Winter Blogfest: Mona Sedrak

December 23, 2020 By 4 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win an ebook of both of my books, Gravity and Six Months.

Family Is Everything

This year we may all be celebrating the holidays in a different way than we normally do. Some may be having much smaller family gatherings by choice, and some may have lost precious loved ones who will be missing around the table. It certainly has been a challenging year for all of us. We have learned so much from this difficult year––some lessons we wish we could have been spared.

Still, the holidays, Christmas in particular, will always be a time I count my blessings––naming them one by one. Have I experienced loss and life altering change this year? Yes, like many, I do not possess super-powers to ward the bad away, and this year has taught me to pray for grace and mercy. So, what is there to be thankful for?

Like Leila, the heroine in my new novel Gravity, says, “Family is everything!” In many ways Leila’s story is my story, and those words couldn’t be truer. Nothing is more important to me than my family. Even in these difficult times, I do my best to make my family the priority. In the evenings, I call family and precious friends, checking that they are well. I start with a Facetime call to my 2 ½ year old grand-daughter, and she repeats after me, “May the angels of heaven watch over your head as you sleep through the night,” then giggles hysterically. My heart swells with love and all-consuming joy.

Next is the newest edition to my family, baby Jacob who prefers to be naked, and so we call him Nakey Jakey. I’ve only held Jacob in my arms for one brief week shortly after he was born, and my, the days have flown, and he has grown. Although I have the honor of singing him to sleep almost every night, my heart breaks when I have to say goodbye. Still, he is a 2020 blessing and fills my world with hope for a new generation that embodies the true definition of love, forgiveness, and tolerance.
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This holiday season my family will do as we have done for a few years now. Although Santa will come for the kids, the adults will give each other a priceless gift that cannot be bought––the gift of time spent with one another. We will gather in our PJs, whether by phone or virtually and laugh and share stories of days gone by. When the pandemic began, we started a group on an app that we all use to share celebrations and pictures from the past and present. It is a wonderful experience, and we will, I am certain, continue to share even more embarrassing pictures. We will text, talk, Zoom, and Facetime. But most of all, we will love one another because, “Family IS everything!” When Christmas Day comes to an end, I will lay my head down, close my eyes, and know––I am blessed, and all is well with my soul. 

Gravity: A force pulling together people and hearts.

After being shunned by her Middle Eastern family, medical assistant Leila Solomon struggles to build a life for herself and her child. Landscape photographer Aiden Stone built a career seeing what others miss, and the second he meets Leila, he is drawn to her unassuming beauty and fragile strength.

Leila cannot defy the gravitational forces pulling her toward Aiden and to the family who cast her out. To build a future with Aiden, she must face the past but is she strong enough to resist being pulled back into the family fold?

AUTHOR BIO

Website | Facebook | Twitter

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Winter Blogfest: Joanne Guidoccio

December 22, 2020 By 7 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a free ebook of No More Secrets..

Embracing Winter

The winter solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year, as well as the official start of winter. While winter can be a challenging season—especially for those of us living in northern climes—there can be moments of beauty and majesty during those months.

Prepare yourself for winter by reading these inspiring quotes:

“While I relish our warm months, winter forms our character and brings out our best.” — Tom Allen

“Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.” — Pietro Aretino

“In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.” — William Blake

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, ‘Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.’” — Lewis Carroll

“People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.”
— Anton Chekhov

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“A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder.” — Susan Orlean

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for a home.”
— Edith Sitwell

“Winter is a season of recovery and preparation.” — Paul Theroux

“The winter solstice has always been special to me as a barren darkness that gives birth to a verdant future beyond imagination, a time of pain and withdrawal that produces something joyfully inconceivable, like a monarch butterfly masterfully extracting itself from the confines of its cocoon, bursting forth into unexpected glory.” — Gary Zukav

Angelica Delfino takes a special interest in the lives of her three nieces, whom she affectionately calls the daughters of her heart. Sensing that each woman is harboring a troubling, possibly even toxic secret, Angelica decides to share her secrets—secrets she had planned to take to the grave. Spellbound, the nieces listen as Angelica travels back six decades to reveal an incredulous tale of forbidden love, tragic loss, and reinvention. It is the classic immigrant story upended: an Italian widow’s transformative journey amid the most unlikely of circumstances.

Inspired by Angelica’s example, the younger women share their “First World” problems and, in the process, set themselves free.

But one heartbreaking secret remains untold…

A member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, and Women’s Fiction Writers Association, Joanne Guidoccio writes cozy mysteries, paranormal romances, and inspirational literature.

Website | Blog | Twitter

Buy the book at Amazon.

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Times Change and We Change with Them by Bethany Askew – Guest Blog and Giveaway

December 11, 2020 By 3 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Bethany Askew will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Times Change and We Change with Them

It was my son’s birthday the other day. I remember the day he was born as clearly as if it was yesterday. And yet it seems to me I was such a different person then. This led me to think about whether we are indeed different people at different stages of our lives. Certainly that’s what the author William Boyd thinks, and writes about in his novel “Any Human Heart”, which was brilliantly dramatised for television.

It’s not just the fact that I was so much younger when my son was born that makes me believe I was so different. Of course I liked different music at the time. I can remember the radio was constantly tuned to Radio 1—I can even remember the song that was number one at the time: “Seasons in the Sun”. And I had different tastes in clothes, dictated by fashion not comfort. But it’s more than that: I was married to a different person. I had different friends. A different outlook on life. I was more impatient. Less satisfied with life. Striving to do more, be more.

I see my life, so far, in four very different stages: first, my childhood, growing up with my parents and brother and sister. Secondly, my first marriage and the birth of my son, looking after him, whilst trying to forge a career for myself. Thirdly, my present marriage, the trauma of divorce, taking on my step-children, establishing a successful career. And finally, the present stage: the children grown up, my parents gone, no longer working full-time—a time to do the things I always wanted to do, like being a writer.

