FEATURED AUTHOR: BLAIR HOWARD

ABOUT THE BOOK

Harry Starke is the first novel in the Harry Starke series of murder mysteries.

Why Did Tabitha Willard Throw Herself off the Walnut Street Bridge?

It's almost midnight, bitterly cold, snowing, when a beautiful young girl, Tabitha Willard, throws herself off the Walnut Street Bridge into the icy waters of the Tennessee. Harry Starke is there, on the bridge. Wrong time, wrong place? Maybe. He tries, but is unable to stop her. Thus begins a series of events and an investigation that involves a local United States congressman, a senior lady senator from Boston, a local crime boss, several very nasty individuals, sex, extortion, high finance, corruption, and three murders. Harry has to work his way through a web of deceit and corruption until finally . . . Well, as always, there's a twist in the tale, several in fact . . .

Harry Starke is a hard-boiled private detective, an ex-cop, a tough guy from right side of the tracks with finely tuned senses, good instincts, and friends in high places. He’s single, successful, well educated, and yes, he will hurt you if he needs to.

EXCERPT FROM HARRY STARKE

“So, whaddaya want, Starke?” 

Phuttt. The seat cushion almost exploded as he dropped his fat ass down into the chair behind his desk and ran his fingers through his greasy brown hair.

I sat down in the only other chair in the room, one of those steel-framed folding things.

“You been to bed yet, Benny? You look like shit.”

“Yeah, well. I got lots to do, and no time to do it. I’ll maybe take a nap when Lorie gets here. Nothin’ much happens till after ten, as you well know. Come on, Starke. Spill it. What do you want?”

“I was in here last night, Benny. Remember?”

He nodded. “How could I forget?”

“Do you remember the girl in the black dress and white coat?”

“Come on, Harry. There were lots of girls in here last night. You know that. You were here, for God’s sake. The place was packed.”

“Yeah, I was here. And so were you. This was around midnight. She had dark red hair and an expensive white coat. She was with a couple of brothers. Nasty-looking types.”

“Oh yeah, I remember her. Who wouldn’t? She was hot.”

“Yeah, well, she’s not so hot now. She’s pretty cold. She’s dead. What do you know about her?”

“Dead? Dead? How? I don’t know nothin’, not a thing. I ain’t never seen her before. Who killed her?”

“Nobody killed her, Benny. She threw herself off the bridge. So. What about the brothers?”

“Killed herself, huh? Wow! Um . . . ” He hesitated. “Nothing. I ain’t never seen ‘em before either.” He looked away as he said it.

I said nothing. I just sat there and watched his face.

“What?” he said, when he had gathered up enough courage to look me in the eyes again.

“You’re about as transparent as that window, Benny. Maybe more so. It’s filthy. Now tell me the truth.”

“Screw you, Starke. I don’t have tell you nothin’. Get the hell out of my office, and stay outta the bar, too.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Blair Howard is from a small town in England, near Stratford-upon-Avon, on the edge of the English Cotswolds. He is Kentucky Colonel, an honor bestowed upon him in 2008 by the then Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Steven L. Beshear. Until 2015, he wrote sweeping historical epics, and is the author of five historical novels. In July of 2015 he decided to try his hand at writing mystery novels, thus we have Harry Starke. The first in the series, Harry Starke, was released in mid-September 2015. The second novel, Two for the Money, was released October 19 the same year, Hill House, in mid-December 2015, and Checkmate in February 2016, and there are more to come.

Blair is the author of more than 40 books, including the Harry Starke series and five novels of the American Civil War. More than 4,500 magazine, newspaper, and web articles. His work has appeared in many national and international publications, including Delta's Sky Magazine, PHOTOgraphic magazine, The Mail on Sunday, The Walking Magazine, Petersen's Hunting Magazine, The Boston Herald, The Detroit Free-Press, The Anchorage Times and many more.

Connect with Blair:
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FEATURED AUTHOR: ROSA TEMPLE

ABOUT THE BOOK

Career minded, Natalie Spencer, had never been in love. She could never understand what all the fuss was about. But when she met Jackson Humphries during Fresher’s Week at University, that all changed.

Utterly infatuated, Natalie quickly discovers the meaning of love and, before she knows it, she's heading up the aisle – for the first time, that is.

This is a tale about four wedding dresses, a runaway groom and a girl who got so carried away, she couldn’t see true love staring her right in the face.

INTERVIEW WITH ROSA TEMPLE

Rosa, what's your favorite thing about the writing process?
It has to be the feeling of freedom it gives me when an idea comes to mind and I can just run with it and let my imagination go wild. It’s one of the best ways I have of winding down. Even if I start a story and I don’t finish, it’s okay because I had a surge of creativity and for the time I was writing I might have been anywhere in the world and meeting people (albeit on paper) I could never hope to meet. How great is that?

