P.C. Zick's Blog, page 26
May 11, 2015
#NewRelease – Balancing Act by Jill Blake
BALANCING ACT
(The Santa Monica Trilogy, #3)
Contemporary Romance
Mature content, 18+. Heat level: 4 (out of 5)
SYNOPSIS
When Angie goes head to head against her old nemesis Zach, “backroom negotiation” takes on a whole new meaning. As lawyers on opposite sides of a case, they’ve got plenty to argue about. She’s an environmentalist. He’s in-house counsel for a land developer.
But handling difficult clients, interfering family and friends, as well as courtroom battles proves easier than facing a growing mutual attraction that threatens to spin out of control. While Angie wants to believe there’s more to life than legal briefs, she’s been burned before. Can she learn to trust Zach, or will complications of his playboy past derail any chance of a happily-ever-after?
(Please note: Though this is the third book in the Santa Monica Trilogy, it can be read as a stand-alone novel.)
EXCERPT
“Heard your dad’s company is getting sued.”
Zach dove for the ball, slamming his shoulder against the floor. “What?”
Mike gave him a hand up. “It was on the CNS dinger this morning. You didn’t know?”
Zach scowled. As in-house counsel for Stewart & Landry LLC, it was his job to know. That’s why he regularly monitored the Courthouse News Service, and kept tabs by phone and email. It figured this would happen the one day he headed out the door without checking.
He swiped an arm across his sweaty forehead and readjusted his grip on the racquet. “Your serve.”
Another minute passed in silence, punctuated by grunts and the slap of the ball against polyurethaned hardwood and tempered glass.
“So who’s the plaintiff?” Zach asked when the volley ended.
Mike shrugged. “Some woman claiming CEQA violations.”
No surprise there. The California Environmental Quality Act was the bane of every developer’s existence, and a cash cow for any shady real estate lawyer who could find a tree-hugger willing to take up the cause.
“Damn leeches,” he muttered.
“What’s that?”
“You’d think people would be grateful that we’re infusing life into a sluggish economy.” He struck the ball with such force that it rebounded off the back wall and would have hit Mike if he hadn’t jumped out of the way.
“If not for us redeveloping the area, they’d have nothing but urban blight on their hands. Some of those buildings are barely standing, with so many code violations they should have been razed decades ago.”
“Hey, don’t kill the messenger. If you want to be angry, take it out on the plaintiff’s attorney.”
“And who’s that?”
“Judge MacDowell’s daughter. Alice? Anna? Something with an A.”
Zach drew up short. “Angie?”
“Angela. That’s it. Pretty hot commodity in real estate law, from what I hear.”
“Yeah.” Zach forced his attention back to the game.
“Pretty hot in all respects, come to think of it.” Mike grinned. “The ass on that babe…”
Zach gritted his teeth. “Grow up, would you?”
“Oh, please. Like you haven’t thought the same thing?”
“Not about her.”
“What, are you blind?”
“No. But her sister’s a friend of the family.”
Mike blinked. “Then what’s she doing suing you?”
“I don’t know. But I’m sure as hell going to find out.”
~
The raised voices outside her office gave Angie a few seconds’ warning before the door burst open and a glowering Zachary Stewart stormed in.
“What is this crap?” He flung a large manila envelope on her desk.
“Hello, Zach.” She got up slowly. “I see the process server found you.”
“What the hell are you trying to pull here?”
Angie took her time responding. It wasn’t every day that six feet of ripped, fire-breathing male invaded her office. Her gaze slid down the broad shoulders and lean waist. Oh, my. The things he did for a navy pinstriped suit and oxford shirt should be illegal.
By the time she’d worked her way back up to meet his gaze, she could almost feel the anger rolling off of him in waves.
“You seem a little hot under the collar, Zach. Would you like an ice water to help you cool down?”
His blue eyes narrowed. “Knowing you, that water would likely get spilled ‘accidentally on purpose’ down my suit. No thanks.”
“You overestimate my aggressive tendencies.”
“I don’t think so. I still remember how you negotiated your sister’s settlement. You could teach a Doberman a thing or two about aggression.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Roger and your dad started S&L together. It was only fair that Roger’s widow get compensated for his share of the company. And in case you forgot, there was no buyout agreement in place when he died. I wouldn’t have had to push so hard if there had been.”
“A buyout agreement wouldn’t have covered all the legal problems Roger caused,” Zach retorted. “In case you forgot, he was dabbling in suspect investments on the side.”
