Ally Shields's Blog, page 91

Coffee Chat with Author Shannon McRoberts

Coffee time, everyone!

Shannon McRoberts who writes fantasy is joining us today! Welcome, Shannon. Let me pour you a cup of java while you tell us something about yourself.


SHANNON: Thanks, Ally. I was born and raised in Kentucky where I still reside with my family.  I enjoy writing fantasy novellas, playing MMORPGs like Guild Wars 2, and making fantasy related art in Poser.  If you visit my website you can view my gallery, see my books, read my blogs, and pick up some souvenirs at my zazzle store. 

Ally: It sounds like you make good use of your creative talents. What made you pick the fantasy genre when you turned to writing? Have you considered writing another type of story? 

SHANNON: I like Fantasy and Sci-fi so it was only natural that I write in that genre.  It's what I "know" and what I "like".  I write stories that I know I would enjoy reading!

Ally:  Even Kentucky must be cold this time of year, what is your favorite winter activity? 

SHANNON: I don't like winter.  It's cold and people get sick and sneeze on you a lot :)  Oh and I don't like snow.  However, my soon to be 4 year old loves snow and I like going out with her to play in it.  Last year we didn't get much where we live and she was disappointed.  I'd like to have one good dumping to play with her outside...as long as we all have appropriate water proof winter wear.  LOL!

Ally: Just talking about snow makes me cold. Let's tell the readers about your books. Book Blurb: 

Take everything you know about mythology and throw it out the window.  Athine, the daughter of Ares himself, is launched into many wild adventures in The Daughter of Ares Chronicles:  The Complete Trilogy.  This book consists of the first three books in the Daughter of Ares Chronicles. Follow Athine from learning about her destiny to when she actually fulfills it.  When you are done there you can read The Secret of Genetic Corp X and Worlds Collide to continue the adventure.  These books will then lead up to the new story that will be out sometime in early 2014. 

Buy Link:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Daughter-Ares-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B008HJO5X4

Book trailers:

http://www.youtube.com/user/shannonmcroberts/videos?flow=grid&view=0

Website: www.shannonmcroberts.com (main portal)


SHANNON: Thanks for having me, Ally.

Ally:  My pleasure. I love having guests for coffee. I hope you'll visit again!

Our Fascination with the Paranormal

                               Our Fascination with the Paranormal

Most of us love things that go bump in the night and scary stories are as old as the earliest campfires, but why? What makes us so intrigued with the unexplainable and especially those things that seem to raise goosebumps on our arms?


I've thought about this a lot since a recent interviewer asked me if I'd ever had a paranormal experience. I said, "No, but spooky things sometimes happen." I remember the attic trap door that closed for no explainable reason, the feelings of deja vu when visiting a place I'd never been before, and the campfire that seemed to form ghostly figures when we'd been telling scary stories. Especially the small log that tumbled out of the fire when the storyteller reached the spot where the victim's head was chopped off and we all screamed. Spooky!

Imagination or reality?
So what's the difference? Maybe it's all in the interpretation. My logical left brain always wants concrete answers, so it refuses to attribute supernatural answers to unexplained happenings. If I were to ask, left brain would roll her eyes and say the answer is logical, I simply don't know it. "Fair enough," the right brain acknowledges, but does that necessarily exclude a paranormal answer? Hmm. It's an intriguing thought. Unseen worlds and unnatural laws that might exist all around us.

Sooo, how do we know the correct answer? The simple response is we don't, and that is one of the main draws of supernatural fiction - the ability, even the right, to imagine those answers, to participate in the creative process.

From haunted houses (like the one above) . . .


                   

                          to an uneasy walk through a quiet graveyard at dusk . . .




                         Or a lively adventure with a superhero . . .

authors and readers have created in their minds the characters and stories that get the blood racing, the adrenaline flowing, tales that pull us out of and beyond ourselves. We invent stories that are larger than life or at least larger than our lives.

Call it escapism or a recognition of an alternate reality, but a tentative belief in the paranormal seems to be a necessary part of human existence. To see more than our immediate world. To go wherever our imagination can take us. To seek out other worlds and beyond.




Have you had a paranormal experience? Do you even believe they happen?

My Birthday Giveaways

I'm having a birthday on January 29 and giving away copies of my book, Awakening the Fire (Guardian Witch #1)!

To win one of two paperbacks you need to enter the Goodreads Giveaway on my home page or on the Goodreads site.

