Guest Blogger: Jane Marlow, Author of Who Is to Blame

Jane Marlow’s debut novel is a beautifully written historical saga of two families—one born of noble heritage and the other bound as serfs to the noble’s household. Set during the mid-1800s in the vast grainfields of Russia, Who Is to Blame? follows the lives of two star-crossed serfs, Elizaveta and Feodor, torn apart by their own families and the Church while simultaneously trapped in the inhumane life of poverty to which they were born.

At the other end of the spectrum, Count Maximov and his family struggle to maintain harmony amidst a tapestry of deception and debauchery woven by the Count’s son. The plot twists further when the Tsar emancipates twenty million serfs from bondage as the rural gentry’s life of privilege and carelessness has taken its final bow, while much of Russia’s nobility faces possible financial ruin.

Aficionados of historical fiction will be captivated by the lyrical flow of Marlow’s intertwining stories of love, loss, courage, and pain against her backdrop of social upheaval. The novel’s riddles flow subtly throughout, spurring readers to ponder where the blame actually lies. In the end, we must tap into our own hearts to navigate the depths and quandaries of the author’s perplexing question.

THE SILVER SPOON & THE WOODEN BOWL

The excellent suggestion for this post’s topic came from Cheryl at The Book Connection. Downton Abbey made a colossal splash when it juxtaposed the lifestyle and adversities of the upper and lower British classes. The same contrast is portrayed in my novel, Who Is to Blame? A Russian Riddle, except my setting was rural 19th century Russia. It was a gratifying challenge for me to find techniques that would highlight the similarities and the disparities of the estate-owning Russian gentry and the serfs (peasants) that tilled their fields, cleaned their manor houses, and distilled their vodka.

First, I chose dignified names for the nobility that incorporated the 1) given name, 2) patronymic name, and 3) family name. An example is Anton Stepanovich Maximov. For most of the peasants, I selected simple diminutive names such as Pasha and Katya.

Ditto for their basic word usage and conversations. The peasants had no formal education whatsoever and, therefore, spoke with short words and poor grammar. Their discussion topics reached no further than the surrounding grainfields. On the other hand, the nobility’s multisyllabic words sometimes bordered on verbose, particularly when fulminating against Tsar Alexander’s Great Reforms.

Readers of Who Is to Blame? might notice the back-to-back positioning of scenes that underscores the differences in moral code and social conduct of the well-healed versus the indigent. For instance, a scene of serf family violence draws upon the peasant credo that wife-beating is a way of life. The next scene opens with persnickety etiquette lessons for the gentry children.

In another literary device, serfs are temporarily placed in the gentry’s environment. For instance, a teenage serf is befuddled when she sees the Count blow his nose into a square piece of cloth, which he then returned to his pocket. Why not simply blow the snot onto the ground? This writing technique also served a second purpose – to add a touch of humor to a heavy-weight story.

Woven between the disparities are the similarities that span the spectrum of all social classes. Nurturing children. The ravages of pandemic disease. Shattered dreams. The bond between lovers. The futility of trying to outwit Mother Nature. The yearning for a brighter tomorrow.

My sincere hope is that Who Is to Blame? is an eye-opener regarding the 1861 emancipation of the serfs as well as the final bow of the rural gentry’s life of privilege. Let me know if I succeeded.

Warmest regards and well wishes for a future full of thought-provoking books!
Jane Marlow

Who Is to Blame? A Russian Riddle
301 pages
Publisher: River Grove Books, October 18, 2016
Website: JaneMarlowBooks.com

Purchase:
Available in soft cover and ebook.
Audible version soon to be released. Check JaneMarlowBooks.com for updates.

Local bookstores – if not in stock, ask them to order it

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Who-Blame-Russian-Jane-Marlow/dp/1632991047/

Barnes & Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/who-is-to-blame-jane-marlow/1124796416

Google Play Books
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=Who%20is%20to%20blame%20jane%20marlow

iBooks
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/who-is-to-blame/id1165205454

About the Author:

When not working at her bill-paying job, Jane Marlow penned the first version of Who Is to Blame?. Over the next 18 years, her stack of rejection letters from publishers grew taller than the empty wine bottle sitting next to it. After a jillion revisions, voila! A publishable manuscript.

Jane Marlow’s writing reflects change over time. Changes in the world around us. Changes within ourselves. Her characters, like each of us, have the choice of rolling with life’s punches, or curling into a ball, or gulping in a deep breath and building a stronger, more resilient person.

In addition to working on a sequel, Jane has put together a free e-newsletter for anyone who wants to delve deeper into the culture and history of Russia (a country truly like no other). Chockful of Russian riddles, proverbs, artwork, and tidbits of 19th century life, the 6-times-a-year newsletter is designed for inquisitive people who prefer to chuckle while they learn. The Nov-Dec 2016 edition can be viewed at here: (http://eepurl.com/chdh41) Sign up at JaneMarlowBooks.com (http://JaneMarlowBooks.com/contact) No spam or sales gimmicks. Never. Ever.

Jane uses Skype or speaker phones to meet long-distance with book clubs and reading groups. Want more info? Email (JaneMarlowBooks@gmail.com )

Guest Bloggers: Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger, Authors of Slivers of Glass

Summer 1955: The body of a woman thought to be killed three years earlier is found behind a theater in Hollywood. Movie stuntman Skylar Drake, a former LAPD detective, is dragged into the investigation. He can make no sense of the crime until he discovers a dirty underworld and unearths deep-seated… greed.

The hunt takes Drake to places he’d never expect. He’s anxious to close this case and get back to his business in L.A., but he’s constantly haunted by the memory of his wife and young daughter, killed in a mysterious house fire.

With more than enough dirty cops, politicians and crime bosses to go around, Drake can trust no one including Martin Card, the cop assigned to work with him.

Buy link:
website: www.janetlynnauthor.com
website: www.willzeilingerauthor.com

Excerpt

There were a dozen other things I could’ve been doing besides standing in line at the drug store listening to Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” piped in overhead. Though, it was a treat to watch the cashier move behind the counter in her form-fitting white smock. I shook my head and plopped a tube of Pepsodent and a couple of toothbrushes on the pharmacy counter.

She looked up and said, “That will be seventy-five cents, Mr. Drake.”

I dug in my pocket and dropped three quarters in her hand, “Thank you, Miss Abernathy.” She placed my items in a small white paper bag and folded over the top. “Here you are, and quit calling me that. My name is Emily. Anyway, this should keep you smiling brightly. I only wish I could see yours sometime.”

In all the times I’ve walked to this drug store, I couldn’t remember a day she didn’t smile at me. Too bad there was a ‘y’ at the end of Emily’s name. Women with names like Sandy, Cathy or Abby were bad luck. Those ‘y’ women were always trouble and it would be dangerous to get mixed up with another one now.

