How to be Happy and Successful in Everything You Do! by Terry Drake, Author of Live Happily Ever After...Now!

Today's guest blogger is Terry Drake, author of the self-help book, Live Happily, Ever After... Now!.

Live Happily, Ever After… Now! uses age old, time tested secrets (found in NLP, Law of Attraction, Positive Psychology, and Hypnosis) to teach you how to create the life you want! Ask yourself: Are you in control of what you think, act and feel? Are you living the life you want? Would you like to be happy and successful in everything you do? The key is learning how much control you have over your life, your beliefs and attitudes about yourself, others and the world you live in. Once you understand that you are in control (and you will), then you can use the 9 simple steps to begin living the life you want.

How to be Happy and Successful in Everything You Do! by Terry Drake

What do all successful and happy people have in common?

They believe in themselves and their ability to accomplish whatever they want. Not everyone shares this belief about themselves and the world they live in. Several people actually believe the exact opposite about themselves, even though they experience success and happiness, they are unable to fully enjoy it, because they don’t believe they deserve it or that it won’t last or that they got lucky. Your beliefs can prevent you from doing the things that you want and enjoying the things you want, yet even though they are this powerful, they are completely under your control.

Yes, you are in full control of what you believe about yourself and the world you live in! The problem is you don’t fully understand this or how your beliefs were developed, so you don’t challenge or replace them and live as if they were true. In order to be happy and successful in everything you do, you have to first believe it’s possible and to do that you need to understand more about your belief system.

Your Belief System

The most interesting fact about your belief systems are that they developed during your childhood. Before you even entered adolescence and adulthood, your fears, concerns, and thoughts about yourself and others were already formed. You developed these by your interactions with the adults and peers who were involved in your life.

An example of how an un-useful belief is formed is as follows: A three-year-old child wants attention from his father, so the child jumps on his father’s lap and interrupts him. The father’s response is, “Hey, what are you doing?” followed by “Not now I am busy. Go bother your mom!” The child of three then internalizes this experience and tells himself that he is not good enough for dad. Then between the ages of 3 and 6 this message is reinforced by the father and other adults. The message then becomes, I am not good enough and should keep quiet. The boy begins to believe this and live as if it were true, maybe forever, or until he learns differently. This, most likely, wasn’t the message that the father wanted to pass onto his son. However, you must remember it was a young child who was processing the information. The messages you received throughout childhood affected who you are today. These messages were interpreted by you to mean something and that meaning was solely based on the self, because early in life it was all about you; how you felt about a message, then how it related to you, and finally how you fit into the world because of the message. Whether the message had a positive intention or was an act by an unhealthy adult taking advantage of a child, the child’s perception was internalized, processed, and the message shaped how the child thought about himself and others.

Once you have your beliefs, they will shape the choices you make and the chances you take. These beliefs become quick messages that automatically play in your mind when you think about making changes or trying new things. When the messages are un-useful they result in your being unsuccessful and unhappy. So to summarize it up, you are currently limiting yourself, based on thinking that was developed as a child and reinforced by the same thinking, resulting in your current attitude about yourself and the world you live in.

The ease in changing this

Your beliefs and the way you approach life has become habitual. Think about it, most likely you approach your various day-to-day activities with an already pre-programmed belief and attitude. Take Monday’s for example, how many of you dread Monday’s? Why? Have you ever thought about it? What has Monday ever done to you? Nothing, it is just a word that is used to label a day of the week and is most often recognized as the start to a new work week, the same as Friday, except Friday is the label for the last day of the traditional work week and most of you view Friday’s in a much different manner.

You have full control over how you think and feel about Mondays, but you first have to realize this and once you do you can pay attention to the reason you feel that way. Once you understand the reason, then you can challenge and replace it, finally practicing your new found belief about Mondays and this will lead to a new attitude about Mondays. In order to break a habit, you have to become consciously aware of it, understand it and then replace the behavior and practice the changes until it becomes permanent. Healthy and positive beliefs plugged into any scenario will result in different results. Beliefs will affect your thinking, attitude, and actions determining how feedback is perceived. Most importantly is the simple fact that you have control over all of these aspects, especially your beliefs, once you understand them.

Live Happily, Ever After… Now! Helps you understand how much control you have over your beliefs and gives you simple, yet concrete methods to change them. The reason you can do this with ease, is that you already use the same methods to get your current results, you just don’t fully understand how the process works. Once you understand the whole process and how much control you have over it, then it is just a matter of implementing the changes and practicing them, which the book also teaches you how to do.



