FEATURED AUTHOR: TESS WOODS

ABOUT THE BOOK

What would you risk to be with the love of your life? A family is threatened by an irresistible attraction in this compelling debut that will appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty and Anita Shreve.

Looking back on it now, I can see it was instant. the second we locked eyes. Boom. Just like that. the me I had spent a lifetime perfecting began its disintegration from that moment. And despite the carnage it brought to all our lives, I still don't regret it.
What would you risk to be with the love of your life? And what if your soul mate is the one who will destroy you?

Mel is living the dream. She's a successful GP, married to a charming anaesthetist and raising a beautiful family in their plush home in Perth. But when she boards a flight to Melbourne, she meets Matt and her picture perfect Stepford life unravels as she falls in love for the first time ever.

What begins as a flirty conversation between strangers quickly develops into a hot and obsessive affair with disastrous consequences neither Mel nor Matt could have ever seen coming. Mel's dream life turns into her worst nightmare.

Love at First Flight will take everything you believe about what true love is and spin it on its head.

INTERVIEW WITH TESS WOODS

Tess, do you have another job outside of writing?
I’m a physiotherapist and have been for the past twenty years. Along with my hubby, I own and operate three clinics around Perth. It is crazy busy, so writing is definitely my night job. But I also love my day job working in private practice. Every Tuesday I run exercise classes for the over 75s, and we always finish with a dance number like the Hokey Pokey or the Macarena, best job ever.

What’s your favorite line from a book?
“You’re my own personal brand of heroin.” Edward to Bella in Twilight.

Are any of your characters inspired by real people? 
Hell, yes! I really do believe you write what you know. Of course the novel is a work of fiction, not a biography and not a journal, and I credit my imagination for it, but I have definitely taken inspiration from events and people in my life.

It is no coincidence that Mel has long black hair and is a health professional who falls for a tall, dark, handsome and broody, moody physio. That’s me and my husband! But the great thing about writing is that I get to make Mel as hot as I like and morph her into someone as sexy as Angelina Jolie - hey, it’s my prerogative isn’t it? Matt’s parents are very much inspired by my own mother and father-in-law who lived out in the country on a sprawling property where we used to go to wind down from the city with them. Matt’s sister is a powerful human rights lawyer, just like two of my world-beating cousins. I even used my children’s names for characters - Tom, Lara and Lachlan. (Lara has a blink and you miss it, part because I am saving her. I have big things planned for Lara in book two!)

Is your book based on real events?
Again, the book is fictional and not a diary, but I did incorporate many real life events into this fictional story. My husband and I tragically lost our third child Lachy at birth, my darling friend Jess committed suicide, my darling friend Julie fought a fierce battle with cancer and those stories and a few more events that shaped my life made it into the book.

Wow. Sounds like a very poignant book. What song would you pick to go with your book?
"Here Without You" by Three Doors Down really captures the sense of longing of being far away from your love that is in Love at First Flight.

Who are your favorite authors?
My all time favourite author is Maeve Binchy. But I also love Marian Keyes, Nicholas Evans, Adriana Trigiani, Robert James Waller, Stephenie Meyer, and Rosamund Pilcher.

What book are you currently reading and in what format?
I’m reading Luna Tango by Alli Sinclair, on my Kindle (I love my Kindle!!). It’s a beautiful romance set in Argentina, and it shifts between today and the 1950’s.

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?
Snuggled up in bed. I’ve tried to be bohemian and trendy and take my laptop to hipster cafes to write, but I am just too distractable and get nothing done. I need to be tucked up in bed, late at night, hubby snoring peacefully next to me, and that’s where I do my best work.

Where’s home for you?
I live in Perth, right on the coast of the Indian Ocean in Western Australia. I can see the sun set over the horizon every night. It is the most beautiful place in the world and I’m so parochial about it, I set my book here.

Sounds wonderful! Let's say you’re leaving your country for a year. What’s the last meal (or food) you would want to have before leaving?
TimTams - the best chocolate layered biscuit known to man. There are fake TimTam imitations the world over, but every Aussie knows there is only one TimTam worth passing your lips. We have a tradition here of TimTam slammers. We break off the ends of the TimTam and then dunk it into coffee and suck up the coffee through the biscuit.

What’s your favorite candy bar? And don’t tell me you don’t have one!
Of course I have one! It’s not a bar though, it’s an egg. Cadbury Crème Eggs, even just typing these words makes my mouth water.

They are delicious. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
My greatest hobby is reading. I love nothing more than heading to the beach with a good book and lying in the sun soaking up a story. I enjoy art and craft with my kids and spend lots of time weekends making things and painting things with them. I also love to bake, knit, tend to my veggie patch, watch Downton Abbey – anything little old ladies love to do, I do too! And I’m obsessed with The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and New York! So watching them on TV is a real favorite.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I love my hometown of Perth and would not choose to leave it permanently, but if I could have a year in Venice, that would be a dream come true! Nowhere in the world has captured my heart like Venice did when I was there last year. Oh, to have a year of listening the church bells ringing from San Marco’s cathedral as gondoliers navigate past my balcony, singing “That’s Amore” and then wandering the tiny cobbled lanes in search of fresh pastries to eat. It doesn’t get much better than that!

