Secondary Monday with Marion Cornett

Historical author Marion Cornett is my guest today with her take on secondary characters. Her novels are set during the prohibition era and feature strong heroines (and secondary characters) who live on their own terms. Please welcome Marion Cornett!

They came at me fast and furiously.  My secondary characters—with voices all their own—directing the story, giving it credence, and even helping to lighten up the hard times facing my protagonists.
I’m always surprised in that moment of clarity.

How could these innocent beings become so important to a story?  How could Izzy and Rita Mae take over the stories and tell each one in their own words when—here I so naively thought—the main character is supposed to have the most to say?

Let me repeat, surprised.  I fell in love with my secondary characters—my heroines—as the stories unfold.  Izzy, the perpetually-positive housemaid and companion in “Juniper and Anise,” published by Whiskey Creek Press in 2014, always saw the best in a bad situation, had solutions to unsolvable problems, and even stepped up when all was lost.  Rita Mae, best girlfriend in “Tilly Loves Johnny,” published in 2016 by the Wild Rose Press, fully believed in the protagonist, Tilly, even when everyone else thought she was going crazy.

Now, tell me, who wouldn’t want loyal friends like these two?

But, more importantly, as each novel unfolds, these were the friends that stuck around.  They were the ones that didn’t give up when small-town attitudes strived to bury someone’s spirit or mental-acuity.

And, in these secondary characters, I found my humorous voice while working on more-often-than-not weighty historical fiction.  Dramas during the Prohibition Era, where my protagonists dealt with violent members of the Detroit Purple Gang and dark-of-the-night rum-running of illicit bathtub gin, blind pigs where glasses of hooch, giggle juice, and rye mash were passed around to party-goers and gamblers in a “dry” country, missing persons, and murder mysteries.  Pretty heavy stuff; a familiar road most historical fiction novels tend to travel.

In “Juniper and Anise,” Izzy unwittingly serves as the main character’s conscience but also protects her at every turn.  Hulda had become a woman bootlegger, with dreams of grandeur, but Izzy kept her grounded.  Of course, she’d help with the making of the juniper and anise-flavored bathtub gin yet she was always outspoken of the dangers.  In a scene, early in the novel, the deputy sheriff, Claude Calkins, nearly stumbled upon the illicit operation while delivering a stack of old newspapers to Izzy.

The following ensued:

“You didn’t tell him where I went, did you?” Hulda gasped.  Izzy flittered around like a butterfly, declaring Mr. Claude had just left and how afraid she’d been that he could’ve walked right into the back room if she hadn’t have spotted him first.

“No, ma’am,” Izzy replied.  “An’ I made him stay outside.”

“Good of you.  Now, help me with these boxes,” Hulda said, handing down a container full of juniper berries.  She pulled another box off the buckboard and headed into the house.  “Can you please take care of Rocky?  That horse is going to be the death of me.  Next time I have to go to Phelpstown, I’m taking Mr. Harvey’s automobile—you know he said I could borrow it anytime.”

"The Devil hisself could’na talk me into drivin’ one of those flivvers, even if he tol’ me Hell’s doors is locked,” Izzy exclaimed.

Hulda laughed out loud….

Izzy showed in only a few paragraphs how Hulda’s illegal operation was safe from prying eyes but there were limits to how far she’d travel—especially not in one of those early-1900 automobiles!

In “Tilly Loves Johnny,” the main character has just related to her best friend of the barbarity of a pig snout, two bloody eyeballs, and slimy entrails desecrating the family dining room—a warning from an unknown thug or faction trying to discourage Johnny’s involvement in operating a blind pig.  In just a few sentences, the reader knew Rita Mae wasn’t going to run from this trouble but would be there for her friend.

“Go on, dry up!” Rita Mae’s hands shot up into the air, knocking over the stack of coins, horror dilating her pupils to large brown orbs.  She was poised as if held at gunpoint.  But then she startled Tilly by placing one hand on her forehead like a mother checking a child’s fever.

“I’m not sick.”  Tilly gently batted her friend’s hand away…

Izzy and Rita Mae, two different novels yet same loyalty, a bit of comedic relief, and maybe even an extension of those wonderful friends in my life.  Look to your own writing—do you have a secondary character you’ve fallen in love with?  Do you hear their voice sometimes better than the main one?  Do you identify more with one character more than others?

It is not a crime to love these characters and to keep fleshing them out more and more.  Secondary characters only make the story stronger and gives a firmer platform for your protagonist, and even sometimes your antagonist, to stand upon.

In my current work-in-progress, a female private investigator in the early 1900s has become that secondary character with her quirks, having an occupation nearly unheard of for a female during that era, and fully giving in to a drive and motivations to help those in her life.

Every day I have a chance to write, I’m excited to see where this person will take the story.  Will she change my outline?  Will she do something outrageous I hadn’t figured on?  Will she become a main character someday?

