world where, in the 1870s, steam-based technology begins advancing rapidly. In other words, a steampunk world, though of course the specifics are of my own invention. It’s a western, it’s hard science fiction, and it has zombies.

Awesome! How did you create the plot for this book?
For me, plot comes primarily from the characters. While I knew some things that I wanted to have happen, it had to make sense for the characters to get to those points. Basically, after every chapter or even scene, I mentally check-in with my characters on their goals and motivations, which can change based on things they have just experienced. Then, I figure out what the characters—those specific characters—would do next.

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?
In Bodacious Creed, one character is fully based on a real person. It’s the bounty hunter Rob Cantrell. When I decided to write this novel, I ran a Kickstarter to find it. This was an amazing experiment. Not only did it reach its funding goal, but I was able to get input from readers for the story. Rob wanted a version of himself to be in the book. Once the Kickstarter ended, I sent him a release of likeness contract so I could do this legally, and his doppelganger is a major part of the story.

Why did you decide to self-publish?
In years past, I’ve had agents, and they had difficulty placing my books, even though they enjoyed them. Once self-publishing through print on demand became possible, I embraced it, especially when Lulu opened its services, as those were free to writers. I now use Create Space.

The thing is, I learned early on that all the worries I had about self-publishing apply to traditional publishing, too. Writers in both camps must do their own publicity. Self-published authors can ensure that their books are as well-written and edited as any traditionally published book. Also, many writers who have made it big had their books rejected dozens of times from big publishing houses. J.K. Rowling had a tough time finding a publisher for the first Harry Potter book. It’s tough to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and not recognize that it’s exactly the sort of novel that young adults want to read.

You are so right. So you're happy with your decision to self-publish?
I am. What I needed to learn was how to better promote my books, and it took a while to find good sources for that information. In short, the most important thing to do is build a following using one’s own mailing list, social media, and making connects with others, such as fellow writers and reviewers.

As I worked on Bodacious Creed, I kept up my blog and built my following, or platform. Because of that, it’s been doing well. Now, I want to keep that momentum going as I write the sequel.

What steps to publication did you personally do, and what did you hire someone to do? Is there anyone you’d recommend for a particular service?
For Bodacious Creed, I set up pre-orders on Amazon for both the Kindle edition and the trade paperback, and that brought in a lot of sales in the month or so before the book’s release. Then, I ran a Facebook release party the weekend after the book came out, before the Kindle edition went up from its pre-order price of $1.49 to its regular price of $3.99.

I have an art degree, so I was able to create the full cover using the cover art by Joshua J. Stewart. Though I’ve formatted book interiors in the past, this time I used the CreateSpace template for 6x9 trade paperbacks, and that worked well. I’m pleased with the result.

I also had several beta readers who commented on the book as I rewrote it, and who found various small errors. Since the book is self-published, if someone finds a small error and points it out to me, I can correct it and fix it immediately for the Kindle edition, and also update the trade paperback, so that new orders will have the fix as well.

Alas, if I had the money to hire a professional editor and pay him or her fairly, I would, and may in the future. Still, the copy is a clean as what I find in most traditionally published books.

What are you working on now?
I am working on the sequel to Bodacious Creed. While the first novel takes place in an alternate Santa Cruz, California, the second will mostly take place in San Francisco. To that end, I’ve been researching San Fran, learning about its history and many of the colorful characters who lived there. The first book has two people in it out of Santa Cruz history. I want to have more in San Francisco.

EXCERPT FROM BODACIOUS CREED

CHAPTER ONE

Anna Lynn Boyd served drinks with one of her doves, Karla Hotchkiss, and kept an eye on the saloon. She grabbed a cloth from under the bar and wiped down the walnut surface that captured the blurry reflections of her patrons. Cowboys, hostlers, ranchers, and factory workers gulped ale and whiskey and downed their meals. Today's specials included shark, tuna, seasoned beef steaks, rye bread, fresh corn, and red potatoes.

With the supper rush well underway, The House of Amber Doves, Anna's bordello and restaurant, had come alive with its usual evening activity. The exquisitely carved clock on the wall opposite the bar read six twenty in the evening. On this first day of July, eighteen seventy-six, the sun would still be out for another hour or so. A cool breeze turned the hot day pleasant as it blew through the double doors, carrying with it the salty tang of the ocean.

Anna went to the far end of the bar, where her companion, Jonathan Johns, sat reading a book and working his way through an omelet stuffed with ground beef and onions and drinking a beer. Just twenty minutes prior, Jonny had downed a sugared coffee. Anna's twenty-year-old lover kept strange hours, which suited her fine. She did, too. It meant they could work together downstairs or make love in her bed as they pleased.

She took a moment to look over the short blond hair and long features she loved. He resembled an angel out of an El Greco painting. What's more, Jonny had proven a better lover than any of the men she'd entertained in her years as a dove. More important to her though, he was smart, damned brilliant, actually.

The book lay flat beside his plate, so Anna tipped it upward to read the spine. The day before, Jonny had gone through the newspaper in ten minutes. He had started this novel in the morning and had nearly finished it.

Jonny pushed the book back down and turned the page.

Anna leaned close to Jonny's ear and whispered, “Mary Shelley, is it? Research?”

Jonny winked at her then continued reading. Anna ran her fingers through his hair, over his left ear, and felt the bumpy, curving metal form, less than an inch long.

Her invention had saved his life, but Jonny could no longer speak. He could nod and shake his head, so they enjoyed simple communication. He helped with schematics in the basement. With his skills, he could have been working directly for Morgan's Automatons, but he preferred partnering with Anna. Yet speaking and writing remained beyond him.

Anna went back to the center of the bar and took a moment to assess the room. Karla might need help with the customers, or a table might deserve a visit from the parlor's madam.

