The Descent from Truth

Today's special guest is Gaylon Greer. Working with traveling carnivals and itinerant farm labor gangs during his teen and early adult years took Gaylon up, down, and across the U.S. and introduced him to a plethora of colorful individuals who serve as models for his fictional characters. After several years as an Air Force officer and then a university professor with a Ph.D. in economics, Greer developed an interest in writing fiction and attended workshops at the University of Iowa, the University of Nebraska, and Bryn-Mawr College. He also studied with the U.C. Davis Extension program and the Algonquian Writers Group. His most recent novel, THE DESCENT FROM TRUTH is available at www.Amazon.com and other e-book retailers. Please visit Greer at www.GaylonGreer.com.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Alex Bryson is patrolling Rocky Mountain backcountry in his job as a security guard when he discovers a woman with a baby wandering alone in the snow far from the nearest road. He takes them to shelter in a weekender cabin and sees a newscast that suggests the woman, Pia Ulmer, kidnapped the baby from its rightful parents and that it is the sole heir of Peru’s wealthiest and most corrupt family. Pia claims that she is the baby’s mother, and Alex doesn't know what to believe. After turning her in, he continues to struggle with his budding feelings for her and remains unsure of the true story. He becomes more and more involved until finally there is no turning back—lives are on the line. He helps Pia get free from a brutal world that values money over life, and together they devise a plan to reclaim the baby. Just when it looks like they might succeed, they discover an international conspiracy that changes the game entirely.

AN EXCERPT

“Is Frederick really safe?” Pia asked. Dawn had turned the darkened hotel room a dirty gray. Though she frequently shifted, tossed, and moaned, she had not spoken for several hours.

“Absolutely.” Alex wondered  how long had she been awake. “We’ll soon be with him. My dad has—”

“Don’t,” she said, interrupting him. “Don’t tell me where he is.”

“You don’t want to know where we’ll be living? We’re going home this afternoon.”

“What if Theo catches us? He has a device he pushes inside me. It’s a . . . something electric. When he does that, I will say anything, do anything. I might even tell him where to find Frederick.”

 “Hush, sweetheart.” Alex laid a finger across her lips. “Your son is absolutely safe, and Theo won’t be hurting you ever again. Go back to sleep.”

She relaxed into slumber, but her eyes popped open again minutes later. A look of horror twisted her face.

She needed a sedative, and enough time had passed so that business and professional offices would be open. Alex called the hotel's concierge and arranged for a medical doctor to visit the room. He sat in his chair, one hand resting on Pia’s shoulder, the other on his semiautomatic, and watched the door until a knock signaled the doctor's arrival. Still nervous, he paused before opening the deadbolt. “Who is it?” he asked.

“Doctor Ferdinand Mandinez. The hotel called me. Do you require medical assistance?”

Squinting, Alex peered through the peephole in the door. A short, balding and chubby man with a medical case stood in the hallway. Relieved but cautious, Alex clicked off the Colt's safety. He opened the deadbolt on the door but left the safety chain in place. With the door cracked open the two inches that the chain permitted, he said, “Pass me your ID.”

Boots thudded against the door. The safety chain popped from its mooring, and the door's outer edge slammed against his head. It sent him reeling backward to sprawl on the carpet. A lashing boot hammered his side. Only half conscious, he saw the foot swing again. It connected with the side of his head. Black nothingness engulfed him.

LINKS

A randomly chosen commenter will receive an autographed hardcover version of the author's previous book, The Price of Sanctuary.


Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/07/excerpt-tour-descent-from-truth-by.html

The Last Straw

Today's special guest is Nia Simone. Nia grew up on the side of a ski slope in Squaw Valley, USA. Later, while learning the craft of story writing, she worked in nonprofit and then high-tech.

The best part of working in the computer field was meeting her husband. He took up skiing and she helped him document his computer inventions! They live in "Silicon Valley" in California where their favorite thing to do is cook together for friends. Nia’s specialties are dessert and veggies while her husband’s are entrees and sourdough bread.