Angie bit her lip. Zach didn’t even know the half of it. Luckily, Eva had managed to emerge—with Angie’s help—from the legal and financial nightmare following her husband’s death. She’d had to sell her house and scramble for a job, but in the end, everything had worked out for the best.
Zach’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
“In any case, that’s over and done with. But this—” he leaned forward and jabbed a finger at the paperwork he’d tossed on her desk “—is ridiculous, and you know it. S&L has jumped through all the regulatory hoops mandated by state and local government. Your client had plenty of time and opportunity to voice her concerns. The Environment Impact Review was released for public comment over a year ago. And in that time, the city council, planning commission, and rent control board have held dozens of hearings. Everyone’s objections were duly noted and addressed.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. The objections were swept aside and ignored. A de minimis change in your developmental agreement that doesn’t trigger further review of traffic and environmental impacts makes a mockery of the whole process. The city council basically rubber stamped whatever plans you put in front of it, with complete disregard for the residents’ concerns.”
“Everything S&L did was by the book,” Zach said.
“Maybe in your view, but my client sees it differently. And at this point, the only way to get the city council to sit up and take notice and hopefully redress her grievances is exactly this.” She nodded toward the manila envelope between them. “And while the courts re-examine everything, the injunction we’re requesting will at least prevent you from demolishing my client’s home.”
He scowled. “This is extortion, plain and simple. S&L made a more than generous offer for relocation payments to the residents. Your client was the only one who refused to sign.”
“She had good reason.”
Zach took a deep breath. “Look, let’s cut to the chase here. What will it take for this to go away?”
“If you’re asking me that, you obviously haven’t read our complaint carefully enough. It’s all spelled out in black and white.”
“I read it,” he said. “And it’s complete bullshit.”
Angie shook her head. “For shame, counselor. Is that the kind of language they teach you at Harvard Law?”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Angie…”
“You know the drill, Zach. Thirty days to file your answer.” She ushered him toward the door. “I’ll see you in court.
BOOK LINKS
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AUTHOR INFO
Jill Blake loves chocolate, leisurely walks where she doesn’t break a sweat, and books with a guaranteed happy ending. A native of Philadelphia, Jill now lives in southern California with her husband and three children. During the day, she works as a physician in a busy medical practice. At night, she pens steamy romances.
AUTHOR LINKS
BLOG: http://jillblake.blogspot.com/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Jill_Blake_
FB: https://www.facebook.com/jill.blake.3386
AMAZON: http://amazon.com/Jill-Blake/e/B00B1ZIHKS
NEWSLETTER (for new release info only): http://eepurl.com/UMZZ9
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May 8, 2015
BOOK REVIEW FRIDAY – I, JOHN CULPEPPER BY LORI CRANE
I sure hope author Lori Crane (click here for Author Wednesday interview) plans to release the next book in her new historical fiction series on the Culpepper family very soon. When I finished the first book, I, John Culpepper, I felt like I’d lost a good friend. I need to find out what happens in this spitfire’s life after . . . Sorry can’t say anything more than that without giving away a spoiler. Ms. Crane said when she first starting writing about this man (her 10th grandfather), she realized she had stumbled upon more than just one novel.
The author transports the reader back to the early 1600s and straight into the lives of the Culpepper family. Tensions start in the beginning chapter between John and his father, playing an integral part in the overall plot of I, John Culpepper.
While many things seem so different from our fast-paced lives today, universal emotions and relationships show us we have much in common with our ancestors, and learning about them may help us to avoid the same downfalls as them. Ms. Crane says the history of our ancestors is the collective history for us all. And it is clear, through the father and son relationship she tells in this story, that we do share a universal past.
Sometimes I put the book down to simply contemplate what it must have been like to travel two weeks or more to visit the family home by horseback. That trip today might take a few hours out of the day. What did the others do while waiting for a family member to return? Imagine how few books had been published up to that time. They must have memorized the ones they had. Reading this book puts into perspective how far we’ve really come in some areas. However, in others we haven’t grown quite as much. Or perhaps the lesson to take away from reading this book is that the conflicts we face in life provide us with the opportunity to grow and mature.
Beyond what we might learn, I, John Culpepper is simply an enjoyable read that I highly recommend.
Purchase links for I, John Culpepper
May 6, 2015
AUTHOR WEDNESDAY – J.J DiBENEDETTO
Today I welcome J.J. DiBenedetto to Author Wednesday. James and I both have novels published in the At Odds With Destiny box set.
