Featured Book: The Judas Kiss

Today Tess Tremaine talks with homicide detective Benjamin Elijah Stanford, from Angella Graff's urban fantasy, The Judas Kiss. And keep scrolling and reading--you'll find an excerpt from the book and a chance to enter a giveaway.

About the book:

Judas’ Kiss haunts him 2 millenia into his unending existence. Torn between petty gods and their hunger for power, a faithless police officer slips further into machinations that have already cost the life of someone he loved. Mark’s story finally begins to unfold in the newest volume of Angella Graff’s well received series: The Judas Curse.

Just as Detective Ben Stanford is ready to put the past at rest, he’s pulled down once again into the chaos of gods, theology, and mystery. Told that his sister is alive and the two immortals, Mark and Judas, have been kidnapped by the treacherous goddess, Nike, Ben must find a way to rescue the pair before she can harness their powers.

While Mark waits alone, forced to write out the story of how their powers came to be, and Judas lay tortured by the angry Goddess, a reluctant Ben must enlist the help of an unwilling being from the ancient Norse Pantheon.
Time is ticking, and the hard-headed detective must use everything he learned in the past to prevent another disaster, which could potentially wipe-out the human race.

About the character:

Benjamin Stanford is a homicide detective for the San Francisco PD. Growing up with an alcoholic mother, Ben took care and raised his younger sister, Abigail. A hard-nosed Atheist, Ben will do anything to rationalize what he sees, and has no problem taking even his most loved ones to task when he feels he doesn’t have any other choice.

Tess Talks to Benjamin:

Ben, how did you first meet Angella?

As far as I know, she dreamed me up out of nowhere. Originally I was supposed to be some beer-guzzling frat-bro, and the twin brother of Abby, best friends with Judas and Mark.  Apparently her book took a really bizarre turn somewhere and here I am. Thanks a lot for that, by the way.

Want to dish about her?

God yes, please. What a sadist. I’m not even kidding. She’s written me with this hideous backstory, the kid who had to be the parent to his own mother and baby sister? Then killing everyone and just sort of knocking me around until I don’t know up from down.  She’s not my favorite person, let me tell you. And she’s extremely unfocused. 9uipl[mnk  I don’t know what she thinks she’s doing, trying to write a detective, but it’s a load of crap.  That’s all I’m saying.

That's just crazy. I'm so sorry for you. My author, Amy Metz is very nice. She let me meet a handsome man and fall in love. Sorry. I don't mean to rub it in. Although...she did put me through some pretty scary times. Hmmm...sorry, this isn't about me, is it? Did you ever think that your life would end up being in a book?

Absolutely not. What a joke. Of course when things started getting crazy and Greek gods started popping out of the freaking walls, I guess it just makes sense, doesn’t it?

Well, when you put it that way, yes...But Angella must have given you some nice parts in the book. Tell us about your favorite scene.

Any scene where I’m not being pummeled, physically or mentally. I was pretty impressed with reading Mark’s back story, and I had no idea how much he really went through. It changed my perspective on a lot of things.

I'm guessing you had a hard time convincing Angella to write particular scenes for you. What do you wish she would have written into the story?

As much as I begged for some time off, she just wouldn’t relent. All I wanted was a little time to heal, but she only gave me a short while.

That's just awful. What do you like to do you get a few minutes away from Angella?

I love to watch TV. Old 1970’s action flicks are some of my favorites. The more guns and bigger the explosions, the better. 

Oh, you men and your guns and explosions. If you could rewrite anything in your book, what would it be?

Well I’d probably keep my sister alive, to tell the truth. Actually all of it, just re-write all of it and leave me alone, you sadist!

Well, we certainly get how you feel about Angella. What do you think of your fellow characters? Tell the truth, now.

Oh, I have no problems telling the truth. Mark is a smarmy ass. He’s cocky and weird, and I can’t make heads nor tales of that guy. Jude, that guy is just a hot mess. He doesn’t make sense when he talks, he stares off into space, I just...I try and steer clear of that guy. Stella, well I love her, I really do, and that’s saying a lot for me because I do not love easily. She’s smart and strong, and she doesn’t take crap from anyone, and that’s important in a woman. As for the others, I could take them or leave them.

Do have any secret aspirations that Angella doesn’t know about?

I feel like I shouldn’t say here, she does not need that much control!

Understood. If you had a free day with no responsibilities and your only mission was to enjoy yourself, what would you do?

I would probably drink. A lot. Drink, sleep, eat something really bad for me, watch TV until my eyes burn, and absolutely refuse to answer any calls.



What are you most afraid of?

All of this being real. Obviously these gods or whatever, they’re something, but the thought of them being right, I think, is the scariest thing in the world to me.

What aspect of Angella’s writing style do you like best?

She has a great grip on dialogue, and when she works hard, her descriptive scenes are pretty awesome. I think she’d do a great job writing a historical novel, maybe about Mark, let me rest in peace for a while.

If your story were a movie, who would play you?

I’m sure Angella would pick one of her snarky British actors she’s so in love with, but I think I’d like to see a real down to earth guy tackle my role. Maybe Mark Ruffalo?

Will you encourage Angella to write a sequel?

Please no. No. Get a new hobby. How about just kill us all and just be done with it!

Darlin', you really need to come to Goose Pimple Junction. You are way too stressed. 

Excerpt from The Judas Kiss

I had one chance, and that was to beg Yosef to take me in. When my grandfather couldn’t find me, he’d eventually leave Alexandria and I would be free. I couldn’t live in the Senate and debate with those horrible old men about things I didn’t know or didn’t care about. I wanted to be free to learn everything, to take my place in my life with the people I chose, and I couldn’t have it any other way. Any other way, and I would die.

It wasn’t long before my grandfather retired for the night; he was very old and when he slept, he didn’t hear me creep out the front door and hurry down the street. It was late, the moon was shining full overhead, and I navigated my way through the streets with ease.
I knew the house of Yosef would be asleep, but I was counting on Yosef to be working fierce into the deep, early morning hours. I could hear the rough scraping sounds as he rubbed down wood as I turned the corner. Bypassing the front door, I crept to the side and around to the back where he was.

He was working by moonlight, the full moon providing him with exactly what he needed, and as I stepped up to the table, he startled. “What are you doing here?” he hissed when he realized it was me. “Makabi, do you realize how late it is?”

“My mother died,” I said miserably, and for the first time since she’d gone, I cried. I was just a small boy right in that moment, letting my sack slide down my leg and I crumpled to the ground.

Yosef came around the table and picked me up, holding me tight as I sobbed, feeling her loss, grieving for the loss of her life, and the loss of the future that I had so desperately wanted. “Hush now,” he said, rocking me slightly.

It only took a few moments for the sobs to subside and I wiped at my face with a dirty palm. “My grandfather wants me to go to Rome.”

“I see,” he said slowly.

“I don’t want to go,” I continued. “I want you to take me in. Please.”

“I can’t,” he said, letting his hand rest on my shoulder. “You’re young and I know you are happy here, but you’re a Roman citizen, Makabi. I can’t take you in.”

“I’m just a kid,” I cried, and then fell again into sobs so fierce that as Yosef sat there and rubbed my back, I fell asleep.

I woke the next morning lying on the floor next to Yehuda. Although the twins were mirror images of each other, I’d learned to recognize the subtle differences between them. Yeshua also carried a light but etched scar on his right temple, the product of an accident when he was very young.