Terry M. Drake is a Licensed Social Worker, National Board Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, Certified Trainer of Ericksonian Hypnosis and NLP. He has spent the last 15 years learning about himself and others, through his academic studies resulting in his MSW and his professional studies, as a family therapist, clinical supervisor and vast training and research into hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, the law of attraction and positive psychology. Terry is currently a Director of mental and behavioral health programs and a Life Coach, Hypnotherapist in private practice. He is also ready to put his skills to use as an author, speaker, consultant and coach. Terry lives in Wellsboro, Pa with his wife and children. You can learn more about the power of your mind and how to be happy and successful in everything you do, by visiting www.livehappilyeverafter-now.com and buying his new book, Live Happily, Ever After… Now! 9 Simple Steps to create the life YOU want!

Why God Matters by Karina Lumbert Fabian and Deacon Steven Lumbert -- Book Review

For an easy to digest look into how God touches us daily, pick up a copy of Why God Matters: How to Recognize Him in Daily Life by Karina Lumbert Fabian and Deacon Steven Lumbert.

In this short book, authors Fabian and Lumbert invite readers along on a journey to discover through their experiences how God can be seen in our daily lives. From Deacon Steve's story of being a reluctant convert to Fabian's story of how she stopped being a martyr for the trivial, each chapter brings the reader that much closer to seeing how God impacts our lives, as seen through the eyes of two devoted Catholics.

Before I go further with my review, I feel the need to impart a bit of information to my readers. I spent thirty years in the Catholic Church. I was baptized into it, forced to attend Mass unless I was on my death bed, attended a Catholic school for eight years, taught religious education for 10 years and directed an elementary religious education program for 5 years. My decision to leave the Catholic Church was forced by my pastor explaining to me that after all those years, if I decided to marry the Greek Orthodox man I was engaged to, and didn't do it in the Catholic Church, I could no longer practice my faith: accept the sacrament of Holy Communion. To say the Catholic Church and I parted in not a good way, would be an understatement.

Books such as these are of interest to me because I'm always searching for that nugget of faith in God that surpasses the theology and catechism to bring us closer to our Heavenly Father. Why God Matters is definitely one of those books.

Each story included in this short book displays God's work in our lives. They reach beyond the rules and touch the heart. They discuss what it is like to have a relationship with God that allows us to come to Him in our times of need, knowing He will always be there. While books that discuss the Catholic faith often provide readers with dry theology, they don't allow the average person--especially one not familiar with the Catholic Church--a way to understand God and our relationship with him. Why God Matters changes that. It's written by a lay person and a deacon, both devoted to their faith, but in many ways able to express what that type of faith can mean to an individual better than straight theology or dogma.

I must point out a couple of stories that touched my heart. Chapter Five is titled, "Out of the Depths of Despair". Deacon Steve shares his dilemma as a father to be, when he prayed for someone to help him decide on whether to sign papers to allow doctors to perform an emergency cesarean section on his wife. The help God sent came from an unexpected person. Also, Chapter 14, "Influence", in which Fabian shares her husband's conversion to the Catholic faith and their son's decision not to believe. As she explains it, "...I trust in God that he will eventually find his way." Being in the same situation with my son, I understand where she is coming from.

Every chapter includes quotations, a Life Lesson, and a Bible verse. This helps to make this book a nice devotional. The book has also garnered the Catholic Writers Guild Seal of Approval.

While this book is targeted to a Catholic audience, I feel other denominations will gain something from reading this book as well. I know I certainly enjoyed it, and look forward to more collaborations between Fabian and her father.


Title: Why God Matters: How to Recognize Him in Daily Life
Authors: Karina Lumbert Fabian and Deacon Steven Lumbert
Publisher: Tribute Books
ISBN-10: 0982256531
ISBN-13: 978-0982256534
SRP: $15.95

Book Promotion Events for Nancy Thayer and Beachcombers

Nancy Thayer will be touring with Pump Up Your Book Promotion in July with her latest release, Beachcombers: A Novel.

Here are some in-person events where you might catch her:


Saturday, June 26, 10-noon, Booksigning, Mitchell’s Bookstore, Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Wednesday, June 30, 7:30 pm, Booksigning, Bunch of Grapes, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts

Thursday, July 1, Lunch Event, Bank Street Books, Mystic Connecticut

Thursday, July 1, 7 pm, Talk, Stonington Library, Stonington, Connecticut

Friday, July 2, Booksigning, Titcombs Books, East Sandwich, MA

August 18, 7 pm., Talk, Nantucket Atheneum




Nancy Thayer is the New York Times bestselling author of Summer House, Moon Shell Beach, The Hot Flash Club, The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again, Hot Flash Holidays, The Hot Flash Club Chills Out, and Between Husbands and Friends. She lives on Nantucket. You can visit Nancy Thayer’s website at www.NancyThayer.com.

