Featured Author: Ken Boehs

The Tilted Truth...book #1 of the trilogy Desire is a Vicious Mistress is an action suspense thriller by Ken Boehs. I'm happy to have him here today to tell us about it and to let us get to know him a little bit too. I've had former police officers who now write crime novels, but Ken is my first guest who draws from his work in the intelligence field to write spy thrillers. To read an excerpt of the book, go here.

About the book:

The Tilted Truth introduces a heroic duo: the handsome and clever CIA agent Major Ben Kloes and the ambitious FBI Special Agent “Cat” Morella whose beauty and seductive ways are hard to resist. Together they turn an official in Hugo Chavez’s inner circle in Aruba, stop terrorists from using a suitcase nuke to destroy locks in the Panama Canal, and ensnare a murderous, criminal gang laundering money in a Nassau casino.

There are many surprising developments and plot twists in this action-packed narrative: The FBI is double-crossed and conned out of their money; a wily informant caught in his own web of deceit jilts the CIA; an extremely cunning woman seduces a prominent military general who has public office ambitions; and a business partner conned out of his life savings launches a vendetta against his associate.

The psychological underpinnings that motivate each character come into play in a maze of manipulation interspersed with the intrigue of clandestine operations and government entrapment, all ending in a diabolical turn of events.

This fast-paced, riveting story will leave readers satisfied and exhilarated.

The Tilted Truth Book Trailer

Interview with Ken Boehs:

Ken, The Tilted Truth is your first book. How long have you been writing, and how did you start?

During my career in Washington, D.C. I wrote hundreds of analyses and reports, as well as proposals to the government in response to their solicitations for work. I had plenty of fodder to write a novel along with the knowledge of intelligence community operations from an insider’s perspective. And many times I considered writing one, but job time constraints kept me from doing so – it’s a major commitment.

Then I retired and moved to Santa Barbara, California. I started on The Tilted Truth, my debut fiction novel, in late August 2011 after sitting in a court room for hours on end listening to a convoluted case involving the brother of my life partner, Lauren. Elements of the case stirred me. I had my own theories of what led up to his charges, considering that truth practiced by the prosecution’s witnesses seemed illusory. It was the catalyst I needed. I envisioned developing a highly fictionalized story around my suppositions. The day the trial ended, I started.

Lauren was my sounding board on the effectiveness and acceptability of various alternatives I considered while writing scenes, and whose point of view and ideas contributed to the overall story.

My editor, Gail M. Kearns, from Santa Barbara, was tireless in her support, superb guidance, and critical comments. At the end of the process I felt as though I’d received a college education in creative writing from her.

I love the title of your book. How did you come up with The Tilted Truth?

Lauren came up with the name. She was struck by the web of manipulation and intrigue woven by the characters in the story as they distorted the truth for their own self-interest. A tilted hat worn by the heroine in one scene was the trigger and - voilà - The Tilted Truth.

Do you have another job outside of writing?

I actively day trade stocks in the morning and read the day’s emergent news while I do it - to include tweeting comments for articles relevant to the CIA, FBI or sex, as necessary to build my social media presence.

How would you describe your book in six words?

Intrigue, manipulation, action, sex, FBI, CIA.

That's a powerful combination. How did you create the plot for The Tilted Truth?

It was inspired by the case of Lauren’s brother, mentioned above, who was conned out of a lot of money by an old friend. When he suspected he was swindled, he went on a vendetta to recover it. But his quest took a bad turn. He was set up by an interlocutor, entrapped by the FBI and arrested. Around that supposition I created an expanded fictional story, developed characters and subplots from my imagination and experience, and then seasoned it all with years of intelligence world insight.

How do you get to know your characters?

I prepared detailed psychological and physical attribute profiles for each character on a three page form. Then Lauren and I gathered up a few of our most insightful and creative friends, drank some wine, and based on the profiles, validated the psychological drivers I’d developed. We also dressed some of the characters and gave them unique gestures. It was a fantastic exercise that I’d recommend to any writer.

Which character did you most enjoy writing?

Electra. I liked the idea of a brother/sister pair of “bad guys.” Also, it gave me an opportunity to interject a controversial element into the novel. Electra and Barry Vador are half siblings with a common father. When they were teens they developed a sexual attraction for each other, consummated it, and in the story it becomes an important element in their relationship. Genetic sexual attraction (GSA) was first broached in Oedipus Rex, the Athenian tragedy by Sophocles, circa 429 BC…also found in Moll Flanders and Le Morte d’Arthur.