“Thanks,” I tipped my hat, "When I have something to smile about, I might just show you.” I knew Emily pretty well since this place was only a couple of blocks from my apartment, an apartment I lived in because a fire took my home along with my beautiful wife Claire and Ellen my little girl.

As I turned to leave, I winked at the two little old ladies behind me. They stepped back and stared as if I’d just sneezed in their faces. I turned and waved goodbye to Emily only to see her pointing behind me in horror. I followed her gaze and saw a dark green car hurtling toward us - right through the huge windows at the front of the store! The gigantic crash at my back sent shelves, boxes and cans hurtling in our direction. I turned around as glass, smoke and debris seemed to explode in a cloud around us. At that moment my training from the Marine Corps took over. I instinctively swept up the two ladies and Emily and pushed them to the back of the store. The other customers ran screaming out the huge opening where the storefront windows used to be. I shielded the women against the back wall with my body all the while knowing that my weight could suffocate them, but what else could I do? The ceiling could come down on us at any moment. I held them against the wall while listening to my heart pound. Slowly the tinkle of glass subsided and I released them. Tiny slivers of glass and wood had embedded themselves in my sweater and trousers. “You’d better be careful,” One of the little old women chirped, “Your backside looks like a pin cushion. Best not to sit down for a while.”

Ambrosia

A very popular dessert in the 1950’s, served at the famous Coconut Grove Night Club in Los Angeles. The “Grove” was known for its great cuisine. The Coconut Grove is featured in one of the scenes in Slivers of Glass, a Noir murder Mystery.

Ingredients
2 oranges or tangerines
Sugar
2 bananas
Shredded coconut, unsweetened

Directions

• Peel the oranges or tangerines, pull the pieces apart; cut the pieces across the middle. Peel the bananas and cut them into thin slices.
• Cover the bottom of the bowl with orange pieces. Sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of sugar over the oranges (depending on the sweetness of the oranges/tangerines). Put some banana slices on oranges, and then sprinkle a little coconut over bananas.
• Do the same thing for the next layer, first the oranges, sugar, bananas and coconut. Make more layers, using all the fruit.
• Sprinkle coconut on top. Cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate for 1 hour.

Serves 3-4




Bio:

JANET ELIZABETH LYNN was born in Queens, New York and raised in Long Island, until she was 12 years old. Her family escaped the freezing winters and hurricanes for the warmth and casual lifestyle of Southern California.

Janet has always wanted to write and made it a quest to write a novel. Ten years later, with much blood and sweat, her first murder mystery novel, South of the Pier, was published in 2011. She has since written seven more mysteries. Miss Lynn has traveled to the far reaches of the planet for work and for pleasure, collecting wonderful memories, new found friends and a large basket of shampoo and conditioner samples from hotels.

At one time Janet was an Entertainment Editor for a newspaper in Southern California.

Contact info:
Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fa5_slznoA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janet.lynn.5477
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/janet-elizabeth-lynn/17/380/b51
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanetLynn4
Blog: http://janetelizabethlynnauthor.blogspot.com/
e-mail: janet_lynn51@yahoo.com
website: www.janetlynnauthor.com

WILL ZEILINGER has been writing for over twelve years. During that time, he took novel writing classes and joined writer’s groups, but what has helped the most are published authors who mentor, encourage, critique and listen to him while he continued to learn the craft. At the time of this writing, Will has published three novels (Ebooks.) The Naked Groom, Something’s Cooking at Dove Acres, and The Final Checkpoint (also in print).

As a youth he lived overseas with his family. As an adult he traveled the world. Will lives in Southern California with his wife Janet Elizabeth Lynn, who is also an author. Will says that finding time to write while life happens is a challenge.

Contact info:
Twitter: @Will_Zeilinger
Facebook: www.facebook.com/wzeilinger
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/william-zeilinger/15/48/9a7/
website: http://www.willzeilingerauthor.com
blog: http://www.booksbywilzeilinger.blogspot.com

Guest Blogger: Karina Fabian, Author of Mind Over Psyche (Giveaway)

Can Deryl and his friend unlock the secrets of Deryl’s role on Kanaan before the Kanaan decide he is too dangerous to let live?

Deryl isn’t crazy; he’s psychic. Desperate to escape the insane asylum, Deryl teleports to Kanaan, a world of telepaths who regard him as an oracle. But freedom comes at a price. The Kanaan expect their oracle to teach them to use their powers to wage war. Meanwhile, he’s falling in love, but to be with her means to share his psyche, which could drive her insane. Most dangerous of all, he hasn’t escaped the Call of the Master, enemy of the Kanaan, whose telepathic manipulations were why Deryl was committed in the first place. Now, the Master will forge Deryl’s powers into a weapon to kill all he loves or destroy his mind trying.

Character Make-Over: Joshua Lawson

By Karina Fabian

(If you’ve not read Mind Over Mind, then caution: this post contains spoilers. Check out Mind Over Mind, the first book in the Mind Over trilogy here: http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Over-Karina-L-Fabian/dp/1897492367)

I’ve mentioned in several interviews over the years that the Mind Over trilogy started out as a novel I wrote in college. Like many first works, it was pretty pale, and after not succeeding in selling it, I had put it aside for ten years. Coming back with much living and writing experience under my belt, I realized just how two-dimensional I’d made the characters. I still loved the general idea of the story, however, so I rethought the characters and they turned the story from good to amazing.

Other blogs have covered how I altered the main character, Deryl Stephens, a psychic teenager. In a nutshell, I gave him so many problems concerning his telepathic abilities, I had to commit him for half a decade before I could start the story! Seriously, who has psychic contact with aliens and ends up well-adjusted? Today, however, I want to talk about his cohort, Joshua.

Joshua started out as Deryl’s roommate in college, a real redneck with cowboy boots and accent and a bad attitude toward his new East Coast yuppie roomie. Obviously, the revised Deryl never made it to college, so I needed a different reason for Joshua to interact with him. Psychiatric intern worked well, and kept him around the same age, plus allowed him to help Deryl as well as befriend him (much to the chagrin of Deryl’s lead psychiatrist). Joshua needed a special skill set, though; otherwise, why would his work be so much more effective than the counseling and drug therapy of five years at an expensive mental institution? Since I’d done some reading about neuro linguistic programming and think it a fascinating process, I made Joshua a natural at it, having learned it from his father growing up. However, my characters inevitably have minds of their own, so NLP was a fallback plan for Joshua, who really wants to be a singer and is only doing the summer internship to make money for college after having lost his scholarships.

In Mind Over Mind, Joshua provided pockets of normalcy and balance to Deryl’s fantastical experiences. But what happens when normal gets plopped into the fantastical?

