Posted in Interview, memoir, nonfiction, Texas on September 2, 2022

 

 

 

BLACK AND WHITE:

 

Tales of the Texas Highway Patrol

 

by

 

BEN H. ENGLISH

 

Law Enforcement Biography / Memoir / Ethics & Morals

 

Publisher: Creative Texts Publishers
Pages: 250 pages
Publication Date: June 7, 2022

 

 

 

 

 

You know, I never saw an officer, an EMT, a fireman, or an ER crew ask anyone what their politics were and then refuse to care for them because of their answer. The color of skin pigment, the last name, the amount of money in a bank account, none of that mattered.

All that mattered was someone needed help, and they had the skills as well as the burning desire to do so.

Yes, they are only human and internally flawed and prejudiced as any other. But their true nature, their crowning glory in mortal life, is their ability to rise above those flaws and prejudices when called upon.

In a world of hungry, destructive wolves, they stand as the sheepdog who serves and protects the flock.

 

 

 

Amazon

 

 

 

For autographed and personally inscribed copies, please contact:

 

 The StableFront Street Books

 

 

 

 

RADIO INTERVIEW:

Alpine Radio-Texas KVLF station owner Martin Benevich interviews

Ben H. English about Black and White: Tales of the Texas Highway Patrol and more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ben H. English is an eighth-generation Texan who grew up in the Big Bend. At seventeen he joined the Marines, ultimately becoming a chief scout-sniper as well as an infantry platoon sergeant. Later he worked counterintelligence and traveled to over thirty countries on four continents.

At Angelo State University he graduated Magna Cum Laude along with other honors. Afterward Ben had a career in the Texas Highway Patrol, holding several instructor billets involving firearms, driving, patrol procedures, and defensive tactics.

After retirement, he decided to try his hand at writing. His first effort, Yonderings, was accepted by a university press and garnered some awards. His second, Destiny’s Way, led to a long-term, multi-book contract.  This was followed by Out There: Essays on the Lower Big Bend and now his second fictional work, The Uvalde Raider.
His intimate knowledge of what he writes about lends credence and authenticity to his work. Ben knows how it feels to get hit and hit back, or being thirsty, cold, wet, hungry, alone, or exhausted beyond imagination. Finally, he knows of not only being the hunter, but also the hunted.

Ben and his wife have two sons who both graduated from Annapolis. He still likes nothing better than grabbing a pack and some canteens and heading out to where few others venture.
Just as he has done throughout most of his life…

 

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Visit the Lone Star Literary Life Tour Page

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8/29/22 Notable Quotables Chapter Break Book Blog
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8/29/22 BONUS Promo Hall Ways Blog
8/30/22 Excerpt Shelf Life Blog
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8/31/22 Guest Post It’s Not All Gravy
8/31/22 Review Forgotten Winds
9/1/22 Scrapbook Page Book Fidelity
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9/2/22 Audio Interview StoreyBook Reviews
9/2/22 Review Boys’ Mom Reads!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Cozy, Giveaway, Interview, mystery on August 14, 2022

 

 

 

 

Hook, Line, and Sinker: An Ozarks Lake Mystery
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Arkansas
BGM Press (July 14, 2022)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 255 pages

 

 

Synopsis

 

Dubious diamond devotees and a dead loan shark. With the dad she thought dead suspected of murder, can she keep him from doing hard time?

 

Elizabeth Trout thinks she must have rocks in her head. After receiving a crazy call that the father she never knew is cooling his heels in the local jail, the newlywed graphic designer posts bail and invites him home. But the family reunion loses its luster when she learns her old man is under suspicion for murder after he was found near a corpse.

With the sheriff zeroing in on her dad and no other suspects on ice, Elizabeth starts her own investigation to mine for evidence. But as greedy gem hunters, fossil fanatics, and shady scammers run amok, she must race to solve the homicide before she’s the one shafted.

Can she prove her father’s innocence before a rough-cut killer makes a glittering getaway?

Hook, Line, and Sinker is the hilarious third book in the Ozarks Lake Mystery cozy series. If you like big-hearted but excitable heroines, charismatic rogues, and uproarious plot twists, then you’ll love Marc Jedel’s jaunty jewel.

Buy Hook, Line, and Sinker to get caught up in a carat of crime today!

 

 

Amazon

 

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Interview with Marc

 

What’s your background?

 

After years of working in high-tech marketing, I decided to try writing novels. I figured I had plenty of experience crafting fiction. In my day job, those were just called emails, ads, and marketing collateral. Like my characters Jonas and Elizabeth, in the Ozarks Lake Mystery series, I grew up in the South and spent plenty of time in and around Arkansas. Like my character, Marty, in the Silicon Valley Mystery series, I now live in Silicon Valley, work in high-tech, and enjoy bad puns.

 

What makes your books different from others out there in this genre?

 

I’ve become bored by cozies where the protagonist runs a bakery, bookstore, or bed & breakfast and this supposedly amateur sleuth gets extensive help from—often—incompetent police. So I made sure my characters don’t work with the police and have different jobs. Having both a male and female protagonist with different point-of-view chapters in the Ozarks Lake Mystery series also allows me to show very different perspectives on suspects and other characters and go to different places.

My Silicon Valley Mystery series is especially unique with its male protagonist who’s not particularly competent, nor especially brave, as the amateur sleuth. Setting it in Silicon Valley is also unusual for cozies but has worked well. Despite finding himself thrust into challenging situations, Marty isn’t exactly hero material. He has a wonderful combination of wit, irreverent humor and sarcasm mixed in with nerdy insecurities, absent-mindedness, and fumbling yet effective amateur sleuthing skills. He’s got an active inner voice and doesn’t do a lot of advance planning. Instead he throws himself into solving problems. Sometimes, he even succeeds.

 

What are three things most people don’t know about you?

 

1) Played professional soccer while completing my year as a Rhodes Scholar, 2) Nominated for both Pulitzer and Nobel prizes for my previous novels, 3) Likes to make up answers when asked questions for which I don’t have a good response.

 

What is the first book you remember reading?

 

I’d have to say it’s a tie between Go Dog Go and The Cat in the Hat. This might also explain my love for puns and entertaining word choices. What’s not to love about a story that has great wordplay and shows off awesome party hats?

 

What books have most inspired you?

 

I wasn’t originally planning to write mysteries. However a few years ago, I picked up my wife’s copy of a Janet Evanovich novel. She got mad when I didn’t return it until I’d finished. My wife that is, not Janet. Janet would probably be happy because I’ve purchased many of her other books and even consulted her How I Write book when I started my first book. I wouldn’t even mind if Janet decided to tell all her readers that they should try my books too (in case you’re reading this, Hi Janet!) Since then, I’ve read many other mysteries and cozy mysteries and enjoy the good ones for a light, humorous read.

 

What made you decide you wanted to write novels?

 

I’ve wanted to write a book since I was young. For the longest time, it seemed I couldn’t come up with a good plot. Yet, my writing research clearly demonstrated that having a plot is critical to a book’s success.

One day, I received this awesome birthday drawing from my nieces. And my kids, or nieces, or one of our friends’ kids had done some crazy things. Probably all of the above. One thing led to another and the idea formed to loosely base a mystery with a self-absorbed, fashion-backward software engineer, his sister, and his nieces on my life. It’s clearly fiction. I mean, I’m not a software engineer.

The Ozarks Lake Mystery series is a completely different series with very different characters, different humor, and different style of sleuthing. This seemed to be a way to keep things fresh for me and my readers. But I’ll continue writing stories in both series and even have a third series in mind to start soon.

 

Where do the ideas for your books come from?

 

Most of the ideas came initially from some strange news article that I stumble across. I read an article about diamond hunting at the Crater of Diamonds state park in Arkansas and thought how strange and fun that sounded, especially when I realized it wasn’t far from the casino in Hot Springs and close to the location of my fictional town of Jenkins. As my wife had grandparents who owned a small ranch in Arkansas and I also spent time in and around Arkansas growing up, I thought this would be an interesting location for a series—and very different from Silicon Valley.

 

Is there anything about writing you find most challenging?

 

I used to answer this question by saying it was figuring out new, interesting, and plausible ways to kill someone. I’m fairly concerned that my answer seems to have shifted since I began writing. The hardest part recently has been finding new, interesting, and plausible ways for amateur sleuths to investigate a crime without involving the police or skills that would be far beyond my characters.

