C.A. Milson's Blog, page 217
July 7, 2015
Book Tour ~ Bigfoot Blues
Title: Bigfoot Blues
Author: Ricardo Sanchez
Publisher: Carina Press
Pages: 251
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Format: Kindle
She eloped with Bigfoot. Or maybe Bigfoot kidnapped her. Either way, I’ve been hired to uncover the truth behind Cindy Funk’s disappearance. Me? I’m Floyd, and I’m a PI living my life as Elvis would have wanted. Not just in sequined jumpsuits. With character.
Cindy’s trail leads me to River City, Oregon—aka the Mythical Creature Capital of the World—where I catch Case #2. This one from an eccentric billionaire who’s lost a priceless piece of “art.” Enter one dead body and I end up deputized to solve Case #3, tracking down a man-eating mountain lion. Or maybe it’s a chupacabra. Or just an ordinary murderer. Hard to say.
I’ve handled my fair share of crazy, but River City’s secrets have me spooked. With an influx of tourists arriving for the town’s annual Elvis tribute contest—what are the chances?—I’ve got to save the girl, solve the rich guy’s problem and leash that chupacabra before a second body is discovered. It might just be mine.
Read more about Floyd’s adventures in Elvis Sightings, available now!
Bigfoot Blues is available at Amazon. Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
About The Author
Ricardo Sanchez is a writer, toy buff, and lifelong comic book fan.
Elvis Sightings, the first novel in his Elvis Sightings Mysteries series, was released in September , 2014. Bigfoot Blues, the follow up, was released in May, 2015.
Ricardo has written several books for DC Comics, including Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Teen Titans Go! and Resident Evil among many others. His original project, A Hero’s Death, was a successful Kickstarter released in May, 2015. In addition to writing, Ricardo is an Emmy award winning video and animation producer. When he’s not writing, Ricardo maintains a vintage toy blog, drives 70′s muscle cars, and shops year round for Halloween decorations for his home in California.
Visit Ricardo Sanchez’s website.
Connect with Ricardo on Facebook and Twitter.
Find out more about Ricardo at Goodreads.
Book Excerpt
It was ten past two on a Wednesday and I was sitting behind my desk in the office I share with Franklin, a chiropractor. His wife had sent me looking for him almost four years ago, but she was such a harridan that once I’d found him, I couldn’t bring myself to turn over his location. He’d let me use his place as an office, rent-free, ever since.
I checked my watch again.
Wanda was flying back to Kresge today. I resented being dragged away from her, even for just an hour, but the man on the phone had insisted. It had been more than a month since my last case, so while Wanda packed, I came into the office to meet Peter Funk. And he was late.
The clock hit 2:15. I was about to leave when a very lost-looking man in his fifties opened the door.
“You must be Floyd,” he said, taking off his well-worn Caterpillar cap. His bald head had the baked look of someone who spent a lot of time under the hot Idaho sun. “Your Elvis outfit kinda gives it away,” he added.
“You’re Mr. Funk?”
He smiled weakly and bobbed his head up and down in the affirmative.
I pointed him to a seat and sat back down at my desk.
“So what can I do for you?” I asked.
Funk looked down at the cap in his hands and worried at a loose thread with his callused fingers.
“I need you to find my daughter,” he said and looked up at me. “You’ve got to help me. I don’t know who else to turn to.”
“I’d be happy to help, Mr. Funk, but with missing children you’re much better off going to the police.”
Funk stood up and slapped his hat against his thigh. A small cloud of dirt erupted from the dull blue denim of his pants.
“Oh, the cops won’t help me. Cindy’s eighteen. They said they can’t go looking for her if she’s just run off,” he said. “Besides…”
“Besides what, Mr. Funk?”
He took his seat again before finally blurting out, “She ran off to elope with Bigfoot.”
I would have laughed if Funk hadn’t looked so worried.
“Bigfoot?” I said. “That’s a nickname?”
“No, sir.”
Funk pulled a postcard out of his jeans pocket and handed it to me.
On one side was a teenage boy holding up a plaster casting of a giant footprint nearly three feet long. Across the bottom it read “River City—The Home of Bigfoot.” I turned it over. The postmark was three weeks ago in River City, Oregon. The note on the card read:
Dear Daddy,
I’ve fallen in love with Bigfoot and we’ve decided to elope. I won’t be coming back to Pocatello. I’ll write again soon.
Cindy
She’d put a little heart in place of the dot above the is in both Bigfoot and Cindy.
River City… The name was familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.
“My girl, she’s a willful one she is, but Cindy’s never lied to me. Not once,” Funk said. “If Cindy says she’s eloped with Bigfoot, that’s exactly what she’s done.”
Why did I get all the weirdos? Was it the suit? Or the Lifestyle Elvis thing? Or maybe this was some sort of elaborate practical joke. I let out a low sigh.
A case is a case, I told myself. And this one was just too absurd to be someone shining me on.
INTERVIEW
Ricardo, thanks for being my guest today. Tell our readers about you.
I’m a Libra. I’m not big into astrology, but I kind of dig it that I’m the only sign that isn’t an animal. I’m a huge fan of Halloween and am always on the lookout for something new to add to the annual creepshow. I’ve worked at all kinds of things, from broadcast television to video game development, but I’ve always been a writer. Pretty much since I figured out how to type, I’ve been working on something. I started out with (terrible) short fiction, but then shifted to playwriting and screen-writing. Then, back in 1995, I discovered the Internet and starting blogging back when it was just called having a home page. In the last few years though, I’ve really started to focus on narrative writing again. I’m now an irregular writer for DC Comics and have somehow managed to get two novels published. I’m still in shock about that.