This is what we explore in Mind Over Psyche, when Deryl teleports them to the planet Kanaan. There they encounter psychic aliens, dragons and unicorns, trees that grow to the size of school buildings, and the Miscria, who can alter the weather and the shape of the land with her mind.

What fun for a science fiction/fantasy geek like Joshua. NOT. When they first arrive, Deryl’s unconscious. Joshua can’t communicate. The unicorns look dangerous. The aliens try to kill him, and even after they “accept” him and Deryl, they don’t trust them. Joshua is umpteenth-billion miles from his family, his fiancé, his music…and before that summer, he’d never set foot out of Colorado. Worst of all, he’s not confident Deryl can get him home, ever.

All of Joshua’s self-assured manner from Mind Over Mind vanishes. His first reaction upon seeing the aliens is to throw his hands over his head and cry, “We come in peace!” He panicks, despairs, and at one point in the book has an anxiety attack. In other words, he reacts the way most people who love their life would if suddenly kidnapped from their homes.

Of course, it’s not all bad. He makes friends and becomes a favorite of the unicorns, especially after he discovers they aren’t so unlike the horses he raises at home. (He’s not a cowboy, but does have a horse and was in 4-H.) He discovers he has a healing talent, though it seems limited and only works on Kanaan. More importantly, he’ll need to use his psychiatric and musical skills to save both Deryl and the Miscria. How? Go read Mind Over Psyche and find out!

Winner of the 2010 INDIE for best Fantasy (Magic, Mensa and Mayhem), Karina Fabian has plenty of voices in her head without being psychic. Fortunately, they fuel her many stories, like the Mind Over trilogy. Mrs. Fabian teaches writing and book marketing seminars, but mostly is concerned with supporting her husband, Rob Fabian as he makes the exciting leap from military officer to civilian executive, getting her kids through high school and college, and surviving daily circuit torture…er, circuit training. Read about her adventures at http://fabianspace.com.

Find Karina at:
Website: http://fabianspace.com, http://dragoneyepi.net
Blog: http://fabianspace.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karina.fabian
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/KarinaFabian
Google +: https://plus.google.com/103660024891826015212


E-book Giveaway: Here’s your chance to win a free electronic copy of Mind Over Psyche. Leave a comment or question (with email address).

Guest Blogger: Allan Leverone, Author of Parrallax View

It’s late in the Cold War, and the Soviet Union is slowly disintegrating.

In the midst of this uncertainty and upheaval, a mysterious group of KGB officials has concocted a desperate plan in an attempt to maintain power.


And one beautiful young CIA operative is all that stands between this shadowy cabal and the outbreak of World War Three.

Spring, 1987. CIA Special Operations agent Tracie Tanner is tasked with what should be a relatively straightforward mission: deliver a secret communique from Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

After smuggling the document out of East Germany, Tracie believes she is in the clear. She’s wrong. There are shadowy forces at work, influential people who will stop at nothing to prevent the explosive information contained in the letter from reaching the White House.

Soon, Tanner is knee-deep in airplane crashes and murder, paired up with a young Maine air traffic controller and on the run for their lives, unsure who she can trust at CIA, but committed to completing her mission, no matter the cost.

Dealing with Violence in Fiction

By Allan Leverone

A co-worker friend of mine recently underwent arthroscopic knee surgery. Afterward, he came into work on crutches and with the knee immobilized in a brace, and was showing me the very tiny holes made in the vicinity of his knee, into which the arthroscopic devices had been inserted.

The holes were tiny. Minimally invasive.

I could hardly stand to look.

If you’ve read any of my books, you might find that assertion hard to believe. I don’t write violence just for violence’s sake, but I’ve spilled my share of fictional blood. Some would say more than my share. When the majority of your work is in the horror and thriller genres, violence and mayhem seem to naturally follow.

I’ve had people shot, stabbed, and beaten up. I’ve written car crashes, explosions, mining disasters and terrorist attacks.

And I have trouble looking at a tiny incision. In someone else’s knee.

My wife, on the other hand, enjoys watching those documentary-type TV shows about operations. You know the ones, on the Science Channel or whatever, where they show actual footage of surgeons repairing a hole in an infant’s aorta, or trying to fix the tissue trauma from a nasty gunshot wound, that sort of thing.

If I walk into the room while that kind of show is playing, I either turn around and walk right back out (okay, I run), or I ask my wife to change the channel (okay, I beg).

Why is that? How is it possible I can describe the most horrific scenes of carnage and destruction in the pages of a book, but my stomach does flip-flops at the sight of a beating heart muscle on television? How can I write about one human being shooting another at point-blank range, but when my kids were little, had to force myself not to panic beyond all reason when one of them suffered even a minor cut?

I suppose the answer would be the same thing that’s bothered human beings from the beginning of time, when we huddled in cold, cark caves hoping tonight wouldn’t be the night that pesky saber-toothed tiger prowling around outside didn’t tear us apart and eat us for dinner: fear of the unknown.

When I’m writing, no matter how gruesome the scene or how distasteful the subject matter, I can see it unfold in my head and I know where I’m going with it, more or less.

A surgical procedure taking place on TV, on the other hand, presents a cornucopia of potential outcomes, none of which are pleasing to my hyperactive imagination. Will blood start spurting from that beating heart the surgeon is holding in his gloved hand? What if he drops it? How about if he sneezes while making an incision? Will that be the end of the patient?

The same mindset applied when my kids were young and dripping blood from their cut fingers. They were injured and they were depending on me to care for them. Me! The guy who has a habit of entering rooms and forgetting why. The guy who can’t stand watching a surgical procedure on TV.

In the real world, the range of possibilities outside my control are endless, whereas when I’m writing, even if I don’t have a clear idea where I’m going in a scene, the range is limited to whatever I’m willing to write. There are lines that I know will never be crossed.

And that makes all the difference in the world.

In the case of PARALLAX VIEW, you can sense almost from the very beginning of the book that a violent confrontation – a showdown – is coming. That is the case in virtually all thrillers, so the reader knows going in to expect it and shouldn’t be terribly surprised when it happens.

What form that confrontation will take, and what outcome will result, is obviously up in the air, but a reader of genre fiction, particularly thrillers, presumably isn’t going to be turned off merely by the description of violence.

How about you? As a reader, do you tend to cringe when you come to the most explicitly violent portions of a book? Do you skip over those passages? How does your reaction to blood spilled on a page differ from your reaction to real-world violence, either televised or happening in front of you?

And can you remember why I came into this room?

Allan Leverone is the author of five novels, including the Amazon Top 25 overall paid bestselling thriller, THE LONELY MILE. He is a 2012 Derringer Award winner for excellence in short mystery fiction, as well as a 2011 Pushcart Prize nominee. Allan lives in Londonderry, NH with his wife and family, and a cat who has used up eight lives.

