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This first scene of the novel introduces the protagonists, one of the secondary conflicts, as well as some foreshadowing of larger events to come. A harsh, chemical stench assaulted Skye as she left her bedroom. Her hands trailed across the golden flocking of the floral-patterned wallpaper as she tried to pinpoint the source of the smell. An odor similar to those in an art studio, but more subtle and with a hint of flowers, led her down the hall to the bathroom. A sigh escaped Skye’s lips as she opened the bathroom door. There was only one word to describe this room: minuscule. The sink was just to the right of the door, with the tub to the left. Directly across from the door was the toilet. Upon entering the bathroom, a person could easily touch all three amenities at once. The only comfort gleaned from this small bathroom was the knowledge that there was a second one downstairs. Taking up the free space between the tub and sink was her mom. Katherine stood with an old towel wrapped around her neck, and her hair set in a wet mass on her head. “What are you doing?” Skye asked her mother. Skye’s voice slashed through the silence; her anger never seemed far away these days. “It’s actually fairly natural. Most women my age dye their hair. I don’t know why you are getting so upset,” Katherine said, her sheepish smile causing the torrent to rise further within Skye’s chest. “Only to get rid of gray, maybe. This is completely different.” “What’s so wrong about it, honey? I think it will look good.” Measuring each word carefully, Skye tried to bring her temper back under control. “Your normal hair looks better.” “I know, but sometimes change is a good thing.” “How much change is going to be enough for you? New town. New house. Okay, definitely old house,” Skye said, looking back at the faded olive-green carpet with its large leaves formed by brushstrokes of gold, green, and burnt orange. “New hair. What’s next? New names?” “No, we will keep our names. Thank you very much.” “But why do we need all of this new?” Instead of answering, Katherine looked down at the box that was sitting precariously on the toilet seat. Her eyes glazed over with unshed tears. Skye was beyond flustered as she looked at the large box full of brunette hair dye. “This isn’t just a trial thing, is it? I don’t understand. WHAT? Why?” The last question came out more as a plea than a demand. “Is it so bad I want to look more like my baby girl?” “More like? I’m already your clone. Everyone says so.” “Well, now it's definitely true.” Skye’s eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms in front of her. “And I know you won’t understand right now, and I can’t really explain. At least. No, I can’t explain it. I just need you to trust me.” Skye raised an eyebrow as her mother fumbled on, saying, “But for now, at least, would, I mean, could we just not tell anyone that I am a blonde? I just really need you to do this for me.” Silence fell for a moment as Skye tried to force air back into her lungs. “Is there something wrong with being blonde?” Katherine flinched at the coldness in her daughter’s words. “No, honey; I just… I can’t be blonde right now.” “Are you hiding from something?” “Of course not.” But Katherine's words were too quick, and her eyes cowered like those of a wounded and cornered animal devoid of hope and full of fear. Her mom was broken--Skye knew that--but to change like this was unacceptable. What could her mom be afraid of? What could be worse than what they had already been through? No, this was a betrayal. Skye stared at her mom in disbelief. “Why this sudden need to uproot our lives and run away from everything and everyone?” Again, pleading bled into the anger suffusing her words. “I don’t know.” Katherine’s voice was barely audible above the hum of the exhaust fan. “You don’t know? Oh, wow. Okay then.” “That’s not what I meant.” Skye did not even try to mask the sarcasm in her voice as she said, “No, no. I get it. Well then, I’m going to go take a walk. I want to experience some of this wonderful beauty that is supposed to help me forget all my problems and start over.” Katherine's voice quivered as she struggled for control. “Listen up, young lady, because we are going to discuss some new rules. First of all, we just moved here, and you are responsible for helping me unpack this place. I know this is hard for you, and I can understand if you want to take a few short breaks--after you have already done something.” Skye glared back. Was her mother implying that she had done nothing yet? Katherine would be right, of course, but Skye did not feel it was right for her mother to just assume that. Besides, I am not the one wasting my time dying my hair. Katherine’s voice grew steadier as she continued saying, “But for the time being, all your breaks should not take you out of view of the house. Otherwise, you’re too far away to be of any use. In addition, there will be no breaks in the woods. Not now, not ever! Understood?” Skye’s mouth fell open as she stared at her mother. “Is that why you brought me to this abandoned house in the middle of nowhere? So, I can be locked up here in this prison surrounded by woods I’m not even allowed to enter.” “That’s not fair, Skye.” “No, this--this is what is not fair!” Skye said, gesturing to the walls around her, accidentally hitting the mirror in the process. “Being fifteen and having no say in my life--is not fair. Moving here--is not fair. Getting stuck with you--is not fair.” Katherine’s eyes flashed as the last of her control slipped. “Trust me, child, you have no idea about what’s unfair. At least you still have me. And as for the present, you are going to have to trust that I am trying to protect you. So I say again, you will not go into those woods. They are not safe. Bad things happen in places like that. But you are not a prisoner. I don’t mind if you go into town after we unpack the house. But the woods are forbidden. Do you hear me?” Katherine really had to yell the last few lines, because Skye had turned around, stormed down the stairs, through the kitchen, and toward the back door. The door slammed on her way out, letting her mom know she was gone. Her mind raced as she stalked through the yard, paying no attention to where she was going. When Skye finally looked up, a small smile tugged at her lips. A large tree stood sentinel before her, guarding the edge of the forbidden woods. The thickly grooved bark ascended several feet above her before branching out in towering limbs filled with rich green leaves. How could a person possibly be afraid of trees? Her mother acted like she expected something to come jumping out of the shadows. Bad things happen here? Her arm lifted of its own accord and gently caressed the deep depression of the tree. How? Maybe her mother was afraid of bears. Are there even bears in southern Illinois? Skye doubted it. Maybe there’s a vicious squirrel or two. A voice washed over her, drawing her out of her revelry. She turned and looked back at the house. Katherine stood on the porch, dirty towel still around her neck, yelling. Skye could not understand what her mother was saying, nor did she even try to comprehend the words. She did not have to. Her mother’s tone was clear enough--Skye was not allowed to take another step further. Throwing back her shoulders, a malicious grin spreading across her face, she gave her mom a little wave before plunging onto a small path between the trees. Leaving her mom’s scared voice behind her. Skye’s mental rampage continued. Serves her right, let her worry about me for a bit, and maybe when I come back alive, she will loosen up. Fat chance. More likely, she will buy a leash. Or maybe one of those invisible fences and make me wear a collar. Oh well. In either case, at least I know she will leave me alone for the moment. There is no way she is going to chase after me here. Whatever it was about woods that scared her mom, this particular set seemed to make her fear even worse. Katherine was so vehement as she talked about them. Her mom had always been strict about the woods before, but this time, she truly seemed frightened. Dendrophobia really was the strangest fear Skye could imagine. They’re just trees. They can’t even move. Skye had not been