What are you working on now?
I’m writing my second book, and I’m very excited! I am writing a contemporary romance called Flat White With One, which is about my main character Mel’s son as an adult (he is a teenager in Love at First Flight). Nick is Australia’s most popular football player, a real playboy who falls for a young, conservative Egyptian girl named Anna with a tragic past who is anything but the typical footballer’s girlfriend. Flat White With One is their love story. Nick and Anna are tested by her family, Nick’s football community, and the Australian public as nobody seems to approve of them being together.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tess Woods is a health professional who lives in Perth, Australia with one husband, two children, one dog and one cat who rules over all of them. Love at First Flight is her first novel for HarperCollins. When she isn't working or being a personal assistant to her kids, Tess enjoys reading and all kinds of grannyish pleasures like knitting, baking, drinking tea, watching Downton Abbey and tending to the veggie patch.

Connect with Tess:
Website  | Facebook  |  Goodreads

FEATURED WRITER: MELISSA MARNI

And now, for something a little different . . . today I have Melissa Marni, writer of the little word studio blog. Its the tag line is: "Tiny Tales for Big Ideas." The blog was launched as a place to post original stories inspired by the work of artists and photographers from around the world. Keep reading for more on her blog, to read a sample of her short stories, and find out more about Melissa.

ABOUT THE BLOG:

It all started on the back porch of my apartment. An idea for a short story popped into my head as I sat drinking my coffee-with-milk and browsing the Internet. The whole thing took a few hours to write and when it was done I thought, “Would anyone want to read this?” So, posted it in order to find out; the experience felt just like floating a fictional message in a bottle into the vast ocean of digital content . . . hoping for the best . . . and that’s how little word studio was born.

A few weeks later, I was contacted on Instagram by a London-based graphic designer asking if I’d like to collaborate on a project – her art, my words. After hearing more about the collaboration, I realized I’d found the key to making little word studio unique: Find talented artists around the world and write the untold stories of their creations. I’ve since been lucky enough to team up with talented illustrators, photographers and animators from the U.S., England, Russia, France, Sweden, Italy, Germany . . . the list goes on. It's been amazing to see what inspires them and their artwork has helped push the boundaries of my prose.

THE TALE OF ASTRID THE BEAUTIFUL

By Melissa Marni

Somewhere in the untamed French countryside near Versailles, on the border of all that was good and evil, once sat a small patch of wild lavender, and just beyond, a smaller spring. An accidental journey brought Astrid to this spring, its water tumbling like wet poetry across flowering earth.

She was in the shrubbiest part of the woods searching for a particularly large clump of jasmine to be tucked behind her sister Maryse’s “perfect pearl of an ear.” (This ear, according to their mother, Bernadette, was but a single feature among any number of flawless ones that could be found resting on the perfect face of Maryse.)

“As you get older, it’s actually quite the luck you look so much like your father,” said Bernadette on Astrid’s twenty-third birthday last year. “Unlike me or Maryse, you have no discernible beauty now, so you’ve no beauty to lose.”

Yet, even to the casual stranger, Astrid, like her father, was undeniably beautiful in both heart and head. Her beauty was a seedling of fact sowed through compliments like this from Monsieur Claude Duvet: “Well heavens awaken me, Astrid! You’ve become a woman worthy of the gods!”

Indeed she had, growing from pretty little Astrid into a honey-haired, indigo-eyed Aphrodite. Her mother and sister weren’t completely unattractive, each with some agreeable amount of beauty – Maryse an exact, younger reflection of her mother – though when standing by Astrid, the two couldn’t compare.

But here’s the logic of Bernadette the moderately beautiful philosopher: If she was, in her mind, a great beauty then so too was Maryse, sharing her mother’s rubberish complexion and brown, wiry hair. In lingering glances, it might be said Bernadette was more keenly aware of Astrid’s goddess-like looks than she let on.

A fair bet could be made then won that this knowledge motivated Bernadette to give Astrid an endless list of daily chores like picking flowers for her sister’s hair or sewing a dead dragonfly onto the collar of a twill dress.

“I’m only asking you to make me a bug brooch,” her mother had said. “Unless those fat fingers of yours have stopped working, I don’t see why it must be that hard.”

While Astrid was busy figuring out how to thread a dragonfly’s wing, Bernadette was dragging Maryse to every fête west of Paris, teacup-clanking a path through society’s ranks. “There is grave necessity for us to be seen in public,” her mother told Maryse. “We must wow those who matter through our stylish grace and be grateful for the sturdiness of Astrid; with your father gone, we can’t afford a mule.”

Astrid was on such a mulishly mandated chore – “collect a handful of lavender that’s turned a deep purple but hasn’t yet browned” – when she found the spring. She heard the burbles of the spring before she saw it, which explained why Astrid bumped into a woman standing at its edge.