I just hope no law enforcement officers start wondering why it’s become easier for me to think of new ways to kill a character, review some of my very unusual internet searches, and then knock on my door to ask me uncomfortable questions.

 

Which, of all your characters, do you think is the most like you?

 

Marty Golden, my protagonist in the Silicon Valley Mystery series, is the most similar to me. Family and friends would tell you that he isn’t much of a stretch of the imagination for me to write, but I’m comfortable with the implications of that. Of course, Marty is a younger, funnier, cooler, and more handsome version of myself that I imagine I see in the mirror each morning. But Elizabeth and Jonas Trout in Fish Out of Water also have a disturbing number of similarities to me. I don’t know that I could write a first-person point-of-view novel and not have at least some resemblance between the protagonist and myself.

 

What’s next on the horizon for you?

 

I’m planning to start a new series set in the California Wine Country with the first book titled: Rivers and Creaks. The protagonist will be a 65 year-old retiree/recent widower who moves to small river town near the mountains in Wine Country, Northern California. He wants to become a recluse, which doesn’t align well with his wife’s earlier plan for them to buy and run a bed & breakfast. Now the reluctant owner of this property with the last of his retirement savings, his problems include that he doesn’t like people, he’s no good at fixing things, and people keep dying around him. I also have plans to write book 6 in the Silicon Valley Mystery series, titled: Pride and Principal, which will find Marty forced to help school secretary, Mrs. Quarles, to resolve the murder of his nieces’ school principal.

 

 

About the Author

 

Marc Jedel writes humorous murder mysteries. He credits his years of marketing leadership positions in Silicon Valley for honing his writing skills and sense of humor. While his high-tech marketing roles involved crafting plenty of fiction, these were just called emails, ads, and marketing collateral.

For most of Marc’s life, he’s been inventing stories. As he’s gotten older, he’s encountered more funny and odd people and situations. This has made it even easier for him to write what he knows and make up the rest. It’s a skill that’s served him well, both as an author and marketer.

The publication of Marc’s first novel, UNCLE AND ANTS, gave him permission to claim “author” as his job. This leads to much more interesting conversations with people than answering “marketing.” Becoming an Amazon best-selling author has only made him more insufferable.

Like his characters Jonas and Elizabeth from the Ozarks Lake Mystery series, Marc grew up in the South and spent plenty of time in and around Arkansas. Like his character, Marty from the Silicon Valley Mystery series, Marc now lives in Silicon Valley, works in high-tech, and enjoys bad puns. Along with all his protagonists, Marc too has a dog, although his is neurotic, sweet, and small, with little appreciation for Marc’s humor.

Visit his website for free chapters of novels, special offers, and more.

 

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Giveaway

 

 


Posted in 5 paws, excerpt, Giveaway, Interview, mystery, Review, Short Story on July 7, 2022

 

 

 

 

 

Title: A Scandal in Brooklyn

Author: Lauren Wilkinson

Pub Date: June 30, 2022

Format: Short Story

 

 

Synopsis

 

A top-secret experiment at a restricted virtual-reality compound pulls attorney Tommy Diaz back into the orbit of Irene Adler, an old friend with an eidetic memory, a love of true-crime podcasts, and a knack for solving the unsolvable. But this? At a remote warehouse, a VR trial goes awry when a willing test subject, alone in the observation room, drops dead of anaphylaxis—from the sting of a virtual bee. Though the tech titan behind the research believes in the power of the outrageous, Irene relies on clues, hard facts, and a level head. However, in a case this peculiar, how elementary can it be?

 

 

Amazon

 

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Interview with Author Lauren Wilkinson

 

 

Your newest story, A Scandal in Brooklyn, is about a complex murder with a plethora of distrustful suspects — a clear homage to classic Holmesian tales. What elements of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original work most inspired you?

 

Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories and novels are a lot of fun! And it was important to me that this story was fun, so I’d say that was the element of Doyle’s work that most inspired me.  We’ve all had a hard few years, so I didn’t want to write anything that was too heavy.

 

What made you decide to omit Sherlock from your story and instead focus entirely on Irene Adler?

 

Honestly, I just think that Irene Adler is the more interesting character. For one, in A Scandal in Bohemia, she outwits Holmes (and I’m glad she does because Sherlock Holmes is working for Irene’s toxic ex, who’s a huge hater that just won’t let be great). The other reason I think she’s the more interesting character is that there’s been far less written about her than there has been about Sherlock Holmes, so I felt like there was room to make up more stuff with her. And as a writer, that’s a more interesting place to hang out.

 

Irene has been interpreted many ways in the last hundred years, but you offer a brand-new take on The Woman by making her a person of color. How does her background and culture change the narrative of this iconic female?

 

Well, the fact that she’s a Black woman certainly informs her worldview. But for me, re-imagining Irene Adler as a modern character (and putting her in modern circumstances) was the choice that led to the most germane changes in the narrative.

 

Irene has an eidetic memory which she has learned to use to her advantage – for example, in solving crimes. But this skill can also be a curse. What do memories mean to your characters and what do they mean to you?

 

Memory is such an interesting thing to me! Our memories are so fallible, and yet a person’s collection of memories is the cornerstone of their identity.  What a strange internal conflict that is, and stranger still that it’s built into our nature.  The Mandela Effect is a good example of how this conflict plays: isn’t it interesting that — for some people anyway — it’s more agreeable to believe that objective reality is wrong than that they simply misremembered something?

 

Tommy Diaz, Irene’s old friend, recounts the story’s events including a murder as well as efforts to solve the crime. Why did you choose to show the story through his eyes?

 

The character of Tommy Diaz is based on one of my oldest friends, Tommy Pico (who is a poet, screenwriter and now an occasional actor)! Honestly, it was just more fun for me to try to write a story from “his perspective” than from my own. I’m starting to get a little bored with my own perspective, if I’m being totally honest.

 

How do you think modern technology is changing the mystery genre? What are some positive and negative aspects of these changes?

 

I think that modern technology has the potential to give the genre new plot devices and twists. But ironically that has always been the case—apparently A Study in Scarlet was the first story to use the magnifying glass in a crime investigation. So, I think the question of how modern technology changes the mystery genre is a good example of how the more things change, the more they stay the same.

 

In 2019 you released your debut novel American Spy to an avalanche of critical acclaim which included being named on President Obama’s summer reading list. What effect did this experience have on your career?

 

I continue to be extremely grateful to President Obama for putting my novel on his summer reading list!  The exposure had a profound effect on my career, in the sense that it allowed me to pursue television writing, which is what I spend most of my time on these days.

 

What’s next for you?

 

Well, in my personal life, I’ve recently gotten married and we’re renovating our house together, which is an exciting project (that’s also been pretty time-consuming).  And professionally—well I’m not too sure! I’d really like to write another novel one day. I’d also like to keep writing for television, and maybe a movie one day too.

 

***

 

A Scandal in Brooklyn Excerpt

 

 

We went inside, and into what looked like a clearing in the woods. It took me a moment to realize that the floor, walls and ceiling were all covered in LED panels that were projecting a three-dimensional image. Victor lay in a patch of grass in one corner of the room beside a tree whose branches stretched outward into the simulated sky. A cloud of bees was buzzing around the hive dangling from one of the branches.

“I . . . can’t breathe. Help me,” Victor said without turning to face us. His voice was ragged.

“Where did those bees come from?” The kid with the buzz cut sounded confused. He had a Russian accent, and couldn’t have been more than twenty-five.

“There are more over there,” Tyler said and pointed to the LED panels on the opposite wall.

“Victor must’ve been stung. But how—”

“He’s allergic to bees,” Priya shouted. “He’ll die!”

“He’s going into anaphylaxis,” Tyler said. “There’s epinephrine in the first aid kit.” He ran out into the hall to retrieve it, and when he returned, he shouted, “Someone call 911!”

I tried to but the call was rerouted. As an automated voice thanked me for contacting Avisa’s private emergency number, I watched Tyler poke a needle into a vial of epinephrine and draw the clear liquid up into it. He plunged the needle into Victor’s thigh.

A woman with a soothing voice came on the line, and after I explained what was going on, she told me she’d send emergency personnel to Avisa House. The alarm stopped suddenly, and I hung up and glanced over at Irene. She was observing everything, doing her best to commit the moment to memory.

I’d assumed that the shot would’ve immediately revived Victor, like in the movies. Instead, his eyes rolled up into his head and his body went limp.