Their only pet at the moment is the sourdough starter, which lives in the fridge and requires bi-weekly feeding.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Ally Tobin left New York after one too many bad dates, determined to rebuild a stable life and career as a private investigator in Silicon Valley. But when the man she knew as one name walks into her office with another, will her curiosity once again lead her to risk her heart?

The last thing Special Agent Jared Green needs is "security risk" stamped on the resume of his latest undercover identity. Especially by the woman his job forced him to leave in New York without any explanation. She may threaten his cover, but it's his heart on the line. 

He's good at playing a part. She's good at catching a fake. Can they trust enough to give love another chance?

AN EXCERPT

He sauntered through the door, a white, button- down shirt tucked into belted khakis. When his dark gaze found her, he stopped. Stared. Her throat dried and a rustling motion stirred in her abdomen.

“Hi. I’m Darren Ray.”

Keep your cool, she commanded herself, standing and reaching across the desk. His hand was rough.

She yanked her hand back and waved at the chair. “Please, have a seat.” He waited for her to sit before settling in the visitor’s chair. “So, Darren, according to this, you’re being considered for a programmer position in the IT department. Tell me about your background.”

A professional mask settled over his features. “As you can see on my résumé, I have several years of consulting experience.”

“Tell me something about your experience as a mechanic.” Working on his prized old Mustang had been a favorite hobby.

The corner of his mouth twitched. “What do you mean? That’s not in my résumé.”

“You don’t have the hands of a programmer. More of a mechanic.” Oh, his hands.

“Okay, you got me.” He was going to confess. This should be good. “When I’m not programming computers I’m working on my car.”

“And what were you doing in New York City?”

He reached across her desk for a piece of paper, plucked a pen from its stand and scrawled something.  When she took the note their fingers brushed. Meet me for dinner at Pico’s at 7. I’ll explain everything. Can’t talk here.

LINKS

Nia will be giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to one randomly drawn commenter.

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/08/super-book-blast-last-straw-by-nia.html

Nia blogs every day about travel, food, writing, books, skiing and photography at niasimoneauthor.com (where she won the Versatile Blogger Award and Inspiring Blogger Award).​

Buy link: The Last Straw (http://amzn.to/164srhC)

Website: niasimone.intuitwebsites.com

Facebook: facebook.com/niasimoneauthor

Twitter: @niasimone4

Accidental Affair

Today's special guest is Leslie McKelvey. Leslie has been writing since she learned to write, and her mother still stores boxes of handwritten stories in the attic.  Leslie read her first romance at 12 and was hooked.  When her high school Creative Writing teacher told her she needed to be a novelist, she decided to give it a try.  Finally, at the ripe old age of...forty-something...her debut novel, Accidental Affair, made it into print through Black Velvet Seductions Publishing.  The publisher has also contracted two more manuscripts, which will follow Accidental Affair shortly.

Leslie is a war-veteran who served with the U.S. Navy during the Gulf War, and she was among the first groups of women to work the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.  During her five years tour she was stationed at NAS Miramar and was an F-14 Tomcat mechanic and plane captain.  While in San Diego she spent time on the carriers USS Independence, USS Ranger, USS Lincoln, and the USS Nimitz.  The final two years of her enlistment were spent on Guam and her squadron frequently deployed to Japan and the Middle East.

She learned everything she knows about firearms and tactics from her police officer husband, who is a weapons expert, range master, and firearms instructor for one of the most highly-respected law-enforcement agencies in the world (and one he wishes her NOT to disclose).  He is her biggest supporter and her unpaid consultant on everything law-enforcement and weapons related.  She has three boys who keep her very busy and contribute daily to her growing number of gray hairs.  Her oldest son is a United States Marine and the younger two have vowed to follow in their brother’s footsteps (OOH RAH!).  She spends her off-time (kidding...WHAT off-time?) reading, taking pictures, and sending lead down range (that's shooting, for those who are unfamiliar).  One of her favorite scents is the smell of gunpowder in the morning.... 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Jack Vaughn is sure his life is over as he tumbles down the wooded hillside onto the deserted two-lane stretch of asphalt. Years of work ended with a single gunshot. Yet, it’s not over.