“I’m so sorry, Madam!”

The woman looked up and Astrid stared right into her dark, feral eyes. She was almost a head shorter than Astrid, a bad hunch curling her back, a frizz of gray hair growing around a face crackled as an old pumice stone.

“It’s nothing,” the woman cooed. “Come closer though, these eyes can’t see like they used to and I need your help.”

With an agreeable head shake, Astrid took a step toward the curious woman near the spring.

“Better. But would you mind bringing me some water? I can’t reach down far enough.”

Astrid did as told, emptying her bucket of the lavender inside, sweeping it clean then scooping a handful of spring water.

“For you,” Astrid said. “Please keep the bucket so you can use it if you ever visit this spring again.”

The woman giggled and the sound was young and bright. “I do come most afternoons,” she replied. “Thank you for this gift, Astrid the Beautiful, and here is mine in return …”

How the woman knew her name or how in the next moment, Astrid was back in her kitchen, lavender in hand, should rightly be described as magic.

“Late again, Astrid!” Her mother growled, grabbing at the lavender. “Maryse, come come and let’s see if these flowers can be stuck to your little ear.”

“If the lavender doesn’t work, I can …” Astrid began but never finished. As she spoke, each word produced a tiny diamond from her mouth, which fell to the floor with a ceremonious and sparkly thud.

Bernadette, a matter-of-fact woman who believed intelligence the awful stepsister of charm, never thought to ask why diamonds were suddenly spurting from her youngest daughter’s mouth. She only wanted to know how such a thing might also happen for Maryse, “whose lips are so much prettier and more deserving of jewels.”

“I’m not sure,” Astrid said, three small diamonds springing free from somewhere behind her snow-white teeth. “When I was picking lavender, I met a woman who said she had a gift for me …”

“You met a woman with a gift for you?” Bernadette was practically cackling. “Of course she didn’t know of your sister, better in every way, otherwise … otherwise! Take Maryse to this woman directly so she can give her a diamond mouth and take yours away, if possible. Though the diamonds you’ve spilled, we’ll keep.”

When Astrid returned to the spring with Maryse, the woman was still there, a huddled fairy among lavender brush.

“That’s her,” Astrid whispered, nudging Maryse forward and catching the two diamonds that left her tongue. Astrid was sure none of what her mother wanted would come to pass; Maryse barely spoke to anyone but when she did, whatever came out was terrible.

“Hello, Madame!” Mayrse bellowed. “I would like a diamond mouth like my sister but brighter and with larger diamonds! I would also like! It! Right! Now!”

The woman never nodded or smiled to let Maryse know she’d heard the request. Instead, when Maryse said her last word – “now” – an enormous, slimy toad jumped from her mouth into the spring.

“What?” Maryse burped and another toad parted her lips, splashing as it hit the foamy surface of the spring.

Astrid, in her kind heart, almost felt sorry for Maryse. Still, watching the toads that dove happily from her sister’s screaming mouth into the water below, she had only one thought: escape. As Astrid walked away, she turned one last time toward the woman, a wonderful, gift-giving nymph of the woods, who if she could speak might tell you now and ever after that Astrid lived a happy life.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Melissa Marni is the founder and author of little word studio. A native of New York, Melissa now lives in Newport Beach, California. She wrote her first story at the age of nine, (something about evil witches and shoelaces), and has been writing ever since. Melissa is a lover of red wine, soft cheese, books read by firelight, Pacific Ocean sunsets and her crooked-eared little dog, Austin.

Connect with Melissa:
WEBSITE |  FACEBOOK  |  TWITTER  |  INSTAGRAM |
 

Featured Author: Clea Simon

ABOUT THE BOOK

The dead don’t keep pets. So when animal behaviorist expert Pru Marlowe gets a call about a kitten, she doesn’t expect to find the cuddly creature playing beside the cooling body of prominent Beauville lawyer David Canaday. Heart attack? His three adult daughters angrily blame drug interactions, feline allergies—and each other. And begin to feud over their father, his considerable estate, and that cute ball of fluff. While the cause of death is pending, each sister has an axe to grind—with arguments that escalate when David’s partner reads out the will.


Pru’s special sensitivity to animals, which caused her to flee the cacophony of Manhattan for the quiet Berkshires, adds further problems. The local vet is overwhelmed as the animal hospital’s money runs out. There’s a needy Sheltie and some invasive squirrels, too. But the dead man’s kitten, his former partner, and his troublesome family keep drawing “wild-girl animal psychic Pru back in. Despite the wry observations of her trusty tabby Wallis, now the wrongfully accused kitten’s guardian, and the grudging compliance of her cop lover, this may be one time when Pru can’t solve the mystery or save the kitten she wants to believe is innocent. A single witness knows the truth about that bright spring morning. How far can Pru investigate without risking her own hidden tale?