“He passed out,” Priya said. “Do something, please!”

Tyler started CPR. A blonde woman with a magazine tucked underneath her arm came through the open door. My best guess was that this was the chef, Carol. “What the hell is going on? What was that alarm?”

Victor was still unconscious. He must’ve had a serious allergic reaction—his cheeks had ballooned to grotesque proportions, his eyes were swollen shut, and a bright-red rash had broken out on his neck and chin. Tyler stopped pumping his heart and put two fingers to Victor’s wrist to check his pulse. After a moment, he said, “He’s dead. I’m so sorry.”

Priya dropped to her knees beside him. She started to sob. I was too stunned to say anything. We all were. The room was so quiet that I could hear the distant sound of rain drumming on the roof. A couple of EMTs showed up a few minutes later—looking back, I wonder if they really were EMTs. They had both the air of authority and the equipment of medical professionals, but I can’t say for certain.

“I don’t understand this.” Priya had gotten up and was standing with Irene, Shinwell, and me. Her eyes darted back and forth between Irene’s face and Victor’s body as it was loaded onto a gurney. “He was fine just a few minutes ago.”

“Was he stung by digital bees?” I asked in a low voice.

“I think someone wanted it to look that way,” Irene said. “But I don’t buy it.”

***

 

Review

 

This short story brings together every aspect of a locked-room mystery that you would expect to find in a longer book. The information is shared quickly and you have to pay attention to catch the clues and decipher what they mean and who is the guilty party.

I enjoyed this short story and the characters that set out to solve the mystery of how someone could have been killed if all the doors were locked and the number of people that are suspects is limited. Irene with eidetic memory is fascinating. She is able to sort clues faster than anyone I have seen. There is her friend Tommy, a disgraced lawyer, that could be considered her sidekick at least for this short story, but the stories they could tell from the past could be illuminating even if not relevant to the story.

There are several secrets that are revealed throughout the book and some are quite surprising but impact the story keeping the momentum flowing. I admit that I didn’t figure out who the killer was but enjoyed the banter of the characters and the willingness to throw others under the bus.

I don’t know if the author plans to write any longer books featuring Irene, but I think she should.

We give this story 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Lauren Wilkinson’s debut novel, American Spy, was a Washington Post bestseller; was nominated for the NAACP Image Award, Anthony Award, and Edgar Award; and was included on Barack Obama’s 2019 Recommended Reading List. Her writing has appeared in New York Magazine and the New York Times, among other publications.

 

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Posted in excerpt, Giveaway, Interview, women on June 29, 2022

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

Brooke Turner has always had a complicated relationship with her father. But when his health takes a turn for the worse, she drops everything to care for him. He’s her dad, after all, and he needs her. What Brooke doesn’t anticipate is the unraveling of her long-term relationship and a cross-country move to San Diego’s Little Italy.

Luca D’Angelo is the oldest of three children and a single father to a young daughter. When his mother rents the top floor of their house to Brooke, he’s angry. Who is this beautiful stranger with no ties to the neighborhood? Can she be trusted in such close proximity to his family?

As Luca learns of Brooke’s difficult journey with her ailing father, his heart softens. And Brooke, who witnesses Luca’s struggle as a single parent, develops feelings for him, too. But when it all falls apart, will love heal their wounded hearts?

 

 

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Interview with Catherine

 

 

For anyone wondering the plot of your newest release, you give a great sneak peek with the title—When it Falls Apart. What is “falling apart” in this novel?

 

All the threads that hold my heroine, Brooke, together are crumbling down around her. When it Falls Apart begins with Brooke’s romantic relationship crashing and burning. At the same time, in a different state, her father is circling the drain in the ICU. And for the cherry on the top of her “falling apart life”, Brooke has found herself demoted at work. In short, everything in Brooke’s life is dissolving around her.

 

Like all of your books, When it Falls Apart has a beautiful romance, however, there is a rawness about Brooke’s story. How was writing this novel different from your others?

 

If you read my notes both in the front and the back of this novel, you’ll soon realize that the story was very personal to me. Rawness comes from experience. The relationship Brooke has with her father is hauntingly familiar to me and my dad. The emotions that the heroine experienced when taking care of him were easy for me to grasp onto and write about. Sadly, the love story with Luca was completely made up and I didn’t have the support of a strong Italian family to help deal with the struggles, but I digress.

Relationships with a parent who wasn’t there for you growing up are messy. When that parent ages and needs their child, sometimes that help comes with a bucketload of resentment, even if the child wishes they could stop those ugly feelings from creeping up on them. And THAT is the rawness you speak of.

 

Books, TV shows, and movies oftentimes glamorize what it means to care for a loved one. However, in When it Falls Apart you don’t sugar-coat anything about caregiving and the toll it takes on a person. How do you think readers who have been in similar situations will be affected by this story?

 

Justified. Validated. Accepted.

It’s a hard job taking care of an elderly family member. And if there aren’t other siblings to help, or won’t help, it’s made even more difficult. It’s difficult, gritty, dirty work that only has a bad ending…eventually. What I do hope my readers take away is that they’re not alone. That the struggle is very real and that if they don’t find balance (which is almost impossible at times) they will burn out completely and not be fit to help at all. I hope my readers are empowered to set boundaries and balance, so they come out on the other side of caring for an elderly loved one whole themselves.

 

Brooke gets virtually no support from her significant other, which has her reevaluating their relationship. She realizes she has settled and has to make some hard decisions. Do you think this happens too many times to women in real life?

 

100% Yes! There is a song by Taylor Swift with a line that says, and I’m paraphrasing here, I can be what you want for the weekend. But often that weekend ends up being a relationship that women hold on to or are convinced they can’t live without. Often it takes a huge shake-up to remove yourself from that situation. But once you’re away from the day to day dysfunctional relationship, the easier it is to see the dysfunction.

 

After her breakup and move, Brooke is not looking for a relationship. In fact, she tells her best friend: “I haven’t wiped off my smeared mascara from Marshall yet, the last thing I want is to jump into anything else.” Her crying over a man lasts all about two minutes when she meets Luca. Tell us about him.

 

Hmmm, Luca… he is the kind of man who doesn’t want a place on Brooke’s dance card…he wants to rip it up.

Luca is wired to help the people in his life. Brooke becomes a part of his inner circle simply by moving into the family building where he sees her every day.

Now, if Luca had flat out asked Brooke on a date, she would have run the other way…so no, he doesn’t go about it that way. He simply shows up and does not leave. Not when things get tough, or messy…or when his own past peeks its head in. Luca is a man who is right there at Brooke’s side without question or censor on why she does the things she does. His support and validation of her feelings is the part she was missing. Add in the hunky Italian single father and “Mamma Mia!”

 

At first, Luca is not thrilled that Brooke is renting a room in his family’s building. What changes his mind about her?

 

Her strength and vulnerability. I know that sounds contradicting, but some of the strongest women I know have a big vulnerable spot in their life that if you know them well enough, you see. The biggest smiles often hide the deepest pain. Luca sees her struggle and dedication to helping her elderly father and since family is first on Luca’s list, she passes his unconscious test.

 

Luca’s family, the D’Angelo’s, are incredibly close and share everything from ownership of the family restaurant to helping care for Luca’s daughter Franny. How is this different from Brooke’s relationship with her family?

 

Brooke doesn’t have that family. She has a father who abandoned her as a little girl that she carved out a relationship as an adult, and now she’s charged with caring for. Even her previous romantic relationship didn’t support her unconditionally the way the D’Angelo’s do for each other. She’s rather dumbfounded when they start treating her like family. It’s a wonderful thing to watch happen.

 

San Diego’s Little Italy plays a huge part in the story. The community, language, and food are in full display. Tell us about your own experiences in your adopted city.

 

I love Little Italy, the food, the pace… the people. There are many places in San Diego that are overrun with the college scene, San Diego is a college town. But Little Italy is more family friendly. Very touristy, but there isn’t a day you don’t see locals hanging out. I go to the farmer’s market often. Pick up authentic Italian ingredients for my own home cooking. I try new restaurants and take all my friends there when they are visiting from out of town. Not to mention it was the closest thing to the “real Italy” that I could go during the travel restrictions. So why not write about it and tell the world of this small island within San Diego that shouldn’t be missed?

 

There are two more siblings in the D’Angelo family. Where will you be taking readers next with the series?