Blurb for Juniper and Anise:

Hulda Pearl Rosenowski chose to survive, no matter the consequences.  Poland may have been her homeland but, when murderous scavengers kill her mama and dear father, and brother Josef, during a raid on their house, she finds a way to escape.  Unharmed physically but damaged forever, Hulda arrives in America with only the clothes on her back and a tattered potato bag containing a few scarce coins and precious family jewels.

Dreams of becoming a “flapper” girl and brushes with members of the Detroit Purple Gang dominate Hulda’s life as she counts down dwindling reserves, takes care of a broken-down farmhouse, a baby, and hides a secret that could land her in prison.  Years later, as told through the eyes of small-town sheriff Claude Calkins, a story of rum-running and bootleggers stealing away in the dead-of-night with stashes of bathtub gin emerges and changes a young girl’s life forever.

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Juniper-Anise-Marion-L-Cornett-ebook/dp/B01E9DFIOG/

Whiskey Creek Press: http://whiskeycreekpress.com/book/498/juniper-and-anise/

Blurb for Tilly loves Johnny:

Newlywed Tilly Miner turns a deaf ear to rumors and gossip her husband, Johnny, is running parties where “complimentary” hooch loosens lips as well as pocketbooks for those looking to gamble.  Some nights he crawls into their bed, smelling of sour rye mash; others, not even making it home until early morning.  But her loyalty remains unwavering.  And then, the unspeakable happens.

A few days before Christmas, Tilly discovers a bloody atrocity dumped on their kitchen table.  A warning from the Ku Klux Klan?  Johnny laughs it off as a joke.  But, when he goes missing one cold night in February, 1929, Tilly is convinced someone or something prevents his return.

Her undying faith in Johnny is tested by righteous attitudes from her best friend’s mother and a too-cruel mother-in-law, while a recalcitrant sheriff is convinced the man merely ran off.

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tilly-Loves-Johnny-Marion-Cornett-ebook/dp/B01JVC9C7Y/

The Wild Rose Press: http://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/4525-tilly-loves-johnny.html?search_query=tilly+loves+johnny&results=2

Author Bio:

Marion Cornett, like many novelists, began her career in a steep learning curve that ultimately lasted over some forty years before having her first story published.  That meant having national magazines publish original patterns for knitting, crocheting, and needlework, while perfecting her journalistic abilities through motorcycle road racing reporting.

Her claim to fame, at this point, is all about Michigan’s past.  Two volumes on the history of her adopted town, Fowlerville, proved to be a great research tool to then write two historical novels set in a small town that looks a lot like their village in the early 1900s.  “Juniper and Anise,” a story of a woman bootlegger selling bathtub gin during the Prohibition Era, was published by Whiskey Creek Press in 2014 and “Tilly Loves Johnny,” a murder/mystery tale centered around the illicit activities of a blind pig, was published by the Wild Rose Press in 2016.

“The Fowlerville Chronicles” (2010), a compilation of the village’s history from 1836 to 2010, and “Through the Eyes of a Country Editor” (2012), the writings and life of G.L. Adams, publisher and editor of the newspaper, “The Fowlerville Review,” are available in used and new prints.

As research continues, more stories are in the works.  All happening while continuing to travel around the country on named “awesome road trips,” hiking portions of the Appalachian and Arizona trails, and thoroughly enjoying time with her husband, Doug, since falling deep into retirement.

Social Media Links:

www.marioncornett.com

www.facebook.com/marioncornettauthor

www.twitter.com/marionatpath

www.facebook.com/pathpublishing

#AuthorInterview with Gary Guinn

Mystery/Thriller author Gary Guinn is my guest today. This retired English professor has created a character much like himself - an English professor. He even took an incident from his early career as the inspiration for the first book in the series. Please welcome Gary Guinn.

Where did you get the idea for your new novel?

I had begun to feel stagnant in my writing. I found myself revising older work instead of creating new. Then NaNoWriMo popped up, and I decided to take the leap. I just wanted to do something new. All my writing to that point had been literary fiction, so I turned to my favorite genre, mystery/thriller. Almost as a lark, I decided to write about a protagonist very much like myself—a liberal English professor who taught in a small, conservative southern college. It turned out to be liberating and fun.

Was there anything unusual, any anecdote about this book you’d like to share?

Once I decided to create the scenario of liberal professor at a conservative college, it was easy to establish the first major plot point, the catalyst of everything that followed. It was a gift, in a way. Early in my career at the college where I taught, three of my close friends, who were also liberal professors in three different departments, received disturbing threatening notes from an anonymous antagonist because of their progressive beliefs. The threats were never carried out, but it was a very unsettling time at the college. I simply adapted that actual event as the springboard for my own plot. On page one, my protagonist, Dr. Lam Corso, liberal English professor, receives a note threatening his life, from someone who doesn’t like his beliefs.
   
What do you want readers to come away with after they read your book?

