FEATURED AUTHOR: SUSAN CORBETT

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Everybody needs to run away from home at least once. Susan Corbett told people she was out to save the world, but really she was running – running from her home as much as to anywhere. Like many women, she was searching for meaning to her life or for a good man to share it with. In Africa, she hoped to find both.

Compelling and compassionate, In the Belly of the Elephant is Susan's transformative story of what happens when you decide to try to achieve world peace while searching for a good man. More than a fish-out-of-water story, it's a surprising and heart-rending account of her time in Africa trying to change the world as she battles heat, sandstorms, drought, riots, intestinal bugs, burnout, love affairs, and more than one meeting with death.
Against a backdrop of vivid beauty and culture, in a narrative interwoven with a rich tapestry of African myths and fables, Susan learns the true simplicity of life, and discovers people full of kindness, wisdom and resilience, and shares with us lessons we, too, can learn from her experiences.

INTERVIEW WITH SUSAN CORBETT

Susan, how did you get started writing?
I've been writing in journals since I was 10 years old. I kept detailed journals the five years I lived and worked in Africa, not thinking I would write a book, just needing to write down my feelings and what I was experiencing. When I came home from Africa in 1982, people would ask me, "How was it?" How do you explain five years of an experience that changed your life in one brief conversation? In 1991, after I had married and had my 2 boys, I quit working full time to be with my small children. I started reading my journals again and realized I wanted to share my story with the world. So, at the ripe old age of 40, I took every local writing class I could find, joined a critique group, and started going to writing conferences. It took me ten years to write In the Belly of the Elephant. 

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
I really enjoy structuring a story, figuring out the story arc and plotting it all out. I have flip charts all over my house outlining chapters, events, and characters. Then, once I get myself in front of the computer, I love the actual act of writing, just spilling my heart and creative soul into the words.

What do you think is hardest aspect of writing a book?
The biggest challenge for me is to actually sit down and WRITE! Writing is a creative process, but first and foremost, it is a discipline. The discipline of writing 3-4 hours every day can be hard to do (especially if you have a day job,) but is essential if you're ever going to finish the book. And, I have found, the more I write, the more my creative juices get flowing. Regarding my memoir, In the Belly of the Elephant was hard to write at times because I felt I was exposing my soul to the world. Not always an easy thing to do.

What do you think makes a good story?
For me, three things make a good story:
a) I love stories with complex characters that learn something and grow.
b) A good sense of place that the reader can become part of. I love stories where the place is a character in the story, by that I mean, the place has a profound effect on what happens to the main character and how the character changes.
c) The best stories have universal truths sprinkled throughout – insights the main character thinks about or learns that the reader can relate to their own life, or life in general.

What is the most daring thing you've done?
Join the Peace Corps when I was 23 years old and go off to live in the deep jungle of West Africa. Although, at the time, it did not seem daring to me. I wanted an adventure.

Who is your favorite fictional character?|
I love Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. I know, I know . . . such an old book, but Elizabeth Bennet has all the traits I admire most in women – independence, stubbornness, willing to challenge societal conventions, loves to read books, loves to dance, loves to take long walks, and is willing to admit when she's wrong. She's awesome!

I agree! What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
My dog in a park full of snow.

What is your favorite movie?
That's a tough one. So many! I love the movie, Stranger Than Fiction. It's about a writer (Emma Thompson) whose main character is actually living. It's funny, touching, and really fun to watch if you're a writer.

Do you have a favorite book?
Certainly one of my top books is All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Incredible writing, wonderful characters.

What are you working on now?
My latest book, The Ghosts of Santa Maria Del Mar is the first in what I hope to be a mystery series. During the feast of the Virgin of Guadeloupe, young girls begin to mysteriously go missing, and someone is leaving long dead skeletons all over town while a mismatched crew of five American women (Melissa, Liza, Josie, Tina, and Sam) are on vacation in Mexico. Unresolved guilt from a thirty-year-old murder of a high school friend sets the group on a series of misadventures. They grapple with the town's handsome police captain, a troubled street youth, the Catholic priest, the town's pot dealer, a seance medium, a rich landowner, and the local ghost to unravel a mystery that goes farther back in time and place than December, 2015 and the small town of Santa Maria Del Mar.