The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C.W. Gortner -- Book Review

A beautifully written historical novel that provides a different perspective on a legendary queen most famous for her ruthlessness, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici: A Novel by C.W. Gortner will pull you in from the very first sentence.

Catherine de Medici is known throughout history as being a ruthless queen who poisoned her enemies, arranged the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, and who practiced witchcraft.

At the age of 14, the last legitimate descendant of Medici blood, Catherine departs Florence for France, to wed King Francois I’s son, Henri II. While knowing this was a political marriage, Catherine would hope for a good life with Henri; all too soon to discover he preferred his former governess, Diane de Poitiers, who he had taken as his mistress, and flaunted in front of his wife.

Together Catherine and Henri would have several children, before his unexpected death placed their sickly son, Francois II on the throne. Tragedy would come to Catherine time and again, as her power grew during a time of unrest in France. Always seeking peace, she attempted to bring Huguenots and Catholics together, though not always assisted by her children--some even plotted against her.

She would die having been accused of many things. The Confessions of Catherine de Medici is her story.

Having previously read The Last Queen: A Novel, also by Gortner, I was anxious for the release of this book. Gortner's latest is at least as good as The Last Queen, if not better.

Bringing Catherine de Medici's story to life through her own confessions pulls the reader in immediately.

"I was ten years old when I discovered I might be a witch."

And so opens The Confessions of Catherine de Medici. Gortner certainly knows the importance of hooking a reader. The important thing, however, is that once he has you, Gortner never lets you go. The abundance of historical details, the numerous complex characters that reside within the book's pages, the perfect blending of fact and fiction, all let you know that you are dealing with a master who has perfected his art.

I found it much more challenging to write a review of Gortner's book than some others because I became so involved in the story, so attached to the characters, I forgot I was reviewing it.

While history has painted Catherine de Medici as a power hungry, maniacal force during her years in France, Gortner paints a much more sympathetic image of the girl sent to marry a king who preferred his mistress. She was a woman who sought to keep peace in a time when war threatened to rip France apart. She was a mother who felt the need to protect her children after the death of their father. She even felt the sting of betrayal by those close to her.

Gortner gives Catherine de Medici a voice. He does so in an eloquent, intriguing manner that will captivate readers and leave them wishing to know more about this misunderstood woman of the Renaissance. I highly recommend The Confessions of Catherine de Medici to any lover of historical fiction and those interested in powerful women in history.


Title: The Confessions of Catherine de Medici
Author: C.W. Gortner
Pubisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN-10: 0345501861
ISBN-13: 978-0345501868
SRP: $25.00

Author Spotlight: A Note from an Old Acquaintance by Bill Walker

Brian Weller is a haunted man. It’s been two years since the tragic accident that left his three-year-old son dead and his wife in an irreversible coma. A popular author of mega-selling thrillers, Brian’s life has reached a crossroads: his new book is stalled, his wife’s prognosis is dire, and he teeters on the brink of despair.

Everything changes the morning an e-mail arrives from Boston artist Joanna Richman. Her heartfelt note brings back all the poignant memories: the night their eyes met, the fiery passion of their short-lived affair, and the agonizing moment he was forced to leave Joanna forever. Now, fifteen years later, the guilt and anger threaten to overwhelm him. Vowing to make things right, Brian arranges a book-signing tour that will take him back to Boston. He is eager to see Joanna again, but remains unsure where their reunion will lead. One thing is certain: the forces that tore their love asunder will stop at nothing to keep them apart.

Filled with tender romance and taut suspense, A Note From An Old Acquaintance is an unforgettable story about fate, honor, and the power of true love.

Read an Excerpt!

“Please tell me why you’re doing this, Brian! Please!”

He tried opening his mouth, tried to tell her the truth, but the words he’d always wielded with such effortless aplomb, failed him, slipping away like smoke on a windy day. His throat felt as if it were gripped in a vise, his mind a flat, cracked slab of flyblown desert; and her muted sobs echoing through the phone’s earpiece made him want to take it all back. Every word. But how could he do that, now?

“I—I’m sorry, Joanna…for everything….”

“BRIANNNN!”

THE PHONE JANGLED, RIPPING Brian Weller out of the dream. He sat up, gasping, sounds and images jumbling in his groggy brain until none of it made any sense.