In the novel, there is a strong strain of religious and political fanaticism and  intolerance that drives some of the characters. We live in a world where the destructive results of fanaticism and intolerance leap out at us every day. The novel does not attempt to promote any particular ideology, but I do hope the story is a voice for tolerance and respect and the importance of the dignity of every human being.

Do you work on more than one book at a time?

Yes. During the final revisions of Sacrificial Lam, I was also writing the second book in that series, the working title of which is A Lam to Slaughter.  At the same time, I was revising a sequel to my first book, a literary novel titled A Late Flooding Thaw. The working title for that sequel is Every Time I Breathe. I think working on three novels at the same time taxes my ability to really focus on the story in front of me. It makes sense to me to be working on your next book as you finish up the current project, but maybe three at once is one too many.

Gary, I've recently found myself in the situation of writing several books at once, and I can definitely tell you it's too many. What comes first for you – plot or character? And why?

I would say usually character comes first. In most of my short fiction and in my four novels, I begin with a character that intrigues me and build a plot around the character. The reason is simple. I find certain people, and certain character types, fascinating. When I come across someone who grabs my attention, and when that person sticks in my mind and keeps popping into my thoughts, then I have a character for a story. I begin to imagine that character in a situation, and the story builds from there. The exception to this rule is that for several of my short stories I have been attracted to a news story that becomes the catalyst for a work of fiction. The best example of that is a story published in Carve Magazine about ten years ago, titled “The Scar.” It grew from a newspaper story about a pickup truck that ran off a curb and drove through the back wall of a country church.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I wrote my first novel as a “pantser.” Started with a character or two and an incident, and let the story guide me through. It was a long and winding road and the revision process was much more extensive than it would have been with a more structured outline. For the three novels I’ve written since then, I’ve become a “plotter.” I spend two to four weeks writing and re-writing an outline that includes all the major events in the story. By the time I’m finished with the outline, it is four to six pages long and it clearly reflects the story structure. I know where the major plot points are located and what needs to happen to make them work. I don’t feel enslaved to the outline. If a new idea comes up that I think will make the story better, I go back and work it into the outline. I have found this to be a much more effective way to write long narratives. For my short fiction, I am still pretty much a “pantser.”

What’s one thing that your readers would be surprised to learn about you?

Interesting question. Maybe that I have been spooked by heights all my life, and so when I was in college I took a sky-diving class and jumped twice, just to prove to myself that I could do it.
Or maybe that, when my two grandchildren were infants (They are four and six now), I brewed each of them a very strong beer, a Barleywine, that is stored away until they come of age, at which time they can drink the beer. It’s a custom handed down from jolly old England.

Do you have any pets? Are you cat person or a dog person? Or are you into totally different pets, like goldfish? What do you like best about your pet?

We have two dogs, both pound puppies. They are, like two siblings, very different from each other. The older one, a male lab mix named Seamus (after the late Irish poet Seamus Heaney), is cautious and catlike. He is not cuddly, though he can be very affectionate when he chooses to be. He is very watchful and is the first one out the doggy door when there is something that needs barking at. The younger one, a female corgi mix named Peanut (because she is long and brown), wants all the affection. She will squeeze in between Seamus and whoever is petting him. If you stop petting her, she paws on your hand, letting you know she has not given you permission to stop. She often wakes us in the morning by licking our faces.

What are your hobbies away from the computer?

1) I started brewing beer about six or seven years ago. I have brewed a wide variety of types of beer. My favorites are India Pale Ale and Rye Ale.

2) My wife and I travel a lot. When I was still teaching at the college, we took students on foreign study trips, and did a lot of traveling in Europe on our own. Our son and his family lived in Ireland for eight years, so we visited them often. Now we like to head south for the winter. We spent the month of January in Caye Caulker off the coast of Belize.

3) We walk three miles per day, in part for exercise, in part to exercise the dogs, and in part because we love walking.

4) I love to sit with a glass of brandy and a good book.
That all sounds good, Gary. Especially the going south for the winter part!

Name two authors we might find you reading when taking a break from your own writing.

Hakan Nesser, the Scandinavian crime writer.
Louise Erdrich, the Native American writer.
John Irving

What are two (or more) of your all-time favorite books in any genre?

Love Medicine, by Louise Erdrich
Sharpshooter Blues, by Lewis Nordan
Cider House Rules, by John Irving

What do you like best about your hero?

My hero, Lam Corso, is not heroic until he is forced to be. When he has to protect his wife and children, he does what has to be done, though it is terrifying. And he brews beer, like me.

What do you like best about your heroine?

When forced to make life-or-death decisions that threaten to destroy her most cherished beliefs, Susan Corso finds a degree of strength she has never known. And she has a sexy smile.

How do you choose the names and physical characteristics of your characters? Do you base them on real people?

I collect interesting names from the obituaries in the newspaper. Then when I need a character name, I mix and match until I find a name that sounds right for the character. I tend to use real people as models for the basic physical characteristics of my characters, though I usually add to them and modify them to better fit the nature of the character.

How can readers reach you or find you online?