His novel Dream Student traces the life of Sara Barnes when she starts seeing other people’s dreams. Unfortunately, those dreams come from a serial killer. Dream Student in the first book in his popular Dream Series of paranormal novels.
Hi, J.J. It’s nice to have you back on Author Wednesday. Have you ever felt as if a subject chose you rather than the other way around?
My entire Dream Series basically chose me. I got the initial idea from asking a question. Why do people in mystery stories try to solve the crime themselves, instead of calling the police like any sensible person would? My answer was: If they only saw the crime in their heads, through the eyes of the criminal, they’d have to investigate themselves. The characters were born fully-grown from that idea, and I’ve never looked back.
That’s so true about wondering why folks do what they do in the movies when we know they’re headed for trouble. I like that you were able to build on that–in quite a large way! So what’s going on with you now? Anymore books in this series ready for release?
I’m publishing the ninth book of the Dream Series (Fever Dream) later this month, and I’m working on the tenth and (I think) final book right now as well.
We’ll see. You’re on a roll and popular with your fans, so you might be persuaded to continue. Do all of these books in the series have common threads?
The series follows the same characters, specifically Sara and her family. Sara’s a seemingly ordinary woman, except for her special gift: She can step into other people’s dreams. When we meet her in the first book, she’s in college. In the newest book, coming out later this month, she’s in her late thirties, and she’s in charge of a hospital.
What’s your one sentence pitch for the Dream series?
“What if you could see everyone else’s dreams?”
How did you choose the title?
It took a long time to come up with “Dream Student” for the first book. I had several working titles I didn’t like before I finally happened on that title, and it ended up creating a common theme with “Dream” in all the titles. I’ve carried it through the rest of the books.
How long does the process take for you from the idea for a novel to a finished, published book?
The first book took fifteen years – from the time I wrote the first (not very good) draft, to when I picked it back up two years ago and rewrote it from page one. For the rest of the books, it’s taken from three to five months to write each additional one and release it.
You really picked up speed, but once you had the original concept, it probably helped all the other ideas fall into place. What type of research is required to write a book in the paranormal genre?
I’ve done so much research into all sorts of weird things. Not so much for the first book, because it’s set where (and when) I went to college, so memory got me though that. But the second book is set during Sara’s first month of medical school, and I knew absolutely nothing about that. So I had to do a lot of research into what med school is like. In the later books, I’ve had to dig into criminal law, the history of West Point, common childhood poisons, the procedure for an appendectomy, and a lot of other offbeat things.
Research sounds about the same as it would be for any other genre. Still need those facts about history and subjects to be accurate even though it’s fiction. Great talking to you today, J.J. I wish you great success with your new release. I know readers are waiting!
About J.J.: J.J. (James) Dibenedetto’s fans would swear he’s got a sixth sense when it comes to seeing into the minds of others and often wonder if his stories could possibly be fiction. He enjoys suspending disbelief with suspenseful paranormal tales that are a perfect blend of reality meets fantasy. His popular Dream Series continues to delight readers with each and every exciting installment.
Born in Yonkers, New York, he currently resides in Arlington Virginia with his beautiful wife and a cat he is sure has taken full advantage of its nine lives. When it comes to the cat, he often wonders, but then again it might just be his imagination.
Click here to read a previous Author Wednesday interview with J.J.
Click below for links to J.J. and his books
Website
Amazon Author page
Audible product page
May 5, 2015
Spring Into Love with this #New Release
SPRING INTO LOVE
From SENSUAL to SPICY this boxed set of ELEVEN contemporary romances includes BESTSELLING and AWARD-WINNING and USA TODAY multi-published authors.
If you like variety in your books these ELEVEN authors provide your heart’s desire from SWEET and FUNNY to DEADLY and SEXY…
SPRING INTO LOVE will warm your heart and your bed. This is a limited time offer, so grab your set today! ONLY 99c!
Happy Endings – Chantel RhondeauHandsome, wealthy Quinn McCallister is the most eligible bachelor on McCallister’s Paradise. Making his family’s island resort a success is all that matters to this workaholic. Everything changes when he meets the beautiful new massage therapist…
Tasting Los Angeles – Kimmie EasleyA woman struggling to stand on her own two feet, and a man who refuses to let her stand alone. When life knocks her off her feet, independent Tori finds comfort in the most unexpected place, in the arms of her male stripping neighbor, Cole. But can he sway her to look beyond his hunky surface and take a chance on love?
Taming Romeo – Rachelle AyalaMedical student Evie Sanchez is recovering from heartbreak when she runs into Romeo Garcia, the boy she ditched at the prom. Only now, he’s an actor determined to make her his costar. Are his hot moves and sexy lines real or revenge?