walking long when her phone vibrated. Her blood seemed to pulse in time with the small device in her back pocket. “Seriously?” Without even looking, she knew it was her mother. Who else could call her? Her mom had given her a locked cell phone. Her phone could only send and receive calls from her parents, grandparents, and 911. Maybe I will call her later; let her sweat for now. She put her phone on silent and kept walking. Closing her eyes, Skye took a long, steadying breath. She was not used to air so “fresh.” People often describe the woods and country as a clean smell; Skye felt otherwise. It definitely did not smell like the city. Instead, the woods smelled like dirt, flowers, grass clippings, wood, and something else; something strangely musty and old. Slowly, the red in her vision gave way to green. The woods were full of plants Skye had never seen before. Though in all fairness, between her mother’s insanity and Chicago upbringing her botanical knowledge was fairly limited. Every few steps, Skye would stoop down to observe yet another new plant. She would feel the leaves and stems and drink in their rich, vibrant colors. Some plants were very soft and felt like velvet, while others were rough. One plant even gave her a slight cut, like a paper cut, as she ran her finger over the edges of its leaves. Each new plant took Skye inescapably deeper into the woods. One new group of plants was tall and green with white hairs on them and greenish-yellow flower-like things. The thought of a plant with hair lifted her face in a gentle smile. She reached out to touch it but drew back quickly. Instead of the soft give of hair, the white extension had held firm and stung her. The textile tour of the forest was over. Trying to rub the sting out of her hands, she let her eyes drift upward. An assortment of trees surrounded her. There were some maples and oaks (those she could easily identify), but the forest held many other varieties besides. The trees around her had leaves that ranged from no bigger than a paperclip to larger than her head, and some of the trees even had very large thorns. Maybe these trees can bite. After an initial chuckle at the thought, she remembered her mother. A long sigh escaped her lips; she had now been out for quite a while. She still did not feel like talking to her mother, so she opted for a quick text message. When Skye opened her phone, she stared at it in disbelief for a moment. There were fifteen missed calls. Did her mom actually call her every minute she had been in the woods? Wow--chill, lady. I’m fine B back ltr Stop wasting mins Before she was done writing her texts, Skye could see the three dots of her mother’s reply pop up on her screen. Her phone snapped shut in her hands before she shoved it into her back pocket. This was not a conversation she wanted to have right now, but she knew better than to leave her mother on “read.” The woods made her feel alive. Skye loved wandering around the trees, not caring about where she was going. It seemed like every time she would hit a fork in the road, her feet knew exactly where they wanted to go. She never even stopped to consider where she was going nor pay any attention to the direction. The longer Skye walked in the woods, the more she felt at home. These woods felt strangely familiar to her; like she had been there before. It was preposterous, but the farther she walked, the more convinced she was that she was going somewhere in particular. Maybe it was just because she wanted to belong somewhere so badly, and not just anywhere, but belong to a world without her mother, that kept her feet walking. After a while, Skye came upon a little creek. It was not much to see, really. The water was only a couple of inches deep, and it flowed over a bed of rocks. It seemed dark and lonely. she stared at it, getting lost in the shadowy swirls. The stones at the bottom were colorless, simply various shades of gray and black, covered by a translucent film of water. Will this be me soon? Will I just flow by, surrounded by trees with nothing to brighten my life? Skye felt the walls around her heart constrict a little, as the trickling stream echoed the distant tears that no longer flowed from her eyes. Unlike this small stream, her heart’s creek bed was barren. The cloud blocking the sun slowly crept out of the way, and the change took Skye’s breath away. Gray rocks shimmered with various hues of red, blue, brown, green, and yellow. As the water tripped over the rocks, it formed bubbles that reflected the color of the rocks in all directions. Light and beauty filled the creek bed. At first, Skye was just mesmerized by the beauty, but then, slowly, the sounds of the water caught her attention. Her eyes closed as she listened to the trickling water as it flowed over the rocks. Without thinking, she stepped out of her flip-flops and into the creek. The cool water was refreshing, and it tickled her toes as it funneled over and through them. She could have stayed there forever. Skye sighed. As much as she enjoyed the water, she felt anxious. Deep down, she knew she had not yet reached her destination and was wasting time. This was such a strange feeling because this relaxation was exactly why she had come out here. Still, she could not shake the feeling that pulled her to continue walking. Opening her eyes, she somewhat reluctantly stepped back to her shoes. She abandoned the path at this point and started following the creek bed instead. The clouds kept passing over the sun, and Skye watched the kaleidoscopic performance of the water, sun, and clouds as she walked. She would come back to the stream and paint it. There was no way she could do the stream justice, but if she could just capture some of its essence, it would be with her no matter where she went. As she rounded a bend, she froze. Her breath caught as she felt the thrum of her pulse in her ears. She had found it. A cabin, but not just any cabin. She knew this cabin. As a scream echoed through the wood, Skye fell to a crouch, trying to hide from both sight and sound.

Innocent Blood THE ACT OF STORY STATEMENT Discover the truth about a woman whose life turns out to be nothing but lie after lie. THE ANTAGONIST PLOTS THE POINT Josephine Chapman is a woman on a mission. She fights what she sees as injustice, using every means at her disposal, legal or otherwise. She is smart and canny, and is always two steps ahead of anyone who opposes her. Or who tries to find out the truth about her, even her ex-girlfriend. She was the victim once, she will never be the victim again. CONJURING YOUR BREAKOUT TITLE Innocent Blood DECIDING YOUR GENRE AND APPROACHING COMPARABLES Legal thriller comparables - The It Girl by Ruth Ware Misguided by James Chandler The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith CORE WOUND AND THE PRIMARY CONFLICT Josephine Chapman cripples a man for trying to assault her, and she turns to her ex-girlfriend Claire Lynch for legal help. When the man dies from his injuries, Jo now faces murder charges, and her story about the ‘stranger’ starts to unravel. Claire finds that almost nothing she knew about her ex-girlfriend was true, and then learns the shocking reason for the duplicity. OTHER MATTERS OF CONFLICT: TWO MORE LEVELS Secondary conflicts - As Claire helps Jo and represents her, she comes up against her brother Jake, who is the District Attorney and has been after Jo for years. Claire also discovers that almost nothing she knew about Jo was true, even though they were together for five years. Inner conflicts - Even though Jo and Claire lived together for five years, Claire has never come out to her parents. As the facts of the case develop, a local reporter intends to out Claire in an upcoming article. To get out in front of it, Claire has to come out to her mother; it doesn’t go as Claire expected. THE INCREDIBLE IMPORTANCE OF SETTING The setting is Austin, Texas. The Lynch family is an old, established family with a thriving law office. Claire runs that office, while her brother Jake is the District Attorney. Their brother Travis is the black sheep, who has turned his back on the family legacy and practices law in a barely-making-it law practice of hs own. The city of Austin provides many different locations and many different characters to draw from.

