Connie Johnson Hambley's Blog, page 9

When a Writer's Brain Turns to Mush

My writer brain is mush.

I'm supposed to be living the best of the writer's life. I dedicate 24/7/365 to my dream life of being an author. I love creating with the written word. I love communicating through words. I love the community which surrounds authors and books.

I haven't written a creative word in weeks and the prognosis does not look promising.

My dad died just before Christmas. Sure, grief's natural process dries up creative juices, but creative writing has always been a refuge for me. I could place my real life worries on the back burner while the front burner heated up stories and complicated the lives of my characters. The total immersion inside a reality of my creation has always been therapeutic.

It's not the grief that's draining me, although I'd be lying if I didn't admit to its pain. It's grappling with a world which has shifted on its axis that has me consumed.

My mom, at 90, is determined to live in her home as long as she can. The perils of her independence become more apparent with each dented fender, burned dinner, or forgotten conversation. The solid vessel of family now makes a tinny sound when struck revealing unseen fractures made years ago. Transferring the legal life of my dad to my mom and others according to his last wishes has been met with competing narratives and misunderstandings. 

And folks tell me this is "the easy death." One spouse dies and everything goes to the surviving spouse. 

I used to see the world in its simplified way. I didn't scratch the surface. I didn't think I needed to.

My dad's passing opened up portal to the future and I can see its dystopian shape skitter across my bedroom ceiling as I lay awake.

I will use the gift of words I am told I have. I will talk, and question, and answer. I will clarify and empathize and remain discretely silent. I will try to untie the knots of misunderstanding and hopefully keep the fabric of my family knit together. I will pray and I will cry. 

All of this takes the energy I need to devote to my craft. My fourth novel is halfway done. The other half will just have to wait.

But, I'm taking notes. I know my writer brain will come roaring back to life and I'll be ready.

NEW BOOK: TURNING THE TIDE by Edith Maxwell

Ah! A new book and a giveaway! Whoo Hoo! 
 I'm lucky to know Edith Maxwell as an author and as a friend. I've watched her writing career blossom and am amazed she can be involved in multiple community and writing/author groups and have time to polish up her eighteenth novel! Her historical Quaker Midwife series is terrific. Her settings zing with authenticity and her characters are imbued with the conflicts of their time plus modern sensibilities. If you don't know her books, you should! Here's the inside scoop on her upcoming release. Don't forget to comment or ask Edith a question to enter the giveaway!  -cjh
Why I Wrote Turning the Tide
I’m delighted to be back on Out of the Fog. Thanks for inviting me, Connie! I thought I’d share how I came to write Turning the Tide , my third Quaker Midwife Mystery, which comes out April 8. And I’d be delighted to send a signed copy of the new book to one commenter here today.The series begins in 1888 and came about from a simple news story I read in our local paper in 2013. It described the Great Fire of 1888 in the mill town of Amesbury, Massachusetts, where I live. The fire, on the night before Good Friday, burned down many of the carriage factories – and Amesbury was world famous for producing graceful well-built carriages. The town and neighboring Salisbury had been tussling about who was going to annex whom, so the municipal fire-fighting equipment hadn’t been updated. The fire raged, spreading to the telegraph and post offices, so they couldn’t send for help to other larger towns. Only an overnight rain helped reduce some of the damage. I was walking to Quaker Meeting one Sunday morning after reading that article and a short story about a Quaker mill girl who solves the mystery of the Carriage Fire arson popped into my head. Poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier had a bit part in the story, too. I now have a five-book contract for a series featuring Whittier, that mill girl, and her aunt Rose Carroll, our midwife-sleuth.Each of my books in this series has a social issue as a theme. In book time, Turning the Tide was getting around to fall of 1888, so I thought woman's suffrage during the presidential election was a perfect fit. Quaker women were in the forefront of the suffrage movement, from Lucretia Mott to Susan B. Anthony to Alice Paul. I brought Elizabeth Cady Stanton to town to rally the ladies, and then (fictionally) murdered the leader of the Amesbury Woman Suffrage Association. Despite the murder of one of their own, the women turn out in force across the street from the polls on Election DTurning the Tide:
Excitement runs high during Presidential election week in 1888. The Woman Suffrage Association plans a demonstration and Elizabeth Cady Stanton comes to town to rally the troops. Quaker midwife Rose Carroll resolves to join the protest along with her suffragist mother. When she finds the body of the association’s leader the next morning, she’s drawn into delivering more than babies. The victim, who had spurned a fellow suffragist’s affections, planned to leave her controlling husband. Her recent promotion cost a male colleague his job. A down-on-his luck handyman was seen near the murder scene. Rose’s own life is threatened more than once as she sorts out killer from innocent.