Visit his website at www.allanleverone.com.

Follow Allan:

Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AllanLeveroneauthor and Twitter at https://twitter.com/allanleverone

Guest Blogger: Marie Laval, Author of The Lion's Embrace

Arrogant, selfish and dangerous, Lucas Saintclair is everything Harriet Montague dislikes in a man. He is also the best guide in the whole of the Barbary States, the only man who can rescue her archaeologist father from the gang of Tuareg fighters that has kidnapped him. As Harriet embarks on a perilous journey across Algeria with Saintclair and Archibald Drake, her father’s most trusted friend, she discovers a bewitching but brutal land where nothing is what it seems. Who are these men intent on stealing her father’s ransom? What was her father hoping to find in Tuareg queen Tin Hinan’s tomb? Is Lucas Saintclair really as callous as he claims—or is he a man haunted by a past he cannot forgive? Dangerous passions engulf Harriet’s heart in the heat of the Sahara. Secrets of lost treasures, rebel fighters, and a sinister criminal brotherhood threaten her life and the life of the man she loves.

Does forever lie in the lion’s embrace?

One night in the Sahara with the Tuaregs

by Marie Laval

Thank you very much, Cheryl, for welcoming me on your blog today to talk about the release of my second historical romance The Lion’s Embrace. The story takes place mostly in North Africa, in Algeria to be exact, in 1845. Lucas Saintclair is hired as a guide by Harriet Montague to rescue her father, a British Museum archaeologist, who she believes was captured by a gang of Tuaregs in the far South of the country.

Writing The Lion’s Embrace was a fascinating process, not only because I got to fall in love with my hero (I know, it sounds corny but it’s true!), but also because I discovered the beautiful landscapes Lucas and Harriet travelled through on their way to Tamanrasset, and the culture of the people they encountered. One particular group of people are at the centre of the plot: the Tuaregs, also called ‘The People of the Veil’ or the ‘Blue Men of the Desert’ because of the indigo veil all men wear from around the age of fifteen and never, ever take out.

Having never been there myself, I had to find a way of getting a real ‘feel’ for the place, its people and its history. I surrounded myself with photos and paintings of the Sahara, of oases and ksars (which fortified villages) and the magnificent Hoggar mountain range. There is a wealth of paintings from the early to mid-nineteenth century ‘orientalism’ movement. Among the most famous painters are Eugène Delacroix, Alphonse Etienne Dinet, Eugène Fromentin, to name but a few. They give you a wonderful sense – if a little idealised - of the places and the people.

I also read Tuareg poems, legends and stories, and listened to a lot of music. One song in particular caught my imagination and I played it over and over again as I wrote The Lion’s Embrace  It’s a modern song and I have no idea what they are singing about, but I find the melody poignant and haunting, especially the monochord violin, the imzad, which can be heard throughout.

The imzad is a traditional Tuareg instrument only played by women. It is at the heart of the Tuareg culture and society because of its link to the Achak, the code of honour every Tuareg must live by. Those who stray from the path and who commit dishonourable acts are said to have lost the ability to ‘hear the imzad’ in their heart and are therefore cast out of their family and their tribe.

Here is the link to the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5z7AcjE-YI

As they travel across the Sahara desert, Lucas Saintclair and Harriet Montague spend a few days with a Tuareg caravan. Every evening, they sit under the stars and listen to musicians playing the imzad and to stories and poems. The story-teller pulls out round pebbles out of his ‘bag of tales’, which is a skin pouch. Each pebble represents a different story and he tells the stories in the order the pebbles were withdrawn from the bag.

This is an excerpt from The Lion’s Embrace when Lucas and Harriet are at the Tuareg camp. The tale is based on a real Tuareg story.

The women played their instruments all along, drawing long, monochord sounds that at times sounded almost like laments and perfectly matched the mood of the audience, silent and attentive under the starry sky.

By the end of the evening, Harriet shivered with cold. Lucas wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He rubbed her arm with the palm of his hand to warm her up.

“The brave is reaching the end of his journey,” he translated, his voice low and a little hoarse. “After wandering in the desert for weeks, he finally finds his beloved’s camp, but it is deserted under the stars. There is only the cruel wind to answer his prayers, the cool moonlight to kiss his lips, and the vast, empty spaces full of solitude to chill his heart. So he lies on the sand and waits to die.” He paused. “And that’s love for you. Brings you nothing but pain.”

Despite the slightly mocking tone of his voice, the words made her dreamy.

“It’s beautiful, and so sad.” She found his hand, squeezed a little. “Love isn’t all pain, you know. It can be the most wonderful feeling in the world.”

She should know.

The Lion’s Embrace is available from https://museituppublishing.com/
Also from http://www.amazon.com/The-Lions-Embrace-ebook/dp/B00BACDSK6
And http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=marie+laval+the+lion%27s+embrace

Originally from Lyon in France, Marie Laval studied History and Law at university there and developed a passionate interest in historical research and the study of ancient civilizations. The beauty and mysteries of the Sahara desert always fascinated her and provide the background for THE LION’S EMBRACE, a story of adventure and romance set in 1840s Algeria and England. Marie Laval now lives in Northern England with her family.

THE LION’S EMBRACE is Marie Laval’s second novel. Find her online at http://marielaval.blogspot.co.uk/

Guest Blogger: Elvie Dell, Author of All About Me

This book is for born-again Christian believers who find themselves frustrated and confused with internal battles and silently ask themselves, “What’s wrong with me? Everyone else seems to have it all together.” The key word is seems! There is a rest for God’s people!

II Corinthians 5:17 tells us that if we are in Christ, we are a new creature, old things have passed away and all things have become new. If you’re still struggling with a lot of “old” in you, this may be the insight you long for.

Being saved doesn’t mean an instant personality make-over. The new creature this scripture refers to is our spirit man. We are a 3-part being: spirit, soul, and body. Gaining a better understanding of ourselves and learning to differentiate between the three helps bring us peace.

As people begin to recognize where their struggles really lie, and how to hear from their spirits, they find peace in the knowledge of what’s normal and common to us all as part of the human experience. Learning to walk out this new found freedom is a fascinating journey. We can rest in the assurance that God has a good plan for our lives.

Paperback: 88 pages
Publisher: Virtualbookworm.com Publishing (January 7, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 162137078X
ISBN-13: 978-1621370789

Purchase online at Virtualbookworm.com, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.

You & Me – In 3D!

3D? Yes 3D! We are 3-dimensional beings (spirit, soul, and body) and once we learn to differentiate between the different aspects of who we are, we have the upper hand on the struggles and challenges we face that once had us confused and wondering all the time, “What’s wrong with me? Everyone else seems to have it all together but I’m over here suffering in silence. But the voices in my head (or wherever they’re coming from!) are screaming LOUD—and I’m the only one who hears it.”