Past the stairs stood Lucky and Dixie, two security automatons. Several more of Anna's girls leaned on the second-floor banister, gazing down at the patrons, waving, and blowing kisses. At the back of the stage, Hattie, a buxom blonde dove in a fancy blue dress, played the piano.

Meanwhile, singer Nate Lieby, his wild ginger hair and beard giving him the look of a fiery god, and his musical group, Whiskey Zombie Collective, tuned up violin, bass, banjo, guitar, and mandolin. The group frequently performed at Amber Doves and some customers came in just to hear them play.

Lorraine Silver strode into the saloon through the front doors to chat up a man at the bar. Her sharp voice cut through the chatter, piano, and shuffling cards. Anna had learned to tolerate that voice but sometimes thought Lorraine should talk through a pillow to tone it down.

“Howdy Lonzo,” Lorraine said, leaning against the bar, her hands on the big man's leg. “I think you're going to be a very busy man soon.”

Lonzo Rivera smiled devilishly. “That right? That an invitation?” The deputy always had brothel coins for Lorraine.

“Well yes, but not just that. Somebody just checked into the federal marshal office.
Someone who means business wherever he goes.”

At “federal marshal,” Anna, who had been pulling down a new whiskey bottle, froze. She watched them in the mirror past her own reflection.

“You don't mean James Creed?” Lonzo asked.

“James 'Bodacious' Creed,” Lorraine said, emphasizing the adjective.

“I do wish people wouldn't call him that. The man's done a lot of good, no doubt about it, but it makes you think of, I don't know, some sort of immortality. Like he's so brave nothing can touch him.”

“Don't be jealous now, love.” Lorraine ran the back of her fingers down Lonzo's arm.
As Karla turned, Anna shoved the whiskey bottle at her. “Well damn, Anna, what's got under your dress?”

Anna walked around the bar and took Lorraine's hand. “Lonzo, I need to borrow my girl here for a minute.”

“Be my guest, Miss Anna. Lorraine, you come back to me after.”

Anna led the young woman past noisy tables to the stairs. The steelies, their polished hickory and steel bodies mostly still, watched as Anna walked past. Their rudimentary brains considered her safety their top priority.

At the foot of the stairs, Anna stood with her left boot on the first step.

“What is it, Miss Boyd?” Lorraine asked.

“How do you know James Creed is in town?” Might this be Anna's chance to finally confront him? Highly self-educated, Anna felt no need for, nor faith in, prayer. Still, she held her palms together at her lips as though asking Jesus himself if this could be true.

Lorraine's voice rose, even sharper. “I just saw him! The man is legendary and handsome. I mean, in pictures, sure, but in real life? Oh Lord.”

“You follow him in the papers?” Anna asked.

“I follow everything. It was him.”

“Right, of course,” Anna answered. “Well, you better go back to Lonzo. You have fun with him.”

“Always do!” With a peppy smile and a flip of her hair, Lorraine went back to the bar.
Anna rushed out the front doors and turned left for Smullen's Stables and Livery, right across Soquel Avenue from The House of Amber Doves.

Anna’s parlor was the tallest building along the street after the renovations late the year before, right after she had bought the business from the former madam, Margarita Fullerton. Few knew the truth of how Anna had acquired the capital to buy the establishment and renovate it outright. Most people believed she had come into a big inheritance, and that’s how she wanted it. She couldn’t risk a backlash against the two companies she invented for, Morgan's Mechanicals and Morgan's Automatons. If the world knew that a former prostitute had ushered in a new technological age, what might it mean for her family of doves?

At Ott Smullen’s stables, she waved to one of the horse tenders feeding a brown and white spotted mare. He nodded back, a signal that meant, “I see you. Go ahead and take your ride.”

Anna strode down the row of horses, hay crunching under her boots, and reached her stallion, Espiritu, a black Saddlebred with white streaks along its back, almost like rib bones, and white patches on its face that gave the impression of a skull. Espiritu could look downright spooky at night.

She had no time to saddle her steed, not if she hoped to make it to the federal marshal outpost while Creed might still be there, so Anna slipped on its bit and bridle, hefted herself up, her dress bunching between her legs, grabbed the reins, and guided Espiritu out of the stable, past the other neighing horses and the smells of manure and oats.

“He’s here,” she whispered. The books he would read to her as a child. The secret code she’d invented and taught him. The hugs and laughter in front of their home's hearth back in Virginia, while her mother called them to dinner for chicken soup and homemade rolls. If only her mother could be there too, could return to life again just for a few days.

Still, U.S. Marshal James Creed had come to Santa Cruz, California, against all probability. After years of hoping, Anna could finally see her father.

Also BY JONATHAN FESMIRE:

Fantasy Novels:
Children of Rhatlan
Tamshi’s Imp

YA Fantasy:
Amber in the Over World

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Author Jonathan Fesmire, originally from Santa Cruz, California, now lives in Southern California with his son. By day, he's a copywriter, by evening a steampunk author, and at all times, a dedicated dad.

Though Jonathan started out writing fantasy, he has moved completely to steampunk, enchanted with its aesthetics, possibilities, and implications. He's a fan of the stories, the art, and the gadgets, and enjoys interacting with the community.  In fact, Jonathan regularly interviews popular members of the steampunk community for his The Wild Steampunk Blog.

Connect with Jonathan:
Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  |  Amazon   |  YouTube  

Buy the book:
Amazon 

FEATURED AUTHOR: ANNA LOAN-WILSEY

ABOUT THE BOOK

Traveling secretary Hattie Davish is taking her singular talents to Washington D.C. to help Sir Arthur research his next book. But in the winding halls of the nation's capital, searching for the truth can sometimes lead to murder . . .

