Nicky Peacock's Blog, page 12
September 28, 2015
Interview with Albert Tucher
Tell us about your publishing journey…In the summer of 2000 I was suddenly single and looking for a change. I signed up on a whim for a fiction writing class at the local county college. One week the instructor, Tom Cantillon, had us write an action story, and that’s where the Diana Andrews saga started. From somewhere came a picture of a man and a woman standing by a car parked on the shoulder of a deserted highway. I decided that he wanted to kill her, and that she needed to stop him. To make it more interesting, I made him a cop and her a prostitute. But I couldn’t think of a motive that would play in 1500 words, until I made the cop a woman also. The motive became sexual jealousy.
That story became the first chapter of my novel DO OVERS, still unpublished. After writing two sequels, I decided to build a resume with some short fiction, and I quickly discovered the challenges and satisfactions of the short form. My first published story, called RENDORSEG (Hungarian for “Police”) appeared in LYNX EYE in 2005.
What do you love about being an author?
No experience is wasted. Anything I have ever seen or done can come back and help me over an obstacle in something I’m writing.
If you could have dinner with any literary character, who would it be and what would you eat?
Diana has spoiled me on anyone who isn’t a tough chick. It would have to be someone like Greg Rucka’s Tara Chace. We’d grab something on the run, because she never stops.
If your book/ story was to be made into a movie, who would you cast as the leads?
Diana would be Hilary Swank, or possibly Evangeline Lilly. Both are beautiful in unconventional ways, and both can do the tough chick thing. See above!
If you had a time machine, which era would you go back to and why?
Tenth-century Rome. It’s one of the most obscure periods in European history, because literacy was rare, and the source materials are scant. For years I have been fascinated by the story of a Roman woman named Marozia. After an interval of about three centuries during which women essentially disappear from the historical record, she suddenly shows up running the city. She created popes, including her own son, and destroyed others, and she was willing to sacrifice another son to her own ambitions. He struck first, seizing power and imprisoning her for the rest of her life. It’s dark, fascinating stuff. I have a story a
bout Marozia called THE CITY OF ROPES, which appears in the anthology HISTORICAL LOVECRAFT.If you were a supernatural creature, what would you be and why?
If I were still going to be a writer, it would have to be something invisible. so I could watch and take notes.
Where do you write best?
That’s an easy one. I do most of my writing in the cafe of the Barnes and Noble store in Springfield, New Jersey, USA. I like having some commotion around me, because tuning it out heightens my concentration.
What was the last book you read, and what were your thoughts on it?
PROTECTORS 2: HEROES. It’s an anthology of stories edited by Thomas Pluck to benefit Protect. I have a Diana story in it, but more than fifty other writers also contributed, and not one was just phoning it in.
If you didn’t write in your genre, which other would you prefer and why?
Historical fiction. I may yet get back to the Marozia novel that I started thirty years ago.
Where can fans find you online?
http://alberttucher.writersresidence.com BTW, Diana’s next scheduled appearance will be in FLASH AND BANG, edited by Jay Hartman and to be published by Untreed Reads. It’s an anthology of stories by members of the Short Mystery Fiction Society.
Available from Untreed Reads:
The Same Mistake Twice
http://store.untreedreads.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7_48_698&products_id=1006
The Retro Look
http://store.untreedreads.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7_48_698&products_id=429
Value for the Money
http://store.untreedreads.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7_48_698&products_id=285
Calories
http://store.untreedreads.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7_48_698&products_id=635
The Untreed Detectives
http://store.untreedreads.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7_48_697&products_id=1200
Filed under: Interviews with other authors Tagged: Albert Tucher
September 26, 2015
Interview with Nora Raleigh Baskin
Tell us about your publishing journey…For me it was a nine year path to getting published and none of it was wasted or unimportant. It was all part of what I had to learn, which was mostly: Be a better Writer. Don’t write what you think will get published. Write from the heart.
And don’t keep sending out the same work hoping someone else will want it- Write something new. Improve.
A part of getting published is, of course, talent. But another part is sitting down and doing the work and still another important part is putting yourself out there, making contacts, and writing the best book you can.
What do you love about being an author?
Everything. I’ve dreaming of being a writer (a little different than being an author) since I was twelve years old. I love the freedom. I love that I can create. I love that there are no rules, except do whatever you are trying to do really well. For me, writing saved my life and gave me a healing voice. Being an author allowed me to validate my need to write. It allowed me to do it for living, to spend my life writing. I am grateful every day.
If you could have dinner with any literary character, who would it be and what would you eat?
I would want to have dinner with Louis the Swan (The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B White) and we would have watercress sandwiches, of course. I’ve never had watercress by the way, and I am not sure I would like it. But Louis loves it, so that’s all that matters.