 

Chloe is a yogi. Think Bali!

And Giovanni loves wine… think Tuscany, Italy.

I cannot wait to show you what I have in store for these two!

 

 

Excerpt

 

“Oh my God, Carmen. He was standing at his car first thing this morning. Like ‘hop in, bella, let’s get stuff done today.’ Who does that?”

Brooke had picked up the phone as soon as Luca was off in search of a dump guy.

“We’re talking about the single, hot, Italian dad, right?”

Brooke rolled her eyes. “Yes. Luca.”

“Oy, oy, oy.”

“Stop it. I need advice. And I need it before he gets back.”

Carmen stopped teasing. “You don’t need advice. You need to relax. He sounds like one of the good ones. Let it happen.”

“Let it happen,” she mocked. “I don’t ‘let’ things happen. It happens to me and it’s never good.”

“You didn’t used to be such a pessimist.”

“Once upon a time the glass was half full. Not these days.”

“Okay, Debbie Downer. You want my advice . . . here it is. Keep doing whatever it is you’re doing.”

“I’m not doing anything. Zero effort.”

“Really?” Carmen didn’t sound convinced. “Makeup . . . a nice dress?”

Brooke hesitated. “Maybe . . . a little last night, but that was it.”

Carmen chuckled.

“Carmen!”

“Sorry. Okay . . . any red flags?”

Brooke thought about that. “He loved his ex-wife.”

“That’s a red flag?”

“I guess not.”

“Is he good to his mom?”

Brooke looked back on the dinner the night before. “To the whole family. He takes being the oldest brother quite seriously.”

“And his daughter?”

All Brooke could do was smile. “Great dad. We should all be so lucky.”

“He’s Italian, does he smoke?”

“No.”

“A lot of Italians smoke,” Carmen pointed out.

“In Italy. The San Diego variety are less in that wheelhouse.”

“That’s good.” Carmen sighed. “I don’t know what to tell you, Brooke. How does he kiss?”

“He hasn’t kissed me,” Brooke nearly yelled.

“Now then . . . we have a problem.”

“There hasn’t been . . . I don’t even know if—”

“Stop right there. He did not drive your sorry ass all the way to Upland to do grunt work all day if he wasn’t interested in kissing you, bellllaaa. More than that, you want him to.”

Brooke closed her eyes, and even in her own head she couldn’t convince herself that Carmen was wrong.

“Let it happen. You deserve some happiness, Brooke.”

The van with the air conditioning repair guy pulled into the driveway.

“I gotta go.”

“I want a kissing update the next time we talk,” Carmen teased.

“Love you,” Brooke said with a laugh.

“Back at ya, boo.”

She hung up.

Her best friend was such a dork.

 

 

About the Author

 

Catherine is a #1 Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and Indie Reader bestselling author. In addition, her books have also graced The New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists. In total, she has written thirty-six beloved books that have collectively sold more than 8 million copies and have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Raised in Washington State, Bybee moved to Southern California in the hope of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full time and has penned The Not Quite seriesThe Weekday Brides seriesThe Most Likely To series, and The First Wives series.

 

 

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Posted in fiction, Giveaway, Interview, Literary on April 1, 2022

 

 

ODD BIRDS

 

by

 

SEVERO PEREZ

 

 

Genre: Literary Fiction

Publisher: Texas Christian University Press

Date of Publication: September 24, 2019
Number of Pages: 278 pages

 

 

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The year is 1961. Seventy-year-old Cosimo Infante Cano, a Cuban-born artist in need of inspiration, follows his lover to Texas in what was to be a temporary sabbatical from their life in France. Unexpectedly, he finds himself stranded in San Antonio, nearly penniless, with little more than the clothes on his back and an extraordinary pocket watch. His long hair and eccentric attire make him an odd sight in what he has been told is a conservative cultural backwater.

Cosimo’s French and Cuban passports put a cloud of suspicion over him as events elsewhere in the world play out. Algeria is in open revolt against France. Freedom Riders are being assaulted in Mississippi, and the Bay of Pigs debacle is front-page news. Cosimo confronts nightmares and waking terrors rooted in the horror he experienced during the Great War of 1914–1918. His friends—students, librarians, shopkeepers, laborers, lawyers, bankers, and even a parrot—coalesce around this elderly French artist as he attempts to return to what remains of his shattered life.

His new friends feel empathy for his impoverished condition, but his unconventional actions and uncompromising ethics confuse them. He creates charming drawings he refuses to sell and paints a house simply for the pleasure of making a difference. In the process, he forever alters the lives of those who thought they were helping him.

 

 

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PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

 

“A pitch-perfect picaresque tale” –John Phillip Santos, Texas Monthly 

“Judge this book by its cover. It’s a stunning… captivating read.” –Alice Embree, Rag Radio Blog

An “elegantly conceived tale–boasting a culturally and historically astute plot–that demands to be read.” –Kirkus Reviews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interview with Severo Perez

 

Are you considering a prequel or sequel? Any unexpected hurdles in doing this?

 

While researching and writing this book, I wrote chapters to provide background for the writing I was doing. I am considering a prequel since so much already exists. I also have a draft of a story following the three students into the next stage of their lives. I’ve sketched out the idea as a stage play, but it could become a novel.

 

What was the hardest part of writing this book?

 

The hardest part for me was making the commitment to start. I began writing Odd Birds in the 1980s, but my career and commercial projects kept me occupied. I knew the work would take months, maybe years. Once I started in 2014, I questioned each word, paragraph and chapter. I accepted that as part of the job. The writing took three years.

 

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

 

The most enjoyable moment for me was after being away from the writing for several weeks, reading my work with fresh eyes and realizing I hadn’t wasted my time.

 

How did you decide if your main character would be male or female?

 

The characters came to me pretty much fully formed. While still in my 20s, I encountered a young woman while working at the Roosevelt Branch of the San Antonio Library System. She and I became fascinated by an old man who was a total anomaly in the community. His attire, his bearing and his precise use of language made him stand out. Even though impoverished, his pride made him care for his appearance. He also appeared lonely. It turned out he was an artist displaced by the Cuban Revolution. About that same time, I was hired to work on a film in California. When I returned to Texas, the young woman and the old man were gone. Their characters, not their personal stories, became incorporated into what became Odd Birds.

 

Are there under-represented groups or ideas featured if your book?

 

Yes, in the sense that the story takes place in San Antonio and the characters are based on people I have known. They are not immigrants, drug dealers, or victims. Except for a few characters, the majority are local residents, born in San Antonio.

 

Which character from your book is most or least like you?

 

All the characters are aspects of me, even the racist librarian. I felt like every character had a sit-down with me. They spoke or lectured me that their portrayals weren’t going to be easy. Cosimo, particularly, paced behind me, looking over my shoulder, anxious about every detail of his character.

 

Who would you cast to play your characters in a movie version of your book?

 

Hector Elizondo and Edward James Olmos have been suggested for the lead. I’m open to other possibilities. As written, Cosimo is seventy years-old, dark-skinned, educated in Cuba and France, and is fluent in Spanish, French, and English.

 

How important are names to you in your books? How do you choose names?

 

Their names were either obvious to me, or I spent hours trying out monikers until one fit.

 

Is there one subject you would never write about as an author? What is it?

On the written page, everything is fair game. However, in movies, the power of charismatic actors can turn portrayals of undesirable people into role models. I couldn’t write or direct a film about barrio street gangs that perpetuated negative stereotypes.

 

 

Read more of the interview with Severo Perez on the March 30th & April 4th, 2022 features with Lone Star Book Blog Tours.

 

 

 

 

SEVERO PEREZ, an award-winning filmmaker, playwright, and writer, grew up in working-class Westside San Antonio and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. For over forty-five years he produced programming for PBS and for network and cable television. His feature film adaptation of Tomas Rivera’s novel . . . and the earth did not swallow him (1994) won eleven international awards, including five for Best Picture. His first novel, Willa Brown & the Challengers (2012), is historical fiction based on the real-life African American aviation pioneer Willa Beatrice Brown. Odd Birds is his second novel.

 

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Posted in excerpt, Historical, Interview, women, WW II on March 7, 2022

 

 

Synopsis

 

WWII-era novel celebrates female friendships and the resilience of the human spirit

THE CORSET MAKER a historical novel

The master planner of rebuilding Ground Zero, world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, has created a new piece of art for the cover of “The Corset Maker,” the forthcoming historical fiction novel by his sister, author Annette Libeskind Berkovits. The novel–loosely inspired by their mother’s real-life story–is a powerful addition to the genre of 20th-century historical fiction, and is slated for release on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2022.