At each stage of my life, I feel I was a different person: child, sister, lover, wife, mother, step-mother, career woman. I see myself reacting differently to things that happened depending on where I was living, who my friends were, who I was married to, which children I was looking after, where I was working, who I was working with.

There are things I did in the past that I wouldn’t do now. Like everyone, I have my regrets. I look back and think, “I was too impetuous, too selfish, I didn’t appreciate my parents and what they did for me.” But I’m still the person who did those things, it’s just that I view them now through the lens of life, with the experience that life has taught me. My basic personality hasn’t changed. I’m still the same person, with the same strengths and weaknesses. It’s just that I’ve learned, I hope, to curb some of my excesses: my impetuosity, for example, and my quick temper. That is what life teaches us.

When Carly Spurway is mistaken for old school friend Caroline Westminster, she has the chance to re-invent her life.

As the lines between fantasy and reality become blurred, the web of deceit Carly weaves around herself for protection threatens instead to trap her.

But what has happened in her past to make Carly want to escape? And is Caroline’s life as perfect as Carly thinks it is?

This story explores how well we really know the people we have relationships with; the different versions of the truth we tell ourselves and others; and the impact of the past on the present.

Enjoy an Excerpt

“I know you, don’t I?”

“No,” she says, “you must be mistaken…”

“Caroline,” he says firmly. “Caroline Westminster…”

She shakes her head but he’s seen the flash of recognition in her eyes.

“I used to teach you,” he says. “At East Devon College. Maths. You were very good…”

He’s older, of course. His hair is greying and there are laughter lines around his eyes, but there’s no mistaking him. This is her moment to correct him.

“I’m not Caroline,” she should say. “I’m Carly. Carly Spurway.” but the moment’s gone and she finds herself shaking hands with him automatically. “Mr. Exton…” she says politely.

“Mark, please.” He laughs. “What’re you doing here?”

She glances around at the pictures on the walls.

“Not here, literally.” He laughs again and she can see now that he’s a bit nervous. “I mean, here in Taunton?”

“I live here. Well, only just. I’ve been here a few weeks. You?”

“Oh, we’ve been here for years. I’m teaching at Wyvern’s now. The sixth form college.”

The ‘we’ isn’t lost on her. Married, obviously. Well, of course, he would be by now. He must be, what, early forties? He was probably only a few years older than them when they were in the sixth form, though he seemed so much more mature, not long out of university; the good-looking Maths teacher that all the girls fancied and all the boys wanted to emulate. He’s still good-looking, despite the slightly greying hair. More confident now, though. Slim, athletic-looking. Clearly he looks after himself. He senses her examining him and his dark eyes hold hers. Embarrassed, she looks back at the painting.

Someone pushes past them, jogging his elbow so that his red wine spills slightly over the back of his hand. He bends his head to lick it off and says, “It’s getting crowded in here. Why don’t we go through to the bar?”

“I’ve got to go,” she says quickly, glancing at her watch for authenticity.

“Oh, please,” he says. “Just a few minutes. I don’t often bump into former students. You’ve all moved away…”

She knows she shouldn’t. This goes against everything she’s moved here for. But he doesn’t know who she is. He thinks she’s someone else. She doesn’t have to see him again.

About the Author:Bethany Askew is the author of six novels: The Time Before, The World Within, Out of Step, Counting the Days, Poppy’s Seed and I know you, don’t I?
She has also written a short story, The Night of the Storm.

Bethany likes to write about women’s lives and is particularly interested in their role in society, their positions as wife and mother and the impact of marriage, children and divorce on family dynamics.

Bethany was born and brought up in Somerset and has lived there all her life. A Dispensing Optician by profession, she was able to fulfil her lifelong ambition to be a writer when she retired from employed work seven years ago. She is married and has four grown-up children and six grandchildren.

Website | On Active Service blog | Facebook | Twitter | Publisher’s Author Page

Buy the book at Amazon UK, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Blackwells, or Andersons.

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The Cutting Room Floor by William A. Glass – Guest Blog and Giveaway

November 20, 2020 By 5 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. William A. Glass will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR

As Good As Can Be is a work of fiction, but it draws from my experiences growing up in an army family. To keep the narrative moving, I left many interesting real-life happenings out. Some were easy to cut because they revisited ground already travelled. Below are summaries of two real-life episodes that I hated to leave out but did.

In 1955 my family including alcoholic father, ineffectual mother, and five wild kids, traveled to Europe on the SS United States. On the last night of the voyage, my parents were invited to dine with the captain. They left my sister, then 11, in charge of her five younger siblings. We played nicely until eleven or so when the fighting started. After a storm of complaints from neighboring cabins, the deck steward tried but couldn’t stop the mayhem. He called on a ship’s officer who also failed to halt the effusion of blood. The lieutenant reluctantly went up to the first-class dining room for a word with the captain, who then asked Lt. Colonel Glass to restore order in his cabin. My father had been charming the socks off of a Duchess (or so he claimed) and was so irate at being interrupted that he kept us children up for the rest of the night which meant we were all asleep that morning when the ship made a brief stop to let passengers off in Liverpool. Dad was still awake, however, and went ashore. Later he rubbed it in that he saw England and we didn’t. The ship landed in Bremerhaven that evening, and the Glass family spent the next four years in Germany.