What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
It’s mostly the alarm clock. I like to sleep in. But once I accept that I am going to get up, there’s quite literally no end of things I want to do. I still maintain the vintage toy blog I’ve had since 1996. I’m a big fan of video games, so I’ve been slowly working on building a home arcade system. Someday I’ll finish it. And then there’s the writing. I have a love/hate relationship with it. I feel compelled to do it, but it is so hard to get started.
If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
That one’s easy, Elvis. Early 70’s era. There are a lot of other much more worthy famous people, but I’m not really deep enough to enjoy spending a full day with someone like Abraham Lincoln or Socrates. Everything I’ve ever read about Elvis is that he was a really nice guy and he enjoyed having a good time. A day with Elvis would almost certainly involve some good food, probably BBQ, a lot of other interesting people, and some great music. I wouldn’t come away from it a better person, but it would be a hell of a fun day.
What’s the story behind your latest book?
Bigfoot Blues is the sequel to my first novel, Elvis Sightings. It’s about Floyd, a private detective who is also a Lifestyle Elvis – he lives his life the way he thinks Elvis would want him to. In Elvis Sightings, Floyd goes to Kresge, a little town in the middle of nowhere Wyoming to find Elvis, who he believes is still alive. He meets a lot of dead celebrities and the members of an old Italian family circus who have retired to Kresge. In the process he meets a girl, gets beaten up a lot, and makes a few friends. One of them, a querulous acrobatic little person, becomes his sidekick in the latest book. Bigfoot Blues picks up a few months after the events in Elvis Sightings. Floyd takes a case that sends him to River City, Oregon, to search for a girl who may have eloped with Bigfoot. He also gets pulled into a search for some missing cryptotaxidermy (stuffed animals that never really existed, like jackalopes,) and is asked by the local PD to help deal with a wild animal that might be a cougar. Or a chupacabra. It’s hard to know for sure.
Tell us your writing process.
It used to be very free form. With Elvis Sightings, I had an idea of what I wanted to write, and I just started on page 1. It ultimately ended up taking me about six years to get that novel finished. But now I’m a LOT more methodical. I actually use Microsoft Excel to build detailed plot sheets complete with multiple story tracks. I fully write out my ending before I go back to start on page 1. The ending almost always changes, but it gives me a beacon to aim for as I’m writing. I end up wasting a ton less time that way. But everything I write, whether it’s a novel or a comic book, starts with a question. What would happen if? Most of the time, the answer isn’t that interesting, but when I end up with something good, it becomes a story.
When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
I was seven or eight. Star Wars had come out and every toy I got for Christmas or my birthday was a space themed one. Micronauts, Rom the Space Knight, Metal Men, a whole bunch of others. I created detailed scenarios for my toys to act out. My first stories. I even wrote a ten page story about an underground empire of smart bugs that wanted to take over the planet. And I took every opportunity to make up elaborate tales (lies really) to tell adults when they would ask me pretty simple questions. Teacher: Where’s your homework? Me: Well, I was going to do my homework, but when I was watering the lawn, a queen bee flew by and begged me for help…You get the idea. Adults didn’t appreciate my stories, but it was pretty obvious I was going to be making things up as an adult too.
Tell us about your main character:
Floyd is an everyman. He has simple tastes. He’s smart, but no Sherlock Holmes. He has to work for a living. And he’s really just trying to figure out how to make it through life. What makes him different is the fact that he tries to live his life by a unique code. He’s a Lifestyle Elvis. If you know much about Elvis beyond the music, he had a pretty folksy wisdom. Things like don’t judge others if you haven’t walked in their shoes. Family is everything, but sometimes family isn’t someone you related to. And don’t do drugs. He didn’t always live up to his own standards, but they’re still good sentiments to live by and Floyd does exactly that. When in doubt, he just asks himself, What would Elvis do? But living by this code, and wearing sequined jumpsuits, present special challenges. It’s harder to find clients, for example. That’s why Floyd has to accept the case when a potato farmer comes to his office claiming his daughter eloped with Bigfoot and begs Flody to go find her.
What are you working on next?
Two things that are completely different than the Elvis Sightings Mysteries. The first is a book of illustrated zombie poetry. If you know Edward Gorey, it’s in that vein. I’m going to publish it through a Kickstarter later this year. The second is a zombie novel, but not the post-apocalyptic kind. It’s about a zombie who’s a lot like you and me. He has feelings. Hopes and dreams. He longs for someone to love. But none of that is easy to get when you’re a rotting corpse. The book is about his coming to grips with being a zombie and trying to figure out who he was before he woke up on a slab at a mortuary.
Do you have any special/extraordinary talents?
You know, I don’t! I am extraordinarily unspecial. I always wanted to be double jointed or be a rock star with a yo-yo or something like that, but I’m pretty vanilla. I even prefer vanilla icecream. About the closest I can come to an extraordinary talent is that I have a perverse ability to remember pretty much every movie or TV show I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot!
Who are your favorite authors?
Philip K. Dick is probably my single favorite writer. His obsession with identity led him down some really fascinating paths. But it’s writers like Agatha Christie, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Raymond Chandler and Edgar Allen Poe that have had the most impact on me over the years. But honestly, my bookshelf is packed with the works of a number of authors. I’ve got pretty much everything that Andre Norton wrote, as well as everything from Jack Vance, James Blish, and H.P. Lovecraft. I’m drawn to authors who create new worlds I could never otherwise see.
