FEATURED AUTHOR: WILLIAM BURCHER

ABOUT THE BOOK

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

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

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

GUEST POST BY WILL BURCHER

On Writing. Internal Resistance and An Author's Admission

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

Sound familiar? No? You're lying.

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

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

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

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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

Connect with Will:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  |  Youtube  |  Instagram 

Buy the Book:
Amazon   
 

FEATURED AUTHOR: ROY M. GRIFFIS

ABOUT THE SERIES

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

Book One: The Old World

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

Book Two:  Into the Flames

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

INTERVIEW WITH ROY M. GRIFFIS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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


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


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


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


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

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


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


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


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


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


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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR FROM THE AUTHOR

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

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

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

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

Connect with Roy:

Website  | Amazon 
 

FEATURED AUTHOR: RICHARD AUDRY

ABOUT THE BOOK

Mary MacDougall’s first case of 1902 seems simple enough.

Just before the 19-year-old heiress leaves for a summer holiday on Mackinac Island with her Aunt Christena, she’s hired to stop in a little town along the way and make inquiries. Did Agnes Olcott really die there of cholera? Or were there darker doings in Dillmont?

Mary’s mentor, Detective Sauer, thinks it’s merely a case of bad luck for the dead woman. But Mrs. Olcott’s daughter suspects her detested stepfather played a hand in her mother’s untimely death.

With the reluctant help of her aunt and her dear friend Edmond Roy, the young detective struggles to reveal the true fate of Agnes Olcott. As she digs ever deeper, the enemy Mary provokes could spell disaster for her and the people she loves. But in the end, it’s the only way to banish a daughter’s doubt.

INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD AUDRY

Richard, how did you get started writing?
I began my writing career as an arts journalist, and as I got older, decided I’d like to make more money. So I became a freelance copywriter for business clients, and I also did a stint in a corporate cube. Along the way I started writing fiction, and now do it full-time.

What do you wish you’d done differently when you first started the publishing process?
I wish I had written more books earlier in my life. I was discouraged back in the ‘80s and ‘90s by lots of rejections from agents and publishers. If I had had more than just one novel in good shape when I began indie publishing, I could have gotten up to speed much sooner.

What’s more important—characters or plot?
Characters. Good characters can carry a book without a good plot. But a good plot without good characters is a pretty bland reading exercise, IMO.

How often do you read?
I’m usually reading two or three books at a time. Right now it’s a hardboiled mystery set in Oregon and a biography of Raymond Chandler. And that doesn’t count reading the magazines I subscribe to (New Yorker, Esquire, Wired, Car and Driver, etc.).

What books do you currently have published?
There are now two novellas and a novel in the Mary MacDougall Mysteries. There are two novels in the King Harald Mysteries, which are canine cozies. My middle-grade series, the Johnny Graphic Adventures, has two books in it so far. There’s a freestanding mystery called Smoking Ruin. And I also have two short books of literary commentary—Travis McGee & Me and Four Science Fiction Masters.

Is writing your dream job?
It always has been. I’ve done journalism and business writing. But the dream of dreams, you might say, was to be a novelist. And I’ve been living that dream the last four years or so. Fame and fortune have not yet ensued, but I figure there’s still time.

How do you feel about Facebook?
I belonged for several years before I really started to explore it. It’s not only useful for keeping up with friends and family, but for getting word out about my adventures as an author. I can’t say, though, that I’ve entirely mastered its complexities. Sometimes stuff happens and I have no idea why. In other words, it’s still a bit of a mystery to me.

Would you make a good character in a book?
No, I think I would be rather boring. There’s no drama whatever in my life, and that’s just fine. I save the drama for my fictional characters.

What’s one thing you never leave the house without (besides a phone)?
Actually, I don’t carry a phone. I have one, but it’s in the car’s glove compartment, for emergencies only. I almost always have a little Canon camera in my pocket or on my belt. You never know when a good shot is going to come along.

What do you love about where you live?
We live in the middle of a big city, with all the perquisites that includes—shopping, dining, the arts, education, etc. But we’re just blocks away from the Mississippi River gorge and its wonderful parks and trails. In warm weather we’re out walking every day. We also live near the best neighborhood movie theater in town, with its $2-3 flicks and terrific popcorn. A three-minute walk and we’re there.


What’s your favorite thing to do on date night?
We’ll go out to a neighborhood café that’s operated by a young woman from France. She does a great job combining French and American styles of comfort food, at a very reasonable cost. Then we’ll go to a little jazz club that we frequent and sip on wine (her) and beer (me), as the music flows.


