Molly Best Tinsley and Karetta Hubbard - Satan's Chamber - Guest Post

About the Book

He was a crack CIA operative, who vanished from the streets of Khartoum, Sudan.

And he was her father.

She followed him into the Agency’s National Clandestine Service, and now despite her junior status, she gets the assignment she covets: Khartoum.

From the minute Victoria Pierce arrives in-country, nothing is what it seems.

The one-eyed Kendacke, descendant of the first female black pharaohs, is a fugitive in her own land. Bart Wilkins, the buff but bumbling supply officer at the Embassy, keeps turning up one step ahead. The super-rich Adam Marshall has information, but it comes with strings attached.

Whom can she trust as she begins to uncover the pieces of a horrific plan? Thus the mystery begins.

Guest Post

A good story is about people before it’s about anything else.

How do we bring to life on the page the multi-dimensional, colorful characters who star in riveting stories like Satan’s Chamber? The same way we connect with and support the real people we encounter in life: through empathy. We tap the imagination to put ourselves in the same boat as another and find out how it feels. There are a number of techniques that further that process.

Define and respect each character’s backstory. We write at least a page of biography about each important character, being as specific as possible about the forces that shaped his or her personality and motivations. We knew things about the childhoods of Victoria “Tory” Pierce or Adam Marshall that never showed up specifically in the narrative but still lent authority to their portraits. We pay particular attention to a character’s idiosyncrasies, flaws, weaknesses—these are the quirks that make things happen. These are the traits that will allow, no, force your character to change. And change is good. Meanwhile, perfection is usually predictable and generic, always static.

Find the part of yourself that resonates with each of your characters to keep them from becoming wooden pawns. The do-gooder who can’t say no, the party animal, the political activist, the neurotic agoraphobic, or someone quite despicable and villainous—we all have such mini-selves hiding within, which we can draw on to add depth and diversity to our fictional lineup. Molly was shocked to discover her inner thug through a choice she made on behalf of one of the bad guys in Satan’s Chamber: she didn’t think she had it in her, in fact, she wishes she didn’t. But it is important to remember that the good guys have faults, the bad guys have dreams, and both have motivations for their actions.

Seek out points of tension between characters and turn up the volume on them. In fact, narrative propulsion will come more easily if you conceive of your story in terms of a number characters in conflict, as opposed to an individual “main character.” Although Satan’s Chamber charts the transformational arc of one main character, Tory Pierce, she is continually bumping up against both helpers and enemies who embody different perspectives, value systems, and personalities. Of course, it is part of Tory’s learning curve to figure out exactly which of these supporting characters to believe and trust, which to avoid, and even take out. These conflicts and decisions keep the action moving and the sparks flying.

Finally, it’s important to trust your characters once you feel you know them well enough. Let them have something to say about the course of the action, rather than putting them lockstep through the paces of a preconceived plot. Most crucial: allow them to speak out and reveal themselves. Give them the room to grow beyond your control through scenes.

***

Satan's Chamber can be purchased at:
Amazon
Fuze Publishing
Kindle
Nook

Price: $19.95 hardcover, $14.95 paperback, $5.99 ebook
ISBN: 9780984141203
Pages: 294
Release: August 2009


About the Authors

Air Force brat Molly Best Tinsley taught on the civilian faculty at the United States Naval Academy for twenty years and is the institution’s first professor emerita. Author of My Life with Darwin (Houghton Mifflin) and Throwing Knives (Ohio State University Press), she also co-authored Satan’s Chamber (Fuze Publishing) and the textbook, The Creative Process (St. Martin’s). Her fiction has earned two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sandstone Prize, and the Oregon Book Award. Her plays have been read and produced nationwide. She lives in Oregon, where she divides her time between Ashland and Portland.

***

As a businesswoman and entrepreneur, Karetta Hubbard has more than twenty-five years of experience in consulting, strategic management, and organizational change for companies throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Japan. Having recently turned to literary endeavors, Ms. Hubbard credits her five grandchildren as her inspiration and encouragement to put pen to paper.