Pretty great! What books do you currently have published?
I have a novella called, Sleeping With You Best Friend which was published last year. Natalie’s Getting Married will be my first full length novel to be published.


Is writing your dream job?
Yes it is. It took a while to get here, but I’ve finally found the thing that makes me want to get out of bed in the morning, even though the money is awful.


How often do you tweet?
I’m a fits and starts tweeter. I’ll think I have something important to say and I’ll say it again and again on Twitter. But then I’ll go a week to ten days and never tweet at all. I think that’s bad practice but I never said I was a good tweeter. I do re-tweet as much as I can though.

What five things would you never want to live without?
Music. There is no such thing as a world without music. I listen to all kinds but my favorite is jazz and soul. Books. What would life be without some stimulating material to sink your teeth into? Chocolate. But only the good kind; dark with 80% cocoa. I’ll take Belgian or Swiss, thank you. Red wine. Need I say more? And lastly, floss. Did you know plaque can cause heart attacks?

Good to know! What’s your favorite fast food?
I’m a Londoner, so it’s good old fish and chips without a doubt. But it has to be bought in the right place. My favorite chippy is always busy on a Friday evening. I’m talking queues out the door. But please don’t get me wrong, I don’t have fish and chips every Friday – my skinny jeans wouldn’t allow it.



What do you wish you could do?
I wish I could get to grips with social media and technology. I manage to have a blog, a Twitter account and a Facebook page and that’s it. Some people have endless on-line platforms and I wonder: a) how do you even use things like Pinterest and Instagram? and b) how do you find the time?

I don’t even know how to use half the functions on my phone – any picture I take is dark and foggy. Seriously, I could have an album full of complete strangers for all the good I am at technology. Yes I wish to be more technologically minded.

What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do?
Easy. Watch terrible films on television. That’s what Channel 5 and all its sister channels were made for. A cup of tea and an awful, predictable, badly acted film with a lousy cast is somehow really refreshing to me. Do you know the type I mean? The ones that went straight to television because who in their right mind would pay good money to see them at the cinema? I go for the love story dramas, they’re the best kind. They have titles like: The Girl He Met On Line, Her Biggest Mistake or Dangerous Lessons. I’d love to be in one of those films.

Would you rather be a movie star, sports star, or rock star?
This is mean, why can’t I be all of them? Okay I choose rock star. If I were a rock star, chances are I’d be pretty fit so I looked good in music videos making the sports star option a waste of time. Also, as a rock star there’s a pretty good chance I might get asked to do a movie. Yes! I can have it all.


Brilliant! Do you procrastinate?
Oh yes! You know how many fitness regimes, healthy eating plans, learning of new languages etc I’ve put off? Only about a million. If I hadn’t procrastinated I would have been a saxophone playing, roller-blading, ballet dancer who tap dances and plays the bongos, is fluent in five different languages, and is very often seen in the lead role of the local amateur dramatics society production and has read War and Peace.

I see your point. What’s in your refrigerator right now?
Right, just had a quick check. It’s the end of the week so not much in there right now. I have a bowl of apples – should have been having an apple a day but only managed two. Chicken breasts defrosting for my casserole tomorrow. Half a punnet of blueberries for my healthy, daily smoothies – of which I managed to make one this week. Rice milk, low fat and mine; cow’s milk, full fat and everyone else’s. The dregs of some juice in a bottle – don’t know why my son couldn’t have just finished it. Garlic, ginger. Two kinds of spread, one low fat one heart attack packed. Fast acting pain relief gel and some satsumas.

What choices in life would you like to have a redo on?
This might be shallow but I wish I’d never given up piano. I don’t know why I stopped. I began taking lessons as an adult and I bought myself an electric piano. Maybe it was lack of time but my piano now sits in the corner of my writing room, gathering dust. I have lots of musician friends who come over to my place and sit and tinkle out a tune on my piano, and I’ve forgotten how. I think, somehow, it would have been a nice interlude between writing to sit and play a tune, don’t you? Maybe I’ll start again . . .

I think you should! What’s one of your favorite quotes?
I did come across some writing quotes that helped to inspire me whenever I might have been blocked or running out of steam. In particular this one struck a chord because of how tough writing can get sometimes:
“It is perfectly okay to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly.” - C J Cherryh

Very true. You have a personal chef for the night. What would you ask him to prepare?
In the UK there is a program called Masterchef (probably there are versions all over the world). If I’m not too busy I’ll watch the series, and for some reason I am transfixed by people cooking in a kitchen. Why? I don’t know, but I get fascinated by cookery terms like: friccasee, compote, en croute, and jus! So my personal chef would cook a fish dish – because I never cook fish well – using any of those fancy styles. But I’d simply have to have a dessert that involved masses of chocolate, or should I say chocolat?