Another episode that occurred in real life and almost made it into the book is when I went to visit my older sister after she trapped a boy from college into marrying her. She was living with him, his mother, and her child on a beautiful stretch of the Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern shore of Maryland. The mother-in-law was a cold blue-blood. The son was a spoiled rich kid who was more interested in his toys (airplane, sport-fishing boat, and race car) than the child. The three of them were living in an antebellum plantation house complete with African-American servants. In the morning, I went up in the plane with my brother-in-law, who tried mightily to get me to throw up. When that failed, he took to dive-bombing the house to wake my sister. I had a private chat with her before I left. She admitted that things were tense in the house, and she felt isolated. However, anything was better than being a home with our family!

There were other scenes that were left on the cutting room floor in order to keep the length of As Good As Can Be within reason. The above ones were the hardest ones for me to get rid off!

Dave Knight is a wayward child growing up in a military family during the 1950s. His older sister wants to kill him but settles for regularly beating him up. Other siblings join in the mayhem while their alcoholic father contributes to the chaos with his unique approach to parenting.
As the Knight family moves from one army base to the next, Dave develops a give-a-damn attitude that often leads to trouble. In high school, he joins other delinquents in a series of escapades, some dangerous, others funny, and a few that would be worthy of jail time should they ever be caught.

After barely graduating, Dave is drafted into the army and sent to guard a nuclear weapons depot in Korea. There, he gets into trouble with his sergeant and tries to avoid dishonorable discharge.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Two rocking chairs are arranged in front of the fireplace. On the mantle is a signed photograph of General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Mr. Lawson takes the picture down and shows it to Dave. “My pappy rode with Forrest,” the old man says. “He killed a lot of Yankees, you know, in the war.” Mr. Lawson looks at Dave expectantly but is disappointed by the uncomprehending expression on the child’s face. Carefully he places his prized possession back over the fireplace.

Dave and Melissa return to Gram’s house in time for lunch. After eating, the Knight children have another quiet time. Then Ethel comes up with an idea. “Let’s take a ride out to the river,” she suggests.

“What for?” Knight asks.

“I want to see if the rain the other day caused it to rise.”

“Who cares?”

“Come on, it’s something to do,” Bobbie says impatiently.

The family piles into the Plymouth and rides a short distance to where the Trinity River flows. Knight parks on the shoulder of the highway, and they all go onto the bridge to peer at the muddy water. It’s an evil-looking stream, full of snags and home to alligators, cottonmouths, gars, and snapping turtles. No one in their right mind would go swimming in the Trinity, so all the natives can do is look, check the water level, or maybe drop a line in to see what manner of creature takes the bait. “Can we go now?” Marie asks.

“Hush. Gram wants to look,” Bobbie says.

“At what?” Dan asks.

About the Author:Bill is a retired business executive now living in South Carolina with his wife, Bettina. She teaches high school German while Bill coaches soccer at a small college. Their three sons, Alex, Robert, and Gordon, have all graduated from college and moved away to pursue careers.

For recreation, Bettina and Bill enjoy hiking and camping out. Usually, they take their dog, Scout, along. When the weather permits, Bill commutes to work on his motorcycle.

Website | Goodreads

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My Take on Critique Groups by M.T. Bass – Guest Post and Giveaway

November 13, 2020 By 12 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. M.T. Bass will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

My take on critique groups…

You can’t live with them…and you can’t live without them.

I spent quite a bit of time going through the local writers’ groups listed on MeetUp.com and “auditioned” a whole bunch of them out. I went through some of them like a revolving door. One group was intensely focused on Fantasy/Sword and Sorcery stories—they spent at least an hour discussing the details in a sword fight at that meeting. And they basically admitted that they weren’t really interested in reading my kind of stuff. Adios, amigos.

I’ve finally ended up in two groups that I’ve gone to for years—well, at least I did before the stupid COVID-19 scamdemic shutdowns. One group has suspended their meetings and the other has transitioned to Zoom calls. Anyway, the first group allows 5 minute cold reads, while the smaller Zoom group takes submissions of up to 7500 words two weeks in advance for more detailed critiques. It’s a good mixture.

As writers, we work alone, and sometimes that’s a nice cozy cocoon to hide in. But if you intend to publish, you have to know what other people are going to get out of your writing. As the author, the surprise is gone for me: I pretty much know what is going to happen in my story. What I don’t know is what the uninitiated reader thinks about who the characters are and what is going to happen to them. And that is exactly what I am listening for in the group’s comments.

Sometimes it’s difficult to pull that information out of the comments. People have a lot of things to say in these groups—and not much of it is really about your words and your story. You have to really listen and sort through the critiques and decide whether they are advocating their particular theories of “creative writing” and whether those theories have anything to do with what you have written. Sometimes not and it goes in the discard pile.

Beyond that crucial information, of course, I get plenty of grammar corrections, which is okay, though I have an excellent editor for my work. I also listen closely to those folks who have an expertise that I don’t, like the ex-Navy SEAL, the FBI agent, and the lawyers in the cold read group. They offer insightful corrections and additions to my military, law enforcement, and lawyer-type characters.

And sometimes you really get a gem. I read the first chapter of a novel I called Exit Alley, and Dave, the moderator, gave me the real title from the words in my story: Murder by Munchausen.

On the other hand, I also get to throw in my two cents worth on the works submitted by other folks. I’m not real good at off-the-cuff reactions to the cold reads, so my comments are usually limited. I prefer to put more time and thought into what I’m going to say. For the long-form group, I typically read the submissions at least twice before I comment: once as just a reader, then as an editor, when I start making my comments. Sometimes you have to be tough on the writing, but there is no need to be mean when you are critiquing.

Hopefully, you’ll make a connection that will help them out. And that’s what I’m looking for.

“There are only two types of aircraft: fighters and targets.”

~Doyle ‘Wahoo’ Nicholson, USMC

Sweating it out in the former Belgian Congo as a civil war mercenary, with Sparks turning wrenches on his T-6 Texan, Hawk splits his time flying combat missions and, back on the ground, sparring with Ella, an attractive young missionary doctor, in the sequel to My Brother’s Keeper.