I scrubbed at my face, yawning and blinking against the sun’s first rays pouring in through the open door. As I stirred, Yehuda did as well, and he looked as surprised to see me as I was to find myself on their floor.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

“I um,” I said and looked around. My bag was lying in the corner of the room neatly, and I’d been tucked in by a rather rough covering made from material I didn’t recognize. “My mother died,” I finally said.

Yehuda’s face fell. “I’m sorry.”

“My grandfather wants me to go to Rome. I came to beg your father to take me in.”

This obviously worried Yehuda, and he crossed his arms as he stood up, stretching his back just a little. “Keeping you from your grandfather could put my parents in danger,” he warned.

“I’ll hide. They’ll never know, and if they find me, I’ll take the blame,” I begged.

“We’ll let you stay here, but if anyone comes looking for you, I’m afraid we’re going to have to turn you over,” came the soft voice of Maryam from the doorway.

My eyes widened as I looked at her, and fought the urge to rush and hug her. My mother was gone now, and Maryam had always been so kind. “Thank you,” I whispered, trying my best not to cry.

“You boys need to eat,” she said, nudging the sleeping form of her younger son Yaakov. The twins’ smaller sisters were already awake, playing loudly outside as Yosef helped prepare a breakfast of dried fish and bread.

I offered them coins to help pay for food, but Yosef and Maryam refused to take money from me, claiming that they had no need of coins from a boy when they could feed me just fine. I didn’t argue, and simply followed the routine of the home, getting straight to work as I had done before my mother fell so ill.

The hard labor of etching and carving, polishing and hammering took my mind off of my dead mother, and my possible fate if my grandfather found me and took me to Rome. As the day passed, every footfall I assumed was that of a Roman soldier coming to take me away from this family and force me back to a place I didn’t want to be. But every footfall turned out to be nothing, and by the time the sun set and we sat around preparing to sleep, I felt more and more at ease that maybe the old man had forgotten me.

The truth was, until I was nearly a man, I thought my grandfather had just never bothered to look very hard. It was only when I was viewing some scrolls from Rome that I found out the old man had died that night, and no one had bothered to look for the young child that escaped the house. The servants had been reassigned, the house sold, and my name had been forgotten. My father never inquired about me, and my brothers had gone on to train and die in the service of the Caesar.

I’d been with the family of Yosef for almost half a year when it happened. It was the middle of the night, and we were sleeping soundly until I woke at the sounds of hushed, frantic voices.

“You think they mean to come for him?” came the fierce whisper of Maryam. She and Yosef were in another room, but through the silence of the night, their voices carried.

“I can only suspect yes,” Yosef replied in the same hushed manner.

Yehuda, who lay beside me, shifted, and in the dark, I could just make out one of his eyes open. “What’s going on?” he whispered almost inaudibly.

“I don’t know,” I hissed back. “I think your parents are arguing.”

We both rolled over onto our stomachs to listen. Our whispers had caused us to miss some of the conversation, but my stomach sank when I heard, “We have no other choice but to go.” That was Yosef, and he sounded absolute. “We need to leave now, Maryam, if we want to make it before they can reach the city and find where we’ve gone. They found him as an infant, they’ll find him again.”

“They must be talking about the men from the East coming for your brother,” I whispered.
The noise of footsteps caused Yehuda and I to throw ourselves back down and we both quickly tried to even our breaths, pretending to be asleep. Sounds of shuffling items filled the room, and after a few minutes, we were shaken awake.

“What’s going on?” Yehuda asked, attempting to sound like he’d been fast asleep.

“I have no time to explain. I need you to get your brothers up, and we need to pack the home,” Yosef said, not bothering to cover his voice much. “We have to leave.”

“Where are we going?” Yeshua asked, now awake and attentive.

“Back home. To Galilee,” Yosef said, his voice heavy and deep with regret.

I wasn’t sure what that meant for me as I sat there while the sons of Yosef began to scramble to put their most valuable things in sacks. After a few moments, Yosef fixed me with a firm eye. “Are you not intending to help, Makabi?”

“I wasn’t sure...” I said, trailing off. “What does this mean for me?”

“You asked me to take you in as one of my own, and I’ve done so. If we leave, you will come with us. Now get to work,” he snapped, but the edge was absent from his voice.

Flooded with pride and relief, I jumped up and began to grab and pack everything that Yosef pointed to. I wasn’t sure how we were going to carry it all, or how we were going to get to Galilee from Alexandria, but I was ready to go. Armed with packs of items from the home, and my small meager belongings, we started out on the road.

About the author:

Angella Graff was born and raised in the desert city of Tucson, Arizona. She married and became a mother very young, and after getting started with her family, began her University studies where she found her passion for creative writing, history and theology.
She now resides in Tucson with her husband Joshua, three children, Christian, Isabella, and Adia, and their three cats, Archive (Ivy), Lasciel, and Fix. She prefers to spend her days writing, gardening, and reading non-fiction theology theory books. Angella is also an avid, if not fanatic fan of Doctor Who and BBC Sherlock, which tend to dominate her dry, sarcastic humor, a lot of which is apparent in her writing.

Currently Angella is working on an Urban Fantasy series called The Judas Curse, involving extensive research into Mythos, Christianity and history. The first book of The Judas Curse, The Awakening, was released November 2012.

To learn more about the author, visit the Author Showcase and In A Nutshell Interview.


Connect with Angella:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon page

Buy the book:
Amazon  | Createspace

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fearured Author: Billie Thomas

Another of the fantastic four authors from Cozy Mystery Book Tours is here today. Don't miss the details of how to enter at the bottom of this post. In April, the main character in Murder on the First Day of Christmas, Chloe Carstairs, was here, and I'm delighted to have her author, Billie Thomas, here today. I love Billie's book as well as her sense of humor. Meet Billie Thomas and her debut novel...

About the book:

Finding a severed hand at a client’s house might throw lesser decorators off their games. But Chloe Carstairs and her mother, Amanda, won’t let a little thing like murder keep them from decking the halls. With a body under the partridge’s pear tree and a dead Santa in a sleigh, they have to crack the case before the killer strikes again – this time much too close to home.

Filled with laugh-out-loud humor, romance and a delightfully difficult mother-daughter relationship, this new series from Billie Thomas offers a fast-paced caper as these two southern ladies try to keep their very merry Christmas from turning into the Noel from hell.

Interview with Billie Thomas:

Billie, how long have you been writing, and how did you start?

I’ve been a writer since before I could hold a pencil. In school, I would actually write the books I did book reports on. (I can’t believe my teachers let me do that.) It always came so naturally to me that it was – and still is – a joy.

Do you have another job outside of writing?

I’m an Associate Creative Director at an advertising agency, which means I get to make a living writing. I come up with ideas for television commercials, radio spots, print ads, and websites. If you’ve had a craving for a Little Debbie snack cake or a burning desire to bundle your services with AT&T, you might have me to thank.

That's so cool! You're like a real live Peggy Olsen. Okay, Mad Lady, give me a tweet about your book. (140 characters or less.)

He was making a list. Checking it twice. Till someone put Santa permanently on ice. http://tinyurl.com/cqa323b

What books have you read more than once or want to read again?

If books were boys, I’d be considered a stage-five clinger. I latch onto one and won’t let go. I read the same books over and over, loving the way my interpretation changes – or doesn’t change – with whatever’s going on in my life at the moment. Some of the ones I go back to time and again are The Shining, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, A Confederacy of Dunces, all the Harry Potter books, all the Sue Grafton and Lee Harris’s books...man, I really do have a problem.