Describe yourself in 5 words.
Beautiful, multi-talented, super-fit, ambidextrous . . .  and a big fat liar.



Good one! What is your favorite movie?
This is hard to pin down. I always claim that this is Breakfast At Tiffany’s, but then I might watch another firm favorite, like one of the ‘Before’ Trilogy, and swear blind that this is the one. I guess the answer changes depending on what sort of mood I’m in.



Understandable. What are you working on now?
Right now my brain is working overtime on new stories I’d love to write. I’ve already started two new books. The first is an idea for a Christmas novel which came to me at (guess when?) Christmas, and I had to start scribbling away. I more or less have the whole outline mapped out in my head and just need to get it down. Alongside that, I started writing the novel I’d like to publish next year. Both are romantic comedies but with serious undertones. I was struck by comments of Natalie’s Getting Married when reviewers said they laughed and cried along with my heroine, and I’d love to re-capture those emotions in my next books.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rosa Temple began writing romantic comedies and chick lit because of her passion for what she calls the 'early chick lit films', like: Sabrina, Barefoot In the Park and Breakfast at Tiffany's. She honed her skills as a ghost writer, gaining experience writing romantic novellas, both sweet and on the slightly steamy side. In her notebooks, she constantly jotted down story ideas of her own, and she eventually completed her first novella Sleeping With Your Best Friend and now, the full length novel, Natalie's Getting Married.
Rosa Temple is a Londoner and is married with two sons. She is a reluctant keep fit fanatic and doer of housework and insists that writing keeps her away from such strenuous tasks. She spends her days creating characters and story lines while drinking herbal tea and eating chocolate biscuits.

Connect with Rosa:


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Facebook  |   Twitter  |   Goodreads  

Buy the book:Amazon US   |  Amazon UK  

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:
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FEATURED AUTHOR: D. ALYCE DOMAIN

ABOUT THE BOOK

Lucifer - At eighteen months out of law school, six months on the job, and four weeks before his BAR exam, Luce has arrived. He’d been playing by other people’s rules all his life and now, poised on the brink of success, he will not let anyone stand in his way…especially not the junior-partner jerk at the office giving him and his assistant a hard time. On his way to give the creep a piece of his mind, he bumps into the infamous ‘Calamity Jones’ . . . 

Calamity – is tired of enduring her boss’s unwanted sexual innuendos.  When his fingers start to roam, Calam decides she’s had enough. It’s time to fight fire with fire.  So she devises an ingenious, if risky plan, to get Perkins off her back, keep her Job, and strike a blow for his numerous other victims around the office…only, things don’t go exactly as planned.

All Hell Breaks ‘Luce’ – After finding the loopy ingénue jack-knifed atop the archival files, Lucifer knows something is up. Calamity knows the jig is up. So, she comes clean. Turns out, they both have the same problem…Perkins. But, sparks fly when they decide to team up to bring down the boss. The Hitch? He’s a straight arrow . . . She’s a loose cannon. Can they work together to achieve a common goal?  Or will they both lose in the end?

EXCERPT FROM WHEN LUCIFER MET CALAMITY

Lucifer! She’d know his long-limbed strides anywhere. He was probably taking the file room as a shortcut on his way to somewhere. Rarely did the lawyers and higher-ups lower themselves to doing their own case research. That dirty little job generally got relegated to paralegals, legal secretaries, and legal assistants, such as herself. She observed him from above.   He seemed intent on his destination, so maybe he wouldn’t notice her dangling precariously from the top tier just adjacent to the north entrance.
Oh please, don’t let me make a fool of myself, Calamity begged. She so much wanted to make a positive impression. If she came tumbling down on top of him, no doubt that would squelch him seeing her as anything other than a kook. Who was she kidding? She was a kook!  Why else would she go through so much hassle to get retribution and keep her job when she could just request a transfer or let her resignation stand? Too bad either option would limit, if not sever, her contact with the object of her affection, the man who was at present ten feet away and closing.

It looked as if he wasn’t going to spot her, thank heavens.  But just then, a tiny tearing noise marred the silence.  The split of her skirt gave way under the pressure, and ripped upward a good three inches, exposing both her presence and her left thigh in the bargain.

“Ms. Lowe?”