In Warsaw, Poland, the young Rifka Berg, raised in an ultra-Orthodox home, asks her father why girls don’t have bar mitzvahs. Eventually, his answer provokes Rifka to risk
everything. In a bold move, unheard of at the time, teenage Rifka and her close friend, Bronka, open their own business–a corset shop on the most fashionable street in Warsaw. Rifka yearns to read forbidden literature and explore the world beyond the confines of her small community.

Her wishes come true, albeit harrowingly when the tumultuous events of the 20th century take her on a journey for survival. A Parisian Count, a Moroccan arms smuggler, and an orphaned Spanish boy will test the convictions and tug at Rifka’s heart. Faced with life and death situations, Rifka will have to take immense risks. She will have to decide if there is ever a time to abandon her principles for a higher purpose. What decisions will she make? Will circumstances choose for her?

In this unforgettable journey, Rifka becomes embroiled in some of the most violent events of the century: the Jewish-Arab conflict in Palestine, the Spanish Civil War, and the Nazi occupation of Southern France. As her involvement deepens, she sees firsthand how autocratic rule deprives people of even the simplest freedoms.

Rifka’s personal struggles and dilemmas go to the heart of the major ethical issues and challenges of our time.

 

 

 

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This book releases on March 8, 2022. Preorder today!

 

 

Praise

 

“‘The Corset Maker’ is a compelling story of girlhood, war, survival – and against all odds, a story of finding out who you truly are. It is a beautifully written journey that weaves together the personal and the historical. I was gripped by this unique and courageous protagonist – and found myself alongside her throughout the book. It is without a doubt one of the most fascinating and meaningful books I have read.”  — Rachel Arnow, artist and author of “Kinder Kalender,” “All the World From A-Z,” and “The Wild West;” Berlin, Germany

“With her eloquent and captivating writing Annette Berkovits transports one to the riveting saga of survival, resilience, and ingenuity of a young woman from Warsaw, Poland. Set mainly in the twists and turns of the first half of 20th century Europe, ‘The Corset Maker’ ignites the reader’s imagination of history and brings to life the hard choices and challenges facing young people during that time. The story concludes with an unexpected ending in the last decade of the century. I simply could not put the book down.” — Zvi Jankelowitz, Director of Institutional Advancement, Yiddish Book Center; Massachusetts

“This sweep of twentieth-century European history seen through the eyes of a young Orthodox Jewish woman is a truly gripping read.” — Joanna Orwin, award-winning author of “Shifting Currents;” Christchurch, New Zealand

 

Excerpt

 

 

RIFKA, WARSAW, 1928

 

Twelve-year-old Rifka paced the bedroom pondering her father’s morning blessing: Blessed are you, Lord, our God, Ruler of the Universe, who has not made me a woman. Why did Poppa rejoice not having been born a woman? It upset Rifka every time she heard it. Worse than upset, it made her plain crazy. She could not figure out why a man as intelligent as Poppa couldn’t understand such prayer was hurtful to the women in his family and there were eight of them, including herself, Golda in Palestine, and Momma. Saul was the only boy in the family.

After dinner when Poppa seemed relaxed in his chair with a little glass of schnapps in his hand, Rifka addressed him. She admired his wisdom and wanted him to see her as someone worthy of engaging in a discussion. “Poppa, why are you thankful not to be a woman?”

Instead of taking her seriously he lifted his eyes toward Rifka and looked at her intently, as if he hadn’t seen her for a long time. “My, my, you sure have grown since last year. If you were a boy, you’d be ready to study for your bar mitzvah.”

The unexpected words hurt. “Why can’t girls have a special ceremony to show they’ve matured?”

“But they do.” Poppa smiled broadly. “They have a wedding. Soon you will be a bride.”

Rifka felt so offended she stood silent momentarily, but not wanting Poppa to digress from her original question, she refrained from an outburst that sat devilishly at the tip of her tongue. “So about the blessing…” she said.

“Some questions shouldn’t be asked,” Poppa had said with an annoyed look, and he picked up his paper though Rifka was nowhere near finished.

“But Poppa…”

“You ask too many questions. Why don’t you go help Momma?” With that Father disappeared in the pages of Today’s News.

Rifka charged out of the room, her cheeks burning with resentment. Why was her father always involved in spirited discussions with his synagogue friends, but when it came to her it was as if she were nothing?

Well… He didn’t converse much with Momma either, except to say what he wanted for dinner.

In the bathroom, Rifka splashed cool water on her face, her outrage still red hot. Like a dispassionate critic, she stared at the mirror, something she did now and then to understand what men who ogled her on the street saw in her. She certainly didn’t consider herself beautiful

and was oblivious of the effect her appearance had on the opposite sex: teenage boys at the synagogue casting sidelong glances or their fathers’ unchaste smiles. She did not appreciate the red glints or the stubbornness of her abundant chestnut curls, or the small beauty mark on the side of her upper lip. Her almond-shaped green eyes and olive skin stood out among the faces of her peers, and even among her fair complexioned sisters. At barely four- foot-eight, Rifka was short and felt her breasts were too large for her small boned, hourglass frame. She

hoped that her full, heart-shaped lips compensated for this anatomical defect. By age twelve and a half, Momma had said, “It’s time I make you a starter brassiere,” confirming Rifka’s self-assessment. But her looks were the least of her interests. She was more engrossed in thinking about her place in the world.

She had to do something to show her father how wrong he was to dismiss her that way.

By morning, Rifka had her solution. So, what if it was outrageous? He needed strong medicine to rouse him from his obtuseness.

When Poppa went out to visit his friend and her mother took the children to shoot the breeze with a neighbor, Rifka found his daily prayer book. She hesitated a moment, then picked up the siddur, stroked the embossed letters on the cover and kissed it. Wetness filled her eyes. She found the page with the offensive blessing, and she stared at it. Tears ran down her cheeks. It blasphemed against half the humans on earth!

In a flash, she ripped out the page, slammed the book shut and replaced it on the little table. A ring at the front door interrupted her act of rebellion. Her heart beat faster.

Filled with apprehension she tiptoed toward the door and listened. After a moment Bronka’s voice brought relief, “Come on, open up. I need to pee.”

She let her friend in. “Quick! I am so happy it’s you.”

Bronka jumped up on one leg, then the other, and eyed Rifka. “What’s the matter? You have a wild look in your eyes. What are you clutching in your hand?”

“I’ll tell you when you come out of the bathroom. Hurry!”

While she waited for Bronka, the enormity of her act began to register. She’d desecrated the holy book. The crumpled page in her hand stung as if sheíd grasped a scorpion. What to do with it?

Bronka appeared in the kitchen where Rifka stood in total consternation. “You have the look of a thief on your face,” her friend said.

“I’ve done something terrible and very stupid. I’d not tell another soul in the world. You are the only person I can trust, but I’m not sure it’s right to draw you into my crime.”

“Crime? Donít be so melodramatic.”

Rifka opened her palm and the crumpled page lay there accusingly. Bronka stepped closer, leaned over to look at the ball. “What is that? I see Hebrew letters on it.”

“I tore a page from my father’s Talmud.”

Bronka inhaled loudly in shock. “Why on earth…?”

Rifka began to explain, but her friend said, “Let’s cover your crime, fast, before anyone else shows up.” She picked up a small bowl and matches from near the stove and threw the paper in.

“Wait! What are you doing?” Rifka screamed.

The lit match erupted into a mini bonfire as the two girls stood watching with a mixture of horror and guilt.

Rifka pleaded with Bronka. “I beg you, never tell anyone.”

“Did you forget our loyalty pledge we swore in the first grade? It was forever and ever.”

“Poppa will kill me if he discovers the page missing.”

“Don’t worry. I have a great idea,” Bronka said, but Rifka stood looking dubious. “Let me run home quickly and bring my father’s siddur.”

“But… I can’t… It wouldn’t be right,” Rifka said.

That prayer book was all Bronka had left of him.

“Just let me get going.” Bronka ran out the door.

It didn’t take more than twenty minutes and they replaced the desecrated book with a nearly identical copy.

“What would I ever do without you, Bronka? You are my savior.”