Not a problem--just a passion! What do you do to market your book? 


I let my main character Chloe Carstairs do most of my marketing. Chloe has her own website, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter accounts. She’s got her own distinct voice and personality, so I let her live in the spotlight. I prefer to stay under the paparazzi’s radar.

Something tells me you have just a distinct voice and fun personality as Chloe. She's obviously one of your imaginary friends. Do you have others?

I have my muse. Or maybe I should say she has me. I call her Stella because of her fondness for Belgian beer. We brainstorm ideas together – whether it’s for a book, an ad campaign or a problem I’m wrestling with in real life. When I’m writing, I make a concerted effort not to control the narrative. To jump in with how I think the story should go or what I need my character to do. I find if I let Stella take the lead while I daydream and free-write in my journal I catch her flights of fancy like butterflies in a net, which helps me make intuitive leaps in my writing – and, often, in my life – that surprise and delight me.

I love that. Does Stella have a sister you could send my way? Are any of your characters inspired by real people? Who?

Several of my characters are inspired by real people in my life. The mother-daughter relationship is like a greatest-hits version of the one I had with my own mother. When my mom died unexpectedly of an aneurism at the end of 2011, I was so glad I had this book and that it was the first in a series. Working on it makes me feel close to her.

Are you and Chloe alike?

Chloe and I are more than I’d like to admit, especially since I’m older than her. It doesn’t bode well for her that I’m still trying to solve the mystery of my own love life.

Tell us about your favorite scene in the book.

I love the scene in which Chloe questions Lance, the smarmy Pilates instructor about his affair with one of the women she considers a suspect. Here’s an excerpt:

     Lance Martin was strutting in from the pool like an over-tanned god in his tiny Stars-and-Stripes Speedo. Apparently, he was the only one who hadn’t noticed that the unheated water had him flying at half-mast. Ignoring two girls giggling by the smoothie machine, I approached him, my eyes fixed squarely on his.

     “Hey, Chloe-Jo. Whattaya know?” He gave a satisfied nod, as if he had known this moment would come and I was right on schedule.

     “Not much. Just wanted to ask you a couple of quick questions.”

     He smiled indulgently. Questions. Yeah, that’s what they all say.

     “It’s about Nancy Browley. One of your clients?”

     He nodded, fixing me with an intense look that probably made dozens of bored housewives slide the passenger seat of their SUV’s into the recline position. “I hear you,” the look said, “and I think what you’re saying is important.”

     Trying not to be completely grossed out as Lance toweled off his sinewy muscles in a suggestive manner, I pushed on. “It’s just that some people are saying you and she have more than a client-trainer relationship.”

     His intense gaze never wavered as he nodded thoughtfully.

     “I mean, I don’t care if it’s true. I’m certainly not some big stickler for the rules. I was just wondering if, you know, it was.” He was really weirding me out with that stare.

     “Was what?” he asked finally.

     “Was true.”

     “What’s true?”

     “That you and Nancy have a relationship.”

     “Nancy who?”

     I managed to hide my frustration, but really. That Speedo must’ve been tighter than it looked.

     “Nancy Browley. Are you guys...um...dating?”

     He smiled broadly, his towel now covered in the bronzer that enhanced his golden tan. God, I hate being single.

That is a great scene. What do you like to do when you’re not writing or interviewing smarmy Pilates instructors?


I love cooking, hiking with my Rhodesian Ridgeback, Kamali, and traveling. Every chance I get, I take off for somewhere exotic: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Peru, and Costa Rico just to name a few.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on the second in the Chloe Carstairs Mysteries series, Murder in a Two-Seater. After helping transform an old – and supposedly haunted – castle into a bed-and-breakfast, Chloe and Amanda find themselves embroiled in another investigation when the wife of their client winds up dead in a classic car.

I'm looking forward to reading it and having you back here to talk about it!

Hey, y'all, I told you Billie has a great sense of humor, and here's evidence in her tweets. They're always entertaining. Check it:

Recent Chloe Carstairs tweets:

• When I said add a splash of color, I meant throw pillows. Not blood splatter.

• Shift into neutral this season. Soothing earth tones make yellow crime scene tape pop.

• A cold draft, shadowy corners and creaky floorboards transform any room into a panic room!

• Color on the ceiling draws the eye upward. As will that body hanging from the rafters.

• A real wood fire adds instant ambiance. And quickly burns the will you’re left out of.

• Opt for heavy fabrics in light colors so your wingback chair won’t feel as cold and stiff as the body slumped in it.
  
  

About the author:

Billie Thomas works at an advertising agency, which might explain why she's constantly thinking up ways to kill people without getting caught. She lives in Birmingham, has a really cute boyfriend and an even cuter dog. She is a founding member of the writing collective, IndieVisible. Murder on the First Day of Christmas is her first novel. Other publications include Bar Code: Your Personal Pocket Decoder to the Modern Dating Scene.




Connect with Billie Thomas and her protagonist Chloe Carstairs:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Links to books
Amazon | Barnes & Noble 

The Fantastic 4 Cozy Mystery Book Tour Giveaway

There will be four prize packages:

Prize 1 (US/Canada only)
* a Kindle Touch
* a $15 Amazon.com giftcard

Prize 2 (International)
* a Kindle copy of Topped Chef and Bowled Over
* a $15 Book Depository giftcard

Prize 3 (International)
* a Kindle copy of Murder on the First Day of Christmas & Game Drive
* a $15 Amazon.com giftcard

Prize 4 (US/Canada)
* your choice of a cozy mystery paperback (up to $25 in value)

To enter:
1. Fill in the form here.
2. There is no requirement to follow any of the blogs participating, but we hope you will support these amazing blogs by following them. They do a great job, many of whom host for us every month.
3. Giveaway ends on May 15, 2013 at midnight and the winners will be contacted via email.

Featured Author: Peter J. Ochs II

About the book:

An MIT astrophysicist is called upon to continue the investigation of a lost civilization on the Arabian Peninsula after the unfortunate and untimely death of the expedition’s lead archeologist. Just why an astronomer is called upon a situation where he is evidently “a fish out of water” is not exactly clear, but his involvement is not accidental and his role becomes pivotal as the story develops.

The research revolves around the location of a cluster of lost cities in the southern Arabian Peninsula that was believed to have been settled over 3000 years ago by a group of people migrating from the Mediterranean with ties to Ancient Greece. This group appears to have been guided to the site by an enigmatic figure who continues to crop up throughout the history of the settlement even though the recorded evidence suggests that the settlement was active for over 800 years. Some time in its ninth century of existence, the civilization and its intriguing father-figure vanished abruptly somewhere about the time of the well known and chronicled collapse of a great earthen dam.

As sites are revealed and artifacts are recovered, the astronomer is drawn into a complex  scenario where his very actions will trigger the story’s climatic events and reveal the identity of the settlement’s mentor.

Interview with Peter Ochs

Peter, what made you decide to become a writer?

I had done some sporadic writing since my college years writing an occasional article or essay and an attempt at a screenplay, but I began in earnest in 1996 when I got the opportunity to write my first book, the Maverick guide to Oman which was eventually published in 1998. Having lived in Oman for several years, I saw the need for a guidebook in a newly developing market in the Middle East. I approached several publishers and eventually got the contract with Pelican Publishing of Gretna, Louisiana. Pelican specialized in guidebooks to off-the-beaten-track destinations, and this fit the bill perfectly.