Email: gary.guinn@gmail.com
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/garyguinnwriter/

Facebook Personal Page: https://www.facebook.com/
Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/585203.Gary_Guinn
Twitter: @gmguinn

Tell us a little about your current work in progress.

I am currently working on the second book in the Lam Corso series, the working title of which is A Lam to Slaughter. Whereas the first novel, Sacrificial Lam, begins with a death threat and progresses gradually in the intensity to a crescendo, the second book, at least as it is in the first draft, will open with a corpse hanging in the stairwell and move more quickly into intense action. My protagonist, Lam Corso, decides to help the widow of the murdered man find out who killed him. That, of course, triggers a snowballing series of threatening and violent events.

The opening line of the draft is “In the dim lighting of the stairwell, the flashes of the police camera briefly illuminated the body, hanging inert and heavy from a nylon rope, casting grotesque shadows on the concrete walls, barely registered on the retina before they were gone.”

What’s your tagline? Why did you choose it?

The tagline of my current release is: Someone is set on a path of destruction and determined to sacrifice Lam. Actually, my editor, Laura Kelly suggested the tagline, and I thought it sounded good.

Blurb for SACRIFICIAL LAM:

When English professor Lam Corso receives a death threat at work, he laughs it off.  A liberal activist at a small Southern conservative college, he's used to stirring up controversy on campus.  It's just part of the give and take of life.  Even when violently attacked, Lam is convinced it must be a mistake.  He can't imagine anyone who would want to kill him for his beliefs.

When his home is broken into and his wife's business vandalized, Lam is forced to face the truth. His wife—a passionate anti-gun crusader—is outraged when Lam brings a gun into the house for protection. The police can't find a single lead. Left to their own devices, Lam and Susan are forced to examine their marriage, faith, and values in the face of a carefully targeted attack from an assailant spurred into action by his own set of beliefs.


What will it cost to survive?

EXCERPT:

When he dropped Lam back to the pavement, he said, “You dodged a bullet Friday afternoon. My bad. But I won’t miss this time.” And then the attacker stepped away and waited, breathing hard.
Another shock of fear and clarity ran through Lam. The car had been trying to kill him. He’d been a fool. He thought of Susan, sitting with the boys on the sofa, watching TV and sipping a glass of wine. He couldn’t let go of her, he couldn’t bear to leave her and the boys, lying there in an empty parking lot. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. He had imagined dying hundreds of times—cancer, car wreck, drowning, plane crash—but never this, beaten to death by a lunatic who didn’t like his politics.

A desperate sound, short, high, and strained, broke from him. Blind without his glasses in the dark, he was helpless, but he refused to lie there and be killed without a fight. He tried again to stand. But as he struggled to his knees, a blow to the side of his head sent him sprawling against the bike rack, and he thought he was passing out.

The voice came again, “Time’s up, Lambert.”

When Lam looked up, the man stood above him with something, a knife Lam thought, in his hand.

The voice said, “You were warned.”

BUY LINKS:

The Wild Rose Press   Amazon

AUTHOR BIO:

Gary Guinn’s great, great grandfather moved his family to the southern Ozark Mountains from Kentucky after the Civil War. He lives in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, with his wife, Mary Ann, and their lab mix, Seamus, and their Corgi mix, Peanut. He writes both literary and mystery/thriller fiction. His first novel, A Late Flooding Thaw, was published by Moon Lake Publishing in 2005. His poetry and fiction have appeared in a variety of magazines, and his short fiction has appeared in several anthologies, the latest being Yonder Mountain, from the University of Arkansas Press. His mystery/thriller novel Sacrificial Lam, released by The Wild Rose Press March 3rd, is set on a small Southern college campus. His favorite pastimes are reading, writing, travelling, and brewing beer (and of course, drinking it).

Secondary Monday with Kate Hill

Paranormal romance writer Kate Hill is here today to talk about Secondary Characters. Her Fangs and Fists series features several characters who were once secondary characters in other books. Please welcome Kate Hill!

First Impressions of Secondary Characters

Secondary characters, especially in series books, are often as important as the main characters in a story. Many times characters who are stars of their own book are introduced in a previous story in the series. They need to make a good impression, not only because they add to the richness of the story, but because they should create enthusiasm for future stories.

Sometimes you know which secondary characters will have their own book, other times they take even the author by surprise. In my new series, Fangs and Fists, I knew that three particular secondary characters were the heroes and a heroine of the next two books in the series. Their stories had already been planned and I knew them as well as the hero and heroine in Fangs and Fists 1: Bolt. While writing the first draft of the story, several other secondary characters became, at least in my mind, potential main characters for more books. Since writing Bolt, I now have two additional stories plotted with the potential for more. The world of Fangs and Fists has been a lot of fun to explore, and I hope it will continue throughout 2017.

Since everyone responds to characters differently, good secondary characters might also connect with readers in a way the author doesn’t expect. When readers express interest in a certain secondary character, it’s usually a great opportunity for authors to examine their work in a way they might not have considered. Your next hero might be a character that you almost overlooked.

