Shelley Workinger's Blog, page 5

Please Welcome C. Lee McKenzie, Author of Sign of the Green Dragon

From Quesadillas to Bok Choi

Anyone who has kids, or was once one, knows that food is a big part of their lives. If left to free range, they might choose peanut butter and Jelly Bellys on toast for breakfast, but they'll eat that concoction with gusto.

My three twelve-year-old sleuths are no different in the gusto department, but their food choices are dictated by where they happen to be during the story. They travel from their small town to an early Gold Rush era mine on a hunt for treasure. And nothing makes a kid hungrier than a quest, so food is important.

More:
https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2022/01...

Please Welcome Steve McEllistrem, Author of The Devereaux Dilemma

My characters – in The Devereaux Dilemma and its sequels – reside in the future, where food is both better and worse than it is here in the present. There’s nothing like a good flavor enhancer to deliver pleasure to the palate, but one must be careful. Sometimes that delicious food comes with a bit of a kick.

At one point, Doug is offered a sandwich that looks unappealing...

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https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2022/01...

Please Welcome Wendy McLeod MacKnight, Author of The Copycat

Ali Sloane has a lot going on in her life.

Like moving all the time because her parents struggle to hold down job.

Having a difficult time fitting in at all the new schools she’s forced to attend.

Dealing with her dad’s low moods.

That would be a lot for any kid, but there’s this other thing: her dad’s side of the family are Copycats, which means they can basically change into any living thing.

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https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2022/01...

Please Welcome Rosemary McCracken, Author of Safe Harbor

One of the highlights of my journalism career was a stint as a restaurant reviewer for the Calgary Herald. Reviewing restaurants wasn’t my full-time job at the newspaper. I still had my regular duties reporting on events in Calgary, a city in western Canada, but once a week, I’d eat dinner with a friend at one of the better restaurants in the city or its outlying areas. Then I’d write it up for the next weekend’s newspaper.

I wasn’t a gastronome by any means, but the Herald prided itself on being a family newspaper, and wanted reviews to reflect the experience of ordinary diners. I got to eat some great meals, and I began to see restaurants as an integral part of a city’s culture.

Flash forward two decades...

More:
https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2022/01...

Please Welcome Rosemary McCracken, Author of Safe Harbor

Please Welcome Marie Lavender, Author of Blood Instincts

Someone just stumbling across my paranormal romance/urban fantasy novel with a futuristic angle, Blood Instincts, might not suspect that part of it is actually down to earth, at least when it comes to culinary elements. Sure, there are vampires, fairies, witches, and a werewolf in the mix, but the food is just what you would come to expect from the Baltimore, Maryland area.

Our heroine, Myah Sullivan, is a pescatarian by preference alone. She eats seafood, healthy grains, eggs, dairy products, and plenty of vegetables. But no red meat. Ever. Her supernatural nature, which she later discovers, will challenge her beliefs about the world she knows, and especially what she tends to consume every day. But let’s not get into vampire cravings for blood. We’re here to talk about food, right?

More:
https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2021/12...

Please Welcome Karen Albright Lin, Author of Mu Shu Mac & Cheese

I’m a Midwest girl who married into an always-hungry Chinese family. As the first Caucasian interloper, there were many adjustments to make. Culinary differences were the most fun. What better way to show off than to cook for the dozen-strong eager eaters. But when I broke the spaghetti noodles so they’d fit in the pot there was a literal gasp. Breaking the long-life noodles was tantamount to wishing early death upon hubby’s parents. And this was only the beginning of my personal subplot.

More:
https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2021/12...

Please Welcome Tracy Lawson, Author of Counteract

It's a Small Price to Pay for Safety

Tommy Bailey’s got a high school football player’s appetite. He’d happily inhale anything that isn’t red-hot or nailed down.

But it’s not up to him what, or how much, he gets to eat.

In Tommy’s reality, domestic terrorist attacks are so common that grocery stores have been shuttered in the name of public safety. With few businesses licensed to carry food products, you can’t just stop at a gas station’s quick mart and pick up a soda and a bag of chips. The Essential Services Department, created by the government to protect the U. S. food supply against tampering, makes weekly food deliveries and dictates what everyone gets to eat.

More:
https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2021/11...

Please Welcome Shirley McCann, Author of The Morgue

I love staying at motels, hotels or bed and breakfasts. Although I’m widowed, my daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren live with me. I love having them here since I hate being alone at night, but it’s still nice to get away once in a while.

Cooking has never been my thing, so anytime I don’t have to do it is a huge treat for me. I always take plenty of tea bags (for hot and cold) and make my own brew in the room. There’s also plenty of late-night snacks in my arsenal.

More:
https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2021/11...

Please Welcome Tonya Macalino, Author of Into the Hare Wood

In The Gates of Aurona series, every meal is a secret code for young Hannah and Cameron Troyer as they navigate a world of grown-up worries they don’t fully understand.

When I was a kid, the code told you who had money by how processed their sack lunches were. Nobody talked about it, but everybody knew that the kids with Kraft and Quaker tattooed on their snacks had cash. And the rest of us didn’t.

Now food signals are a little more complicated.

More:
https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2021/11...