Bio:
Agatha- and Macavity-nominated author Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and award-winning short crime fiction. Called to Justice, Maxwell’s second Quaker Midwife mystery, is nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel. Turning the Tide releases April 8.
As Maddie Day she writes the popular Country Store Mysteries and the new Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. Biscuits and Slashed Browns came out January 30. 
Maxwell is president of Sisters in Crime New England and lives north of Boston with her beau, two elderly cats, and an impressive array of garden statuary. She blogs at WickedCozyAuthors.com, KillerCharacters.com, and Under the Cover of Midnight (http://midnightinkbooks.blogspot.com/). Read about all her personalities and her work at edithmaxwell.com.

GUEST POST: Book Titles to Remember, and Some to Forget

You've met Ursula Wong on my blog before as she weighed in on why people like reading about strong women and why women fight.  Read on, and a special treat is that she has a new book out in her Amber War Series that blends the unique strength of a woman into a soldier who fights for the love of her country. I know you'll find her take on book titles interesting!

Book Titles to Remember, and Some to Forget By Ursula Wong
Ideally, book titles should be compelling, unique, and trigger an emotion. Above all else, a title should leave an impression about the book. It took a long time to name my Amber War Series about the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe. I still wonder if I got it right, because once, when I was at an event promoting the first book in the series, Amber Wolf, a few people called me Ms. Wolf instead of Ms. Wong, confusing the book title with my name. Did I get it wrong?  Let’s take a look a few well-known titles and see how they measure up.
Some titles tell us exactly what the book is about. We know right away that the main character in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll will visit a strange and magical place, the agent in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre, will have a hard time leaving a communist bloc country, and the events in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens will be as outstanding as the cities themselves. To me, these are fabulous titles.
The late Sue Grafton named her Kinsey Millhone series after letters in the alphabet, but I give her credit in coming up with creative solutions with a mystery theme especially in U is for Undertow, Y is for Yesterday, and X all by itself.
Some titles convey a theme, but this can leave readers wondering what the book is about. Twilightby Stephenie Meyer could be about aliens living in the dark, but we know it speaks to the vampire world between life and death. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah brings thoughts of spring and nature, but this is a WWII story about two women in German occupied France. If the themes are compelling and interesting, the names work. Otherwise, they can be near misses.
Some titles trigger a feeling. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote sends chills up my spine while giving a hint that the subject is about murder, making this title a winner on several levels. The title Cold Mountainby Charles Frazier gives no information that the story takes place during the Other titles just don’t work well. With all due respect to the authors, The Storyteller’s Taleby Omair Ahman, and The Accordionist’s Son by Bernardo Atxaga tell us nothing about the stories and convey little impression. This is unfortunate because both novels speak to very interesting times in history.
We shouldn’t judge people by their clothes or books by their titles, but we do. My hope is that readers forgive us when we choose poorly (and read our books anyway), and that we writers think hard about our choices, doing our level best to get it right.

Back Cover:




World War II is over, but the fighting in Eastern Europe continues as Lithuanian resistance fighters wreak havoc on the Soviet occupiers. Their guerilla tactics incite Russian leaders to amass their power against the tiny resistance. But sheer force is not enough as the freedom fighters join Polish partisans, and a Soviet spy infiltrates the camp of the Amber Wolf.





Bio: Ursula Wong writes about strong women struggling against impossible odds to achieve their dreams. Her new novel, Amber War , continues the spell-binding story of Lithuanian farmers fighting the Soviet occupation of WWII. For more about Ursula, visit http://ursulawong.wordpress.com .