Hattie is in her element, digging through dusty basements, attics, and abandoned buildings, not to be denied until she fishes out that elusive fact. But her delightful explorations are dampened when she witnesses a carriage crash into a carp pond beneath the shadow of the Washington Monument. Alarmingly, one of the passengers flees the scene, leaving the other to drown. The incident only heightens tensions brought on by the much publicized arrival of "Coxey's Army," thousands of unemployed men converging on the capital for the first ever organized "march" on Washington. When one of the marchers is found murdered in the ensuing chaos, Hattie begins to suspect a sinister conspiracy is at hand. As she expands her investigations into the motives of murder and closes in on the trail of a killer, she is surprised and distraught to learn that her research will lead her straight to the highest level of government . . .



INTERVIEW WITH ANNA LOAN-WILSEY

Anna, how did you get started writing?
I’ve been writing on and off my whole life. I wrote poems and short stories from elementary school through college. After that I focused more on technical writing than creative writing. It was only after my job was downsized several years ago, and I had the time, did I attempt to write a novel.

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
I love being immersed in the story so deeply that I forget that I’m writing and not simply watching the story evolve in front of my eyes.

Do you have a writing routine?
I write in the morning as soon as my daughter is off to school. I try to work until it is time to pick her up again. As my brain is mush after 4:00 or so, this works out nicely.

What do you wish you’d done differently when you first started the publishing process?
I wish I had connected with more with fellow published writers. When I first started the process, I did everything on my own. Much of the invaluable information and lessons I’ve since learned from other writers would have helped ease the way.

What’s more important – characters or plot?
Definitely characters. Great characters can drive a weak plot, but if a reader doesn’t like the characters, they won’t care about the plot, no matter how great it is.

How often do you read?
Every chance I get, which these days isn’t very often.

What books do you currently have published?
I have five books in the Hattie Davish Mystery series: A Lack of Temperance, Anything But Civil, A Sense of Entitlement, A Deceptive Homecoming and, the latest, A March to Remember.


Is writing your dream job?
Absolutely! When I was little I envisioned a scene from my future—I was in my study in my home on Beacon Hill, Boston, writing diligently at my typewriter (yes, I’m that old) with a Basset Hound at my feet. I am lucky enough to say I’ve had two of the three dreams come true! (I may someday still get to live on Beacon Hill!)


Beacon Hill is a dream of mine too. If you could only watch one television station for a year, what would it be?
That’s an easy one-PBS. With few exceptions, it is the only television station I watch.

What’s one thing you never leave the house without (besides your phone)?
I never leave without a tissue, a packet of tissues, if I’ve planned ahead. I have allergies and am ALWAYS in need of tissues.

What’s your favorite beverage?
I have two favorites: tea and seltzer water. I prefer black tea but have tried and like a wide spectrum of different teas. I usually have a nice cuppa in the afternoon in one of my antique tea cups. Seltzer water is something I crave and drink plain throughout the day, every day.

What is your superpower?
I find things. Truly, if there is anything missing, lost, or misplaced in my household, I’m the one who finds it every time. And if there is a piece of information someone needs, I’m the go-to person. It helps that I’ve been trained as a biologist and a librarian. But inquiring minds beware. One cannot idly mention a need for information, for, like many with superpowers, I feel compelled to use my powers whether they asked for it or not! But fear not, I’m very careful to use it for good.



What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do (nothing lost, missing, or misplaced!)?
I love to binge watch BBC TV mysteries. I’m currently watching WPC56 about the first woman police constable in England’s West Midlands in 1956.

Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
Of course! I think every writer “borrows” traits, good and bad, from people they know. And who else do they know better than themselves? (You don’t expect me to tell what they are though, do you?)

Of course . . . um . . . not! What’s your most visited Internet site?
When I’m writing, the site I visit the most is the Online Etymology Dictionary. I am constantly having to check whether a word or phrase is appropriate to my book’s time period.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
To be honest, one of my favorite quotes is one I wrote myself completely by mistake! It happened in the course of writing an essay in French for French Literature class in college. I wanted to use the word “regardless” but couldn’t remember the French translation. I wrote myself a note on a post-it and stuck it to my lamp. A friend came in while I was still writing and said, “Wow, that’s such a great quote. I love it!”  I had no idea what she was talking about and told her so. When she read the note out loud, I realized her wonderful mistake. It read: "Look Up Regardless." I’ve tried to take my own inadvertent words to heart ever since.


What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
My first job out of college was training monkeys named Billy, Bob and Hank. Hank was by far my favorite. He never bit or scratched me once.

How do you like your pizza?
Growing up in Upstate New York, I definitely have a preference for traditional New York style (with mushrooms!). But who am I kidding? I’d eat almost any kind of pizza. In Montreal, I had some of the best “white” or garlic pizza and when I lived in Finland, I even ate pizza with corn and tuna fish on it!

What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
A slideshow of all my family photos. I just checked and the picture was of my dog lounging by the fire pit in the backyard followed by a picture of my daughter “helping” me bake. Every picture makes me smile.

What’s your biggest pet peeve about writing?
Having to get through that first draft. It is always awful and such a chore. I love it when I’m finally done and can go back and fix everything!



What are you working on now?
I’m working on developing a new mystery series. Stay tuned to find out more.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anna Loan-Wilsey, biologist, librarian, and author, writes the historical Hattie Davish Mystery series featuring a Victorian traveling secretary who solves crimes in every historic town she visits. The first in the series, A Lack of Temperance, set in 1890’s Eureka Springs, Arkansas, (an Amazon #1 bestseller) was followed by Anything But Civil (set in Galena, IL), A Sense of Entitlement (an iBook #1 bestseller set in Newport, RI), and A Deceptive Homecoming (set in St. Joseph, MO, Hattie’s hometown). A March to Remember finds Hattie caught up in the political intrigues surrounding Coxey’s Army and the first “march” on Washington, D.C. Anna lives in a Victorian farmhouse near Ames, Iowa with her family where she is happily working on new mystery adventures.