The phone rang again, startling him.

He grabbed it, his eyes struggling against the darkness in the room.

What time was it?

Jesus, it was only 6:00. It felt even earlier due to the late night he’d
spent at the computer.

Read the Reviews!

"A very touching novel that will make your heart ache."

–Readaholic

"Mr. Walker’s book is a very entertaining and quick read...I really did find this book to be both heart-wrenching and heart warming."

-Carleen

"A Note From An Old Acquaintance is a beautifully crafted story of hope, determination and the belief that love can conquer all."

-Rundpinne

"Bill Walker has created a novel with interesting characters and a fascinating look at the inner workings of an artist's life...This book is recommended for lovers of romance as well as those who enjoy reading about moral choices."

-Booksie's Blog



Bill Walker is a graphic designer specializing in book and dust jacket design, and has worked on projects by Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Dean Koontz, and Stephen King. Between his design work and his writing, he spends his spare time reading voraciously and playing very loud guitar, much to the chagrin of his lovely wife and two sons. Bill makes his home in Los Angeles and can be reached through his web site: http://www.billwalkerdesigns.com/

Building Captain Bonny Morgan's World for The Novel Captain Bonny Morgan: The Cassandra Prophesy by Robert "Doc" Gowdy

Today's guest blogger is Robert "Doc" Gowdy, author of the science fiction novel, Captain Bonny Morgan: The Cassandra Prophesy.

I’m assuming that what is meant by “world building”, is how did I go about building the world that my characters inhabit in my novel, Captain Bonny Morgan: The Cassandra Prophesy? For me, building Bonny Morgan’s world in the novel was quite easy. Being a big fan of science fiction—novels, movies, and television—I had a ready template to work from, especially where futuristic galactic space travel and alien worlds are concerned. However, I wanted to do something a little different given my love of the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean at the turn of the eighteenth-century. I also used my Ph.D. to good advantage in that I put to work for me my knowledge of mythology, particularly the writings of Joseph Campbell in The Hero With A Thousand Faces, and supplementing that with Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey where Campbell’s Hero’s Journey (the monomyth) is readily explained in literary terms.

Nevertheless, I built my novel’s world around Captain Bonny Morgan, a beautiful, mysterious, fairy-like galactic pirate. I derived her name from the real pirates Anne Bonny and Sir Henry Morgan. As a result, given my love for the Golden Age of Piracy, I made her a true pirate, right down to the West Country brogue she speaks, and placed her in a high-tech, futuristic galaxy where pirates roamed freely among various pirate strongholds like the real Tortuga. But in my novel’s case, it became Spiller’s Point (where, by the way, they serve Spiller’s Ale—good to the last spilt drop). In the case of Spiller’s Point as a pirate stronghold, or safe haven, I drew on my love of the mountains, particularly the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. Building around the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, I fashioned Spiller’s Point as a very green, vastly mountainous planet with dense, dark forests, and high mountain peaks with glaciers that produce spectacular waterfalls. On Spiller’s Point I placed a pirate tavern called the Pretty Red. The Pretty Red is an ancient tavern, perhaps several millennia old, created in log cabin fashion and hidden within a narrow valley among very mountainous terrain. The pirates must know its coordinates in order to get there, and its fairly hidden from most ships’ sensors.

However, to compliment Bonny Morgan, I had to create a pirate world, or galaxy, in which she could operate. Drawing on ancient Irish mythology, I took as my model for my galactic pirates, the mythic Fianna—mythic Irish warriors. As a result, I made the bulk of my galactic pirates descendents of the “ancient” Fenians derived from the Fianna. As Fenians, then, they are all basically of Irish descent, and speak with an Irish brogue—not all, but most of them, anyway.

As a result of all this beginning “world building”, I found myself very quickly sketching out galactic maps in order to situate the various pirate strongholds, the center of the Galactic Empire, and internal tavern diagrams and Brethren Hall diagrams in order to situate locations in my mind, various pirate shootouts, and spacecraft battle scenes. While doing this “world building”, I happened on creating the pirate Queen, Colleen O’Malley, who is the leader of the O’Malley Brethren (one of nine Brethren factions) and has a pirate hideout on the snow planet Prilla. She, too, has an ancient, but high-tech, hideout facility, in which she also has an in-house tavern. It is in Colleen O’Malley’s Brethren Hall in-house tavern that Bonny Morgan does much of her pirate business and planning (not to mention the Pretty Red on Spiller’s Point).