Chapter 1 Knowing that today would be one of Willow Glen Animal Shelter’s busiest of the year, Felicity Davis had skipped last night’s Fourth of July fireworks and gone to bed early. Even before her alarm buzzed, she jumped out of bed, causing her dog, Wilson, a Pyrenees mix, and her tabby cat, Jasmine, to rouse and leap from the bed. Felicity wanted to get to the shelter well before it opened and people started calling in with lost pet reports, so she breezed through her morning routine. “Sorry our walk is going to be short,” she apologized to Wilson as they went only once around the block. “We’ll take a longer one tonight.” Normally, Felicity loved going to work as the shelter’s executive director. But she had come to dread July 5th and the following days when the shelter was inundated with calls from frantic owners, looking for their lost pets, and with pets, who had run away to escape the terrifying booms and bangs of fireworks. Felicity entered the shelter to the cacophony of dogs barking and staff members and volunteers cleaning kennels and cages. After greeting the early crew, she went upstairs to her office and shut the door, effectively turning down the bark volume. This year, July 5th fell on a Wednesday, which also happened to be the day each week when the shelter’s Pet Profile column was due to the local newspaper. By ignoring all the files and notes on her desk, Felicity was able to focus on writing this week’s column. She wrote about microchip identification and why this permanent form of I.D. was the most reliable. As always, she finished her column with a few sentences about an animal available for adoption. This week, she featured Bingo, a three-year-old, male beagle, who’d been found in a park. Felicity had just emailed her column to the newspaper when Gladys Phelps breezed into her office, bringing a cup of coffee and the morning paper. “Thanks, Gladys! Your timing is perfect.” Felicity was grateful every day for Gladys. “Mmm, Sumatra, my favorite,” she said, taking a sip. “I thought you might like some extra caffeine. We’re going to need it today,” Gladys said knowingly. She was a retired elementary school teacher, who’d been the shelter’s office manager for four years. Being in her 70’s, thin, and gray-haired, Gladys appeared fragile; but there wasn’t an unruly dog or human she couldn’t handle gracefully. “Last night’s fireworks display was even bigger than last year’s. I just hope that won’t mean more lost pets.” “You and me, both.” When Felicity had moved to Willow Glen six years ago to become the shelter’s director, she was only twenty-six years old and the youngest director the shelter had ever hired. Since then, she had improved the shelter’s services and expanded both its budget and staff. Instead of being in debt, the shelter now operated with an annual surplus. Felicity loved her job. Helping lost and unwanted pets find new homes was her true calling. “Hopefully, we’ll have more reclaims this year.” “Maybe we’ll be lucky and people will have heeded our warnings about keeping pets indoors during fireworks,” Gladys said as she headed back to the lobby. In a nearby neighborhood, Agatha Warren made a detour on her way to work to visit Clara Atkins, who operated a cat sanctuary out of her home. Agatha had caught a stray cat early that morning and hoped Clara could locate his owner. Clara had been the town’s head librarian for decades before retiring a few years ago to start a cat sanctuary. Everyone knew Clara. They also knew that although she loved cats, she merely tolerated people. Clara answered the door with a cup of tea in one hand and a kitten in the other. She kept her long, gray hair in a messy chignon. She dressed in colorful, flowy clothes and wore an array of artsy glasses which accented her sharp, steely, blue eyes. Clara looked like a librarian, one Andy Warhol or Jerry Garcia would have hired. “Hello, Agatha, come in. What do you have for me?” Holding up a cat carrier, Agatha said, “I found this boy hiding under my azaleas this morning. He came right to me when I offered him chicken - ate it right out of my hand. He even let me pick him up and put him in the carrier without any fuss. He’s gorgeous and friendly, definitely someone’s pet; but he doesn’t have a collar.” “Follow me to the cat room,” Clara instructed. Upon entering the cat room, Clara put the kitten she’d been holding in a cage and Agatha set her carrier on a table. “Well, I’ll be,” Clara said as she peered into the carrier. “He is gorgeous, and I think he might be a toyger.” “A what?” Agatha asked. “A toyger. It’s a rare breed of cat that I’ve only seen in magazines and books. The breed was developed to inspire a love of wild, endangered tigers.” “Has this breed really helped wild tigers?” Agatha asked, skeptically. “I highly doubt it,” Clara said, looking askance and handing Agatha an intake form and a pen. “I need you to fill this out for me and sign it.”