What’s your favorite beverage?
I love beer, ales and stouts, preferably from a small brewery. I enjoy a well-made gin martini. But I could live without beer and gin. The one drink I couldn’t do without is coffee. If you want to be more particular, a no-foam latté would be number one.


Name one thing you’re really good at and one thing you’re really bad at.
Good: Cooking, especially omelettes. Bad: Keeping track of stuff. My desk looks like the typical writer’s desk—piled high with papers and books. 

Where is your favorite place to visit?
The North Shore of Lake Superior, not far from where I grew up. There’s a place called Cascade River State Park and that river comes tumbling down through a rugged bluestone gorge of rapids and falls, then into the big lake. We love to watch the roaring water and hike the trails alongside it, thick with pines and birches and poplars. A little piece of heaven on earth.


Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
Not bad traits, per se. But I sometimes give them the aches and pains that I live with—chronic back pain, bum knees, things like that.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.” —Harper Lee

You have a personal chef for the night. What would you ask him to prepare?                             
I think I would request seared giant scallops with a shallot/butter sauce and garlic mashed potatoes. To accompany it, a micro-greens salad, a really good baguette with small-creamery butter, and a chilled bottle of the best Vouvray available. And since I’m eating so lightly, he can whip up a nice tiramisu for dessert.


How do you like your pizza?
Basic and simple. That means a crisp, thin crust, sauce from real Italian tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, and fresh basil.


What’s your biggest pet peeve about writing?
Though I enjoy writing, the process is physically sedentary. I sit in front of the computer quite a lot. Not really healthy. I have a standing desk that I use to write first drafts. But for revisions, I find it works better to be at my regular desk.

If you had to choose a cliché about life, what would it be?
In terms of achieving anything worthwhile, there is no free lunch.


What are you working on now?
Having just finished the third Mary MacDougall story, I’m going to be hanging out with Andy Skyberg and King Harald for the next six months or so—for the third King Harald canine cozy. Harald and his boss get snowed in at a local resort and are dragooned into hunting down a very valuable piece of jewelry that’s been stolen. But it turns out there’s a lot more going on than mere thievery. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Audry is the pen name of D. R. Martin. As Richard Audry, he is the author of the Mary MacDougall historical mystery series and the King Harald Canine Cozy mystery series. Under his own name, he has written the Johnny Graphic middle-grade ghost adventure series, the Marta Hjelm mystery Smoking Ruin, and two books of literary commentary: Travis McGee & Me and Four Science Fiction Masters.

Connect with Richard:
Website  | 
Blog  |  Facebook  | 
Goodreads  

Buy the book:
Amazon

FEATURED AUTHOR: DENISE RODGERS

ABOUT THE BOOK

It’s fall in Royal Oak, Michigan, just two miles north of the infamous Eight Mile Road, and jewelry designer Bella Blumer is ready to live the good life and leave the drama of last summer behind her. But the good life is not quite ready for Bella. In addition to jumping head first into another murder investigation to help a long-time friend, Bella has to deal with her fabulous boyfriend who wants to marry her—even if the thought of marriage makes her more than slightly nauseous. Add to that the fact that her newly sullen daughter is ignoring her, and her dragon-lady of a stepsister is in town and making life miserable for Bella’s not-so-lovable mother. When the murder investigation reveals one sordid secret after another, Bella has to scramble to find the murderer to save both her friend . . . and herself.

INTERVIEW WITH DENISE RODGERS

Denise, how did you get started writing?
I needed something to do after my sister married her first husband when I was fourteen. Mom worked and with my sister gone, I needed something to fill my time after school. In addition to copious reading, I started to write in my journal. I still keep the same kind of journal today: a thick, five-subject, 8 x 5 ½ lined notebook. It’s important to have a wonderful pen. I started with a fountain pen (it came as a gift, with the notebook, from my mother). I still have fountain pens, but these days I prefer gel pens. My current favorite is the Energel Metal Tip 0.7. I could write all day in either black or blue. Writing is a tactile, as well as a cerebral, experience.

What's your favorite thing about the writing process?
I love when the writing flows, when the dialog happens, when the characters tell me what to do, when I’m totally amazed at what I’ve just written, because I didn’t think it through; it just happened.

