R.L. Anderson's Blog, page 3

SANTA OR SCROOGE?

What are your favorite parts of Christmas? And also, what are your unfavorites????

For me, my two favorite things about Christmas are decorating the tree and listening to Christmas music. Actually doing both of those at the same time is really special. I have tons of Christmas CDs, plus a vintage collection of Christmas music on LP records, which get put to good use at this time of year.

Now, for my unfavorite parts of the Christmas season, that would have to be the shopping and the winter weather. Although when it comes to the weather, it’s been incredibly mild this year in my home state of Ohio. Wish it could stay snow free for the rest of the winter–but that’s just wishful thinking!

In my novel, LET’S MAKE IT MERRY CHRISTMAS, however, I’ve done my best to have my story characters love it all. To them, everything about Christmas is awesome.

Post your comments if you like. Tell me what makes Christmas the merriest for you–and also what brings out the Scrooge in you!

CUTE OR UGLY? YOU DECIDE!

They’re becoming a 21st Century tradition. You see them puffing up all over the place around Christmas, at least here in the US, and I’m sure plenty of other places as well. Of course I’m talkin’ ‘bout all those huge inflatable Santas, snowmen, snow globes, Christmas trees, reindeer, teddy bears, trains and the like. Why, they even have inflatable Nativity scenes!!!!! What’ll they think of next??? The ideas are ballooning for new designs that can be formed out of plastic and air. Front yards are where the action is. Cute? Funny? Ugly? Festive? What do you think??? Feel free to post your comment and let me know!!! And let me know, too, if you have one in your yard!!! You can see what the townsfolk of New Oslo, North Dakota think in my Christmastime mystery, LET’S MAKE IT MERRY CHRISTMAS. It’s in paperback and Kindle, plus Nook and Kobo editions, too.

CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED!

The Prologue sets the stage. Dakota Ranch Park’s annual Christmas On The Ranch festival is in full swing, lighting up the night in Yuletide splendor. It’s a magical Christmas wonderland, which we experience through the eyes of four very different families as they journey through its many exhibits and activities. The children are treated to a Santa’s Workshop and thrill to a ride in Santa’s sleigh. A mini train and a hayride wagon take people of all ages around the snow-covered landscape. Carolers and church choirs serenade them all. Christmas trees glisten in the snow. International Nativity scenes inspire awe and wonder. And the piéce de résistance is a Living Nativity Scene where visitors are mesmerized with the story of that very first Christmas recited from the Bible. The North Dakota theme park has been transformed into a wonderful showcase for all that is Christmas.

Fast forward 11 months. The nearby town of New Oslo is gearing up for Thanksgiving with Christmas right around the corner. The volunteers at the Ranch Park are meeting to plan this year’s festival. Or so they think. The witchlike Director of Ranch Park Operations drops a bombshell. CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED!!!! The new festival is to be a purely secular and commercial Winter Holidays event. Santa is out. Polar bears are in. The Birth of Christ is out. Winter Solstice is in. The volunteers are out, too. They’re all walking away, disgruntled and irate. A couple of them mention casually amongst themselves that they wish they could have their own Christmas festival. A spunky newspaper reporter overhears them and takes it out of context. So the next morning the townsfolk of New Oslo, North Dakota wake up to the front page news that a new Christmas festival is going to be held. And try as they will to deny the rumors, the hapless volunteers find themselves in charge of it all. They have no choice. They’re drafted. The townsfolk egg them on, all wanting to join in the fun and offering whatever services they can. Will Nickerson suggests the location. The wheels are turning. The ball is rolling. Like it or not, a huge new Christmas festival is coming to town.

Not everybody warms up to the idea, however. As things begin to shape up and the Christmas spirit fills the air, a mysterious saboteur, lurking in the shadows, brings havoc to the town. A mini train derails. A Humongous Christmas tree topples. Animals escape from the Living Nativity Scene and roam freely on the streets. An enigmatic calling card appears every time. Who’s behind it? Will, Jenine and all the gang find themselves drafted as detectives. Can they get to the bottom of it in time to save this North Dakota Christmas festival?

LET’S MAKE IT MERRY CHRISTMAS is in paperback and Kindle, Nook and Kobo ebook editions. It’s a light mystery that’ll make you laugh and groan a bit and hopefully help make your Christmas merrier. It won’t make you cry. So lose that handkerchief. This one’s The Un-Tearjerker.