If you had a time machine, which era would you go back to and why?
It has always been the same answer for me. I would like to have been born in 1900 and come into my twenties in the twenties. I think for women and for writers and artists it was an amazing time. I would seek out Isadora Duncan and followed her everywhere.
What life advice do you wish you’d been given sooner?
You deserve to be treated well by men. ( in other words- find a good therapist!)
If you were a supernatural creature, what would you be and why?
I would be a Phoenix. I know that is not exactly supernatural, but often I feel as though I’ve risen from the ashes to be reborn, or at least given a second, third, fourth chance.
Where do you write best?
In my home. Near my pets and my kitchen.
What was the last book you read, and what were your thoughts on it?
I just finished “Let’s not go to the Dogs Tonight” by Alexandra Fuller. I thought it was one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read.
If you didn’t write in your genre, which other would you prefer and why?
Adult literary fiction. I am moving in that direction.
Where can fans find you online?
norabaskin.com
@noraraleighb
Filed under: Interviews with other authors
Interview with Robin F Gainey
Tell us about your publishing journey…
I began writing fiction in 2001 with a short story that won a Rupert Hughes Award for fiction, and was subsequently published. The publisher suggested I write the story into a novel, which I started in 2002, and finished in 2005 while I was living in Rome. After finding representation through the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency in New York (not a short journey), the novel was picked up by a new publisher, Untreed Reads, in San Francisco. It was released digitally in June of 2012, via audio book through Audible around the same time, then in paperback, October 2014. It is now available in hardcover.
I just finished a novel set in 1888, Wyoming, Light of the Northern Dancers, which is not yet published, but has been optioned for film, and I recently completed the screenplay. Now working on a fictional biography of a World War One French pilot.
What do you love about being an author?
I love the creativity, the research, and being able to play the part of each character in my stories. Authors are frustrated actors. Without the nerve to stand on stage, we are free to internally act every role in our novels, actually have to, in order to breathe life into them.
If you could have dinner with any literary character, who would it be and what would you eat?
I would dine with Georges Guyñemer, protagonist of the novel I am now writing, inspired by his life. He was the most beloved French Ace of WWI, and a fascinating man to reanimate through fictional biography. The menu would be French, of course, and typical of the early 20th century: vintage Champagne, Breton Oysters and a 1910 Chateau d’Yquem sauterne, Roast Duck, potatoes Lyonnaise, and a legendary 1900 Bordeaux!
.
If your book/ story was to be made into a movie, who would you cast as the leads?
Italians, Roberto Begnini and Nicoletta Braschi…and Uggie, the dog from The Artist (no need for him to learn Italian, but I hear he is currently in great demand…)
Vampires – do you prefer them as sexy leads or blood hungry monsters?
DEFINITELY, vampires! In particular, Gary Oldman from Coppola’s Dracula.
If you had a time machine, which era would you go back to and why?
Well, in order to have the dinner I want to have with Captain Guyñemer, I’d have to return to 19I7. Other than that, I don’t think I’d want to go back. I like it right now, thank you! Having researched two historical novels, the romance of times past was lost in the horrors of war, barbaric medicine, and limited amenities. As much as the current era tends to be complained about, all-in-all, humanity better off now than it has ever been, and getting better every day. Not that the journey hasn’t been long, and no doubt will continue to be.
What life advice do you wish you’d been given sooner?
Happiness is a choice, not a condition.
If you were a supernatural creature, what would you be and why?
A fairy. I think I’d like living in the forest. And I do love flying!
Where do you write best?
I spend summers on a boat on the west coast of Canada, and am alone much of the time in the middle of nowhere. For me, great inspiration, and few distractions are great contributions to creativity: no phone or television. I tend to accomplish much in short periods of time.
What was the last book you read, and what were your thoughts on it?
All The Light We Cannot See. LOVED the prose. Anthony Doerr has a gift for using verbs in a magical way. A wonderful, interwoven story that combined history and fiction. Beautifully done, though I would have ended it differently.
If you didn’t write in your genre, which other would you prefer and why?
Not sure I have a set-in-stone genre (much to the consternation of my agent). My first novel was literary fiction, my second, historical, and my third, fictional biography. All have a literary bent. Perhaps, I would try romance?
Where can fans find you online?
Facebook: Robin F. Gainey, author page
Jack of Hearts, book page
robinfgainey.com (website currently undergoing revamp)
CaesarsDog@twitter.com….Yes, I tweet as a dog!
Jack of Hearts is available anywhere books are sold, online or in your Independent Bookstore, or via the publisher’s link below!