Bull’s eye.  He zeroed in on her like a homing device.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D. Alyce Domain. Is a long-time lover of creative fiction.  She learned to read with Dr. Seuss, grew up reading Sweet Valley High, James Howe, and Lois Duncan, and graduated to category romance with Harlequin and Silhouette in her teen years. Ms. Domain started out writing fan-fiction after her favorite fictional characters met with death and cancellation on network television. Inspired by the entertaining, multi-layered storylines created by so many female romance, young adult and television writers, she began to experiment with her own characters.  Coupled with her own unique brand of genre-bending romantic fiction, Ms. Domain was able to create a whole new world within the pages of her books.

Ms. Domain was born and raised in Houston, Texas, the youngest daughter of Charles and Eunice Domain. She has one older sister. She earned a BS in Biochemistry and a MS in Biomedical Sciences. She worked in Patient-Based Biological Research before switching careers and opening her own fashion boutique, The Aesthetic Domain. In addition to fashion apparel and accessories, she sells her own original jewelry creations and runs the Boutique & Blog website, which is based in Houston, Texas. Ms. Domain also has avid interests in inspirational music, art/entertainment, and history.

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FEATURED AUTHOR: S.K. DERBAN

ABOUT THE BOOK

Like fire and ice, Alexandra Callet’s life runs hot and cold. 



At the age of thirty-three, Alexandra owns a stunning home and a successful interior design company. But she is in love with her business partner, Jake Taylor, and he doesn’t even seem to realize she’s a woman. She should be on top of the world, but instead she feels dragged down by the void in her heart. Hoping for answers, she decides a trip to Mexico might soothe her soul. 



Jake Taylor only pretends to be a confirmed bachelor.



Jake has been entranced by Alexandra’s determination and exotic beauty since the moment they met, but she has no idea how he feels. He considers confessing his love, but fears jeopardizing their friendship and business. He’s caught in a web of pretending he doesn’t care, and doesn’t see a way out of it. 



Alexandra is recruited for a dangerous mission. 



Following her trip to Mexico, her resemblance to a member of an assassin’s family leads Alexandra to be recruited by the DEA. Her training leaves her distracted, and her business begins to suffer. Jake notices her sudden change, and feels her slipping both personally and professionally beyond his reach. Should he finally take the chance . . . before it’s too late? After all, he has nothing to lose. 



However, when Alexandra returns to Mexico for her mission, things go terribly wrong. 



Will she be able find the strength to fight and escape the peaceful haven that has now become her prison? Or will Jake lose Alexandra forever . . .

INTERVIEW WITH S. K. DERBAN

How did you get started writing?
From the moment I started to read, I wanted to be a writer. I would make up story after story, and kept telling everyone that I was going to write a book. Unfortunately, life got in the way. One day, when I was so tired of merely thinking about writing a book, I came home from work, turned on my computer and started typing.

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
It is so fun to lose myself in the story. I feel as if I am going on holiday without having to pack. I have to be careful though. Sometimes when I get caught up in a particular emotion, I find myself feeling the same emotion after I stop writing for the day.

Do you write every day?
My goal is to write a minimum of one page per day so the storyline remains fresh in my mind. On the days I miss that goal, I never try and make up for it the following day. I write what comes to me, and sometimes end up writing twenty plus pages per day.

What do you wish you’d done differently when you first started the publishing process?
Had more completed manuscripts. When I finished my first manuscript, I stopped writing while trying to get published. I should have kept writing. There is so little time in the day, and marketing a published book steals even more time. I would love to have at least three more completed books ready to go!

How often do you read?
When I first started writing, I thought it was not a good idea to read at the same time. Was I wrong! First, I missed reading, as it is one of my passions. Second, I did not realize how important reading is to writing. Now, I always have a book in progress, and read a little before bed each night. As for non-fiction reading, I read the Bible each morning.

What books do you currently have published?
For No Apparent Reason was my first book published. Uneven Exchange is my second. If all goes well, I would like to release a new book each and every year. Time will tell!

Do you have any secret talents?
Yes I do, and thank you for asking. I am an organizing nut! I might even go as far to write that I am an organizing genius!

Is writing your dream job?
Yes, yes, yes! I simply adore writing! There is nothing else I would rather do for a living.

If you could only watch one television station for a year, what would it be?
This is a tough question to answer because I have some favorite shows on a variety of channels. Downton Abbey is my all-time favorite, so I will choose KPBS as my one station. Even though this was Downton Abbey's last season, I will be able to watch again, beginning with episode one. KPBS also runs the BBC news, which is my favorite news to watch.

For what would you like to be remembered?
My faith in God is extremely important to me. I would like to be remembered for not only my faith, but how that faith caused me to treat other people with love and kindness.