What do you like to do with your free time?
I love watching movies. Thanks to Netflix and Hulu, I’ve been working my way through all the Chinese, Korean and Japanese films I can find. Hulu has the Criterion film collection and I’m trying to watch every film in the library.
Tell us about your plans for upcoming books.
Aside from the zombie stuff, I do have a third book in mind for Floyd, although it would be a departure from the first two. I’m a huge fan of Agatha Christie and I’ve always wanted to write a proper manor house mystery. I think I have murder worthy of the attempt that only Floyd could solve.
Any final thoughts?
Thanks so much for letting me spend some time with you and your readers! I really appreciate it.
Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: @rickzilla, author interview, Bigfoot Blues, Book Excerpt, Elvis Sightings, Pump Up Your Book, PUYB, Ricardo Sanchez
Book Tour ~ Guilt Free Motherhood: A 5 Step Guide to Reclaiming Your Time, Health & Well-Being
Title: Guilt Free Motherhood: A 5-Step Guide to Reclaiming Your Time, Health & Well-Being
Author: Amber Khan
Publisher: Rethink Press
Genre: Nonfiction/Parenting/Motherhood
Format: Paperback/Kindle
Own your happiness. Reclaim your well-being. Make a guilt-free lifestyle, your choice of living!
Do you think being a ‘super mum’ is your only option?
Do you neglect your own health while caring for others?
Do you struggle to maintain a happy work/life balance?
Do you often feel stressed and burnt-out? Then you may be suffering from ‘Mummy Guilt’.
Guilt Free Motherhood will guide you to:
Ignite your passion to bring balance to your life;
Take practical steps towards self-care;
De-clutter your space, schedules and relationships;
Let go of the ‘super mum’ and the ‘control freak’ inside of you;
Practical ways of recharging your batteries.
A mother’s journey should not be, and need not be, a GUILT trip. Guilt Free Motherhood gives you the tools you need to start living a more contented, healthy and energised lifestyle today – right in the midst of motherhood.”
For More Information
Guilt Free Motherhood: A 5 Step Guide to Reclaiming Your Time, Health & Well-Being is available at Amazon US & Amazon UK.
Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
About The Author
Amber Khan is a Lifestyle Mentor, Speaker, Author, sports enthusiast and a proud mum of three. She is the founder of Guilt Free Living which provides tools for the mothers to help them live a fulfilling, healthy & energised lifestyle. She has ran retreats, given talks and written articles on the importance of wellness and how to re-energise the tired minds and bodies of mothers.
Amber currently resides in London, UK with her husband and their three children.
Her latest book is the nonfiction/parenting/motherhood book, Guilt Free Motherhood: A 5-Step Guide to Reclaiming Your Time, Health & Well-Being.
For More Information
Visit Amber Khan’s website.
Connect with Amber on Facebook and Twitter.
Find out more about Amber at Goodreads.
Visit Amber’s blog.
Book Excerpt
I think you’ll agree that the most important emotional issue a majority of mothers face, especially twenty-first century mothers, is the feeling ofguilt. The spectrum of guilt is wide and varied, ranging from feeling guilty about not doing enough for your children, to feeling guilty about spending time or money on your own well-being, with hundreds more guilty feelings in between. I believe that a mother’s journey should not be, and need not be, a guilt trip.
The purpose of this book is to show how a mother can live a refreshing, blissful and blossoming lifestyle through a guided five-step process by letting go of the mummy guilt that makes us sacrifice our health, career and relationships.
Mummy guilt can be defined as the feeling of self-condemnation that we experience when thoughts of spending time and money on ourselves seem selfish. It can also be understood as the constant worry we feel for our kids which eventually turns into guilt. In fact, anyone caring for children is bound to experience similar guilty feelings.
Mummy guilt can start as early as when the pink stripes show up on your pregnancy test. I used to feel guilty about anything when I was expecting my first child. The first trimester was very tough. I could hardly keep food down, felt nauseous and weak, and worried constantly how it would affect the growth of my baby. Guilt sowed its seeds in me at the very start of my motherhood journey.
Later on, if I left kids at home with hubby for an hour or two, I felt guilty. When I went to work after dropping my baby at the nursery, I felt guilty. When I decided to be a stay-at-home mum, I felt guilt about abandoning my career. When I wanted to join the gym (to lose the extra 20kg I had gained during pregnancy) and regain my self-confidence, I felt guilty about spending that time and money on myself. Even going out (once in a blue moon) with friends, always turned into a guilt trip. Is a mother taking care of herself to keep her sanity and health, really a selfish act?
Well in my case the lack of self-care eventually turned into health problems. Back problems, weak joints, weak and injury-prone muscles, and I was only in my twenties! Problems that, you’d normally associate with old age, maybe. For almost a decade I neglected my health; it eventually took my left knee giving way to make me realise that if I didn’t take care of myself now, I would soon end up miserable, in pain and maybe even run out of recovery options. What good would I be to my family then? Will husband have to quit work simply to look after me and the kids?
I know most of us are constrained by financial or support issues. I should know! Aged twenty-three, new mum, in a new country with no friends or family — that was me over a decade ago. I tried to be a ‘supermum’ thinking I could manage it all. Even when my husband offered to help I’d often decline, thinking I could do it better because a job half done, or not finished to my standards, would only frustrate me more. I neglected my health, and felt stressed and exhausted most of the time. I was trapped by mummy guilt.