Do you write every day?
I wish I did, but no, I have no routine, and I certainly don’t write every day. My work and my life intrude on my writing time. Constantly. I’ve learned to go with the flow and write on those days that I can. I’ve learned to accept my reality and never worry anymore that I’ll stop writing because of my lack of routine. And yes, it’s easy to pick up where I left off—a week, or ever a month earlier—without losing the tone or voice of the story. I do have to reread what I’ve written to that point (or at least a few scenes back) in order to get back into the flow.

What do you think is hardest aspect of writing a book?
The editing and the nitpicking at the end of the process, just before the book goes up to launch, is excruciating. This perfectionist in me comes out to visit and she drives me crazy! I go over words, I re-write passages, I find inconsistencies, and I start to feel absolutely fearful. I’m afraid of making a mistake and putting it out there for the world to see. Obviously, this slows down the launching process.  However, I hope that it also creates a more finished and polished book.

I totally agree with you. What’s more important – characters or plot?
Character, character, character! Without the right characters, a plot is absolutely wooden. The plot has to be there; you have to have an idea of what is about to happen. But it is the way your characters behave in the given situation that make the story real. I remember learning the word “verisimilitude,” which a fancy way of saying that the writing approximates real life. If your characters lead the way through the plot, you are getting that “real” feeling.

How often do you read?
While I write more sporadically, I read every single day. Make that: Every. Single. Day. I am lost without my Kindle. I read before bed each night, for ten minutes to whatever. I read while brushing my teeth (and during other unnamed bathroom activities). I generally read light mysteries, but occasionally I read in other genres, or nonfiction.

What books do you currently have published?
Cozy Mysteries
Deadly Diamonds ~ Jeweltown Mystery Book One
Murderous Emeralds ~ Jeweltown Mystery Book Two

Poetry for Children
A Little Bit of Nonsense
Great Lakes Rhythm & Rhyme

For what would you like to be remembered?
For helping other people in whatever way I can, and also for taking the time, effort, and resources, to share my creativity.

What do you love about where you live?
Now that we’ve lived here for thirty-two years, I feel rooted and attached to this neighborhood, and even to the patch of earth on which our house sits. We live in suburban Detroit, Michigan, and now both our adult sons are married and raising their children within a half-mile of our house. How could we ever leave? Even though metro Detroit is huge, our neighborhood consists of just a few thousand, and we often know the families of people we meet or with whom we do business. It’s like living in a small town right in the middle of a large metro area. I hope I convey this sense of community in the Jeweltown books.

What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do?
Read . . . or write in my journal.

Where is your favorite place to visit?
I love Venice, Florida. It’s warm when Detroit is cold. It’s close to some of my Southern relatives in Sarasota. It’s right on the gulf. It’s another small town and the people are very friendly. And the bike riding is wonderful, even in December!

Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
Yes! In fact, most of the bad traits that make my characters interesting (perhaps in an annoying way) are my own. For example, Shelley, main-character Bella’s sister, is somewhat OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and therefore tends to wash her hands. A lot. Bella’s mother Harriet is a snoop. While I wouldn’t go so far as Harriet and rummage through a house guest’s luggage (oh my!), I am very curious and look things up on Google constantly. I’ve been known to research a company—or a person—if they seemed suspicious or piqued my curiosity. And then again, there is Bella Blumer’s outspoken nature. While some people find it hard to speak their mind, I’m always editing what I say . . . to make sure that I’m not offending anyone or hurting their feelings. When it comes to this bad traits, like Bella, I’m a constant work in progress.

What’s in your refrigerator right now?
Lot’s of healthy food. I’m gluten-free, sugar free, and I ferment my own food and cook mostly from scratch. So what you’d see is mason jars filled with pickled parsnips, jars of home made bone broth soup, lots and lots of fresh vegetables, and a few apples and oranges. Believe it or not, making this list has made me hungry!

What is the most daring thing you've done?
I went canoeing somewhere off Long Island with my cousin and her friends when I was a teenager. We came dangerously close to industrial plants. It was ugly. To make matters worse, I can’t swim, and there were no life preservers involved. (Don’t tell my mom; she still alive at eighty-four, and it might give her a heart attack.)

Yikes! What is the stupidest thing you've ever done?
See the above.

LOL. They often do go hand-in-hand. What would your main character say about you?
I hope they’d like to meet me for a chicken shawarma in Royal Oak. I sure would love doing the same with them!

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?

I have a hard time writing personal thank you notes, things like that. I draw a blank, for some reason. The hardest ever was writing my father’s eulogy. It mattered too much to me. It was too personal, and I wanted to fit the essence of his entire life in a brief speech of five minutes or less, and there wasn’t going to be a second chance to get it right. That’s an impossible task. Writing fiction is a lot easier. You have time to polish and smooth until you get it right.