What do you like best about writing?

What I like about writing is the freedom of expression of putting your feelings down.

What’s your least favorite thing?

What I dislike is rewriting. It is a lot harder to rewrite a book than it is to write it.

Agreed! How did you come up with the title of your book?

Without giving too much away, my original idea for the book, Eyes of the Sage, was based on an idea for an illustration of someone I admired (I was a struggling artist before I became a struggling writer). That illustration developed into the mosaic that is found in the book. There are other lingual turns of phrase that evoke the central character who is called “Al Ayn,” which is the Arabic word for “eye.”

Do you have another job outside of writing?

I am a Certified Interpretive Guide working in Yellowstone National Park.

Cool. How would you describe your book in a tweet? (140 characters or less.)

To paraphrase Umberto Eco from The Name of the Rose: To describe the book properly would take as long as the book itself, contrary to usage.

How did you create the plot for this book?

The early development of the plot arose out of the idea that this story, or plotline would be the basis for a role playing game involving player/characters to solve mazes and puzzles that were built into the story with emphasis on the puzzle solving. After successfully completing all the puzzles, the player/characters would be rewarded with a huge pyro-technic finale, which eventually made its way into the plot of the finished book. I actually made a “playable” version of the story done on a tabletop like an average RPG game with maps, cards and puzzle pieces.

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

A lot of the writing flowed naturally, so I would say it was mostly “seat of my pants” style however, as the characters took shape, sometimes they would dictate what I would write. This is especially true of the four main characters, Hatcher, Faridah, Stink and James. And once again, it flowed quite naturally as their personas took shape.

Love the name Stink. He'd fit right in with my Goose Pimple Junction characters. Cover art: Tell us about yours and how it came about.

As mentioned above, I was a graphic artist (and a book designer) for many years before I got into tourism.  So I prepared most of the graphic elements, including the cover, myself. In the book, which is profusely illustrated, you will see a hodge-podge of media as I used whatever I felt appropriate at the time: watercolor, colored pencils, pen and ink, computer graphics and my own photography. Some of the photos went through severe alterations in photoshop and as such do not exist in reality. (Others, including most of the pictures in Chapter 24, occur as they do in nature and only required minimal color correction. And the pièce de résistance, a 60 x 60 mosaic of the title character was generated on the computer, and as you may expect was the most time consuming.

As for the layout, I was very grateful to my publisher, Virtual Bookworm, to allow me to design the book, cover to cover, an advantage of using a POD publisher. This included layout, style, typefaces, chapter headings, initial caps, and so on. In the end, I am pleased to say that this is totally my baby.

What books have you read more than once or want to read again?

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
A Prayer for Own Meany by John Irving
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchins
The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem
Any book by Rudyard Kipling
Any book by Stephen Jay Gould
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer

That's quite a list! What’s your favorite line from a book?

"It is not worth the while to go round the world to count the cats in Zanzibar. Yet do this even till you can do better, and you may perhaps find some “Symmes Hole” by which to get at the inside at last...If you would learn to speak all tongues and conform to the customs of all nations, if you would travel farther than all travelers, be naturalized in all climes, and cause the Sphinx to dash her head against a stone, even obey the precept of the old philosopher and Explore thyself. Herein are demanded the eye and the nerve...Start now on that farthest western way, which does not pause at the Mississippi, or the Pacific, nor conduct toward a worn out China or Japan, but leads on direct a tangent to this sphere, summer and winter, day and night, sun down, moon down, and at last earth down too." -Henry David Thoreau, Walden
   
Tell us a book you’re an evangelist for.

With no pun intended, God is Not Great, by Christopher Hitchens.

Have you ever bought any books just for the cover? 

Rarely

What do you do to market your book?

Working through VBW, going around to local libraries and book stores.

How do you get to know your characters?

They evolve internally.  Some have facets taken from real people.

When you start a new book, do you know what the entire cast will be?

No. My book went through several cast changes, meaning some minor characters were added or deleted. Only one character went through a major change, when Rashid became Faridah and that allowed me to develop a romantic angle.

Which character did you most enjoy writing?

Probably Al Ayn, because it was so much fun to drop hints about who he really was.

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?

Without being too specific, yes.

If you could be one of your characters, which one would you choose?

Al Ayn, obviously.

Tell us about your favorite scene in the book.

Once again, without being too specific, there are several “Ah-ha!” moments where the reader discovers something that the characters, in the scheme of things, don’t yet know.  It’s fun to write like that and it makes the reader feel like he is privy to something special.

Where’s home for you?

Alexandria, VA

What’s one of your favorite quotes?

"I have a serious rule when it comes to drinking. Never, never drink unless you are alone or with somebody." (attributed to W.C. Fields)

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

Play Griddlers or any such grid puzzle, hiking and camping.

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

Switzerland, or anywhere there are mountains to climb.

If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Agra, India, to see the Taj Mahal.

What are you working on now?  

Selling my current book before I start another.

About the author: 

Peter J. Ochs II first went to the Sultanate of Oman in 1991 to work in the Reports Section of the Information Centre for the Ministry of Water Resources. As an art director, he assembled scientific texts and graphics into publication form, working with a team of expatriate and Omani Graphic designers. During that time, he had an opportunity to explore the country, both through his job and through weekend wadi bashing. (For those of you not familiar with this common expatriate activity, the act of wadi bashing consists of finding a wadi--which is the Arabic term for river, or river bed, since many do not have continuous flowing water--where you can have a picnic or camp.)

After two years, having amassed a great deal of information about this little known Arabic country, he decided to publicize Oman through writing, photography and artwork. In 1995 he prepared an exhibition of photographs and illustrations which was shown throughout New England at schools, libraries and cultural fairs, and more recently in 1998 at the National Council on US-Arab Relation’s presentation ceremony of the International Peace Award given to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Sultan of Oman.

In 1996, Peachey (as he is known by friends and colleagues) returned to Oman to write the first English language travel guide to be published in the United States, the Maverick Guide to Oman, published by Pelican Publishing of Gretna, LA. 

From 1998, he was living in Oman working in inbound tourism.  He managed a small company specializing in cultural/adventure tours. Here he designed itineraries, scheduled and conducted adventure/cultural tours, organized fam-trips, created brochures, posters, banners and other marketing material and promoted same, and trained incoming staff as tour guides. He also gave public lectures and slide shows to various cultural and social groups on inbound tourism in Oman using his photographs and illustrations. He has also written magazine articles for travel publications and was a regular contributor to the "Day Out" column in Oman Today. After the 9/11 tragedy, he returned home to the US.
Mr. Ochs is married and has children spread all over the map from the US to Singapore.  He and his wife Letchmi and their kids love to travel together and will go wadi bashing at the slightest provocation.

In 2009, Mr. Ochs obtained CIG status (Certified Interpretive Guide) from the National Association of Interpretation and has since served as historic yellow bus driver/guide at Yellowstone National Park.

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Featured Author: Elizabeth Delisi

Elizabeth Delisi just released her novel, The Midnight Zone, and she's here to talk about it and writing in general. She's also treating us to an excerpt from the book.