INTERVIEW
Amber, thanks for being my guest today. Please share with our readers about you.
Well, I was born in Sydney, Australia, to parents of Pakistani origin. My parents moved back to Karachi, Pakistan when i was two, where i remained until the age of 16. I returned to Australia for higher education. Later on I married a Londoner and moved to London to live with him.
I worked in IT and Finance for a number of years until I decided to take a plunge into self-employment. My calling came after the birth of my second child. I knew then that i wanted to do something which brings positivity not only to my life but the lives of other mums too. So, Guilt-free Living was born.
I now offer lifestyle mentoring to mums & have recently started offering business mentoring to people in health, wellness, fitness, and coaching & food industries.
I currently reside in London, UK with my husband and three children.
What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
The thought that I can help someone else succeed & be happy in life with the knowledge & experience that I possess.
If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
It would have to be Abdul Sattar Edhi who owns & operated the world’s biggest social welfare services & the world’s largest ambulance network in Pakistan.
Why? Very simply because there’s no other like him currently in this world who has done & continues to do so much for free for the poor, sick & the dead. Who stays humble, lives in a hut & never got greedy with the millions of dollars he receives in charity from people around the world. He truly spends every single penny of it in the right place. He is a true icon & an angel in human form.
What’s the story behind your latest book?
The inspiration for the book comes from my own experiences. I became a mum at the age of 23, in a country I had only been living for a year with no family around & no friends yet either. So, the only thing that seemed right at that point was to adorn the super-mum cape & ignore the overwhelm I was feeling.
I also thought, I’m young so I can take this pressure & stress, it won’t do me any harm. But the fact of the matter is that stress & burnout doesn’t care about how old you are. When they strike, your well-being can really spiral down a big hole & for some it might even get too late before they realise that they need to climb back up that spiral staircase of life. I was in that hole for quite some time and it took lots of health scares for me to realise that It is time to finally STOP being a super-mum. But then how can you be a good & effective mum without being a super mum, most mums would ask?
I took that thought as a challenge & started to bring about changes in my lifestyle which other mothers started to notice & became curious. My health started to get better; I became more jovial & social person. Life started to seem easier though responsibilities had only increased over time but it’s how you deal with them, dictates yours & your family’s well-being.
Every time I’d be a part of a group of mothers, they’d ask me about tips & strategies on how to be a guilt-free mum. So, we’d discuss & share & then one of the mother’s suggested that why don’t I write about it so I can reach many more busy mums who might also benefit from making similar tweaks in their lifestyle.
Initially i ignored that comment but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. Rather than me answering the same questions over & over again (in mummy groups), why not write about them in a methodical manner that will be easier to understand & implement. Mothers will be able to access that resource whenever they like & implement changes at their own pace. Finally I mustered up the courage to start writing about it couple of years ago & at one point I thought it will never happen as it has taken this long but here I am today with finally publishing the work that I hope would benefit the busy mums of the 21st century.
What are you working on next?
I’m working on another book but that it is not on parenting anymore actually. It is about business along the lines of “how to stop selling time for money”.
Who are your favorite authors?
Among non-fiction: Tim ferris
Among Fiction: Stieg Larsson & Khaled Hosseini
What do you like to do with your free time?
Mothers never have any free time hehe.. but I do take me time out to go out with girl friends or for a pamper treatment like a massage
Where can people find you on the web?
http://guiltfreeliving.co/
twitter: @thatamberkhan
Facebook: facebook.com/GuiltFreeLiving
Thanks for being my guest today Amber.
Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: @thatamberkhan, Amber Khan, author interview, Guilt Free Motherhood: A 5 Step Guide to Reclaiming Your Time Health & Well-Being, Pump Up Your Book, PUYB
July 6, 2015
Book Tour ~ ’89 Walls by Katie Pierson
Title: ’89 Walls
Author: Katie Pierson
Publisher: Wise Ink Creative Publishing
Pages: 264
Genre: Young Adult
Format: Paperback
College is not in the cards for Seth. He spends his minimum wage on groceries and fakes happiness to distract his mom from the MS they both know will kill her. It’s agony to carry around a frayed love note for a girl who’s both out of his league and beneath his dignity.
Quinn’s finishing high school on top. But that cynical, liberal guy in her social studies class makes her doubt her old assumptions. Challenging the rules now, though, would a) squander her last summer at home, b) antagonize her conservative dad, and c) make her a hypocrite.
Seth and Quinn’s passionate new romance takes them both by surprise. They keep it a secret: it’s too early to make plans and too late not to care. But it’s 1989. As politics suddenly get personal, they find themselves fighting bare-fisted for their beliefs—and each other—in the clear light of day.
Praise for ’89 Walls
“As with the political discussions, issues of sex and sexuality in ’89 Walls are rich and complex, a mix of desire, consequences, awkward embarrassment and intensely delightful exploration.” — Carrie Mesrobian, Minnesota Book Award winning author of Sex & Violence and Perfectly Good White Boy
“Katie Pierson has written a book that is important as it is impossible to put down. ’89 Walls is a smart, frank, and courageous novel that brings us back to a strange and important era, all the while shedding new light on the issues and taboos that haunt us till this day.” – Nina De Gramont, author of Every Little Thing in the World, Meet Me at the River, and The Boy I Love
“This lively and well-turned novel has serious value. It’s stealth-history of a crucial year, 1989, when walls of all kinds come crashing down.” — Will Weaver, Minnesota Book Award-winning author of Full Service, Defect, and “A Gravestone Made of Wheat,” (adapted for the film, Sweetland)
For More Information
’89 Walls is available at Amazon.
Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
About The Author
Katie Pierson freelances for local non-profits, using her background in public policy and grassroots organizing to overthrow the patriarchy one introverted step at a time. When she’s not writing fiction, she returns library books, makes soup, and tries to be cooler than she really is by hip-hopping at the YMCA. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in American History from the University of Pennsylvania (where she dabbled briefly in being a College Republican) and a Master’s in American History from the University of Minnesota. She grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and now lives with her family in a suburb of Minneapolis. ’89 Walls is her first novel.
Visit Katie Pierson’s website.
Connect with Katie on Facebook and Twitter.
Find out more about Katie at Goodreads.
Visit Katie’s blog.
____________________________________________
Book Excerpt
Quinn used the three extra minutes before class that day to turn in her cap-and-gown order form at the office. She made sure no one was looking before skipping down the marble staircase like a little kid. She watched her light-green sundress rise and settle with each bounce. The translucent afternoon sun had managed to warm the foyer by the entrance doors as if spring might actually stick. A tiny breeze jiggled the branches of the narrow pine trees framing the building’s entrance. The stretch of blue sky spanning the transom window reassured her, like it was telling her that years of self-conscious high school angst were almost over.
Only Trish understood how crucial Quinn’s façade of success was to the fact of it. As long as she stuck to the script—Take the advanced placement classes. Study. Join the debate team. Perform.—she could hold herself together. She could no more drop the script than let her bones dissolve.
Quinn hated the debate team.
She stomped on the final step. As she rounded the bottom of the stairwell, she saw Seth walking to class from the opposite direction. His dark-blond hair looked like it wanted to cover his eyes but was failing at it. Even looking at him made her feel defensive.
He drew near enough for Quinn to read his T-shirt. A cartoon of Uncle Sam silk-screened in black-and-white on the front said, “Join the army. Travel to exotic, distant lands. Meet exciting, unusual people. And kill them.” On the inside, Quinn rolled her eyes; why did liberals like him act as though people like her invented war and they alone wanted peace, love, and teddy bears? Quinn read his shirt again. Okay, maybe it was kind of funny. But it looked out of place on a guy who never smiled.
They had less than a minute before the bell rang, and the hallway had emptied out. He probably wouldn’t acknowledge her; he never even said hi unless she said hi first. But he passed the classroom door. He was headed straight for her. His tan cheeks glowed bright pink, and his eyebrows scrunched together. Quinn felt her shoulders creep up as their eyes met. Was he going to call her out on something right now?
She saw Ilene slipping into the classroom and waved at her. Quinn tried to veer out of Seth’s path; if he wanted to tangle, he’d have to wait until class, when Mr. Levine could referee. But he sidestepped in front of her, forcing her to stop. What the hell? They stared at each other for several seconds. Quinn noticed that the dark brown of Seth’s eyes blended right into his pupils. He also had broad shoulders for a lean guy, but he was barely three inches taller than she was.
Seth started to say something but then kind of deflated. He pressed a limp, folded piece of notebook paper into her hand. Scowling at the floor, he mumbled something under his breath before charging into the classroom.
Quinn looked around in confusion to see if there had been witnesses. There hadn’t. She walked into room 105. She sat down next to Ilene and said hi back to a few people. Taking a huge, slow breath, she slid the letter into her folder and pulled a pen out of her backpack.
Waiting for the slackers to trickle in, Mr. Levine strolled over to his desk and pried the lid off yesterday’s McDonald’s drink. He poured the light-brown liquid into the spider plant. Then he flipped off the lights and closed the door. He rubbed his hands together with that sinister glee that teachers saved up for things like pop quizzes. Then he slapped an outline on the overhead projector, on which he’d chicken-scratched the title “South Africa.” As the class groaned, Mr. Levine shrugged out of his sports jacket. He tossed it across his desk with one of the sleeves inside out.
As soon as he starting talking about apartheid, Quinn flipped open her folder to read the note.
Dear Quinn,
Here’s what I’ve wanted to say to you for a long time: I’ve liked you since the beginning of tenth grade. We haven’t had any big conversations, but I feel like I know you.
I know that you’re genuinely nice. Even though you have a lot of friends, you make a point of saying hello to people like me (the shy, antisocial types!). You’re really pretty, especially when you wear that green dress. You’re also smart. I hear George Washington University figured that out, too. Congratulations on getting in.
I wondered if you’d like to go to a movie sometime. I know it sounds weird coming from someone you’ve barely talked to (and especially from someone who would tease you about being a Republican), but I hope you’ll say yes.
Seth
____________________________________________
Katie, thanks for being here today. Tell our readers about you
I freelance for local non-profits, using my background in public policy and grassroots organizing to overthrow the patriarchy one introverted step at a time. When I’m not writing fiction, I return library books, make soup, and try to be cooler than I really am by hip-hopping at the YMCA. I live with my husband and two daughters in a suburb of Minneapolis.
What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
My daughters. They’re 11 and 15, and are the coolest people I’ve ever met.
If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
Thomas Jefferson. He was one of those rare people who was brilliant and conversant in dozens of disciplines. I’d love to sit at his knee and hear about farming and democracy and his inventions.