Consolation Prize – Abbie St. ClaireChloe Howard hides her broken heart while burying herself in her work as a Veterinarian. When the buddies of Flynn Davis make her the victim of a bet on a pool game, no one, including the couple, realize that they are making a bet that lasts a lifetime.
Sweet Ride! – Bonnie EdwardsKatie Calhoun is too broken to believe in family love, while successful Jace Donner puts family emergencies above his career when he’s needed. They must work together, but making this tough-minded vixen believe in love soon becomes Jace’s top priority and biggest challenge yet.
Liveon ~ No Evil – Stacy EatonDetective Jacquelyn Liveon saved his life twice and is now working undercover to protect heartthrob actor Ryan Palmer from an unknown threat. When things on the set heat up, can Ryan and Jackie survive the explosive twists and turns that come from every direction?
Everybody’s After Love – Lyssa LayneJules Rossi’s world is about to be turned upside down when her big brother, Paulie, announces his engagement. Having been raised by her brother after their parents died, she’s used to him being her knight in shining armor and isn’t ready to share him with anyone else.
Betrayed – Jade KerrionMarguerite Ferrara is a rising superstar, but Drew Jackson, the man she loves, sees her only as his younger brother’s ex-girlfriend. Will Maggie’s friendship with Drew survive her career, her fame, and the rocky transition to love?
Finding Forever– Michele ShriverHappiness eludes Jordan Priestley until former client-turned-lover Jake Morrison reappears, tempting her with a hopeful future, while dredging up mistakes from her past.
Will Jake and Jordan take a chance on forever, or will reminders of their past be too much to overcome?
Love Unleashed – Marcia JamesWith the help of a tiny dog, Ron Hart plans to win back his ex-lover, Cara Wilson. Together they’ll learn that winning sometimes takes losing control.
Kiss Me, Dancer – Alicia & Roy StreetDedicated ballet teacher Casey Richardson is about to lose her dance school when along comes handsome divorced dad, Drew Byrne, a playboy mogul who can change it all with a check. At the crossroads between Casey finding true love or just another disappointing womanizer stands a little boy who needs them both.
Amazon US
Amazon CA
Amazon AU
Amazon UK
Goodreads
https://www.youtube.com/embed/7iXcAjvC4q8?feature=player_embedded
AUTHOR TAKEOVER
Spring Into Love Facebook Page — authors from boxset will be doing takeovers throughout the tour
Sassy Southern Book Blog – May 8 @ 8PM CT
Firefly Book Blog – May 13 @ 8PM CT
Crazy Daisy Book Whore Blog – May 20 @ 8PM CT
Love Between the Sheets – May 21 @ 7PM CT
MoB
magicofbookspromo@gmail.com
April 29, 2015
AUTHOR WEDNESDAY – LORI CRANE
She’s back! One of my favorite authors and a dear colleague and friend, Lori Crane (click here for previous interview) visits Author Wednesday to tell us about her new release, I, John Culpepper. Lori is quite popular and famous for her works of historical fiction, and this book is no exception. Here she is to tell us all about it.
Hello, Lori! I’m so happy to have you return as a guest on Author Wednesday. Let’s get right to it. Give us the one sentence pitch for I, John Culpepper.
I, John Culpepper is a work of historical fiction based on the life of the 17th-century man historians refer to as John Culpepper the Merchant who was forced to rise against his father to achieve his childhood dream.
I know you usually write about your ancestors, so give us the scoop. Are you related to this fascinating man?
John Culpepper is the progenitor of the modern-day American Culpeppers. He was my 10th great-grandfather.
I’m always amazed at how far you’ve been able to reach back in your ancestry to pull out these characters worthy of a novel. I’m very envious, but mostly I’m in awe. How long did it take you to finish the book, from idea to publishing?
I first had the idea to write his story in August of 2014, but the more I researched, the more interesting tidbits I found and it became four books with four distinct stories: his childhood, his life during the English Civil War, his rise to family patriarch, and finally, his coming to terms with his past, his family, and his beliefs. His story became the Culpepper Saga with “I, John Culpepper” being the first of the four books. From idea to publish, since I ended up writing four books at the same time, took nine months.
So we have more to look forward to. That’s amazing that you wrote four books in nine months. Is there a message in I, John Culpepper for us?
As a young man, John had to stand up to his father. For those of us who have stood up to a parent, we understand the pain involved in that process. At the end, John realized that, perhaps, his father wasn’t the bad guy after all. I think that’s a lesson we all learn when we finally realize our parents are only human.
