FEATURED AUTHOR: LINDSAY MCKENNA

ABOUT THE BOOK 

Lia Cassidy left the Army scarred physically and emotionally after a vicious attack by two fellow soldiers.  She turns to helping others, working at a Delos Home School Charity in Costa Rica that aids abused women and children. But when the deadly drug lord, La Arana, attacks the school, Lia finds herself on the run for her life. The only person she can trust is the ex-SEAL sent to protect her.

Cav Jordan is strong, honorable and gorgeous . . . and intrigued by Lia. He knows she has suffered pain in her past, and he is determined to break through her barriers and earn her trust. But as Cav slowly chips away at the walls Lia has built, ghosts from her past threaten to destroy their fragile relationship.

INTERVIEW WITH LINDSAY MCKENNA

Lindsay, what books do you currently have published?
I have 145 books published so far. Way too many to list here. Those interested can run over to my website and check out all the titles, dates when published at their leisure.

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
I get to slip into another dimension where there’s actually a happily-ever-after, unlike our world where you don’t see so many.

Right now, I’m offering a free ebook prequel to Nowhere to Hide, titled, “Last Chance“ by Lindsay McKenna. It is available on Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, iTunes/iBooks and Kobo.  Also at my website.


How long is your to-be-read list?
100 books long.  I don’t get much time to sit and read.

Can you share some of your marketing strategies with us?
I use Quote Books, which tell the story about the book I’m presently selling. With Nowhere to Hide, here is the QB. What’s fun about is that it’s actually a free gift to the reader. She can come over to http://delos.lindsaymckenna.com and find any of my first four books.  Below the cover copy is “download” and it will put a PDF document with all ten images and story on the book into any electronic device they have. I also give each of the images (in order) away to blogsites so that they have an ‘exclusive’ image from the quote book that no one else has the day I come to visit. 

And for all things Delos, I had two other quote books designed. One was to educate the reader on who and what Delos charities is. The other is about the family around whom the saga revolves. To down load both of them, go here: Delos Family and here: Delos Charity History.

How long have you been a writer?
I started writing at age 13 and worked at my craft for 22 years by myself (there was no RWA around) and finally broke into print when I was 35 years old. I’m one of the longest working authors from the group that started out in the 1980’s, and there aren’t many of us still writing! But I sure am because I love to tell a good story.

Are you a full-time writer?
Yes, I write full time. I write from 8am to noon every day. My saying I coined is: “A chapter a day keeps the bill collector away.” And it’s true.

If you could only watch one television station for a year, what would it be?
Al-Jazeera because they and the BBC news are the most oriented to true journalism without slant, hype or sensationalism.

How often do you tweet?
Every day.

How do you feel about Facebook?
Love it because so many of my readers are there with me. I love to connect to people who love to read the type of book I write.

For what would you like to be remembered?
That I brought some quiet moments in the storm of a reader’s life. Uplifted them. Books are positive in my world.

What scares you the most?
Missing a deadline!

YouTube is. . .
Wonderful. Unfortunately I have only satellite where I live and they don’t allow downloads or videos from the net.

What five things would you never want to live without?
Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee and coffee.

Who would you want to narrate a film about your life?
Probably one of my friends who truly knew me.

3D movies . . .
Make me dizzy . . . my brain can’t handle it . . .

If you had a swear jar, would it be full?
Indeed. I was in the US Navy. What can you expect? Right?

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
True introvert.

What's your relationship with your TV remote?
Kill or be killed.

Do you spend more on clothes or food?
Food.

What's your favorite treat for movie night?Popcorn, no butter and lots of salt

What's the biggest lie you ever told?
That I was a secretary. I was on a plane and the guy next to me asked what I did for a living. I learned a long time ago to never, ever say, “I’m a romance author,” to anyone. Especially a man because they always got the wrong idea. Sad but true. 

What is the most daring thing you've done?
Taught myself how to fly a single engine plane and graduate to become a student pilot at age 17.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
"A chapter a day keeps the bill collector away."

What would your main character say about you?
Singled-minded.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?
Love scenes are always tricky. How do write a fresh love scene after you’ve written 145 books thus far? It’s a pickle, but I try.


Where is your favorite library, and what do you love about it?
Cottonwood Library, Cottonwood, Arizona. Love the librarians. So helpful. They love books. I love anyone who loves books.


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


Who would you invite to a dinner party if you could invite anyone in the world?
The poor, the hungry, those who have so little.


What's your relationship with your cell phone?
I love it.  My husband, however, hates it. He does not like geeky gadgets to save his soul.


How many hours of sleep do you get a night?
7-8 hours.

What is your favorite movie?
Avatar, James Cameron, director.