What are you working on now?

Now that Murderous Emeralds is finally out in the world, I’m working on Poison Pearl, book three of the Jeweltown Mystery series. It is partially written, and I’m waiting for the right moment to start re-reading what’s happened so far, to better get into the flow—my favorite part of the writing process.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Denise Rodgers spent the first twenty-eight years of her life working in her family’s retail jewelry store in Metro Detroit. This was followed by another twenty-something years running a home-based advertising company that catered to (you guessed it!) jewelers around the country. At the same time, she wrote and published two poetry books and a website of funny children’s poetry. Many of her poems have also been published in anthologies and textbooks around the globe. Rodgers' most recent work, a funny murder mystery series featuring fun woman sleuth Bella Blumer, takes place in a jewelry store in Royal Oak, a suburb of Detroit. Murderous Emeralds, the second Jeweltown Mystery was released March 7, 2016.



While Rodgers shares many traits with her main character, Bella Blumer, this book is in no way autobiographical. She lives in Metro Detroit (near, but not in Royal Oak) with her husband and two small dogs. She has two grown sons, two wonderful daughter-in-laws, and four beautiful, amazingly talented and exceptional (just ask her) grandchildren!

Connect with Denise:

Website  |    
Blog   |    
Facebook  |   Twitter   |   
Goodreads  

Buy the book:
Amazon
    |    Barnes & Noble




FEATURED AUTHOR: LESLEY COOKMAN

 

About the book

The sixteenth in the Libby Sarjeant Mystery Series
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INTERVIEW WITH LESLEY COOKMAN

Lesley, how did you get started writing?
Professionally, as a feature writer for trade publications.

What’s more important – characters or plot?
Characters.

How often do you read?
Every day, 365 days a year.

What books do you currently have published?
All my books are still in print, so that’s sixteen mysteries, two novellas and two romances. Not to mention seven pantomimes and a musical play.

How often do you tweet?
Once or twice a day.

How do you feel about Facebook?
I enjoy Facebook, and use it a lot, both personally and professionally.

What do you wish you could do?
Play the piano.

What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do?
Read.

Where is your favorite place to visit?
A tiny Turkish village that few people know about.

Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
Yes. My main character has most of mine!

Do you procrastinate?
Of course. What writer doesn’t?

What’s one thing that drives you crazy?
Misuse and mispronunciation of words.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by." -Douglas Adams

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?
A commissioned short story for Christmas, because it had to be part of my series, but there was no time to develop the plot. Drove me mad!



What is your favorite movie?
Some Like It Hot


What are you working on now?
The seventeenth in the Libby Sarjeant series, to be called Murder On The Run.

Connect with  the author


Website     |   Blog   |    
Facebook   |   
Twitter   |   Accent Press
 

CHARACTER INTERVIEW WITH PAMELA FAGAN HUTCHINS' EMILY PHELPS BERNAL

ABOUT THE BOOK

USA Best Book Award-Winning Series, Cross Genre Fiction.

A heartfelt mystery from the bestselling and award-winning author of the What Doesn't Kill You romantic mystery series.

Big-haired paralegal and former rodeo queen Emily has her life back on track. Her adoption of Betsy seems like a done deal, her parents have reunited, and she’s engaged to her sexy boss Jack. Then client Phil Escalante’s childhood buddy Dennis drops dead, face first into a penis cake at the adult novelty store Phil owns with his fiancée Nadine, one of Emily’s best friends. The cops charge Phil with murder right on the heels of his acquittal in a trial for burglarizing the Mighty is His Word church offices. Emily’s nemesis ADA Melinda Stafford claims a witness overheard Phil fighting with Dennis over a woman. Before he can mount a defense, Phil falls into a diabetic coma, leaving Nadine shaken and terrified. Meanwhile Betsy’s ultra-religious foster parents apply to adopt her, and Jack starts acting weird and evasive. Emily feels like a calf out of a chute, pulled between the ropes of the header and the heeler, as she fights to help Phil and Nadine without losing Betsy and Jack.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER

Emily is a disgraced paralegal and former rodeo queen who tucks tail and moves back to her hometown in West Texas when her Dallas husband leaves her for a woman who turns out to be a man. She works for Jack, a secretive criminal attorney and sexy mix of cowboy and Indian, and is trying to adopt Emily, a six-year old little girl from Mexico. Emily flounders a bit through her divorce, miscarriage, local gossip, adoption woes, and romantic ups and downs, but she has the love and support of the world’s best friends: CPS Investigator Wallace, strip club bartender Nadine, her former boss Katie who left the practice of law to move to the islands, sexy fish-out-of-water Ava, and tough-as-nails Michele. And when the chips are down, Emily is resourceful, a little bit spiritual, and a whole lot reckless, as she kicks ass and takes names.     