NEW BOOK!: ALL THE DEADLY LIES by Marian Lanouette

Oh, gosh! There is only one thing I love more than launching my own books and that's helping a friend launch hers! Marian and I met through Sisters in Crime and I've watched her career blossom with her signing with Kensington and more. Wow! Marian is as smart and sultry in person as her characters. And Jake Carrington! Hold on, kids! You are going to LOVE him (and you will fall in love with Marian, too!). -cjh



Good morning Connie, and thanks for the invitation to talk about my character Jake Carrington’s journey to publication.  First I’d like to give you a little background on Jake and his cohorts.
A rising baseball player in high school, Jake received full scholarships to play. But a sudden dark event in his teens, the murder of his younger sister Eva, had him turning away from playing ball and training for a career as a cop, like his father before him.
The Jake Carrington Thriller series is a combination of Jake’s cases and his personal life and how they interact, or most times don’t.  His team is filled with interesting characters who I also highlight in the series.
The character of Jake came to me as I was in the middle of writing another book. His voice and antics kept shouting in my head until I paid him attention and wrote his story. Halfway through the first book, All the Deadly Lies, I realized Jake and his crew was a series. One book wouldn’t do him justice or dig deep enough into his psyche to find out what made him tick.
Within a year I had two books, and a third one outlined. I have a special affection for Jake and his crew. In this period of time, I was recovering from open-heart quadruple by-pass surgery, and Jake made the recovery easy as he kept my mind occupied. When I finished the second book, All the Hidden Sins, I pitched it to a small press out of Canada. At the time I hadn’t realized it was in its infancy.  The company and I had a lot to learn. Jake’s success disappointed me and I took the rights back to self-pubbed the series where I experienced success with it.
While attending a charity ball a few years later, I was introduced to my current editor, Michaela Hamilton from Kensington Publishing Corp.  It was my lucky day. A year went by before I submitted Jake’s series to Michaela, and was thrilled when she offered me a four book deal.
When asked, I tell writers to keep the faith, and believe in yourself and your work. You never know where the next opportunity will come from and be prepared to embraceWrite on.
The week of February 27th, All the Deadly Lies will be released to great reviews. Click here to read the Review of All the Deadly Lies, a review from criminalelement.com.


Bio: Marian Lanouette A self-described tough blonde from Brooklyn, Marian Lanouette grew up as one of ten children. As far back as she could remember Marian loved to read. She was especially intrigued by the Daily News crime reports. Tragically, someone she knew was murdered. The killer never found.
Her Jake Carrington thriller are inspired by her admiration for police work, her experience in working a crematorium, and her desire to write books where good prevails, even in the darkest times. Marian lives in New England with her husband.


Where to buy All the Deadly Lies
Publisher Kensington/Lyrical: http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/35575
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Lies-Jake-Carrington-Thriller-ebook/dp/B06VXQBR8B/
Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/all-the-deadly-lies-marian-lanouette/1125814921?ean=9781516104758
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/all-the-deadly-lies
Apple/Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/all-the-deadly-lies/id1252337028?mt=11
Google: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=9781516104758&c=books
Social Media
Website: http://www.marianl.com
Blog: http://www.marianl.com/main
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorMarianFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/marian.lanouettePinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/marianlanouette/Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6478248.Marian_LanouetteAmazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Marian-Lanouet...My first newsletter will be issued at the end of March 2018. Please sign up now for it here.Newsletter:  http://marianl.com/main/newsletter/

NEW BOOK! STAY THE DISTANCE by Mara Dabrishus

Mara and I met at a mutual book signing at Equine Affaire, the largest horse-centric conference in the U.S. I quickly fell in love with her voice and her young adult stories, and invited her to be one of my panelists to dish on what makes a good horse book. Her books have captured hearts and received praise. Read on!

Why I Wrote This Book:

When I set out to write Stay the Distance, it was originally a stand-alone novel. Obviously it ballooned into a bit of a series! I'm on the third book of five planned novels about July Carter and her thoroughbreds, and with Derby Horse I finally have her in college, investigating what life outside the track is like and getting the college experience she's been wondering about for the past two books. I also get to write about dressage in some detail, which has been a fun change!