These books will be full of my life experiences, my perspective, my love of place and travel, and the lessons I want to share with the world. They have strong characters and sense of place with a historical unsolved mystery woven throughout. I have chosen the fiction/mystery path because it is easier on the body and soul to write than memoir and more fun.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A writer, community organizer, and consultant in program management, micro-enterprise development, family planning, and HIV/AIDS education, Susan Corbett began her community development career in 1976 as a Peace Corps Volunteer, working in a health clinic in Liberia, West Africa. In 1979, she joined Save the Children Federation as a program coordinator for cooperative and small business projects in Burkina Faso. In 1982, Susan returned to the States where she has worked with local non-profits in drug and alcohol prevention for runaway youth, family planning, homelessness prevention, and immigrant issues. Susan has traveled to over 40 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Caribbean, and Central and North America and has lived and worked in ten African countries over the past thirty years (Uganda, Tanzania, Mali, The Gambia, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mauritius, Tunisia, Nigeria, and Liberia). She lives in Colorado with her husband, Steve, her sons, Mitch & Sam, and her dog, Molly.

Connect with Susan:
Website  |  Goodreads

FEATURED AUTHOR: KEN METZ

ABOUT THE BOOK

Founding Father is a historical fiction set in 1801's Richmond, Virginia, where one of the founding fathers of our young nation, George Wythe, finds his fine-woven, Old South existence starting to unravel at the hands of treacherous political enemies, conspiring in-laws and outlaws, and several seductive Southern belles.

It has been 25 years since Wythe was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and 13 years since he was a delegate to the United States Constitutional Convention. He, the mentor to two U.S. presidents (Jefferson and Monroe) and to the Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court (John Marshall}, has reached a point in his illustrious career where he can rest on his laurels. So, George and his wife retreat to the sanctum sanctorum of their manor house among the gentry in the genteel City on the James.

But Lady Luck and Lady Karma sling sand into the machine of Squire Walker's comfortable, Old South paradise. Throwing grit into his squiredom's ordinarily hum drum, friction-less machinery is a villainous arch-rival, who crosses swords with the "founding father," a no-account nephew, who manipulates his Uncle George's bank account, a dancing girl, who quickens George's pulse to a fever pitch, and a femme fatale, who tempts the founding father.

Upon the death of George's wife, the ravishing 23-year-old slave girl, Lydia, becomes the only female in Wythe's 5th and Grace Street mansion to do her master's bidding.

George wrestles with his desire to remain faithful to his deceased wife, to maintain his obedience to the code of the Old South, and to refrain from exploitation of the young Lydia, all of that versus his carnal desire for the girl.

Lydia struggles with her perceived subservient role versus her desire for the wealthy master to liberate her two young estranged sons from bondage.

Will George and Lydia lead each other into temptation? Can anyone deliver them from evil?





INTERVIEW WITH KEN METZ

Ken, you're not my husband, brother-in-law, or father-in-law. We're not related in any other way are we?
I live in Western Maryland, where I believe all of my Metz ancestors were born (as far back as my records go, at least).

Then it's highly doubtful we'd have any common ancestors. I believe my ex-husband's family came from Germany to Louisville, where his family stayed. Okay, with that out of the way, tell us how you got started writing?  
My grandson, Kade, who has a degree in literature and on his way to a degree in philosophy, was supposed to write this book, until he informed me that he did not want to write history or romance, but that I should. Well, I just laughed, laughed because I had never ever written a word of history or a word of dialog in my life. But after a period of laughing, my wife convinced me that if Kade was not going to do it then I should. Thus began my year of research.

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
Discovering – and  completely unexpectedly – that I began to care about my characters, imagining myself in their place, feeling their emotions. When they were sad, I worried about them, when they were glad, I smiled – even teared up once as I typed one short sentence delivered by my female protagonist.
 