Enjoy an Excerpt

“Break left,” I radioed Angel, jammed the throttle forward, and yanked the stick back and to the left in a climbing turn to circle around on the enemy position. I searched back over my shoulder for a road or trail leading out of the area to anticipate their possible direction of movement. There was a small scar coming down off the hill to the southeast.

As we came around three hundred and sixty degrees, lining up on the small section of the jungle where red and green tracer rounds floated up our way, the intensity of the fire began to wane as the rebels understood what was about to come their way.

“Take the trail. Southeast,” I radioed Angel.

He clicked his mike twice to acknowledge the one-two punch plan and throttled back to drift away in trail to follow up my initial attack on the enemy positions with rocket fire as they inevitably fled to melt back into the jungle.

I banked hard and began to dive down on the hilltop. The tracers began to concentrate on my nose. I lit up my guns, spreading the field of fire left and right with a little dance on the rudder pedals. I felt the Texan buck up a bit as rockets left the rails. I followed the plumes of their engines halfway to the target before I had to pull up, but noticed the intensity of the enemy fire had waned considerably.

“Way to go, Batman,” Angel radioed. “Let me just clean up this little mess you made.”

Behind me, Angel strafed the road and fired his rockets in so close that he seemed to clip the top of the fireball from the warhead explosions.

I circled back and took a path coming back up the road, stitching it with .303 caliber fire…

About the Author:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

M.T. Bass is a scribbler of fiction who holds fast to the notion that while victors may get to write history, novelists get to write/right reality. He lives, writes, flies and makes music in Mudcat Falls, USA.

Born in Athens, Ohio, M.T. Bass grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, majoring in English and Philosophy, then worked in the private sector (where they expect “results”) mainly in the Aerospace & Defense manufacturing market. During those years, Bass continued to write fiction. He is the author of eight novels: My Brother’s Keeper, Crossroads, In the Black, Somethin’ for Nothin’, Murder by Munchausen, The Darknet (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #2), The Invisible Mind (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #3) and Article 15. His writing spans various genres, including Mystery, Adventure, Romance, Black Comedy and TechnoThrillers. A Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor, airplanes and pilots are featured in many of his stories. Bass currently lives on the shores of Lake Erie near Lorain, Ohio.

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon Author Page | Goodreads

Buy the book at the author’s website, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon.

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A Special Recipe by Laura and Ellen Distelheim – Guest Blog and Giveaway

October 6, 2020 By Leave a Comment

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Laura and Ellen Distelheim, daughters of the late Rochelle Distelheim, author of Jerusalem as a Second Language.

*****

There is a moment in our mother’s novel, Jerusalem As a Second Language, when the protagonist, Manya Zalinikova, now living in Israel and experiencing a wave of homesickness for the Russia she’d left eight months earlier, finds herself longing for the “sour cream sprinkled over cinnamon scented blintzes the size of a thumb” that she’d last tasted in her native St. Petersburg. It comes as no surprise to us that our mother’s character would equate blintzes with home, because, looking backward from here, we often find ourselves doing the same thing.

Throughout our growing up years and, even more so, through all the years of our returning to our childhood home for visits — on holidays from college or from jobs in distant cities — one staple of our family’s week would be the Sunday brunches at which we would talk and laugh and linger and catch up on each other’s lives. And one staple of those Sunday brunch menus would be our mother’s blintz soufflé. She never claimed to have invented this recipe — she’d picked it up somewhere along the way — but she somehow managed to make it her own nonetheless, with an added sprinkle or two of cinnamon, or an extra dash of vanilla, maybe, and always, of course, with an overflowing dose of her love. We’re happy to share it here now.

Blintz Soufflé

12 Blintzes (any flavor)
1/4 lb. butter
4 eggs, well beaten
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon orange juice (optional)

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Place the 12 blintzes in the buttered casserole to cover the bottom.

Mix all the other ingredients and pour over the blintzes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Sprinkle cinnamon over it after it has cooled (optional).

It is 1998. The old Soviet Union is dead, and the new Russia is awash in corruption and despair. Manya and Yuri Zalinikov, secular Jews — he, a gifted mathematician recently dismissed from the Academy; she, a talented concert pianist — sell black market electronics in a market stall, until threatened with a gun by a mafioso in search of protection money. Yuri sinks into a Chekhovian melancholy, emerging to announce that he wants to “live as a Jew” in Israel. Manya and their daughter, Galina, are desolate, asking, “How does one do that, and why?”

And thus begins their odyssey — part tragedy, part comedy, always surprising. Struggling against loneliness, language, and danger, in a place Manya calls “more cousin’s club than country,” Yuri finds a Talmudic teacher equally addicted to religion and luxury; Manya finds a job playing the piano at The White Nights supper club, owned by a wealthy, flamboyant Russian with a murky history, who offers lust disguised as love. Galina, enrolled at Hebrew University, finds dance clubs and pizza emporiums and a string of young men, one of whom Manya hopes will save her from the Israeli Army by marrying her.

Against a potpourri of marriage wigs, matchmaking television shows, disastrous investment schemes, and a suicide bombing, the Zalinikovs confront the thin line between religious faith and skepticism, as they try to answer: What does it mean to be fully human, what does it mean to be Jewish? And what role in all of this does the mazel gene play?

About the Author:Rochelle Distelheim’s writing has been awarded the Gival Press Short Story Competition Prize, the Katharine Anne Porter Prize, the SALAMANDER Second Prize, numerous Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards, and a Ragdale Foundation Fellowship. Her work has been nominated several times for inclusion in the Best American Short Stories anthology, and she was a finalist in the GLIMMER TRAIN Emerging Writers Competition and the Pushcart Prize. JERUSALEM AS A SECOND LANGUAGE has received both the William Faulkner Gold Medal for Novel-in-Progress and the William Faulkner Gold Medal for Novel. Rochelle’s debut novel, SADIE IN LOVE, was published in 2018.