Do you have a favorite book?
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway.

Do you sweat the small stuff?
Only contract deadlines.

If you had to choose a cliche about life, what would it be?
Nike Ad: JUST DO IT.

How long is your to-do list?
Do I have enough paper to put all of them on a list? Probably not, haha.


LIGHTNING ROUND:

Cake or frosting? Cake, less calories and less sugar.

Laptop or desktop? Desk top.

Texting or mailing? emailing.

Indoors or outdoors? Outdoors.

Tea: sweet or unsweet? Unsweet with lemon, please.

Plane, train, or automobile? Train, love the rocking motion of it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lindsay lives her life as a risk taker, and it shines through the books she loves to write: romance, adventure and suspense. She started writing at age thirteen and continues to hone her writing skills to this day. She sold her first romance novel in 1981. The rest is history.

Since then, Lindsay has published 145 romances, historical, contemporary and paranormal series books and mass-market novels. Usually she writes six books a year, depending upon the demands in other departments of her life.  She became an Indie in 2015, and own hers own publishing company, Blue Turtle. Presently, she is writing her new family saga, the Delos Series.

Since she first rode a horse at the age of three, Lindsay has loved horses and considers herself “horse crazy.” At age thirteen, she rescued a two-year old mustang stallion from the chicken feed factory for $45 dollars and brought him home. She proceeded to tame the sorrel stallion with love and affection. It’s no surprise that later in her life, she had an Arabian horse farm in Ohio for nine years. She and her husband, David, bred, raised, trained and sold Crabbet line (English) Arabians.

When she was sixteen, Lindsay picked night crawlers and sold them to sporting goods stores in order to pay for flying classes. She was the only one at her school of over 650 teenagers to hold a student-pilot’s license at age seventeen! By the time she graduated at age eighteen, she had logged 39 hours of flying time.

She joined the U.S. Navy at age 18, in her father’s footsteps; he was in the Navy during World War II (and had the USS Fletcher, a destroyer, shot out from under him by the Japanese).

After three brutal days of nonstop, eight-hour testing in Navy bootcamp, Lindsay was told that she had the highest mechanical score since the WAVES (women in the navy) had been formed back in 1943! As no mechanical jobs were open to women in 1964, Lindsay was asked to pick another career field. She chose meteorology because it was about nature and had mechanics to it from a science perspective. She became an AG3 (E-4), Aerographer’s Mate third class, by the time she left the military.

From 1980-1983, she was a volunteer firefighter in West Point, Ohio. She also took several types of training from the Ohio Fire Academy in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. She was the only woman on a 20-man volunteer department and did everything they did — very well, she’d like to add!

Because of her background in emergency situations, in 1996, she took training at Yavapai College, Cottonwood, Arizona, to become a registered Emergency Medical Technician in the state of Arizona until 2000.  Her background in knowing what to do in emergency and accident situations is reflected in her books.

Because she went into the military, this experience became the backbone of her writing — she is credited with writing the first military romance novel (Captive of Fate, 1983, Silhouette Special Edition) and has created a thriving sub-genre within the romance field! Her many experiences in the U.S. Navy are backdrop for her understanding of the military in general, and also her very successful Morgan’s Mercenaries, which is an ongoing series in Silhouette. And her latest Shadow Warriors series and Wyoming series for Harlequin. 

Today she lives outside Sedona, Arizona. Her husband, David, a retired civil engineer, helps Lindsay care for the fruit orchard, greenhouse and the many flower planters. They have a golden retriever named Cody.

Lindsay loves to hear from her readers and loves to know what they’d like to see her write next. Please visit her Web site. And be sure to sign up for her free quarterly newsletter. It contains exclusive content found nowhere else on the Net. Plus, giveaways to her subscribers!

Connect with Lindsay: 

Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  
Goodreads  |  Goodreads Series  |  Follow the tour

iTunes  |  Kobo  |  B&N Author Page

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HALLOWEEN, GOOSE PIMPLE JUNCTION-STYLE

Haunted Blog Hop!

If you checked in on October 26, you know that A Blue Million Books is participating in a Halloween blog hop. As promised, today I'm sharing a chapter from Heroes & Hooligans in Goose Pimple Junction that occurs on Halloween night. Louetta loves to cook, and she's prepared a Halloween feast . . .

Excerpt from Heroes & Hooligans in Goose Pimple Junction

Chapter 34

 

Hospitality is making your guests feel at home, even if you wish they were.  

~Southern Proverb

Johnny and Martha Maye walked along the sidewalk, trailing Butterbean and Maddy Mack, who were trick-or-treating. Johnny put his arm around Martha Maye's shoulders and gave her an affectionate squeeze. “Did your mama tell you she invited me to dinner tonight?”