What’s the story behind your latest book?
I never planned to write a novel: I just like to read them. But a conversation with a friend in 2006 about the pros and cons of potentially attending my 20th high school reunion brought to mind the random people you run into at those things: old crushes, old “frenemies.” I suddenly had the idea for Seth and Quinn’s reluctant romance.
It wasn’t until I was half done that I realized that the story was also a partisan allegory. Seth is the Democratic Party in the late 80’s: reactive, angry, without a compass. Quinn’s father, Tom is the Republican Party: optimistic, smug, still grounded in a true small government philosophy and underestimating the rising Religious Right. Mr. Levine, the teacher, is the moderator who allows two strong points of view to talk it out respectfully. Quinn is all of us, trying to find her way when tidy theories crash into reality.
Tell us your writing process
My ideas come from real life, current events, and random conversations. Like most writers, I start out trying to make myself understood and discover that I’m actually writing to understand. I start out just writing. If it seems like it’s turning into something, I outline the whole thing. I don’t set a certain amount of words or pages as my goal. I just aim for BIC time (butt in chair). I treat it like an office job. Weekends are for family, friends and chores. By the time Monday rolls around, my gas tank is full again and I’m ready to write.
When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve been writing since I could hold a crayon. I had a wonderfully encouraging seventh grade English teacher. I staffed the high school yearbook and wrote a column for my college newspaper. In my office jobs I contrived to write whether or not it was in my job description as a fundraiser for the Nebraska Humanities Council or lobbyist for Planned Parenthood. I’ve written a bunch of political commentaries for the Minneapolis StarTribune and have an actual fan base for my annual holiday letter. But I didn’t claim writing as my vocation until I was in my thirties. Taking a memoir class at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis motivated me to finally put “writer” on my business card.
Tell us about your main characters:
College is not in the cards for Seth. He spends his minimum wage on groceries and fakes happiness to distract his mom from the MS they both know will kill her. It’s agony to carry around a frayed love note for a girl who’s both out of his league and beneath his dignity. I, personally, have a crush on Seth. He’s the smart guy with the dry sense of humor that makes a girl trust herself.
Quinn’s finishing high school on top. But that cynical, liberal guy in her social studies class makes her doubt her old assumptions. Challenging the rules now, though, would a) squander her last summer at home, b) antagonize her conservative dad, and c) make her a hypocrite. I relate to Quinn and, therefore, also judge her. But I’m proud of her for making her way.
What are you working on next?
I’m toying with a memoir of my family’s sabbatical year in London during the final year of the Bush administration. The working title is, Acting Canadian. I loved writing ‘89 Walls and read as much YA as I do adult fiction. I would love for another idea for a YA novel to drop in my lap.
Do you have any special/extraordinary talents?
My friends say I’m a good listener and that I put people at ease.
Who are your favorite authors?
Gwendolyn Brooks, Sarah Waters, M.T. Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Elizabeth Wein, and Selden Edwards are my favorite authors of historical fiction. I love Alice Munro’s short stories. Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety is like comfort food.
Persuasion by Jane Austen is my favorite book of all time. Cheryl Mendelson is as close as it comes to a modern-day Jane Austen. My favorite YA authors are Chris Crutcher, John Green, Kathryn Erskine, E. Lockhart, Norma Klein and Paula Danziger. John Green is also my famous author boyfriend although he is not aware of this having never met me.
What do you like to do with your free time?
I like to read, garden, hang out with my family, watch movies, and drink a glass of Malbec.
Any final thoughts?
Thank you so much for having me! It’s been a pleasure.
Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: @katiedoodles58, author interview, ’89 Walls, debut author, Katie Pierson, Pump Up Your Book, PUYB
Observer George Trofimoff Story by Glenn Aaron
Observer: The Colonel George Trofimoff Story
by Glen Aaron
BOOK BLURB
In prison, the author was assigned Colonel George Trofimoff as his cellmate. The Colonel turned out to be the highest-ranking U.S. military officer ever convicted of spying. After initially resisting, Aaron, the author and a retired attorney, agreed to look at the Colonel’s case with the hope of finding a reason to make an additional appeal. What Aaron found was a complete travesty of justice, an entrapment, although the American judiciary allowed it. For two years, an FBI agent had posed as a D.C. Russian Embassy representative in a sting operation designed to bribe and entrap the Colonel into exchanging what turned out to be a made-up story of espionage against America for the promise of a $45,000 payment by the “Russians.” The resulting federal trial in Tampa railroaded the Colonel into a life prison sentence. This is the second book in The Prison Trilogy by the author and dynamically tells the story of Colonel George Trofimoff.
Get it on Amazon
Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: Colonel George Trofimoff, Glen Aaron, The Prison Trilogy
Birthday Haul
This year has been great. I got treated to the gift that keeps on giving… bread :)
This has been on my wish-list for a while, so you can bet I was stoked when my sis gave me this for my birthday. Homemade bread coming soon :)
Of course, not to be outdone, my son gave me this gem. I wonder if he is saying something here lol
My partner surprised me twice this year with two cakes. (yep, I’m greedy lol). The first cake is the one we had at home, just the 3 of us. The Ferrero Rocher Cake was the one we shared with 20 other people.
Before you ask… No, it is not a whole Ferrero Rocher lol… It’s a mud cake under the Fondant… But you can bet if it was a whole Ferrero Rocher, I would have shared with no one :)
And finally, being the Star Wars geek I am, I got this cool collector set.