What would your main character say about you?

Ken your imagination has no limits. Couldn’t we just kick back sometimes? You’re always thinking up trouble for us.

Are any of your characters inspired by real people? Any real spies?

FBI Special Agent Caterina Morella is based on a KBG agent I was aware of during the cold war.

Are you like any of your characters?

I’m going to let readers guess that one.

Now that sounds intriguing! Can you tell us about your favorite scene in the book?

FBI Special Agent Caterina “Cat” Morella uses sex in a bondage scene to turn a foreign official into being an informant for the CIA.

Who are your favorite authors?

Ian Flemming, Tom Clancy, and Barry Eisler.


How long is your to-be-read pile?

It is piling up! Writing the trilogy is taking all my time.

Do you have a routine for writing?

I wake up between 6-7AM to trade stocks, read news, input social media, finish around noon and head to the beach. There I make detailed notes for how I want a scene to progress, write dialogue, make interaction diagrams, etc. I use an old fashioned composition notebook and write with a pen (seem to think better that way). I’ve found the beach is a very creative space for me. I sketch the story out while there and pound it out on the laptop keyboard at home.

Now that's what I'd like to do! Where is this beach?

Santa Barbara, California.

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

The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk.

Neil Gaiman said, “Picking five favorite books is like picking five body parts you'd most like not to lose.” So...what are your five favorite books and your five body parts you’d most like not to lose?

Caine Mutiny, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, The Sum of All Parts. Head, eyes, ears, arms, and the family jewels.

LOL. Your last meal would be...

Lobster roll and blueberry pie.

Would you rather work in a library or a bookstore?

Library.

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

A marvelous house overlooking the beach.

I'm with you there. You’re given the day off, and you can do anything but write. What would you do?

Go somewhere fun with my darling.

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

James Bond.

Of course! I should have known. What would your dream office look like?

A simple desk in a sheltered alcove overlooking the ocean.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?

Seize the opportunity.

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

Looking after a large begonia/orchid garden, exercising/gym/running on the beach in bare feet, seeking interesting cultural events and travel.

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

I already found it!

It sounds like you have. What are you working on now?

The second book in the trilogy Desire is a Vicious Mistress. It goes by the working title Citizen Ignited.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about it. I hope you'll come back once it's completed. One more question, Ken...what four legged black dog is always in your heart?

About the author:

Ken Boehs graduated from Muhlenberg College and served as an Army intelligence officer in special operations engaged in surveillance and intelligence collection for the National Security Agency, NSA, and the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, during the nineteen-seventies. After leaving the military, he was a private contractor to the government and performed analyses of command and control, communications, and intelligence systems programs. He lives with his life partner in Santa Barbara, California where he does his writing on the beach.

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

Visit Ken's YouTube page for videos of interviews and a book signing talk.


Buy the book:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble (also available on iTunes, Vook, and other online stores)

Featured Author: Glenn Shepard

I'm happy to have Glenn Shepard here today to talk about his thriller, Not For Profit, published by Mystery House Publishing Company.

About the book:

Renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Scott James is charged with murder after two bodies are found at his surgery center. Just weeks before the start of his capital murder trial, Dr. James is approached by a beautiful woman claiming she can help him gain information that would prove his innocence. 

As James hunts down the evidence that might free him, he faces a barrage of threats to his life and liberty--and makes one chilling discovery after another: Corporate corruption. A conspiracy to frame him for murder and for terrorist acts. A secret drone-control operation that takes out targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The true identity and intent of his beautiful ally. And a plot to blow up the local hospital and surrounding community.

Interview with Glenn Shepard

Glenn, how did you come up with the title for Not For Profit? 

From newspaper headlines and magazine and book titles dealing with some of the potential problems with non profit hospitals.

Describe your book in 5 words. 

Roller Coaster Ride in Writing. That's how I feel each time I read it even though I've read it thousands of times. My pulse races, and I turn the pages very fast as the end approaches, so much so that I've had trouble concentrating on the words of those last few chapters.

That's great! How do you get to know the characters?

When I write, I become the character I write about. I feel what they feel and see what they see. If they are happy, I am happy. When they are sad or scared or depressed, that becomes my mood. I become one with each person. It exhausts me at times.

That's the first time I've heard someone say that. Very interesting technique. What characters did I enjoy most in writing?

Scott James, Ethel Keyes, Detective Harris (it still saddens me that he had to die), Willie Wilson, Charlie Watson (I'm still depressed about this druggie), and in fact, I enjoyed each and every one of the characters. They were alive, vibrant, each had emotions and real feelings--even the "bad" people.