“Never mind, you’d do the same for me.”

Luckily, it turned out Poppa didn’t notice the switch and continued to recite the blessing. Rifka concluded Poppa would never change. But what cheered her most was that Bronka would never change either. She could always count on her.

 

 

Interview

 

 

Why did you choose a corset maker as a protagonist of a historical novel that deals with some of the bloodiest events of the twentieth century?

 

It seemed to me that precisely because a woman who spends time designing undergarments would probably be an excellent example of a woman furthest away from violence. But that’s not how real life happens. Life takes people into directions they’d have never imagined. The corset maker in my novel was inspired by my mother and her three friends who themselves experienced the brutality of the times from the 1930s to the end of WWII and beyond. These were women who found incredible courage under impossible circumstances. I hope that my protagonist can inspire young women of today who often see violence in the media and have no idea how they would react if faced with a real-life circumstance of theirs, or their loved ones lives in danger.

 

Most historical novels of that period deal with one huge event—say WWII alone is enough of a subject for many books—yet you’ve woven together not one, not two, but three or more violent events: pre-WWII antisemitic attacks on Jews; the Arab—Jewish conflict in Palestine; the Spanish Civil War and WWII in Southern France. Why include all of these?

 

Well..it is as you say ambitious, but for some women, the events of the twentieth century, one of the bloodiest in history, actually threw them into such events in a serial manner. This was the case with the women who inspired the novel. My own mother for example escaped the antisemitism in Poland to find herself in the midst of the Arab revolt in Palestine, then found herself at the outbreak of WWII in Warsaw, Poland on September 1, 1939, and after she escaped that hell, she wound up in a brutal Soviet gulag in Siberia. I was interested in exploring what inner resources keep such women going, what gave them strength to survive. I also wanted to spotlight how young women, in particular, can sometimes make spur of the moment decisions that can alter the course of their entire lives.

 

What about the male characters in your novel? How did you happen to invent them?

 

I started with a very young, curious protagonist and I knew that her insular religious community wouldn’t be enough for her, especially not after she enrolled in a secular school at the behest of her grandmother who was a woman ahead of her times. I just knew that her hormones would begin to make an impact, so meeting a man—well, it had to happen. But how would she react to him? And what if he was a man of a very different social status, a Parisian Count, no less? That’s the stuff of moving the plot forward. Of course in her long life there would be other men, for other reasons.

 

It is interesting that you placed this young woman of orthodox Jewish upbringing in a monastery in Spain. Why there?

 

So this is a good example of how life can take someone to unplanned places. Readers will find out why and how Rifka got there and why she chose to devote a portion of her life to care for orphans. In some ways, this experience was a foundation for her future growth as a woman. And in the monastery, she tried to give the children the kind of education she wanted to have, but of course, some of it had to be subversive. There was, in fact, a lot of tension during the Spanish Civil war between nuns who supported the democratically elected government on the Republican side and those who supported Franco’s forces. He of course eventually won and became a dictator who ruled for thirty-five years.

 

 

About the Author

 

Annette Libeskind Berkovits is the author of two acclaimed memoirs: “In the Unlikeliest of Places: How Nachman Libeskind Survived the Nazis, Gulags and Soviet Communism” a story of her father’s survival, and “Confessions of an Accidental Zoo Curator.” She has also penned a poetry book, “Erythra Thalassa: Brain Disrupted.” “The Corset Maker” is her first novel.

 

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About the Designer

 

Daniel Libeskind is an internationally renowned architect, known for the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, and the Dublin Performing Arts Center in Ireland, among many others. His Master Plan for rebuilding the World Trade Center site in New York City was selected in 2003 and has served as the blueprint for the entire site, including the Freedom Tower, the Memorial, the Museum, and the PATH Terminal.

 

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Posted in Book Release, Family, Interview, women on March 1, 2022

 

 

Synopsis

 

A tribute to family history, We are the Kings (Bold Story Press, March 1, 2022) shows the difference in women’s struggles across two generations of women. While Marcella is sifting through her family’s conflicting and fading memories, she puts into words what no one else will say out loud, revealing not only what may or may not have happened, but what is truly at stake when a woman tells her story.

The strength and resilience of women shines in this author’s debut novel. With themes of feminism, domestic space, and women’s invisibility, this story delivers headstrong, driven characters that carry readers through the bonds between women. It shows how women rely on each other through trauma, grief, joy, and the journey to find themselves from childhood to adulthood.

 

 

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Interview

 

There is an interesting cross between architecture and violence. Can you explain the relationship between the two?

 

I have always loved architecture and interior design, which is, in many ways, central to my understanding of the world around me and the people whose spaces I’m lucky enough to occupy. I’m fascinated by all of it–from the big stuff like furniture and color and fancy kitchens, to how people arrange their cleaning products or towels. The things we build and live with represent some of who we are, and much of it will remain after we’re gone.

Having studied architecture and design, and knowing just how much thought goes into even the tiniest design decisions, it’s pretty startling to wrap your head around the idea that the intention behind a lot of our built spaces is violent or punitive. Many sets of ideas go into building prisons, just as many sets of decisions were involved in the building of concentration camps (both of which feature in my book). Entire communities in our country at this moment have been designed to contain people and to deprive them of both certain luxuries, and some pretty basic human needs–clean air, access to food and unpolluted water, healthcare, and education. I think what I’m trying to get at in my book is that this sort of architecture and design is so normalized in our society that we don’t stop to question it. We aren’t fully present with things like the legacy of redlining, the creation of public housing, and the industries behind the development of solitary confinement units and restraining devices.

Right now we have a shocking number of elderly people in prisons–the population that poses the lowest risk to society and who are the most expensive to contain. Our prisons are designed to warehouse, not rehabilitate. They are not spaces in which one can grow old safely and they do not take into account the dignity of the humans they contain. Imagine trying to navigate a prison when you’re experiencing cognitive and physical age-related impairments. And that’s on top of the already monumental stress of being imprisoned.

I could go on and on! I guess as depressing as it is, it is also a part of our world. Maybe understanding it better will help us build things in the future that promote peace and love and ecological viability.

 

How has your own family history affected the writing of We are the Kings?

 

I was lucky enough to have 4 grandmothers–my mother’s mother, my father’s mother and stepmother, and my stepfather’s mother. And I had two amazing grandfathers. As a kid, I found all of their stories and quirks and spaces really thrilling. I just loved being around them, and I learned a ton from all of them. As I grew up, particularly with my grandmothers, I saw the limitations that were imposed on them by sexism and ridiculous social conventions. I had always seen them as larger than life, and in many ways they were, but they were also victims of their circumstances. That juxtaposition–between being incredibly powerful in some ways, and truly powerless in others–was a big part of how I came up with the storyline for my book.

 

What aspects of women’s lives do you feel are invisible to the world, and why is it important that we acknowledge it?

 

I think in abusive, patriarchal systems, populations that are deemed less valuable to society are pushed to the margins. We don’t consider their interior lives, and we don’t think to preserve their experiences in our stories or museums or histories. This is true for non-white, female/LGBTQ, immigrant, and poor populations (to name a few), and it’s certainly true for people who are imprisoned. I believe that it is morally wrong to silence these populations, but my main issue with that silencing is that it robs us all of some of the most beautiful and brilliant personalities and stories.

I have a lot of regrets about not seeking out the thoughts and opinions and stories of my grandmothers more than I did. Because my grandfathers loomed so much larger, and they took up so much room, it was kind of just the way it was that my grandmothers’ experiences during something like WWII just weren’t as much a part of the conversation. And it wasn’t that my grandfathers were unkind. They were absolutely wonderful. It’s just the way it was. I think that’s partly what compelled me to write. I want my grandmothers’ stories–and any story that gets pushed to the margins– to take up more room.

 

You mention you’ve always been interested in women’s stories. What do you find interesting about how women’s stories are formed, told, and what isn’t said?

 

I just don’t think women have been given the space in our culture to be really free. I think that’s true for a lot of men as well, and for all sorts of people who don’t fit within specific gendered or societal conventions. But my book is really about women’s stories and what we feel safe talking about, not only to each other but to ourselves. Particularly recently, there’s been a really amazing rethinking of feminism throughout the world, and I’m so excited about it. But I think we still have a ways to go. There are things that are still really hard to disentangle–like women who uphold the patriarchy, for example, and womens’ misogyny.  I think it’s internalized abuse or the playing out of hierarchies of power, and it’s understandable in a lot of ways. It’s also ugly and mean and awkward, and maybe people who like to write are drawn to that sort of stuff.