Connect with Anna:

Website  |  Blog  |  
Facebook  |  
Twitter  |  Goodreads 

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

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FEATURED AUTHOR: CARL BROOKINS

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Inside Passage is an adventure thriller set primarily on the waters between Campbell River, British Columbia, and Seattle, Washington. It is the story of one man’s successful effort to find justice and peace after the murder of his wife and her friend by ruthless gun runners. It offers moving descriptions of magnificent mountain scenery and the sea, storms, explosive action, murder, loss, love, and redemption.

INTERVIEW WITH CARL BROOKINS

Carl, how did you get started writing?
I cannot remember a time when I didn't write. My parents encouraged me to read and apparently treated my early scribbles as sensible. My mother disagreed with librarians who wanted to keep me out of the adult sections and restrict my book choices to those in the children sections. I have always appreciated good, thoughtful, well-constructed writing. Shakespeare is my favorite writer in the English language. He has great plots, marvelous creative use of the language, and an innate sense of pace that is unequaled. Did you know there are almost a thousand phrases in current use in English that can be traced to his invention?

I achieved second place in a writing contest from a Western  pulp magazine when I was in the seventh grade! Nearly every job I've ever held, including several temporary summer jobs, included a writing component. Writing is part of my DNA, but then, so is talking.

Do you have a writing routine?
When I decided I wanted to try writing serious fiction, I was still employed full time in a position which usually required my presence in the office. I was an adult student college counselor. I had appointments. Hence I developed a routine of getting up quite early, usually between five and five-thirty and writing at typewriter and computer. After an hour or so I would get dressed and go off to my office. Sometimes I worked on  manuscripts in the evening, but usually not. I did spend many weekends writing all day. Now I don 't do that so much. Weekends are reserved for other activities although many times they are writing related, such as appearing at or attending book events or conventions or traveling between events and home. I don't do much writing on tour, but I do communicate and often edit a current project.

What’s more important – characters or plot?
My answer—it depends! An author singularly focused on thrillers or multiple murders, terrorism, has to develop and maintain a strong active plot. Most good detective stories, whether run by amateurs or professional detectives, need a crime as motivation, but the interaction of interesting characters usually enriches and enlarges the scope of the story. Sometimes that gets away from you and you discover meandering tales in which the characters become so enamored of themselves and their talent or intellect that the story gets lost.  Authors of crime fiction who do not narrowly focus their concentration may lose important threads and thereby damage their tales. So the question has no obvious or easy answer. I try to maintain a clear focus whether I'm writing a thriller or a detective story. I want authors I read to do the same thing and that means making specific choices. Of course, if you are enormously talented and highly popular, you can probably ignore this advice at your pleasure.

What books do you currently have published?
About a dozen crime novels, in three separate categories. I began with an adventure series in which my main characters, a husband and wife are recreational sailors, and I can place them  in interesting and exotic places like the Caribbean where Red Sky is set. I get lots of ideas for stories that are simply inappropriate for Mary Whitney, although the series does allow me to explore the mind and activities of a strong intelligent woman. My private detective came about because I wanted to write something a little humorous as well as crime-focused. He's a short fellow with a tall wealthy girlfriend. There's a satirical  element to them and a nod to a writer I really liked as a kid, Richard Prather. He wrote the highly successful Shell Scott detective series in the 1950s. I also write about my life as a student counselor for a new and highly experimental (at the time) college for working adults. More cozy fiction from an amateur detective.

What is the worst job you’ve ever had? What did it teach you?
For a time I sold hardware and photographic equipment for a national retail chain. They had a dress code, and a number  of arbitrary rules that often made no sense. Worse, some of the rules inhibited sales which seemed odd to me. Sales people on the retail floor were required to wear a shirt and tie. Shirts were quickly dirtied because tools and nails and nuts and bolts were not packaged in plastic boxes, they were in bins and had to be handled. The photo department on the main floor, developed a reputation for ignoring the rules of decorum. We were loud and laughed and seemed to be having a good time. That attracted customers and we had really good sales records. That didn't matter as much as that we were sometimes noisy in the process of celebrating success with customers. I learned that rigid rules in most circumstances were frequently a hindrance to getting the job done and that managers needed to work with staff instead of maintaining hard-line ruling. When the manager in the tower made a ruling, it usually meant that he (the most inflexible managers were always men) either didn't understand the situation or he was unwilling to try to fix a bad situation.

Do you have any marketing tips you could pass on to indie authors?
Listen and learn. Know there are a thousand scam artists out there eager to take your money. Take in all the advice you can possibly acquire from many different sources and then follow your heart. Be cautious, be wise, work hard and be patient.

If you could only watch one television station for a year, what would it be?
Our local PBS station. We support the station. I worked as a producer, director, program manager, and general station manager for public television stations for many years. But I'd miss the local news.

How often do you tweet?
A couple times a week. I'm more active on other platforms.

How do you feel about Facebook?
I feel fine about it. I use FB to comment on political and social events and views, I promote causes, ideas, and my books and reviews. I also promote my family. I believe too many authors—who are nearly all creative thinkers—are too reticent about speaking and  writing about current affairs.

What’s one THING you never leave the house without (besides your phone).
I don't carry a phone. My wife has a cell, but I do not. I never leave home without my camera.

What’s your favorite beverage?
Good single malt scotch. I'm partial to Glenmorangie.

What do you wish you could do?
Go back in time and finish my Master of Communication Arts degree at Michigan State University.