The Bodyguard The Bodyguard by Katherine Center is $3.99! I mentioned this one on a previous Hide Your Wallet and was tempted by the bodyguard heroine. However, it’s still in my to-read stack. Have you read this one? She’s got his back. Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindgerten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka “bodyguard”), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker. He’s got her heart. Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid. They’ve got a secret. When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it. What could possibly go wrong??? Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. A Court of Thorns and Roses A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas is $2.99! This book and series is insanely popular and has Beauty and the Beast elements. I love the new covers for this series and I’m doing a re-read right now. They’re very much potato chip books. A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore. When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world. As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever. Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down! Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon RECOMMENDED: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming is $1.99 at Amazon! Carrie recently reviewed this one and gave it a B: This book was perfect entertainment for my stressed out brain, and I was definitely rooting for those two wacky kids to have their HEA. All I wanted to do was live my life in peace. Maybe get a cat, expand my spice farm. Really anything that doesn’t involve going on a quest where an orc might rip my face off. But they say the Goddess has favorites. If so, I’m clearly not one of them. After saving the demon Fallon in a wine-drunk stupor, all he wanted to do was kill an evil witch enslaving his people. I mean, I get it. Don’t get me wrong. But he’s dragging me along for the ride, and I’m kind of peeved about it. On the bright side, he keeps burning off his shirt. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. The Night Circus The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is $1.99! This fantasy novel was everywhere when it came out and does seem to have romantic elements. While the setting captured readers’ attentions, some wished it had more emotional depth. Two starcrossed magicians engage in a deadly game of cunning in The Night Circus, the spellbinding bestseller that has captured the world’s imagination. The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. View the full article

It’s a special edition of the Gift Guide: Cyber Monday deals I’ve spotted – have you seen some, too? This week: The Cyber Monday round up of some great options for gifting! Thank you, Amanda! Want to see? Just click that image above or click right here, and come craft with us! And if you’d like to browse some more, we have a complete Stuff We Like archive, including past Gift Guides and other posts of our favorite items. View the full article

Name: Damond Lindsay Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction with Gay Characters FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Story statement. Love and self-sacrifice in the face of death. SECOND ASSIGNMENT: The Antagonists. P.J. Hogan is the wealthy father of Pythias Knight’s boyfriend, Damon Hogan. He aligns himself with the powerful and has connections within the United States government where he secretly funds a clandestine government program run by FBI agent, Tessa Thorn. The program gathers children with superhuman powers and trains them as human super soldiers. We later learn that P.J. Hogan was physically abused as a child by his father. His relationship with him changed after he began to excel in sports and academics, knowing his father’s disapproval of homosexuality and self-acceptance. Hogan’s shame led to dramatic changes in his behavior. He struggled with his sexuality and in turn directed this shame toward his eldest son, which led to him using his scientists to cure Damon of his superpowers after learning his son had the ability to teleport. Thorn wanted to cure Damon from what he thought was a disease. Hogan also used Damon as a pawn and later had the boy framed for a crime he never committed. There is also agent Tessa Thorn, who is the daughter of prominent politician, Senator Rupert Thorn. Her father wanted a son to carry on the family's military tradition and decided to raise his only daughter as one. Tessa excelled and was placed as head of the American government’s special operations unit. After the assassination of her father, she targeted Damon Hogan, who she saw as a threat to the country’s national security. THIRD ASSIGNMENT: Breakout Title 1) I Am Xymox 2) Damon and Pythias FOURTH ASSIGNMENT: Comparables Similar to Alice Oseman’s queer young adult graphic novel, Heartstopper, or Alfred Bester’s science fiction classic, the Stars My Destination, the novel is a modern teen fantasy inspired by the classical Greek story of Damon and Pythias set at a futuristic New York City boarding school. FIFTH ASSIGNMENT: Hook Line (logline) Boy meets boy at a prestigious boarding school in Manhattan and during their courtship combat forces seeking to control their superhuman abilities. SIXTH ASSIGNMENT: Conflict 1) Beginning (The Inciting Incident-The telepathic teenager, Pythias Knight, meets and falls in love with Damon Hogan and discovers he is unable to read his mind. 2) First plot point (First Act Turn- The First Act Turn begins with Pythias’ decision to break into P.J. Hogan’s office and learn what his boyfriend’s father knows about him and his telepathic abilities. The first Act Turning Point only makes matters worse with the arrival of government agent, Tessa Thorn, who confronts Pythias outside the office building where a fight transpires leading to his apprehension and subjugation to agonizing tests. 3) Mid-point (2nd turn-Unable to break Pythias, agent Thorn frames Damon for the murder of a prominent politician who turns out to be her father. Damon is imprisoned in a federal prison, where he is branded a domestic terrorist and faces a death sentence. The strength of Damon and Pythias’ love is challenged, even in the face of death.) 4) Climax (everything goes to Hell- Pythias rushes to save Damon’s life and reputation. Pythias also has a final face-off with Tessa Thorn.) 5) Resolution (big sigh- The murder charges are dropped against Damon—this is the realization or acknowledgement that Damon and Pythias have become heroes. Now that the boys are free, their lives are at a new level of equilibrium.) FINAL ASSIGNMENT: Setting The novel is set in the futuristic and illustrious New York City, where a minority of young people are born with superhuman abilities that they keep secret. From a bird's eye view, we follow our teenage protagonists as they move about the city of tomorrow. Skyscrapers and flying vehicles soar above the streets that convert kinetic energy of foot traffic into self-renewing energy that powers the city as holographic “streets” guide the hovering cars with digital billboards casting holographic ads.