Filed under: Interviews with other authors Tagged: fictional biography, Gary Oldman, Robin Gainey
September 20, 2015
Bad Timing – Coming Soon!
Not long to wait now! Bad Timing, the second in the Battle of the Undead trilogy will be out Nov 2015 through Evernight Teen. Watch this space for the cover reveal and exact release date.
Filed under: Nicky's Posts - My ramblings... Tagged: bad blood, battle of the undead, Evernight Teen, Nicky Peacock, Urban Fantasy, vampires, Vampires VS Zombies, YA books, zombies
August 31, 2015
Book Spotlight: Secret Sisters by Jayne Ann Krentz
Secret Sisters by Jayne Ann Krentz
Published on 8th December 2015
Trade Paperback | price £13.99
No one does romantic suspense better than Jayne Ann Krentz. Now, the New York Times bestselling author of Trust No One and River Road delivers a novel that twists and turns into a read that will leave you breathless.
Madeline and Daphne were once as close as sisters-until a secret tore them apart. Now it might take them to their graves.
They knew his name, the man who tried to brutally attack twelve-year-old Madeline in her grandmother’s hotel. They thought they knew his fate. He wouldn’t be bothering them anymore…ever. Still their lives would never be the same.
Madeline has returned to Washington after her grandmother’s mysterious death. And at the old, abandoned hotel-a place she never wanted to see again-a dying man’s last words convey a warning: the secrets she and Daphne believed buried forever have been discovered.
Now, after almost two decades, Madeline and Daphne will be reunited in friendship and in fear. Unable to trust the local police, Madeline summons Jack Rayner, the hotel chain’s new security expert. Despite the secrets and mysteries that surround him, Jack is the only one she trusts…and wants.
Jack is no good at relationships but he does possess a specific skill set that includes a profoundly intimate understanding of warped and dangerous minds. With the assistance of Jack’s brother, Abe, a high-tech magician, the four of them will form an uneasy alliance against a killer who will stop at nothing to hide the truth…
Jayne Ann Krentz, who also writes historical and futuristic fiction under the pseudonyms Amanda Quick and Jayne Castle respectively, has more than fifty New York Times bestsellers under various pen names; more than thirty-five million copies of her books are in print. She lives in the Pacific Northwest. www.jayneannkrentz.com
Filed under: Book Review Tagged: Jayne Ann Krentz, Secret Sisters
August 10, 2015
Book Spotlight: Lumière by Jacqueline Garlick
Even in a land of eternal twilight, secrets can’t stay hidden forever.
Seventeen-year-old Eyelet Elsworth is no stranger to living in the dark. She’s hidden her secret affliction all of her life—a life that would be in danger if superstitious townspeople ever guessed the truth. After her mother is accused and executed for a crime that she didn’t commit, the now-orphaned Eyelet has no choice but to track down the machine—her last hope for a cure. But Eyelet’s late father’s most prized invention, the Illuminator, has been missing since the day of the mysterious flash—a day that saw the sun wiped out over Brethren forever.
Alone and on the run, she finds the Illuminator—only to witness a young man hauling it away. Determined to follow the thief and recover the machine, she ventures into the deepest, darkest, most dangerous part of her twisted world.
Filed under: Social Media Links
August 3, 2015
Book Spotlight: Silverwood Betsy Streeter (Silverwood #1)
A story of finding where you belong, even if it involves time travel, shape shifting, and hacking.
Helen Silverwood, fourteen, is sick of life on the run with her mom and her younger brother. Nothing makes sense. She doesn’t understand why she has recurring dreams of shape-shifting creatures, why her mother is always disappearing, and how her brother can draw things that haven’t happened yet. Most of all, Helen longs to know what happened to her dad—is he imprisoned, a fugitive, or gone forever?
When someone blows up the apartment where Helen lives, the stories of the ancient Silverwood clan—and her role in it—begin to unravel. All Helen wants is to feel like there’s someplace she belongs—but getting there will prove very, very complicated.
Filed under: Social Media Links
July 10, 2015
Book Spotlight: How to be a Mermaid by Erin Hayes (Falling in Deep Collection, #10)
All Tara ever wanted was to be a mermaid.
So she takes a year off between high school and college to don a fake tail and tour aquariums across the country in a professional mermaid troupe.
Everything’s great until she meets a gorgeous real-life merman named Finn. Suddenly, what she thought was a dream turns out to be a nightmare — she’s turning into a mermaid herself. For real.
Yet when she returns to the sea to seek out Finn and reverse her transformation, she finds herself in the middle of an impending war between the land and sea. Tara may have always wanted to be a mermaid, but now it’s sink or swim. In order to survive, she has to learn how to be one, too.