Rest assured and be at peace, we all hear the same thing. It’s just personally going on in you, and personally going on in me, and personally going on in everyone else. It’s common to us all. “The same temptations are common to all men” and there really is “nothing new under the sun.” It’s the conflict of spirit, soul and body for authority in your life.

Being saved doesn’t mean an instant personality make-over. At salvation, only your spirit got re-born. You still have the same soul (mind, will, and emotions) that you did to begin with. And you still have the same flesh to deal with. Your hair color, eye color, particular likes and dislikes did not change. The change was on the inside. The Christian walk is a coming together of your soul and your flesh to line up with your spirit as the new guide and source of leadership for your life. Your mind has to be renewed and your flesh has to be brought into subjection.

That’s difficult to do if you don’t understand, recognize, or know how to separate the three. This book is a product of that need to know (in simple childlike terms) “all about me.” As you become familiar with each individual aspect, you’ll begin to recognize the “voice” of each dimension. Then you’ll have the knowledge to make the right decisions in the governing of yourself in your reactions to that which goes on around you, and in you. Then you’ll experience true peace.

The more I learned about this, the greater clarity of mind and freedom I began to walk in. God’s desire for us truly is to live in peace—peace with Him, peace with ourselves, and peace with others. At salvation, we gained peace with Him. The Christian walk is about finding peace within ourselves, and interestingly enough, it will then filter over to others.

As we learn to walk this out, we find life itself is a very simple and very fascinating journey. We can rest in the assurance that God has a good plan for our lives. It’s much simpler than we think.

“I simply offer this book as a tool to the Body of Christ, that we may understand ourselves more clearly and walk in greater peace. God has a way of getting us where we need to be, and getting the information to us that we need to live victoriously. I hope it is a blessing to you.”

Elvie Dell

Elvie Dell is a free spirit, a freelance writer and poet (and a few other things that don’t pertain to writing.) She loves to read, watch Lucy re-runs, cook, travel when she can, garden (on a very small scale), fish with her sons, shop and explore with her daughters, craft with her grandkids, just hang out with her husband, …and read Dr. Seuss! She’s intrigued by the very young and the very old and the simplicity of life.

She has four grown children, and three grandchildren. She lives in Texas with her husband, two dogs and six chickens.

Guest Blogger: Denise LaBarre, Author of Issues in Your Tissues

Issues in Your Tissues: Heal Body and Emotion from the Inside Out is a book about listening to your body’s innate wisdom and using it to heal yourself – from the inside, out.

Most health books talk about the mind-body connection as if that’s all there is to it. You read the book and think, “Yes, that’s interesting, I get the concepts.” You may even do a few of the exercises, but the information stays in your mind and there’s no substantial change in your body or shift in the way you go about your life. What they leave out of the equation is emotion, which is the mind-body link itself. You need to feel emotion for change to occur in your body. As you come to understand the emotions you carry physically and how to work with them, you don’t have to feel at the mercy of them any more.
As you learn to feel your emotions in your body – allow them to roll through you like a wave and out – you make room for positive change and healing.

You can reclaim the energized aliveness you were born with. You can glide through your days with more ease in your body and more energy in your life. It only takes a little understanding and the will to improve. The first step toward living more alive in your body and less in your mind is taking a full breath. Chapter One of Issues in Your Tissues gives you an easy way to do that. From there, you will explore the embodied energy that gets carried from unresolved emotion through stories, learn how to release it, and move on to greater physical and emotional well-being.

Issues in Your Tissues will show you how to breathe fully throughout your day – in the transitions – and how much better you will feel when you do. LaBarre’s stories will inspire you to venture inside and explore the long locked-off territory of your inner emotional landscape. You will rediscover lost parts of yourself including emotions that you need to be whole and healthy. The process can be fast, easy, and painless. It starts simply, with intention and a deep breath.

Whether or not these ideas are new to you, the goal is to help you see them from a perspective you haven’t seen before, plus give you inspiration and simple tools to help you reconnect into your body more of the time and henceforth. Here are twenty inspiring healing stories to entertain your mind while re-inspiring your intuitive self to do its healing work. They show you how this reconnecting process looks and feels. Plus, each chapter has original cartoons and simple exercises to bring the ideas and insights home, into your body, now. They really help if you do them!

What is your body saying to you? 

Find out from Issues in Your Tissues by Denise LaBarre

Your body is brilliant at telling you what is wrong and what it needs. But you may have stopped listening somewhere along the way. You were born completely in tune with your body - you laughed when you were happy, cried when you were sad, probably punched someone when you felt angry. But then what happened? You got in trouble for hitting; you were told to “suck it up,” “don’t be a cry baby”, and told to be quiet and not make so much noise. You learned to stifle your natural emotional reactions to fit in, to become socialized. If you were abused, neglected or had your boundaries violated in some way, even more you had to stuff down scary, confusing feelings you couldn’t manage in order to survive. What happens to that energy? It compounds to become tension, pain and dis-ease – i.e. the issues in your tissues.

I wrote my book, Issues in Your Tissues: Heal Body and Emotion from the Inside Out from my decades of bodywork experience working with thousands of bodies. During sessions, I found I was saying the same things to people regardless of their age, education - even their level of health and fitness. Everyone who wound up on my table needed to open their breath. Everyone had lost at least partial connection with the wisdom in his or her body. And every body was asking to be listened to and loved.

The fully-aligned, radiant inner connection you were born with still exists in you. Even after years of shut-down accumulating layers of dis-ease, you can access it quickly and directly. You simply need to be re-minded how to listen to your body.

In chapter one I get you “Breathing Like you Mean It.” I show you a simple technique to get you breathing throughout your day so you come out of your head and back into your body – where the juice and aliveness are. Through cartoons, exercises, and stories you come to understand how you energetically build tension and dis-ease and what it looks like to release it. Even as you read, you learn to feel that long-held emotional energy as it flows through you. My approach is simple and intuitive. You find yourself saying, “Yah! I know that. I just never heard it put that way. Now I get it. I can do this!”

You may have an illness that defies treatment; aches and pains that seem to “come out of nowhere”; or symptoms that medicine can’t explain. In my experience this usually means unresolved emotional issues have become physical issues. When surgery, medication, chiropractic, acupuncture, and massage, have not helped resolve a physical problem, it’s time to look in the emotional realm for what might be stuck there. Once the emotional knots are released, the body has clearance to heal itself – and it does. The understanding and simple, fun tools you need to reconnect with your deeper healing await you, just a deeper breath away.