About the book:

When Cassie buys an antique compact, little does she know it can foretell the future--her future. Marjorie, a Florida girl unwillingly transplanted to Vermont, learns there's more to fear from the alien snowfall than just the cold. Neil Dallas's jagged descent from rock and roll singer to drug-addicted has-been is unstoppable . . . or is it?

Travel deep into unknown territory, where life and death are not as they seem; where you have to be careful what you ask for, because you might get it. These stories will take you beyond the realm of the solid and real, into the deepest, darkest corner of your imagination. Don't forget to bring your flashlight . . .

Interview with Elizabeth

Elizabeth how did you come up with the title The Midnight Zone? 



The stories in the collection have a “Twilight Zone” quality to them, so I wanted to evoke that kind of spooky mystery and chose “The Midnight Zone.”

Do you have another job outside of writing?



I also teach writing courses online at Writer’s Digest University.

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


Definitely, I’m an outliner. I feel lost without some idea of where the story is going. An outline is like a backup, there if you need it.

What books have you read more than once or want to read again?



Two favorite books I’ve read more than a dozen times are Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, and The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas.

What’s your favorite line from a book?



“The birds had awakened her early. She was not yet used to their flutterings and twitterings, Spring having arrived and unpacked before February’s lease was up.” From The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas.

When you start a new book, do you know what the entire cast will be?



I know the major characters, at least. Sometimes a minor character makes a surprise appearance.

If you could be one of your characters, which one would you choose?


Probably Lottie Baldwin from Fatal Fortune. She’s brave and brash and isn’t afraid to be different.

With which of your characters would you most like to be stuck on a deserted island? 



Probably Harlan Erikson from Fatal Fortune. He’d figure out how to get us rescued!

What song would you pick to go with your book?

The Twilight Zone theme, definitely.

How do you handle criticism of your work?

I cry, I pout, I eat lots of chocolate. After a while, I get over it and move on. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion.


Tell us one weird thing, one nice thing, and one fact about where you live.

Weird: “The Old Man in the Mountain,” the symbol of New Hampshire, fell down and was destroyed not long before we moved here.
Nice: New Hampshire has gorgeous fall foliage.
Fact: New Hampshire has a higher percentage of wooded land than any other state.

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

Read, knit, watch movies, play on my Kindle.

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

On our little piece of land in the White Mountains, where we intend to build and live someday.

If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Egypt, definitely, to see all the temples, tombs, and museums.

What are you working on now?

The sequel to Fatal Fortune, called Perilous Prediction.

Excerpt from Mirror, Mirror in The Midnight Zone

Cassie opened her compact and peered into the round mirror. Her nose looked a little shiny. As she reached for the powder puff, a movement in the mirror caught her eye. She saw the waiter bringing a drink to the woman at the table in back of her. Served in a pineapple, it had two gaudy red paper parasols and a large pink straw sticking out of the top. Cassie watched, amused, the puff arrested in its journey to her nose.

Suddenly, the waiter tripped. The pineapple slid down the length of the steeply-tilting tray to land, upside-down, in the woman’s lap.

“Oh!” Cassie gasped.

“What?” Laura asked.

“Did you see the waiter spill a drink all over that poor woman?”

Laura twisted in her chair. “No. Where?”

“Right behind me.” Cassie turned around. The table was empty. “I guess she already left. Maybe she went to the ladies’ room to clean up.”

“I didn’t see any woman at that table,” Laura said. “Are you sure?”

“I saw it in my mirror.” Cassie held up her compact.

“Ooh, let me see!” Laura reached for it. “This is lovely! Where did you get it?”

“I found it last week in an antique store on the Cape,” Cassie said. “It was a funny little shop, full of all sorts of peculiar things. I liked the compact so much that I went back the next day to look for another one; but I couldn’t find the place again.” She shrugged.

Laura rubbed her fingers over the engraved gold case, then opened it. “Here’s your problem. This old mirror is so cloudy, it’s no wonder you’re seeing things.” She snapped it shut and handed it back.

“Here comes our lunch.” Laura pointed to a waiter carrying a full tray. Diverted, Cassie forgot all about what she’d seen in the mirror.

An hour later, the two friends finished their meal. On her way out, absorbed in paying the check, Cassie didn’t notice a waiter spilling an entire pineapple full of liquor on a woman who had just been seated.

About the author:

Elizabeth is a multi-published, award-winning author of romance, mystery and suspense. Her time-travel romance set in ancient Egypt, Lady of the Two Lands, won a Bloody Dagger Award and was a Golden Rose Award nominee. Her romantic suspense novel, Since All is Passing, was an EPPIE Award finalist and Bloody Dagger Award finalist. Her paranormal mystery, Fatal Fortune, was a Word Museum Reviewer’s Choice Masterpiece. Elizabeth is also an instructor for Writer’s Digest University. She is currently at work on Deadly Destiny and Perilous Prediction, the sequels to Fatal Fortune, and Knit A Spell, a paranormal romance. Elizabeth lives in New Hampshire with her husband and feisty parakeet. She invites her readers to check out her website.


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Featured Author: Froukje Matthews

About the book:

This book covers ten topics that have come up time and again in her life as a Montessori teacher. These are issues every new parent without exception has struggled with and it is her desire to pass on what she have learned as a parent, a teacher and a ‘parent coach’.
Topics like sharing and discipline, tantrums and manners. It is not possible to talk about changing a child’s behaviour without talking about the role of parents in the context of a child’s life. However, parents too are learning new skills at the same time as they are supposed to teach their child what it is like to be human. That is no mean feat.
We act with good intentions, we do our best and yet the outcome is not as desired. Why is that so? This book will attempt to demonstrate how better results can be achieved by explaining what it looks like from the child’s point of view.

Read an excerpt of the book.

Interview with Froukje Matthews

How long have you been writing, and how did you start?

I have always been writing in the same way that an artist always draws or a musician is drawn to making music and a dancer must move…

I always recorded what I saw, experienced, felt using pencil and paper.

What do you like best about writing?

Using language as a tool to get across ideas, concepts, that is what I like.

What’s your least favorite thing?

The task of proof reading I like least of all.

How did you come up with the title of your book?

I didn’t, my illustrator did. He thought my title too boring!

Tell us about the artist.

The illustrator is my youngest son, a musician and an artist and a father. He was the  reason that I eventually got ‘my act together’ because he asked me the same questions as other new parents when he became a dad.

Do you have another job outside of writing?

I run Montessori Playgroups and Pre-school classes.

How would you describe your book in a tweet? (140 characters or less.)

My book is meant as ‘a snack for thoughts’ to be read over a cup of coffee and only a chapter at the time.

What books have you read more than once or want to read again?

Inspirational books I can read and re-read as well as books on human development on every level.

What’s your favorite line from a book?

"I’m on your side Charlie Brown." – Peanuts.

What do you do to market your book?

I have only just started to advertise locally, plan a celebratory evening, drop cards with the website to all relevant places that have anything to do with parents and children, go online, contact magazines and radio programs that feature anything to do with books, parents or children.

What song would you pick to go with your book?

Puff the Magic Dragon. That songs sums up early childhood for me...

Who are your favorite authors?

In the English language: Joseph Campbell, Dava Sobel, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens to name a few...

What are your favorite books or favorite authors

a) as a child: In the English language: Winnie the Pooh, Paddington 
b) as a teenager: Agatha Christie and Krishnamurti
c) as an adult: Joseph Campbell, Eckhart Tolle, Monica Dickens, Bill Bryson, and many many more...