What’s your least favorite chore?
Changing the bed sheets because it hurts my back.

Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
Absolutely! I wish I could make it permanent, as does my wife.

What’s one thing that drives you crazy?
Racial, gender, and religious intolerance.

What’s in your refrigerator right now?
White wine, orange juice, milk, lettuce, eggs, snacking cheeses, jams and jellies, sandwich meats, bacon, and butter.

Where is your favorite library, and what do you love about it?
The new Ramsey County library; great staff, excellent accommodations, convenient parking and an affiliated coffee shop.

If you had a talk show who would your dream guests be?
Actually, with two dear fellow authors, Ellen Hart and Kent Krueger, I had a cable talk show which ran weekly for nearly three years. We interviewed agents, authors, publishers, bookstore owners and anybody else in the book business we could entice. They were all dream guests (even the difficult ones).

Describe yourself in 5 words.
Progressive, tolerant, smart, stubborn, aging.

What’s your favorite color?
Blue, all variations of blue, but intense ocean blue is best.

What are you working on now?
A crime novel featuring an older Travis McGee-type and his honey, a former stripper and show girl.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Before he became a mystery writer and reviewer, Carl Brookins was a counselor and faculty member at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Brookins and his wife are avid recreational sailors. He is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Private Eye Writers of America. He can frequently be found touring bookstores and libraries with his companions-in-crime, The Minnesota Crime Wave.
 
He writes the sailing adventure series featuring Michael Tanner and Mary Whitney. The third novel is Old Silver. His new private investigator series features Sean NMI Sean, a short P.I. The first is titled The Case of the Greedy Lawyers. Brookins received a liberal arts degree from the University of Minnesota and studied for a MA in Communications at Michigan State University.

Connect with Carl:
Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads

Buy the book:
Amazon  

FEATURED AUTHOR: M PEPPER LANGLINAIS

ABOUT THE BOOK

In 1960s London, British Intelligence agent Peter Stoller falls in love with a cab driver and his life goes off the road. When his lover is accused of being an enemy agent, Peter manages to extract them both, but the seeds of doubt have been planted. Is ignorance truly bliss or merely deadly?


INTERVIEW WITH M PEPPER LANGLINAIS

How did you get started writing?
Oh, the pat answer is to say I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. Which is true. I used to make magazines for the kids in my neighborhood and fill them with made-up stories and crossword puzzles. In middle school I wrote a book based on characters my best friend and I had made up—a pair of sleuthing sisters called the Hemlock Sisters. In high school I used to write in this notebook—it was an ongoing soap opera story, and it would get passed around and then returned to me so I could write the next chapter. So I’ve really just been writing forever.

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
Living as a lot of different, interesting people. I love exploring character. And I love building their worlds for them, their lives.

Do you have a writing routine?
I should be more disciplined about it. Mostly I faff about online and then finally feel guilty enough to start working. I do better when I know people are excited about it, when I have them cheering me on. Then again, that adds a lot of pressure, too.

Do you write every day?
Yes, despite my procrastination. There are very few days I don’t write at least a little. I start to get cranky and unpleasant if I go very long without writing.

What do you wish you’d done differently when you first started the publishing process?
Been more patient. I still wish that. We all want to be done as soon as possible, but the truth is, in order to have a good book you have to take your time with it. It’s not perfect after one draft. You can’t type “The End” and then immediately start sending it out, or immediately self-publish it. Not if you want it to be the best possible work it can be.

What do you think is hardest aspect of writing a book?
The actual sitting and writing is difficult for me. If oral storytelling were still a thing—if I could make a living that way—I’d find that much easier. The thing is, once the book is published, it becomes a static thing. I know you can always go revise an e-book, but in general there is a sense of permanence that . . . It makes me want to get it right, get it perfect. And putting the words on paper (or computer screen), I know it will never be perfect. It can be damn good after lots of work, but once it’s done, it’s done. When you tell a story verbally—this is like live theatre versus something filmed—it’s living and breathing and can change a little every time you tell it. You can always make it better, closer to perfect. I’m not sure I’ve answered your question, but in a nutshell, the pressure to get it right is one of the hardest things about writing.

What’s more important – characters or plot? (You cannot say both!)
I’m a character writer. I believe character informs plot. My books are about people and how they act and react to situations. So I begin with character, with knowing a person, and then test them with plot.

How often do you read?
Every day, even if only for a few minutes over my lunch.


What do you think makes a good story?
I think it’s subjective. And I think it depends on what you’re looking for at any given moment. A good story is any story that suits my mood or serves my need at the time.

What books do you currently have published?
I have three Sherlock Holmes stories, an anthology of short stories, and an odd duck novel about reincarnated Greek gods on a film set. And then my latest is The Fall and Rise of Peter Stoller, which is a British spy novel set in the 1960s.

Do you have any secret talents?
I don’t know if it’s a talent, but I read Tarot cards and astrology charts as a hobby. I’m also the person my friends come to when they need a dream interpreted.

Is writing your dream job?
I think if I had my druthers I’d be in a more social situation. Which is funny because I really do like to be alone and can’t work with other people even in the house. But I miss some of the camaraderie of working with others. I wouldn’t say no to being on a film set again, or in a writer’s room.

How often do you tweet?
Almost every day, I think, and sometimes two or three times a day if there’s anything interesting going on.

How do you feel about Facebook?
I resisted getting a Facebook author page for a long time, but now that I have one, I find I enjoy it. I’m still trying to get people to Like it, though. And I think Facebook has some underhanded practices in burying posts if you don’t pay to promote them.

For what would you like to be remembered?
I’d like to be remembered as a good author, plain and simple.

What scares you the most?
Failure. The idea that I’ve put in so much time and effort and it still wasn’t good enough.