I'm also presenting copies of the ebook edition to two random commenters to this blog post if you include the title of book 2 in your comment! (Hint: the cover is on the sidebar and my home page. You can't miss it!)

Good luck in the drawings, and thank you for celebrating with me!

Coffee Chat with Paranormal Author Angela Myers

I'm happy to welcome Angela Myers this morning. She is an urban fantasy author who also publishes with Etopia Press. Nice to share coffee with you, Angela!

ANGELA: Thanks for having me!

Author Bio: Angela Parson Myers grew up being called Angel by family and friends, which might explain an early fascination with things somewhat dark and scary.

She read everything she could get her hands on from the age of six or seven, but didn’t realize she wanted to be a writer until she was a junior in high school when math classes convinced her maybe she wasn’t cut out to be a physicist. Her first paid job as a writer was a high school news column for the local newspaper. Eventually she became a staff writer for a regional newspaper for several years, then a writer/editor for a Fortune 500 corporation.

She started writing “When the Moon Is Gibbous and Waxing” after having the nightmare that became the first scene in the book. When she retired, she pulled it out of the drawer she’d thrown it into and started revising and submitting. She is now working on a sequel and has two other books in the series outlined in her computer, as well as an unrelated series and a couple of stand-alones. She also writes poetry, some of which has been published, as Angel Myers, and short stories ranging from literary suspense to humor as AH Myers.

She and her high school sweetheart live in Central Illinois, where they fairly successfully masquerade as normal grandparents.

Ally: It sounds like writing your novel was a lengthy process. Just how long does it take from the first idea to the end?

ANGELA: Well, “When the Moon Is Gibbous and Waxing” is my first and only completed book (so far) so I can talk only about it. A long time—years, actually—passed between the nightmare that inspired the book and the first words on paper. I was working ten hours a day and taking classes for my bachelor’s degree then. But I never stopped thinking about that dream. Finally I started writing during my lunch breaks. I have no idea how many lunch breaks it took to write the first draft, but I know I finished the first edit about 1991. (Which is why it takes place in 1990.) Then I put it into a drawer and wrote most of a novelette, which I also put into the drawer. I pulled Gibbous Moon out when I retired and started researching publishers. I soon realized the novel was about 40,000 words too long for today’s market. I finished my final edit in January. So—about 20 years, I guess. : - ) (The next one should go faster. I’m on Chapter 10 already.)
 
Ally: I'm sure your readers will be pleased to hear they don't have to wait 20 years for book 2. :-D So, where do you get the names and mannerisms for your characters?

ANGELA: My characters tell me their names. In fact, I don’t get too far with the story until they introduce themselves. Natalie, the main character, happens to have the same name as a girl I knew briefly when I was seven or eight years old. She also has the same heart-shaped face and small-boned frame. She has my older daughter’s hair and my younger daughter’s eyes. But I guess in many other ways, she’s modeled after me, especially in her need to be in control of her life. Continually removing her watch and misplacing it comes from my husband, however.

Michael, the love interest, wasn’t supposed to be any more than the officer who took her to the lieutenant for questioning after the murder of the two men in the parking lot. He didn’t even have a name. But he wouldn’t leave. He introduced himself and told me he liked that little grad student and wanted to get to know her better. He turned my urban fantasy into something close to a romance—not my intent at all. He’s built a lot like my father and has my hair. He turned out to be an awful tease like my husband, but at least he doesn’t make bad puns.

In other ways, I have no idea where the personalities of my characters come from. It’s almost like they’re living people I’m just observing. I’ve always been a people watcher, storing away my impressions. Maybe my characters are amalgams of people I’ve met somewhere and might not even really remember any more. The MC of my nearly complete novelette is certainly physically and psychologically unlike anyone I consciously know. The love interest in that book, however, reminds me very much of a former co-worker. : - )

Ally: Hmm. That's intriguing. I wonder if your husband knows. :)  Perhaps we'd better move on to your book.
Graduate student Natalie Beres can't remember who attacked her that autumn night under the full moon. She can't remember anything between leaving her lab in a secluded building at the south end of campus and arriving at her apartment in the wee hours of the morning. Covered in blood. Not her own. Other than the loss of memory, she's completely unharmed.

She can't say the same for the men who attacked her. The grisly campus murders force Natalie to dig deeper into what happened that night, to force herself to remember. But what she learns about herself is horrifying. When the police officer investigating the murders tries to get close, Natalie is caught between her attraction to him and her fear of discovery. But worse, can she avoid being found by the young man with a similar problem who's on his way from the West coast to find her...leaving a trail of shredded corpses along the way...?