INTERVIEW WITH CLEA SIMON

Clea, what’s the story behind the title of your book?
Kittens Can Kill, the fifth Pru Marlowe pet noir, came about when I thought, what if the only witness to murder was someone who couldn’t tell us what had happened? What if that witness was a cute, little kitten?

Tell us about your series. Is this book a standalone, or do readers need to read the series in order?
Each of my mysteries works as a standalone, and I give a little bit of background in each one. However, if you read the series in order (starting with Dogs Don’t Lie), you will also get the larger, overarching story of Pru’s character development, family, and love life.

Where’s home for you?
Somerville, Massachusetts! Right by Boston.

Where did you grow up?
East Meadow, New York - on suburban Long Island.

What’s your favorite memory?

We had woods behind our house and a stream, and I used to love to play out back. I’d pretend I could talk to the animals out there.

If you had an extra $100 a week to spend on yourself, what would you buy?
Books. No doubt.


What do you love about where you live?
I can walk to two independent bookstores (and several coffeehouses) easily. My neighbors are friendly, and even though we’re in the city, we have a tiny little backyard where I see bunnies and a pretty big variety of birds (we had a wild turkey last year!).


What is the most daring thing you've done?
Quit my job at a newspaper to work on my books. But so far, so good!



What makes you nervous?
Not knowing if I have time to do everything I want or need to.


What makes you happy?
Working on a project that I enjoy and knowing that those I love are healthy, happy and engaged in their own interests.

What makes you scared?
Not being able to help those I love.

What makes you excited?
A new idea!

Do you have another job outside of writing?
I do some corporate editing on the side, at home. Unfortunately, it still pays better than the writing!

If you could only save one thing from your house, what would it be?
My cat! But if she saved herself, it would be my laptop.

Would you rather be a lonely genius, or a sociable idiot?
On good and bad days, I think I am both.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“Bash it out now, tart it up later,” by the rocker Nick Lowe. I live by these words.

What’s your favorite line from a book?
“A line will take us hours maybe/but if it seems more than a moment’s thought/our stitching and unstitching is for naught.” - William Butler Yeats

What would your main character say about you?
Pru Marlowe would probably think I’m a wimp!

How did you create the plot for this book?
I come up with a problem and then I see where it takes me. I try very hard to keep my characters true to their personae, and so what they do will be consistent with who they are when faced with the problems I throw at them.

What’s one pet peeve you have when you read?
I can’t stand characters who don’t feel real. If characters just do things to move a plot along, I’ll stop reading.


Do you have a routine for writing?
Yes, I write everyday, Monday through Friday. I aim for a certain number of words, and I don’t stop until I hit that word count. When I’m near deadline, we eat dinner pretty late!

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?
I wish I were a morning person, but I find I do my best writing between four and nine p.m.

What are you working on now?
I am working on the sixth Pru Marlowe pet noir, to be called When Bunnies Go Bad. Then it’s on to the next Dulcie Schwartz! What a great life, huh?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A recovering journalist, Clea Simon is the author of 17 mysteries and three nonfiction books. Parrots Prove Deadly is the third in her Pru Marlowe pet noir series. She lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her husband Jon and their cat Musetta.


Connect with Clea:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter 

Featured Author: Nina Post

ABOUT THE BOOK

After returning to his hometown, a homicide detective investigates the brutal murder of his childhood friend, but as the evidence points to another face from his past, he must decode a cryptic series of clues to track down the killer.

INTERVIEW WITH NINA POST

Nina, tell us about your series. Is this book a standalone, or do readers
need to read the series in order?
The Shawn Danger Mysteries series is about homicide detective Shawn Danger, who
works in northwestern Pennsylvania. Shawn is patient, focused, very good at his job, and has an unusual approach to running the case. You don't need to read the books in order – they can be standalone.

Where’s home for you?
Washington state, home of the Sea-Tac Sloth.

If you had an extra $100 a week to spend on yourself, what would you buy?
Books, and books, and books.

What do you love about where you live?
Birds, trees, mountains, ferries, and the weather. Also, the Sea-Tac Sloth.

What makes you nervous?
Children.

What makes you happy?
Fruit festivals.

What makes you scared?
Most things.

What makes you excited?
The growing field of international cat tax law.

If you could only save one thing from your house, what would it be?
Assuming my husband is safe: my bowling ball collection, my anvil collection, and of course, my cast iron stove grate collection.

What brings you sheer delight?
Breakfast.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
"She imagined that whenever she left the house, an all-points bulletin was sent to every freak in the city, who went screaming after her with single-minded purpose." -Middle Men, Jim Gavin

How did you create the plot for this book?
It came out of the protagonist's background. Then I outlined it. And then I did my Swedish plotting dance.

Who are your favorite authors?
A. A. Milne, E.B. White, L.M. Montgomery, W.B. Yeats.

What book are you currently reading and in what format?
Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the AmericanRevolution, by Joel Richard Paul – in hardcover.

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received about your writing?
"Once someone reads one of your books, they're going to want to read all of your books."