Buy the book at Amazon or Aubade Publishing.

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A Day Behind the Scenes by J.A. Boulet – Guest Blog and Giveaway

October 5, 2020 By 6 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. J. A. Boulet will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

A Day Behind the Scenes

She smiled sweetly.
He wanted to kiss her.
She immediately looked away shyly.
“Why do you do that?” he asked.
“Do what?”
“Run away, look away, when I want to kiss you,” he replied.

My writing days are beautiful and fulfilling, but also stressful and chaotic at the same time. It is not your typical 9-5 job. I am often immersed in my writing for several hours and fielding multiple sources of media, my kids and emails. And that’s not including my personal responsibilities. It’s akin to being a master juggler.

My routine is to write in the evenings after dinner but this is not always the case when I’m faced with deadlines, YouTube book launches or book signings. These are the most challenging times when I need to be perfect in front of the camera.

I spend at least two hours on my makeup, hair, nails and choosing an outfit. It is a lot more preparation than people think. One loyal Twitter reader said that I looked ridiculously gorgeous on my YouTube book launch. It was wonderful hearing such a flattering compliment! Although, to be honest, I’d rather be in my leggings with messy hair lol, it’s way easier.

At the end of the day, I have to wash all the products out of my hair and remove all the makeup, so by the time my head hits my pillow, I am exhausted. Then what happens at midnight? I remember something I forgot to do that day, of course, lol.

This is my day behind the scenes. It’s not perfect but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Writing makes me whole. The opportunity to share my gift of imagination to my readers and communicating with them is priceless.

I left my career in finance five months ago to pursue my dreams so I’m here to stay. Being an author has changed me in so many ways but learning to be myself has been the greatest gift of all.

Thanks for reading. If you’ve been following me throughout the entire blog tour, I thank you whole-heartedly and invite you to comment. I will do my best to respond as soon as a busy mom can! My heartfelt thanks to Long and Short Reviews for hosting me.

Enjoy a free excerpt on my website: Chapter One Preview

On a stormy day in October 1875, a boatload of Icelandic explorers crash land on a beach paradise called Willow Point on Lake Winnipeg. Except it proves to be anything but paradise.

On that fateful day, young Nathan Olason steps afoot onto the soil of a foreign country, a place that he is determined to claim as his new home. Against a stunning backdrop of Lake Winnipeg, Nath and his relatives struggle to stay alive against all odds in this strange unforgiving new country called Canada. With natural sand beaches and breathtaking sunsets, the lake quickly changes to a menacing force, with massive storm surges and frigid temperatures, claiming lives like flies. Nath soon realizes that to claim this wilderness as New Iceland, he must persevere.

Events soon blow wildly out of control as heavy snowfalls, emerging governments, racism and mass starvation tests Nathan’s limits. With the help of a beautiful local Cree woman named Anwa, they learn vital hunting and ice fishing skills, teaching themselves how to live off the land. Then just when they think they have prevailed, tragedy strikes an ominous blow, a smallpox epidemic that decimates villages, quarantines the town of Gimli, but most of all threatens to claim what he holds dear the most.

With stirring realism, surprising bits of humour and steamy romance scenes, The Strong Amongst Us weaves a rich historical tale of immigration, manhood, immense love and resilience, leaving readers empowered by the sheer will of the human spirit.

About the Author: J. A. Boulet was raised in Western Canada. Both her parents were landed immigrants from Hungary, a direct result of the mass emigration during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. J. A. Boulet was born many years later as a Generation Xer and a first-generation Canadian. She started writing poetry at the age of five and subsequently progressed to short stories and novels. Writing has always maintained a strong current of passion throughout her life. She recently left her career in finance to pursue her dreams of being an author. She currently lives in Canada with her two teenaged sons and a pet crested gecko name Mossio.

The Strong Amongst Us is available on Amazon, Kobo books and Chapters.

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Character Creation by Ellen W. Martin – Guest Blog and Giveaway

September 21, 2020 By 10 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Ellen W. Martin will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Character Creation
For me, the key ingredient in creating good characters, whether they are the protagonist, villain, or the supporting cast, begins by digging deep into their internal motivations, trying to understand what makes them tick and do the things they do, and do it all within the sphere of the story’s plot.

Once I establish their detailed character traits, more often than not, one or more of the characters in each of the four books I’ve written come “alive” and literally highjack the story from my original plan. I cannot count the times I started a day prepared to write a particular scene a particular way, but when my fingers hit the keyboard, my characters literally took over the story and nudged “me” in the direction “they” wanted to go. When these occasions occur, often the scene, the story, and the characters are actually better. I owe this phenomenon to the laborious efforts of introducing myself to each of my characters, getting to know who they are, what they want to be, and the impact they will have on the overall story.

There are several interesting characters in Book I – SONS OF CUBA – Prelude to Revolution, and the sequel, Book II – SONS OF CUBA – Homecoming, but I do have my favorites, and not necessarily the main character.

In Book I Rafaela Zamá, the Santería priestess (Oloricha) pops in and out of Felipe Cardena’s life endeavoring to control his destiny. He resists her attempts every step of the way, but she perseveres. Rafaela’s character will bleed into Book II – Homecoming as she continues her quest for dominance to control Cuba’s destiny.

In Book II – SONS OF CUBA – Homecoming, Tangi Montolio, hands down, is my favorite character. This stunning and feisty redheaded peasant girl is one of the rebel’s most passionate followers at the beginning of the Revolution. The brief interaction between this mountain girl and the rebel leader affects both her and her family’s future. Tangi’s story is a portrait of Cuban life under the reign of the latest dictator — it isn’t a pretty picture.