Do you have a writing routine?
No – only that I write about any time that food is not on the table. While at the keyboard, I can be alone or surrounded by wife, children, and/or grandchildren. In the wee morning hours my wife sometimes would come to the computer room asking when I was coming to bed. My answer was always something like, "When they stop talking to me." Surprisingly, the dialog was the easiest of all of the things I had to do.

What do you think is hardest aspect of writing a book?
Finding ways to smoothly transition from sentence to sentence, from paragraph to paragraph, from chapter to chapter.

What’s more important – characters or plot?
For my historical novel it was the plot. It was the first thing to jump out at me from my research and formed the foundation of my starting outline. Although, early on it was clear about the basic roles of my male and female protagonists, their character traits seemed to evolve from whatever path that the plot was taking them.  
 
How often do you read?
During most of my adult life, I have read almost exclusively non-fiction, in particular science non-fiction related to my high school biology and earth science teaching. I have read very little fiction, for which I am glad because I believe that has prevented me from inadvertently "borrowing" from other authors.
 
What is your writing style?
Third person narrative, with as much dialog as I can incorporate.

What do you think makes a good story?
Because I have written nothing but historical fiction, I try to insure that the reader become familiar enough with the actual history in my story to be able to follow the plot but then to be surprised when the fictional deviates from the historical.

What do you know now that you wish you knew then?
To review and edit my work from a printed hard copy, not just from a computer monitor. Mistakes that I missed on that screen jumped out at me when I saw them on paper. 

Very true. Do you have any secret talents?
In everyday life, I cannot resist using silly plays on words and simple puns -- much to the chagrin of friends and family. But that "talent" allowed me to interject some humor into Founding Father. Whatever degree of humor that was, it was merely tangential to whatever was going on in the story and almost as an afterthought. Five female readers, however, have told me that they laughed in several places in the story.

Incidentally, those same five women said that they also cried in other places. 

Is writing your dream job?
No, my dream job is after the writing is done, namely in promoting the book. By  promoting I do not mean marketing, I simply mean telling other people about my research, my writing, my characters, my story. 


Do you have any marketing tips you could pass on to indie authors?
Although I have met hundreds of people from "touring" to Richmond, Virginia, where my story takes place and to Wytheville, Virginia (named after my male protagonist, George Wythe),I have been able to promote my book to an equal number of people locally. So, don’t forget to make yourself available to libraries, schools, book clubs, etc. closer to home.

For what would you like to be remembered?
It doesn’t matter – I just do not want to be forgotten.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
It comes from one of George Wythe's law students, Patrick Henry, in his speech at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia on March 23, 1775: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
 
Do you have a favorite book?
Jared Diamond's Pulitzer winning Guns Germs, And Steel, a discourse on how the advantages and disadvantages of local geography and local biology have shaped human history. 


What are you working on now?
Historical fiction titled If This be Treason: Benedict Arnold And George Washington's Spies. The novel sheds light on The Culper Spy Ring's role in foiling the infamous treasonous conspiracy by Benedict Arnold, Peggy Arnold, and Britain's Major John Andre. If This Be Treason should appeal to fans of the American Movie Classics Channel's series, called TURN.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ken was born 1940 and holds a B.S. degree in biology and an M.S. degree in geology. He's a retired high school science teacher, father of three, grandfather of seven, great-grandfather of one. Ken had not written a word of history or dialog until this, his first novel. Even more than his love of the year of researching and the year of writing Founding Father is his love of promoting the book and telling people about the story.  


Connect with Ken: 

Website  |  
Facebook 

Buy the book:
The Founding Father

Book Blast: Worst Week Ever

FEATURED AUTHOR: SHIRLEEN DAVIES

ABOUT THE BOOK

Cassie MacLaren has come a long way since being dumped by her long-time boyfriend, a man she believed to be her future. Successful in her job at MacLaren Enterprises, dreaming of one day leading one of the divisions, she’s moved on to start a new relationship, having little time to dwell on past mistakes.