I can relate as I’m sure many others can as well. I’ve been both the parent and child on that process! What is the best thing someone could say about I, John Culpepper?
I love it when readers tell me how interesting my family is, not realizing these stories are of our collective past. We are all the products of the survivors, the heroes, the brave men and women. I hope they see John as the hero he was. He was a bit of a rebel, but his rebellion is what eventually saves his family…on more than one occasion.
Thank you for saying that. Yes, it’s our collective history. What kind of research did you do to pull off this work of historical fiction?
I started with my family tree. I initially wondered how the Culpeppers of 16th-century England, with their stately manors and vast land holdings, ended up being the modest people I knew in my childhood in Mississippi. Why would they give up that kind of prestige to move to an inhospitable land filled with savage Indians and probable starvation? I also researched the school John attended, the ships of the time, the colonial records of 1630s Jamestown, and I spent a lot of time on the Culpepper family website called Culpepper Connections. In the second book, the English Civil War breaks out, so I researched everything from the timeline of the battles, to the generals and the king, to the transcribed minutes of the House of Commons. I spent three days reading those minutes. Even though I knew I had family serving in Parliament at the time, to read their names on the actual roll call was exciting.
I’m sure it was–history coming to life right before your eyes. Tell us about your favorite scene.
I have a couple. The first is at the wharf the day John is born. John’s father is quite a formidable character. The second is when John sees the product of his prank on his headmaster. I laughed out loud when I wrote it. The third is when John takes his brother aboard his ship for the first time. I can just picture the pride and excitement on John’s face.
When you become that invested in the writing, magic is sure to follow! Is there anything else we should know about the book or about John Culpepper?
John Culpepper was a very, very popular name in English history, and each John had a brother named Thomas. All of those Johns and Thomases had sons also named John and Thomas. Deciphering which John was which from English and Colonial records was difficult, but after reading other theories and putting all of the different names and birth and death dates to paper, I believe I got the family history figured out. I took great freedoms in giving some of the men nicknames, just to keep them straight, but be assured, in historical records they are all named John and Thomas. The nicknames are mine and mine alone. I didn’t take them from any records.
Thank you so much for stopping by today, Lori. I look forward to reading your I, John Culpepper. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it as much or even more than your other books.
About Lori Crane: BESTSELLING AND AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR LORI CRANE IS A WRITER OF SOUTHERN HISTORICAL FICTION AND THE OCCASIONAL THRILLER. Her books have climbed to the Kindle Top 100 lists many times, including her book Elly Hays, which debuted at #1 in Native American stories. She has also enjoyed a place among her peers in the Top 100 historical fiction authors on Amazon, climbing to #23. She is a native Mississippi belle currently residing in greater Nashville. She is a professional musician by night – an Indie Author by day.
Click here to read my review of Elly Hays.
Click on the links below to purchase and connect with the author
April 24, 2015
BOOK REVIEW FRIDAY – CROSSING TO SAFETY BY WALLACE STEGNER
“In fiction, I think we should have no agenda but to tell the truth.” – Wallace Stegner
Thank you to my friend and colleague Christina Carson for pointing me to the literary genius of Wallace Stegner, both author and environmentalist.
He’s known for his dedication in writing about the preservation of the West of the United States, but my introduction to him came from reading his novel, Crossing to Safety. I’ve already ordered his Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Angle of Repose because I’m enamored of this gentle man’s prose and honesty in the telling of a compelling story. Isn’t that the standard to which all authors should aspire? I know it’s what I wish for myself.
From the very beginning, he drew me into his story as the narrator, Larry, and his wife, Sally awaken in a cabin in the woods of Vermont in 1972. There’s to be a meeting of some significance between their old friends, Sid and Charity, who own the property where they now find themselves.
From there, Stegner takes the reader on a journey back to the 1930s during the dark days of Depression when the two couples meet in Madison, both as young and eager professors and their wives, at the University of Wisconsin. The plot may not be filled with dark twists and turns. It doesn’t matter. The characters come alive under the lively pen of the author. Charity in particular fills the pages and overflows onto the margins and binding of the book. Her speech and her actions show us in absolute clarity that she is the queen–sometimes overbearing, but always with a heart firmly in front–of this foursome. Here’s Stegner first description of Charity when he steps into his small basement apartment:
“In the dim apartment she blazed. Her hair was drawn back in a bun, as if to clear her face for expression, and everything in the face smiled–lips, teeth, cheeks, eyes.”