What five things would you never want to live without?
How fun! The first is distilled water! I am a water freak, and prefer distilled. If you hand me a bottle of Fuji water I definitely will not turn it down. Second comes coffee. Oh my how I long for my morning cup of coffee. We brew it fresh each morning, but Starbucks in the next best thing. I will take a Flat White any day. Next comes fresh fruit. You name it, I like it. Mangos are probably my favorite. I must have a tennis racquet, as tennis is my favorite sport. I cannot live without books, with the Bible being my most important.

What’s one THING you never leave the house without (besides your phone).
This is such a great question because I never really care if I have my phone. I care about a bottle of water, if you didn’t already guess that one!

What do you love about where you live?
The weather is near perfect! My mother and father were married in England after the Second World War. Since my father was a war hero, the Navy gave him the option of relocating to any naval base in the United States. He turned the choice over to my mum, who based her decision on weather. As much as she enjoyed England, she was tired of the rain! As a result, we moved to San Diego, California, and I have lived here ever since.

What’s your favorite thing to do on date night?
My husband and I strive to go on a date night once per week, but at least every other. We alternate between five of our favorite restaurants, turn off our phones, linger over a glass of wine, and then enjoy a delicious dinner.

What is your superpower?
Flying! Just think about it. Wouldn't that be amazing?

Yes it would. What’s in your refrigerator right now?
Distilled water, fresh squeezed orange juice, and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Oh, and always a bottle of champagne!

What is the most daring thing you've done?
My husband and I were blessed with the opportunity to smuggle Bibles into China on five separate occasions.

Awesome! How do you like your pizza?
Loaded! Fortunately we live within walking distance from Little Italy in San Diego. It is called "The Works" at our favorite pizza restaurant.

You and I would get along fine! What are you working on now?
Presently, I am working on another mystery romance with the working title of Circumvent. I am hoping for a publication date of Christmas 2016.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, S.K. Derban moved to London within the first three months, and remained in England until the age of five. Her father, an American citizen, was a decorated veteran of the second world war. Derban's mother, born and raised in the United Kingdom, was involved with the London Royal Ballet Company, and a great fan of the arts. Even after returning to the United States, Derban's life was filled with a love of the theatre and a passion for British murder mysteries.



S.K. Derban has always remained passionate about writing and is thrilled to finally share her work with others. Her personal travel and missionary adventures also help to transport readers virtually across the globe. When writing, S.K. Derban relies on all aspects of her life, from her faith in the Lord, to her love and knowledge of the arts.

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FEATURED AUTHOR: WILLIAM BURCHER

ABOUT THE BOOK

The music is haunting. It pulls at you, at your insides, with a force born of some indescribable, primal recognition. The music is directed by that strange man on the stage, dancing the dance of a warrior, his face shrouded, masked. The musician stops suddenly, his action choreographed to the alien song and before the eyes of thousands, in an act of horror heralded only by the terrified scream of a woman in the back of the theatre, takes his own life with a flash of blood and steel.

Only one in the audience responds—a woman, beautiful, athletic, confident. She ascends the stage quickly and tries to stop the blood gushing from the musician's arteries. She doesn't yet know, but this moment will come to define the rest of her life. Fleur Romano is a detective. She investigates the man whose act has shocked the world, and discovers that he once belonged to a hidden, influential group whose sole purpose is to protect an unbelievably ancient secret with the power to change everything.

In his landmark debut, William Burcher gives us a story of rare intensity. He's willing to pose questions of universal significance. What do we lose, as we separate ourselves from the earth and each other? What would the future hold if suddenly something changed with that most fundamental of relationships—the one we have with our own planet?

GUEST POST BY WILL BURCHER

On Writing. Internal Resistance and An Author's Admission

I have a confession to make. I suffer from a not altogether curable disease. The symptoms are highly irregular, though their manifestation is specific. Inevitably they surface under similar circumstances (usually in the presence of a laptop or desk) and include bouts of incessant knee bouncing, biting and chewing of small handheld objects, abnormal craving of caffeinated beverages, and most insidiously, an easily distracted and mercurial affect.

Sound familiar? No? You're lying.

Writers and creative types all suffer from this malady at one point or another. Some call it block, writer's block, artist's block, creative's block—I call it resistance. Because fundamentally this is what I think it is; one part of ourselves resisting another part, an inherently greater part than the resister. The "symptoms" I speak of are some of the more benign variety, as resistance comes in all shapes and sizes, a complete spectrum of obstructive mental patterns that can prevent us from producing our best stuff. None of this is any kind of new, and the best explication of it that I've seen has to be in a series of short books by Steven Pressfield—the author of the Legend of Bagger Vance and Gates of Fire (which is now required reading at West Point, the point being that he knows what he's talking about).