Would you make a good character in a book?
No, I’m too boring. I think I’m good at dinner parties, good in short bursts, but not interesting enough to sustain a novel.

What’s one thing you never leave the house without?
Sunglasses. (I live in California.)

What do you love about where you live?
No snow! I can do cold, I can do wet, but I don’t do snow.


What’s your favorite thing to do/favorite place to go on date night?
I like fondue, or going bowling or miniature golfing. I like museums, too.

What's your favorite treat for movie night?
Buttered popcorn. Classic.

What’s your favorite fast food?
Wendy’s.


What’s your favorite beverage?
Dr Pepper.

What drives you crazy?
I have low tolerances for just about everything: noise, stupidity, a**hole drivers . . .

What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do?
I get bored really easily. If there’s nothing to do, I’ll hop in the car and drive around while listening to music really loud. Or go for a walk with my headphones in.

Where is your favorite place to visit?
London. My goal is to have a flat there one day. But I also love New Orleans, which is where my family is, and Savannah.

What would you name your autobiography?
Coloring My Roots.

What’s your least favorite chore?
Cleaning the bathroom. Because ew. But I do it. Because if you don’t . . . ew. It’s just ew all around.


Would you rather be a movie star, sports star, or rock star?
Movie star. Or an actor at any rate. I loved being on stage.


Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
Probably, but not consciously.

What’s in your refrigerator right now?
All kinds of things. A lot of cheese, and some pork chops and bacon and sausages. Brussels sprouts, carrots, berries (for the kids; I’m allergic). Refried beans, black-eyed peas, yogurt, chai, milk, soda, apple juice, eggs, and a massive collection of salsas.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
There’s a line in a Tabitha’s Secret song: “All is nothing in moderation.” It took some noodling for me to understand that, but now that I do, I really like it.

What would your main character say about you?
I have no idea. Peter is very reticent, can be somewhat inscrutable. One might never know what he honestly thinks of you. That’s great for his work as a spy, but it makes getting to know him difficult and causes real trouble in his relationship with Charles.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?
A paper for school maybe? Or I was once commissioned to write a screenplay for an indie director, and I found it very difficult to write because he wanted something that was outside my usual realm. It took me a long time, but it turned out well, I think. He plans to make the movie when he can get funding.

Where is your favorite library and what do you love about it?
We have a beautiful library in our town, and I love the café they have there—I meet friends there from time to time. They also have a great little used book shop.

Who is your favorite fictional character?
I guess I should say Sherlock Holmes since that’s what I’m known for. He’s fun to play with, has so many layers. But if we’re talking about something completely outside of anything I write . . . I like Peter Grant (from Ben Aaronovitch’s series).

If you had a talk show who would your dream guests be?
Rob Thomas, Robert Downey Jr. . . . Just people named Rob in general, I guess. Oh, except also David Tennant. But we’d call him Rob just to keep from confusion.

What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
Well, if my kids are to be believed, I’m actually a dragon in human form. (This was actually the inspiration for a young adult fantasy novel I just finished writing.)

You have a personal chef for the night. What would you ask him to prepare?
I like comfort foods. Down-home stuff. I’d ask for some chicken fried steak with gravy, some sausage jambalaya. Fried mac ‘n’ cheese balls or something.

How do you like your pizza?
New York style with lots of pepperoni.

What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
A painting of Westminster in London (Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament).

What’s your favorite song?
Do I have to pick just one? I’m sure it changes with my mood, but I’ve recently enjoyed rediscovering Steve Winwood’s “Roll With It.”

What’s your biggest pet peeve about writing?
That it takes so long. The process of getting something from my head to paper, and then getting it sorted so that it makes sense to readers . . . It’s exhausting and takes a long time.

What would you do for a Klondike bar?
I wouldn’t. I don’t mind Klondike bars, but I’m not any huge fan of them.

What is your favorite movie?
Young Sherlock Holmes. I used to come home from school every day and—no exaggeration—pop it into the VCR and watch it while doing my homework. Every. Single. Day. And I still love it.

Do you have a favorite book?
There’s not any one book I’d call my favorite. I’d say Richard Adams’ Watership Down and Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s The Changeling have had the biggest impact on me though.

If you had to choose a cliché about life, what would it be?
It isn’t fair. It’s not a meritocracy, you know. That’s been a big let down in life. Sometimes you work really hard and you still don’t win. Sometimes people who didn’t work as hard, or whose work wasn’t as good, still get ahead. The best way to keep that from bothering you is to only focus on doing the best you can. Don’t compare yourself to others because you’ll only find reasons to be unhappy.

What are you working on now?
As I mentioned above, I just finished a young adult fantasy novel, so I’m looking for agents or publishers for that. I anticipate it being the first in a trilogy. And now I’m writing a Regency romance because I needed something light and a little silly after Peter and the YA novel, both of which have a lot of weight to them. I’ll be writing more Sherlock Holmes in the future, too, and possibly another book in the Peter Stoller series; I have an idea of making his assistant Simeon the center of the next one.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M Pepper Langlinais is best known for her Sherlock Holmes stories. She is also a produced playwright and screenwriter. She lives in Livermore, California.


Connect with the author:
Website   |  Blog  |   
Facebook  |   
Twitter  |   
Goodreads  |  

Buy the book:
Amazon (US)   |    Amazon (UK)   |    Smashwords   |     iBooks   |   Kobo   |   Nook   

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Cover Reveal: Gold-Diggers, Gamblers and Guns

I'm happy to welcome back Ellen Mansoor Collier to reveal the cover art for the third book in her Jazz Age Mystery series. Read my interview with Ellen and an excerpt from Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets (book #2) here, and find an excerpt from Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play (book #1) here. Want a chance to win a copy of Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets? Enter Ellen's Goodreads giveaway here. But hurry...the giveaway ends April 1. And now, the wait is over! I'm excited to show you the cover art for book #3 of Ellen's cozy mystery series, Gold-Diggers, Gamblers and Guns.