As always, Derby Horse and the rest of the Stay the Distance novels are about a girl's coming of age within the horse world and finding her place within it. What will she choose to do and how does she get there? What mistakes does she make? Who does she want to be, even? July is a complex character, and I really enjoy watching her navigate her options as she starts to settle into a decided path and I hope my readers do too.

SUMMARY:
College. July is going, and she can’t quite believe it yet. What’s more, she’s bringing Kali, who is on the verge of figuring out this dressage horse thing. With so many of her dreams coming true all at once, July is determined to have it all--juggling school, Kali, and the racehorses she loves. She’s even planning on having a life outside of the track, including plenty of invitations to Beck Delaney’s dorm room in Manhattan.

But as the road to the Kentucky Derby heats up, and Kali’s transition to school life gets off to a rocky start, July’s juggling act quickly becomes a circus. When Lighter upends all their careful planning, July isn’t sure she can add one more thing to her busy schedule.

July is running out of time, for Lighter, Kali, and herself.


Bio:


Mara Dabrishus primarily writes young adult fiction about her first love–horses–although she's also been known to write speculative and paranormal fiction. Her stand-alone novel Finding Daylight was a semi-finalist for the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award and her short stories have been recognized by Writer’s Digest and starred in Kirkus Reviews, as well as having won the Thoroughbred Times Fiction Contest.

When she's not writing, she's a librarian at a small college outside of Cleveland, Ohio. She lives with a husband, two ridiculous cats, and a tiny infant daughter.


--

Mara Dabrishus

Young Adult Author
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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Heather Wallace

I met Heather in New York City while attending the EQUUS Film Festival. We clicked over our shared loves of horses, books, and writing. I found Heather bright and engaging with a fresh perspective on many issues that vex horse lovers. I think you'll find her take interesting as well.