INTERVIEW WITH EMILY PHELPS BERNAL

Emily, how did you first meet Pamela?
I met Pamela when she was writing about my best friend, Katie, in Saving Grace, the first book in the What Doesn’t Kill You series.

What do you like to do when you are not being actively read somewhere?
My idea of heaven is riding Jack’s horse Jarhead on a gorgeous spring day in the mountains of New Mexico.

What impression do you make on people when they first meet you? How about after they've known you for a while?
I hate to admit it, but I think people think I’m a dumb blonde. But after they know me, I think they get me and see that I’m capable. I think I actually surprise them, but mostly because they don’t imagine me as someone who can rope, ride, and shoot.

What's the worst thing that's happened in your life?
When my daddy left us. That was the worst. My divorce was bad, and my miscarriage was horrible. But wondering if my daddy was even alive, if I’d ever see him again? Losing my hero? That was the worst. It really taught me to rely on myself, though. I knew that nothing was necessarily forever. 



Tell us about your best friend.
Well, my best friend ever is Katie, who used to be my boss. I soaked a lot of her tipsy tears into my shoulder, let me tell you. She’s got it together now, but she lives so far away on St. Marcos in the Virgin Islands. My local best friend is Wallace, and oh-my-God he’s hilarious. He’s got this giant heart for kids—he works as an Investigator for Child Protective Services—and an obsession for neatness. But bless his heart, he’s a single gay man in Amarillo, so he’s as much of an outcast as I am as the divorcee whose husband left her for a woman who turned out to be a man. 



What are you most afraid of?
That I’ll end up alone, without Betsy or Jack.



What do you like best about Jack?
I love Jack’s eyes and his enormous heart.

Least?I like least that he is cryptic and secretive. I wish I could get him to just open up to me.

If your story were a movie, who would play you?
Kate Hudson would be my top choice, but Reese Witherspoon could pull it off, too.

Describe the town where you live.
Amarillo: flat, windy, smells like cow poop, and a church on every block.

Describe an average day in your life.
Since I’ve been working for Jack, there’s been nothing but chaos. I’ve been drugged, kidnapped, shot at, stalked, and had to escape with Betsy on horseback from a human trafficker’s ranch and save two foster kids from a bad cop in an abandoned mine. I’m not sure there are even average days anymore.

What makes you stand out from any other characters in your genre?
I think readers will find that out in Hell to Pay, though I cringe to admit that my special skill is snake handling. Don’t ask, because I refuse to say another word about it.

Will you encourage your author to write a sequel?
I hope she writes about my dear new friend Laura. She was a champion jockey, and she and her husband are adopting a teenage girl. But she wants to start an equi-therapy camp for kids on Jack’s ranch. She’s asked me to help her, and I think it’s the greatest idea ever.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Writer of overly long e-mails, romantic mystery series, and (possibly) hilarious nonfiction. Resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and way up in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. Passionate about great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes with her hunky husband and pack of rescue dogs, her Keurig, and traveling in the Bookmobile.

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

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble 

FEATURED AUTHOR: LINDA K. SIENKIEWICZ

ABOUT THE BOOK

What makes us step back to examine the events and people that have shaped our lives? And what happens when what we discover leads to more questions?

Angelica Schirrick wonders how her life could have gotten so far off-track. With two children in tow, she begins a journey of self-discovery that leads her back home to Ohio. It pains her to remember the promise her future once held and the shattering revelations that derailed her life.

Can she face the failures and secrets of her past and move forward? Somehow she must learn to accept the violence of her beginning before she can be open to life, and a second chance at love.

PRAISE FOR IN THE CONTEXT OF LOVE

“Linda K. Sienkiewicz’s powerful and richly detailed debut novel is at once a love story, a cautionary tale, and an inspirational journey. In the Context of Love should be required reading for all wayward teenage girls—and their mothers, too.” ~Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of National Book Award Finalist, American Salvage, and critically acclaimed, Mothers, Tell Your Daughters.