In The War of Art, Do the Work, and Turning Pro, Pressfield says that anytime anyone anywhere tries to better themselves, tries to do something really good and from the "better angels of our nature" (A. Lincoln), he or she encounters resistance, resistance within. This could be anything, really. A new diet, a new workout plan, a New Year's resolution, the attempt to break a negative mental pattern or end an addiction—all of these things are going to bring the devil out, so to speak (for he arises when he sees something lighter and purer than he, shining on him in his dank hole). Creatives encounter the same thing, the same internal reaction, because what we do (create!) the devil knows is better than itself and fears it. And so that darker part distracts and avoids, makes excuses, procrastinates and in extreme cases drives its owner to self-harm.

I just finished a novel, my first, The GAIAD. It took me about a year, though the first four or five months of that year were spent in alternating states of resistance. I was traveling, and my mind told me that this was a legitimate excuse. "You're at the beach! Explore a little! Have fun . . . You've earned it!" And these things were true, but they weren't legitimate excuses. Deep down I knew I should be writing, I should be living, breathing, eating to write. But the resistance was overpowering. Until I called it out.

Call it out. Look at it, and accept that it's there. Don't fight it, because that never works. Haven't you ever been in the throng of an ugly bout of block and tried to WILL yourself out of it and write, despite it? Yeah, the stuff that came out was crap, wasn't it? No, direct confrontation is what the resistance wants—in other words, something to resist! When you look at it, accept it, see it for what it is, it'll fade, like morning mist in the sun. And that separation, that realization, that "there it is, and this is me, and I am not it" experience is the end of block's hold on you. It's de-energized, lessened, weakened and no longer in control. Sure, it'll be there still (a part of me thinks it might always be there, spinning like a flywheel)—but there's space, between it and those Better Angels—and it's from this space, I think, that really cool creative and original stuff climbs up and out of and onto that computer screen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A former cop who enjoys sitting quietly by mountain streams and looking up at the night sky, Will has always known that writing would be his life's work. Toward that end he sought out diverse experiences, professional and otherwise, to enable a style of writing both gritty and real. He writes on topics of wide influence—the current state of our modern malaise, the importance of an expanded presence in space, and our relationship with the earth. He believes that all writers are burdened with the most serious of responsibilities—to lead the minds of their readers to positive places; metaphoric fields both green and golden. He lives in Colorado, USA with his two dogs, Taurus and Sterling.

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FEATURED AUTHOR: ROY M. GRIFFIS

ABOUT THE SERIES

The first two books in a four-volume Historical Fiction series (Book Three coming out in May), called By the Hands of Men. The series begins in the trenches of France during The Great War, and will conclude in California in the mid-thirties.

Book One: The Old World

Lieutenant Robert Fitzgerald has managed to retain his sanity, his humanity, and his honor during the hell of WWI's trench warfare. Charlotte Braninov fled the shifting storm of the impending Russian Revolution for the less-threatening world of field camp medicine, serving as a nurse in the most hopeless of fronts. Their friendship creates a sanctuary both could cling to in the most desperate of times. Historical fiction about life, loss, and love, By the Hands of Men explores the power that lies within each of us to harm - or to heal - all those we touch.

Book Two:  Into the Flames

Charlotte Braninov, traumatized by loss and her service as a frontline nurse, returns to war-torn Russia to find her family. Captured by the Red Army, she exchanges one hell for another. Her still-loyal Lieutenant, Robert Fitzgerald, believing the woman he loves is dead, struggles to recover from the ravages of combat and typhus. In a desperate bid to rediscover himself, he commits to serve his country as a pawn in distant Shanghai. Forging their destinies in a world reeling after The Great War, Charlotte and Robert will learn anew the horror and the beauty the hands of men can create when they descend into the flames.

INTERVIEW WITH ROY M. GRIFFIS

Roy, how did you get started writing? 
The earliest story I recall writing was when I was 7, something about being part of a pack of coyotes. No idea where that came from.

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?  
Suprising myself. This sounds egotistical, but sometimes you’re writing and an insight or a moment emerges from – I swear – outside of you and you go “I didn’t know I was that smart.”  The other really fun is when characters just show up.

Do you have a writing routine? 
Alas, the paycheck job has me on Graveyard Shift, 12 hours at a time, which has kind of killed my previous routine. I’m still struggling to find one (as an aside, I’ve discovering the Graveyard Shift is where ambition, motivation, and hope go to die).