Matt Garner loves his job as rodeo representative for Double Ace Bucking Stock. Busy days and constant travel leave no time for anything more than the occasional short-term relationship—which is just the way he likes it. He’s come to accept the regret of leaving the woman he loved for the pro rodeo circuit.
The future is set for both, until a chance meeting ignites long buried emotions neither is willing to face.

Forced to work together, their attraction grows, even as multiple arson fires threaten Cassie’s new home of Cold Creek, Colorado. Although Cassie believes the danger from the fires is remote, she knows the danger Matt poses to her heart is real.

While fighting his renewed feelings for Cassie, Matt focuses on a new and unexpected opportunity offered by MacLaren Enterprises — an opportunity that will put him on a direct collision course with Cassie.

Will pride and self-preservation control their future? Or will one be strong enough to make the first move, risking everything, including their heart?

No Getting Over You, book seven in the MacLarens of Fire Mountain Contemporary series, is a full-length novel with an HEA.

EXCERPT FROM NO GETTING OVER YOU

Staring at the MacLaren family pictures on the wall, Matt waited for Cassie to join him. It had been over thirty minutes, and given her usual insistence on being punctual, he had to attribute the lag to a desire to let him stew. It didn’t faze him one bit. He’d wait her out, no matter how late it got. At some point, she’d have to face him.

“Okay, I’m here now. What do you want to discuss?” Cassie breezed into the room, not making eye contact as she lowered herself into a chair.

Matt held her gaze, uncaring of how stern his next words would sound. “Your thoughts on the changes. Specifically, if you’ll be able to accept I’m your boss and you’ll be reporting to me.”

“And if I don’t?” She lifted her chin, daring him to threaten her.

“You’ll be gone, the same as anyone else.”

Cassie blinked, knowing if she didn’t produce results, her father would agree to a termination. He’d give her no special privileges. Treating family different than regular employees wasn’t tolerated at MacLaren Enterprises. You were professional, showed respect, and did your job. No excuses. If not, you were gone.

“Fine.” She stood, turning toward the door.

“Hold on a minute, Cass.”

“What? There’s more?”

“I want to know what you mean by fine. Are you saying you’ve bought into the program and are on board? I don’t want any misunderstandings between us.” He took a step forward, then stopped when he saw her eyes narrow in frustration . . . or resentment . . . or possibly desire. He couldn’t tell which.

All she wanted was to leave. Get out the door and away from Matt. She’d made him wait for her to join him, not because of the changes, but because her traitorous heart wouldn’t stop pounding like a bass drum. Being this close to him did dangerous things to her body. Breathing became difficult, labored, the walls closing in around her. Ever since she’d spotted him coming through the front door, she’d fought the attraction so hazardous to her health. She could deal with him, but only if he kept his distance and didn’t require face time. Taking a couple steps closer, she tilted her face up, fisting her hands at her sides. 

 

“What I’m saying is I’ll report to you and do my best to meet your expectations. But I’m warning you, Matt. If you start feeding bullcrap reports about my work to Dad and the others, there will be hell to pay!” Cassie’s face reddened as her eyes sparked
Holding up his hands, palms out, he took a step back. “Calm down, Cassie. No one is trying to sabotage you.

“Oh, right. That’s easy for you to say. You waltz in here after disappearing for years, and all of a sudden, you’re the golden boy, handed a promotion which vaults you above Sean, Skye, or even me. We’ve all been paying our dues. What the hell have you done?”

Crossing her arms and planting her feet, she glared at him, daring him to explain.

“I didn’t ask Heath for a job. He came to me. What would you have done?”

Without missing a beat, she took a step toward him, stopping within inches of his face. “I would’ve realized I’d be jumping headfirst into a firestorm. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be in my position with the change? Of course you don’t. You’re still a selfish sonofabitch without a clue of how your actions affect others. It’s always all about Matt and what he wants. No one else matters, and no one gets in your way. Well, I have news for you, hotshot. Your job won’t be some easy ride where you can float to the top on Skye’s and my achievements. You damn well better show everyone how good you are or you’ll be out on your butt just like anyone else.” Her voice had hardened with each sentence until she’d gotten out the ball of frustration knotted inside her.