Buy Links:

Kobo: http://tinyurl.com/aw454pt

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/When-Moon-Gibbous-Waxing-ebook/dp/B0083WCO7Y/

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/when-the-moon-is-gibbous-and-waxing-angela-parson-myers/1110905468 Ally: Thanks for spending a little of 2013 with us, Angela. For any readers who would like to chat with her further, you can contact her through the following links:

blog: http://www.angelaparsonmyers.blogspot.com
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Angela-Parson-Myers-author/131670033588692
twitter: http://twitter.com/angelaparson

Vacation Time!

I've taken my characters and gone on vacation! Can you guess where we are? :)




Yesterday we had lunch with the Princesses!

Coffee Chat with Author Julian Cole

British journalist Julian Cole is visiting with us today. I may have to start serving tea and scones if we continue to have so many visitors from across the pond. So far I've convinced them all to try our American coffee, and I've had no complaints, but I wonder if it's due to that infamous stiff upper lip?

Anyway, I digress. Let's talk about today's guest.

Julian Cole has written a weekly newspaper column for years which appears under his name at thepress.co.uk in York, where he lives with his family. He likes to write, run, bake bread and play the guitar. Oh, did I mention he likes to write? He has three published books and at least three in the works.

He can be contacted on Twitter @JulianCole5.

Ally: Since you're a writer and most of us seem to do better when we set goals, what are your writing goals for 2013?

JULIAN:  To keep writing and to finish the time-slip novel I have been writing for quite a while now. It is provisionally called The Devil's Despite and is set in York, where I live, in medieval and modern times. Basically, a series of murders in modern times seem to be traced back hundreds of years. Why is a man who died four hundred years ago leaving his mark on victims in modern York? There is a Mystery Plays element, in that the characters in the old part of the story are performing the Plays on wagons around York; and the modern part of the story will conclude with a performance of the Mystery Plays in the city. My policeman hero in the modern part is Inspector Flinch, a man of few words and fewer friends. All the victims belong to an organisation called the Corpus Christi Convocation.
I broke off from writing this novel, at around the 75,000 word mark, to take part in Nanowrimo and wrote 50,000 very rushed words about an ethical hitman called Joe Strode: he kills people but only when they deserve it. Strode is independently wealthy and lives in a luxury van, which he drives round Europe until he gets a call from the Organisation, pointing him towards the next target. Another strand concerns a young woman in York who is betrayed by her ex-boyfriend who puts naked pictures of her on the internet. How will she get her revenge and will her mysterious uncle help her?
So my main writing aim is to keep writing. I am a full-time journalist so this is not always easy, but my life seems incomplete without all those words piling up. I have been traditionally published (The Amateur Historian and Felicity's Gate, both Minotaur Books) and published myself on Amazon for Kindle, The Baedeker Murders. (Please read; that book could do with some loving.)

Ally: Many of my friends have traditional things they do it January - cleaning closets, clearing out files. Do you have any typical January activities?

JULIAN: Oh, the usual. Losing weight again, getting fit again, flexing those writing muscles again; running more often; staying just the right side of sane; surviving; being as decent as possible; drinking some good wine; and baking lots of bread.

Ally: Thanks for joining us this morning. I look forward to hearing more about your books.

This is a time-slip crime story set in York during the Second World War and in more or less modern times. An old man who once bombed York returns to the city to make amends for what he was party to, and during his pilgrimage is murdered in Guildhall in York. Has he been killed by one of his party or by someone with an ancient grudge? Chief Inspector Sam Rounder investigates, while his private detective brother Rick Rounder falls for a woman he has been hired to shadow and finds himself accused of murder. Can Rick extricate himself and will the brothers ever speak again? And what does a love story from nearly 70 years ago have to do with the present. The secrets kept for a lifetime by old men haunt them to their end.

Buy Links:

UK Amazon:  http://amzn.to/KT7Aao
US Amazon link to all three books: Julian Cole Author search

Coffee Chat with Horror Author Steve Emmett

For our last coffee chat of 2012, I'd like to welcome a British visitor, Steve Emmett, who writes about the dark and gritty.

STEVE: Thanks for having me, Ally.