That's petty darn great. What would your dream office look like?
The 'English Great Room of the Late Tudor Period, 1550-1603' from The Art Institute's Thorne Miniature Rooms.

What are you working on now?
I'm working on the sequel to my international thriller, The Zaanics Deceit. You can find out more about the first book at my website.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nina Post is the author of seven novels, including Danger Returns in Pairs, Danger in Cat World, Extra Credit Epidemic, The Last Condo Board of the Apocalypse, The Last Donut Shop of the Apocalypse, One Ghost Per Serving, and The Zaanics Deceit. She lives in Seattle.

Connect with Nina:
Website  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads | Amazon

Featured Author: J.J. Chow

ABOUT THE BOOK

Runner-Up, 2015 Beach Book Festival
 

Winston Wong used to test video games but has left his downward spiraling career to follow in the footsteps of Encyclopedia Brown, his favorite childhood detective. When the Pennysaver misprints his new job title, adding an extra "s" to his listing, Winston becomes a "Seniors Sleuth." He gets an easy first case, confirming the natural death of a ninety-year-old man. However, under the surface of the bingo-loving senior home is a seedier world where a genuine homicide actually occurred. Winston finds himself surrounded by suspects on all sides: a slacker administrator, a kind-hearted nurse, and a motley crew of eccentric residents. To validate his new career choice (and maybe win the girl), he must unravel the truth from a tangle of lies.

INTERVIEW WITH J.J. CHOW

Jennifer, what’s the story behind the title of your book?
Winston Wong decides to advertise himself as a “senior” sleuth, so he can sound more experienced. Unfortunately, his ad gets misprinted as “seniors” sleuth — and he gets his first case at the local senior home.

Tell us about your series. Is this book a standalone, or do readers need to read the series in order?
This book is the first in the new Winston Wong Cozy Mystery series. Each novel will be a standalone with a different case, but the emotional growth of recurring characters will take place throughout the series. 

If you had an extra $100 a week to spend on yourself, what would you buy?
I would blow it all on books, of course!

What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned?
To stay true to your dreams. Life is too short to pursue anything other than your deepest passions.

What dumb things did you do during your college years?
I pulled a lot of all-nighters in college — to socialize. I’m not sure my body has ever quite recovered.

What do you love about where you live?

Los Angeles is a great place to live. I love the opportunities here to do so many diverse activities and to explore the surrounding natural beauty, from beaches to mountains. Plus, the weather is lovely! 


What’s one thing that you wish you knew as a teenager that you know now?
It would have helped to understand that I could be different from my peers and embrace my uniqueness (e.g. talents, heritage, etc.).


What makes you happy?
I enjoy spending time with my family and having relaxed nature outings.

Do you have another job outside of writing?
I’m currently focused on writing, but I still have my license in social work. I used to do geriatric social work and enjoyed working directly with seniors.

How did you meet your husband? Was it love at first sight?
We met in college, and it was not love at first sight. Sure, I thought he was handsome, but our personalities were quite opposite. After getting thrown together in a lot of activities, though, we both started appreciating each other’s qualities and began dating. 

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?
Yes, I have several friends in the tech field, so they influenced my Winston Wong character. The senior residents of Sweet Breeze are a mixture of different folks I’ve encountered during my volunteer and work experiences with older adults.

Are you like any of your characters?
I find my inner geek in Winston. I have fond memories of playing video games as well.

What book are you currently reading and in what format?
I’m reading paperback versions of the first two books in Naomi Hirahara’s Officer Ellie Rush mystery series.

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received about your writing?

My previous novel, The 228 Legacy, helped someone to reconnect with her father. She told me that she better understood him after reading my book.

What would your dream office look like?

I would love to have a little nook of an office. All I’m asking for is my own desk with black pens that don’t run out of ink. (And maybe a cute shelf to house all my published books and signed copies from other authors.) 

Why did you decide to self-publish? 

I started out with a small press, but I was curious about what really goes on behind the scenes with making a book. I’ve enjoyed learning about all the various aspects of publishing up close. Also, I wanted to expand into different genres, and self-publishing gave me more flexibility to share my various stories.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J.J. Chow writes Asian-American fiction with a geriatric twist. She has a gerontology specialization from Cornell University and a Masters in Social Work with geriatric field experience. She lives in Los Angeles and is a member of Sisters in Crime. You can follow her blog and find more about her other writing at jenniferjchow.com

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

Featured Author: Herbert L Smith

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Hog Ranch near Hillville, Iowa, is a notorious place. All kinds of illegal ‘business’ prospers there. It’s a known hideout for the criminal element, and its proximity to Omaha is a major plus for the goings-on inside – and outside as well. The sturdy old log structure sits along the shoreline of the Missouri River; that mighty waterway flows just steps outside the back door and provides a good place to dispose of dead bodies. Set in the middle of the 1950’s, the tale of Hurricane Kingdom – who seems (at first) a minor character in the entire scheme of things – twists and forks along the muddy trails of the riverbank behind the Hog Ranch with its gambling Cellar, gigantic barroom, and a well-populated House on the top floor.