Which author would you most like to invite to dinner, and what would you fix him?

I'd like to invite Chris Stewart Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Spain because I think he has so many yarns...and I don’t think he is a picky eater as long as it’s fresh!

What book are you currently reading and in what format (e-book/paperback/hardcover)?

Soft cover: Our woman in Kabul by Iris Makler.

Do you have a routine for writing?

I write best in the morning.

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?

I write best in between doing household tasks; I really don’t like sitting still for a long time.

Where’s home for you?

Australia.

Tell us one weird thing, one nice thing, and one fact about where you live.

One weird thing: When I just moved here I had a recurring dream that turned out to be part of this region’s history. The dream was like a snapshot of what had occurred here.
One nice thing: The sky is more often than not blue and the air is always filled with the sound of birds.
One fact: This seaside town used to be a whaler’s station.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?

"There’s more to life than meets the eye." – anonymous.

What three books have you read recently and would recommend?

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce Perry, and French Children Don’t Throw Food by Pamela Druckermann.

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

Reading, working in the garden, going for a walk and sitting on a terrace with a friend and have a cup of coffee.

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

France or Spain.

If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Brazil, China, and again France and Spain.

What are you working on now?

A second volume of ten topics parents of young children are confronted with.

The Terrible Ten

1.    Name one thing you couldn’t live without.

       Books.

2.    If you could only keep one book, what would it be?

        Emmanuel’s book.

3.    Your last meal would be…
      
        fresh garden salad.

4.    Would you rather work in a library or a bookstore?

        Bookstore.

5.    You won the lottery. What’s the first thing you would buy? 

        A flute.

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

        Sit on a terrace and watch the world go by.

7.    You’re driven to a private plane and told it will take you anywhere your want to go.
        Where would it be?

          Spain.

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

         A musician.

9.    Where would your dream office be?

         A shack on the river.

10.    If you could do only one, would you rather read or write?

          Write.

About the author:

Froukje Matthews studied for and trained as a primary school teacher in her native Holland, obtained Montessori teaching qualifications (3-6 and 6-9 cycles) in Australia, as well as a post-grad Diploma in Early Childhood Education from the QUT (Brisbane, Queensland). She taught Kumon Math to all ages, worked as and ESL teacher in Spain, and has run her own Montessori Playgroup and preschool for over twenty years. She speaks five languages and has lived in a number of countries.

She closely identifies with little children who learn their language from scratch and wants to help parents to become aware of what the learning journey is like for children under the age six. She is a grandmother, married to an artist and has three adult children.

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Featured Author: Robin Leigh Morgan

Robin Leigh Morgan is here today to talk about her book, I Kissed a Ghost, a MG/YA paranormal/time travel/first kiss romance.

About the book: 

Special day. Special time. Another kiss. It sounds as if these three things are all related to each other. But how are they related?

Interview with Robin Leigh Morgan

What do you like best about writing? What’s your least favorite thing?

Without any hesitation my favorite part of writing is typing that elusive final period of my manuscript and actually being able to get my book into the hands of people who I hope will enjoy reading.

Now on the other hand my least favorite part is the on-going, almost constant, editing, and re-reads I need to do.

How did you come up with the title of your book?

Selecting a title for a book had been a very challenging experience for me; but after racking my brain over it, I decided to merely summarize the premise for the entire story in as few words as possible until I had something which could be used as the title for my book. Hence, since the story is about a girl (Mary) and her kissing the ghost (George) she had living in her house; the story had to be called, I Kissed a Ghost.

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

If you’re asking me whether I’m a plotter or a pantser; I’d probably say a little of both. I make a skeleton of an outline, writing down the basic plot points I’d like to hit as the story unfolded; and as a sculptor starting with a wire base of what they’d like to have, I add material, then take some away. I keep on repeating this process until I have the finished product I had in mind.

How did you come up with your cover art?

I used CreateSpace to design my cover. I told them what my book is about as well as the elements I’d like to see in my cover. The first go around for some reason they missed the age group my book is intended for, and on the second go around they gave me the cover I have now and a cover which would have been appropriate for a slightly older audience. All in all I feel did a superb job on the book’s cover.

What do you do to market your book?

I do what all authors do, whether they’re traditionally published or self-published. I use the same social media networks as everyone else. I tried to have reviews done by individuals who I feel will fair in what they have to say. And I do interviews so my potential readers will be able to learn more about me, my writing, and of course, my book.

Do you have imaginary friends? When do they talk to you?

I wouldn’t say I’ve got any imaginary friends that I interact with as I write. However, I do read my dialogue out loud so I can “hear” how it sounds. Reading out loud is also a great way to find errors in what you’ve written simply because you’re using a different way to find them. If you just read what you’ve written after a while you become too familiar with what come next that you’ll pass over the errors. (This is true even if you have put the manuscript aside for a few weeks.)
                                                                                           
When you start a new book, do you know what the entire cast will be?

I believe I’d be like most authors. I knew who my main two or three characters would be, and depending on which way I decide to take the storyline will determine who my additional characters will be and how many I will have. When I typed that elusive final period for I Kissed a Ghost, I had eliminated about four characters; four nice characters who unfortunately didn’t do anything to help move the story along.

How do you name your characters?

I wanted my characters to have names which most readers would be able to relate to, which would mean the most popular names for people. Since the intended age group for my book is around 14 – 15, I’d need to know what these names were in the year they would have been born in; and the same would apply for all the other characters in the book.

Soon after I began writing this book I did a post on my web site where I discussed this matter. You can read it here.

How do you handle criticism of your work? 
                                                         
When it comes from a fellow author/writer, I never take criticism as criticism. I take it as a form of guidance and support from one author to another. Otherwise, I listen and then take whatever has been said with a grain of salt.


Do you have a routine for writing?
                                                                                    
Being retired has finally allowed me to really start a second career as an author. In addition to having published my first novel, market and promote it. I now have time to relax, socialize in the nearby community center at lunch, go shopping, etc. I’m set my own flexible schedule which includes time for writing my second novel, a yet untitled contemporary romance with a paranormal element running through the storyline. I don’t like having a rigid schedule now, I had enough of one for the 33+ years I worked nonstop; a schedule which did not really allow me time to pursue my writing career.

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?

In the second bedroom we have in our apartment, while some soft easy listening type music is playing. I use AOL radio because of the limited interruptions I get. The music acts like a white noise, blocking out most of the additional noises I might have still hear.

Where’s home for you? 

NYC Metropolitan area.

Do you ever get writer’s block? What do you do when it happens?"

It used to be allowing my mind to clear itself of almost everything related to my writing. Right now I’ve found participating in the several Flash Fiction prompts helps me get the creative juices flowing in those little grey cells I’ve got inside my head. You can read my endeavors in any of my blogs sites.

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

One of the things I really love doing is watching on NetFlix the TV shows I used to love growing up, and right now it’s the last four episodes of The Wild Wild West. 

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

Bermuda.

If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Hawaii

What are you working on now?
 
As I’ve stated above, I had started to write a contemporary romance but never completed writing it. Now with my debut YA novel self-published, I’ve returned to writing the romance manuscript I had started many years ago and approaching it anew with the knowledge I’ve gained along the way in writing I Kissed a Ghost. The reason I’ve returned to writing it is relatively simple, I’ve always felt somewhat incomplete not having completed something I once had started out to do, and I now want to fill the void it has created in my life.