Denise started doing bodywork regularly at age 7, on her stressed-out mom and soon began reading her mother’s graduate school psychology books, connecting the dots between the physical and emotional energy she felt intuitively. She studied language at university and then managed a translation agency, all the while touching bodies who called out for help. She realized as she worked with more people that she was also re-learning the universal language of the body and translating it for minds that had gotten socialized out of the habit of listening. She was becoming a "body-mind translator."

Denise loves to help people reconnect to the physical and emotional aliveness they were born with through her writing, hands-on work, teaching and public speaking.


Visit Denise’s website www.HealingCatalyst.com,
Purchase a print copy: http://healingcatalyst.com/issues-in-your-tissues-the-book/self-help-books/

Follow her on Twitter @HealingCatalyst
Follow her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheHealingCatalyst

Denise lives on Maui, where you can find her for private sessions or co-sponsor a lecture/workshop/session appearance in your city.

Guest Blogger: Diane McAdams Gladow, Author of A Journey of Voices: Stewards of the Land

A Journey of Voices: Stewards of the Land is the second book in Diane McAdams Gladow's nonfiction series about common, ordinary families who lived American history, and in some cases, helped to make it. This book tells the story of the Crume family by interweaving old letters, pictures, land documents, Bible records, and historical references with an account of the family's life and movement through seven generations. The story of this family is truly the story of American history from 1746 to 1946 and the story of American agricultural life and how it changed over two hundred years. Whether flatboating in the frigid winter weather down the Ohio River, building homes in the wilderness, fighting in the American Revolution, enduring the Civil War in a border state, dealing with Indians in Texas, surviving the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, and experiencing the misery and uncertainty of two world wars, this family lived it all. Come see America's history through their eyes and voices as they struggle to build lives on the land in a bold new country.

Voices From History

by Diane McAdams Gladow

Old, yellowed, mouse-chewed letters can be fascinating reading as they open the door to the past, to a time which can usually only be visited in history books. Because most people do not particularly enjoy reading history textbooks, reading the handwritten letters of people who lived in another time period can be an eye-opening way to discover history - through the voices of the people who lived it. Because I inherited a collection of old family letters from my parents, I had the foundation for crafting a nonfiction book about a family’s history and its connection to the history of America. Actually, it has expanded into a series of books due to the amount of material available. Along with the letters, I included diary entries, Bible records, and memoir accounts. These “voice excerpts” were supported by public documents, historical background, geographical setting descriptions, pictures and maps. Pulling all these elements together, a family’s story is portrayed as they journey through seven generations and well over two hundred years of American history. This second book of the series is A Journey of Voices: Stewards of the Land.

The book is written using a narrator whose voice changes with age and who is as much a part of the story being told as the main participants. The participants interact with most of the major events in American history, whether it be building homes in the wilderness of Virginia in 1724, fighting in the American Revolution, flatboating down the Ohio River, connecting with the Abraham Lincoln family, enduring the Civil War in the border state of Kentucky, dealing with Indians in Texas, surviving the Great Depression, or experiencing two World Wars. They lived it all as farmers, connected to the soil, and their lives give us a unique look at our country’s history as we listen to their voices tell their own personal story.

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Born and raised on the desert prairies of New Mexico, Diane McAdams Gladow moved to east central Kansas after her marriage where she still resides with her family. She and her husband have three grown children and five grandchildren who consume a large portion of their time. In her spare time she enjoys reading, traveling and being an avid sports fan. Always interested in history, she completed a minor in it at the University of Texas at El Paso and her Bachelor’s Degree with a major in English. She followed that with a Master’s Degree in English at the University of New Mexico. She taught English Composition at Emporia State University, was the voice of the Grammar Hotline, and coordinated the Emporia Literacy Program for some twenty-five years. Her work with family history began after she inherited her parent’s collection of letters and papers. She has written two previous books, one a memoir of her husband’s family, Rich Heritage, and second the first book in her A Journey of Voices series subtitled Chasing the Frontier. Living in the heart of the Flint Hills on the doorstep to the Great Prairies where history has been happening on a regular basis for hundreds of years is a constant inspiration for her writing. She is currently working on the third book in her A Journey of Voices series.

Visit the author online at http://dianegladow.com/

Guest Blogger: Troy Jackson, Author of The Elementals

Upon unifying the seven warring states under one banner, the First Emperor of China began solidifying power for what he envisioned as a thousand-year reign. Using those he conquered, the Emperor began a series of arduous projects, Including the first Great Wall, the Linqu Canal, and a national system of highways. Ignoring the physical and emotional toll exacted upon the people, his insatiable desire to further his own power has led to a growing, and secretive insurgency. One such organization is the Dragon's Spite who wishes to usurp control of the throne by nearly any means. But first they must marshal their forces strewn throughout the kingdom. More importantly they seek out three extraordinary girls who hold vast supernatural powers that can tip the balance in their favor. But do these unknowing heroines realize the talents that they possess? Will the Dragon's Spite reach them before the agents of the Emperor?

When history gets lost in… well, history! by Troy Jackson

Throughout each of our lives we have heard and read the same dry bits of history from textbooks and other means. If one positive can be found in this they will typically result in a restful nap that will leave you energized to go and do something else. Why does history have to be so…boring? Much like politicians, we could debate this for weeks on end and never sway one single person to your side. Is history important? Certainly. The human race has a tendency to learn the hard way in many aspects of life, and where better to look than in our own history? As poet and philosopher George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Touch a hot stove, and you hopefully have learned not to repeat the action again, and you can pass it along to others so that they do not duplicate your mistake. But some will not heed your words and find out the hard way, and thus the vicious cycle repeats itself once more.

So why must we learn history in such...a…dull…manner…? Perhaps if we could spice it up a little and make it not only informative, but also entertaining? It is a question I have asked myself countless times throughout the years. It is why I have always gravitated towards novels that fall into the historical fiction and historical fantasy sub-genres. My novel, The Elementals, can easily fall into those categories. I take a period in history that is known by very few and breathe new life into it. Actual events that occurred over 2,200 years ago in ancient China can leave a rather bland taste in one’s mouth. However, by adding my own supernatural twist I not only entice readers, but also dare them to read on. When vampires, werewolves, dragons, and magic and fictitious worlds are all the rage nowadays, an author has to separate his or herself from the rest of the pack. Why can we not bring the same excitement to a subject that most try and avoid like garlic to a vampire?

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Born in 1974 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Troy Jackson moved to the great state of Georgia with his family at the age of three where he has lived ever since. Currently he resides outside the city of Atlanta with his lovely wife and daughter. His passion for history, fantasy, and science fiction began at an early age with a little nudge from his older brother. Attending Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Georgia he received a Bachelor's Degree in History and a Master's Degree in Teaching. In his spare time he enjoys being with his family, watching, and partaking in sports. Although new to the profession he intends on writing about subjects that have always fascinated him, including fantasy, adventure, science fiction, and history.