In effect, then, I created one huge galactic Caribbean in which my characters live and operate. And that “world” served as a wonderful contrast for my favorite character (and the most fun to write) Tink to operate in. Tink is my nod to both J. M. Barrie and his creation, Tinker Bell. While Tink is a full-grown, human woman, she is nevertheless very Tinker Bell-like. She is beautiful, mischievous, playful, and very much in awe of the “world” around her. And having Tink operate within an ancient (albeit highly technologically advanced) pirate world was a lot of fun. However, Tink is also a slave. She is the Princess Lysette’s favorite slavegirl, another main character in my novel. Nevertheless, since Tink is a slave, I had to also create within the galaxy a “world” in which slavery was an ancient practice and tradition. So I had to build a “world” in which slave rules, etiquette, and protocols are observed, including the buying and selling of slave. Hence the creation of Miin, the planet where one of the galaxy’s premier slave market’s is located. There Tink meets Jon Black, a pirate of the same species as Bonny Morgan, and who owns a café in the Miinian Slave Market. And there she also meets Lady Brit, a beautiful young Miinian noble who is drawn into Tink and Princess Lysette’s adventure, along with Jon Black.

So in addition to pirates and slavery, I also had to create “worlds” in which royalty and nobles exist. And it seemed that the more I wrote, the more the “world” I was creating, created itself. I was quite fascinated by how once the germ of an idea began to take shape, the darn thing took off and snowballed into a rather wonderful, and quite magical, “world” in which my characters exist and, to my mind, live.

Robert “Doc” Gowdy is a graduate of the University of North Texas with a Ph.D. in Literary Criticism and Theory and an emphasis on Nineteenth-Century British literature. His specialization in literary theory is psychoanalytic criticism and theory, particularly Lacanian psychoanalysis, with further emphases on Milton and Eighteenth-Century British literature. Doc Gowdy is currently an adjunct assistant professor at Texas Woman’s University where he teaches various literature courses. His interest in writing is long standing, but aside from academic writing, his first novel, Captain Bonny Morgan: The Cassandra Prophesy is his first foray into fiction. Captain Bonny Morgan is based on archetypal themes and patterns from mythology, such as fairies, goddesses, and the Hero’s Journey, and based loosely on Doc Gowdy’s active duty service in the United States Marine Corps with special emphasis on the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean at the turn of the Eighteenth-Century.

My Facebook page is listed under Robert Gowdy.

Author Spotlight: Heartbroken Promises 2 by Sherry Shumard

In Heartbroken Promises 2, Vicky Wainright decides to visit Jake’s Island so she can be close to her sister Miranda. She is offered a nanny job by the handsome Jordan, an eligible bachelor who is raising his son by himself. Her heart is soon torn, however, between Jordan and her sister's waiter, Noah. When Vicky is kidnapped while babysitting Jordan's son, Derrick, Miranda is sure Noah is one of the kidnappers. Will that change how Vicky feels about Noah? Will Derrick and Vicky be rescued in time?

Sherry Shumard is the published author of Heartbroken Promises and Heartbroken Promises 2. She plans on writing more books based upon the many ideas she has floating around in her head. Sherry is married and has three children and two pets.

You can find out more about the author and her work by visiting her website.

Follow Sherry's virtual book tour during the month of June by visiting http://virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/

My Dog Tim: and other stories by Garasamo Maccagnone -- Book Review

Do you enjoy literary fiction with a raw, edgy side? Then pick up a copy of My Dog Tim: and other stories by Garasamo Maccagnone.

This literary collection includes the anchor story, St. John of the Midfield, Maccagnone's most popular piece of work. It is an almost mystical story of Bobo Stoikov, one of the world’s greatest soccer players, who escapes death in communist Bulgaria to find the American Dream. Due to severe injury during Bobo’s escape, he is unable to play once he arrives in America, but instead finds peace and happiness in coaching soccer to youth travel teams. When Mario's son Luca joins Bobo's team, it sets in motion an intense one-sided rivalry between Bobo and a man from his past, which ultimately leads to Bobo's death.

"My Dog Tim", from which this collection gets its name, is, as one would expect, a story about a childhood pet. If you're expecting something akin to Dorothy and Toto in the Wizard of Oz, however, you would be sadly mistaken. While there are definitely touching moments, the family in this one is much more like Malcolm in the Middle than Little House on the Prairie.

My favorite story has to be "The Note Giver". The author took an eccentric old man from his past and created a story about a man with some quirky habits who hands out controversial notes to members of St. Isidore's Church. It is one of the more touching stories out of the collection.