What would your main character say about you? 

He'd say that I put my heart and soul into his creation and the same into trying to save him from his inevitable fate.

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?

They are all real people in my world, a combination of people I've known, others that I've observed in daily settings (like people at restaurants I  hear and see). I have never copied movie actors or protagonists in a novel. Some are people who make news, and I try to project into their thoughts and motives for their actions. But in building them, I base the fictional characters on people I've met over the years, hence they're lifted from media sources and given a real place in the world as I see it.

Tell us about your favorite scene in the book. 

I like the use of orchids, scattered throughout the book. The story of Orchis sets the mood for the plastic surgeon, who is in plastic surgery to create beauty, peace, and harmony. This all gets disrupted as his life is shattered by the murder charges and his humiliation. But he fights, overcomes many of the obstacles, and in the end restores himself, just as Orchis restores himself in the final paragraph. That final piece is my favorite everything about the book. It brings closure to all the words before it.

What's the first thing you'd buy with a million dollar book deal? 

I'd probably give it all away to one of the charitable plastic surgery groups that treat facial deformities, or an art museum (one of my hobbies is museum jumping to view paintings), or the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Or maybe for relief aid to Haiti, if I found a group that would really use to money to help the people there.

That's wonderful. What would your dream office look like?

I've already lived in my dream office, it had 10 foot ceilings with art work on every wall (some of it Hudson River genre antique art), a waterfall with an 8-foot drop-over, an open pond with fish, parquet floors and a couple oriental rugs, sculptures in alcoves, and ....as you would guess...lots of orchids.

Wow. Sounds wonderful. What are you working on now?

Relief Aid Haiti is a novel, in the Scott James series, that will be ready for release later this year, projected for November. I gained a respect for the Haitian people in a brief rotation in a surgical hospital after the 2010 earthquake there. Plenty of money was donated to help, but it is slow to get back to the people. My story is based on people I met there and the poor conditions in which so many Haitians live.  

I hope you'll come back and tell us more about Relief Aid Haiti! Thank you for being here.

Excerpt from Not For Profit

Prologue

Deep in a forest in Ancient Greece, a young man by the name of Orchis stumbled upon a festival in honor of the god Dionysius. It was a wild celebration filled with drinking and dancing. Young Orchis was drawn to the party and decided to join in. After a few hours and a few too many goblets of wine, he tried to rape a Dionysian priestess. Upon witnessing this violation, his fellow revelers tore him to pieces. The next morning,his father gathered together the pieces of his dead son, but he could not resurrect him. As he fell to his knees, Orchis’ father prayed to his gods for aid in bringing his son back to life. The Greek gods wanted to help, but they could not just restore Orchis. He needed to be punished for what he had done. So, instead of bringing Orchis back to life as a man, they transformed him into a slender flower—what we now call an orchid.

Cartersville, West Virginia

My patient was almost six months old. Bright blue eyes. Curly, platinum-blonde hair. Cute pink fingers. Her name was Britney Ann Cooper. She was a perfect twelve-pound baby girl—except for the angry, open gash that trailed from her nose to her mouth. For most children, the palate fuses together before birth, but for one in every 700, it does not.

Britney’s mother was distraught. Her friends kept saying that God had given Britney a cleft palate for a reason. They kept telling her that she was being punished by God for her sins. They said that if she tried to change Britney, God would strike her baby dead.

I disagreed. “Nobody’s dying in my operating room today. Not if I can help it."

Britney’s mom asked, “Is she gonna be okay?”

“Yep. I promise. Never lost one yet. Trust me. Gimme an hour, and she’ll be good as new.”

Britney’s mom had no insurance. She was unmarried, seventeen years old, and on welfare. I was standing next to her in a makeshift OR in the back of a free clinic in a single-wide trailer. Sweat dripped down into my eyes. It was 97 degrees, and there was no air conditioning. This part of West Virginia is as poor as some cities in Third World countries.

“Okay. Fine. Whatever. Just do it, but I can’t watch,” Britney’s mom said through tears before turning to run out of the trailer.

A nurse anesthetist stuck an endotracheal tube down Britney’s throat. One slip on her part and my skills would be lost on a dead baby. I tried to focus on the task at hand. I turned to the circulator nurse as she wiped my forehead. “Hey, if it’s too easy, it’s no fun—right?”