A CHRISTMAS GROANER

The Ranch Park’s banned Christmas from its festival this year.
Now Happy Holidays is all that we hear.

Even Saint Nick has gotten the boot,
Replaced by a clown in a polar bear suit.

So the folks of New Oslo have taken up the cause,
To bring back Nativities and good ol’ Santa Claus.

A new Christmas festival is coming around,
Proclaiming it’s Christmas when snow’s on the ground.

But what’s going on here? The town’s all alarmed.
There’s a saboteur lurking, doing us harm.

It’s causing us hurt; it’s causing us pain.
Someone’s even derailed our miniature train.

What’s that commotion going on downtown?
Our Humongous Christmas Tree, it’s been toppled down.

Once again Will Nickerson is getting the call,
With Jenine at his side and the whole gang and all,

To save Christmas in New Oslo; can they do it in time?
You won’t find the answer here in this rhyme.

But it’s all in the book, Kindle, Kobo and Nook.
It’s in paperback, too; so let’s have a look.

LET’S MAKE IT MERRY CHRISTMAS, it won’t make you cry;
So lose that old handkerchief! Just bid it goodbye.

This Christmastime mystery won’t bring on the tears.
It’ll make Christmas merrier for readers for years.

I’ll be the first to admit, my poetry’s BAD,
But you won’t have to endure it in this tale that’s not sad.

There’s another style of writing, as everyone knows,
So readers be thankful, my books are all PROSE.

LET’S MAKE IT MERRY CHRISTMAS is available on Kindle and in paperback at amzn.to/1oHbL8n and it’s on Nook and Kobo, too.

THE OFFICIAL WILL NICKERSON MYSTERIES PRE CHRISTMAS EBOOK SALE!

IT’S THE

****OFFICIAL****

WILL NICKERSON MYSTERIES

PRE CHRISTMAS

EBOOK SALE!!!

SAVE ON ALL E-EDITIONS OF
* RANCH PARK *
* IT’S A PLACE FOR TREES *
* VIKING IT IS *
* LET’S MAKE IT MERRY CHRISTMAS *
* WHAT’S UP IN WYOMING *
(And as a bonus, my ghost story MRS. TREASTER’S BED & BREAKFAST is included in the sale as well, although it is not a part of my mystery series)

Here’s how it works:

All ebook editions of my WILL NICKERSON MYSTERIES are on sale at 1/3 of the regular price thru November, taking in Thanksgiving, BlackFriday and CyberMonday in the USA. The regular price for these ebooks is $2.99 in US dollars, which makes them 99c sale price. This sale is international and is valid in all countries where Kindle, Nook and Kobo ebooks are sold, and so the prices in all currencies are reduced. Check the following links for details:

Kindle at amzn.to/1mShsiT

Nook at bit.ly/1oSAN9b

Kobo at bit.ly/1uYdeyn

Since all titles are enrolled in the Kindle MatchBook program, they are *FREE* with the purchase of the paperback edition from Amazon.

THE CHRISTMAS UN-TEARJERKER

I got the idea to write LET’S MAKE IT MERRY CHRISTMAS a few years ago when I saw a newspaper editorial about all the Christmas tearjerker movies that come on TV year after year. Most follow a similar plot, being stories of sad times–people (or maybe cutesy animals, snowmen or whatever) dealing with poverty, sickness, death in the family, loneliness and the like–and keep you crying for a couple of hours before the miracle that always happens at the end and often brings on more tears than all the doom and gloom that precedes it. That’s exactly what keeps me away from Christmastime movies–and Christmas books, too. So I got to thinking–why not write a Christmas related book that’s not sad? I decided to do it with my existing characters from the WILL NICKERSON MYSTERIES series, placing them in a Christmastime situation in their small town of New Oslo, North Dakota, as the town prepares for a big Christmas festival. I wanted to keep the tears and the violence away, so instead of a murder, as there are in my other mysteries, this time around Will, Jenine & Co find themselves sleuthing a series of annoying and sometimes comical sabotages that plague the Official Sakakawea County, North Dakota Christmas Festival Committee, threatening to wreck the whole event. A mini train derails. A humongous Christmas tree topples. Animals escape. Who’s causing all the commotion? Can our intrepid amateur detectives get to the bottom of it in time to save Christmas In New Oslo? It’s a light and fun, family friendly read, with a Christmas message to it, too–that is always to remember that the Birth of Christ is the real reason for the season. Make it as festive as you want, but always keep Christ in the center of it all. Christmas is much more than just “the Holidays”. LET’S MAKE IT MERRY CHRISTMAS is in paperback and Kindle on amzn.to/1oHbL8n and it’s on Nook and Kobo, too. It won’t make you cry. So lose that handkerchief! You won’t need it. It’s the Un-Tearjerker.