The Five Women Who Created Fantasy By Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier Fantasy as a separate literary genre could be said to have begun with the Contes de Fées, or Fairy Tales, of the French Siècle des Lumières, or Age of Enlightenment. This started with the reign of the Sun King Louis XIV in 1643, when France entered a period of political, artistic and scientific grandeur, before settling into the decadent reigns of Louis XV (1710-1774) and Louis XVI (1754-1793), and ending up with the French Revolution. The undeniable popularity of fantasy at the time was, in great part, attributable to the fact that it was safe; it did not imperil the soul—a serious concern for a nation which had just come out of an era of great religious persecution—and it appropriately reflected the grandeur of the Sun King’s reign. We have singled out here five women who, because of their talent, originality and genuine inventiveness, could have a claim to be declared the founders of modern fantasy. The great precursor in the genre was the Baroness Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy (1652-1705) who, in 1690, introduced in her rambling novel Histoire d’Hyppolite, Comte de Douglas [Story of Hippolyte, Count of Douglas] a fairy tale entitled L’Île de la Félicité [The Island of Felicity]. She followed suit with a remarkable, three-volume collection simply entitled Contes de Fées [Fairy Tales] (1698), and then Contes Nouveaux ou Les Fées à la Mode [New Tales or Fashionable Fairies] (1698). Unlike the better-known Charles Perrault, Madame d’Aulnoy used her tales for satirical purposes, deliberately aiming them at a more adult readership. As a result, her stories were more complex and sophisticated. Her best-remembered tales are L’Oiseau Bleu [The Blue Bird], La Chatte Blanche [The White Cat] and Le Nain Jaune [The Yellow Dwarf], which spawned a popular board-and-card game. L’Oiseau Bleu introduced one of the very first “Prince Charmings” in the world of fairy tales. From the 1690s onwards, Madame d’Aulnoy was an active member of a literary salon where she and the Comtesse de Murat (see below) became the most prolific contributors to the new genre of the contes de fees, which they helped invent, shape and develop. Like almost all of the other members of her coterie, she became a renegade female aristocrat writing tales for the select consumption of other renegade female aristocrats about a world the corrupt glamour of which they understood only too well, with a depth of sarcasm that the innocent could not be expected to comprehend. One should regard these women as significant writers of Decadent fantasy, and one wonders what they might have done had they been allowed to continue with their work. Given that both had extraordinary imaginative range, it is hard to imagine that they would have run out of inspiration, had they not been violently stopped in their tracks. We have to be grateful that they contrived to publish as much as they did during their brief window of opportunity, leaving behind fugitive material that could be recovered once the worst of the repression had blown over. Considered separately Madame d’Aulnoy and the Comtesse de Murat were great writers of imaginative fiction, but as a competitive collective, they are unique in literary history, and it is as part of that collective endeavor that Madame d’Aulnoy is fully entitled to her classic status today. They were the first to virtually define the boundaries of modern fantasy. After them, magicians, ogres, dragons, dwarves and fairies became fully integrated in the realms of modern fantasy. Comtesse Henriette-Julie de Castelnau de Murat (1670-1716)’s Les Contes de Fées [The Fairy Tales] (1697) and Les Nouveaux Contes des Fées [The New Fairy Tales] (1698) are first set in the time of the fays, a remote mythical past, but her later stories take place contemporaneously in countries that are only separated pseudo-geographically from France. Her works are remarkable for the imaginative extravagance of their plots; the superbly surreal depiction of magical civilizations, the extreme trials to which she subjects her heroes and heroines, caused by jealous rivals intent on breaking the amorous bond between them, and their often deliberately atypical conclusions. Charlotte-Rose Caumont de La Force (1654-1724), with Les Fées: Contes des Contes [The Fairies: Tales of Tales] (1698), was a pioneering writer, perhaps the one who took the greatest imaginative license from the freedom to make arbitrary inventions and narrative moves. Her tales tell a story that is very different from the historical fantasies built on Perrault’s moralistic tales for children. The morals attached to her tales are certainly not aimed at children. In fact, what distinguishes her tales from those of her most famous contemporaries is their evident moral unease. By far the most famous of her tales is “Persinette” which was plagiarized by Friedrich Schultz, who retitled it “Rapunzel” (1790). As the contes de fées suffered a decline in fashionability in the 1750s, they began to rely on hybridization with Oriental and Medieval fantasies. The tales continued to be replete with fays, ogres, magic swords and other motifs, but they also revolved around a series of moral dilemmas, provided with fanciful magically-aided resolutions, although reflecting real philosophical debates of the times. (Not coincidentally, the classic Thousand and One Nights was first “translated” into French at that time, with some stories quite possibly having been made up from thin or non-existent sources, as no earlier Arabic manuscripts of Aladdin and Ali-Baba are known to exist.) After a twenty-or-so years’ pause, a second wave of fairy tales hit the market in the mid-1700s, this time written by such notable authors as: Marie-Madeleine de Lubert (1702-1785)’s first fantastic tale, published in 1737, was the striking original Tecserion in which the eponymous king of the Land of Ostriches is madly in love with Belzamire, Princess of Flowers, who herself dotes on the King’s nephew, Melidor. The story is replete with elaborate descriptions of strange societies, including one located on Venus. The fascination extravagantly displayed in her stories with the metamorphoses of humans into animals is reflected in the ambiguous naming of realms and individuals. Such metamorphoses are a common motif within the genre, but no other writer ever deployed it with the same intensity and fascination as this author. Both Princess Camion and Prince Frozen and Princess Sparkling (1743) strike a better balance between surreal extravagance and narrative discipline, but remain flamboyant and intent on defying conventional expectations. There is justice in the fact that Princess Camion is now her best known work by virtue of the availability online of a video of a 2014 dramatization by a French theater company. Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (1685-1755) created the story of La Belle et la Bête [Beauty and the Beast] in her collection Les Contes Marins ou La Jeune Américaine [Sea Stories or The Young American Girl] (1740). It was later abridged and rewritten by Madame Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (1711-1776) and published in London in 1757—it is that version which is best known today. The main interests of the original tale lie two sections, one in which the Beast explains how he came to be transformed and why it was forced to act as he did in regard to the Beauty; and the other in which the fay who contrived his liberation from his curse explains how and for what motives an evil rival placed her in that elaborate necessity. This original account of the organization and politics of the world of Faerie is of considerable interest, as well as completing the explanatory schema of the enigmatic fundamental tale. The Naiads, published 100 years after Madame de Villeneuve’s death, is one of the earliest fantasy novels. It is set in a distant past in a fictitious realm with a religion based on elemental spirits. While it uses the stock motifs of the fairy tale, featuring a Prince Perfect who falls in love with a shepherdess, unaware that she is really a Princess, as well as a wicked stepmother and an ugly sister bent on persecuting the beleaguered heroine, it also looks behind those motifs and provide them with elaborate explanatory schemas, such as the strange story of the Mill of Misfortune and the revelation of the Prince’s true identity by the Gnome Queen. In this fashion, the literary evolution of fantasy paralleled that of French Royalty, with the decadence and corruption of Louis XV replacing the aristocratic grandeur of Louis XIV. Eventually, the French Revolution came and, in an act tantamount to a literary execution, guillotined the heads of, if not the fairies and the little people, but many of the people who had become so much associated with this Ancien Régime genre. Fantasy was a genre in which many women excelled. Other notable authors included: Marie-Jeanne L’Héritier de Villandon (1664-1734) included several fairy tales in her Oeuvres Mêlées [Mixed Works] (1695). A relative of the better-known Perrault, she originally published four stories in 1696, a year before Tales of Mother Goose, then penned the classic La Tour