My patient rested on a gynecology examining table, the only table the free clinic had for surgery. The leg stirrups had been removed, but the attaching mounts stuck up so far from the table that it kept me at armsdistance away from my tiny patient.

I stared though my magnifying loupes and traced the length of the cleft. It opened at the floor of the nostril and down through the upper lip and back over the palate, dividing it all the way through to the uvula. I paused before lifting the scalpel.

If I had been in my air-conditioned cosmetic surgery office in North Carolina, I would have repaired the lip then and the palate the following year. Closing the lip early is essential to containing the mouth, so the baby can suck and feed on a nipple. Without the lip repair, the baby will become extremely malnourished. The palate closure is necessary for proper speech development, which doesn’t begin until eighteen months. But, since we were in a rural area and I wouldn’t be back next year, I had to do it all then.

I took a marking pencil and quickly outlined the cuts on the upper lip, with rotation advancement of the two halves of the upper lip and a tiny Z-plasty on the vermillion border. With my thumb and index finger squeezing the labial artery—the primary blood supply of the lip—I made the lip incisions, discarding only the thin rim of tissue that blocked the repair.

I heard Britney gurgle and took her pulse. It was slow, which meant she wasn’t getting the oxygen she needed. I ordered the anesthetist to take out the endotracheal tube and put it back in again.

The cautery machine was an antique. I hadn’t used one of these old ones since med school, and I was worried about excessive burning. To be safe, I touched the individual bleeders with a small 25-gauge hypodermic needle.

I took the smallest suture material available, 4-0 gut, for the muscle repair. I preferred much smaller sutures, but none were available. Three of the stitches aligned the lip exactly.

Twenty minutes and four forehead wipes later, I was almost done. Just the palate left to stitch up, but it was the most complicated part of the procedure. I felt sweat about to drip in the wound and turned quickly for another brow wipe. My back was killing me, but I adjusted my posture and put the pain out of my mind.

Just suture the palate. With some fine silk, 5-0, which was perfect for a mucosal repair, I placed five fine sutures in mattress fashion, to turn the lining of the palate outward.

I stepped back to admire my work. Damn! The vermillion borders of the lip didn’t match; the left side was lower than the right. The baby started gurgling and coughing. Crap! The nurse anesthetist had disappeared to prep another patient, and I was on my own. It wasn’t safe for Baby Britney to be out so long. I had to do this fast and finish up. I breathed in deeply and tried again. I made a 5-0 silk stitch and placed each side exactly in the vermillion border. I slowly tied the stitch and pulled.

Again, I stepped back and looked at my patient. The two sides slid into precise alignment as God had intended them. Perfect!

About the author:

Glenn Shepard was raised on a farm in eastern Virginia, went to college and medical school at the University of Virginia, completed surgery and cardiovascular residency at Vanderbilt and plastic surgery residency at Duke, and spent two years in the Army at Ft. Gordon Hospital in Georgia and the Second Surgical hospital in An Khe, Vietnam. He practiced plastic surgery in Newport News, Va. for 28 years  and directed the Riverside Facial Deformities clinic and the Riverside Laboratory for Microvascular research for most of those years. Writing has been a hobby all his adult life.

Friend Glenn:
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Buy the book:
Amazon

Featured: Double Helix Books

Perfection Challenged, the fourth book in Jade Kerrion's Double Helix series, is now available. I'm happy to have her here today with a guest post.
 

SERIES: To Be or Not To Be (and when to stop being…)

If Amazon (the company) were a river and all the books in its vast online repository were drops of water, you wouldn't be able to skim a pebble across its surface without hitting a book that is a part of a series.

Series are popular--they work in movies, on TV, and in books--and for good reason. No one ever likes saying goodbye to the people they've fallen in love with. We like to see our heroes and heroines overcome adversity, and then do it again, and again.

Novel series come in at least three different flavors.

1. Standalone books within a series with a rotating focus on various protagonists. Each novel within the series focuses on, and resolves, one major storyline, but the protagonist (usually a side character in one of the other novels) will claim the spotlight for one book within the series instead of all of them. Romance novels tend to lean this way (after all, happily ever after usually happens only once per couple.) Nora Roberts has written many trilogies of families and friends, with each book focusing on a particular person finding his or her happy ending. Sherrilyn Kenyon does this with her (apparently unending) Dark Hunter series as well.

2. Standalone books within a series focus on one or two key protagonists. Each novel within the series tackles one major problem and resolves the problem by the end of the book. Many detective and mystery novels adopt this flavor. As a teenager, I enjoyed Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. These days, I read P.L. Blair's Portals series that features human detective, Kat Morales, and her elven partner, Tevis.