Also included are “White Fang”,“White Chocolate”, “Goalie Boy”, and three vignettes

With My Dog Tim: and other stories Maccagnone has blended family, sports, and pets with a definitive edginess that adults from many walks of life will enjoy.

Title: My Dog Tim: and other stories
Author: Garasamo Maccagnone
Publisher: Outskirts Press
ISBN-10: 1432755625
ISBN-13: 978-1432755621
SRP: $19.95

Interview with Historical Novelist C.W. Gortner, Author of The Confessions of Catherine de Medici (Giveaway

Today, we welcome back C.W. Gortner. Last May, Christopher was our guest when we reviewed his historical novel, The Last Queen, and interviewed him. You can find those posts here and here.

Christopher is back with a new historical release, a new queen, and another moving story to tell. We’re going to talk with Christopher about his new book, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici: A Novel, the inspiration behind it, and we’ll touch upon his new series, the first book of which, is due to be released in January 2011.

Welcome back to The Book Connection, Christopher. It is wonderful to have the chance to catch up with you. Can you please take a short moment to refresh our readers’ memories about you and your work?

I write historical fiction about women of power in the Renaissance. My first book The Last Queen is about Juana of Castile, known as Juana la Loca; she was a queen of Spain and sister of Catherine of Aragon. My new book is of course about the Italian-born French queen, Catherine de Medici. I was raised in Spain and now live in California with my partner and our corgi, Paris.

You’ve now written two books about controversial women in history. What is your fascination with these women and why do you choose to share their stories in a fictional setting?

Popular history is often one-sided when it comes to women, particularly women who challenged the prevailing male-dominated system. What we hear about these complex ladies are clichés: Elizabeth I is the Virgin; Anne Boleyn is the Whore; Catherine de Medici is the Crone; Jane Grey is the Victim. These types of monikers do not even begin to do justice to the incredible depth of these women’s lives, which is why I think we are seeing a current fascination with historical women. They had glamorous, tumultuous, and sometimes tragic destinies; they are, in many ways, our celebrities of the past; but they also lived in a time of more danger, when life was not as valued. I write historical fiction because for me, it offers an ideal medium for bringing these long-gone women into the present. We may know the facts—for example, Catherine de Medici spent her married life sharing her husband with his much older mistress—but what we crave is to experience their emotions, their inner lives, to share with them their trajectories and their world as they may have.

What does popular history have to say about Catherine de Medici?

Popular history has been especially unkind to Catherine. Though I’d known about her for years, I soon discovered during my research how little I really knew her. Few queens are as notorious as this woman who ruled France in the 16th century, renowned for her ruthlessness and mastery of poison; Catherine de Medici has been accused of heinous crimes, including the massacre of 6,000 people in Paris. She lurks in the shadows of history as the perennial black widow, weaving intrigue in her Louvre apartments.

Why did you decide her story had to be told?

Because when someone lives such an eventful life, there’s always more to her story than history tells us. Catherine de Medici was a person, before she became a figure of lurid speculation. She had dreams and aspirations; hopes and disillusions, yet unlike her contemporaries Elizabeth I, who commands our respect with her splendor; or Mary, Queen of Scots, who elicits sympathy with her martyrdom, history has not been compassionate to Catherine. I wanted to depict the flesh-and-blood Catherine de Medici which history has forgotten: the teenage heiress sent to France to marry a prince she did not love; the wife who endured years of neglect in the shadow of her husband’s mistress; the regent fighting for a realm torn by conflict; the mother with children to protect; and the woman whose alliance with an enigmatic leader plunges her into a tortured maze of passion, betrayal, and murder.

You spend a great deal of time researching for your books: six years for The Last Queen and three years for The Confessions of Catherine de Medici. Having read The Last Queen, I can tell you one of the things that captured me right away was your attention to detail. But how much is too much? How do you decide between what to include and what is better left out?

It’s always a tough call. I usually make those decisions after I finish the first draft and have begun the process of polishing and revising. For me, the ‘real’ writing happens after I’ve written the last word of that first draft. At that point, I have the entire story before me—rough and messy, yes, but there. I can now start to work on honing it and that’s where the details come into play. I think you want enough to immerse the reader in this new world; you want them to smell, see, and touch the physicality of the places where your characters live but you don’t want it to become a recitation of everything you found out while researching. I learn far more in my research than I ever show on the page; details should heighten a reader’s experience, not deluge them in long paragraphs of description that go nowhere and serve only to display how much the writer knows.