Martha Maye watched the girls run across a lawn to knock on another door. “She did, and if she hadn’t, I would have. Mama puts on the best Halloween party you ever did see. I hope you’re hungry. She’ll expect you to eat until you burst.”

“I’m always hungry. But I’ll pass on the bursting.” Butterbean screamed, and the light from the flashlight in Johnny's hand jerked toward the sound. Martha Maye took off at a dead run, but Johnny beat her to the two girls, who were jumping up and down, clinging to each other, half-laughing and half-crying. Pickle stood inside a Rubbermaid trashcan, his skinny legs sticking out of the cutout bottom that was cut out. He held the lid in his hand. He was wearing the black trashcan like it was a pair of overalls.

“What in the – ” Martha Maye started to say.

“Mama! We came past this trashcan — least we thought it was a trashcan — and Pickle jumped out of it and scared the living daylights out of us.”

“Him is mean!” Maddy Mack glared at Pickle, who was still laughing at his practical joke.

“Aw, I’m sorry.” Pickle didn’t look sorry. “But y’all gotta admit that’s a good trick.”

“That is a good trick,” Johnny said. “I’ll have to remember that next time I’m on surveillance.”

“Surveillance?” Matty Maddy Mack’s face screwed up in confusion.

“Like a stakeout,” Johnny explained.

“You’ve been on a stakeout before?” Butterbean asked, full of awe and wonder.

“Sure. A couple of times.”

As Johnny recounted one stakeout he’d been on, Pickle quietly crouched back down on the grass, pulling the trashcan lid over himself like a turtle. Then he lowered the lid on top, pulled his arms through the cut-outs, and tucked them inside. It looked like a trashcan was simply sitting on the lawn. When Johnny finished his story, Pickle jumped out like a jack-in-the-box, scaring the little girls again and sending them into another round of peals of screams.

“Aw, come on, that couldn’t have scared you! You knew I was inside there.”

“Okay, y’all, everybody move it. Let’s head to Mama’s for dinner. I can practically smell the cornbread from here.” Martha Maye herded them all toward Lou’s house in typical teacher mode.

“Hey, looka there!” Pickle said. “Hi, Mama! Hey, Peanut!”

“Ugh. Peanut,” Maddy Mack said to Butterbean. “He’s so ugly he could trick-or-treat over the phone.”

“Shh, now, none of that, girls.” Martha Maye swatted at the girls behinds. “Hello, Caledonia. Hi, Peanut. You sure are a scary vampire,” Martha Maye said.

“He scared us!” Butterbean said to Caledonia, pointing to Pickle.

“What did he do, darlin’?” Caledonia looked from Butterbean to her son. “What did you do, Pickle?”

Pickle started to crouch back down and show his mother his trick, but Martha Maye stopped him. “Show her later. Like when the girls aren’t in the vicinity. Caledonia, will you and Peanut join us for supper? I’m sure Mama fixed enough to feed Pharaoh’s army.”

“That would be lovely,” Caledonia said.

“Where’s Philetus tonight?”

She shook her head. “Working. He’s always working, isn’t he, Peanut?” Peanut was no longer at his mother’s side. He was running after the girls, who were going to trick-or-treat at the last few houses.

When they finally got to Louetta’s house, Martha Maye led them through the extensively-decorated living and dining rooms and into the hub of activity – the kitchen. Louetta had placed jack-o’-lanterns all over the living room. Some lined the mantle, some were on the coffee table, some went up the stairs, and some stood sentry in the doorways. Witches, ghosts, and monsters decorated every table in the room. In the dining room, five tissue paper ghosts hung from the chandelier, and pumpkins with faces made from vegetables sat on the table as a centerpiece. They had broccoli, unshelled peanuts, or Brussels
sprouts for hair; red peppers for lips; tiny white potatoes for eyes; string beans for eyebrows; tomatoes for ears. And the antique sideboard showcased five different desserts.

Ima Jean, Louetta, and Charlotte were in the kitchen, preparing dinner.

“Howdy, y’all. Welcome.” Louetta was dressed up like a witch, all in black, complete with striped stockings, a witch’s hat, and a fake nose with a wart. “Would y’all like some of my witch’s brew?” She cackled like a witch and didn’t wait for an answer, but grabbed mugs, and began pouring hot apple cider into them. “I got Polka Dot Punch for the kids, too.”

Martha Maye opened the lid of a pot on the stove, her face showing utter contentment as she breathed in the aroma. “Mmmm, chili.”

“Where’s the beef?” Ima Jean said.

“Looks like it’s in the chili.” Johnny peered over Martha Maye’s shoulder into the pot.