ténébreuse et les Jours Lumineux [The Dark Tower and the Luminous Days published in 1705, as well as an essay written in the form of a letter, in which she casts more light on the detail of her thinking, the process by which the tales came to be written and the various things that she was attempting to achieve. Her stories may well be the source material that inspired Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin, amongst others, and are not an adaptation of folklore, but an attempt to recycle literary inventions attributed to the medieval troubadours. Catherine Bernard (1662-1712), the first woman to have written a play performed by the Comédie française, was also one of the originators of the genre, with The Rose-Bush Prince, Riquet with the Crest and The Origins of the Fays (c. 1696) The anonymous “Comtesse D.L,” wrote La Tyrannie des Fées Détruites [The Tyranny of the Fays Abolished] (1703). She disappeared from view, censored out of history, and to this day, she has only been replaced in the official record by a phantom who probably originated as a spelling mistake. In her own peculiar fashion, however, she was a heroine. Her story’s representation of marriage as a matter of innocent young women falling into the brutal hands of disgusting Ogres who abuse them is only par for the course, but what is unusual is the conclusion, in which the bold Prince, eager to do battle against the monsters guarding the cave where his beloved princess is being held captive, is told to put away his sword, this particular rescue being women’s work. When the rescue is complete, the prince is graciously permitted to continue adoring the princess, provided that he never lays a finger on her, while she enjoys a perfect bliss with her steadfast female best friend, under the tutelage of their benign protectress, the fay Clementine. Marie-Antoinette Fagnan (1710-177) wrote Kanor (1750), Minet-Bleu et Louvette (1752) et Le Miroir des Princess Orientales [The Mirror of Oriental Princesses] (1755), which demonstrate that fantasy could be a useful instrument in the advancement of Enlightenment, because rather than in spite of its absurdity. The author’s sardonic narrative points out the absurdity of the fairy tales, and emphasizes that the age of the fays, if ever there was one, reached its twilight long before history became possible. Her work as a whole asserts that fays are not, and never could be, up to the task of providing miracles, because the inevitably corrupting effects of their power would always lead them to indifference toward human suffering, if not to the malevolence of causing it. That, rather than any scientific skepticism relating to the workability of magic, is the Enlightenment that hammered the nails into the coffin of the genre, and although the final nail had yet to be added, that coffin was already sealed by 1755. Finally, Catherine de Lintot (1728-1816)’s stories Timandre and Bleuette, Prince Sincere and Tendrebrun et Constance (1735) show a marked evolution in the genre, each being more substantial, and more imaginatively innovative than its predecessor. Although they clearly attempt to take up where Madame d’Aulnoy and the Comtesse de Murat had been forced to leave off, in terms of their imaginative extravagance, their use of metamorphoses and their quirky employment of allegory exhibit a further development in the direction of the calculatedly absurd and the surreal. These are not the only works of the period to extrapolate its licensed disorder to the chaotic brink of surrealism, but they do so more self-consciously than most. The stories gathered herein provide an intriguing kaleidoscopic pattern and can justly be reckoned to be more than the sum of their parts. BOOKS All available from the Black Coat Press Website Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy: Tales of the Fays (2 volumes), Black Coat Press, ISBNs 978-1-61227-836-0 and 978-1-61227-837-7. Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve: Beauty and the Beast * The Naiads, Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-61227-626-7. Catherine Bernard: The Queen of the Fays, Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-61227-814-8; The Origins of the Fays, Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-61227-821-6. Charlotte-Rise Caumont de La Force: The Land of Delights, Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-61227-760-8. Comtesse D.L.: The Tyranny of the Fays Abolished, Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-61227-792-9. Marie-Antoinette Fagnan: The Enchanter’s Mirror, Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-61227-820-9. Marie-Jeanne L’Héritier de Villandon: The Robe of Sincerity, Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-61227-732-5. Catherine de Lintot: Funestine, Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-61227-812-4. Marie-Madeleine de Lubert: Princess Camion, Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-61227-796-7. Henriette-Julie de Murat: The Palace of Vengeance, Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-61227-774-5. Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier. The Handbook of French Fantasy & Supernatural Fiction. Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-64932-165-7. Brian Stableford. Tales of Enchantment and Disenchantment. Black Coat Press, ISBN 978-1-61227-838-4. Black Coat Press was born in 2003 as a logical development in our desire to bring out the best of French popular culture into the English language. First, there was our massive French Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror & Pulp Fiction encyclopedia published my McFarland in 2000; then there was our coolfrenchcomics website, and finally our two non-fiction Shadowmen books which, with our translation of Doctor Omega, were the first books published by Black Coat Press. We had been working for Starlog and in comics for years prior to our desire to become publishers. We had, in fact, been translating a number of award-winning French comics for Marvel (the Moebius series) and Dark Horse (works by Tardi, Andreas, Druillet, Schuiten and others). So moving into books was a natural extension. We had already co-authored over a dozen books about movies and television series, such as The Doctor Who Programme Guide, Into The Twilight Zone, Science Fiction Filmmaking In The 1980s and The Dreamweavers, the latter two from McFarland. It had always been a source of profound frustration to us that, because of the language barrier, the knowledge of many outstanding French works was denied to the American public. There was a time when French novels and French films were widely imported in the United States. People were mobbing the New York harbor waiting for the latest installment of Alexandre Dumas’ novels. Yet in the age of the global village, this cross-cultural exchange has shrunk to next to nothing, and I think America is the poorer for it. The purpose of Black Coat Press was to help remedy this sad state of affairs by providing a fairly comprehensive selection of the best and/or the most representative works, with proper introductions, bibliographies, etc. Because science fiction, fantasy, etc. are often regarded as minor genres by “serious” scholars (on both sides of the Atlantic!), we felt that publishing works of this nature would be more useful than publishing classic or mainstream novels, for which there are at least a few outlets available. The post The Five Women Who Created Fantasy – GUEST POST by Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier appeared first on The Fantasy Hive. View the full article