Many many thanks to my family who made my day wonderful.
Filed under: Events Tagged: Birthday gifts, Birthday wishes, Ferrero Rocher Cake
Rabbits and Elmer Fudd
Rabbit – Free to good home. He must be around 2 years old now.
Can be anti-social, likes to kick owners anytime he is picked up. When let out for a run, he has a habit of taking off under neighbors’ house for days on end. Ungrateful species, despite how many treats he stuffs his face with.
May have hostile tendencies, and I’m sure he has it in for the cat….
May suit someone who has property where he can take off to be with his own kind, or hunted down by Elmer Fudd.
Wife and the cat agree that this rabbit has to go.
If you like evil rabbits, then this bad boy is for you :)
Filed under: Funny Tagged: Elmer Fudd, Wabbit season
July 5, 2015
Book Tour ~ Forbidden Darkness by Alec John Belle
About the Book
Title: Forbidden Darkness
Author: Alec John Belle
Genre: YA Paranormal / Fantasy
Being a sixteen year old Monster Hunter sucks. That’s what Heather Hawkins learns just days before her sixteenth birthday. After dealing with her best friend, Kristen’s, attempted suicide, the last thing Heather wants is any more drama. When the realistic dreams of Heather being haunted by a guy named Kadin begin, she learns the truth. She is a Monster Hunter, and on her birthday, she will undergo a change that will make her stronger, more powerful, and nearly invincible to Monsters. Along with having a hot new trainer named Philip, she believes that this will be a new beginning for herself. Unfortunately, Monsters aren’t the only thing Heather needs to worry about. With someone stalking her dreams, she realizes there may be more than just Monsters in the world, and that Kadin will do anything to stop her from helping the Monster Hunters. Even if that means unleashing an entity that was locked away by his people thousands of years ago. In this all-new paranormal young adult series, romances will be formed, evil becomes unleashed, and everyone Heather loves will soon be at risk. Because in a world where Monsters walk the earth, anything is possible.
Author Bio
Alec John Belle is an online high school student that resides in the state of Massachusetts. At the age of 16 he wrote his first novel, Before I Break. His hobbies include reading, writing, and obsessing over Pretty Little Liars. He writes about tough topics that many are too afraid to talk about like suicide, homosexuality, self harm, cyberbullying, anxiety disorders, addiction, among other teenage issues, and he often blends these ideas with the paranormal.
Links
https://alecjohnbelle.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/alecbellefanpage
INTERVIEW
Alec, tell our readers about you –
My name is Alec and I am 17 years old. I wrote my first book at 16 and self-published it at 17. At 17, I wrote the first book in The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles for about the 6th time. In my free time I like reading and watching anything on ABC Family (mostly Pretty Little Liars–I’m a little obsessed). I am still in high school and should be graduating next year.
What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
My writing is definitely something. I love being able to write and hear from readers. I also have a really strong drive with school, and even though I do it online, knowing I’m at the end of my high school years pushes me to keep going.
If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
This will probably sound really cheesy, but I would meet Keegan Allen from Pretty Little Liars. He seems like one of the coolest guys ever, and I don’t really have many guy friends. So it’d definitely be him if it were at all possible.
What’s the story behind your latest book?
My latest book, Forbidden Darkness, is the first book in my series The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles. I came up with the idea about four or five years ago when I went on a hayride at a Halloween event at a plantation in South Carolina. While I was on it, it was like this whole world formed in my head. It was a lot of fun for sure. While things have definitely changed and there is no hayride scene in the first book, I will have one later on.
Tell us your writing process.
My writing process is different for everything I write. For my first book, Before I Break (which re-releases under Booktrope this summer) I just wrote it as I went along. I knew the ending, but nothing in between. For The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles, I had to make a plot outline with very basic points, that way I don’t forget anything later. I’ll sit at my computer for a few hours at a time and just go.
Do you have any advice on what has and has not worked for you that you can share with other authors?
I’ve noticed that promoting your work in promotion groups on Facebook doesn’t work at all. The reason why is because the groups mainly consist of other authors, so you’re just promoting to other authors who are too busy promoting their own work. Blogging, Twitter, and Facebook are definitely the best ways to promote. Make sure you have an AUTHOR page on Facebook, not one for your book.
When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
I realized I wanted to be a writer when I was in fifth grade. We had to do a free write one day, and at the time I read the Goosebumps books by R.L. Stine. I wrote this creepy (and probably not appropriate for a fifth grader) short story called “The Eye of the Fortune Teller”. My teacher loved it so I wrote more stories throughout that year. I won an award at the school’s award’s ceremony for Most Likely to Be An Author, I believe. It was for a short story I wrote about a person who turned into an alien. Then they wake up and it was a dream, and they actually are an alien, and the “nightmare” was the fact that they had once been human. Something along those lines. My teacher got a kick out of it.
Tell us about your main character:
The main character of Forbidden Darkness is Heather Hawkins. She’s sarcastic and her humor is extremely dry. She says things out loud and in her head that aren’t really supposed to be funny, but people tend to laugh at it. I think she got that from me. She also does things without thinking, even if that means putting herself in danger.
What are you working on next?
Right now I’m working on getting Before I Break re-released for the summer, but I’m also writing the second book in The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles. The plan is to have that out before the end of the year.
Do you have any special/extraordinary talents?
Honestly, I’m pretty boring. But I always wanted to be an actor when I was younger. If I wasn’t a writer, that’s probably the creative route I’d go.