As an active member of the Washington, DC community, Ms. Hubbard has held appointments at the Small Business Advisory Council (SBA), the Tyson Business and Professional Women Foundation (BPW), and the Fairfax County Democratic Committee. Ms. Hubbard attended the University of Virginia and received her B.A. degree from George Mason University. She also attended Catholic University’s Graduate School in Social Work.

Connect with Molly and Karetta:
Satan's Chamber Web Site
Satan's Chamber Goodreads
Fuze Publishing Web Site
Fuze Publishing Blog
Fuze Publishing Facebook
Fuze Publishing Twitter

Feature & Follow

Feature & Follow

Q:  Summer reading: What was your favorite book that you were requested to read when you were in school?

My most favorite book I would have to say is To Kill A Mockingbird.

Brenda Stanley - The Color of Snow - Guest Post & Giveaway

About the Book

Can a troubled young girl reenter society after living in isolation?

When a beautiful 16-year-old girl named Sophie is found sequestered in a cage-like room in a rundown house in the desolate hills of Arbon Valley, Idaho, the entire community is shocked to learn she is the legendary Callidora--a baby girl who was kidnapped from her crib almost seventeen years ago and canonized in missing posters with portraits of what the fabled girl might resemble. Authorities soon learn that the cage was there to protect people from Sophie, because her biological father believes she is cursed.

Sophie is discovered after the man she knows as Papa, shoots and injures Damien, a young man who is trying to rescue her. Now, unsocialized and thrust into the world, and into a family she has never met, Sophie must decide whether she should accept her Papa’s claims that she is cursed and he was only trying to protect others, or trust the new people in her life who have their own agendas. Guided by a wise cousin, Sophie realizes that her most heartbreaking challenge is to decide if her love for Damien will destroy him like her Papa claims, or free her from past demons that haunt her mind.

Guest Post

The Color of Snow has been described as dark or mysterious. I feel most of my writing fits this description because I enjoy looking at the strange and unusual things in life. My novel will definitely make some people uncomfortable. I like to look at situations and issues and try to figure out how people will react. For years I was a crime reporter, so I enjoy investigating stories and learning about the parts of life most people try to hide. When I wrote The Color of Snow, I was working on a story about a young girl who went missing years ago and has never been found. I started thinking about what would happen if she were to suddenly show up now. I loved putting myself in Sophie’s shoes and seeing things for the first time.

Sophie’s relationship with Damien is both intense and tempered. Her father has raised her to believe that she will destroy anyone who truly loves her, so she is torn between her love for Damien and her fear of causing him harm.

The story changes between what is going on with Sophie and what happened in her parent’s past that brought her to where she is. I wanted readers to experience the often isolated feeling of living in a vast rural area, but also the mental confinement of a small town.

Mental illness, teen pregnancy, religious intolerance, and racism are all big parts of The Color of Snow. I like my characters to face challenges and see them grow from them. It is not only the conflicts with the other characters that keeps the story going, but also those within the person’s own mind.

***

Click here to read an excerpt.

The Color of Snow can be purchased at:
Kindle
Nook
iBookstore
Google
Smashwords
PDF

Price: $2.99-$4.99 ebook
ISBN: 9780983741893, 9781476172309
Pages: 413
Release: June 1, 2012


About the Author

Brenda Stanley is former television news anchor and investigative reporter for the NBC affiliate in Eastern Idaho. She has been recognized for her writing by the Scripps Howard Foundation, the Hearst Journalism Awards, The Idaho Press Club and the Society for Professional Journalists. She is a graduate of Dixie College in St. George, Utah and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She is the mother of 5 children, including two sets of twins. Brenda and her husband Dave, a veterinarian, live on a small ranch near the Snake River with their horses and dogs.

Connect with Brenda:
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Blog Tour Site


About the Giveaway

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L.M. Preston - Flutter of Luv - Guest Post

Guest Post

Creating Diversity in Characters

Character development comes easy to me. Maybe because I’d always been a people person who loved to people watch and observe. But most of all development of characters come from being around people.