The quiet and somewhat dull town of Hillville is nearby but also a world away, exactly as the town and the Ranch both want it to be. Guy LeFevere and Caleb Starfire, the men who shoulder the burdens of the Starfire Detective agency, share the responsibilities of policing the town as well as all of Bogger County with an inept, portly and rather absurd sheriff, Fred Baylor. It’s a mixed match-up, but despite all the fuming and fumbling of the dull-witted sheriff, the detectives prevail, and more often than not the criminal element is subdued or eventually rendered harmless – and sometimes actually imprisoned. Frequently, however, the criminals inflict their deadly punishments upon each other. The 1950’s shine through the novel and offer a fun-filled romp through Hillville and its environs, creating renewed memories for those who survived that time, and a lesson in human history for those who missed all the fun.

INTERVIEW WITH HERBERT L. SMITH

Herbert, please tell us about Hurricane Kingdom.
The books are filled with Iowa dialect and the foods of the area (as a recurring joke), as well as the colorful people. A blundering sheriff creates more conflict, and other citizens of Hillville present different perspectives of the idyllic life of the 50’s. There are several who seem sensible, but many of them are a little too zany for anybody’s good. Somehow the crimes do get solved, and peace – for  a short time at least – is restored. But Hillville was never quite the same after the enigmatic Guy LeFevre came to town. 

Hurricane Kingdom is part of The Starfire Mystery Series. There are four books in the group so far: The Eggstone Murders, Liquor is Quicker, Murder in the Library, and Hurricane Kingdom. They are all set in Southwest Iowa in the 1950’s, with Caleb Starfire and Guy LeFevre, two very dissimilar men, as the detectives.

Where are you from?
I grew up in Iowa – in Glenwood – the town I have renamed Hillville, and I know the sounds of the dialect and can talk the talk, but I left it behind when I was sixteen.

I’ve lived all over the world, North Africa and Qatar, Europe and Argentina, working as a teacher and linguist in various universities, and am now settled in Eugene, Oregon, where I’ve lived for the past ten years and where I started writing.

Eugene is pleasantly, verdantly green (a redundancy, I know) and after years of desert life, an essential change.

What's the most daring thing you've ever done?
Probably the most daring thing I’ve ever done was to get on the plane and go to Cairo. I wasn’t young – middle fifties then – but I was determined. I had a great new job in Egypt, although I didn’t know much about it yet, and to make it even more daring, I knew almost nothing about modern Egypt. I got what information I could and read it, but nothing, absolutely nothing, could have prepared me for the Adventure of a Lifetime. I came out of Egypt a different person, and I live as that person today. A part of my heart is still in Cairo.

Do you have a "day job?"
Along with my university work, I am an organist and pianist. I have had a second career (if I can call three of four working hours a week a career) for more than sixty years – I started in church music at age sixteen – and I have always considered the music as my voice to the world. That is, obviously, until I started writing, which became a second voice.

I retired from church music four years ago. I don’t exactly miss it because I volunteer as a pianist in the ‘Sounds of Healing’ program at a local hospital.

How did you meet your wife?
The story of how I met my wife is one of the best I know. And it’s all true. I met her at the Idaho State Penitentiary in Boise. Not really at, but in - inside the prison.

I was a volunteer pianist at the prison for a few years while I was in college. I met the chaplain at a church where I was organist, and he asked me if I would be willing to drive over a couple of times a month to help out. The prison chapel met early, so I could get back for my regular job.

We met each Sunday in the little stone-walled guardroom where the armored entry door with an electronic locking system opened into the interior grounds. The first time I went inside, it seemed a little creepy. Tall stone walls – built in 1870 – surrounded the rectangular space, with guard towers at the four corners. There was a well-cared-for flower garden with three walkways through it that led to the cellblock buildings. The chapel was at the far end. There were no trees inside the prison.

The chaplain and his wife (she always attended the Sunday services there) walked ahead, I came behind, followed by two guards. We passed several men who were walking on the side paths, and they all waved and smiled, happy to see the chaplain and his visitors.

After a couple of months, I got used to the routine, and met with the choir to go through some of the music before the other men came in. I sat with the choir while I was there; we were on the main floor, with the chaplain and his entourage on a raised platform about six feet higher. Security.

Sometimes there were other visitors, and one Sunday, about two years after I had started playing there, a trio of young women form a college in Nampa came to sing. That was the place and the day that I met Glenda for the first time. We were married about three years later.

That is a great story! What brings you seer delight?
Probably the thing that brings me the most ‘sheer delight’ is clever conversation, filled with humor and wit. I love to talk to people – usually this is a one-to-one - who are intelligent and can articulate their thoughts easily. When that happens, everything seems to flow in an endless ribbon of meaningful talk, and if we both pick up the cues correctly, we can learn a lot from each other while having the time of our lives. It’s rare, but it does happen!