A good Samaritan stops to help him, despite the danger he poses to her.

Laine Wheeler knows better than to stop for strangers on the rural Montana highway near her home, but her conscience won’t allow her to leave an injured man behind.

What she doesn’t know is the man is an undercover ATF agent tasked with infiltrating a domestic terrorist group. His cover has been blown and helping him will put her life in danger.

Though there is an instant attraction, Jack knows that beginning a romantic relationship with Laine would be both unfair and unwise. Yet the farther they run, the harder it gets to ignore the feelings that are surging between them.

AN EXCERPT

It wasn’t hard to get the outlet to short out, and Jack waited as sparks and smoke started to curl from the plug.  There were more sparks and a soft whoosh as a small finger of flame lazily explored the wall.  The finger grew and multiplied and Jack didn’t wait any longer.  He returned the dresser to its original position, quickly crossed the vacant room and went back through the connecting doors, locking each as he went.  After snapping off the latex gloves he’d taken from Laine’s bag, he flushed them then moved to the side of the bed.

She had actually fallen asleep, and he smiled as he eased down on the edge of the mattress.  He wished she could always look so peaceful, her face soft and untroubled with just a hint of a smile.  Jack wondered what she was dreaming about, and if he might be part it.  He shook her gently and she bolted upright.

“What? Are they back?” she asked, her eyes hazy with sleep.

He gripped her shoulder and forced her to look at him, then pressed a hand to her cheek.  “It’s okay, Laine.  We just need to get ready to get out of here.”

She squinted at him and rubbed her eyes.  “What’s going on?”

He gave her a grim look.  “I don’t think you’re going to be getting your deposit back.”

LINKS

Leslie will be giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Card to a lucky tour follower!

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/08/virtual-book-tour-accidental-affair-by.html

http://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Affair-ebook/dp/B009ZP5MV8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352673266&sr=8-1&keywords=accidental+affair+leslie

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/accidental-affair-leslie-mckelvey/1113750316?ean=2940015936421

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/250538

Blog

www.amazonred.wordpress.com

Book Blurb Booboos

Today's special guest is Carolyn Howard-Johnson, the author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. The Frugal Book Promoter is the winner of the USA Book News award and the coveted Irwin Award . Learn more about Carolyn including her fiction and poetry at www.howtodoitfrugally.com. And don’t forget to check out the Writers Resources pages on her Web site, too.

Book Blurb Booboos

Or Nine Ways To Avoid the No-Sales Book Blues

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Subscribers to my Sharing with Writers newsletter sometimes ask me questions for the "Q&A a la Ann Landers" section. One of my favorites was on blurbs (also called endorsements!). They are so important to the health of our books that I got excited anew!

THE AUTHOR ASKED

Do you accumulate quotes as people mention your book?

How do you use them? 

AND I SAID, OR PRACTICALLY BLURTED!

Oh, how I love this topic. Until recently I didn’t ask for quotes from really famous authors, so I’m eager to keep new or emerging authors from making that same mistake. Also—even with a background in journalism and publicity—I didn't have any blurbs put on the back of my first novel because I thought my publisher would do that for me. They didn't! Those were my two biggest blurb booboos! And I made them because the book business is very different from industries that seem similar, industries that I have experience in like PR, journalism, and marketing.

Other than those two biggies here are some tips I’ve gleaned since my booboo days.