1.) Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Yes of course! If someone says otherwise they would be lying. For me I find that time is always working against me. There is always something else demanding my attention. I own two businesses, and am a full time mother and wife. Balancing my writing, photography, animal massage clients, and of course riding my horse does not leave much free time during the day. Once my children are home it’s full throttle ahead for activities and being “mommy”. I’m lucky to be hyper organized and have a flexible schedule so I try to write at least a few hours a day. It’s a good thing I’ve learned to tune others out because there isn’t a lot of quiet in my house.That being said, I would love to have a Time Turner because the days go by faster than I would like. I just never seem to get as much done as I want to! I’m pretty sure most working parents feel the same way.
2.) What do your fans mean to you? I’m still a new author having published only one book, and working on my second. Fans and readers are everything to an author, and especially to me. I spent my life writing stories but being too afraid to share them for fear they wouldn’t be good enough. Fear of rejection can be a powerful thing. My first blog post I was nauseated and only comforted by the thought that perhaps no one would read it. But of course I feared that as well. The same goes for my books. To have someone buy my book is amazing. But to have them go out of their way to write an Amazon review or to tell me how much it made them laugh or relate? That’s priceless. We live in a world where everyone is accessible. Social media and the internet can have a way of bringing people together and making the world seem small. To focus on the positive and tell an author their writing means something? There is no greater compliment. All writers know that words matter. So for all you fans out there- thank you.
3.) Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?I honestly couldn’t tell you about the first story I ever read. But it must have been amazing because I’m a lifelong reader and have been since my earliest memories. To this day I love getting lost into the world contained in books.  To read the words on the page is one thing. But to become part of the story? Visualizing it in your own head. Writing is a symbiotic partnership between author and reader. One cannot exist without the other. And each reader may learn something new or create something different in their minds from another reader of the same text. That, is the truest form of magic.
4.) What motivated you to become an indie author?Confession: I am a bit of a control freak. While I love the idea of working with a publisher, I have a clear picture of how I want my books to look and feel. Self publishing really called to me because while there is a learning curve, I have complete creative control. Yes, there are limitations such as access to professionals with experience in design and marketing, but the mistakes are mine and mine alone as are the successes. Now that is not to say I would never consider working with a publishing company. I’d like to experience that first hand as well. But knowing that I’ve created something from start to finish gives me a sense of immense satisfaction.
5.) How did you come up with the idea for your book? First hand experience! As a horse crazy girl I would find it crazy when other equestrians would cancel their lessons last minute. After all, I was always looking for more time in the saddle. I decided to write a blog post for Bridle & Bone about all the crazy excuses we tell ourselves and our trainers for why we can’t ride. I asked my fellow equestrians on social media for some excuses they had used and the responses absolutely poured in. Each was funnier than the last. So I decided to turn it into a short and sassy book, Equestrian Handbook of Excuses. To my surprise and excitement it became a 2017 Literary Selection for the Equus Film Festival! I’m working on my next book, Confessions of a Timid Rider, to be published later this year. It’s based on the most popular series of my blog which serves as a personal diary of sorts. You see, I’m a returning adult equestrian with a lot of self-deprecation and fear of injuring myself in front of my children. I’m extremely hard on myself and think way too much. But my passion for horses is greater than my fear and I keep pushing myself. Make sure to stay tuned for it’s publication. It’s for every woman who was afraid to do something but didn’t let that stop her.
6.) Tell us about your writing process and the way you brainstorm story ideas.Often I find story ideas come to me while I’m doing something like driving the car, or riding my horse. Then I can’t think of anything else until I get it down in writing! Last night I woke up with a great opening line for a freelance article I’m working on. It’s like a little voice in my head that won’t stop talking until I start writing. Is that normal? Probably not, but I’d like to think it’s inspiration rather than something more alarming.
7.) Where is your favorite place to write?I absolutely cannot write at my desk. I try and it’s just so uncomfortable. So often I will find myself writing on my sofa, with my two rescue dogs trying to use me for a pillow. It’s so much more comfortable even if sometimes I have to move a furry head off my laptop keyboard.
8.) Tell us about your horse(s) and how horses influence your writing.This is such a loaded question! It’s taken me 40 years to have my own horse. Much of my writing the last year has been about my burning desire to have my own horse and the connection that I dreamed of having. As of January this year I now have Ferrous in my life. He’s an 11 year old Welsh pony cross and he’s basically that much sought after unicorn. At 14.2hh not only can I ride him but so can all three of my daughters. He’s quiet and forgiving enough to walk/trot with 6 year olds and athletic enough to go into a frame and jump with me. He’s not hard to look at either, being a red roan and full of personality. Going forward with my writing I expect my passion will remain. But now rather than taking care of horses that are not mine, I have first-hand knowledge of horse ownership myself. I’m sure this will give me a lot more experience and perspective that I can use in my writing. More, I hope that having my own horse will help inspire more confidence in the saddle.
Links:  Website www.heatherwallace.us
Blog www.bridleandbone.com/blog
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17101838.Heather_Wallace
Amazon Author Page www.amazon.com/author/bridleandbone
Facebook www.facebook.com/heatherwallaceauthor
Twitter www.twitter.com/bridleandbone
Instagram www.instagram.com/bridleandbone
Bio:  Heather Wallace is a Certified Equine Sports Massage Therapist (ESMT),  Certified Canine Massage Therapist (CCMT), and Aromatherapist. An overachiever by nature, Heather is always seeking to learn more to help animals of all kinds. As the writer and photographer for her blog, Bridle & Bone, Heather is working diligently to reveal to the world the benefits natural therapies for animals.  Heather has written for a number of publications including Sidelines Magazine, Holistic Horse Magazine, Good Dog Magazine, and Equine Info Exchange. Her first book, Equestrian Handbook of Excuses was a 2017 Literary Selection for the Equus Film Festival and she is busy working on her second book, Confessions of a Timid Rider, due to be published in 2018. 
Subscribe to Heather's mailing list at www.heatherwallace.us so you receive news and special offers.








BIO: Heather Wallace is a Certified Equine Sports Massage Therapist (ESMT),  Certified Canine Massage Therapist (CCMT), and Aromatherapist. An overachiever by nature, Heather is always seeking to learn more to help animals of all kinds. As the writer and photographer for her blog, Bridle & Bone Heather is working diligently to reveal to the world the benefits natural therapies for animals.  Heather has written for a number of publications including Holistic Horse Magazine, Good Dog Magazine, and Equine Info Exchange. Her first book, Equestrian Handbook of Excuses was a 2017 Literary Selection for the Equus Film Festival and she is busy working on her second book, Confessions of a Timid Rider, due to be published in 2018. You can follow her on social media @bridleandbone or at www.bridleandbone.com.