Most of my characters have a character profile. I usually hunt for a picture of an actor or model who looks similar to the character in mind. Then I build their background story. Their parents, friends, connections, even a snapshot of their dialogue make up their profile and helps me stay within the confines of who they are when I’m writing.

One of the reasons I do this is to have diverse characters who have a history, a background and an on paper persona that makes them distinctly different for the reader.

The one area for each character I work on most is dialogue. That’s the one thing that sets them apart for the reader. Small bodily expressions or original ticks that clue the reader in on the characters persona helps to make them even more real within the setting of the story.

But most of all, my secret sauce to writing interesting characters, is that when I write them – I become them. And it’s a great ride.

About the Book
Dawn, the neighborhood tomboy is happy to be her best friend’s shadow. Acceptance comes from playing football after school with the guys on the block while hiding safely behind her glasses, braces and boyish ways. But Tony moves in, becomes the star running back on her school’s team and changes her world and her view of herself forever.

eBook
Price: $0.99
Release: June 1, 2012
Buy Link: Kindle
Other Links: Goodreads

About the Author

L.M. Preston loved to create poetry and short-stories as a young girl. She worked in the IT field as a Techie and Educator for over sixteen years. Her passion for writing science fiction was born under the encouragement of her husband who was a Sci-Fi buff and her four kids. Her obsessive desire to write and create stories of young people who overcome unbelievable odds feeds her creation of multiple series for Middle Grade and Young Adult readers thirsty for an adventure. She loves to write while on the porch watching her kids play or when she is traveling, which is another passion that encouraged her writing.

Links to connect with L.M.:
Web Site
Blog
Facebook #1
Facebook #2
Twitter
Goodreads
 

 




About the Blog Tour

Flutter of Luv blog tour site
and
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Jerome Charyn - Back to Bataan - Author Interview & Giveaway

About the Book

New York City, 1943. War is raging in Europe and the Pacific, while Jack Dalton is stuck attending Dutch Masters Day School. What Jack really wants is to enlist in the army, to fight...

Everything changes when Coco, Jack's "fiancee," throws him over for one of his classmates. Jack sees red and does something drastic. Then he runs away. Hiding out in a nearby park, Jack joins ranks with a group of vagrants and is soon under the sway of a man called the Leader, an ex-convict who is as articulate and charismatic as he is dangerous. The Leader turns Jack's world upside down. To put things right, Jack must prove himself a braver soldier than he ever imagined.

Author Interview

1. What are your thoughts on the explosion of popularity concerning the YA genre?
I think it might very well be that it started with Harry Potter, that young adult writers are trying to tell good stories and adults have moved into that kind of dream.

2. You are the master of writing across a realm of different genres, what excites you about connecting with different audiences?
I’m not so sure that these are different audiences, I think we all love stories, whether we’re children or great-grandfathers and when you move from genre to genre you are still telling a story like Scheherazade and the king is always waiting for the next tale.

3. Your writing is so precise, yet evocative – how do you work at crafting your unique style of prose?
Everything begins and ends with the word, with the music of the sentence and as Tolstoy once said, “I’m always composing.”

4. Being a published author for nearly 50 years, what do you think of eBooks?
I think that this is a kind of logical step as we move from the internet into eBooks. Publishing is changing even as we speak. I think there now will be a more complicated dance between the eBook and the printed book, and as we’ve seen recently, successes in eBooks allow the author to move into print.

5. What would be your advice to young people who aspire to a literary career?
It’s not worth the money – only write if you’re absolutely in love with it.

6. How much of your life is in Back to Bataan? How did you personally experience New York during World War II?
I think so much of the source of my writing comes from my childhood, I grew up during the War – so many of the terrors and the magic of certain films have remained with me. And all of this appears in the character of Jack.

7. Your older brother was a detective. Did your experiences with him influence the plot?
Not really, I think all writing is crime writing. And Back to Bataan is a crime novel with a very original twist.