“Good Lord, this is a gracious plenty,” Johnny said, looking at the food covering every surface of the big country kitchen.

“I had lots of help this year,” she said. “Imy and Charlotte have purt near cooked their fingers to the bone.”

“Shake and bake. And I hayulped,” Ima Jean said.

“So y’all better eat up,” Lou continued. “Caledonia, Peanut,” she hugged Caledonia, “I’m so glad y’all could come, too. Philetus isn’t with y’all?”

“Thank you kindly for having us, Ms. Louetta. No, he’s working tonight, as usual. It sure does smell good in here. And everything looks wonderful.” She stepped next to Charlotte, who was putting corn sticks into a basket, and pulled her in for a quick side hug.

“Hi, Ms. Culpepper,” Charlotte said. “Where’s Pickle?”

Caledonia looked around the room. “Well shoot, he was here just a minute ago. Peanut, where’d your brother go?”

Peanut shrugged. “I dunno.”

“He’s probably out front playing his Pickle-in-the-trashcan joke on some poor unsuspecting person,” Johnny said.

“I’ll go look for him.” Charlotte headed for the door.

“No need. We brought in the trash,” Jack said, coming into the room with Tess and Pickle.

“And by trash, I mean Pickle, not my sweetheart.”

“You didn’t bring Ezzie?” Martha Maye asked.

“Heavens no, she wouldn’t be able to keep herself from all this good food. It would be a calamity.”


“Here, Caledonia." Lou handed over a cheese ball that looked like a pumpkin. "You take this cheese ball to the table. Imy, take the tater salad. Charlotte, grab the macaroni and
cheese. Butterbean, you take the mummy pizzas. Madison Mackenzie, take these.” She handed her a plate of pigs in a blanket, made to look like mummies.

“Lou, can I just have dessert?” Johnny eyed the huge orange-iced pumpkin-shaped cake, ghost sugar cookies with M&Ms for eyes, spider cookies with candy eyes and chow mien noodles for legs, Rice Krispies treat eyeballs, skeleton cupcakes with white chocolate–coated pretzels for the bones, and cupcakes with candy witch “legs” sticking upside down out of the icing.

“You can have whatever your little ol’ heart desires, Johnny.”

Johnny’s eyes immediately went to Martha Maye.

Jack whispered into his ear, “Man, you got it bad, don’tcha?”

Johnny’s face flushed bright red, and he swiped his hand over it.

“Yoo-hoo!” Honey called out from the front door. “Can we come in?”

“Absodanglutely.” Louetta hurried to greet Honey and Lolly. “Lolly, I’m glad you could make it.”

“Thank you kindly for the invite.” Lolly kissed her cheek.

“All right, y’all, have a seat and dig in,” Lou said, clapping her hands together. Then, “Wait. Let me say grace first.”

“I tell you what,” Lolly said after dinner, when everyone was sitting around in a sugar stupor, “that’ll chink your cracks.”

“I second that.” Jack patted his stomach. “That was flat-cold good. Y’all outdid yourselves.”

“Aw, thank you, boys, I – ” Lou stopped talking when she saw Ima Jean sit up straight, staring and stare strangely at the dining room window.

“Ernest Borgnine!” Ima Jean pointed. “Ernest Borgnine! He’s here.” She got up and ran to the window. Lou went with her, as Jack and Johnny went out the back door to see if Ima Jean really had seen somebody.

“I don’t see Mr. Borgnine, Imy. And furthermore, I can’t imagine why he would be in Goose Pimple Junction, or looking in our window.”

“But he was,” Imy insisted.

The men came back inside shaking their heads. “Nobody out there that we could see,” Jack said.

“Hey Pickle, come here a minute, would you?” Johnny said.

They disappeared out the back door and Jack explained, “He’s going to set out the trash.”

“I beg your pardon?” Caledonia said.

Jack laughed, along with everyone else. “I didn’t mean it like that. He’s setting up his own stakeout, and Pickle’s going to help. He looks invisible in that trash can, but even though nobody would guess there’s somebody inside that can, he can see out with those peep holes he punched into the side. Maybe he’ll see someone. You never know.”

Charlotte stood up so fast she nearly knocked her chair over. “I don’t want him doing that,” she said loudly. “He doesn’t know anything about stakeouts. He could get hurt.”

“Naw, Johnny won’t let that happen,” Jack assured.

“Won’t let what happen?” Johnny said, coming back inside.

“You won’t let Pickle get hurt out there.”

“’Course not.”

“I don’t care.” She looked like she was going to cry. “I don’t want him out there by himself. I’m going out, too.”