Keep positive comments (from any source). They can be about our expertise or about our books. In The Frugal Book Promoter (http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo), I suggest that authors begin to keep folders that will eventually make up the innards of their media kits very early on. I tell how to do it in detail, but for the purpose of blurbs, you just need a folder titled BLURBS or PRAISE—and then remember to pop the quotes into it as they occur. That’s actually the hard part. It’s hard to remember to pay attention so we can identify positive comments that can be converted to blurbs. Hard to get up the courage to ask permission to use them.

Here’s how we can use blurbs:

1. Vary the blurb you use in your e-mail signature or the credit line of your freelance articles. (There is more on the importance of using e-mail signature and articles to promote in The Frugal Book Promoter, too!)

2. Put your blurbs on a special page in your media kit titled something like "Praise for The Frugal Book Promoter." Actually, I sometimes use a page that says, “Unsolicited Praise for The Frugal Book Promoter" because the word "unsolicited" carries so much more clout.

3. Blurbs may sometimes be used in a query letter.

4. Use blurbs  on your postcards, bookmarks, even business cards. (You do use postcards for special events, don’t you? )

5. Put blurbs on the poster you take with you to book signings. 

6. Use a blurb as a footer on your stationery.

7. Use one or more blurbs on handouts you give when you speak or appear at book fairs or signings.

8. One author who writes books for business people even has a blurb printed on her checks.

9. When you publish your book in another format or in another edition, put a page of your favorite blurbs either at the very front of the book or in the backmatter. This may sound brassy to you, but it’s  often done by the most prestigious publishers.

Gee, I think you get the idea. Blurbs, even if they aren't from the most famous people, help sell books. But please don’t avoid asking for famous blurbs. I asked Dan Poynter to endorse the second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter and he was back with a blurb within the day. That is the kind of a validation that no one should hesitate to stick their necks out for.

CONTACT CAROLYN

/ The Frugal Book Promoter: http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo
/ Web site: http://www.HowToDoItFrugally.com
/ E-mail: CarolynHowardJ@AOL.com
/ Facebook: http://Facebook.com/carolynhowardjohnson
/ Twitter: http://Twitter.com/FrugalBookPromo
/ Pinterest: http://Pinterest.com/chowardjohnson

Red Flame

Today's special guest is Pamela Shine. Pamela is 13 years old and wrote Red Flame: Wizards' School and the sequel, Red Flame: Twin Flames while she was 12.  Both books are part of an intended series of seven (may be eight).  Pamela loves reading and writing and hopes to be a screenwriter when she is older.  Having read many books written by adults for children has made Pamela more determined to write a book that is written by a child aimed for children.

ABOUT RED FLAME: TWIN FLAMES

Red Flame: Twin Flames is the sequel to Red Flame: Wizards’ School. 

This book (the sequel) is told in narrative style which is different from the first and the twins from the first book are now telling the story. 

This book takes the twins back to a past they tried to forget and with the help of their teenage wizard friends they are able to confront their fears from their past.

Aiden meets an old friend who turns out not to be as friendly as Aiden had thought. Kat finds out about a special magic that she had been using for the last seven years of her life without even realising it.  Kat is terrified about her ‘magical power’.  Then they have a train ride from hell that brings back memories they would much rather forget, resulting in a visit from someone Kat knows to be dead. Aiden has to overcome some barriers he has ignored for seven years and learn to be strong enough to stand by his sister’s side without being protected while Kat has to face her fears of an old enemy and learns to take control of her magic again before it’s too late for herself, her friends and even Wizland.  Kat, Aiden and their friends (Resha, Malica and Lucas) are dragged into a battle of life and death where good versus evil.

Can the Red Flame gang stop the dark wizards school Dark Star? Or will they win and take magic from Wizland forever?


AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR

Thank you for joining us, Pamela. Can you tell us what reading and/or writing means to you?

For me I love reading and writing.  I like writing about fantasy because it takes me to different place and helps my mind escape from the real world.  However, I do also like reading books with humour because I enjoy a book that makes me smile.