POST HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 99c KINDLE BOOK

Halloween is over and done with for another year. But the ghosts keep on haunting at MRS TREASTER'S BED & BREAKFAST. I'm offering it for 99c thru November on KINDLE. And it's FREE on Kindle with the purchase of the paperback edition from Amazon. amzn.to/1JxrbJJ

NOT YOUR USUAL DETECTIVE

WILL NICKERSON IS NOT YOUR USUAL DETECTIVE. For starters, he’s no cop. Just an ordinary guy, a small town shopkeeper (who’d rather be a cowboy) in the very ordinary town of New Oslo, North Dakota. He has a knack for solving mysteries and a habit of getting himself drafted as amateur sleuth whenever the situation demands. He has yet to land a paying job as a private eye, but just wait. That may be coming his way in my next novel, which I plan to publish sometime in 2016. Will is an affable kind of guy who enjoys making new friends and always greets you with a friendly smile when you come into Nickerson Office Supplies or when he delivers your order to your place of business in New Oslo. He doesn’t go for formalities, so don’t call him Mr. Nickerson or sir. He’s Will and he’ll be quick to correct you if you mister or sir him. But call him Will and you’ll have a loyal friend for life. Hmmmmmm... That sounds a lot like me. His body long ago rejected a straitjacket and noose (which some people refer to as a suitcoat and tie), so you’ll likely see him casually attired in jeans and T-shirt or sweatshirt, depending on how much it’s snowing in North Dakota. Can’t say I blame him. I’m not much for straitjackets and nooses either. He loves animals and is most at home in the great outdoors. He has an adventurous spirit and loves to travel, so he sometimes finds himself wrapped up in mysteries not only in North Dakota but in other locales as well. He’s good at it, too, with curiosity in his character and a keen interest in human nature. He’s hopelessly romantic, being single but looking, with his number one romantic interest being Jenine, a beautiful tall brunette, who, actually appears in RANCH PARK, the first book in the series, before Will makes his debut. For now at least she insists that her teaching career comes first and foremost. So Will plays the field now and then, too, as when he meets up with Laurel, a spunky and alluring Michigan girl working as a tour guide in Pennsylvania in IT’S A PLACE FOR TREES and makes a comeback as a ranch hand in WHAT’S UP IN WYOMING. A rather enigmatic traveling saleswoman from Montana, Alison, comes into his life in VIKING IT IS, and I kinda suspect that she may come back his way in my next book, since he is heading out to Big Sky Country. Stay tuned... LET’S MAKE IT MERRY CHRISTMAS is a special volume of the series, highlighting many of the regular characters and introducing some new ones, too, as New Oslo gears up for the biggest Christmas festival North Dakota has ever known. Will is, of course, the central character throughout the Will Nickerson Mysteries series, and he’s joined by Jenine, Laurel and many other intriguing folks, some good (Hip Hip Hooray!!!), some not so good (BOOOOO!!!), who will keep you turning pages and guessing, just whodunit, anyway? They’re all in Paperback, Kindle, Nook and Kobo editions. P. S. They’re written for adults. BUT they’re safe for families, too!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?

Andy Glockenturm didn't--till he spent a night at MRS. TREASTER'S BED & BREAKFAST. Book your room there for a hair-raising Halloween read! It's in paperback, Kindle, Nook & Kobo editions.

Like my Facebook Page at facebook.com/rl411anderson and follow on Twitter @AuthorRollie

I LITERALLY DREAMED UP THE IDEA...

...for my new book, MRS. TREASTER’S BED & BREAKFAST. Several years ago I had a particularly vivid nightmare about a stay at a haunted B&B somewhere in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Mountains. I wrote it down and the more I thought about it, the more I thought what a great idea for a book! And so it is now published in paperback, Kindle, Nook and Kobo editions. It represents my first venture into the genre of horror and paranormal suspense–and so come to Belfry, PA. Spend the night in the B&B. If you dare.