Charity lives beyond this first impression. Sid, her husband, pales in comparison, except when Stegner describes his physicality, which resembles that of an ancient Greek god. Larry, the narrator, provides us the view of everyone else, although he remains an enigma through most of the novel. However, it is always clear his opinion of his best friend, Sid, and his controlling, yet caring, wife Charity. Perhaps it is Larry’s love of his wife Sally that tells the reader the most of his character. Sally, a victim of the vicious polio, remains the stalwart and force behind Larry despite her challenges. She’s my hero of the novel much more so than the dominant Charity.
Characterization stands as one of the most important aspects of literary fiction because without it the reader has no reason to continue reading, no glue to keep them stuck to the plot. However, the descriptive prose of Stegner kept me attached to the story as much as the compelling characters. His love of nature shines through the story. At times, I stopped reading just to absorb the beauty and clarity of his descriptions, as shown in this description of the Vermont woods, as Larry, Sid, and their pack-horse Wizard make their way to a camp on their first day of a week-long hike.
“Dust has whitened the ferns along the roadside, gypsy moths have built their tents in the chokecherry bushes, the meadow on the left is yellow with goldenrod, ice-blue with asters, stalky with mullein, rough with young spruce. Everything taller than the grass is snagged with the white fluff of milkweed. On the other side is a level hayfield, green from a second cutting. The woods at the far edge rise in a solid wall. In the yard of an empty farmhouse we sample apples off a gnarled tree. Worms in every one. But Wizard finds them refreshing, and blubbers cider as he walks.”
This example shows that descriptive prose need be neither showy or pushy to paint a portrait for the reader. In its simplicity, I floated above the scene taking in every detail, including the foam sputtering from the mouth of Wizard.
I am a fan left wondering how I missed reading Wallace Stegner before now. In his sixty-year career, he wrote thirty books, both fiction and nonfiction. Edward Abbey claimed, before Stegner’s death in 1993, that he was “the only living American writer worthy of the Nobel.” He never received the honor, but he does receive my highest praise for achieving what I only aspire to do as an environmental author of outstanding fiction.
Click here to purchase Crossing to Safety on Amazon.
April 22, 2015
AUTHOR WEDNESDAY – S.R. MALLERY
I welcome S.R. Mallery to Author Wednesday today. This talented author recently published a collection of short stories, Tales To Count On with a unique combination of genres, including historical, Gothic, and fantasy—with many twist endings. If you’ve ever read any of the O Henry short stories and enjoyed them, you’ll be in for a treat with this collection. Full disclosure: I edited and formatted this book. The “work” became a labor of love as I fell in love with the characters and the delightful storytelling ability of Ms. Mallery. She has also published another collection of historical short stories, Sewing Can Be Dangerous. You can read my review of that book here.
Hello Sarah or S.R. I’m so happy to have you grace my blog today. Since today is Earth Day, I’d like to ask you about something Rachel Carson (Silent Spring) once said about her writing. She said she never chose a subject because as a writer, the subject chose her. Have you ever had this happen?
Talk about a subject choosing me! I can still remember sitting with my father years ago, out on his little corner balcony way up on the 27th floor of a Manhattan apartment building. As the sun was slowly setting and the lights were glowing across the Hudson River on one side, the twinkling lights of Manhattan on the other, he told me all about the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. According to him, not only was that day horrific—over 140 young women’s lives were lost—but how important that event was because of the building codes that were changed after that.
I sat there, riveted, envisioning those hapless immigrant girls, either leaping or falling to their deaths; girls who also piled up against doors that at that time only opened inward. So, several years later, when I wrote my very first short story entitled, “Sewing Can Be Dangerous,” it was all about that fateful day.
Tell me about Tales To Count On and its eclectic short stories.
My Tales To Count On is a mish-mash of stories. The synopsis says it best:
Curl up and enter the eclectic world of S. R. Mallery, where sad meets bizarre and deception meets humor; where history meets revenge and magic meets Gothic. Whether it’s 500 words or 5,000, these Tales To Count On, which include a battered women’s shelter, childhood memories, Venetian love, magic photographs, PTSD fallout, sisters’ tricks, WWII spies, the French Revolution, evil vaudevillians, and celebrity woes, will remind you that in the end, nothing is ever what it seems.