Gold-diggers, Gamblers and Guns,
A Jazz Age Mystery #3

Ta da...

Artist: George Barbier (French Deco Artist)

About the book:

Gold-diggers, Gamblers and Guns A Jazz Age Mystery #3

After Downtown Gang leader Johnny Jack Nounes is released from jail, all hell breaks loose: Prohibition Agent James Burton’s life is threatened and he must go into hiding for his own safety. But when he’s framed for murder, he and Jazz must work together to prove his innocence. Johnny Jack blames Jasmine’s half-brother Sammy Cook, owner of the Oasis speakeasy, for his arrest and forces him to work overtime in a variety of dangerous mob jobs as punishment. A second murder heats up the turf battle between real-life rival gangs, the Downtown and Beach gangs. Meanwhile, Jazz tries to keep both Burton and her brother safe, and alive, while they face off against a common enemy.

Other books in the Jazz Age Mystery series:

Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play, A Jazz Age Mystery, #1

Boardwalk Empire meets The Great Gatsby in this soft-boiled Jazz Age Mystery, inspired by actual events. Prohibition is in full swing in 1920s Galveston, Texas: the "Sin City of the Southwest." Jasmine Cross, a young society reporter, feels caught between two clashing cultures: the seedy speakeasy underworld and the snooty social circles she covers in the Galveston Gazette. 

During a night out with her best friend, Jazz witnesses a bar fight at the Oasis--a speakeasy secretly owned by her black-sheep half-brother, Sammy Cook. But when a big-shot banker with a hidden past collapses there and later dies, she suspects foul play. Was it an accident or murder?



Soon new Prohibition Agent James Burton raids the Oasis, threatening to shut it down if Sammy doesn't talk. Suspicious, he pursues Jazz, but she refuses to rat on Sammy. As turf wars escalate between two real-life rival gangs, Sammy is accused of murder. To find the killer, Jazz must risk her life and career, exposing the dark side of Galveston's glittering society.

Buy Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play

Bathing Beauties, Booze & Bullets, A Jazz Age Mystery #2


It’s 1927 in Galveston, Texas—the “Sin City of the Southwest.” Jasmine (“Jazz”) Cross is an ambitious 21-year-old society reporter for the Galveston Gazette who tries to be taken seriously by the good-old-boy staff, but the editors only assign her fluffy puff pieces, like writing profiles of bathing beauties. The last thing Jazz wants to do is compare make-up tips with ditzy dames competing in the Miss Universe contest, known as the “International Pageant of Pulchritude and Bathing Girl Revue.”

She’d rather help solve the murders of young prostitutes who turn up all over town, but city officials insist on burying the stories during Splash Day festivities. After Jazz gets to know the bathing beauties, she realizes there’s a lot more to them than just pretty faces and figures. Jazz becomes suspicious when she finds out the contest is also sponsored by the Maceos, aspiring Beach Gang leaders and co-owners of the Hollywood Dinner Club, where the girls will perform before the parade and pageant.

Worse, her half-brother Sammy Cook, owner of the Oasis, a speakeasy on a rival gang’s turf, asks her to call in a favor from handsome Prohibition Agent James Burton—-an impossible request that could compromise both of their jobs and budding romance. While Agent Burton gives her the cold shoulder, she fends off advances from Colin Ferris, an attractive but dangerous gangster who threatens Sammy as well as Burton. In the end, she must risk it all to save her friends from a violent killer hell-bent on revenge. Inspired by actual events.

Buy Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets

About the author:

Ellen Mansoor Collier is a Houston-based freelance writer and editor whose articles and essays have been published in several national magazines including: Family Circle, Modern Bride, Glamour, Biography, Cosmo, Playgirl, etc. Several of her short stories have appeared in Woman's World.
 A flapper at heart, she's the owner of DECODAME, specializing in Deco to retro vintage items.


Formerly, she's worked as a magazine editor, and in advertising/marketing and public relations. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Magazine Journalism. Bathing Beauties, Booze and Bullets is the sequel to Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play, her first novel.


"When you grow up in Houston, Galveston becomes like a second home. I had no idea this sleepy beach town had such a wild and colorful past, and I became fascinated by the legends and stories of the 1920s."

Connect with Ellen:
Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Giveaway* | Amazon

*Giveaway ends April 1. 

Featured Author: Ciar Cullen

Virtual Writers Inc. brings Ciar Cullen here today with her historical/paranormal book, Lillian Holmes and the Leaping Man, published by Boroughs Publishing Group. After you leave here, check out the Facebook party page and the Goodreads event page.

About the book:

At the cusp of the twentieth century, an heiress turned detective enters a world of deception and danger and must learn to trust her nemesis with both her life and her love.



Tormented by a tragic past, Miss Lillian Holmes nonetheless found the strength to go on, to become the greatest female detective of her time. To make her uncle proud. Except...he was not truly her uncle. Sherlock was a fictional character, and Lil was less a true detective than a sheltered twenty-six year old heiress with taste for mystery...and morphine. But then she saw him. Leaping from her neighbor’s second-story window, a beautiful stranger. With the recent murders plaguing Baltimore, here was a chance to reveal the truth.



Except, the Leaping Man was far more than he seemed. A wanton creature of darkness, an entry point to a realm of deception and evil, and to a Truth she had waited countless years to uncover, he would threaten far more than Lillian’s life. He would take both her heart and soul. And she would rejoice in it.

INTERVIEW WITH CIAR CULLEN

Ciar, by my count, this is your sixteenth published book. Wow. How long have you been writing, and how did you start?