Author bio:
Steve Emmett is a British horror author, writing coach and occasional reviewer. He lived in Italy for many years and often draws on those experiences, as well as his interest in Ancient Rome, for his dark stories.
Author Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steve-Emmett/e/B004NL299C/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

New Book Journal: http://newbookjournal.com/2012/06/diavolino-by-steve-emmett-out-in-paperback/#

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4626778.Steve_Emmett

New York Journal of Books: http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/reviewer/steve-emmett


Ally: Before we get into the dark stuff, I'm interested in some of your holiday traditions. How do you and/or your family across the pond spend New Year's Eve and Day?

STEVE: I rather like New Year more than other holidays. It's something to do with having survived the passage of yet another twelve months and the hope that what follows might live up to expectations! Invariably my partner will have to work until late afternoon so I spend my day at home alone (like most days when you're a writer). I write in the morning as I'm usually inspired by the march of time and all that, then in the afternoon I light candles and play classical music while I prepare the evening meal. My traditional dish for Jan 31st is a rich steak and ale pie accompanied by a robust red wine. If I don't make the pie...it'll be Beef Wellington. When my partner gets home we enjoy a few drinks together listening to music while I finish off the cooking and then we linger over the meal. We eek out the evening until midnight to see in the New Year. I'm not superstitious but I do the thing of filling the table with food and drink and a wallet full of money; it's supposed to ensure that you don't starve in the coming year. My partner calls it my mumbo-jumbo. We don't go out because we live in an isolated place and, anyway, we are quite happy at home just the two of us - we've had to be around so many people in past years it makes a change. We always call my son - who lives in London - as Big Ben strikes12 - providing the networks can cope! He usually visits us before the 31st and returns to his peers that morning.

Ally: Assuming you make resolutions, what are your writing-related goals for 2013?

STEVE: Always to improve. To complete two novels in the year and at least one short story. And to keep reading as if there's no tomorrow; you can't write if you don't read.

Ally: I'm sure our readers are impatient to hear more about your books. Which one would you like to show us today?

STEVE: Diavolino: Paradise is just one step from Hell.


Book Blurb:

The chance to build a dream home on a private island in one of Italy’s most beautiful lakes offers architect Tom Lupton the fresh start he’s been yearning for. But when he arrives with his family on Diavolino, he finds the terrified locals dead set against him. The island, whose very existence has been shrouded in secrecy for half a millennium, has a dark history that no one cares to remember, and as the opposition to Tom grows, so grows a brooding evil that will lead them to the very doors of hell…

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Diavolino-ebook/dp/B004NIFIC0

B and N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/diavolino-steve-emmett/1102267285?ean=9781936751945

OmniLit: http://www.omnilit.com/product-diavolino-514790-241.html#




                       Thank you for visiting with us, Steve! Have a wonderful 2013!

Six Sentence Sunday Post

Welcome everyone!

This week I've chosen a scene from Awakening the Fire (Guardian Witch #1) (available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble & ARe). Ari, my supernatural cop, has just suffered a deep personal loss, and Andreas, a sexy vampire, who she has ambivalent feelings about, finds her in a dark parking lot on her way home.

My six sentences for this week:

Her magic stirred and, without conscious effort on her part, reached out to touch his. Finding strength, even reassurance. She raised questioning eyes to meet his.

“I am sorry, little witch.”

The simple words breached the last of Ari’s defenses. She moved toward him; Andreas opened his arms and wrapped her inside.

That's for stopping by! You can continue your hop by returning to the main list by clicking on the banner above or here: http://sixsunday.com.

Searching for Riverdale

Since I get almost as many questions about Riverdale as I do about the characters, I'm reposting this blog from September for anyone who missed it the first time around. Enjoy the tour.

If you're a regular visitor to this blog, you already know my fantasy series takes place  along the Mississippi River basin. Since everyone hasn't been fortunate enough to grow up in the area, I wanted to show you around the area.

Today we're visiting Olde Town, the main setting for my books and the tourist district of Riverdale, a small Midwestern city of 287,000 inhabitants, sitting on the cliffs of the upper Mississippi River. The original city core has been restored to its glory days when it was a bustling river port.
Shortly after 7:00 a.m. I backed my Rav 4 out the drive and turned east. After steady driving and only one stop for coffee, I arrived at what should have been the edge of Riverdale well before noon. Only it was gone! I found places that looked vaguely familiar but no road signs directing me to Riverdale or Olde Town.

I stopped at a gas station, bought a map, and searched for the town listing. Who changed the map? Where was my picturesque city with the 1800s touristy market area? The horse carriages, the vampire bars? They were gone. Vanished overnight. Or had they?

I stood on one of the river cliffs and shut my eyes tight. When I opened them again, this time I looked with my imagination. And there it was. The small city that I had come to know so well and grown to love. I'd like to share it with you.