Visit the author online at http://www.tempestworks.com and his blog at http://www.tempestworks.com/tw-blog.html

Guest Blogger: Lorna Collins, Author of Sweet Romance Anthologies

It came to me in the middle of the night, as so many creative ideas do. I awoke with the idea of a book about four sisters. As children, they are each given a special snowflake by their great-aunt along with a poem about how special they are. In the body of the book, the sisters tell their own stories of how their snowflakes changed their lives. At the end, they reunite and share their experiences with each other.

Since sleep eluded me, I got up, went to the computer, and wrote the book’s prologue.

I knew I wanted to write one of the novellas that would make up the heart of the book, but I also thought it might be more interesting with three different writers for the others.

My first thought was my friend Sherry Derr-Wille. We’d met at a conference the year before. I’d read a couple of her books and knew that her style would work well for what I had in mind. I emailed the prologue to her, and she was excited about the concept. Since she had first choice of the sisters, she chose the youngest, Carole.

She said she would talk to another friend of hers whom I’d met at the same conference, but this person became very ill and couldn’t take part.

I next contacted Christie Shary, who was a member of our writing group. She’d just finished a novel and was willing to contribute. She chose the number two sister, Sonata.

I decided I’d take the oldest sister, Allegra, but that still left the third sister, Melody.

Another author from our writing group at first agreed to do that one, but shortly afterward decided she didn’t have the time. Yet another group member, Luanna Rugh, overheard us talking and asked about the project. By the end of our conversation, she had not only agreed to take Melody but had plotted her novella completely.

Our first book, Snowflake Secrets was accepted by Whiskey Creek Press even before it was finished because the owner of the company loves anthologies. It was a finalist for the Dream Realm and Eric Hoffer Awards.

We decided to do a second, Seasons of Love, this time without the through-story. This is the only one of our books written in third person. The novellas each have a different seasonal theme. My own, “Winter’s Song,” is based on a true story.

We discussed writing another and agreed we preferred related stories told in the first-person voices of the characters. Directions of Love is about four friends who grew up together. Then each moves away in a different geographical direction. They return to their home town for their twentieth high school reunion. This book won the EPIC eBook Award for best romance anthology of 2011.

We were on a roll and really enjoyed doing these, so I suggested a Christmas book. We added debut author, Cheryl Gardarian for An Aspen Grove Christmas, published in December of 2010.

Our latest anthology, The Art of Love, will be published in September of 2013. We’re currently working on two more.

As the setting for our books, we created the fictional town of Aspen Grove, Colorado. It was inspired by several of the small mining towns in the mountains outside of Denver. By now, the town has become so familiar we feel as though we could visit there. Several of our readers have told us they’d like to do the same.

Our special collaborative effort has been very rewarding for all of us. We chose sweet romance because that’s what we all like to read. Throughout the series, we’ve recycled local businesses and characters. Many reappear in subsequent books. They’ve taken on lives of their own.

If you’re looking for a sweet romantic read this Valentine’s Day, why not pick up one of ours?

Lorna Collins was raised in Alhambra, California and attended California State University at Los Angeles where she majored in English.

Between 1998 and 2001, she worked in Osaka, Japan on the Universal Studios theme park with her husband, Larry. Their memoir of that experience, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park was a 2006 EPPIE finalist and named as one of Rebeccas Reads Best Nonfiction books of 2005.

Their mysteries, Murder…They Wrote and Murder in Paradise were published by Whiskey Creek Press in ebook and paperback formats. They plan several more in this series.
In addition to the five romance anthologies, Lorna has written and a fantasy/mystery/romance called Ghost Writer, published by Oak Tree Press.

All their books are available from the publishers, on Amazon, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Nook, their website (www.lornalarry.com), and other online book outlets. Follow Lorna’s blog at http://lornacollins-author.blogspot.com. And follow her on Twitter @LornaCollins.

Lorna & Larry now reside in Dana Point, CA where Larry enjoys surfing nearly every day and Lorna spends time with family and friends. They have several more books in the queue.

Guest Blogger: Sarah Pleydell, Author of Cologne: A Novel

London, 1960: Renate von Hasselmann, a nineteen-year-old German au pair, arrives at Victoria Station prepared to meet her new charges, Caroline and Maggie Whitaker. Yet she is ill-prepared for their parents: the mother, Helen, knows more about Nazi Germany than Renate does, and the father, Jack, disarms Renate with his quicksilver charm.

In Sarah Pleydell's debut novel, childhood and history collide, blurring the distinctions between victim and victor, ruin and redemption. With delicate humor, Pleydell presents a portrait of a family on the cusp of great social change, while reminding us that the traumas of war revisit the children of the peace.

Reflections by Sarah Pleydell

The characters in COLOGNE emerged from the environment of memory. I grew up in London in the fifties and sixties, and as I began to remember the sentient details of this world certain characters began to assert themselves within it. At first they resembled people in my childhood, but the more I wrote the more they assumed their own discrete fictional identities.

For example, Renate the au pair. We had fifteen au pairs in our household as I was growing up and the character of Renate draws on them all. As the fictional Renate developed her own history, temperament and fate, the personality that evolved bristled with anger but was confused both by its source and the fact that the longer she was in England the fiercer it became. As a result she was forced to recall the personal and collective traumas she had been so determined to suppress.

This story thus became informed as much by the history of Germany pre- and post-World War II as by the World War history of England, specifically the history of the city of Cologne. I did research at the Library of Congress and discovered that the British firebombed Cologne as they had so many German cities. I also learned of the city’s rich cultural history. Questions began to merge about Renate and her family’s lived experiences. What if Renate’s father were a museum curator ? What if the family left Cologne to escape the bombings, but he remained to protect his artifacts? How would Renate, as a small child, feel abandoned by her father because his art mattered to him more? What about her older brother, who would have fought on the side of the Nazis? What if he were maimed by the Russians instead of killed? How would that tragedy have impacted an impressionable, fatherless young girl like Renate? And how would a sophisticated family like hers fare after so many personal and economic losses? Finally, I began to reflect on the way those Germans who were children during the war would have reacted to carrying a legacy of shame and crime they had no part in.

I began to understand then how Renate would have been susceptible to the charms of an opportunist like Jack Whitaker, the kind of mercurial person who emerges in a time of change, chaos and stress. With no strong male figures in her own life she would be vulnerable to the ersatz affection Jack offered her, but in the end, I discovered as I wrote, she was strong enough to resist him. But at what cost?