***
Summer 2015, award-winning, and best-selling authors will bring you romantic tales of mermaids, sirens, sprites, and other creatures of the deep! Keep in touch as we reveal each title in our collection!
Filed under: Social Media Links
July 5, 2015
Interview with Eden Royce
Tell us a bit about what you write and where you’ve been published…
I write mainly dark fantasy and horror, although I’ve published a romance novella or three. I’ve had stories published with Dark Oak Press, Sirens Call Publications, Blood Bound Books and a few other presses that are now defunct. My most recent release, a short story collection called Spook Lights: Southern Gothic Horror and my novella “Containment” I self-published.
You can also find my work on Hellnotes.com where I review horror books and on GraveyardShiftSisters.com where I interview a female horror writer of color and review her latest work.
If you could elect any literary character as Prime Minister/ President – who would it be and why?
Jonathan Howard’s Johannes Cabal from the series of novels of the same name. Cabal’s intelligent, resourceful, and if he needs advice from someone who’s dead, he’s a necromancer.
Which TV series do you wish you’d come up with?
Most of the ones I can think of quickly are fantastic but short lived: Firefly, American Gothic, Brimstone. For longevity’s sake, I wish I’d come up with The Golden Girls. Great cast, memorable theme song, laughter, tears, and still in syndication.
If you were the author of your own life, what would be the next scene be?
I’d have to add some paranormal or fantasy elements. Such as I find out I’m half djinn and need to master my new found powers or my emotions begin to affect the time-space continuum. Or I’d write myself a Dungeons and Dragons style quest to go on with four or five of my closest gaming friends. I really am such a geek.
What’s the best thing you’ve done so far this year and why?
My honeymoon. No details on why. J
Zombies, meteors, nuclear war…How do you think the world is going to end?
Frightening as it is to say, I think we humans are going to be the cause of the end of the world. Some disastrous event will occur: maybe a food shortage in a first world country and in an attempt to save humanity, we’ll end up killing the entire human race. Man, I hope I’m not Nostradamus.
That, or the movie Idiocracy will come true.
What was the last book you read and what were your thoughts on it?
The last book I read was Marrow by Tarryn Fisher. The friend of another author I know on Facebook recommended it. I read the synopsis and thought it looked like a good read, so I purchased the Kindle copy. It was an amazing novel. The book took me so subtly through the twists and turns of the main character’s life and I was mad when it was time for me to go to bed each night and put it dow
n. Margo was such a well thought out protagonist, one who’d gone through so much that I rooted for her to have a happy ending. I won’t say whether or not she does, because you need to read it. I was still thinking about Marrow days after I’d finished it.
Who’s your hero and why?
My grandmother. She was tough and smart and never let anything get the best of her, even in a world that didn’t see her as the force of nature that she was. She’d give you the short off her back or a good talking to, depending on what you needed. She inspires a lot of my work.
What are you working on at the moment?
I’ve been lucky enough to be asked to write a screenplay for the 7 Magpies horror film anthology. It’s the first of its kind: a horror film anthology written and directed by black women. I’m nervous and excited, not necessarily in that order. I’d like for this project to get the recognition it deserves and I hope my part in it does the film justice.
Website: http://edenroyce.com/
Blog: http://darkgeisha.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/eden.royce
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eden-Royce-The-Dark-Geisha/175439055801467
Filed under: Social Media Links Tagged: American Gothic, Dungeons and Dragons, Eden Royce, Firefly, Geek, horror, Spook Lights
May 13, 2015
Book Spotlight: Spelled by Betsy Schow
Synopsis:
Talk about unhappily ever after. Dorthea is completely princed out. Sure being the crown princess of Emerald has its perks—like Glenda Original ball gowns and Hans Christian Louboutin heels. But a forced marriage to the not-so-charming prince Kato is so not what Dorthea had in mind for her enchanted future.
Trying to fix her prince problem by wishing on a (cursed) star royally backfires, leaving Dorthea with hair made up of emerald flames and the kingdom in chaos. Her parents and everyone she loves are stuck in some place called “Kansas.” Now it’s up to Dorthea and her pixed-off prince to find the mysterious Wizard of Oz and undo the curse…before it releases the wickedest witch of all and spells The End for the world of Story.
Amazon | B&N | BAM | !ndigo | IndieBound | Kindle | Nook
About the Author:
Betsy Schow is the author of the memoir Finished Being Fat, and has been featured on The Today Show and in The Wall Street Journal. She lives in Utah, but travels the country with Color Me Rad 5k, and partners with nonprofits to teach kids creative thinking and how to reach their goals.
Filed under: Social Media Links