LAUNCHED: DEADLY SOLUTION by Keenan Powell

I "met" Keenan because we share the pages of SNOWBOUND: Best New England Crime Stories anthology published by Level Best. Her story, the Banshee of North Adams, struck a chord in my heart. Banshee is an Irish ghost, so I knew we shared an Irish connection. (Banshee was also the name of my first pony, but that's a story for another day.)
Level Best has expanded to publishing full length mysteries and I'm so thrilled that Keenan is among their first releases. It's a sign of success for both author and publisher to have quality on both sides of the publishing equation!

I know you'll love meeting Keenan and getting to know her stories.

Debut: Deadly Solution by Keenan Powell
Thanks for inviting me to Out of the Fog, Connie! I’m excited about the release of my debut, DEADLY SOLUTION, by Level Best on January 23, 2018 and the warm reception it is receiving.  
DEADLYSOLUTION a contemporary legal thriller set in Anchorage Alaska. The protagonist, Maeve Malloy, has recently opened a private criminal defense practice and is asked to take over a case of a homeless man accused of murder when the prior attorney commits suicide.
The book is the first in a series introducing Maeve and her investigator, Tom Sinclair. I was moved to write it when I trip across a little-known law, to wit: the medical examiner has the authority to declare the cause of death without doing an autopsy and to dispose of (cremate) the remains within seventy-two hours. So, who’s to say he’s right?
We often hear: “Write what you know.”  I, in fact, was a young female criminal defense attorney in private practice aided by one curmudgeon investigator who floated in and out of the office at will.  I write about what it’s like to be a female trial About Deadly Solution



Less than a year after drinking sidelined her career as a public defender in Anchorage, Alaska, Maeve Malloy is asked to defend an Aleut Indian accused of beating another homeless man to death. With no witnesses to the crime and a client who claims to have no knowledge of the night of the murder due to a blackout, the case is stacked against them.
As Maeve works to maintain her sobriety, she and her investigator Tom Sinclair search for answers in homeless camps, roadside bars, and biker gang hangouts. When they uncover more than a few people with motives all their own for wanting the victim dead, they are determined to prove their client's innocence before he is sentenced to a life behind bars for a crime he swears he didn't commit.
When Maeve and Tom discover there may be a link to an unusually high number of deaths among the homeless community, the search is on for a killer hunting among the most vulnerable members of society.   
Find the book on Amazon 
About the author
Keenan Powell was born in Roswell, New Mexico, several years after certain out-of-towners visited. Her first artistic endeavor was drawing, which led to illustrating the original Dungeons and Dragons when still in high school.
A past winner of the William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic grant, her publications include Criminal Law 101 in the June 2015 issue of The Writer magazine and several short stories. She writes the legal column, Ipso Facto, for the Guppies’ newsletter, First Draft, and blogs with the Mysteristas. Several of her short stories have been published in anthologies.
She lives, and practices law, in Anchorage, Alaska. When not writing or lawyering, she can be found riding her bike, hanging out with her Irish Wolfhound, studying the concert harp, or dinking around with oil paints.
Visit Keenan at: www.keenanpowellauthor.comFB: https://www.facebook.com/keenanwrites