The clear combination of anger, betrayal, and pain on her face hit Matt like a punch in the gut. He’d had his share of disappointments, knowing how it felt to be shoved aside
“Cassie . . . I — ”

“Save it, Matt. I’ll do the best I can, but it won’t be for you. My best will never be for your benefit ever again.” Turning, she froze at the sight of Heath, Jace, and Rafe standing in the doorway. Pushing past them, she didn’t explain further. She was certain they hadn’t missed a word.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shirleen Davies has been writing most of her life, but only recently began the transition into fiction. Historical romance, contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and short stories are what keep her reading, so that is the focus of her writing.



She was born in California, grew up between a growing beach town and a small town at the base of the San Bernardino mountains. Her mother originally planned to name her Katherine, but she read an article in the paper about a woman named Shirleen shortly before her birth, so instead of having a cool nickname, like Kate, she is simply Shirleen. Her mainstays growing up were all the Nancy Drew mystery books; she loved them. Eventually she moved on to mysteries, suspense stories, crime novels, and romance. Pride and Prejudice will always be one of her favorites.



Besides California, life changes have allowed Shirleen to live in Oregon, Colorado, and Arizona. Everywhere she has lived has been inspirational in one way or another, giving her the opportunity to meet remarkable people with their own stories to tell. She’s sailed, skied, owned horses plus lots of other animals, and ridden various off-road vehicles. She enjoys dancing, fishing, hunting, being the back-seater on her husband's Harley, traveling and, of course, reading and writing.



Prior to transitioning to writing fiction, Shirleen worked for Fortune 500 and many smaller, start-up companies. Fortunately, she regained my sanity long enough to start her own consulting firm, which she still maintains today. 

Shirleen’s husband and she spend most of their time at their main home in the mountains of Arizona and their second home in Southern California. Between them, they have five boys with growing careers and families of their own. So, from her perspective, her life is a success and always an adventure. She wouldn't change a thing; well, except finding more time to write.


Shirleen loves hearing from readers, so please email her at shirleen@shirleendavies.com.
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FEATURED AUTHOR: LUCY CROWE

ABOUT THE BOOK

The alleged suicide of heroin king Jimmy “Sugar” Thomas has a lot of the locals in the backwater town of Mount Bloom asking questions. And the fall-out from his death has his only daughter delving – albeit unwillingly – into the spirit world and running from some harsh allegations made by her current love interest. Is it possible to have loved someone for a lifetime and still not have known him at all? Nicola Thomas is searching for the answer to that question while striving to maintain a status quo façade; and her life only grows more complicated when she joins a testosterone-driven fire department, takes in the local Bad Child, and falls in love.

INTERVIEW WITH LUCY CROWE

Lucy, you and I met on a writers site, and I fell in love with your writing. How did you originally get started writing?
I actually started writing before I could write. I can remember my mother helping me put picture books together and penning in the dialogue for me. So the writing process, for me, is nearly as old as myself.

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
I love having created characters who feel completely real to me – so real that occasionally they seem to solve problems on their own. It seems to me that a writer is often a conduit of sorts. Once we have created our characters, we are then at their mercy. But that’s a good thing, right??

I think so! Do you write every day?
I do try to write every day, whether on my current work-in-process, my blog, queries or whatever else needs to be done. Even if it’s only a tiny bit, I feel better at the end of the day if I have written.

What do you wish you’d done differently when you first started the publishing process?
I sometimes regret having not queried more widely. I think I was essentially lacking the confidence I needed to approach the very best in the business. Next time around, I am shooting for the stars!

Your characters and plots are very realistic. What do you think is more important – characters or plot? I am a character writer. I so enjoy creating a real person, complete with everything that makes us whole. I love the way the characters seem to take over the story and bend it to their own needs.
 
How often do you read?
Oh, every single day! I won’t be caught without a book, but if I am, I’ll be searching for the closest Barnes and Noble.