 

What sort of research went into preparing for this novel?

 

Honestly, there was very little direct research. The work I did in graduate school just became a part of who I am, and I think that’s why it’s so present in my book. And many characters are loosely based on women in my family or women that I’ve known throughout my life. But a lot of it just sort of came to me. Reading a lot of biographies probably helped too. For a while that was my favorite genre, though I generally like reading everything.

 

 

About the Author

 

Torres attended Mount Holyoke College, majoring in Russian Studies and English Literature. Her graduate work at the Corcoran College of Art & Design and Columbia University focused on prison architecture and aging in prison, respectively. Torres has worked in interior design and prison advocacy. She lives with her family in Somerville, MA. This is her first novel.

 

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Posted in excerpt, Giveaway, Interview on December 10, 2021

 

 

 

 

Title: Her Second Death

 

Author: Melinda Leigh

 

Series: Bree Taggert Prequel

 

Release Date: December 7, 2021

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

When a man is shot in the head, Bree Taggert and her new partner, veteran detective Dana Romano, respond to the call. They break the news to the victim’s ex-wife and learn the estranged couple’s five-year-old daughter was supposed to have been with him. What starts as a murder investigation quickly morphs into a desperate search for a missing child. The case stirs memories of Bree’s own traumatizing childhood. To find the little girl, Bree will have to relive her own terrifying past.

 

 

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Interview with Author Melinda Leigh

 

 

Detective Bree Taggert is one of your most popular characters. What is it about her that makes readers come back for more of her story?

Bree is strong and smart, but she’s also flawed and vulnerable. She begins the series as an excellent homicide detective but personally empty. A horrific childhood tragedy distanced Bree from her family and made her a loner. Her sister’s murder triggers the desire to change that. Bree takes on her sister’s case—and her sister’s kids. Bree sees her own childhood reflected in her niece and nephew and is determined not to let them grow up as damaged as she is. In order to do that, she needs to make herself vulnerable. In accepting responsibility for the children, she starts her own road to healing.

I believe readers want to root for her. They want to see her overcome her violent backstory. She often does what is right, not what is easy or comfortable. In each book, she not only solves a murder, she also makes a small step toward healing, with readers cheering her on.

You have published five books in this series so far, but in Her Second Death you write a prequel story. What made you want to show Bree on one of her first homicide cases?

I wanted to show the evolution of Bree’s professional life before she begins her personal journey. She is a complex character, and I’ve enjoyed exploring all aspects of her development.

In Her Second Death, Bree is assigned to investigate a violent crime. Tell readers a bit about the case and how she and her new partner Dana Romano work to find the killer.

Bree begins the story as a brand-new homicide detective. She and partner investigate the crime in the usual fashion, but Bree brings her own past to the table. She provides unique insight that helps her solve the case.

Bree finds a personal connection to this crime almost immediately. What effect does her own early family tragedy have on her handling a missing child case?

The case immediately strikes a familiar—and disturbing–cord in Bree. But she can’t allow her personal discomfort to interfere with the investigation. She’ll have to relive her past to solve the case.

What is next for Bree?

The next Bree Taggert novel, Dead Against Her, will be released in May. In it, Bree will need to face a more recent demon, the murder of a former deputy with whom she has a personal disagreement. When she took over the job of sheriff, Bree inherited some misogynist deputies from the previous, corrupt sheriff. In Dead Against Her, this conflict comes to an explosive and violent head.

 

 

 

Her Second Death Excerpt

 

 

The medical examiner pulled out of the Ford’s interior. “No rigor yet. Livor mortis isn’t fixed yet either. Cold would slow decomp, but he’s relatively fresh. Died very early this morning.” He closed his eyes and his jowly face screwed up as he did the mental math. “Six to eight hours ago, roughly between midnight and two a.m.”

Which matched the times on the surveillance video. “Detective Romano?” Reilly called. “CSU is here.”

As soon as the ME removed the body, the crime scene unit would take over.

“Do we have a next of kin for the victim?” Romano asked.

Reilly nodded. “He’s married to Kelly Tyson.”

“Let’s go notify Mrs. Tyson.” Romano turned back toward their vehicle. Once behind the wheel, she rubbed her palms together, then pulled a pair of leather gloves from her pocket and tugged them on.

In the passenger seat, Bree blew on her freezing hands. Romano peeled away from the curb.

“Wasn’t a robbery.” Bree rolled the facts around in her head. “They left cash in Tyson’s wallet. Also, they didn’t take the car. Drug deal gone sour?”

“We have no idea what happened, other than a guy got shot.”

“You don’t like any of those theories?” Bree asked.

Romano shot her a direct look. “I like evidence, not theories.”

 

 

About the Author

 

#1 Amazon Charts and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh is a fully recovered banker. Melinda’s debut novel, She Can Run, was nominated for Best First Novel by the International Thriller Writers. She’s garnered numerous writing awards, including two RITA nominations. Her other novels include She Can Tell, She Can Scream, She Can Hide, and She Can Kill in the She Can series; Midnight Exposure, Midnight Sacrifice, Midnight Betrayal, and Midnight Obsession in the Midnight novels; Hour of Need, Minutes to Kill, and Seconds to Live in the Scarlet Falls series; Say You’re Sorry, Her Last Goodbye, Bones Don’t Lie, What I’ve Done, Secrets Never Die, and Save Your Breath in the Morgan Dane series; and the Bree Taggert novels, Cross Her Heart, See Her Die, Drown Her Sorrows, and Right Behind Her. She holds a second-degree black belt in Kenpo karate, has taught women’s self-defense, and lives in a messy house with her family and a small herd of rescue pets.

 

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Giveaway

 

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Posted in Giveaway, Interview, memoir, nonfiction on November 29, 2021

 

 

 

 

Book Title: Finding My Sunshine (A Memoir)

Author: Shannon Leith McGuire.

​Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 198 pages

Genre: Memoir

Publisher: Sunshine Street Press

 

Synopsis

 

“What if that someone was you?” Shannon had been so quick to blame others for her anger. She knew she was drowning in darkness and pain; being born with a learning disability made her feel defeated by life. She tried drinking heavily in order to quiet the demons. After being kicked out of college, Shannon took a leap of faith and started working in a nursing home. That’s when her angels appeared and the miracle began. The insight and wisdom she gained from those elderly new friends led her on an inspiring journey of discovery and self-acceptance. Each of us has our own path. Some of us just need angels to help us find it. This is her story.

 

 

Amazon

 

Read for free via Kindle Unlimited

 

 

Interview with Shannon

 

Who was your favorite teacher?

 

I have had a lot of favorite teachers.

Most of them I would say were my Special Education teachers. The ones I had in middle/high school.  Ms. Gillen, Ms. Jones, Mr. Stedman. But the one who really helped me was an older retired teacher who lived across the street from us when I was growing up. Her name was Mrs. Ortner. She is the one who suspected I had a learning disability and encouraged my parents to have me tested. She was right. She helped me every day after school, going over the day’s lessons.

I would cry often in class during school, it was a safe place for me to let out my frustrations and no one would judge me, because they knew I was trying. Even if my grades were still straight D’s.

 

What have you done that you never thought you would do?

 

I never thought in a million years I would be a nurse.  I just wanted to be a mom when I was younger. But God had other plans for me.  I never saw myself as smart enough to become one, because I hated everything that dealt with school/studying.  I always had to have tutors, have my tests read out loud, have my books on tape when the chapters assigned were long.  I always had a hard time keeping up with the rest of the class because I was a slow learner.  Then I had a dream, three nights in a row, that I was to become a nurse.

 

Who do you wish you could see again?

 

I wish I could see my residents again, the ones who have passed on.  I wish I could hug them. Thank them for all they have done for me.  I believe the funny thing about death is it is an “invite-only homecoming party to heaven.” I believe friends/family members from long past will be in Heaven welcoming them, I picture them dancing and laughing with God. I just must believe they arrived safely to their next adventure. I hope they are laughing and dancing.

 

What was your first job?

 

My very first job was a lifeguard at the community swimming pool during the summers; I liked doing it. I remember when we took the written exam, I did not have a reader (someone to read the test for me) because I did not want anyone to know I had a learning disability. I failed the written test but passed on the other parts. They had a group meeting and determined I was still safe to lifeguard. I did that every summer until college.  I even saved a little girl from drowning. It was just like what they taught us when we did possible scenarios.  I knew exactly what to do; and everyone came together.