Of the four books I have written BOOK I AND BOOK II SONS OF CUBA, are the only historical fictions written to date. These two books were the first to be published, although written twenty years ago. They are my first-born children, so to speak. My true passion and favorite genre to read and write is suspense/thriller.

Why did I change genres? After several years of beating down publisher doors to no avail, I gave up writing for about ten years. When my writing muse eventually returned, the characters who escaped the dusty chambers of my imagination leaned heavily toward the suspense/thriller/murder mystery genre. Thus, INTO THE DEVIL’S DEN – Snared by Their Own Lies was born. This is a suspense thriller about a veteran U.S. Immigration agent who races against time to save his daughter from a jihadist’s sleeper cell. This book will be released late fall 2020.

While we all have been mostly housebound these last several months because of COVID, I completed the first draft of a political suspense/thriller entitled SHATTERED LOYALTIES, the location of this story is in New Orleans, Louisiana.

I sincerely hope that you’ll consider befriending me as a writer and my characters Felipe Cardena, Tangi Montolio, Rafaela Zamá in the SONS OF CUBA series.

Next in line are Agent Sam Steele, his daughter Terry Anne and the terrorist Rashid Maroun in INTO THE DEVIL’S DEN – Snared by Their Own Lies.

Hopefully by spring 2021 you will have the opportunity to meet Penelope “Pepper Mills” in SHATTERED LOYALTIES. Pepper was once an upcoming news journalist in Washington D.C., but is now confined to writing obituaries for a New Orleans newspaper. Journey in 2021 with Pepper while she seeks a second chance as a serious journalist, but may fall victim to her inner demons once again.

Relentless political turmoil streams through the veins of Cuba like lava coursing down the side of a volcano holding the Cuban people hostage to tyranny since Christopher Columbus discovered the Caribbean Island. One wonders if the country’s destiny can ever change.

In BOOK I – SONS OF CUBA – PRELUDE TO REVOLUTION Felipe Cardena, the rebel, endures lost love, the exhilaration of victory, demoralizing disappoints, imprisonment, exile, and an assassination attempt. Nothing will stop Felipe Cardena until he achieves his ultimate goal — free Cuba from tyranny.

 

 

 

 

 

In BOOK II – SONS OF CUBA – HOMECOMING after victory is declared by the Cuban rebels, the plot shifts away from the revolution and centers on Tangi Montolio, a fiery redheaded activist who once was one of the rebel leader’s most passionate supporters. Tangi and her family become a victim and suffers under the hands of Felipe Cardena’s new leadership. The rebel now turned dictator will discover that his brief interaction with Tangi will lead to the destruction of his legacy.

Enjoy an Excerpt from Book One

“FELIPE… Felipe Cardena,” the old man whispered, shaking the young recruit. “Wake up, you must hurry.”

“Wha… what is it?”

“El Presidente is sending the Cuban Navy to intercept this ship. He canceled the invasion of Santo Domingo.”

Felipe yawned and rolled over “So what? Maybe he changed his plans.”

The man dug his fingernails deep into Felipe’s shoulder. “Yes, there’s been a change in plans. A revolution may start any day and you’re on the wrong side.”

Felipe rolled over on the hard steel deck of the frigate’s makeshift dormitory, fought the sleepiness lingering in his head. He grabbed his heavy boots and shoved them on his feet trying not to wake the nearby soldiers.

He looked over at the old man. “Who the hell are you?” he whispered, fumbling with his laces.

“That’s not important. What’s important is Salabarrìa’s police shot and killed Emilio Trò. Fires are burning in the streets of Havana; mobs are overturning cars and buses. The rumor is that the troops on this ship are heading back to Havana to overthrow the Cuban government instead of liberating Santo Domingo. No one on this frigate is to be trusted. That includes you, my young amígo.”

Felipe rolled his sleeping bag, picked up his machine gun and backpack. He waited a moment for his eyes to focus in the darkness. Sounds of snoring and the odor of week-old sweat saturated the stale air in the lower deck.

About the Author:After a lifetime of personal adventures, travel and escapades (a lot of risky escapades), author Ellen Martin, is living her sunset years bouncing around a tennis court or clicking away on her keyboard.

Outrage at social injustices, the thrill for suspense, and unraveling a good mystery are triggers that motivate Ellen to write memorable stories and colorful characters.

Over 30 years as a military wife, she has resided both in the Orient and in Europe where she became no stranger to social injustice and poverty. She and her family have lived in the Philippines, Japan, Italy, and the Netherlands — not to mention both U.S. coasts and Kansas in the winter. She is fascinated by real-life, colorful personalities.

On a more personal note Ellen was a flight attendant for the Charter Airline Saturn in the 1960’s. Her job was escorting United States troops in and out of Viet Nam. Her adventures in the war zone continued until she was swept away by her fighter pilot husband.

After retirement the couple’s travels included Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungry, Spain, Scotland, and Ireland and topped off with a visit to Cuba.

God gifted Ellen with one “perfect” son and three grandchildren.

You wrap all this in a package and Ellen has been rewarded with an endless supply of fodder for her fiction.

In her historical fiction Book-I SONS OF CUBA–PRELUDE TO REVOLUTION she weaves an embellished tale of the most notorious and charismatic Cuban rebel in modern history. There’s a chance you might find him charming, intriguing and actually root for him in his early endeavors to free his beloved Cuba from tyranny.

However, in Book II – SONS OF CUBA – HOMECOMING, the story takes the reader from the rebel’s exile in Mexico to preparation for the revolution from the Mountains of the Sierra Maestra. This is where you will meet the fiery redheaded peasant girl, Tangi. The narrative shifts its focus from the revolution and centers around the fictional character, Tangi, and her family’s struggles, fears and disappointments in the new regime.