3. Non-standalone books within a series focus on one or two key protagonists, and story is typically best enjoyed in order from the first novel to the last. Fantasy and science fiction novels, with their sweeping storylines and their tendency to put entire worlds and civilizations at risk of extinction (hey, high stakes, right?) tend to lean in this direction. Each book should resolve a major crisis, but some threads are clearly left trailing as feeders into the next book. Some of my favorite authors fall into this category, including David Eddings who wrote the Belgariad and Mallorean series, and Neil Gaiman, author of the Sandman.

Just about all of my favorite authors are series writers. In hindsight, it’s no surprise that I would, as an author, lean toward writing a series. My Double Helix series is a series of four novels. When I finished writing the fourth book, I finally tackled the issue I’d been avoiding since November 2010, when I first started writing Double Helix series.

When do you stop?

Sometimes, the answer is easy: “when you save the world.” But what if the answer isn’t as obvious? What if the world careens from crisis to crisis (sounds like our world, doesn’t it?) What if the world always needs saving?

I wrote the Double Helix series as a blend between a type 3 series (non-standalone) and a type 2 series (standalone.) The fourth book, Perfection Challenged, was actually the transition book between a non-standalone and standalone series. In theory, I could have gone on forever, coming up with yet another crisis for Danyael Sabre, the alpha empath, to handle. Challenges would always abound in a society transformed by the Genetic Revolution. Danyael would likely encounter most of them, but did he have to be the protagonist?

Let’s segue briefly into another series—Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Legacy series. Occasionally a storyline or plot transcends each book and unifies the series. In Kushiel’s Legacy, it is the rocky path to love and happiness between the heroine, Phedre, and her protector, Joscelin. That storyline is the single thread that runs through the series, and for the series to end, the thread needs to be neatly knotted by the final book.

My readers love Danyael. It was hard to make the decision to move him to the sidelines, yet in practice, I knew that Danyael’s story was done, and for one primary reason. His story had come a full circle. He dealt with different challenges and antagonists over each of the four books, but the storyline that unified the series—his apparently unrequited love for the assassin Zara Itani—reached its conclusion in the fourth book. It was my gift to Danyael, the ending he deserved.

“But,” dismayed readers howl, “you haven’t yet done this, or that, or another. You haven’t finished telling all the stories…” I’ve moved the spotlight off Danyael, but that doesn’t mean he won’t appear in a smaller role in another novel. Spin-offs are popular among series writers. Some side characters in Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series show up as focal characters in her Dream Hunter series.

And so it will be for my Double Helix series. I’ve already written a young adult spin-off. I have others planned, including a standalone series of romantic thrillers featuring mercenaries from Zara’s agency, a novel about Xin, the Machiavellian clone of Fu Hao, a 1,200 BC general, priestess, and queen (busy woman indeed…), and a novel about Galahad, the genetically engineered perfect human being. Inevitably though, those novels and series will someday end.

Quoting one of my favorite characters, Death from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series: “It always ends. That’s what gives it value.”

“The best of the four books…the perfect ending to an amazing series.”

Perfection Challenged, the thrilling conclusion to the multiple award-winning, bestselling DOUBLE HELIX series, is finally here. Grab your copy today.

If you've never picked up the DOUBLE HELIX series, keep reading for a special offer on the six-time award-winning novel, Perfection Unleashed.

PERFECTION CHALLENGED

An alpha empath, Danyael Sabre has survived abominations and super soldiers, terrorists and assassins, but he cannot survive his failing body. He wants only to live out his final days in peace, but life and the woman he loves, the assassin Zara Itani, have other plans for him. Galahad, the perfect human being created by Pioneer Labs, is branded an international threat, and Danyael is appointed his jury, judge, and executioner. Danyael alone believes that Galahad can be the salvation that the world needs, but is the empath blinded by the fact that Galahad shares his genes, and the hope that there is something of him in Galahad? In a desperate race against time and his own dying body, Danyael struggles to find fragments of good in the perfect human being, and comes to the wrenching realization that his greatest battle will be a battle for the heart of the man who hates him.


E-books available at:
Amazon / Amazon UK / Apple iTunes / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / Smashwords

Paperbacks available at: Amazon / Amazon UK

Perfection Unleashed

"Higher octane than Heroes. More heart than X-Men." Recipient of six literary awards, including First place in Science Fiction, Reader Views Literary Awards 2012 and Gold medal winner, Science Fiction, Readers Favorites 2013.