My Russian House Guests

Twenty-five years ago I hosted two bankers from Russia to live in my home during an exchange program supported by the Boston bank I worked for. Oleg was a suave and savvy twenty-something from Moscow. Boris was a gray-haired fireplug of a man from Vladivostok. They were honored to be selected to come here to learn about the American banking system.Their day life was filled with meetings and tours of banking back room operations of check clearing and reconciliation. Free time was dedicated to seeing Boston's historical sights. They joined my husband and I for dinner most nights. Great night life for Boris was glass of fine wine, thick steak, and a leisurely conversation with my husband--and yes, I felt the proverbial pat on my pert feminine head when I expressed an opinion to Boris or tried to enter said leisurely conversation. Great night life for Oleg would have been spent at D.B.'s Golden Banana, a strip joint north of Boston, but, well, my hosting manners could only stretch so far.With the recent news swirling around Russia, I find myself thinking of our conversations and wondering if our shared experience provides any insight into current events. For Boris dismissing my involvement as anything more than a cute little tour guide, I chalked up his chauvinism to a generational and cultural divide. I got a kick out of his shock when, toward the end of his stay, he learned I hold a doctorate in law. Even with his limited English, his old world manners clearly expressed his respect. He saw my professional life as  a respected cash manager at my bank, and he saw my personal life as a working mom, engaged in my community, and in a marriage of mutual support. I could see him take in what being an American woman meant. I don't know what the lives of Vladivostok women look like, but I had the sense it was not a multi-faceted as the lives of American women.My most vivid memory of Boris came when he wanted to buy a gift for his wife. I took him to the jewelers building in downtown Boston. He sized the diamond ring for his wife by placing the ring on his sausage-shaped thumb. I can only imagine the woman attached to hands that such a ring would fit. My stature with that jeweler was forever sealed when Boris pealed off a wad of hundreds to pay the ring and matching bracelet. But it was my interactions with Oleg that I think about the most these days. I remember him reading articles in the Wall Street Journal and asking questions about credit card fraud that populated the news then. I had the feeling my answers were logged away as more "how to" than "how to avoid."  He insisted on coming with me on errands to a grocery store and marveled at the lack of lines and the stocked shelves, so much so we had to stop at another to satisfy himself that my grocery store was not a fluke or a set up. He was impressed that a whole store was devoted to health and personal care, and we spent several hours one day at a local CVS store while he and the pharmacist walked the aisles in search of pills and tonics for Oleg's extended family. At Filene's Basement, he bought multiple pairs of new underwear and immediately threw out his old.I had a lot of fun with Oleg. We sailed on a friend's boat out of Gloucester Harbor. After scoring a pair of roller blades at a local flea market, he and I bladed around quiet neighborhood streets. I saw sailing, knick-knacks, and suburbs. He saw harbor patrols, police surveillance at the flea market, neighborhood watch signs and town police cruisers. He wondered why Americans felt so free when we were being watched so carefully.So, what do these memories lead me to in light of recent events? American life has long been the envy of the world. I had the feeling that all those many years ago, my Russian guests had their noses pressed against the glass, peering inside our lives to see what life could hold. They loved their country and were fierce defenders of its government...but still...What I come away with is that envy is a scary thing. If what I felt from my two guests could fairly be an insight into the mindset of a country, then a green-eyed monster is not to be ignored.
Washington, D.C.  ­– U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement on partisan attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice:“In 2016, the Russian government engaged in an elaborate plot to interfere in an American election and undermine our democracy. Russia employed the same tactics it has used to influence elections around the world, from France and Germany to Ukraine, Montenegro, and beyond. Putin’s regime launched cyberattacks and spread disinformation with the goal of sowing chaos and weakening faith in our institutions. And while we have no evidence that these efforts affected the outcome of our election, I fear they succeeded in fueling political discord and dividing us from one another.“The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests – no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s. The American people deserve to know all of the facts surrounding Russia’s ongoing efforts to subvert our democracy, which is why Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation must proceed unimpeded. Our nation’s elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows. If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin’s job for him.”

EVENT: Porter Square Books Women Author Panel

Women authors of Best New England Crime Stories discuss why they enjoy writing female protagonists as murderers. Join Sharon Daynard and Connie Johnson Hambley, with Christine Bagley as Moderator, as they make you laugh - and your skin crawl…

When: Friday, February 2 at 7:00 pm
Where: Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA

Read Christine's "On a Winter's Night", Sharon's "Ghosting Mrs. Muir," and Connie's "Black Ice" in Level Best Books' newest anthology, SNOWBOUND.



Also, treat yourself to WINDWARD featuring Christine's "The Burren," and Connie's "Giving Voice."