Reading is fun for me and I feel that reading should mean the same to everyone even though everyone is interested in different genres.  When people have understood my books and have given me good or bad feedback, I enjoy improving so people will enjoy my books more and I get a sense of self accomplishment.

CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR

Pamela's Official Website: www.pamelashine.com

Twitter: @redflamebooks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redflamebooks?ref=hl

Buy links:

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Flame-Flames-Pamela-Shine/dp/178035648X/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_2

or

http://www.fast-print.net/bookshop/1373/red-flame-twin-flames

The Door Through the Grandfather Tree

Today's special guest is June M. Pace. June lives with her soon to be husband and best friend Ray, with his youngest son and their two dogs, seven chickens and two ducks, in Santa Cruz Ca.  Ray’s two older kids live respectively in LA and San Francisco.

June spends her days writing and sometimes painting her well known series of Rock n Roll icons.  June and Ray are designing a line of unique, one of a kind, hand-made furniture/accessories, coming out the winter of 2013, Madrona Rust.  

This series of work, the McTish characters, are a part of June in every sense of the word.  “This work brings a deep sense of joy and passion for me in a very profound way, like nothing else that I do.”

ABOUT THE BOOK

It’s Harry Potter meets the Celestine Prophecy in this magical and thrilling ride! The McTish Series is an explosive adventure through a dimensional Gateway into another world, a world of beauty and magic, Coranim...a land of insight, thought and possibilities, that sits beneath the enchanted Gilley Forest.

There is local legend in the small town of Grandlochcheshire that has been passed down for a 100 years about the mysterious disappearance of the Chickering family, that trails on the coat tails of the equally shocking  abduction of the Skeffington Union Rails heirs, Connor and Shelbe. The circumstances that follow this notorious tale enter into the modern world of Benjamin and his two best mates.  

One day Benjamin watches from behind the Rhododendron as a mysterious little woman steps out of a taxi in front of the cream colored house with the forest green trim next door and in one synchronistic moment their eyes lock and a series of visual snippets of unfamiliar events unfold in his mind’s vision. His razor sharp sixth sense allows him the freedom to explore the extrasensory messages coming at him in a frenzied speed, like a derailed freight train.

And when Benjamin finds a peculiar old relic of a key in his grandmother’s garden shed, he could never know his world was about to change forever.

Annabel and Mathilda, two sisters who have moved to Grandlochcheshire from America, have become more than mere friends to Benjamin, they have all become the three Muskydeers (Mathilda’s mispronounced version of Musketeers, which was a huge laugh and of course it stuck), as they are plunged head first into this curious journey.  

In the Gilley Forest they discover that the path they have chosen is inundated with many obstacles as well as intrigue.  Alliances are made with the Forest clan of Gnomes known as the Set, and with the aid of the Vila sisters, Sethina and Morel, as well as some surprising and unexpected allegiances, the three friends take on the test that is the Grandfather Tree.  They must stay on the pre ordained Path of prophecy, portended by the ancient seer Pajah Set, whose ancestry comes from the home of the oldest living beings on the planet, the Elves of the Darmon    However, this is no easy task for the Muskydeers as they have the foulest of sorcery hunting their every move, the powerful dark beauty known to all as Tar Vigorn.

This ruthless Queen is not without humor however, and loves a good game of cat and mouse, as long as she’s the cat. With her biting sense of sarcasm and calculated taunting, she knows just how to unnerve the young Benjamin. Her phantom army known as the Blunt are searching for a way into the Grand Tree and will stop at nothing to infiltrate the pristine world beneath his giant roots.

Once in Coranim the children make the acquaintance of the greatest Medicine Elder alive, Esmerelda Fet.  A most powerful Light Sorceress with a brazen in your face attitude and a thick Irish brogue, who guides the trio on their Path of destiny.  “All tings be possible ya wee chil’ren, if’en ya put yer mind to it!  Thar be nothin ya can’t accomplish.  Ya just need ta be placin all yer carage inta tha middle of yer core whar yer Spirit shines...an ya can do anythin! Ha!”