FOR A LIMITED TIME, E-BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR JUST $0.99 (Discounted from $2.99)


E-books available at:
Amazon / Amazon UK / Apple / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / Smashwords

Paperbacks available at: Amazon / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Book Depository  

Connect with Jade Kerrion:
Website / Facebook / Twitter

Featured Author: Eddison McRoberts

Halloween is near, and Virtualbookworm Publishing brings Eddison McRoberts here today to talk about a delightful tale, Sneaking Treats (Tale of the Pumpkin Wraith), a children's book illustrated by Jessica Gadra.

About the book:  

Sneaking Treats is the Halloween tale of a candy-obsessed Prince. After a clumsy accident, he becomes so angry with himself that he inadvertently shoos away his own shadow. With the story given life by the remarkable artistry of Jessica Gadra, the royal family’s search becomes a playful game of hide-and-seek, the young boy’s shadow cleverly hidden among the illustrations’ intricate details. But whether the Prince will ultimately be reunited with his scorned ‘Self’ is not the only mystery that haunts the many twists and turns of the royal castle.

Interview with Eddison McRoberts

What inspired you to write a childrens book?

My own two Ethiopian-adopted children are excellent muses! But really, it’s about fundraising. Printing, publishing, and illustrating costs are expenses that need to be covered, but as the author, I’m accepting no profits of my own. Instead, all net proceeds are being steered to our favorite charity that helps teach underprivileged Ethiopian kids the reading skills they will need to transform their society into one of appropriate health and wealth and opportunity. Please buy our book and join the cause! Visit www.ethiopiareads.org for more info.

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

This is my debut as an aspiring childrens author. As a new dad watching my kids grow and learn, it really tickled my creative side. I kept seeing things that seemed like clever storylines and started jotting them down. Sneaking Treats is not my first idea, just what seemed a good jumping off point.

How did you come up with the title Sneaking Treats (Tale of the Pumpkin Wraith)? 

The title is meant to invite curiosity...Who’s sneaking treats? What’s a pumpkin wraith? My hope is the reader will feel doubly rewarded when the story takes a clever twist beyond what is hinted in the title.

How did you create the plot for Sneaking Treats? 

You know, I just had the most basic idea in my head about a kid who becomes so angry with himself, his Self gets fed up and storms off. Eventually, I got put in touch with Jessica, and I fell in love with the gothic style of her work. With its haunting tale of shadows, this story seemed perfect to fit her inspiration. After some back and forth, we realized this really was best as a Halloween tale. When we both simultaneously got the idea to use Jack-o-lanterns as a sort of surrogate audience, we were hooked!

Tell us a book you’re an evangelist for.  

There is No Me Without You, by Melissa Fay Greene. Especially, a must read for international adoptive parents.

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?

The royal family is loosely based on our own adoptive family. Some of the personality traits were invented to fit the story and don’t quite match up with real life. However, it is amazing how my real boy has grown to perfectly fit the mischievous character of the Prince. And just try to keep him away from the treats!

Are you like any of your characters?

As the head of the family, I am of course represented by the King: a bumbling, shameful mockery of a buffoon. I’m not like him at all.

I'm sure you're not! What song would you pick to go with your book? 

Ha! It IS a part of my book! Visit my website and watch for news on how to view the video production of the story, set to Edvard Grieg’s haunting “In the Hall of the Mountain King”.

Who are your favorite authors?

Jane and Chris Kurtz are both wonderful children's book authors with a refreshingly different perspective born of their own childhood growing up together as Americans in Ethiopia. My story owes much of itself to Jane’s steady encouragement. Much love to you two!


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

Michael Caine, are you available??? Please bring along the cast of Monty Python to voice the characters!

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

Only one day? How does anything get accomplished in a single day! I guess I would ride my bike into the Cascade Mountains, strap on my crampons for a quick trip to summit of Mt. Hood, teleski down the far side and paddle the Deschutes into Hood River. Unless there was a Blazer game on TV that day, in which case I would just sit around the brew pub while sipping an ice-cold IPA.

Wow. You sure do pack a lot into one day. What are you working on now? 

Jessica and I are teaming up again to continue the adventures of the Royal Family in an all new saga! It promises to become a must-read for any family considering adoption of a new pet. Bookmark my webpage and watch for news on an eventual release date for The Princess and the Puppy...

I will! I hope you'll come back and tell us about it when it's published.