Do you have any advice to an aspiring author?
                                                       
I’d tell them never give up living your dream of becoming a writer, as you can tell from reading about me, I never did. Before you start looking for a publisher, or even an agent, you MUST have your manuscript edited--granted the editor you select might miss a few minor points, but at least it’s now in a much more presentable condition. Publishers want manuscripts that can be easily edited by their own editing staff, without them having to correct countless misspellings and grammatical errors.

About the author:                                        

Robin Leigh Morgan is a retired NYC civil servant who’s been married for nineteen years but has no children. They have two cats. Her writing experience started with writing commentary type items for a community newspaper for almost eleven years.


If you would like to read several unedited snippets from the book, you can do so under the category of “GHOSTLY WHISPERS” on any of the author's blog sites:
My Pen Name Only |  Robin Leigh Morgan | Becoming An Author


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Featured Author: Chrissy Anderson

Last November, Chrissy Anderson was here to talk about her first book, The Life List, and she brought Leo, one of the main characters, too. We were also treated to an excerpt from that first book in the trilogy. I'm happy to report that the second book, The Unexpected List, is now out, and Chrissy is back with a guest post and another excerpt. She's also received A Blue Million Books' Daredevil Award for accepting the Dirty Dozen challenge and answering all twelve questions. First, a refresher on The Life List, and a little bit about The Unexpected List:

The Life List

The Life List is the ultimate chick lit novel and most of the story is true. Chrissy Anderson, a twenty-eight-year-old fashion executive, created a seven-point life list at the age of sixteen, and she's been steadily checking off the boxes and mocking the style and life choices of everyone around her ever since. Her life begins to run amuck when she unexpectedly meets a much younger man, Leo, who makes her question her "perfect life."

Chrissy's lifelong friendships and her marriage are put to the test as she tries to sort out her feelings for Leo. With the help of her brassy, no-nonsense therapist, Dr. Maria, Chrissy learns more about herself than she anticipates. But, it isn't until the untimely death of her best friend that Chrissy is catapulted into long overdue authenticity and scrambles to correct the mistakes of her past...trying to figure out if it's Kurt, Leo or both that she has to get rid of to make everything right.

Women of all kinds--twenty-somethings, housewives, and superwomen wanna-bes- will all be able to relate to the pressure of constructing the ideal life, only to fall short. Not everyone will agree with Chrissy Anderson's decisions, but all will pause as they follow along on her journey to ask, "What would I do if I were her?"

The Unexpected List

Chrissy Anderson’s The Unexpected List delivers another charismatic combination of romance and anguish, peppered with large doses of wit. In this second novel from The List Trilogy, Chrissy, who is now divorced from her husband, Kurt, is finally free to pursue a “truly, madly, deeply” relationship with the man of her dreams, Leo.

And it looks like Chrissy is finally going to be able to have her wedding cake and eat it too as Leo valiantly tries to make all of her dreams come true. But once again, Chrissy’s world, and her relationships, are turned upside-down as someone else close to her dies. And, an unexpected gift forces her to grow up--fast. For a second time, Chrissy is pushed to make a choice between love and obligation. What will she choose this time?

Your favorite characters from The Life List are back. Dr. Maria, Slutty Co-worker, and Chrissy’s best friends from high school, Courtney and Nicole, continue to laugh and cry with Chrissy as she learns how to pick herself up and move on to achieve the life she’s always wanted, and now knows she deserves.

Excerpt from The Unexpected List

That old saying, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, is super true. And, since I know this so well from personal experience, I know I’ll eventually get to the acceptance stage of what Kurt just unexpectedly showed up to my cottage to tell me. The difference this time though is I’ll probably arrive at acceptance at the same time as everyone else.

I was on the phone with Leo. He and Taddeo had been hard at work rebuilding the Hedge Fund business, and the work officially started when they renamed it, T.L. Capital. Hearing that Leo’s initial was now in the title made me think his stint in New York was going to be longer than the four or five months he promised. But when I nervously asked if I should change his mailing address, he said “Baby, like I said, I’m coming home.” He was still on target to open up a west coast division of the business in March. I was relieved to know that my drugs would be back at my disposal in three months. It was during my explanation of comparing being with him to injecting heroin that the walls started vibrating.

“I’m serious Leo! Heroin is like taking the best orgasm you’ve ever had and multiplying it by like...a billion, and you’re still nowhere near how good it makes you feel!  Yep, you’re like my heroin! I tried you once and now I’m addicted for life!”

His deep and sexy laugh makes me want to crawl into the phone and end up in his mouth!

“But Chrissy, have you ever tried heroin?”

“Well no, but-”

The pounding startled me so much that I let out a little scream.

“What’s wrong?”

“Someone’s at the door.”

“What the hell? It’s ten at night!”

I thought the same thing and it scared me. There are only two reasons for a ten-at-night door pounding; a booty call or a scare-the-wits-out-of-you emergency. Seeing as though my booty call is currently an airplane ride away, I knew the night was about to take a turn for the worse.

“CHRISSY, OPEN THE DOOR! PLEASE, I NEED YOU!”

That’s Kurt’s voice. Oh shit, he found out about the engagement! But how?

“Talk to me.  What’s going on over there, baby?”

Remember Chrissy, you made a vow...no more lies.

“I don’t know, Leo. I think it’s...I think it’s Kurt.”

“Open the door and put him on the phone.”

“Seriously? There’s no way I’m...”

“OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR AND PUT HIM ON THE PHONE!”

You know what? Leo has every right to be mad, and I think this time I need to let him handle his anger directly with Kurt. I wonder though...would I be thinking so rationally if the ass-kicking had the potential to be anything more than a verbal one? Uhhhhh, that would be a BIG, no! Honest to God, I fear the day these guys have a face-to-face encounter. I don’t think either of them could hold back the urge to punch, and the thought of them hurting each other is too much to bear. Reaching for the door handle, I think...until then, let the verbal war begin.

Nothing could’ve prepared me for what I saw when I opened the door. There was Kurt, trembling, with tears streaming down his face and large pools of dried blood covering his sweat-drenched shirt. I dropped the phone at the same time Kurt dropped to the ground.  Yes, I knew the night was about to take a turn for the worse when I heard the pounding, but there was absolutely nothing that could’ve prepared me for how bad a turn the night- no, scratch that. There was absolutely nothing that could’ve prepared me for how big of a turn my life was about to take when Kurt opened his mouth and starting screaming.

From Chrissy:

It took a chance encounter with a young stranger at a bar to realize my life list was bullshit. But did I have the courage to correct the mistakes of my past? Was I strong enough to defy the wishes of everyone around me and become the woman I was meant to be?

You can find the answers to these questions in The Life List. I'm Chrissy Anderson, and this is my story through my life choices--some good, some stupid, some sleazy. Sure, I've made some big mistakes. But, I learned from them and came out the other end in a pretty damn good place. My hope is that I can help you do the same.

Guest Post from Chrissy Anderson

(Originally posted on Chicklitplus.com)


Buriiiiiing, buriiiiing, buriiiiing…

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Chrissy Anderson?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Hi, hunny, this is Rita Wilson. It’s an honor to speak to you.”

(Long dubious pause on my end of the receiver)

“Hunny...are you there?”

“Rita Wilson? The Rita Wilson...as in Mrs. Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson?”