“But honey, if you go out, whoever it is might see you, and then Pickle wouldn’t be able to catch him,” Lou pointed out.

“He’s gonna scare the living daylights outta some poor unsuspecting soul.” Charlotte ran for the back door, leaving everyone at the table to look at each other in puzzlement.

Louetta broke the silence. “I’ve been around teenage girls in my time, but that’n is acting crazy as an outhouse mouse.”

Want more Goose Pimple Junction?

 

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BOOK BLAST: A STITCH TO DIE FOR

ABOUT THE BOOK

Ever since her husband died and left her in debt equal to the gross national product of Uzbekistan, magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack has stumbled across one dead body after another—but always in work-related settings. When a killer targets the elderly nasty neighbor who lives across the street from her, murder strikes too close to home. Couple that with a series of unsettling events days before Halloween, and Anastasia begins to wonder if someone is sending her a deadly message.

A Stitch to Die For (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery) (Volume 5) 5th in Series Cozy Mystery • Paperback: 240 pages • Publisher: Lois Winston (July 7, 2015)
• ISBN-13: 978-1940795300

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Visit Lois/Emma at www.loiswinston.com and Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog, www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com. Follow everyone on Tsu at www.tsu.co/loiswinston, on Pinterest, and on Twitter.

Connect with Lois:
Website  |  Blog  |  Twitter  |  Pinterest  |  Tsu  |  Goodreads    

Buy the book: 
  Nook      Kobo    iTunes    Google Play 

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October 29

Minding Spot

Michele Lynn Seigfried's Blog

Babs Book Bistro

readalot

Cozy Up With Kathy

3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy,  &, Sissy, Too !

A Blue Million Books

Frankie Bow

Book Babble

Shelley's Book Case

Tea and a Book

Griperang's Bookmarks

 

October 30

Community Bookstop

Girl with Book Lungs

Kaisy Daisy's Corner

Mallory Heart Reviews

Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews

Musings and Ramblings

THE SELF-TAUGHT COOK

deal sharing aunt

Laura's Interests

Brooke Blogs

 

October 31

Sapphyria's Book Reviews

Books Are Life - Vita Libri

Thoughts in Progress

Christa Reads and Writes

Jane Reads

Teatime and Books

Queen of All She Reads

StoreyBook Reviews

Read Your Writes Book Reviews

Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book

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FEATURED AUTHOR: JOHN GASPARD

ABOUT THE BOOK

A casual glance out his apartment window turns Magician Eli Marks’ life upside down. After spotting a dead body in the projection booth of the movie theater next door, Eli is pulled into the hunt for the killer. As he attempts to puzzle out a solution to this classic locked room mystery, he must deal with a crisis of a more personal nature: the appearance of a rival magician who threatens not only Eli’s faith in himself as a performer, but his relationship with his girlfriend.

But the killer won’t wait and starts taking homicidal steps to bring Eli’s investigation to a quick and decisive end. Things get even worse when his magician rival offers his own plausible solution to the mystery. With all the oddball suspects gathered together, Eli must unveil the secrets to this movie-geek whodunit or find himself at the wrong end of the trick.

INTERVIEW WITH JOHN GASPARD

John, by my count, this is your eighth published book. What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
When an idea hits you out of nowhere and solves all the major problems in the book. This happens somewhat less frequently than one might like.

What books do you currently have published?
The Miser's Dream is the third book in the Eli Marks series. I have another, stand-alone novel, The Ripperologists, which has a tangential relationship with The Miser's Dream. I've also written three books on low-budget filmmaking.

Can you share some of your marketing strategies with us?
This is more of an anti-strategy: Just because a person is interested in the general subject matter of your book (whether it be, oh I don't know, magic or Jack the Ripper), don't assume that they are your target market. Interest in a subject doesn't (necessarily) translate into reading fiction about that subject.

That's not to say that you shouldn't market to that audience; just don't focus on them to the exclusion of a wider reading audience that may enjoy your book.

If you could only watch one television station for a year, what would it be?
Turner Classic Movies. Are there other stations?

How often do you tweet?
I love questions that make sense today and would have been meaningless (or vaguely suggestive) just ten years ago. This question definitely qualifies.

Who would you want to narrate a film about your life?
Morgan Freeman, because then it might sound at least vaguely interesting.

If you had a swear jar, would it be full?
Not only would it be full, but it would be a large and beautiful jar (likely an antique, certainly rare), paid for with the proceeds from a series of earlier swear jars.

Excellent idea. What's your relationship with your cell phone?
Constant. And I am frequently surprised to find that one can use it to place phone calls.

How many hours of sleep do you get a night?
One hour less than I need.