Around this time last year, my mom said four words guaranteed to keep anyone up at night. “I found a lump.” If that weren’t anxiety producing enough, a diagnostic mammogram required a referral and she had no primary care physician. Those accepting new patients were booked solid for months because so many had delayed routine care during the initial COVID surges. Two things were clear. First, she was going to have a wait on her hands to find out what, if anything, that lump signified. Second, I was going to make a bad situation worse if I gave in to the existential terror the word ‘cancer’ provokes. That demon had already claimed both my grandmothers and an aunt. A second aunt was securely in its clutches and passed away a few weeks ago. The manuscript languishing on my laptop was the obvious place to pour all my nervous energy, but panic and focus aren’t exactly a winning combination, especially when I’m stuck. I needed a sense of direction. Accountability. Deadlines. I needed something like Kathryn Craft’s “Your Novel Year” class. I’d considered taking it before. I knew Kathryn, I loved her novels, and I suspected I’d work well with her. Barreling through a shitty first draft isn’t something I’ve ever managed to do, though. If forced to participate in NaNoWriMo, I would be clinically insane by Thanksgiving. It took a nudge from our own Therese Walsh, combined with a major life upheaval, to get me to take the plunge. If you have ever wondered whether this class or something like it would be worth the time and expense for you, here are some things to consider. Know your mentor/coach Handing over unfinished work, particularly in the early stages, involves some major creative risk. Trust is an essential component to a successful working relationship. If you can meet your proposed mentor, at a conference or at least online, you will be better able to gauge their critique style, how flexible they may be, whether you find them approachable or intimidating, etc. Do they have published novels? If so, read them. If they don’t wow you, hesitate before signing any contracts. If your prose is uber-descriptive and theirs is spare, know that you will be encouraged to rein yourself in. This isn’t a dealbreaker if you are secure in your own voice. If prone to blindly follow every suggestion, proceed with extreme caution. Do they write in the same genre (ideal) or at least have a lot of experience with it? If you write women’s fiction and they write spy thrillers, your proposed mentor may have the biggest name and the greatest connections and still be of no actual help to you. Know that this is an investment with no guarantees Intensive workshops, especially those involving developmental edits and individualized coaching, aren’t cheap. You will be making an investment, financially and emotionally. To get the most out of the experience, you must be willing to sacrifice a significant chunk of time and energy. In exchange, you will very likely have an improved manuscript, maybe even one that is publication worthy. Many good novels, even great novels, still do not sell. Are you prepared for that possibility? Know your process If you are the sort of writer who sets word count goals of 1000 words a day and consistently meets them, you’ll have no issue keeping up with any intensive class. If, like me, you start off each writing session going back to the beginning of any chapter you are working on and adding another layer of polish before writing any new words, you may need a mentor who is open to reviewing revised work, too. Is your comfort zone crippling you? Not letting anyone see your work until, say, draft 25, may ensure that the beta readers see flawless prose. However, the most beautiful sentences in the world will do nothing for your manuscript if that chapter you spent a month on doesn’t move the story forward. A good developmental editor will pick up on that in draft one or two, which may save you twenty drafts of said chapter, and countless drafts in subsequent chapters. (Yeah, guilty as charged on this one. Thanks, Kathryn.) Also, the work will never be perfect. Waiting to show it to anyone until you internally debate the necessity of certain comma placements might just be a convenient excuse to spin your wheels indefinitely. If this sounds like you, forcing a break in that cycle might be liberating. How thick is your skin? If your chosen class involves developmental editing, and you’ve never been through that process before, be prepared for a lot of virtual red ink. Much of it may not be of the ‘rethink this sentence structure’ or ‘this gesture made me cry’ variety. You may have key points in your plot deconstructed or, worse, told that your story has no discernible plot at all. You may be told that your main character is unlikable or that their story goal is unclear. You may be asked why the reader should care about any of these people. Chances are good that feedback days will involve big emotions, both good and bad. If something is especially triggering, that is a good sign the editor is onto something. (Yes, I speak from experience.) Better to hear this from a paid editor than an agent or a publisher. There is no such thing as perfect timing When I signed up for Your Novel Year, I thought that 2022 would be a time of high productivity. One child lives full-time in her college town. The other is still home but largely self-sufficient. I am lucky enough to not require a paycheck to survive. Had I known last December that this year would be spent ricocheting from one hardship and hassle to another, I would have claimed it would be impossible for me to get any writing done. I didn’t have staring down my own mortality and choosing to remove five organs from my body on my bingo card any more than my mom had cancer warrior on hers. Nevertheless, I persisted. Set realistic goals Had I been able to stay on pace, Your Novel Year would have allowed for a developmental edit of up to 300 pages of material. I knew that was unrealistic for me, though I had hoped to get to 200. Counting revisions, I’ve done that, but my actual page count in the novel just surpassed 100. Am I disappointed in myself? No. Do I feel the class was worth the time and investment? Absolutely. Those 100 pages are now rock-solid, and I have a clear path forward from here. This would not have happened without Kathryn’s guidance. (And no, she is not paying me to say that.) What about you? Have you taken an intensive writing course? Worked with a coach? Hired a developmental editor? Was it helpful? Do you have any tips to share? [url={url}]View the full article[/url]

With the holiday season around the corner, a cozy Christmas read is just what we need to get into the spirit of the season! Author Barbara Barth has just released her novella A Wingman for Christmas and it's a must-read for Christmas! First, here's a bit about her novel: The annual Sweet Water, Georgia, Christmas parade is nearing but relationships are fractured on Wild Rose Lane. Antique dealer Cheryl Calloway's holiday spirit has tanked. It's been a horrible year with her divorce, her ex marrying younger and perkier Miriam across the street, and Mama moving into Cheryl's Victorian cottage with her Amazon parrot right before Thanksgiving. A party girl in her eighties, Mama smokes up a storm, likes her nightly vodka, has a hankering for men, and now a wingman named Nigel. If that isn't enough, the Historical Society wants Cheryl to clean up all the projects on her porch waiting to go to Spivey's Antique Mall for their Christmas Open House. Her desire to work her booth is as dead as her marriage. Miriam, President of the Historical Society, chastises her, "If it ain't pretty don't put it on the porch." Then there's Alice, her strange neighbor with the six-foot fluorescent light bulb cross nailed to the huge Magnolia tree in the middle of her rose garden. Alice watches all the neighbors too closely. Just when Cheryl thinks things can't get worse, an incident shakes her to the core, and a mystery follows revealing family secrets long forgotten. Cheryl wants to believe in miracles and love again, and Dr. James may just be the man of her dreams as he helps her and Mama sort things out. Filled with quirky characters, mystery, family secrets, and sweet love, all set in a hot Georgia small town. Publisher: Gilbert Street Press ISBN-10: 0983171599 ISBN-13: 978-0983171599 ASIN: B0BJ9CWHGT Print length: 198 pages Purchase a copy of the book on Amazon. You can also add it to your GoodReads reading list. About the Author, Barbara Barth Barbara Barth turned to writing and adopting dogs to heal after her husband died fourteen years ago. Known as ‘Writer With Dogs’, Barth currently lives with four Chihuahuas in a charming town forty miles outside of Atlanta. She is Literary Arts Chair at a small art center where she promotes writing activities, author events, book launches, and hosts an online group Walton Writers. Inspired by the wonderful artists around her, Barth started painting and has won several awards with her whimsical art. Her books are available on Amazon. Visit her Instagram page Barbara Barth Studio. You can also check out her website.