Excerpt

The Prince couldn’t sleep. ‘Where would I go if I were feeling unappreciated,’ he thought. Unable to come up with the answer, he decided to sneak downstairs for a treat from the Hallowed Cauldron of Candy, singing softly as he went:

‘The Good King warns to keep our faith
Or risk the wrath of the Pumpkin Wraith
But tempted by the sticky sweets
We steal away their trick-or-treats
And risk the wrath of the Pumpkin Wraith
We’ll risk the wrath of the Pumpkin Wraith’

“And THAT’S when he heard a noise…”

About the author: 

Eddison McRoberts lurks in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and two beautiful Ethiopian-adopted children.  The Illustrator, Jessica Gadra, currently resides in Buffalo, New York, with her husband, Alex, her dog, Eisley, and ten thousand uninvited ladybugs.

Buy the book:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Barnes & Noble coloring book | virtualbookworm.com

The coloring book format includes the complete story and pictures ready for your child’s colorful imagination.

Featured Author: Ciar Cullen

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

About the book:

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



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



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

INTERVIEW WITH CIAR CULLEN

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

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

What do you like best about writing?

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

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

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

Do you have another job outside of writing?

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

How did you create the plot for this book?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What song would you pick to go with your book?

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

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

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

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

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

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?

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

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

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

What are you working on now?

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

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

Book trailer:

About the author:

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

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

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

Buy the book:
Amazon | Boroughs Publishing Group

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PEACE POST by M.C.V. Egan

Have you ever been influenced by a character you created?

As a writer I can be a magician and with my magic wand; my pen, I can create or destroy on whim. I can create places, events and characters. A few years ago I created a character Maggie; I spent time with Maggie in my mind’s eye. Originally I wanted Maggie to be very Zen young woman, a seeker of inner peace. As the storyline developed and the image of Maggie grew so large that my mind’s eye in some ways did not feel big enough.

By tapping into memories of the great invisible friends I had as a child; one should note here that as a child I was fully aware that I created my invisible friends and it was simple to tap into that child-like creativity.

I started to play with my invisible friend, this time instead of making mud pies or having adventures with my dolls, I played like a grown up: I cooked with Maggie, I went for long walks with her and talked to her when I was alone in my car; one must note here that thanks to blue tooth no-one thought I was insane.

As Maggie’s personality grew, the inner peace angle was not enough and Maggie became a great pacifist, one willing to demonstrate to get her point across. A pacifist who believed and led her life with the principle that one of the greatest keys to peace is knowledge.

There is no magic moment when I realized how much Maggie influenced me. I always research when I want to include anything in a story, so I did start reading blogs and newsletters posted by peace groups. At some point I took a good long look at myself and wondered what defined me. What defined me not simply in my immediate surroundings and as a parent, a wife, an American by choice.

As a citizen of the world I am absolutely defined by the desire for PEACE. I was never a war monger per se, I did however feel that some wars were ‘understandable’ or justified. Having experienced Maggie I have come to feel that violence begets nothing but violence and that as unlikely as peace may seem for the world as a whole, every journey, whether made by an individual or by a large group, every journey does begin with a first something, a first step, word or action, so why not the journey towards Peace?

Tomorrow is September 21st, 2013. It is the 33 celebration for the UN’s International Day of Peace. There are movements worldwide, for prayer and meditation, peaceful statement for peace. I plan to attend the one in Miami. A link to the International Day of Peace Facebook page, where you can request if there is a Peace movement near you, is here.

Also visit my Blogs tomorrow where I will be hosting an International Peace Blog Hop.

MCV Egan's blogs:
Bridge of Deaths | 4covert2overt | Is History the Agreed Upon Lie

About the author:

M.C.V. Egan is the pen name chosen by Maria Catalina Egan the author of The Bridge of Deaths. She was born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1959 and from an early age became obsessed with the story of her maternal grandfather, Cesar Agustin Castillo, principally the story of how he died.

Catalina has lived in several countries and is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Swedish.

Maria Catalina Egan is married and has one son. Although she would not call herself an Astrologer, she has taken many classes and taught a few beginner classes in Astrology. This is one of her many past times when she is not writing or researching.

Peace is her ultimate passion.

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

Buy the book:
Amazon paperback | Kindle | Hard cover

Featured Author: Joanna Campbell Slan

Why Once in a Blue Moon Is Often Enough for Me

Written exclusively for A Blue Million Books Blog

By Joanna Campbell Slan,

Author of Death of a Schoolgirl

“So you’re a writer? Well, I have a bunch of great ideas for you,” said a woman at a neighborhood gathering. “Really. You need to call me. Oh, the stories I can tell you.”