What is your favorite movie?
I've seen Harold and Maude more times than I can count, so that might qualify.

Which actor was your favorite Batman?
Adam West and Michael Keaton, each in their own, inimitable way.

I say black and white movies, you say . . .
Sure.

If you had to choose a cliche about life, what would it be?
I'm not getting older, I'm getting better. (Although, in reality, I'm also getting older.)

Lightning round:
Cake or frosting? Yes please.
Chevy Chase or Bill Murray? No contest. Bill Murray. (Has Chevy Chase ever been funny?)
Indoors or outdoors? Indoors. On the couch. With Bill Murray. Eating frosted cake. Watching Harold and Maude. On TCM.
I like how you think, John!

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In real life, John’s not a magician, but he has directed six low-budget features that cost very little and made even less – that’s no small trick. He’s also written multiple books on the subject of low-budget filmmaking. Ironically, they’ve made more than the films. His blog, “Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts” has been named “One of the 50 Best Blogs for Moviemakers” and “One of The 100 Best Blogs For Film and Theater Students.” He’s also written for TV and the stage. John lives in Minnesota and shares his home with his lovely wife, several dogs, a few cats and a handful of pet allergies.

Connect with John:

Facebook  |  
Twitter  | 
Goodreads  

HAUNTED OPEN HOUSE GIVEAWAY BLOG HOP

I'm delighted to take part in Nancy Gideon's Haunted Open House Giveaway Blog Hop.
As the name suggests, there is a giveaway. Enter the Rafflecopter below and then follow the links to the other blogs that are participating in the blog hop for more giveaway chances. Check back here on October 30 for a special Goose Pimple Junction Halloween feature. Get your blog on!

PARTICIPATING IN THE HAUNTED OPEN HOUSE GIVEAWAY BLOG HOP

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FEATURED AUTHOR: TERRI L. AUSTIN

ABOUT THE BOOK

Rose Strickland’s life is complicated. Besides her waitressing gig, she works part-time for Andre Thomas, a PI with no faith in Rose’s ability to investigate, her love life with Sullivan has stalled, and her BFF, Roxy, has found a new bestie, leaving Rose out in the cold.

Determined to prove herself, Rose takes a case on the sly. As she searches for a missing MMA fighter, Rose discovers an illegal fight club, a group of ruthless businessmen, dead bodies, and a trail of drugs.

Hunting down clues that lead too close to home, Rose finds herself in the fight of her life. Can she beat the killer to the punch before she gets knocked out for good?

INTERVIEW WITH TERRI L. AUSTIN

How did you get started writing and when did you become an “author?”
I wrote a bit when my kids were young, but didn’t have time to write seriously until they were teenagers. Then I went at it full throttle.

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
I like being surprised by the characters.

How long is your to-be-read list?
I’m not sure I can count that high.

What books do you currently have published?
I have the Rose Strickland Mystery series and Beauty and the Brit, a romance series.

Can you share some of your marketing strategies with us?
I’m a firm believer in the adage: your next good book is your best advertisement. I believe in putting my eggs into a lot of different baskets. I like to switch genres. I write for a small press, a traditional press, and soon, I’m going to indie pub for the first time. I like to tweet about reality TV, and that led to a gig as a contributor on All About the Tea. I try to put time into what I enjoy and write like crazy.

How long have you been a writer?
I’ve been writing seriously for the last five years.

If you could only watch one television station for a year, what would it be?
Bravo! I love me some Housewives.

How often do you tweet?
I like to live tweet my favorite shows. I’ve found my tribe on Twitter.

How do you feel about Facebook?
I really love the connections I’ve made with readers on Facebook. They’re a good group, and I value their friendship.

For what would you like to be remembered?
If I can give people a chuckle, I’m happy.

What scares you the most?
I’m a wuss. Everything scares me.

YouTube is . . . Awesome. How else would I know how to do a proper smoky eye?

What five things would you never want to live without?
My hubs, my allergy meds, my books, Coke Zero, and beads. Shallow? Yes, but my world would be a much sadder, snifflier place without them.

Who would you want to narrate a film about your life?
Morgan Freeman. He should narrate everything.

3D movies are . . . nausea inducing.

If you had a swear jar, would it be full?
Yep.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
Introvert. I like people. Just in small doses.

What's your relationship with your TV remote?
We’re besties.

Do you spend more on clothes or food?
Do beads count as clothes? Because beads.

What's your favorite treat for movie night?
Coke Zero. Can’t get enough.

What's the biggest lie you ever told?
Like I’d tell you, you naughty minx!

Can't blame me for trying. What is the most daring thing you've done?
Gone on vacation with my mother-in-law.