Filled with many wonders, and home to the Fet clan of Gnomes, Coranim is a magical world of art, sound, thought, invention and discovery....and home to the World Library of Identity, with none other than Dunston Tibbitts at the helm.

Every being on the planet has a book dedicated to the entirety of their lives.  Dunston reports to Benjamin, “according to what I see here now, this very minute, whatever it is that you are seeking will show itself today and change your Path immediately.  It will put you into a whole new dynamic as they say.”

What could alter the overpowering trajectory Benjamin has followed to Coranim?  How will it change his life?

Find out as our three heroes delve into the mystic, as well as their own inner character, as you watch from the edge of your seat.

Book Two, Benjamin Mctish and the Wizards of Coranim, coming 2013

LINKS

Goodreads- http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17984619-benjamin-mctish-and-the-door-through-the-grandfather-tree?ac=1  

Amazon Kindle- http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DVUBZU0

Goodreads- http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7105888

Blog- http://www.benjaminmctish.blogspot.com/

Facebook Events-

Book Blast- https://www.facebook.com/events/485528998207247/

Of Life, Love and Family

Today's special guest is John Tracy Wilson, author of the book Of Life, Love and Family.


ABOUT THE BOOK

In “Of Life, Love and Family,” John Tracy Wilson transparently bares his discoveries on building relationships that are life-changing. This book is for everyone who craves the richness that comes from knowing your life has meaning. As John says: “Whether idyllic or defective, relationships are the fabric of life. We are the threads that determine how the pattern of that fabric will take shape.”

AN EXCERPT

Relationships...they’re overrated – family, friends, love interests, as well as God. The level of grief is just too great. Hurt and pain are far more likely to be the abundant yield than any lasting happiness or joy. Cynical? Maybe – but it’s an easy opinion to endorse, until you’re brought to the realization that life isn’t really about our comfort and bliss. Life is all about relationship.

Can I be an integral piece of the puzzle, a vital part of the master plan?

Does my life even have enough significance to make a difference?

Are relationships really worth it, or is it all fallacy?

Is a relationship with God essential to my happiness?

Does God want to know me on that intimate of a level?

Relationship is what we were created for. There’s more at work here than feeling light and fluffy – having everything laid out nice and neat. Quoting a lyric from one of my songs:  

Plans were laid before we were made; we’re not some cosmic brew

There’s more at stake from the ripples we make, than simply passing through

I haven’t always believed the things I will ask you to consider. Through the years many of my relationships haven’t reflected an image of anything close to perfection. But EVERY relationship, from the one beginning first with our creator God to those that are tangible, holds the purposeful task of being a quintessential layer of who WE will become. Likewise, we also aid in the make-up of who OTHERS may become while we impact and contribute to their foundation, shaping their design as our lives intersect on the way to our completion. Whether idyllic or defective, relationships are the fabric of life. We are the threads that determine how the pattern of that fabric will take shape.

In the coming pages I will be sharing lessons and insights I have grasped about our daily living and time here on earth – both of inspirational encouragement and cautionary warning. These are drawn from my personal experience with situations and circumstances that most of us seem to naturally encounter as we take in and breathe out the elements that form the atmosphere of relationship. Even when all is not perfect and the negative appears to stake it’s entitlement on the reality of our existence, we can still take positive steps to grow from and build meaningful relationships with unending worth, as we find ourselves ever closer to eternity.

CONTACT THE AUTHOR

www.johntracywilson.com

info@johntracywilson.com

www.twitter.com/johntracywilson

www.facebook.com/johntracywilson

www.facebook.com/oflifeloveandfamily

Stealing Fire

Today's special guest is Susan Sloate. Susan is the author or co-author of more than 20 published books, including Realizing You (with Ron Doades), for which she created a new genre, the self-help novel, and the 2003 #6 Amazon bestseller, Forward to Camelot (with Kevin Finn), which took honors in 3 literary competitions and was optioned by a Hollywood company for film production. The much-anticipated reprint, Forward to Camelot (50^th Anniversary Edition), will be published by Drake Valley Press in October 2013.