Secondary characters are often more than just tools to enhance the main characters. They have the power to expand fictional worlds in ways that might amaze both readers and authors.

Author Bio:

Always a fan of romance and the paranormal, Kate Hill started writing over twenty years ago for pleasure. Her first story, a short erotic vampire tale, was accepted for publication in 1996. Since then she has sold over one hundred short stories, novellas and novels.

When she's not working on her books, Kate enjoys reading, working out, spending time with her family and pets and running the Compelling Beasts Blog, dedicated to antagonists, antiheroes and paranormal creatures. She also writes under the name Saloni Quinby.

Fangs and Fists 1: Bolt
by Kate Hill
An erotic paranormal romance from Changeling Press.

Blurb:

Kiara remembers what life was like living free–before she was taken by demons and bred to gladiators so that the new generations of wolves would retain their ferocity but forget their freedom. Mated to top gladiator Grit, she has a son with this surprisingly gentle lover who is also planning their escape. When Grit is killed in the arena, his close friend Bolt upholds his promise to protect Kiara and the cub.

Bolt and Kiara have loved each other from the moment they met, but they buried their feelings because she was mated to his best friend. When Grit dies, despite their guilt, Bolt and Kiara surrender to their desire for each other. Will their love be strong enough to help them win freedom from their evil masters?

Excerpt:

Bolt came to her again that night.

As before, the guards opened the door abruptly.

Kiara had been pacing the cell while Jett slept soundly in the adjoining room. She turned toward the door, her heart pounding with anticipation.

Wearing only his loincloth, Bolt entered behind the first guard. His blue gaze flew to Kiara. The guards said nothing, but left them alone, closing the door behind them.

"Bolt," Kiara said, meeting him halfway across the room.

They embraced tightly and he covered her face with gentle kisses.

"I had a strange conversation today," she whispered in his ear, hoping that if the masters were listening, they wouldn't be able to hear her. "A huntress said we should be ready tonight."

"Yes. Her name is Zari. She's been planning this escape with us for months. Me, Grit and a couple of others. Victor is fighting again tonight. His opponent is one of ours, a wolf named Glacier. Since killing Grit, Victor's next fight has been greatly anticipated. From what I've heard, most of the demons in the tower will be watching."

"You really trust her? This Zari woman?"

Author Links:

http://www.kate-hill.com

http://www.kate-hill.com/blog

http://www.kate-hill.com/compellingbeastsblog

https://www.amazon.com/Kate-Hill/e/B002BLS7OW/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1485103167&sr=1-2-ent

http://www.facebook.com/katehillsaloniquinby

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16157.Kate_Hill

https://plus.google.com/110359814167605096582

http://www.twitter.com/katehillromance

http://www.twitter.com/compbeastsblog

#AuthorInterview with Donna Simonetta

Fellow Wild Rose Press author Donna Simonetta is my interview guest today. Donna has just released a brand new contemporary romance called A SWEETER SPOT. Donna says her characters bear a lot of similarities to her and her husband. Well, like they say, write what you know! Please welcome Donna Simonetta!

How many books do you have under the proverbial bed? Will they ever see the light of day?

I have the first two books of a projected trilogy stashed away. They were the first two novels I wrote, and as such, have a lot of beginners’ mistakes. It was fantasy romance series, where the heroine was half-witch and half-Fae, and the hero was a Weretiger. I adore this series, and hope it sees the light of day sometime. I always intend to go back and polish it up, so I can try to sell it, but demands on my time, especially now that I’ve been published, never seem to allow it.

Where did you get the idea for your new novel?

A Sweeter Spot is the first contemporary romance novel I wrote that has no fantasy elements to it, so I wanted to write something I felt comfortable with, since I was uncomfortable without having the help of angels, shapeshifters, or fairies! You always hear people saying to ‘write what you know’, and that was my kicking off point for A Sweeter Spot. While we are unfortunately NOT the grandchildren of a billionaire and a former NFL player, my husband and I do share some similarities to Magda and Jeff. Like Magda, I am a librarian from Connecticut. And my husband is a native Virginian; therefore, a true gentleman to his core, as is Jeff. When I first went to visit his family in Virginia, I remember some funny culture clash incidents and thought they might be the kernel of a contemporary romance. 

What was the most difficult thing about writing this book?

See the answer above! Having Jeff and Magda share some character traits with my real-life husband and me, makes me feel vulnerable now that people are about to read it! What if a reviewer hates them? Usually I can take constructive criticism pretty well, but if someone disses my honey? I’m not so sure. 

Do you work on more than one book at a time?

Since The Wild Rose Press published Angels Fly last summer, I’ve had to. Write now, I’m working on the third book in the Rivers Bend trilogy. A Sweeter Spot is the first, and I’m waiting to hear back from TWRP about Book 2.  When I do, then I will begin edits on it. I’m also working on a ghost story that I’m really excited about! Obligations for contracted novels have forced me to put it on the back burner, but it’s been on my mind lately, and I’m antsy to get back to work on it.