I’ve also been working on an historical fiction Wild West romance:
The Dolan Girls by S. R. Mallery has it all. Set in Nebraska during the 1800s, whorehouse madams, ladies of the night, a schoolmarm, a Pinkerton detective, a Shakespeare-quoting old coot, brutal outlaws, and a horse-wrangler fill out the cast of characters. Add to the mix are colorful descriptions of an 1856 Land Rush, Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show, Annie Oakley, bank/train robberies, small town local politics, and romance. It’s not only a taste of America’s past, it’s also about people overcoming insurmountable odds.
I’m really looking forward to reading The Dolan Girls. It sounds very exciting and like everything you write, it’s a grab bag of action and conflict. Your stories are set all over the world. Do you think setting plays a role in your stories?
Although I feel good characters are probably the most important part of any fictional book, with historical fiction, setting is EVERYTHING! In that genre, authenticity is vital in the transportation to older times. That’s what makes you live and breathe that period alongside of your characters. People have asked me how I am able to capture people in past times and make them so believable. Well, there is a tremendous amount of research that contributes towards that: reading about actual events, studying the lingo of that specific time, the culture, the dress. In other words, it’s all important.
But I also feel even with my more modern material, settings help ‘set the stage’.
Are you planning to continue writing historical fiction?
Probably, although one never knows what the future will bring. I will be continuing on with the Wild West book next and a tiny seed has planted itself inside my brain recently about perhaps writing a murder mystery that takes place during the 1920’s Jazz Age. But who knows?
I love that period in American history, between the two world wars and during prohibition. Life was lived with a different attitude. How did you choose the title for the new book, Tales To Count On?
As for the title for Tales To Count On, that was a hard one. First of all, these stories are so eclectic and range from 500 words to 5,000 with various genres included. Titles came and went and just when I thought I had something, then either Amazon already had that title listed, or it didn’t grab me or my supportive friends. Then one day, my brother casually asked, “How ‘bout Tales to Count On?” And that was that!
Smart brother! It’s a perfect title. Tell me how you came up with this unique idea for Tales.
Having decided to ‘clear out my writing cupboard’ to see if I could cobble together another collection, I started to put some of my flash fiction and other stories together. But unlike my Sewing Can Be Dangerous and Other Small Threads, which had the definite connection of sewing or crafting, just how could I link these very eclectic stories? Then it hit me. Since the ‘word count’ is so important for writers, why not link them that way? Each story title would have the word count under it, and it would go by ascending order of numbers. And…and…I could include a few of my stories that were lengthier, as long as I put the word count under their titles! Eureka!
It’s amazing how it all came together. I love these stories and I’m sure the book will be very successful. Congratulations on a job well done. I expect you back when The Dolan Girls is published. I’ll add that S.R. Mallery’s first novel Unexpected Gifts is under construction right now. She should have it up again sometime this summer.
S.R. Mallery has worn various hats in her life. First a classical/pop singer/composer, she moved on to the professional world of production art and calligraphy.
Next came a long career as an award winning quilt artist/teacher and an ESL/Reading instructor. Her short stories have been published in descant 2008, Snowy Egret, Transcendent Visions, The Storyteller, and Down In the Dirt.
Click below to connect with S.R. Mallery
Twitter: @SarahMallery1
Pinterest: S.R. has some good history boards that are getting a lot of attention—history, vintage clothing, older films on this site.
Tales To Count On – Amazon
Sewing Can Be Dangerous and Other Small Threads – Amazon
April 20, 2015
Reality Creeps Into Fiction – #DeepwaterHorizon
Oil spread to the beaches where sea turtle hatchlings would soon make their way into the oil-laden waters in 2010.
Five years ago today, the oil rig Deepwater Horizon caught on fire. Even though the newscasters downplayed its significance that morning, I felt a black cloud deepen. I’d just moved to southwestern Pennsylvania where news of the Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster a few hours away in West Virginia still dominated local news. Twenty-nine men died in that explosion on April 5.
We soon learned that BP’s project in the Gulf of Project gushed uncappable oil and eleven men lost their lives. As I’ve done for the past two decades, when something bothers me, I start to write. The result from my sorrow and unease with both disasters resulted in the novel, Trails in the Sand. The novel serves as a reminder of two preventable disasters that occurred within two weeks of one another in 2010. Forty men died and countless wildlife and their habitats were injured or destroyed. Both events touched my life in some way and both made their way into the writing of Trails in the Sand.
When the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia exploded, twenty-nine miners, doing their job in the bowels of the earth, lost their lives. Subsequent reports showed the company ignored safety regulations, which played an important role in the explosion. At the time, I was in the process of moving from Florida to western Pennsylvania. The mine is located several hours from my new home, so the local media covered the disaster continually for the next few weeks. The national news also kept its eye turned toward a small town in West Virginia where families mourned their husbands, sons, fathers, brothers, and cousins. After April 20, the lens of the cameras shifted to the southwest.