Like Juana from The Last Queen, Catherine de Medici was not raised to be a queen. How do think this impacts how she ruled and the stories that have been passed down about her through the years?

Absolutely, it had an impact. No one expected Elizabeth I to rule, either, but she was in the line of succession and educated accordingly. But Catherine was expected to just be the wife of the king’s second son, the pawn in an alliance with the papal Medici, a broodmare for the Valois. That she was suddenly thrust into this position of power challenged everything she’d known; she had to re-invent herself, acquire a whole new set of skills. In many aspects, she did astonishingly well. She kept a crumbling country afloat during years of chaos that might have destroyed a less-skilled ruler. But she made mistakes, serious mistakes—and these, more than her triumphs, have defined her in popular history. She’s not the queen who saved France during one of the most savage religious conflicts of the 16th century, who kept Spain at bay and protected the throne, but rather the Machiavellian monster, who masterminded a massacre.

While I didn’t mention this in the introduction, you’re also working on a new historical novel about another queen. Would you like to share a bit about this project?

I’m currently writing a novel called THE PRINCESS ISABELLA. It’s about the early years of Isabel of Castile, her dramatic and little-known youthful struggle to win her throne; her forbidden marriage to Fernando of Aragon; and her controversial crusade to unite Spain. Isabella has also suffered from the one-sided clichés of popular history; to some, she’s a fanatic who let the Inquisition loose on the world and destroyed centuries of enlightenment in Spain; to others, she’s quite literally a candidate for sainthood, the Catholic queen who defeated the infidels and financed the expedition by Columbus that discovered the New World. As with every story, there are of course more sides to hers. She’s a fascinating woman, more complex and dynamic than even I had imagined. I’m having a wonderful time re-discovering her and hope readers will, too.

Can you tell us about your new series, The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles?

Set during the Tudor era, the Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles feature a young man named Brendan Prescott who becomes a spy for Elizabeth I. The first novel, The Tudor Secret, is set during the final days of the reign of Edward VI, when Brendan arrives at court as a squire and stumbles upon a conspiracy that threatens Princess Elizabeth. As he races against an unknown foe to save her, he begins to unravel the secret of his own mysterious past—a deadly secret that changes everything he believes in and casts an inescapable shadow over him, Elizabeth and the future of England itself.

While this new series is set in the very popular Tudor era, it explores the unfamiliar underworld of espionage and the bond of forbidden friendship between a spy and a queen.

Does this new series have any tie-ins to your previous books?

It’s set in the 16th century, which is where I’ve so far focused my other novels, but otherwise it is a stand-alone series. While I’ve not specifically written about the Tudors before, Henry VII did appear in The Last Queen and Elizabeth was a contemporary of Catherine de Medici’s.

Where can readers purchase The Confessions of Catherine de Medici?

As of May 25, in bookstores everywhere, as well as online. Whenever possible, I encourage readers to purchase my books via IndieBound.

I know you have a website and a blog. Can you share those links with our readers?



My website is: www.cwgortner.com and my blog is: http://historicalboys.blogspot.com

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Thank you so much for inviting me. I always enjoy meeting readers and chatting with book groups. Readers interested in having me chat with their group can contact me via my website.

Thank you for spending some time with us today, Christopher. It’s been wonderful hearing about your new and upcoming projects. I hope you’ll visit us again next year when the new series comes out.


Follow Christopher's tour all month long by visiting http://virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/



Based upon the sheer number of requests I had from reviewers for this book, I'm thinking everyone would appreciate a chance to win a copy. I usually run giveaways until the end of the month, but since we are leaving on vacation for two weeks at the beginning of July, I am going to cut this giveaway a bit short. The deadline to enter is going to be 11:59 PM Eastern on June 25th. I'll select a winner on June 28th.

Here are the rules:

1) Mandatory: You must be a follower of this blog to be eligible to win. Leave a comment letting us know you're a follower. Comment must include a working email address so that we can contact you if you win. If there is no email address included, the entry won't count.

2) Get three additional entries for blogging about this contest. Leave a comment (with link) here telling us where you blogged about it.

3) Get two additional entries for tweeting about this contest. Don't forget to let us know here that you tweeted and leave us a link.*

4) Get two additional entries for posting about this contest on Facebook. Leave us a link here.*

5) Get two additional entries for following Book Tours and More and leaving a comment on any post. Leave a comment here letting us know which post from Book Tours and More you commented on.

As mentioned above, the deadline to enter is 11:59 PM Eastern on June 25th. This contest is open to residents of the United States and Canada only.