Do you have any words of advice to beginning writers?

Writing is a personal endeavor, and every writer goes about it their own way. For me, I let the first draft flow. I don’t like to interrupt the initial creative process with worry over grammar or word choice, I save that for the second draft. And once you begin to put your work out there to sell it, you need to develop a thick skin. You can’t take criticism personally. If it’s constructive, and in my experience the vast majority of criticism is, then try to learn from it and move on with your work. When I first began querying agents with the fantasy trilogy I told you about earlier, I got my first rejection within half an hour of sending my email. Half a freaking hour! I got a little teary-eyed, and then picked another agent and sent it out again. 

Tell us a bit about you. Where do you live, and how long have you been writing?

I live in Maryland now, although I’m originally a New Englander. I was born and raised in Connecticut, went to the University of Massachusetts, and lived in New Hampshire for a year. I’ve been writing about ten years now. I actually had a health scare, and it made me re-evaluate my life. I realized that I always wanted to write fiction, but it kept getting pushed aside for real-life issues. At first, my husband was the only one who knew I was writing. I asked him to read the fantasy romance I was working on and to be brutally honest with me. Fortunately, he really liked it! Then I ‘fessed up to a friend, and he asked to read what I’ve been writing, and he enjoyed it too. I knew that as men they were not the traditional audience for a romance novel, but felt encouraged to keep writing. Getting published was a long road, paved with rejection letters, but in a way I’m glad for it, as I feel that it inspired me to continue to edit and improve my work.

Do you have another occupation, other than writer? If so, what is it? Does it help you with your writing?

I do. I have my MLS, and work part-time in the library at a private boys middle school. And, yes, it has helped my writing. It’s great to be surrounded by books all day, and we also have our regular ‘library guys’–students whose enthusiasm for books and reading is inspiring! Over the years, more female faculty and staff have joined our team, but when I first started we were a definite minority. Working in such a testosterone-heavy environment, has really taught me a lot about men–how they speak, and interact with one another–and I believe it’s helped to make my male characters more realistic.

If money were not an object, where would you most like to live? Why?

I would live on a beach. I’m not sure where, probably a Caribbean island. Definitely somewhere that stays warm year-round! Maybe it’s the fact that I lived in New England the first 35 years of my life, but I am so very over cold, snowy winters.  

How can readers reach you or find you online?

I have an author page on Facebook and am on Twitter…here are the links to find me online:

https://www.facebook.com/donnasimonettaauthor

https://twitter.com/donna_simonetta


Blurb for A SWEETER SPOT:

Magda knows a 28-year-old shouldn’t run away from home, but Rivers Bend is the ideal escape. Helping out her best friend will get her away from her uber-wealthy, controlling grandmother and duplicitous ex. She doesn’t expect the quirky little town to feel so much like home. Add in hotter-than-the-sun Jeff and his daughter, and leaving seems as unthinkable as it is inevitable.

Raising Sam alone, Jeff knew he wanted her to grow up in his supportive hometown. The arrival of a feisty new tenant sends Jeff's world spinning. Magda fills a void in his life that he’d like to make permanent.


Will love triumph over the most powerful woman in the country, and can they figure out how to make this happy-for-now in Rivers Bend into their happy-ever-after?

Excerpt:

“Being cheated on is no fun. It happened to me once. Up here,” he tapped his forehead. “You know it’s not your fault. But here,” he tapped his chest over his heart. “You feel like it has to be your fault – like you could’ve done something to prevent it. But you couldn’t have. It’s all on him, Maggie. Not you.”

She picked a dandelion, whose flower had turned into a puffball, and blew on it, scattering the fluff to the wind. “Maybe. Maybe not. But thanks for the support.”

She pushed to her feet and took a couple of steps toward the river. Jeff rose and followed.

How could he be so angry at a man he didn’t even know? How could this Pierce jerk have slept around on a woman like Maggie? And the prick had even made her doubt herself in the process. It was written all over her anguished face.

He stood behind her and gently kneaded her shoulders. He turned her to face him and cupped her face in his big hands.

“This Pierce guy is the biggest fool on earth to go to someone else when he had you at home, Maggie.”


She blinked away tears, and he felt his heart constrict. Before he could think it through and decide it was a really bad idea, Jeff dipped his head and captured Magda’s lips in a gentle kiss.

Buy Links: 

Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Sweeter-Spot-Rivers-Bend-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B01N1S1K06/

The Wild Rose Press:
http://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/4862-a-sweeter-spot.html

Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-sweeter-spot-donna-simonetta/1125338511?ean=2940157374921

Amazon UK:

http://amzn.eu/14pwrnP

Author Bio:

After years working in the business world, my love of reading led me to get my MLS, and I currently work part-time in a school library, a job that allows me lots of time to explore my other love - writing romance! I live in Maryland, with my husband, who is my real-life romance hero. We both enjoy traveling to visit our far-flung family and friends, and spending time on the beach with an umbrella drink and a good book.

https://www.facebook.com/donnasimonettaauthor


https://twitter.com/donna_simonetta

#NewRelease from Adriana Kraft

Bring on the trumpets – we need a fanfare!