8. Why did you decide to include the fascination with the famous as a theme – Gary Cooper, Eleanor Roosevelt, etc.?
These people were heroes to me as a child, particularly Eleanor Roosevelt, who was one of the most extraordinary women who ever lived, and of course as a child I fell in love with Gary Cooper’s face and with his very slow drawl, that seemed so exotic to me.

9. Jack finds acclaim through his writing, yet feels guilty for exploiting other people (Mrs. Fink). How does a writer starting out work to bridge this gap?
You’re always cannibalizing other people and writers when you start to write, so it’s natural that Jack should be a young cannibal.

10. How important is the New York Times in your own life? Why did you decide to make it a form of connection between Jack and the Leader?
As a child, I didn’t even know that the Times existed – I grew up in a neighborhood without newspapers and books, so that when I first fell upon the New York Times, I was very very greedy, and wanted to include it in Jack’s middle-class life.

***

Back to Bataan can be purchased at:
Kindle
Nook
iBookstore
Google
Smashwords
PDF

Price: $2.99-$4.99 ebook
ISBN: 9780985792206, 9781476119076
Pages: 98
Release: July 1, 2012


About the Author

Jerome Charyn (born May 13, 1937) is an award-winning American author. With nearly 50 published works, Charyn has earned a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life. Michael Chabon calls him “one of the most important writers in American literature.”

New York Newsday hailed Charyn as “a contemporary American Balzac,” and the Los Angeles Times described him as “absolutely unique among American writers.”

Since 1964, he has published 30 novels, three memoirs, eight graphic novels, two books about film, short stories, plays and works of non-fiction. Two of his memoirs were named New York Times Book of the Year. Charyn has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been named Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture.

Charyn lives in Paris and New York City.

Connect with Jerome:
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Blog Tour Site


About the Giveaway

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Feature & Follow

Feature & Follow

Q: What drove you to start blogging in the first place?

My desire for reading and love of books and sharing with others.

Hillary E. Peak - Wings of Hope - Author Interview

About the Book

The letter said he was dying, that’s all Jules Weinstein knows when she leaves her life in San Francisco and moves to New York City to be with her father. She goes for the remarkable opportunity to really know her father. She never dreamed he had liberated a concentration camp, dealt cards to Bugsy Siegel or saved the life of a Black Panther. Wings of Hope is a road trip through the memories of a man making peace with his life. Little does she know that by getting to know her father, she will find herself. While her father struggles with whether his life was meaningful, Jules discovers that her father’s last gift to her is the ability to reach for her dreams. Her journey teacher her that “the goodbye” is sometimes the most heartbreakingly beautiful part of life.

Author Interview

1. Who is your favorite character?
Jules

2. Why is he/she your favorite?
Because she is who I'd like to be. She's just at the point of figuring her life out, and she has the guts to leave her comfortable, but unfulfilling, life behind to try for her dreams.

3. How did you come to create him/her?
This story is based on my father and his life stories. This character is based on a conversation I wish I'd been able to have with my father. When he was already gone, my mother told me that they had talked about how much I was like him in my desire to do something important with my life. He gave my mother a lot of insight into my drive and ambition--things I really wish he'd imparted to me. So, I made up the conversations I wish we'd been able to have.

4. When did he/she first enter your mind?
Initially, writing down these stories was just a guide for me in sharing them with my daughter as she grew up. The entire idea of the novel kind of took shape as I wrote these stories down. Jules came to me as a venue of sharing these stories. I needed someone for my dad to talk to.

5. Where was he/she given life in the creative process?
Pretty close to the beginning of the process, but she has evolved with the story.

6. What do like the most about him/her and what do you dislike the most about him/her?
What I like most is her guts and determination. What I like least is her lack of confidence in herself and her talent.