You are a daredevil. What is the stupidest thing you've ever done?
Did you not read the last sentence?!

I take your point. What is your most embarrassing moment?
Back when I was in hair school, I rubbed temporary dye off a woman’s forehead. Except it wasn’t dye. It was Ash Wednesday. Whoops!

What choices in life would you like to have a redo on?
That perm that spanned the 80s.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“Never give up. Never surrender” Galaxy Quest.

What would your main character say about you?
“She’s a little obsessive. And not in a good way.”

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?
I always think the current project I’m working on is the hardest. I go through a few drafts and I have a love/hate relationship with each of them. 


Where is your favorite library, and what do you love about it?
The little library in my hometown is gone, and a bigger, newer building has taken its place. I worked there as a page when I was fifteen. It was small, and we didn’t have a lot of books. The floor was wavy and the ceiling leaked, making all the books smell like mildew. I fell in love with reading in that ratty library.


You can be any fictional character for one day.
Who would you be? Veronica Mars. She rocked so hard.

Yes, she did. What’s the worst thing someone has said about your writing? How did you deal with it?
Someone thought my characters were flat. It’s like telling someone their kid is ugly. I love my characters. They’re real people to me. I shook it off and got thicker skin.


Who would you invite to a dinner party if you could invite anyone in the world?
Hmm. I don’t really dislike anyone enough to foist my cooking on them. 


What's your relationship with your cell phone?
I keep losing it. So . . . I’m not as close to it as I am my remote control.


How many hours of sleep do you get a night?
Never enough.

What is your favorite movie?
Pride and Prejudice, the Colin Firth version.

Do you have a favorite book?
That’s like asking which character I love the best. I don’t like to play favorites.

Do you sweat the small stuff?
I’m schvitzing as I type.

What are you working on now?
The first book in a new romance series. It’s about Irish expats living in Chicago.

Lightning round:
Cake or frosting? Um . . . both, naturally.
Laptop or desktop? Desktop to work. Laptop to search.
Chevy Chase or Bill Murray? Bill.
Emailing or texting? Email.
Indoors or outdoors? In.
Tea: sweet or unsweet? Unsweet.
Plane, train, or automobile? Auto.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

As a girl, Terri L. Austin thought she'd outgrow dreaming up stories and creating imaginary friends. Instead, she's made a career of it. She met her own Prince Charming and together they live in Missouri.

Connect with Terri:

Website  |  
Blog   |  Facebook  |  Twitter  | Goodreads  

FEATURED AUTHOR: SUSAN McBRIDE

ABOUT THE BOOK

Debutante dropout Andrea Kendricks is beyond done with big hair, big gowns, and big egos—so being dragged to a high-society Texas wedding by her socialite mama, Cissy, gives her a bad case of déjà vu. As does running into her old prep-school bully, Olivia La Belle, the wedding planner, who's graduated to berating people for a living on her reality TV show. But for all the times Andy wished her dead, nobody deserves Olivia's fate: lying in a pool of blood, a cake knife in her throat—but did the angry baker do it?

Millicent Draper, the grandmotherly owner of Millie's Cakes, swears she's innocent, and Andy believes her. Unfortunately, the cops don't. Though Andy's fiancé, lawyer Brian Malone, is handling Millie's case, she's determined to spring Millie herself. But where to start? "La Belle from Hell" had enemies galore. Good thing Andy has a BFF who's a reporter — and a blue-blood mother who likes to pull strings.

INTERVIEW WITH SUSAN McBRIDE

Susan, what’s your favorite thing about the writing process?
Being able to escape whatever’s going on in real life — my personal life or the crazy stuff in the newspaper headlines — and spending time with the characters in my stories. There’s so much in reality that I can’t control, but I can control what happens to the people in my books. That’s kind of reassuring, especially since I’m raising a little girl and the world is such a scary place. At least in my writing I can be sure the bad guy gets caught and there’s at least a semblance of a happy ending.

How long is your to-be-read list?
Endless! I have bookshelves filled with titles I’m dying to read. Unfortunately, since I had Emily three years ago, I only manage to read a handful of books a year as opposed to 2-3 a week. I’m sure that’ll change as she grows up and I get more time to myself (waaa!  I’m going to be the sobbing mom in the parking lot when I drop her off at kindergarten in two years!).

Yep. Been there, done that! How long have you been a writer?
For as long as I can remember. I was a voracious reader as a kid, and I started writing stories as soon as I could hold a pencil. My mom has a collection of my tales from grade school, and I have three books I wrote in the fifth grade, one of which is a mystery called The Secret of the Forbidden Temple. It’s pretty much a Nancy Drew rip-off and probably why the protag of my Debutante Dropout Mysteries, Andy Kendricks, has a fascination with Nancy Drew! In between transferring colleges when I was 19, I wrote my first adult-length manuscript: an historical romance called The Thorn of the Rose. It was never published, but I did submit to various New York houses and got some encouraging feedback. But it took a decade after I graduated from college before my first novel came out. That was in 1999, and I’ve been writing steadily ever since. So I’m glad I didn’t give up!