The news began as a whimper before erupting into cries of outrage. An oil rig somewhere off the coast of Louisiana caught on fire on April 20, 2010. Soon the whole rig collapsed, and eleven men never made it out alive. Oil gushed from a well several miles below the Gulf’s surface.
As I made the transition to Pennsylvania, I still held my job in Florida, although I was in the process of leaving. I was a public relations director for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. I made the trip back and forth sixteen times in 2010. I conducted meetings from a cell phone in airports, highway rest areas, and at a dining room table from our small temporary apartment in Pittsburgh.
Every time I started to give my two-week notice to my supervisors, something happened, and my wildlife biologist bosses pleaded with me to stay. During a crisis, the spokesperson for a company or agency suddenly becomes a very important part of the team. Scientists become speechless when looking in the face of a microphone.
Nothing much happened in those early days of the oil spill for the wildlife community, although as a communications specialist I prepared for worst-case scenarios, while hoping for the best. Partnerships between national and state agencies formed to manage information flowing to the media. By May, some of the sea turtle experts began worrying about the nesting turtles on Florida’s Panhandle beaches, right where the still gushing oil might land. In particular, the scientists worried that approximately 50,000 hatchlings might be walking into oil-infested waters if allowed to enter the Gulf of Mexico after hatching from the nests on the Gulf beaches.
An extraordinary and unprecedented plan became reality, and as the scientists wrote the protocols, the plan was “in direct response to an unprecedented human-caused disaster.”
When the nests neared the end the incubation period, plans were made to dig up the nests and transport the eggs across the state to Cape Canaveral, where they would be stored until the hatchlings emerged from the eggs. Then they would receive a royal walk to the sea away from the oil-drenched waters of the Gulf.
The whole project reeked with the scent of drama, ripe for the media to descend on Florida for reports to a public hooked on the images of oiled wildlife. Since I was in transition in my job, they appointed me to handle all media requests that came to the national and state agencies regarding the plan. From my new office in Raccoon Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, I began coordinating media events and setting up interviews with the biologists.
As the project began in June 2010, I began writing Trails in the Sand. At first, I created the characters and their situations. Then slowly I began writing about the oil crisis and made the main character, Caroline, an environmental reporter who covered the sea turtle relocation project. Then suddenly I was writing about her husband, Simon, who mourned the loss of his cousin in the coal mine disaster in West Virginia. I didn’t make a conscious effort to tie together the environmental theme with the family saga unfolding, but before too long, I realized they all dealt with restoration and redemption of things destroyed. As a result, the oil spill and the sea turtles became a metaphor for the destruction caused by Caroline and her family.
I’m a firm believer in the subject choosing the author. When that happens, it’s best to let the muse lead me to the keyboard and let it the words find their way to the story. Trails in the Sand stands as my testament to the process.
Trails in the Sand synopsis
When environmental writer Caroline Carlisle sets off to report on endangered sea turtles during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the last thing she expects is to uncover secrets – secrets that threaten to destroy her family, unless she can heal the hurts from a lifetime of lies. To make matters worse, Caroline’s love for her late sister’s husband, Simon, creates an uproar in a southern family already set on a collision course with its past.
Using real-life events as the backdrop, Trails in the Sand explores the fight to restore balance and peace, in nature and in a family, as both spiral toward disaster. Through it all, the ancient sea turtle serves a reminder that life moves forward despite the best efforts to destroy it.
For the month of April, Trails in the Sand eBook is only $.99 cents. Click below to grab your copy.
Or download for free at Smashwords, using coupon code FR84H.
December 28, 2014
New Release from Jade Kerrion
Title: Aroused
Author: Jade Kerrion
Release Date: December 29, 2014
Synopsis
Recently divorced, Dr.
Vera Rios is too busy navigating the potholes of single parenthood to
look for Mr. Right, but along comes a man who cherishes her, adores her
daughter, and helps her find her sexy groove. The only problem: Mr.
Perfect is an escort.
Rowan Forrester conceals many other
secrets, one of which threatens the happiness he finds with Vera. Can
love find a way, or will Vera have to choose between her beloved
daughter and the man of her dreams?
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NEWSLETTER
December 24, 2014
Happy Holiday Wishes
I thank you for your continued support and wish for you all the best of this season and the coming year of 2015.
Peace,
P.C.