I love the way you write. It's almost lyrical. What would you say is your writing style?
A reader once described my novel as “poetic realism,” and I was just so thrilled with that.


I would agree with that description. Is writing your dream job?
Oh, very much so! But I am so blessed to be pursuing my second dream job as well. I work in EMS/fire, which I love, love, love.

I think it's so cool that you work in EMS and firefighting.
 What is the worst job you’ve ever had?
I was a legal secretary, which sounds wonderful, but was not! Imagine wearing a skirt every day!

What did it teach you?
When you work a job you hate, you learn – beyond tenacity – to dream big. Many, many of my hours in the legal office were spent combing the want ads and chanting “I think I can, I think I can.”

If you could only watch one television station for a year, what would it be?
Oh, definitely Disney! I have never outgrown my love for animation.

What five things would you never want to live without?
Is coffee a thing? Surely it is! So: COFFEE, books, chocolate, fuzzy slippers, and bubble bath. I’m all about being comfortable!

What do you love about where you live?
I live in what is basically a prairie state, but my particular location has gentle little hills on all sides, so it feels very protected. On blustery days, I can hear the wind, but it doesn’t touch me. 


What’s your favorite place to go on date night?
Well, my husband and I are both firefighters, so I actually love the unpredictability of date night.

What’s your favorite beverage? From your earlier answer, I'm guessing coffee?
Coffee coffee coffee. Yep, something of a shameless addict.

What is your superpower?
I wake up really well, and very quickly. Zero to 60 in about 3 seconds.

Wow. I wish I could do that. 
Name one thing you’re really good at and one thing you’re really bad at.
I’m really good at kissing boo-boos and really horrible at washing dishes. Although my family allows me to keep the latter job in spite of my poor performance!


What is one of your happiest moments?
To me, the happiest moments are always about the quick, seemingly small things – the hubby’s kiss at the end of the day, the child’s “I love you.”  These are the things I couldn’t live without.

I agree. Where is your favorite place to visit?
Chicago at Christmastime! Everything is so shiny, brash, and noisy. If you could put it in a globe and shake it, it would sound like saxophones, sirens, and trumpets.

Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
Oh yes! I’ve often wondered, too, if other authors do this? I let my characters swear, smoke, and drink all the rum they want. Living vicariously, you think?

What’s in your refrigerator right now?
I have so much fresh fruit in my fridge right now! Which is unusual for me, to say the least. But I recently purchased a Ninja Bullet, and I am determined to give responsible eating a try.

Who is your favorite fictional character?
I am shamelessly in love with James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux. What a fantastically layered character!


What are you working on now?
I have finished – drum roll!! - my second novel, Maypops in September, and am querying for a wonderful, awesome, top-of-the-line agent.

Good luck, Lucy! You deserve it!

FROM THE AUTHOR

The pen name Lucy Crowe evolved as a desire to include my daughter in my craft – her nickname is Lucy – while at the same time honoring my favorite band, The Black Crowes. I found, a little to my surprise, that I very much enjoy being two people. My alter ego Lucy writes, and has published one novel, Sugar Man’s Daughter with Rainstorm Press, as well as several short stories. She also maintains a website, Facebook page, and Twitter account. Meanwhile, I (Cathy Jones) am a mother of three married to Superman, and extremely active in EMS/firefighting. Needless to say, Lucy and I often collaborate, as I, too, have a few riveting tales to tell.



Connect with Lucy:

Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  
Goodreads  

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble 

FEATURED AUTHOR: R P CHANNING

ABOUT THE BOOK

~ Kira Sutherland ~
After a near fatal accident (and getting cheated on by her 'boyfriend'), and beating up the lead cheerleader (with whom the boyfriend cheated . . .), and being labeled as having 'issues' in her school because she, uhm, sees ghosts, Kira is left with two choices:

1. Continue her 'therapy' (where she's told the ghost is a hallucination and also gets her legs ogled too often . . .)

Or

2. Go to Starkfield Academy, a boarding school for "Crazies and Convicts" (as the social media sites call them.)

She chooses the latter . . .