Do you write every day? 
No, I do try to work on the writing every day, but that could be copyediting (just finished BTHOM3 edit, and now it’s off to face the cruel-to-be-kind pen of the final copy-editor) or marketing, which I dislike, as it keeps me from actually, you know, writing stuff. Much easier to write every day when that’s all I’m doing.

What do you think is hardest aspect of writing a book? 
What you have to give up. Everything costs (even salvation was paid for by Somebody). You want to write a novel, but be a decent dad to your kid at the same time? Goodbye sleep. You have to give up something to make space in your life for the book.

What’s more important – characters or plot?
Ah, man! I guess I’m more of a plot guy . . . I want to know what happens to the characters I’ve grown to care about. (Did I manage to slip “both” in?)

Yes, you did! How often do you read?   
Varies a lot these days. Because I am writing either historical fiction or alternative history type fiction, when I am working on those, I end up reading a lot of non-fiction. I want my work to have verisimilitude, to have that “telling detail” that makes the novel feel of the time and place factually and emotionally. Right now, I have a working shelf of 16 non-fiction books/memoirs that I’ll be reading before and as I work on By the Hands of Men Four.  But once in a while, I’ll throw on a fiction audio book for the commute to work, just to cross-train my brain a little.

What is your writing style?
I write heartbreaking works of staggering genius? Oh, wait, that’s been done. I don’t know if I could sum up my “style,” exactly, but I’ll tell you want I’m attempting to do: I want to transport the reader, convincingly, to another time and place, while telling them a story that will move them emotionally, and, who knows, maybe even change their life for the better, even if just a little. I have no time for nihilistic “life is awful and people suck” kinds of stories. That’s completely wussy writing by people who don’t believe in the power of individual choice (or perhaps fear the responsibility that confers upon them). I know that’s not an academically beloved point of view, but it’s true. Our choices determine our lives, allow us to rise about our circumstances. Look at Dr. Ben Carson – son of mentally ill single mother in the projects, and now a guy changing people’s lives in a serious, positive, amazing way. Choices.


What do you think makes a good story? 
For me, it’s a compelling story that makes me ask “what’s going to happen next” about people that that I can understand in some way, who have the ability to grow and change. I hate “victim” books, and there are some authors I’ve read that I’ll never read again (James Elroy and Thomas Harris come to mind) because of their reveling in the depravity of their characters and their conditions.
 
What books do you currently have published?
The Big Bang, Volume One of the Lonesome George Chronicles
By the Hands of Men, Book One:  The Old World
By the Hands of Men, Book Two:  Into the Flames


What do you know now that you wish you knew then? 
Hold on, I have to refill my margarita if we’re getting this confessional . . . when I was younger (and allegedly dumber, the jury is still out) I had this stupid mental construction that all I “was” was a writer. So that if a story was rejected (as they often were), it meant I was a failure. Took me a long time to get past that to where I recognized that, yes, I was a writer, and a writer writes. If I was fortunate (in the Louis Pasteur sense of “fortune favors the prepared mind”), I might get published, even have some success. But I could live a decent, fulfilling life without needing the “seal of approval” from outside sources. But it’s nice to have, don’t get me wrong.

For what would you like to be remembered? 
Great question. At my wake there’s going to be a margarita machine, and everybody will get to stand up and tell funny stories about me. I’d like to be remembered as a decent, hard-working guy, a good father, and somebody who told some good stories.

I bet that will be one helleva wake! Would you make a good character in a book? 
Ah, hell, yes. I’m a renaissance man, but I think I’d be the guy to die toward the end of Act Two. Useful, but not the main character, probably.

What’s one thing you never leave the house without?
I have an all-purpose survival knife, EMT worthy. Has a webbing cutter (seat-belts), glass-shattering point, that kind of stuff. I like to be ready.

What’s your favorite thing to do on date night? 
Gad, I get to admit how boring I am. Pepperoni pizza, a movie, and, well, night-time adult gymnastics.

What drives you crazy? 
Lack of dependability. Don’t tell me you’re going to do something and then never follow through.

What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do? 
Catch up on movies.

Where is your favorite place to visit? 
United States: San Francisco. Overseas: London. Both places I would love to live.

What would you name your autobiography?
White Boy from Nebraska.

I'd read that! What’s your least favorite chore?
Any chore that involves cleaning up other people’s messes. I already have two jobs, don’t want another, and I have already been a janitor. Don’t care to repeat the experience.


Would you rather be a movie star, sports star, or rock star?
Of the three, movie star. I love film . . . closest thing we have to a shared dream. A great film can take 500 strangers on a similar emotional voyage. I think film has great power to uplift (see: Babe) or debase (see: Pulp Fiction).