We’re so excited to share this fabulous cover for our upcoming Romantic Suspense The Painter is a  Lady! Secrets. Trust. Courage. Who will knuckle under first—the war hero? The spirited single mom? Or the former high school bully who still hates them both?

Book Info:

Title: The Painter is a Lady Release Date: March 17, 2017
Author: Adriana Kraft
Publisher: eXtasy Books
Word count: 74,600
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Heat Level: Three flames

Wish List / Pre-Order Link

http://www.extasybooks.com/the-painter-is-a-lady/

BLURB

When war hero Michael Jarvis returns to his home town on the shores of Lake Superior, he doesn’t plan to stay—he’s undercover, investigating a possible sex trafficking ring operating on the Great Lakes. But he does want to sample the pesky girl next door he always turned down—and it wouldn’t hurt if she’d clear up a few mysteries of her own along the way.

Successfully established as an interior house painter, Brenda Tower finally has her act together as a single mom—but it hangs by a thread, a secret she’ll guard with her life. The return of her youthful crush Michael Jarvis threatens to unravel everything.

Jealousy has inflamed Brett Hill’s hatred of Michael and Brenda for as long as he can remember. Revenge will be so sweet—and it will fit in perfectly with his high stakes game.

When the secrets break open, can Michael and Brenda find the courage to trust each other, or will revenge and betrayal triumph?

MORE ABOUT OUR COVER

We loved working with Syneca Featherstone of Original Syn designs (and what an original title for her business!) One shot, over and out – she nailed our concept, our characters and their hot moment in her first try. We hope we can work with her again and are so glad she’s now in the eXtasy Books stable of cover artists! Here’s what she had to say about putting this cover together:

“When I read the cover request I remember thinking how important it was to find an image of a couple with obvious chemistry and with luck, appeared to have real emotion. I was starting to despair that I was not going to find what I wanted and then tada!! It went so well with the background I selected and gave the overall feel of the location and the couple. I was on pins and needles waiting to hear back from Adriana. When she approved the cover I did my little happy dance (no worries, it was in the privacy of my office so no children or fuzzy animals were scarred for life because they saw it). I hope I get the chance to work with Adriana again and hope this book sells a MILLION!!”

Us, too!  

Subscribe to our Newsletter for sneak peeks, extra excerpts, and more about how we came to write this book!

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ABOUT ADRIANA KRAFT

We are a married couple writing Sizzling Romantic Suspense and Erotic Romance for Two, Three, or More.

Our Romantic Suspense line delivers “warmth, blazing hot sex, and well-developed characters” (Romance Junkies Reviews) as our hero and heroine battle outer threats and inner demons to stay alive and fall in love.

We write our Erotic Romance stories to entertain, of course, but most of all we write them because we believe in happy endings for all who fall in love, whatever their gender, sexual orientation or numerical combination.

LINKS

Website: http://adrianakraft.com
Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/Adriana-Kraft-182846025133440/
Twitter: @AdrianaKraft http://twitter.com_@AdrianaKraft
Google+ Adriana Kraft  

ENTER OUR CONTEST!

One free download of The Painter is a Lady to the lucky winner! E-book will be sent March 17, when the book releases.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#AuthorInterview with Michal Scott

Michal Scott is my interview guest today. This erotic writer is also an ordained minister. Please welcome this very interesting writer!

Where did you get the idea for your new novel?

I came across an account of the first woman sentenced to hang in some Southwest state (can’t recall which right now) in a book on women and the West. The account shared that they hung her, but she didn’t die so they just hung her again. But that planted a “what if” in my writer’s brain. I thought what if a woman was unjustly sentenced and hung for a crime she didn’t commit, didn’t die, then was proved innocent and pardoned. What would her life be like? What would she be dealing mentally, spiritually, physically? How could a woman like that find love and who would she find it with? The story took off from there.  

Why did you choose this genre?

I’ve always loved history. So after finding and falling in love with Beverly Jenkins’ historical romances, I decided I wanted to try writing African-American historical romance. But I also have been trying to write erotic romance with a faith arc, what I call Christian erotic romance.

Tell us a bit about you. Where do you live and how long have you been writing?

I’m a native New Yorker and live happily in Brooklyn with my husband and our two cats. I’ve been writing seriously since 2003 when I joined RWA.

Do you have another occupation, other than writer? If so, what is it? Does it help you with your writing?

I’m an ordained United Church of Christ and Presbyterian Church USA minister. Oddly enough, the genre it helps the most with is my erotic romance writings.

How can readers reach you or find you online?