If you could only watch one TV station for a year, what would it be?
HGTV. I am so addicted to home renovation shows and House Hunters. In my imaginary life, I’m an interior designer. I think that would be so much fun!

How often do you Tweet?
Never. I’m probably the only author alive who isn’t on Twitter, and I don’t regret it for a minute.

How do you feel about Facebook?
Mostly, I love it. I am so wrapped up with my daughter and my deadlines that I don’t have as much time as I’d like to catch up with friends. If it weren’t for Facebook, I’d be totally in the dark. Plus, it’s so fun to interact with folks you don’t get to see everyday (heck, or ever). When I’ve had a bad day or have parenting questions or want to divulge good news, it’s wonderful to have a place where I can share. Facebook is the water cooler for those of us who work at home.

True! That's a perfect description. What five things would you never want to live without?
That’s easy: my daughter, my husband, my mom, my cats, and trees.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
Both. I was shy as a kid but had to learn to overcome it once my dad had moved us for, oh, the fifth time. I still have that shy kid inside me, but I’ve become much more of an extrovert through the years. I don’t think I could have done as much public speaking about my books and my breast cancer experience if I were still a complete introvert.

Do you spend more on clothes or food?
Food, by far, and I’m amazed how often I have to go grocery shopping just to feed a family of three.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write? 
It’s a tie between Little Black Dress and In the Pink: How I Met the Perfect (Younger) Guy, Survived Breast Cancer, and Found True Happiness After 40. In Little Black Dress, I tell the tale of two sisters and a magical black dress that gives them a glimpse of their future when they don it. That one struck a lot of chords in me, as my sister and I are as different as the sisters in the book, Evie and Anna. The frustration Evie feels for Anna is so much what I’ve experienced with my sister that it felt more fact than fiction. And the things that Evie goes through in the story, like her miscarriage, actually happened to me as I was writing. People talk about writing “the book of your heart,” and I’ve always thought, “Hey, every book is a book of my heart.” But Little Black Dress truly was.

In the Pink is a short memoir of the last decade of my life: meeting my husband at 41, being diagnosed with breast cancer at 42, the miscarriage at 46, and finding I was pregnant with Emily at 47. My editor at HarperCollins asked me to write the book for their Impulse line during my pregnancy. The hormones probably had something to do with how emotional I was during that process, but also having to relive some of the biggest highs and lows of my life really hit home. So, of course, I laughed, I cried, and somehow I managed to finish just before I went into labor.

I'll be that's an amazing story. Have you ever been to a fortune teller? What did she tell you?
Yes, and I still need to call Julia and arrange for her to do my annual birthday tarot card reading, so thanks for reminding me! The first time I had my cards read was in October of 2005. I was told I’d meet a man and be in a committed relationship by February. Ha ha, I thought, as I wasn’t even dating anyone worth spit. But I met Ed in November, and we were inseparable by February. The cards have been wrong, too. I was told at a reading on September 27, 2011, that I would never have children (and I recall the date exactly because it was at an event for Little Black Dress!). I found out I was pregnant three weeks later, and it was such a good, healthy pregnancy. So I do love the fun of having my fortune told, but I realize in the back of my head that it’s not set in stone. Anything is possible.

What are you working on now?
The fourth River Road Mystery for HarperCollins called Come Helen High Water. It’s due March 1 and will be out next June. So I’d better get cracking!

Lightning Round:
Cake or frosting? Frosting (preferably chocolate!)
Laptop or desktop? Desktop (because I’m Old School)
Chevy Chase or Bill Murray? Bill Murray
Emailing or texting? Emailing (because I’m wordy)
Indoors or outdoors? Outdoors (unless it’s 100 degrees in the shade)
Sweet tea or unsweetened tea? Unsweetened.
Plane, train, or automobile? Train (we watch a lot of Thomas & Friends!)

About the Author:

Susan McBride is the USA Today bestselling author of Blue Blood and the Debutante Dropout Mysteries, which have garnered a Lefty Award, two Anthony Award nominations, and an RT Magazine Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Amateur Sleuth. Susan also writes the bestselling River Road Mysteries for HarperCollins, featuring senior sleuth Helen Evans. She is currently at work on Come Helen High Water to be published by HarperCollins in June of 2016.

Connect with Susan:
Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Goodreads