How the story in real life ends is no secret. But, in Book II – SONS OF CUBA – HOMECOMING, the characters and the author may just get the last word.

In 2020 Ellen’s new book INTO THE DEVIL’S DEN turns from historical events to present day reality – Terrorism — terrorism in our own backyard.

Check out her website for excerpts from her books.

Website

Buy the books at Amazon: Prelude to Revolution and Homecoming

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Over the River and through the Woods: Choosing a Setting for THREADS by Charlotte Whitney – Guest Blog and Giveaway

September 14, 2020 By 24 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions.Charlotte Whitney will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Over the River and Through the Woods

Choosing a Setting for THREADS: A Depression-Era Tale

Set in farm country in in south-central Michigan, during the throes of the Great Depression, THREADS presents a mystery that is unraveled by three sisters: ages seven, eleven, and seventeen. Those who have read the book know that the setting is almost another character. On the surface it’s simply a white clapboard farmhouse, a weathered barn and outbuildings, an immense garden, fields, woods, and creek. But to the girls, it’s a place to frolic while looking for pollywogs in the springtime, to discover arrowheads from previous dwellers, the Pottawatomi Indians, and to make up games to deal with the day-long tedium of picking strawberries or hoeing onions amidst mosquitoes and other blood-hungry insects. It’s also the place where young Nellie, when exploring for pirate treasure, digs up the tiny blue-black hand of a dead baby.

Most of the scenes are played out on the farm. Ma gives bean sandwiches to train riders who eat them out at out the windmill, where they also can get a drink of water. A drunken food thief is apprehended outside of the sloping cellar door that opens to the coal bin. Panic ensues when a fire is discovered in the aging barn. Whether it’s eavesdropping on horse thieves from the henhouse, discovering a rattlesnake down at the “crick,” or outwitting a cruel child molester at the end of second meadow, the setting plays an integral role.

My inspiration for the book was my grandparents’ farm near Marshall, Michigan, a small slice of the rural Midwest during the 1930’s. When I wrote the scenes (the plot is entirely fictional) I always had my grandparents’ farm in mind. In fact, a distant relative emailed after seeing the book’s cover and remarked how similar it was to that farm. This was no accident. I worked closely with the cover artist to achieve that semblance. If you look closely at the cover you’ll see the windmill set between the house and barn, exactly the same as my grandparents’ farm. Also, you’ll notice the dark clouds, depicting a sense of foreboding, a menacing evil floating over the back meadow and woods.

Making the setting my grandparents’ farm, also inspired me to imbue the characters of Ma and Pa with a sense of integrity, honesty, and generosity, characteristics of my own grandparents. Many years ago, I asked my grandma about the Depression. She didn’t want to talk about it, but she did say this, “We were very, very lucky because we only went hungry for a year.” This from farmers who grew their own food, had dairy cows, pigs, and chickens. But remember prices for farm goods had plummeted and there was immense pressure to pay taxes and the mortgage to avoid foreclosure. Many did lose their farms and many farmers went to bed hungry.

An early reader of THREADS indicated that the book wasn’t plausible because Ma gave bean sandwiches to train riders who came to the door asking for a bite to eat, even when they didn’t have enough food for themselves. But that’s exactly what my grandmother did! If my grandma didn’t have a crock of beans, then she gave out sugar sandwiches, made out of bread, butter, and sugar, even if that meant my grandparents, themselves, went to bed without supper.

While writing THREADS, I had no idea that a pandemic was right around the corner. However, I’m hearing from readers about the many parallels with the Great Depression. The loss of lives and livelihoods. The desire to “get back to normal.” Simply not knowing how long it will last. The need to connect with others. The sense of community among neighbors.

I hope in some small way, this book will help ease the way for readers to get through these uncertain times and still provide some hours of escape and entertainment.

It’s a boring, hardscrabble life for three sisters growing up on a Michigan farm during the throes of the Great Depression. But when young Nellie, digging for pirate treasure, discovers the tiny hand of a dead baby, rumors begin to fly. Narrated by Nellie and her two older sisters, the story follows the girls as they encounter a patchwork of threatening circumstances and decide to solve the mystery.

Enjoy an Excerpt

When I woke up this morning the first thing I thought of was that baby. What a dark, scary place for a baby to be buried. So alone, away from everyone. Where were its parents? Babies need to be held and cuddled and kept warm. Even dead babies need to be buried in the churchyard with purty flowers, not off in the cold, dark backwoods.

I keep thinking ’bout the Preston’s baby girl, such a sweet baby. I held her once when Mrs. Preston was sitting beside me on the davenport. The baby kept sleeping, then blew a little bubble and later I could feel her little fart that warn’t stinky at all. All the time she jist kept sleeping. When she finally woke up and fussed, Mrs. Preston picked her up and jiggled her and talked baby talk to her so she quit fussing. That’s how babies are posta be treated.

But thinking ’bout the Prestons made me sad, too. They lost their farm and had to move away to Mrs. Preston’s parents’ place in Indiana. Ma said we might never see them again. Ma and Mrs. Preston both cried when we said goodbye. Pa and Mr. Preston shook hands and Pa bit his lip. I’d only seen him do that once before, at my grandpa’s funeral.

About the Author: Charlotte Whitney grew up in Michigan and spent much of her career at the University of Michigan directing internship and living-learning programs. She started out writing non-fiction while at the University and switched to romance with I DREAM IN WHITE. A passion for history inspired her to write THREADS A Depression Era Tale chronicling the stories of three sisters on a farm during the throes of the Great Depression. She lives in Arizona, where she loves hiking, bicycling, swimming, and practicing yoga.