 

What did you want to be when you grew up?

 

I wanted to be a news journalist, just like Dan Rather.  I wanted to know everything about people and tell their stories. Also, because they get to have their hair and makeup done by professionals. I was never good at applying makeup or doing my hair.  But my reading was terribly slow; and because of that, I was told I would never be able to become a news journalist.

 

 

About the Author

 

Shannon was raised in a small town in Eastern Montana, where you leave your car keys in the ignition and your front door unlocked all the time. The kind of place where sunsets and sunrises can be seen for miles on the horizon. Where the spring crickets and frogs resting in the irrigation ditches helped transition the days into a calm resting night. Where the winters can get so cold, air can freeze.

It was only after she was academically suspended by the college she was attending, that she became a Certified Nurses Aide (CNA). She did her training in Billings, Montana and it was there she learned how to take care of others and bonded with the geriatric population.

​For over five years, Shannon worked in the same nursing home where she received her training. The work was hard, but it grounded her and helped her find balance in what had become a deeply unbalanced life. It was not until she was a CNA, at one of the hospitals that she had a dream three nights in a row that she was going to become a nurse.

She currently resides in Tampa, Florida, where you may hear her laughing with her husband of over 10 years, scuba diving in the ocean, taking walks with their rescued pit-bull dog- Darby, or dancing together to life’s music.

 

Website

 

 

Giveaway

 

Signed copy of FINDING MY SUNSHINE (a memoir) by Shannon Leith McGuire (one winner) (USA only) (ends Dec 10)

 

FINDING MY SUNSHINE Book Tour Giveaway


 

 

 

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Posted in Book Release, Interview, memoir, nonfiction on November 16, 2021

 

 

Synopsis

 

International students and immigrants have been the secret ingredient in America’s recipe for global success. America Calling shares one immigrant’s story, a tale that reflects millions more, and shows us why preventing the world’s best and brightest from seeking the American Dream will put this country’s future in jeopardy.

Growing up in middle-class India, Rajika Bhandari has seen generations of her family look westward, where an American education means status and success. But she resists the lure of America because those who left never return; they all become flies trapped in honey in a land of opportunity. As a young woman, however, she finds herself heading to a US university to study, following her heart and a relationship.

When that relationship ends and she fails in her attempt to move back to India as a foreign-educated woman, she returns to the US and finds herself in a job where the personal is political and professional: she is immersed in the lives of international students who come to America from over 200 countries, the universities that attract them, and the tangled web of immigration that a student must navigate.

A narrative that explores the global appeal of a Made-in-America education that is a bridge to America’s successful past and to its future, America Calling is both a deeply personal story of Bhandari’s search for her place and voice and an analysis of America’s relationship with the rest of the world through the most powerful tool of diplomacy: education.

 

 

 

Amazon * B&N * Kobo

 

 

Praise

 

“In adding her voice to the immigrant experience, Rajika reminds us that everyone has a story to tell and that everyone’s story counts. It is books like this that make America a kinder and wiser nation. Highly recommended for high schools and colleges.” —Firoozeh Dumas, New York Times best-selling author of Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America

 

​“Rajika Bhandari is a voice that urges us with moral clarity and rigorous intelligence to embrace immigrants in higher education. This book tells a personal story and a wider one too, it’s a clarion call for the nation’s policy makers and educators, to welcome into the nation’s ranks any and all curious minds willing to join in the pursuit of an education.” —Maeve Higgins, New York Times columnist, award-winning author of Maeve in America: Essays by a Girl from Somewhere

 

“In America Calling, Rajika Bhandari captures the confusion and wonder of the international student experience of the sort she, I, and many others have shared. Sometimes funny, often moving, and always thought-provoking, Dr Bhandari’s is a memorable story, and an enjoyable read.” —Shashi Tharoor, Indian political leader, former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, and best-selling author of 22 books including India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond

 

“Rajika presents a very personal and fascinating story of the trials and tribulations of a foreign student coming to the U.S. She explains why the world’s brightest flock to American shores and boost its competitiveness—and why they are now returning home. She is right that if America doesn’t correct the exodus, it will be the greater loser.” —Vivek Wadhwa, Distinguished Fellow, Harvard Law School, Labor and Worklife Program, best-selling author of The Immigrant Exodus: Why America is losing the global race to capture entrepreneurial talent

 

“Through this intimate account of her own journey, Rajika Bhandari tells the story of the millions of young people who pursue the dream of an American education, the price they pay, the irreversible transformation they undergo, and the often misunderstood, under-appreciated, yet immense social and economic value they bring about. While she grew up in Delhi and I in Madrid, her story is, in many ways, mine too.” —Angel Cabrera, Former President, George Mason University; President, Georgia Tech and a Carnegie Corporation “Great Immigrant”

 

 

Interview with Rajika

 

While we know this story is a personal one, what motivated you to write this book at this time?

 

I have worked in the field of international education for many years and during this time came to realize how little the American public knows about international students — who they are, where they come from, what are their experiences. Yet there are over 1 million such individuals from over 200 countries who study in the US. There is no broader understanding of the value that such individuals bring to American society and yet they are presented with educational and immigration hurdles every step of the way.

I wanted to write this book to reveal the experience of an international student in the US and make people sit up and take notice that the future of America is at risk if the world stops coming to American colleges and universities. These issues became even more urgent over the past five years under the Trump administration, when there was an onslaught of damaging proposals — including the infamous travel bans — which made America feel very unwelcome to international students. As someone who had watched this from the sidelines, albeit as an expert, I knew I had to speak up and share my story and that of others on what being an international student and future immigrant feels like.

 

Your story speaks intimately on the education-to-immigration process many international students go through while planning their futures beyond academics. Why was it important for you to speak to this process?

 

There are a lot of misunderstandings about this process, with many in America believing that it is easy for international students to stay on, or that it is easy for someone to become a skilled immigrant in America. The reality and evidence point to the opposite, where the process, wait times, and immigration loopholes are dehumanizing and damaging — both for that student who aspires to stay on, but also for the US as a country which, each year, loses a ton of global talent that leaves the country and goes elsewhere because of the inability to stay. While much of the country’s focus has been on undocumented immigrants and their challenges — which are of course critical — the harrowing ordeal of those pursuing the pathway of immigration through employment does not receive as much attention.

 

The voices you highlight in the book are so impressive and inspiring. How did you choose who to interview and go about your writing process?

 

I see the book as a way of telling not just my story but also those of others whose lives and experiences speak to the impact that studying in America has had on them, and who themselves have had a profound impact on the US and its ties with the world.

I sought out well-known individuals like Ambassador Richard Verma, the first person of Indian American origin to serve as an ambassador to India under President Obama, and whose own father arrived in the U.S in 1963 as an international student from India with just $14 in his pocket. I tell the story of Susan Mboya, whose father along with John F. Kennedy, launched the “African Airlift” which brought over 800 African students to the US in the 1960s, including the senior Barack Obama.

I thought it important to also tell the stories of everyday people and young global dreamers–a young female student from China who came to believe anything was possible in America when landing an internship with Ivanka Trump; a refugee fleeing Syria to come to an American university offering him a safe haven and a new life; and an Indian student whose experience during the Black Lives Matter movement helped him and his friends confront their own racial stereotypes.

I do also tell the stories of those who America has pushed away and whom the country has lost: a brilliant young scientist and team at Monash University in Australia that is doing cutting-edge work in gravitational wave astronomy (the field that won the Nobel Prize in 2017) but that was forced out of the US because of visa issues. Capturing these narratives helped me show the full arc of America’s relationship to the world through education: the history of such relationships going back to the late 1800s, to my own experience, and then to the current view and what is happening today.

 

 

About the Author

 

Rajika Bhandari: A former international student from India to the US and an Indian American immigrant, Rajika Bhandari is an international higher education expert, a widely published author, and a sought-after speaker on issues of international education, skilled immigrants, and educational and cultural diplomacy. An author of five academic books and one previous nonfiction book, Dr. Bhandari is quoted by dozens of global media outlets each year, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Times of India and Quartz, and her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Chronicle of Higher Education, HuffPost, University World News, Times Higher Education, and The Diplomatic Courier, among others. She lives outside New York City.

 

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