~ Cory Rand ~
Cory Rand has not had an easy life. His mother died in a car accident when he was twelve, and so did his mother's best friend...sort of. You see, Janice made a promise to take care of Cory just before she died, and so she lingers. Undead. A ghost that watches out for him.

Brought up in an abusive home, Cory quickly falls into a life of disreputable behavior. After his third offense (which was prompted by a girl, as usual - he has a weakness) he's left with two choices:

1. Be tried as an adult and share a cell with a guy named Bubba (he thinks . . .)

Or

2. Go to Starkfield Academy, which Cory is pretty sure is run by vampires. But, hey, at least he'll get an education.

He chooses the latter . . .

It's at Starkfield that Kira meets Cory Rand, a boy with an insatiable Rage who sees ghosts, too. As well as other things, other things from his past, things that confuse him, things like fire and witches and demons.

Things he's always ignored.

Until now.



INTERVIEW WITH R P CHANNING

What do you think is hardest aspect of writing a book?
Understanding your reader. It’s true that writers want to stay true to their stories, but you also have to consider the reader. You have to consider the genre you’re writing in (again, the reader) and what is expected/liked/despised in that genre or by that reader. It takes some doing, as not all readers are the same.

What do you think makes a good story?
Top-selling stories are both loved and despised by different people. What makes a good story is one written very precisely to a market, sticking within the boundaries of that market. Writers love using words like “genre-bending,” but if you bend too much, your story stops being “good” from the reader’s perspective. And the reader’s perspective is the only perspective that counts.

Do you have any secret talents?
I’m a great cook of under-thirty-minute Mediterranean meals.

Is writing your dream job?
The one where I lie on the beach and look at the water while money rolls into my account. Oh, it doesn’t exist? Darn it.

It would be nice if that job could coexist with a writing job. What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do?
I like jumping in my car and going for a drive with nowhere to go. I just get on the freeway and drive and drive and drive and look around. I think I’ve been doing that ever since I got a license.

Where is your favorite place to visit?
New York is such a great town, so is London. I like big cities, any big cities.

What’s your least favorite chore?
Cooking (is that a chore?). I get to be creative and then I also get to eat!


Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
Nope, if my characters had my bad traits nobody would like them.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“I will remember this, thought Ender, when I am defeated. To keep dignity, and give honor where it's due, so that defeat is not disgrace. And I hope I don't have to do it often.” 
― Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game

“Don't wait for the muse.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Who is your favorite fictional character? (Not your own.)
Andrew (“Ender”) Wiggins. He’s the super-duperdest whiz-kid in the universe. That book is such a classic. (I don’t think the movie did it justice.)


You have a personal chef for the night. What would you ask him to prepare?
Handrolled Gnocchi in a creamy cheese sauce.

What’s your biggest pet peeve about writing?
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Typographical errors. They just . . . I mean, you can read a sentence ten times and those buggers somehow still get through.



What is your favorite movie?
Avatar is my all-time favorite. 
But I can watch just about any RomCom in the world and enjoy it. (And I discovered a few years ago that I’m not the only male who does this.)


What are you working on now?
Thirst is a standalone novel, but it has room to grow. I’m working on a book two but also on a dystopian novel that is completely different to Thirst.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

R P Channing started writing three years ago, but never published anything even after churning out over a million words of fiction. Thirst: Blood of my Blood is the first book he dared to publish. When asked why, he said, “Because it’s the first thing I wrote that my wife actually enjoyed reading.” When not hammering away (most literally) at his keyboard, he can be found buried in a book, reading anything from romance to horror to young adult to non-fiction to comedy.

Connect with the author:


Website  |  
Twitter  | 
Goodreads  

Buy the book:
Amazon US  |  
  Amazon UK

FEATURED AUTHOR: STEVE MYERS

ABOUT THE BOOK

Dreaming .400, like baseball itself, exists outside of time. Its 11 short stories are infused with the magic of the game—in the seductive swing of a girl who turns tinsel into gold; in the passion of an orphan on a quest to reach the Astrodome; in a vision of the future in which players are made, not born.