Let's hop on a horse-drawn carriage and take a drive through Goshen Park. Its woods and isolated paths are so much more inviting during the day. (If you doubt that, check out the photo section of my website and see the park in the fog. Spooky.)
The dramatic swan fountain on the west end of Gosh Park is one of the most popular spots in Olde Town. In good weather the benches surrounding the fountain are filled with tourists or townspeople. Just remember to leave before sundown. At night the park is restricted to the Otherworlders.

What gives the area most of its uniqueness is the Mississippi River and its high cliffs riddled with caves. Here is the river at its tamest at a narrow bend . . .
 


                          And the river cliffs viewed from another angle.
No tour of Olde Town would be complete without a peek inside the forbidden Vampire Caverns. Visitors are definitely not welcome beyond the entrances, but there is a hiking trail you can follow around the cliff edge. If you look closely, you may see one of the dark openings into the caves. Do not get off the path. Some of those who have wandered into the caverns have never found their way out.
You will find much more in Olde Town than I can possibly show you in this brief visit: the antique shops, craft and herb shops, high-end boutiques. If you're adventurous, you may want to sample the nightlife along the Vampire Strip or relax in the elegant atmosphere of a supper club. I'm told a really sexy vampire sings in one of them.

It takes time to get to know this region and its residents. They're unique and elusive. And the only current road into town is through my Guardian Witch series! AS

photo credit for carriage horse: Jess (Girl from a Rock) via photo pin cc

Coffee Chat with YA Author Kirstin Pulioff

Welcome, Kirstin! Nice sharing coffee with you this morning after Christmas! Hope Santa found you and yours! I believe you're my first returning author interview, but for those who missed the first time or have forgotten, let's tell them who you are.

KIRSTIN: Thank you for having me back to chat.  I loved our preview interview in September, and hope we have more soon.  You know how much I love my coffee!

Author bio: Kirstin was born and raised in Southern California and moved to the Pacific Northwest where she was graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Forestry. She is married and works at home raising her two children. Her first novel, The Escape of Princess Madeline, was released in October.

Ally: This is such a busy time of year with holidays, family gatherings and shopping. What do you and/or your family do in the week between Christmas and New Year's?

KIRSTIN: I love this time of year.  For me, this week between Christmas & New Year’s is awesome.  I am home, the kids are home, and my husband is home.  It really is a time for us to relax, and enjoy our time together.  The rush of holiday shopping is done, the hectic frazzles of dinners and parties are done… it’s just a moment to be, to enjoy, and to reflect on what is the most important- love and family.

This year is super special though- My brother and sister-in-law just had a new baby!  So, during this week, we are going to be celebrating the joy of new life, love, and family.

Ally: Will you be making New Year's Resolutions? Any you are willing to share? :-D

KIRSTIN: I may be one of the few people who LOVES to make resolutions.   I think people should try and be better throughout the year, but New Year’s makes it easy.  It is a day where we fully intend to make a positive improvement… last year my resolution was to say more “Please” & “Thank You’s,” and this year’s will be to smile at a stranger once a day.

Ally: When you were here before, you're book hadn't been released yet. I know you have to be pleased with its reception. I've read it and can certainly recommend it as an exciting read for the YA/MG audience! Here's the cover and blurb.
Book Blurb:

The Kingdom of Soron is known for many things, its rolling landscape, haunting history, fiery sunsets, and its beautiful princess. Princess Madeline woke on her sixteenth birthday to realize that her future had been planned out, a life full of privilege, royalty, and boredom… a life with a husband and knight champion that she did not choose. Using her charm, strength and stubbornness, she defies the King at every turn, determined to keep her freedom on her terms.

Freedom quickly turns to disaster as she finds herself seized by a group of wandering bandits. With the kingdom in turmoil over her capture- her Knight Champion eager to prove himself, a group of dedicated suitors determined to win her hand, and a group of exiled wizards join forces to rescue her. Follow Princess Madeline in this adventure to find freedom and love.

Clickable Buy Links:

Amazon US ebook
Amazon US paperback
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble


If you'd like to know more about Kirstin, you can find our September interview here: http://allyshields.com/1/post/2012/09/interview-with-author-kirstin-pulioff.html. And you can contact her through the following links:

www.facebook.com/KirstinPulioffAuthor
www.twitter.com/KirstinPulioff
www.KirstinPulioff.com

                                                                                              HAPPY NEW YEAR!