I started writing about 7 years ago or so. I’d done a boatload of nonfiction writing in the day job (I was in publishing for years), but no fiction. I think what I first wrote was actually Lord of the Rings fan fiction, but I didn’t know what fan fiction was or what to do with it, so heck, I just subbed it to a publisher. Ha ha! Sometimes it’s best to be naïve. I’ve been a voracious reader my whole life, and literally sat down and started writing on a whim. I suppose in some deep recess of my psyche, it was more than a whim, but that’s how it felt at the time.

What do you like best about writing?

Because, as Nora Roberts so eloquently put it, “writing is hard,” I’m pretty happy when a book is finished. But there are moments, sometimes many of them strung together, in which time and space go away and you’re really in the zone, in the characters. I love that feeling. It’s difficult to come back to the real world after one of those “episodes.” I hate promotion. Simply hate it. And the worry about sales. I think a lot of writers are introverts (not shy, there’s a huge difference), and we’d rather just enjoy the quiet around us, and listen to the noise in our brain.

I totally agree. How did you come up with the title Lillian Holmes and the Leaping Man?

Lillian Holmes and the Leaping Man originally had “mysterious” in there too. It’s a nod to the era, to Sherlock Holmes stories, which obviously figure heavily here, and as for the leaping man? That’s a secret, for sure.

Do you have another job outside of writing?

I do. I am a bureaucrat at an ivy league school. It’s a nice environment, but I’m surrounded by scientists and often feel the lone dreamer in a crowd of 500. It’s a big department.

How did you create the plot for this book?

Um, what’s a plot? One page at a time. And I think that answers the next question as well.

Do you outline, write by the seat of your pants, or let your characters tell you what to write?

Seat of the pants, the whole way. My editor, Chris Keeslar, asked me to tell him what happens in the next two installments. Holy moly! I’m not sure what happens in chapter 2 until I open my computer and see what the characters have been doing while I’ve been at work.

I’m constantly on the lookout for new names. How do you name your characters?

For this book, I used a lot of family names. As it is set in my birthplace, Baltimore, my Irish, German, and British ancestry worked out fine. Schneider, Twamley, Cullen, Lillian, George, Phillip, Henry, Harry, even Aloysius (Al-u-ish-us)…all family names. For other names, I often simply look around at work and recombine first and last names. Shhh, don’t tell anyone.

Your secret's safe with me. What would your main character say about you?

Lillian would likely say that I’m a bit melancholy, like she is, but would be best to put my energies into something concrete, and stop all that dreaming. “Do not spend your time waiting for a handsome suitor, Miss Cullen. There are crimes to solve, adventures to be had. Now get dressed!”

I love her! Are any of your characters inspired by real people?

This book is about my family, in ways I can barely get my head around, much less describe. My grandmother was born in 1890, so her stories of growing up as a Victorian child still resonate loudly in my brain. My grandmother, mother and aunt were all “repressed adventurers” in a way, born into the wrong centuries. My Lillian is very much the embodiment of that longing. I am also Lillian myself, because as I wrote this, I had recently lost all members of my immediately family, and felt a bit of an abandoned orphan, as she does. This book is very close to my heart, and parts of it were actually quite painful to write.

What song would you pick to go with your book?

This is so cliché, I know, but my hero George Orleans would identify fully with Coldplay’s "Viva la Vida." Brooding, disillusioned, fall from grace and all that.

Which author would you most like to invite to dinner, and what would you fix me? I mean, him. Or her.

I have to cook for you? Um, we’re having Nutrisystem out of a box, is that okay? Actually, my specialties are spaghetti and meatballs (go figure, this Irish girl makes a mean sauce), or sauerbraten. Can we invite someone else cool? Nah, I prefer small groups. Or I can make some great Baltimore crab cakes and bake a pecan pie. That’s the ticket!

I'm totally there! How do you handle criticism of your work?

From my editor, I’m good. All good, and I’d like to think I’m easy to work with. I enjoy edits. From readers, as long as it’s sincere and sensible, also all good. I’ve actually learned a lot about what to improve upon from reviews. I take them to heart. The ones that drive me bonkers are things like “there are gay men in this book” for a M/M, or “not sexy enough” for an inspirational…

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?

I live in a teensy place so my writing spot is actually a cubby in the dining room. It’s just a little desk, my laptop and my hazelnut coffee. Oh, and usually a cat or two on my lap.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I think I mentioned I’m an introvert, so I’m happy knitting away, reading, going to the beach in the evening (while the husband surf-fishes), easy stuff. I do like travel, but time… ugh.

What are you working on now?

I’m writing Lillian Holmes and the Final Solution, in which my heroine continues her quest to find… I can’t give too much away… and to take on all the evil that besets her beloved city, and her beau.

Puleease come back and tell us about it when it's published!

Book trailer:

About the author:

Ciar (KEE-er) Cullen hails from Baltimore, Maryland. She started her academic life as a theater major, but when she learned she couldn't act her way out of a paper bag she turned to archaeology, another love. She earned her degree at Indiana University, summered on digs in Greece and England, landed a gig in New Jersey, and eventually went into nonfiction publishing. Her third career is as a bureaucrat at a university. She is married to a photographer and has two cats. Eventually she hopes to retire to a small cabin, with the same husband and more cats.

Ciar is not one of those authors who dreamt of writing since childhood. She took up virtual pen on a dare in mid-life and forgot to stop. She loves reading just about anything, but especially nonfiction. Some of her favorite novelists are Mark Twain, E.L. Doctorow, and Nora Roberts. When she¹s not reading or writing, she loves to knit, to study all things Major League Baseball, and to jog.

Connect with Ciar:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon author page 

Buy the book:
Amazon | Boroughs Publishing Group

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