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Where could I live if I weren’t settled in Eugene? I often wonder about that. I love Cairo, and would have willingly retired there, but Glenda wouldn’t go back for any reason. She has no love for the place. Women, I will admit, are not treated well there. So I erased that from my go-to places.

Another place I love is Jerusalem, but I knew I couldn’t live there. Visas are difficult to get, and as a non-Hebrew they are nonexistent.

Glenda and I both love Paris, but the expense is far beyond what we could manage, and visas are a problem there too.

So we affirm our choice of Eugene, and are happy here. There are good restaurants, at least a few, and the classical music venue – The Hult Center – is excellent.

There are wonderful green tree-covered hills all around, and two rivers to add to the scene. The university with its immense library and other kinds of services is close, and if we want a large city, it’s just up the road.

I often think about all these things, and am satisfied that we made the best choice for retirement – in Eugene.

Is your book based on real life?
Hurricane Kingdom is based in reality. The Hog Ranch, a prominent place in the novel, is an actual place that was built in 1900, precisely for its gambling hall, brothel, and huge barroom. There was also a large horsetrack on the premises, and a large part of the business was illegal racing.

I discovered those facts in an online search. In less than thirty years, however, the place was closed – prohibition – and two farmers bought it and turned it into the Hog Ranch, a place where huge numbers of pigs came to be slaughtered.

I have a family connection with the agricultural use of the place. My parents lived there shortly after it was turned to hog farming, but my mother was afraid of the place due to its past reputation, so they left after only a few months. I heard stories about it as I grew up, and my take on it, with a slight change in the timing, came from what I heard.

What are you reading now?
A fascinating book I just finished reading (two days ago) is Alex and Me, by Irene M. Pepperberg. A scientist and a parrot discover a new world of animal intelligence and bond with each other at the same time. As a true tale, it is mind boggling.

Another book I am reading (it takes a long time to get through – over 1000 pages) is The October Horse, by Colleen McCoullough. This is one of her quartet, dealing with the ancient Romans, and I must say that Caesar and all the rest take on a living, breathing presence. I read the first two of the quartet about thirty years ago, and when I heard of McCoullough’s recent passing, I took on the rest. This is the last one.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Herb Smith, the author of eight books and counting, is a native of Glenwood, Iowa, the town that is the prototype for Hillville, which is featured in the Starfire Mystery Series. He has memories of people and events that stretch back to the 1940’s, and his memory is not only long, but detailed as well.

He has recreated the Iowa of his youth in the Starfire Mystery Series. (This is the third book in the series.) The stories are all set in the 1950’s, something of an American Golden Age, and the joys and struggles of life, along with the murders, are evident as the reader becomes ever more beguiled by that world.

Smith’s own life has included places far flung from Southwestern Iowa: Egypt and the Middle East, Argentina, Idaho, and even exotic central California, where he spent thirty five years (except for the time he was working outside the U. S.)

He is a musician – mostly church music – and has worked in all kinds of churches as organist, sometimes doubling as choir master as well. He also taught English as a Foreign Language in California Universities and other schools around the world. Currently, he lives the retired life in Eugene, Oregon, with his wife, Glenda. Their daughter Melanie and her husband William live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area. Theirs is a small but closely linked family, and they spend holidays and many other times together. They don’t have dogs, but Pippa, the colossal cat, reigns unquestionably in her California home.
Smith’s future remains bright. A new series, called the Quest Samson Mystery Series (based in Eugene), is in the works, as well as other  unusual but interesting book projects, and he is considering some musical compositions that will add to his artistic credentials.

Website

Guest Post with Heather Siegel

ABOUT THE BOOK

Heather Siegel was six years old when her mother disappeared, sending her father into a tailspin that took Heather and her siblings down with him — from a comfortable suburban home to a barely habitable basement apartment, a dark world they soon found themselves fighting to return to from the exile of foster care, then fighting even harder to escape.

Forty years later, Heather Siegel tells the remarkable story of how she and her siblings, Jaz and Greg, banded together to find out what happened to their mother and fight their way Out from the Underworld with nothing but their wits, determination, unbreakable bonds and gifts for humor and compassion to sustain them. A wrenching, inspiring story filled with heartbreak, hope and love, Out from The Underworld will move you to laughter and tears.

Category:  Adult Non-fiction, 220 pages
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Greenpoint Press
Release date: April 30, 2015
Content Rating: PG-13

INTERVIEW WITH HEATHER SIEGEL

Heather, what’s the story behind the title of your book?
The original story behind the title of the book, is of course, the myth of Persephone. She was the daughter of Zues and Demeter who was abducted into the underworld by King Hades. It’s a myth that considers collusion by parents to send their daughter into the underworld, and seeing that my father — who I liken in a somewhat humorous way to King Hades - did consent to us kids not only living in foster care but also living in a basement apartment, a literal underworld in the book. I played on that idea of a parent in collusion with darkness. My dad is a funeral director, and so this title also seemed to go well with his occupation, which plays prominently in the story.