She has written young-adult fiction and non-fiction, including the children’s biography Ray Charles: Find Another Way!, which was honored in the 2007 Children’s Moonbeam Book Awards. Mysteries Unwrapped: The Secrets of Alcatraz led to her 2009 appearance on the TV series MysteryQuest on The History Channel. Amelia Earhart: Challenging the Skies is a perennial young-adult Amazon bestseller. She has also been a sportswriter and screenwriter, managed two recent political campaigns, and founded an author’s festival in her hometown outside Charleston, SC.

Stealing Fire was a Quarter-Finalist in the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest and combines autobiographical experience with Susan’s lifelong love of the musical theater. She is proud to be related to Broadway legend Fred Ebb, the lyricist for Cabaret, Chicago, All That Jazz and New York, New York.

Visit Susan online at http://susansloate.com. And please attend Book 'Em North Carolina on Saturday, February 22, 2014 - and stop by and say "hello" to Susan and attend her talks. Attendance is FREE and open to the public.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR

Why did you choose New York theatre as the backdrop for Stealing Fire?

It wasn’t really a conscious choice. Stealing Fire is based on something that actually happened to me—a passionate relationship between two mismatched people that I experienced in my ‘20s. I was still in the midst of it and in terrible pain when I sat down at the typewriter (yes, I started it that long ago) and started to write something with characters very similar to me and the man I loved. I didn’t want to mimic real life completely, but I did want to stay close to our situation, and as the man in my life was a writer, I knew Beau would be some kind of writer. So having grown up with and loved musical theater, it was natural for me to make him as a librettist/lyricist, rather than what the real guy was—a novelist and screenwriter.

This story is so powerful partly due to the significance of a particular song in a woman's life that stays with her from childhood. How did you get the idea for that? Do you have something similar from your childhood that has remained with you?

Again, it comes out of experience. I hate to admit that—I’d rather people thought I was just amazingly creative, but the plot of STEALING FIRE is based almost entirely on my own experience, changing the specifics but keeping the characters very similar to us and the emotional bond as well. All that is very real.

I’m glad you were moved by the song from Amanda’s childhood! Yes, that happened to me too, in a different way. When I was about 15, I came home one night from babysitting, was too hyped up to go to sleep and turned on a late movie on TV. The movie just starting had several big stars in it—I won’t mention who—and it was kind of a wild black comedy I didn’t really understand. I turned it off after a few minutes, but I never forgot it. Years later, when I met the guy I fell in love with, I found out it was the movie based on his first novel, a bestseller, and that he had written the screenplay. And that sense of having encountered something long ago that was part of my past, and linking it through him, was very powerful. I changed it to a much younger age, when Amanda would have been much more impressionable, and the song became something she cherished, rather than a movie I turned off. But the impetus came from that.

This is a great love story. Have you found that most people believe in soul mates? Do you believe in them?

I certainly believe in them, because I lived through this relationship, and I know how I felt and how rare that really is. I know it’s possible to meet someone who is part of you in a way that’s almost impossible to describe, and even after years of separation, all it takes is ten seconds of conversation to bring everything back. I also know that having had that once, I will never settle for anything less in a future relationship. There’s no point.

Among women I’ve talked to, most of them do seem to believe—or want to believe—in soul mates. Those who have had an experience similar to mine certainly believe in them. I’ve met few women who just don’t believe at all, but that’s their life experience and I’ve wondered after talking to them what would happen if a soul mate appeared in their lives … would they still profess not to believe? I’d like to be a fly on the wall when THAT happens!

What are you working on next?