I’m on Twitter as Twitter - @mscottauthor1 which connects with my more political and erotic interests and @Revannable where people can connect with my inspirational interests. Depending on the genre people are interested in, they can check me out on my genre specific websites: erotic romance: www.michalscott.webs.com,
gothic romance:  www.annamtaylor.webs.com and
inspirational romance: www.annataylor2678.webs.com

Tell us about your current work in progress.

I’ve got two WIPs that finaled in a few contests, one since 2009 and the other since 2012. I am determined to finish and submit or self-publish them in 2017/2018. The first is an inspirational historic romance dealing with a mail order bride arrangement between a Northern freewoman who comes West to marry a former slave. The second is a paranormal Christian erotic romance that unites a former evangelical-turned-catholic heroine with her vampire ex-lover in an attempt to save her sister from vampirism.

One Breath Away by Michal Scott

Excerpt:
His smile turned up the heat in his gaze. Mary frowned, painfully aware the smell of her passion lingered in the air, despite the woolen barrier of her skirt.

He stepped forward so his hand-stitched boots stood toe-to-toe with Mary’s second-hand shoes.

“Eban Thurman, at your service, Miss Hamilton. May I get you something to drink?”

At her service? The air congealed. Mary gasped, trying to suck in air too solid to inflate her lungs.

“No—no, thank you. I’m not thirsty.” Her stutter mimicked the tremor between her thighs. She clasped her hands and planted them hard against her lap.

“It’s a really hot night.” He turned his hand palm up in a silent plea. “Perhaps you’d find a waltz more cooling.” He eased his fingers into her clenched hands. “May I beg the honor of this dance?”

“Beg?”

“Yes, Miss Hamilton.” He tilted his head, slanting his smile to the right. “Beg.”

“You don’t strike me as the begging type, Mr. Thurman.”

“To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.” He tongue-swiped his full lips as if he’d just tasted something he wanted to taste again. “I know when it’s time to beg.”

She pursed her lips into a frown, fought back the urge to grovel and won. Barely.

The fingers around hers, clean and huge and strangely slender, hadn’t moved, hadn’t trembled. Their stillness aroused her. His stillness aroused her. Her lips quivered. She inhaled deeply against the surrender summoned by that tiny tremor.

Resist the devil and he will flee.

Silently she called upon the truth in this scripture for rescue.
The devil waited. She stared at the hand on hers, helpless against the appeal, the allure of temptation.

She swallowed hard, opened her mouth to say no, but her tongue refused to cooperate. She huffed out a breath and shook her head.

“I—I can’t. I don’t know how to waltz.”

“Well, you’re in luck.” His lips bowed in a smile, full, broad, and hypnotizing. “I’m an excellent teacher and I bet you’re a fast learner.” He gave her fingers a squeeze. “Shall we?”

He really wanted to dance with her. She blinked, speechless. A warning voice protested.

Resist.

Her heart countered.

Surrender.

Blurb:

Sentenced to hang for a crime she didn’t commit, former slave Mary Hamilton was exonerated at literally the last gasp. She returns to Safe Haven, broken and resigned to live alone. Never having been courted, cuddled or spooned, Mary now fears any kind of physical intimacy when arousal forces her to relive the asphyxiation of her hanging. But then the handsome stranger who saved her shows up, stealing her breath from across the room and promising so much more.

Wealthy freeborn-Black Eban Thurman followed Mary to Safe Haven, believing a relationship with Mary was foretold by the stars. He must marry her to reclaim his family farm. But first he must help her heal, and to do that means revealing his own predilection for edgier sex.

Then just as Eban begins to win Mary’s trust, an enemy from the past threatens to keep them one breath away from love…

Buylinks:

Wild Rose Press: http://bit.ly/2k3sXsR
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/One-Breath-Away-Michal-Scott-ebook/dp/B01L101Q6E/ 

RESCUE ME now free!

My romantic comedy RESCUE ME is now free at Amazon, Kobo and Barnes and Noble.

 Chelsea Andrews can’t decide who’s more dangerous; the creep on the Toronto city bus, or the handsome stranger who rescues her. She doesn’t hang around to find out. Fate intervenes when out of work actor Matt Malone sublets the apartment next door, and Chelsea discovers the most dangerous thing about her charming new neighbor is the damage he’s inflicting on her heart. She’s had enough of men like Matt; her father was a philandering charmer who left devastation in his wake. But the more she gets to know Matt, the more she realizes he’s not like her father at all.

Success has eluded Matt’s acting career. His family is pressuring him to give up acting and work full-time as a chef at the family business, Malone’s Irish Pub. Matt likes to cook but acting is his passion. He’s nearly thirty now, and meeting Chelsea makes him think of settling down. Should he give up his dreams for love’s sake?

Chelsea is starting to believe she can trust Matt with her heart when strange romantic notes begin showing up at the art gallery where she works. Then she’s followed home from the bus stop late one night, and her apartment is broken into. All the evidence points to Matt as the culprit. Is he the kind, funny, sincere man she’s falling in love with, or some kind of stalker? Will the real Matt Malone please stand up?