Originally, I had toyed with many titles having to do with light and darkness and even sunshine, but everything sounded a bit too biblical. I had also considered The Shoebox as a title, both because of the mysterious photographs my siblings and I find inside of a shoebox and because of the teensy basement apartment which I state was “no bigger than a shoebox.” But I think the Persephone myth is much more layered.

Where’s home for you?
Home for me is New York — a suburb in the woods of Long Island. I love California, which is where I am originally from — I was born up north in Shasta County — and the suburb that I live in somewhat reminds me of the landscape there. We have a lot of tall, mature trees here and it’s kind of like horse country, with the added perk of being a 45 minute train ride to Manhattan. The weather isn’t as fabulous as California though. That’s my only down side to being here. I’m more of a spring/fall person. Not into snow at all. But I do love being in New York. There really is no place like it. 

If you had an extra $100 a week to spend on yourself, what would you buy?
Ten large green juices with pear and turmeric from my local health food store that my husband swears is 20 percent higher priced than anywhere else on the planet. He’s right, but I do love their juices. 

What’s the dumbest purchase you’ve ever made?
Oh, that’s a hard one. I make those purchases on a weekly basis. Most recent? Hmmm, besides the gluten-free pizza crust that tasted like old cheese? I know, a t-shirt for the Broadway show Wicked that my eight-year-old begged me for. Not only did she not understand a word of the show that I promised her would be excellent (it was, but I had remembered it more fondly fifteen years ago), she will likely never wear it, despite her promise and my belief in that promise. It would have been more honest of the both of us to drop the money straight into the trashcan during intermission.

What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned?
I think the most valuable thing I’ve learned is that you can study spirituality until the cows come home, but if you don’t use it in your daily life — silently and egolessly — then you’re not really being a spiritual person. I read a great article the other day, I think it was in the Huff Post, about creating a Moral Bucket List. I like that idea.  

What makes you nervous?
Going to a party makes me nervous which might surprise some of my friends to hear considering that I am very sociable and enjoy meeting people. I even enjoy the spotlight. But sometimes when I am getting ready, I aggrandize the event, or the people who will be there, or what is expected of me. Maybe I worked as a party planner to a royal family in a past life and my livelihood was a stake if the seating arrangements or centerpieces were a flop.  

What makes you happy?
Sunshine. Warm weather. My family. Delicious food. My Goldendoodle. Visiting an animal sanctuary and seeing a three legged donkey finally basking in the good life, his goat and pig and horse friends roaming free and happy beside him, of course. 

Would you rather be a lonely genius, or a sociable idiot?
Hard to choose! If I were a lonely genius I would know my plight and that would not be fun. But if I were a sociable idiot I would be unencumbered by the knowledge that I was a dope, which would make me happy but others miserable. I’ll take the genius. Maybe I can go live on the animal sanctuary and make friends there. 

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received about your writing?
That someone couldn’t put my book down.

How did you find your publisher, and how long did your query process take?
I initially found a literary agent who shopped the book to the big presses. She loved it and believed it would be the next The Glass Castle . . . (I’m still hoping it will be!) The feedback we received was really positive about my writing and the story, but there was a general consensus that a non-celebrity memoir was a hard sell. I was told that a first time novel was way easier to get published than a memoir. Because with memoir, your persona, your personality, and your platform is huge. Well, I have two of those things going for me, I hope. Working on the platform thing . . . though, aren’t we all?

I guess it does make sense. Selling a memoir, you are selling a person and that person’s story as much as you are selling a book. Personally, I wouldn’t have survived my story without hearing from the independent voices out there. I am a big believer in indie stories — so long as they are told well.

What are you working on now? 
Right now I am working on developing a thick enough skin to promote myself shamelessly. “I don’t want to annoy people,” I told my publicist. She told me I have to annoy them. So I send out my emails about readings and post pictures of me hanging out with book clubs and friends — and of my brother playing music. I roped him into going on a tour with me. He’s an indie acoustic artist and also a main character in the book. His name is Greg Fine. 

After this month, I need to get back to a more balanced place and get back to writing. I have two unfinished projects that taunt me every day. They are like sad turtles in a cage. Will you ever let me out? Will you ever set me free? I’m working on their release. But they need to be ready, of course.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Heather Siegel holds an MFA in nonfiction writing from The New School. Her work has appeared on Salon.com and in The Mother Magazine and Author Magazine, as well as in various trade publications. She was a finalist for the 2010 Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Award in Nonfiction Writing, the 2011 San Francisco Writers Conference Nonfiction Writing Award, the Carolina Wren Press 2012 Doris Bakwin Award and the 2012 Kore Press First Book Award. A multi-creative person with interests in the arts, nutrition, health and beauty, she has founded several independent businesses, including a coffeehouse, a café, an organic juice bar and a natural beauty bar. She currently lives with her husband, Jon, and daughter, Julia, in the woods of Long Island in a house filled with light.


Connect with Heather: 
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