This has been an amazing year for me, because I actually have three novels being published within a 3-month period, which is practically unheard of. STEALING FIRE is the first—and I’m very happy with its initial reception. When it first went live on Amazon, 2 months before the official publication date, within 12 hours it went to #2 in its category and it’s stayed on the top 100 list since then. I’m stunned.

The second book coming out is REALIZING YOU, which is a completely new genre—the self-help novel. It has a full plot and—I think—well-developed characters, but the purpose is to really teach important life principles which we illustrate through each character as he or she goes through a journey toward illumination.

The third is FORWARD TO CAMELOT: 50^th Anniversary Edition. This is a revised version of a novel I co-authored 10 years with Kevin Finn, which will be published by Drake Valley Press, who also published STEALING FIRE. This book excites me a lot—it’s a time-travel thriller about the JFK assassination which has many historical figures as characters—President Kennedy, Jackie and Bobby Kennedy, Lee Oswald, Lyndon Johnson—and the research took us a long time. When it first came out, it became a #6 Amazon bestseller, took honors in 3 literary competitions and was optioned for film production. Now we’re hoping to get even more attention for the new version, which we’re really proud of. That comes out in November, since this is the 50^th anniversary of the assassination, which is why we wanted to revisit this book again. I’m looking forward to ‘talking Kennedy’ again in November!

Meanwhile, I’m working on a sequel to FORWARD TO CAMELOT which I expect to publish next year. It features the same main character, an actress named Cady Cuyler (rhymes with Tyler), and a few of the supporting characters from CAMELOT (not the historic figures). This is a completely different type of story, really a murder mystery, that Cady finds herself in the middle of, and she realizes that her previous time travel, which has changed so much in the world, has created the situation which has led to these murders. I’m having a lot of fun writing it.

Thanks, BENC, for hosting me today. I love Book ‘Em and look forward to being a speaker at the 2014 event!

ABOUT THE BOOK

HOW DO YOU RECOGNIZE YOUR SOUL MATE?

In glittery 1980’s Los Angeles, Beau Kellogg, a brilliant lyricist now reduced to writing advertising jingles, yearns for one last Broadway hit to compensate for his miserable marriage and disappointing life.

At the same time, Amanda Harary, a young, idealistic singer out of synch with her contemporaries, dreams of appearing on Broadway, while she holds down a demanding job at a small New York hotel.

When older man and younger woman meet in a late night phone conversation over the hotel’s switchboard, it is the beginning of something neither has ever found—an impossible situation that will bring them each unexpected success, untold joy, and piercing heartache… until they learn that some connections, however improbable, are meant to last forever.

STEALING FIRE is, at its heart, a story for romantics everywhere, who believe in the transformative power of love.

AN EXCERPT

     The phones were ringing off the hook, and it was after three.  And Amanda was tired.

     She disposed of all the calls; she didn't think she could be bright and bubbling tonight. As she started to put down her headset, she realized she'd left one call on hold; the red light winked tantalizingly at her. She pushed the button, and was startled to hear a light, clear whistle delicately sounding one of her favorite old songs.

     For a moment, she just listened. Then she started to hum along, filling in the words where she could remember them.

     The whistling stopped, and the voice she'd come to recognize and dread pushed out at her.  "So you know it."

     "It's one of my favorites." She hummed a few more bars, hesitatingly. "I've known it for years."

     "Remember the title?"  It was a challenge.

     "`Bursting Bubbles'."  That was easy.  She remembered the scratchy old record that Josie had broken years ago. Even now she felt a small pang at losing it. "From a show called The Life and Times."

     "Well, well. I'm impressed. Two points for you."

     "And for you, 704.  Are you into trivia games?"

     He chuckled.  "So you know who I am. That makes you one up on me. I don't know who you are."

     "Why do you want to know? Gonna complain to the boss?"

     "I wanted to thank you. I don't often have a chocolate shake for breakfast, but it really hit the spot this morning. I never get service like this, not even at the Lorelei."