***

Wings of Hope can be purchased at:
Amazon
Barnes&Noble.com
Kindle
Smashwords

Price: $9.99 paperback, $2.99 ebook
ISBN: 9781466312197
Pages: 226
Release: December 2011


About the Author

Hillary Peak is a recovering idealist. She became a lawyer to change the world and is still somewhat shocked that didn't occur. Now, her goal is to retire from practicing law and write novels that people love. She is currently a practicing attorney in the District of Columbia. She lives with her family in Alexandria, VA.

Connect with Hillary:
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Tribute Books Blog Tour Site

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday

In my mailbox today is: The Color Of Snow (e-book)  by Brenda Stanley

Janiera Eldridge - Soul Sisters - Author Interview

Author Interview

1. Who is your favorite character?
Soul Sister Ani

2. Why is he/she your favorite?
Ani is definitely my favorite character because she is so bold and strong. She does what she wants, when she wants. She’s fiercely loyal and will do anything for someone that would do anything for her.

3. How did you come to create him/her?
At first I was just writing her as a bold character but as I continued writing her I realized she was my alter ego. She does everything I wish I could do and….get away with it.

4. When did he/she first enter your mind?
She popped into my mind as soon as the story line did. I knew I wanted a strong female character in my story so Ani’s personality was born right away.

5. Where was he/she given life in the creative process?
Ani was given life at the very beginning of the story. Her sister Dana came later. She is such a fun character that at the beginning of the book I knew she would be a part of it right away.

6. What do like the most about him/her and what do you dislike the most about him/her?
I love how strong Ani is and how she is not afraid to do what needs to be done. The thing I dislike about her is she will get what she wants at any cost and that can get others in trouble sometimes. She definitely is an enigma!


About the Book

Soul Sisters is an urban fantasy novel about African-American twin sisters Ani and Dana who have a rather unique secret: one sister is human while the other is a vampire. While the sisters have lived peacefully with each other for many years one fateful night will change both their lives forever. When a drunken man tries to attack Dana (the human sister) Ani (the vampire sister) protects her sister with all of her ferocious power.

However, when the vampire’s leader Donovan finds out about the public display he calls for the sisters to be assassinated for disobedience. Ani and Dana now are in for the fight of their lives to protect each other as well as the lives of their dedicated friends who have joined them on their mission for survival. If Dana and Ani can make it through this time of uncertainty, Ani can take her new place as vampire queen.

Soul Sisters is expected to be a trilogy; The book also features a multicultural cast of characters that brings a new edge of chic to the vampire world.

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: May 23, 2012
Formats/Prices: $10 paperback, $2.99 ebook
Buy Links: CreateSpace, Kindle




About the Author

 Janiera enjoys feeding her  book addiction when she not writing. She is also a book blogger at Beauty and Books where she mixes being a book nerd with keeping things chic. When not reading or writing she is freelance writing in the entertainment industry. Soul Sisters is her debut novel.

Links to connect with Janiera:
Blog

Twitter

Facebook
Pinterest
Goodreads

#Spectral by @ShannonDuffyLit Twitter Party

CLICK HERE to R.S.V.P.

#Spectral by@ShannonDuffyLit
Twitter Party

Tuesday, July 10, 2012
2-3:30 p.m. Eastern


Follow hashtag #Spectral as author Shannon Duffy answers your questions for 90 minutes live on Twitter.

A great app to use in order to follow the #Spectral hashtag during the Twitter Party can be found at tweetchat.com

We offering at least (1) $50 cash prize to the person who has a receipt confirming an ebook purchase of Spectral and tweets at least once during the Twitter Party.

We'll also be giving away a variety of Spectral swag throughout the event:

• t-shirt
• necklace that has the cover and a butterfly
• bookmark
• pen
• three main character trading cards of Jewel, Roman and Chase that have their pics and stats on them

Free Angel Friday

FREE ANGEL FRIDAY 
Friday, July 13, 2012

Help us lower the Amazon sales ranking of Until Next Time: The Angel Chronicles.

Next Friday, "purchase" your free Kindle copy at:
http://amzn.to/xOQ4eL

Please feel free to spread the word far and wide and let's see how low we can go!