Who are your favorite authors?
There’s so many it’s not even funny. Kim Harrison is my favorite in the adult paranormal genre, but Rachel Vincent did an amazing job with her Shifters series. For paranormal YA I would say Julie Kagawa, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Cate Tiernan. Ellen Hopkins is my favorite contemporary YA author.
What do you like to do with your free time?
Read, write, and try to figure out who the heck “A” is on Pretty Little Liars. (As I said, I’m pretty obsessed…get it…pretty…I’m terrible at jokes.)
Tell us about your plans for upcoming books.
I plan to have the second book in TFDC out before the year’s over, and then three more next year. The series is planned to have 8 books and I want to have it done in at least three years.
Where can people find you on the web?
People can find me on Facebook on my author page (I no longer accept friend requests), Twitter @AlecBelle, and my blog at www.alecjohnbelle.wordpress.com.
Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: @AlecBelle, Alec John Belle, Before I Break, Enchanted book promotions, Forbidden Darkness, writing tips
Book Release Party – Daughter of Lions by Catherine Banks
About the Book
Title: Daughter of Lions
Author: Catherine Banks
Genre: YA Fantasy
Being a teenager is hard enough, but when your dad is an Alpha werelion it complicates matters even more. Victoria doesn’t feel like she fully fits in anywhere and things become more unsteady when she meets the new werelion in her dad’s pride, Brandon. Is there a way she can alter her genes to gain the ability to shift, or will she learn to accept who she is?
Author Bio
Catherine Banks is the author of the Artemis Lupine Series, Little Death Bringer Series, Ciara Steele Novella Series, and the novel Daughter of Lions. She began writing fiction stories when she was only four years old and finished her first full length novel at the age of fifteen. Catherine is a Northern California native and has lived within a twenty mile radius her entire life. She plans to travel to as many places as possible in her thirties to make up for her lack of traveling experience. She is married to her soulmate and best friend, Avery, who blessed her with two amazing children. After her full time job she reads books, plays videogames and watches a lot of anime shows and movies with her family to relax.
Links
Website: www.catherinebanks.com
Twitter: twitter.Com/Catherineebanks
Goodreads: Goodreads
Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: @Catherineebanks, Catherine Banks, Daughter of Lions, Enchanted book promotions
July 4, 2015
Cover Reveal – Clement L. Wragge
Experiences Of A Meteorologist Kindle Edition
by Clement L. Wragge
Publisher: ASJ Publishing
Release: October 1, 2015
Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010UK3AJC
Blurb: Clement Lindley Wragge (F.R.G.S., F.R.Met Soc., Etc) (18 September 1852 – 10 December 1922), was a meteorologist born in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, England, but moved to Oakamoor, Staffordshire as a child. He set up the Wragge Museum in Stafford following a trip around the world. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and in 1879 was elected Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society in London. To the end of his life, he was interested in Theosophy and spiritualism and during his tour of India, met with Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam who had claimed to be the Mahdi, the messianic redeemer awaited by Muslims. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle sought him out in New Zealand to ask for his views on spiritualism before writing ‘The Wanderings of a Spiritualist’ in 1921. After training in law, Wragge became renowned in the field of meteorology, winning the Scottish Meteorological Society’s Gold Medal and years later starting the trend of using people’s names for cyclones. He travelled widely giving lectures in London and India, and in his later years was a reliable authority on Australia, India and the Pacific Islands.
One of his books, “Experiences Of A Meteorologist” will be republished by ASJ Publishing later in 2015 in Ebook and Print (POD), and his Biography is set for release in 2016.
Many thanks go to Pioneer Books who reprinted “Experiences Of A Meteorologist In South Australia” in 1980, and who have allowed us to republish my great-great grandfather’s work.
Filed under: Events Tagged: Clement Lindley Wragge, Experiences Of A Meteorologist In South Australia, The Wanderings of a Spiritualist
July 3, 2015
Book Tour – Song of a Dead Star by Zamil Akhtar
Title: Song of a Dead Star
Author: Zamil Akhtar
Genre: Science-Fiction / Fantasy
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Rafflecopter Giveaway – $50 Amazon Giftcard
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When Kav sleeps, a firefly whispers in his ear that his wife is not dead. But to find her he has to kill the three Magi that protect the land of Eden.
The same Magi destroyed Kav’s hometown four years ago to crush a rebellion, and he hasn’t seen his wife since.
As Kav plots to kill the Magi, a flying armada bent on conquest and destruction invades Eden. Only the Magi and their ability to turn sunshine into magical energy can stop them.
Granted the same power by the firefly, Kav must either kill the Magi to reunite with his wife, or let go of his longing for the sake of Eden and its people.
Author Bio
Zamil Akhtar is an indie science fantasy author and blogger living a location-free lifestyle. He can be found in Boston, Dubai, or Manila depending on the time of year. Of Pakistani-heritage, he grew up in the Middle East and moved to Western Massachusetts when he was thirteen, and his varied upbringing colors his fiction. He has a BBA in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts and an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University. His loves are videogames, science-fiction and fantasy novels, HBO dramas, and Southeast Asia.
Links
Twitter: @zamakhtar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zamil-Akhtar/166211690075437?ref=hl
Buy the Book:
Smashwords: Smashwords
Amazon: Amazon
Filed under: Guest Authors Tagged: $50 Amazon Giftcard, @zamakhtar, Rafflecopter giveaway, Song of a Dead Star, Zamil Akhtar