Dreaming .400 spawns pen pal love between friends that grows into poetry; it shrinks the gap between the head and heart of a Brewers’ fan; provides a way out for a teenager stuck in the shadows; inspires a vagabond to an impossible dream to be lived out between the white lines.

GUEST POST BY STEVE MYERS

Writing fiction is medicine. A window opens. There's access to an often closed, cut off world of dreams, memories, and motivations. The bluesy side of that window opening is that when a story ends, the window shuts. There's an emotional let down. The hunt and feast are finished. The carcass sits like some bony exposure beside the water. 

This is where the title of my recently published collection of short stories -  Dreaming .400 becomes more than a name. It becomes like a raft in water to get me going again, towards more trouble and tranquility, round and round, gathering up debris along the way which became new memories to explore and write about. 

I don't find many absolutes in this process of writing, but the intoxicating effect of a smell is definitely one of them. A smell hijacks and transports me to far away forgotten places in my past. I can see things in ways I've never seen before. I can be courageous. I can be honest and discover my real motives and fears and transform them into the traits of characters I create. 

Let me talk about smells some more. We have so many ways to store data and sounds. So many efficient ways but when it comes to smells, we have perfumes and after shave and cleaning sprays, but is there any way to store the smells we generate? So darn elusive. Like a vapor or water or sand slipping between our fingers and yet so potent and powerful.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking Mr. Clean or Endust. No way at all. I can be walking along and get hit by a spray from one of those bathroom cleaning sprays and well, I'm transported back to being 11-years old, in my friend's attic, playing strat-o-matic simulated baseball. All the wonderful details float through my mind like a slow mo parade – my friend's fat cat in the window sill looking orange from the sun, the cemetery across the street, my fears.  I'm not sure how this happens, olfactory speaking, but the smell is definitely an ol' factory of memories. That's for sure.

It's for this reason I keep anywhere from 20 to 30 stories, maybe more, active in my mind, in notebooks, on the backs of envelopes, as wordpress posts or Word documents, all of 'em waiting to be smelled again and if they are and if I'm lucky, they go epic and my mind and pen gushes. The story picks up speed and behaves like snow melting down a mountainside in spring and other times, it gets snagged and fizzles out of existence.

I think stories definitely have finish lines. It may take 23 years but it's out there somewhere in the fog and this has nothing to do with improving a sentence or adjusting the flow. That could go on forever. I'm talking about a theme. Often times, I am not aware of one during that initial gush, but as I read over what has happened...what I have written, what I have spit out on the page, I begin to see one there. Then I begin fleshing it out, the theme that is and making it clearer to the reader.

Don't get me wrong, I never want the message or whatever to be too obvious. I'm not writing Cliff Notes of crystal clarity here. I want the reader to do some work, to think a little, to connect some dots,  but at the same time, being cryptic is not my style. There's nothing sadder to me than a reader saying, “I didn't get it.” That means I failed them and I don't want that. Then again, I don't write with readers in mind, not when it comes to subject matter and themes. That's the stuff of dreams and subconscious. I can't control that, but I can read and reread and read some more what I've written and make sure it flows so the reader doesn't have to be bobbing for apples while reading what I've written, up and down, gasping for air. I want their experience to be more like sledding down a winter hill or a water slide;  weeeeeeeeeee. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Myers grew up in Milwaukee, walking distance from Lake Michigan. There was no other side, not visible anyway. The water went on and on. The cliffs were savage. The trees left to die. The abandoned boat houses not bothered.

Steve attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and earned an honers degree in history. He studied in southern Spain, lived in San Francisco, Brooklyn, and for the last eight years Montreal, Canada.



He recently completed a Graduate Diploma in Journalism. He is the author of two blogs. Brewers Baseball and Things is where Steve experiments with baseball and fiction. Broken Bats is home to his poetry.





Connect with Steve:
Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook 

Buy the book:
Amazon