What is the most daring thing you've done? 
Probably when I was twenty-six, deciding to be a Rescue Swimmer in the Coast Guard. I’d never been a physical kid (I was a drama geek in high school), but I desperately needed a challenge, a rite-of-passage. So I went and found one where I could actually help people at the same time, but it was incredibly challenging physically, and especially mentally.

What is your most embarrassing moment?
Gack, not enough terrabytes on my PC to list all of those.

What choices in life would you like to have a redo on? 
You know, there are moments I would like to go back and act with more graciousness or kindness, but redo completely? Nah. Even the cruddy stuff was part of the forging of who I am.

What’s one of your favorite quotes? 
“A little of something is better than a lot of nothing.”

If you had a talk show who would your dream guest be? 
Shucks, most of them are dead. Desmond Doss, for one. Was a WWII Medal of Honor winner . . . never picked up a weapon. He was a 7th Day Adventist, had a religious exemption, but he knew other people were fighting and dying for him state-side. Joined the Army, who couldn’t figure out what to do with him. Became a medic in the Pacific, saved a hell of a lot people. Showed you can be incredibly brave without the prop of a weapon, and that guts can be measured in a lot of different ways.


What’s one thing that very few people know about you? 
I hate to admit it, but I have a soft spot for romantic comedies. Some people report the good ones have been known to make me tear up.


What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop? 
Incredible and borderline lunatic underwater photography taken in the Pacific, I think at the graveyards of some WWII battles, with women in flowing gowns posing like ethereal spirts on the broken vessels crusted with coral and seaplants. Very trippy yet tasteful.


Do you have any hidden talents?
I’m not a bad cook.


Describe yourself in 5 words.
Smolderingly sexy yet quietly humble
.

A winning combination. What’s your favorite song?
"Sentimental Hygiene" by Warren Zevon. Great and underheard song.


What’s your biggest pet peeve about writing? 
Marketing. Just . . . shudder. One of the reasons I wanted an agent, would gladly fork over the ten percent, just so they could shill my work and I could do the work.


What is your favorite movie? 
I have favorites in different genres. But Starman with Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen is up there. 


Do you have a favorite book? 
Watership Down. Re-read it every year or so. Damn, it’s powerful.


If you had to choose a cliché about life, what would it be?
TANSTAFL: There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.


What are you working on now? 
I’m editing Book Two of the Lonesome George Chronicles, The Fire This Time for my publisher. Really aching to get to work on By the Hands of Men, Book Four. I never intended to write a series, but the story I heard in my head just kept going. I’m pretty sure that will be the last book in this series, though.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR FROM THE AUTHOR

Born in Texas City, TX, the son of a career Air Force meteorologist. Attended a variety of schools at all of the hot spots of the nation, such as Abilene, Texas and Bellevue, Nebraska. Sent to my grandparent’s house in Tucson, Arizona when things were tough at home. I was pretty damn lost, as my grandparents were largely strangers to me. My older brother, a more taciturn type, refused to discuss what was going on. Fortunately, like so many kids before me, I was rescued by literature. Or, at least, by fiction.

In a tiny used bookstore that was just one block up from a dirt road, I discovered that some good soul had unloaded his entire collection of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “John Carter of Mars” series in Ballantine Paperback. Moved by some impulse, I spent my RC Cola money on the first book, A Princess of Mars. I think what struck me was how these books were possessed of magic: they were able to transport me far from this dusty land of relatives who I didn’t know and relatives pretended not to know me to another dusty land of adventure, heroism, nobility, and even love. It was the first magic I’d encountered that wasn’t a patent fraud, and when I closed the stiff paperback with the lurid images on the cover, I decided it was the kind of magic I wanted to dedicate the rest of my life to mastering. And, thus, I was saved.

Since then, I’ve never looked back. I’ve written poems, short stories (twice runner-up in the Playboy college fiction contest), plays (winning some regional awards back East and a collegiate Historical Play-writing Award), and screenplays. I’m a member of the WGAw, with one unproduced screenplay sold to Fox Television. Along the way, I’ve done the usual starving artist jobs. Been a janitor, a waiter, a clerk in a bookstore. I was the 61st Aviation Rescue Swimmer in the Coast Guard (all that Tarzan reading wasn’t wasted). I’m also not a bad cook, come to think of it. Currently, I’m a husband, father, and cat-owner. I’m an avid bicyclist and former EMT.

I live in Southern California with my lovely wife. My friends call me “Griff,” my parents call me “Roy,” and my college-age son calls me “Dadman.” It’s a good life. By the Hands of Men, Book Three: The Wrath of a Righteous Man will be released in May, 2016.

Connect with Roy:

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