“Yep! Hey, listen, I read The Life List, and I have to tell you I was blown away. It’s not your average chick-lit read, and Chrissy’s not your average chick-lit heroine; she’s opinionated, judgmental...snarky. I found her personality hysterical, clever and totally relatable!”

“You did?”

“Are you surprised?”

“Well, no, not surprised with what you said. It was my intention to write about myself as an authentic person that women of all kinds-twenty-somethings, housewives and super woman wanna-bes- could relate to. I think all of us can connect to the pressure of constructing the ideal life, only to fall short. I guess...I’m surprised the book found its way to you. I’ve been trying to get a copy of it in your hands for over a year. I think the closest it got was to your agent’s assistant’s assistant.”

“Are you kidding? I found my way to your book! Everyone in Hollywood is reading it. You’ve created something really special, and I want to help you take it to the next level. It’s got to be a movie.”

“That’s exactly what I think!”

“You know what I love the most about it...well, beside the fact that the role of Chrissy’s therapist, Dr. Maria, is made for me!”

(OMIGOD, OMIGOD, OMIGOD!  I’ve been blogging about that for over a year!)

“I love that The Life List is part I of a trilogy. This whole project has the shelf life of a can a soup! It’s going to last forever. And the whole love triangle thing happening between Kurt and Leo, and how you took two men who are polar opposites, sexy and compelling in their own right, and made them both these guys that Chrissy could easily fall in love with...it makes me giddy with excitement! I went to your website and voted for my choice. Love how you have the ability to do that there! It’s so cool to see how the votes are split between the two guys, isn’t it?”

(OMIGOD, OMIGOD, OMIGOD!  Rita Wilson went to my website!)

“I go crazy thinking about the marketability of your work, Chrissy!”

“I know, right? Show me one woman who can’t identify with something I went through in this book, and I’ll show you a woman who is either very young, very much in denial, or the very luckiest woman on earth.”

“Well, hunny, I hope right now you feel like the luckiest woman on earth, because we’re about to make all of your dreams come true. Your convoluted and chaotic real life love story is about to become the American version of Bridget Jones’s Diary. Are you ready?”

******

Aaaaaaand this is where you hear a record scratch.

******

I’m chick-lit novelist Chrissy Anderson, and the pipe dream above has been my pipe dream ever since I wrote the first word of the first chapter of The Life List. Introduce me to one chick-lit novelist who says she doesn’t have a pipe dream like mine, and I’ll slap her senseless for being a big fat liar! Isn’t world-wide recognition and critical acclaim for a story well-written why we stay up long after our day jobs are done, our families have been fed, the laundry folded and our kiddos have fallen asleep? Don’t we write with the hope that women everywhere will benefit in some way from the distinctive words we scour the thesaurus to find and fill our novels with? Every single time we hit CTRL-S before logging off of the computer don’t we let out a big sigh and say a little prayer that something huge will happen with our work? Don’t we all secretly wish that someone like Rita Wilson will stumble upon our books and be so moved by them that she insists on acting as a force accelerator, catapulting our work to Twilight-like proportions?

No?

Well, poop on you. I do! In fact, most days it’s that pipe dream that keeps me going. It’s that pipe dream that pushes me to enroll in promo day after promo day on KDP select, pimping myself out to any book blogger and website that’ll help me get more downloads than the month before. It’s that pipe dream that eggs me on to spend countless hours (and dollars I don’t have) promoting those promo days on e-reader websites, knowing that half of them forget to plug me on the right day. It’s that pipe dream that gives me the courage to shamelessly promote myself to my 799 facebook fans. It gives me the strength to draft another blog for my website (www.askchrissy.net) and SEO the crap out of it. To spend my weekends doing book signings...scouring the Internet for opportunities to advance my rankings on Amazon’s best sellers list...Oh, and let’s not forget about cramming in some time to write the last novel in The List Trilogy. 

For me, my pipe dream is my lifeline. I mean, I’m certainly not failing (far from it actually), but if you’re a relatively un-known writer like me, you know the struggle I’m talking about here. You know how hard it is to beat last month’s downloads, to make a buck from a sale, get a 5 star review, get another Facebook fan, pull off a higher ranking on Amazon...to get the time to write an actual book, let alone read one! My pipe dream is what makes me smile through all of the trials and tribulations of being a small fish in this big intimidating literary ocean. It’s what gets me excited and...hopeful--hopeful that all of my creativity, hard work, and wit will pay off. If you’re an ounce of the dreamer I am, you know the kind of motivation I’m talking about. 

So I know I’m not alone. Share your pipe dream with me in the comment section. Who knows...maybe one of us reading this has the ability to fulfill one! C’mon, let’s get silly and support each other. Anyone know Rita Wilson?

Chrissy Anderson Answers the Dirty Dozen

1. Name one thing you couldn’t live without. 

Aside from any person who I love (that would be too obvious), I have to say mascara.  I know, it’s ridiculous answer, but it’s the truth.

2. If you could only keep one book, what would it be? 

The Shack.  For a completely non-religious person like myself, it really got to me.  I re-read it about twice a year.

3. Your last meal would be...

Thanksgiving dinner

4. Would you rather work in a library or a bookstore? 

A library. 

5. You won the lottery. What’s the first thing you would buy? 

I’d buy my parents a new car. They’ve been driving the same one for almost twenty years.

6. Would you rather be stranded on a deserted island or the North Pole? 

100%, no doubt, I’d pick the Island.

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

Clean my house and cook a delicious meal. My happiest days end with a clean house and meal that I had the time and attention to prepare. I LOVE TO COOK!

8. You’re driven to a private plane and told it will take you anywhere your want to go. Where would it be? 

Germany. I’ve only been once and for a few days. The people, the castles, and the history...it was pure magic. I’d do anything to be there with my husband.

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

I can’t even pretend to want to be someone who is pretend. It’s not in me.

10. Where would your dream office be? 

In my home...exactly where it is.
 
11. If you could do only one, would you rather read or write? 

Write.  I’m a woman in motion. It’s hard for me to sit still and read. I feel guilty.

12. One of your main characters has to die. Which one would you kill off? 

D’oh!  Too many wonderful ones have already died. Uhhhhhh, I guess I’d say...No, no, no, I can’t say. It’ll ruin Part III of The List Trilogy!  You ALMOST got me with this one, Amy!!!!

Hmm...well, I'll let you off on that one, but only because it would be a spoiler for the third book.

About the author:

Who is Chrissy Anderson? Does it even matter really? I guess it would matter to the real Chrissy if she wrote The Life List for fortune and fame. But she didn't. She did it all for you. Hold on, scratch that. Of course there were some self-indulgent components to the whole shootin' match, but at the end of the day, she sees bits and pieces of her checkered past in almost every woman she encounters and she wants to help them, tell them they're NOT crazy.

Women of all kinds--twenty-somethings, housewives, and superwomen wanna-bes- will all be able to relate to the same pressures Chrissy felt of constructing the ideal life, only to fall short. And I suspect there will be a lot of exhaling going on as those women read The Life List. Not everyone will agree with Chrissy Anderson's decisions, but all will pause as they follow along on her journey to ask, "What would I do if I were her?"

Chrissy Anderson spends her life doing exactly what she always wanted: doting on those she loves. A former fashion executive, she is a writer, wife, and mother whose own life events inspired The Life List. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with the love of her life and her beautiful daughter

"The difference between doing something and nothing is EVERYTHING."


Connect with Chrissy:
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