Prices/Formats: $14.95 paperback, $12.95 ebook, $6.47 ebook
ISBN: 9780984990856
Pages: 252
Release: September 18, 2012

Fuze Publishing paperback buy link: ($14.95)
http://fuzepublishing.com/books?fpcat=fiction-book

Amazon Kindle buy link: ($12.95)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009D7V06O?tag=tributebooks-20

Barnes&Noble.com Nook buy link: ($12.95)
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cologne-sarah-playdell/1112959139

Fuze Publishing ebook buy link: ($6.47)

http://fuze.directfrompublisher.com/catalog/book/cologne

A graduate of Oxford and London Universities, Sarah Pleydell is an award-winning writer, performer and playwright who teaches English and writing at the University of Maryland. For the past twenty years, she has been a master teaching artist and arts integration specialist, working with institutions that include The Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Luce Institute. In 2000, she won the American Association for Theatre Educators’ award for best book of the year with co-author Victoria Brown. Most recently she wrote the script and played the role of Isadora in Revolutionary: The Life and Times of Isadora Duncan with Word Dance Theater.

Based on her childhood in London, Cologne has been twenty years in the making. It has benefited from fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and input many generous and gifted writers.

Sarah Pleydell's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/sarah.pleydell

Sarah Pleydell's Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6591278.Sarah_Playdell

Cologne: A Novel GoodReads page:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16180035-cologne

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https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fuze-Publishing-LLC/297440248596

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Cologne: A Novel Blog Tour Site:
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Guest Bloggers: Larry K. and Lorna Collins, Authors of Murder in Paradise

On an early morning paddle, Agapé Jones' outrigger team finds a body in the water off Maui, thrusting him into unexpected danger.

Agapé Jones, retired NYPD detective, is asked to act as special investigator in the murder of famous surfer Philip Fowler, the son of Hawaii State Senator Thomas Fowler. The assignment takes Agapé to the North Shore of Oahu where he discovers that he’s investigating more than just a murder. The young man had no enemies, and Agapé is frustrated by little evidence and few possible suspects.

Agapé enjoys exercising his old skills, but he misses his wife, Gerry. He encounters several people who become more than acquaintances, and in the end, discovers the truth. Murder in Paradise allows readers to discover the answers along with the detective while experiencing a virtual trip to the real Paradise that is Hawaii.

Murder…We Wrote?

by Larry and Lorna Collins

We never intended to write mysteries. In fact, we only meant to finish our memoir about living in Osaka, Japan to build the Universal Studios Japan theme park, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park.

On Labor Day weekend of 2005, the year our book was published, we attended the now-defunct Maui Writers Conference. We learned a lot there, but we were also launched on the adventure of mystery writing.

Lorna had already started her still-incomplete romance novel, but Larry wasn’t writing anything. We attended a workshop called “You’re Published, Now What?” The first question asked by the speaker was, “So now that you have your first book published, what’s your next one?” He went on to explain that publishing your first book is like giving your teenager the keys to the car and watching them pull out of the driveway. They’re now on their own. Your job as a writer is done.

At the end of the same session, the conference director announced that the poet had fallen on the stairs, and although he’d be fine, his classes had been cancelled. Larry suddenly thought, What if the poet was found dead at the bottom of the stairs? During the weekend, we’d met quite a few quirky authors, so there was plenty of fodder for suspects. He had the idea for his next book.

The next day, we met a man we’d seen managing security for the conference. We stopped to chat with him for about ten minutes. As we walked away, Lorna turned to Larry and said, “We have to write that guy.” Thus Agapé Jones, retired NYPD detective, and our mystery collaboration were born.

After the third rewrite of our memoir, we’d figured out how to work together as a team. But this was a whole new venture.

The nice thing about two authors is that the characters can also have separate and distinct voices. Larry writes the macho hero types. But he also writes most of the little old ladies. He covers the factual stuff, and Lorna handles the emotions. Somehow, it works.

We’ve always loved to read cozy mysteries, but we discovered writing them was a huge challenge. Your suspects have to be credible with believable motives. They also have to appear to have opportunity. And all the red herrings and false storylines must be wrapped up by the end.

When we finished the first book, Murder…They Wrote, set at a fictional writers’ conference on Maui, we asked our proofreader to have a look at the manuscript before we submitted it. When she’d finished, we asked if she’d figured it out. She said she had. Then we asked her when. She replied, “At the same time as the protagonist.” That’s the best answer we could have received.

Even though we left no question about the solution, at least three people have told us, “I know the answer, but I still wonder if [character X] wasn’t involved.” Each of them named a different character!

We thought we were finished with mysteries, but our protagonist just wouldn’t stay retired. So we wrote Murder in Paradise to pull him out of retirement. And he keeps telling us he has at least two more stories to tell.

By the way, the fellow who inspired Agapé Jones is now a good friend. Strangely enough, when we’ve talked to him about what we’ve written, we quite often discover he is doing the same things as Agapé! We must have a telepathic connection.

The best thing about writing the series is that we have to visit Hawaii from time to time for ‘research.’ We were in Oahu at the time we received the edits for Murder in Paradise. Fortunately we’d discovered that a restaurant we’d mentioned in the manuscript had moved. We were able to change the manuscript before it was published to include its current location.

After our most recent trip to Maui, we’re back to work on the next one, Murder on Maui. We already know the basic plotline. Now if we can just decide what our perpetrator can add to a glass of wine to imitate a heart attack…

Lorna Lund and Larry Collins were both raised in Alhambra, California. They attended grammar and high school together. Larry went to California Polytechnic College in Pomona, and Lorna attended California State College at Los Angeles. They have been married for over forty-seven years.

Larry’s job as an engineer involved him in various projects throughout the United States and around the world. Lorna was employed in Document Control, Data Management, IT Change Management, Editing, and Technical Writing.

They both worked in Osaka on the Universal Studios Japan theme park. Larry was a Project Engineer, responsible for the Jurassic Park, JAWS and WaterWorld attractions. Lorna was the Document Control Supervisor in Osaka.

Their memoir of that experience, 31 Months in Japan: TheBuilding of a Theme Park was a 2006 EPPIE finalist and named as one of Rebeccas Reads Best Nonfiction books of 2005.

Their mysteries, Murder…They Wrote and Murder in Paradise were published by Whiskey Creek Press in ebook and paperback formats. They plan several more in this series.

In addition, Lorna has written four romance anthologies and a fantasy/mystery/romance called Ghost Writer. Larry has also published a collection of short stories entitled Lakeview Park.

All their books are available from the publishers, on Amazon, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Nook, their website (www.lornalarry.com), and other online book outlets. Follow Lorna’s blog at http://lornacollins-author.blogspot.com. And follow her on Twitter @LornaCollins.

Lorna & Larry now reside in Dana Point, CA where Larry enjoys surfing nearly every day and Lorna spends time with family and friends. They have several more books in the queue.