“With tenderness, but without blinking, Linda K. Sienkiewicz turns her eye on the predator-prey savannah of the young and still somehow hopeful.” ~ Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Deep End of the Ocean

“Absorbing, heartbreaking, compulsively-readable and insightful, Linda Sienkiewicz’s In the Context of Love casts a hypnotic spell. This is storytelling at its best.” ~ Lewis Robinson, author of the critically acclaimed, Officer Friendly: and Other Stories, and Water Dogs

BOOK TRAILOR

INTERVIEW WITH LINDA K. SIENKIEWICZ

Linda, how did you get started writing?

My writing evolved from my love of stories. As Thomas Lynch said, “Writers are readers who have gone karaoke.”

I like that. What do you think is hardest aspect of writing a book?

Writing a first draft is hard. It’s cheesy, bland, boring and unfocused. It takes a lot of faith to believe that you’ll be able to massage schlock into a good story.

What’s more important – characters or plot?

Characters and their inner development, which hopefully will lead to plot.

What is your writing style?

Evocative (I hope that doesn’t sound pompous). I like to evoke feelings and emotions through description and action with well-chosen words.

What do you think makes a good story?

A good story needs conflict, either inner or external. There has to be something for the character to resolve to keep the reader turning pages.

What scares you the most?

My own clumsiness is terrifying. I move too fast without looking. I fear I’m going to knock my teeth out some day.

What’s one thing you never leave the house without (besides your phone).

Got to have lip balm.

What do you love about where you live?

Historic Rochester, Michigan is so cool that my friend from California asked “Is this a tourist town?” Eclectic shops, five star restaurants, and festivals like Fire and Ice, Arts and Apples, Rockin’ Rods of Rochester, and the Big Bright Light Show at Christmas. Everything is within a few blocks of our 1914 home.



Name one thing you’re really good at and one thing you’re really bad at.

I’m great at hands-on creative problem-solving but I suck when it comes to organization.

Where is your favorite place to visit?

Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, France, where I visited Jim Morrison’s grave. The cemetery is stunningly beautiful and strangely peaceful.

What would you name your autobiography?

Oh, Yes, She Did.


Do you have any hidden talents?

I can wiggle my ears.

Excellent. 
Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?

Of course. Like Angelica, I went through an angry, rebellious stage in my teens, and often stretched the truth to get out of the house. I was a little too fond of my boyfriend, as well (cough, cough). I have an addictive personality like her ex, although I’ve learned to keep things in check.

Do you procrastinate?

I follow the OHIO rule: Only Handle It Once. If I don’t take care of business right away, it’ll just nag at me.

What is your most embarrassing moment?

At a reading, a well-known poet from Cleveland read a poem referring to the Cuyahoga River catching fire. As a former Clevelander, I’d heard that worn-out story so many times that I decided to tease him when I took the stage to read. In front of 100+ people, I said “Thanks, Ray, for your Cleveland poem, but, about the river catching fire: get over it.” It did not sound as funny as I thought it would. I later apologized to Ray. He was a good sport.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write? 

It was difficult to write about my grown son’s suicide, even years after. Tears were rolling down my face, but I felt it was important to share my experience if the story helps another parent.

That's heartbreaking. What’s one of your favorite quotes?

“There is nothing fiercer than a failed artist. The energy remains, but, having no outlet, it implodes in a great black fart of rage, which smokes up the inner windows of the soul.” Erica Jong

Describe yourself in five words.

Impulsive. Empathetic. Naïve. Optimistic. Clumsy.



What would you do for a Klondike bar?

Roll over and beg.

What is your favorite movie?

Lars and the Real Girl with Ryan Gosling, a surprisingly tender and emotional story.

Do you have a favorite book?

Gilead by Marilynn Robinson. It was the most powerful and intimate story I ever read. Certain passages can still make me weep. In my novel In the Context of Love, I used the same perspective, where the book reads like a letter from Angelica to Joe.


What are you working on now?

The story of Angelica’s first love, the “Hungarian heartthrob, the Gypsy King,” Joe Vadas. I think he deserves his own book, don’t you?

Absolutely!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a published poet and fiction writer, cynical optimist, fan of corgis, tea drinker, and wine lover from Michigan. Her poetry, short stories, and art have been published in more than fifty literary journals, including Prairie Schooner, Clackamas Literary Review, Spoon River, and Permafrost.

She received a poetry chapbook award from Bottom Dog Press, and an MFA from the University of Southern Maine. Linda lives with her husband in southeast Michigan, where they spoil their grandchildren and then send them back home.

​Connect with Linda:
Website  |  
Blog  |  
Facebook  |  
Twitter  |  Goodreads  

Buy the book:
Amazon  | Barnes and Noble

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