LAUNCHED! DEEP ZERO by V.S. Kemanis

BOOK LAUNCH: DEEP ZERO by V.S. Kemanis
Thanks for having me back on Out of the Fog, Connie! From the moment I discovered your books and website, I knew that we had a lot in common. We’re both lawyers-turned-authors of crime fiction, who love to create strong female protagonists and throw them into the thick of things!
A lot has happened since December 2015, when I contributed “The Greatest Challenge” to your blog (http://thecharitythriller.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-greatest-challenge-by-vs-kemanis.html). At that time, I had written two novels about prosecutor Dana Hargrove, and now, I’m about to release the fourth standalone novel in the series, Deep Zero.
Dana strives for justice in every case she investigates, juggling the demands of a high-powered legal career with her loyalties to friends and family. She’s a strong and smart woman, but not without her vulnerabilities. I love to challenge her with dilemmas of ethics and conscience, and many of her thorniest problems involve the intersection of career and family. As I said in my earlier blog piece, the biggest challenge in my legal career was to maintain a balance between the personal and the professional, especially when my kids were young. In the Dana Hargrove novels, I’ve taken this theme a step further, mixing Dana’s family and friends into the legal morass, often unwittingly!
The series has taken Dana from her rookie days in 1988 (Thursday’s List), into very different stages of her professional experience and family life (Homicide Chart, 1994, and Forsaken Oath, 2001). In Deep Zero, it’s 2009, and Dana is the newly-elected District Attorney of Westchester County. Dana and her husband, a civil litigation attorney, are raising their two teenage children in the county where Dana is the chief law enforcement official. Things heat up very early in her new administration when she’s hit with a tragic cyberbullying case and other crimes involving teens in the very school district where her own children are enrolled. She comes under fire in the media for her handling of these cases, and even for her personal parenting choices!
After six years and four books, Dana, her family and colleagues, have become a part of my life. It’s a lot of fun having a second family. They’re an interesting bunch, and I hope you get to know them.
Book blurb: It's one a.m. Do you know where your teenagers are? Prosecutor Dana Hargrove makes it a point to know. But one night, in the dead of winter, she should have known more.
In February 2009, Dana is the newly-elected district attorney of a suburban county north of Manhattan, where she lives with her husband, attorney Evan Goodhue, and their two teenage children. The Great Recession has seen a rise in substance abuse and domestic violence. It's also the era of burgeoning social media, an intoxicating lure for wayward and disaffected teens who find new methods of victimization: a game to some, with no thought of the consequences.During an arctic cold snap, the body of a high school student is discovered, lodged in the ice floes of the Hudson River. People are crying for justice, but there doesn't seem to be a law that fits. Days later, in one hellish night, Dana's children are sucked into a criminal investigation against several of their classmates, making her a convenient target for community outrage.In Deep Zero, the fourth standalone legal mystery featuring the dynamic prosecutor, Dana walks the tightrope like never before in her tricky balance between professional ethics and family loyalties.
Authorbio:
V.S. Kemanis has had an exciting and varied career in the law and the arts. As an attorney, she has been a criminal prosecutor for county and state agencies, argued criminal appeals for the prosecution and defense, conducted complex civil litigation, and worked for appellate judges and courts, most recently as a supervising editor of appellate decisions. Ms. Kemanis is also an accomplished dancer of classical ballet, modern jazz, and contemporary styles, and has performed, taught and choreographed in California, Colorado and New York.
Short fiction by Ms. Kemanis has been published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, The Crooked Road Volume 3, and several noted literary journals. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America. Her award-winning short fiction is available in four collections, Dust of the Universe, Everyone But Us, Malocclusion, and Love and Crime. Legal mysteries Thursday's List, Homicide Chart, Forsaken Oath, and Deep Zero feature prosecutor Dana Hargrove who, like the author, juggles the competing demands of family with a high-powered professional career in the law.
Links:
Deep Zero on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Zero-Hargrove-Legal-Mystery-ebook/dp/B078NLMB1G/
Deep Zero on NetGalley:https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/128910
Website: http://www.vskemanis.com/
 Author video on YouTube, “The Dana Hargrove Novels”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7iVNsAfpMo&t=5s







Amazon author page:https://www.amazon.com/V.S.-Kemanis/e/B00ALIX7NI/
Goodreads page:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6653593.V_S_Kemanis
Twitter:https://twitter.com/VSKemanis
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/V.S.Kemanis.Author/