P.S. Be sure to add The Angel Chronicles, Book 2 (coming November 1, 2012) to your Goodreads to-read list at:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15725493-the-angel-chronicles-book-2

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

Q: So other than books... What periodicals do you read? Magazines? Newspapers? Newsletters? Journals? Do you subscribe or do you buy them on the newsstand when they look interesting?

I usually read some magazines that I subscribe to, such as Entertainment Weekly and Vogue.

Natalie Wexler - The Mother Daughter Show - Guest Post

About the Book

At Barton Friends a D.C. prep school so elite its parent body includes the President and First Lady - three mothers have thrown themselves into organizing the annual musical revue. Will its Machiavellian intrigue somehow enable them to reconnect with their graduating daughters, who are fast spinning out of control? By turns hilarious and poignant, The Mother Daughter Show will appeal to anyone who's ever had a daughter - and anyone who's ever been one.

Guest Post

One reason I write is to figure out who my characters really are. Much like real people, they evolve as time goes on—although, given that I don’t spend a lifetime writing a novel (or I try not to, anyway), they generally develop a lot faster than people do in real life.

With The Mother Daughter Show, I started with three main characters who had certain basic qualities: Amanda would be a longtime stay-at-home mom who needs to figure out what to do with herself—and how to earn money—now that her children are grown. Susan would be a hard-driving businesswoman who believes (mistakenly, as it will turn out) that she’s in control of all aspects of her life, including her daughter. And Barb would be the indefatigable parent volunteer, desperate to keep the peace even if it means denying unpleasant truths that are right under her nose.

Those were the broad strokes. Each of these characters became more nuanced as I kept writing. And at a certain point, I felt I had gotten to know them well enough that I needed to know them better. Think of this as the point, in a budding friendship, when you sit down and tell each other your life stories. Except that I was the only one sitting down, and I was telling their life stories. Basically, I wrote a mini-biography for each of my characters: what their childhoods had been like, how they related to their parents (especially, given my theme, their mothers), what they’d done in college and early adulthood. Most of these “facts” never made it into the novel itself, but they informed what did go into it.

The Mother Daughter Show is a satire, and that meant my characters needed to have some flaws. Perfect characters don’t make for good comedy—or for good fiction of any kind. But I felt from the beginning that I wanted my characters to be fundamentally sympathetic. I wanted readers to laugh but at the same time think, “Yeah, I could see myself doing something like that.”

I suppose that’s partly because, as a reader, I prefer books where I can identify—at least to some extent—with the main characters. But it’s also because, as a writer, I have to be able to identify with my characters. When I create a character I delve into myself. And that means that each of my characters—no matter how different they may appear to be from me—contains some strand I’ve found within me.

And perhaps that’s what’s most valuable about fiction: when it works, we can feel a direct connection to people who are—on the surface, at least—quite different from ourselves. And maybe that ability to connect with fictional characters who are not “us” carries over to the capacity to connect with real people with whom, at first glance, we have nothing in common except our humanity.



***

The Mother Daughter Show can be purchased at:
Amazon
Fuze Publishing
Kindle
Nook

Price: $19.95 paperback, $9.99 ebook
ISBN: 9780984141296
Pages: 274
Release: December 2011


About the Author

Natalie Wexler is the author of The Mother Daughter Show (Fuze Publishing 2011) and an award-winning historical novel, A More Obedient Wife. She is a journalist and essayist whose work has appeared in the Washington Post Magazine, the American Scholar, the Gettysburg Review, and other publications, and she is a reviewer for the Washington Independent Review of Books. She has also worked as a temporary secretary, a newspaper reporter, a Supreme Court law clerk, a legal historian, and (briefly) an actual lawyer. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband.

Connect with Natalie:
Web Site
Goodreads
Fuze Publishing Web Site
Fuze Publishing Blog
Fuze Publishing Facebook
Fuze Publishing Twitter
Tribute Books Blog Tour Site