* There are no buttons for these. Just go out to Twitter or Facebook and do your thing.

Celebrating Women’s Strength by Becky Due, Author of Returning Injury

Today's guest blogger is Becky Due, author of the suspense novel, Returning Injury.

Rebecca’s life just keeps getting better. With Jack away on business, she’s looking forward to four days alone to work on her new client’s PR campaign to help women take back their lives. But her past intrudes. Roy, the man who stalked and assaulted her years before, has been released from prison. Home alone in her big, beautiful house out in the country, Rebecca has to learn to take back her own life while facing her fears and regaining her strength. But will she be strong enough when she faces the ultimate test?










"Celebrating Women’s Strength" by Becky Due


My novels will always celebrate the fun, strength and independence of women, because I believe women are fun, strong and should always maintain independence.

In my twenties, I had this ability to run from my problems, and I was good at it. But when I found my passion, writing, and was able to settle down in my life, I learned that my experiences were not only my own—Women share a common bond because of our experiences.

I write about those experiences.

I wrote Returning Injury because I've known victims of stalking, so I know the torment and fear that stalking instills. The national statistics are frightening but nothing compares to how horrifying stalking is to the victim. Nobody is safe from stalking, including celebrities such as Ivanka Trump, Kim Kardashian, David Letterman and ESPN sports reporter Erin Andrews.

When I decided to write the suspense novel, Returning Injury, I needed Rebecca to have a solid relationship with her husband Jack. And as I wrote their love story, it started to resemble my own love story, including my fears and doubts about love and trust.

Once upon a time, I was one of those women who vowed to be alone and to never re-marry. I was happy, strong and independent, and I didn’t need a man to complete me. I took pride in being a single woman. But when this great man came along, I couldn’t let him go—I had to marry him. I’m thankful I gave love another try and conquered my fears about love.

One of my favorite parts of Returning Injury is when Rebecca realizes the importance of her relationships with other women and how her tough childhood friends carried her throughout her life. Even when her friends weren’t around, their feisty attitudes shaped her and guided her through every aspect of her life. I wouldn’t be who I am today without my friends. I am blessed.

My friendships with beautiful, strong, fun, open-to-happily-ever-after women and my personal experiences with love, fear and having trust in myself have influenced this novel about celebrating women’s strength, Returning Injury.




Becky Due, like the main characters of her novels, spent many years running from her life, looking for love, crying a little and laughing a lot along the journey of finding herself. Through writing, Due found her passion. She is the author of several books and is currently working on her next novel.
Happily married she and Scott live in Colorado, Florida and Alberta, Canada with their two “kids” Buddy the Cat and Shorty the Pug. You can visit her website at www.beckydue.com.

Conflicts with Interest by Michael Ruddy -- Book Review

Journey down deep into the dark underbelly of corrupt law firms and insurance companies in Conflicts with Interest by Michael Ruddy.

Not exactly the world's greatest poker player, builder T.R. Morgan finds himself in a dangerous game of Defect Litigation. A lawsuit has been brought by homeowners of a house built by Morgan Homes. Representing the homeowners is Steve Sanderson, a ruthless Bay Area lawyer.

Being out played at nearly every turn, just when T.R. thinks the insurance companies are backing him, he discovers it might not be so simple. Already dealing with the tragic loss of his wife, T.R. and his son, Ryan, also a prinicipal of Morgan Homes, are stuck in a battle that could cost them everything they hold dear. Dragged into a world of human trafficking, drugs, and illicit sex, T.R. is determined to see this battle through to its climactic end; an end, not even he could imagine.

In this debut novel, author Michael Ruddy exposes corruption and under-handed play within law firms and insurance companies; a timely subject in today's world of large company scandals.

In Conflicts with Interest, Ruddy has created characters who are backed against the wall and must find a way to fight their way back. While not as full of suspense as I figured by the back cover blurb, this engaging story kept me turning the pages quickly. I needed to know how this would all turn out for T.R. and Ryan. Would they win? Would they lose? Would the pieces fall somewhere in the middle? And what of all the behind the scenes players? What would happen to them?

I enjoyed the changing points of view, which allowed me insight into characters other than T.R. that might have been lost if the point of view had stayed strictly with T.R.

Readers interested in law stories, corruption, and the darker side of the corporate world will enjoy Conflicts with Interest by Michael Ruddy.


Title: Conflicts with Interest
Author: Michael Ruddy
Publisher: Rodeo Publishing
ISBN-10: 0615305997
ISBN-13: 978-0615305998
SRP: $15.95