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Pondering the Muse by Karen Leigh Gruber – Guest Blog and Giveaway

September 8, 2020 By 6 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Pondering the muse.

Although inspiration can be found in everything and everyone around us, our muse is the one to receive that inspiration and allows it to bubble up and forth into the world.

She is…

The INSPIRATION to dance without inhibition, just because you feel like it.

The CREATIVITY uncovered when you slow down long enough to take a deep breath.

The BEAUTY in everyone and everything that binds us all together.

The IMAGINATION that comes forth when you lighten up and get out of your own way.

The LIMITLESS POTENTIAL of the tiny acorn growing into the mighty oak.

The FLUIDITY of honey, which drips its golden shower of sweetness, leaving a delectable residue behind.

The MUTABILITY of the unsuspecting caterpillar morphing into a graceful butterfly.

The SPONTENAITY of dropping everything to meet a cherished friend for coffee.

The VULNERABILITY of standing and living in your own unique truth.

The WONDER of the endless miracles in the world around us.

The MAGIC your soul has to offer the world.

The HUMOR in the ability to laugh at yourself when things don’t work out quite how you planned.

The JOY of a picnic lunch, ice cream for breakfast, a bouquet of flowers left on your doorstep.

The PLEASURE that courses through your body when receiving an unexpected delight.

The PLAYFULLNESS of effervescent champagne bubbles bursting on your tongue.

The UNPREDICTABILITY of a bird in flight.

The SENSITIVITY of knowing when a loved one needs an extra hug or snuggle.

The connection to your GIFTS that have long been underestimated.

The SURPRISE of a hummingbird who comes to visit time and time again.

The EXPRESSION in and of life that is unique only to you.

She conjures the music, she gives and receives in co-creation with all of life. The stars sparkle in the sky for her, the clouds change shape to entertain her, the birds sing their songs of joy to please her. The muse, like God, is in everything, everywhere. You simply must be aware.

Open your eyes and open your heart to see the beauty, the magic, the wonder, and receive her in all that exists all around you. A child’s smile, a phone call from a friend, a steaming cup of tea, your own tears, a thunderstorm, color, a conversation. The muse literally is all around us and in us. The muse is embodied in life and in death. When you are in communion with the muse, anything is possible. She expands our horizons and allows us to feel what it is like to have no limits. The muse enters your heart and fills it to overflowing, her energy running between your heart and your hands.

Feel the tingling in your hands. That is the awakening to your gifts and to your creativity. The inspiration that comes in the middle of the night, in a moment of stillness or in the midst of chaos; this is she exposing and reflecting your creative genius back to you.

Where do you see and feel the magic in your life? Where are you allowing her to show you the magic that is yours? Where in your day do you make time to meet her and allow her to fill you up?

The spring of inspiration is always available to you. If you allow, the muse calls your soul forth to express in the way she desires to be seen.

Two women from different lands, each struggling to survive; a child’s mysterious disappearance will alter both their lives forever…

Maggie has become unrecognizable to herself, succumbing to the predictability of being a mother and wife. Every day she reminds her daughter to brush her teeth, has the same conversation with her husband about what’s for dinner. Maggie struggles to cope with the disenchantment of the monotonous tedium that has become her life. Despite her boredom, when her husband David is called on assignment to South Africa, Maggie resents having to rearrange her life just because David has decided they all need to traipse halfway across the globe.

While on safari, Maggie awakens one morning to a mother’s worst nightmare; their daughter Hannah has gone missing. Just when things can’t get any worse, Maggie is confronted with the harsh truth of her emotionally abusive marriage and what she has allowed her life to become.

When Lions Roar is set against the backdrop of the exotic and intriguing landscape of South Africa, when the country is reeling from the aftershocks of apartheid. Will Maggie find the strength and courage to abandon the fragile ties of her marriage and confront her self-destruction in time to save the life of her daughter?

Enjoy an Excerpt

I moved from the hall into the kitchen. Without a moment’s hesitation, I reached for the cabinet door, the one that is closest to the refrigerator, the one that contained my relief. I reached for the bottle. It slid off the shelf with a satisfying sound, but I quickly realized it only had a sip or two left. Damn it, not nearly enough. I padded out to the garage where we keep all our spares. Just the way David likes it: spare toilet paper, spare baggies, backups of all our canned goods, and for me, of course, a generous backup supply of alcohol. I grabbed my favorite vodka and headed back inside. On the way in, I noticed a candy wrapper on the floor of the garage—a Dum Dum wrapper, to be exact—Mystery Flavor, if I was not mistaken.

I’ll pick that up later, I thought to myself. My hands were a bit full. And right then, I had more important things to tend to.

Back in the kitchen, I pulled myself a nice long pour, then to the fridge for some juice. Damn it, again. I was out of cranberry juice. It would have to be Diet 7-Up today. I topped off my glass with a splash of the soda, and I headed back to the front of the house. I passed the mirror yet again. For the third time that day, I looked into the mirror, but this time I raised my glass, and looking into my own deep blue eyes, I mocked, “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

I regarded myself as I took a deep, long drink.

About the Author: Karen Gruber is an international #1 best-selling contributing author, inspirational speaker, and a Leadership Development Coach for women and moms. She specializes in inspiring moms to realize their potential as mothers, women, and leaders. Karen has had extensive specialized training in parenting, feminine spirituality, and leadership. Over the past 15 years she has provided innovative leadership coaching for moms and has dramatically transformed her own life.

Sharing her life with her husband Jim and daughter Jaymie, presenting her message to other women, and traveling the world bring her the greatest joy.

She is the founder of The Inspired Mama, a company located in gorgeous Denver, Colorado that focuses on the inspiration, leadership, and wellbeing of women and moms.

When Lions Roar is Karen’s debut fictional work. She is freakish about Christmas lights and loves to play Baccarat.

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