While I appreciate her offer, the truth is that I only run short of ideas once in a blue moon. The last “blue moon” happened a month ago when Rafferty, my three-legged rescue pup came down with a horrible urinary tract infection. At first, he seemed unusually restless. Then he started panting and needing to go outside every half hour. Things went downhill fast, culminating with a midnight run to an emergency vet clinic in a nearby city. We didn’t get home until five in the morning. The next day, I was a zombie. I couldn’t think at all! My mind was empty when it came to ideas.

But as I said, that was a month ago. I rarely suffer from a lack of stories. Hardly ever. My mind bubbles over with themes, settings, characters, and situations I want to tackle. My biggest challenge is sifting through my ideas and choosing just one.

For that I rely on the goosebump test. If an idea raises the hairs on my arm, it’s definitely worth pursuing. For example, I was sitting on a panel at a conference a few years ago when a moderator asked, “What’s your favorite mystery of all time?”

“Jane Eyre,” I said. Looking out at the audience, I noticed that many conference attendees nodded in agreement. The skin on my arms began to pimple. Uh-oh. Fantastic idea alert!

“Jane Eyre is not a mystery,” said another panelist.

“You’ve got a tortured man who regrets his past and keeps it secret,” I said. “There’s somebody bumping around in the attic and setting fires. When a visitor shows up, he gets stabbed, and is whisked away under the cover of night. Gee, it sure sounds like a mystery to me.”

So it happened that one of my finer ideas was to refashion Jane Eyre into an amateur sleuth. Since Jane is naturally observant, curious, brave, and intelligent, she’s good in her new role. Once I began noodling this around, I saw another advantage to casting Jane as a detective. Because she went to a charity school but is married a country squire, Jane can move between the upper and lower classes. And since she’s notable for being small and insignificant, she can snoop around without arousing suspicion.

Death of a Schoolgirl, the first title in my new series, The Jane Eyre Chronicles, recently received the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence. Winning such a prestigious honor is definitely the thrill of a lifetime. In fact, it’s the kind of pat-on-the-back that only comes once in a blue moon.

About the author:

Award-winning and National Bestselling author Joanna Campbell Slan is the creator of three mystery series, including the Kiki Lowenstein Mysteries (an Agatha Award Finalist) and a new series featuring Cara Mia Delgatto, young woman who runs a recycling/repurposing shop. The first book in Joanna’s historical romance mystery series, The Jane Eyre Chronicles, is Death of a Schoolgirl, winner of the 2013 Daphne du Maurier Award for Literary Excellence. In her past life, Joanna was a television talk show host, an adjunct professor of public relations, a sought-after motivational speaker, and a corporate speechwriter. Visit Joanna’s website at www.JoannaSlan.com See all her books at http://tinyurl.com/JoannaSlan Follow her on Pinterest (www.Pinterest.com/JoannaSlan) Join the conversation at http://tinyurl.com/JCSlan Or communicate directly with her at JCSlan@JoannaSlan.com.

About Death of a Schoolgirl:

In her classic tale, Charlotte Brontë introduced readers to the strong-willed and intelligent Jane Eyre. Picking up where Brontë left off, Jane’s life has settled into a comfortable pattern: She and her beloved Edward Rochester are married and have an infant son. But Jane soon finds herself in the midst of new challenges and threats to those she loves…

Jane can’t help but fret when a letter arrives from Adèle Varens—Rochester’s ward, currently at boarding school—warning that the girl’s life is in jeopardy. Although it means leaving her young son and invalid husband, and despite never having been to a city of any size, Jane feels strongly compelled to go to London to ensure Adèle’s safety.

But almost from the beginning, Jane’s travels don’t go as planned—she is knocked about and robbed, and no one believes that the plain, unassuming Jane could indeed be the wife of a gentleman; even the school superintendent takes her for an errant new teacher. But most shocking to Jane is the discovery that Adèle’s schoolmate has recently passed away under very suspicious circumstances, yet no one appears overly concerned. Taking advantage of the situation, Jane decides to pose as the missing instructor—and soon uncovers several unsavory secrets, which may very well make her the killer’s next target…

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


Buy the book:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookworld | Book Depository | Powell's Books

Enter to win cool stuff:
A Lowood Institution Lacrosse sweatshirt, a “Being yourself is the key” pencil case, a Jane Eyre mug, and a small Jane Eyre quotations journal a Rafflecopter giveaway