---- Interview by Nicole Pyles WOW: First of all, congratulations on your book A Wingman for Christmas! I have to say that I love it and already finished it! What inspired this book? Barbara: I started this book back in 2016 after I lost my mother. A few memories of her and her exotic pets made it into my last memoir The Unfaithful Widow Ten Years Later. I felt magic writing about her. Every year since I pulled out my little novella and worked on it but just couldn’t get it completed for the holiday season. This year I made a vow to finish it. The story is fiction but the love between Mama and Cheryl is as real as can be. WOW: It really is! Their relationship felt so real to me. I'm so glad to have you back with us for another tour at WOW! It's been a few years since you last toured with us. How has everything been for you and how has writing been? Barbara: I think sometimes I border on crazy. Made two big moves in three years, uprooting, and selling two houses. And with my antiques, art, and dogs, it was no easy task. I live in a wonderful house in Monroe, Georgia, now (about 40 miles east of Atlanta). I’m on the Board of the Monroe-Walton Center for The Arts as their Literary Arts Chair and plan writing events. Everyone should check out their web page https://www.monroewaltonarts.org/. It is an amazing place to reach out to the local community with so many classes and programs, along with art exhibits. I am blessed to be a part of such an amazing group. My dog numbers have changed as I’ve lost several dear ones. I call myself Chihuahua Mama now as I’ve downsized to small dogs as big ones crossed the rainbow bridge. My six-pack has only four members now. But that is subject to change. And you’ll still find me as Writer With Dogs on many sites. WOW: I think a dog mom remains a dog mom forever! I love all the quirky characters in this book. How did manage to capture them so uniquely? Barbara: This sounds cliché, but the characters revealed themselves as I wrote about them. I had no idea where this story would take me. Inspired by two things, a southern phrase someone said to me some years ago, “If it ain’t pretty don’t put it on the porch” and a story about my mother and her Amazon parrot from her early days in St. Augustine. Mother’s parrot got off the balcony while mother was in her shop below her apartment. The bird was gone for several days and then reappeared strutting down Aviles Street. A grand reunion. I always loved that story. While I grew up in central Florida (and born in NY) I’m not exactly southern. But these characters came to me and we fell in love. WOW: What a charming story! You are quite the artist by the way! Does your artistic work inspire your writing at all? Barbara: Thanks for the compliment. Art has always been a passion. I used to sell Victorian and vintage art in the early days on eBay. My personal art collection is full of old oil paintings of women in the garden, holding flowers, and their pets. When I decided to paint, my subject matter was the same as the art I love. My paintings are full of whimsy, color, and are happy and fun. Sometimes I sell them but I am attached to many, especially if there is a face that I feel a kinship with. Needless to say there is never enough wall space for me. Art is stacked all around my house and I like that. A bit bohemian. I’m hoping my paintings will inspire a children’s book. I have a sweet little mouse I paint and she has a story to tell. WOW: I would LOVE to see you write a children's book! Why did you decide to self-publish? Barbara: My first experience was with a vanity press. The memoir design was lovely but I discovered a glitch. I used their free ISBN, so while the story was mine they owned the PDF. That was back in 2010 and self-publishing still had a stigma. My how times have changed. So many self-publish these days and it is a great platform to get your story out to the public. I’ve even read that The New York Times features a bestseller list for eBooks complied from sales reported by Amazon and other distributors. I love the control of self-publishing. I publish under my imprint Gilbert Street Press and we have a few authors under it, too. My ego would love to say a publishing house is tracking me down, but reality is I am happy doing my own thing. I do like to kid I’m not looking for a publisher, just a Hallmark movie. Nigel is ready to talk a deal. HaHa. One can always have a dream! WOW: That's so cool you started your own press! And you know, you never know about a publishing house trying to find you! The art on the cover was adorable! Who did the art and did you work with them on it? Barbara: The magic in all my books is created by my sister Pam. She formats the interiors, designs the cover art, and loads it up to Amazon and Kindle. She and I started working together with my second book. I pay her for her expertise, although I may get a tiny family discount. I want to keep it professional since she also has other clients. Her web is in the process of being redesigned but you can still visit it https://pdkingdesign.com/. It is a wonderful experience to work with her. I have complete trust in her talent. We discuss what I want, then she knows how to make it happen. She is a perfectionist. When I tell her I like something, she’ll say it’s not quite done, and then comes up with something awesome. The first cover draft was lovely, but she wasn’t happy with it. “I haven’t caputrued Nigel’s personality.” The next thing I knew, she brought Nigel to life in full color. He steals the cover just like in the novella. Pam has spoiled me. You can bet she’s stuck with me for life! And not just as my sister. WOW: What an amazing duo you both are together! I'm so glad that others will have the chance to read this wonderful book. Best of luck on your tour! ---- Blog Tour Calendar November 28th @ WOW! Women on WritingJoin us at our blog The Muffin to celebrate the launch of A Wingman for Christmas. We're interviewing the author and giving away a copy of her book to one lucky reader.https://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com November 30th @ Author Anthony Avina's BlogJoin Anthony as he reviews A Wingman for Christmas. A perfect novella for the holiday season!http://www.authoranthonyavinablog.com December 1st @ Deborah-Zenha AdamsVisit Deborah's blog where she shares a guest post by author Barbara Barth about how many editors you really need.http://www.deborah-adams.com/ December 3rd @ Pages and PawsKristine shares her review of the charming holiday novella A Wingman for Christmas.https://pagesandpaws.com/ December 5th @ One Writer's JourneyJoin Sue as she reviews A Wingman for Christmas by Barbara Barth.https://suebe.wordpress.com/ December 6th @ Michelle Cornish's BlogJoin Michelle as she reviews A Wingman for Christmas. A must-read novella for the holiday season!https://www.michellecornishauthor.com/blog December 7th @ The Frugalista MomRochie shares her review of A Wingman for Christmas and gives away a copy of the book to one lucky reader.https://thefrugalistamom.com December 8th @ Knotty NeedleVisit Judy's blog as she features a guest post by Barbara Barth about starting a writing group.http://knottyneedle.blogspot.com December 9th @ A Storybook WorldVisit Deirdra's blog for a spotlight on A Wingman for Christmas by Barbara Barth.http://www.astorybookworld.com/ December 10th @ Michelle Cornish's BlogVisit Michelle's site as she features author Barbara Barth's guest post on encouraging others to write.https://www.michellecornish.com/blog December 12th @ Storeybook ReviewLeslie shares her thoughts about this fun novella A Wingman for Christmas by Barbara Barth.https://storeybookreviews.com/ December 13th @ Bring on LemonsJoin Crystal as she shares this fun holiday novella A Wingman for Christmas. https://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/ December 14th @ Beverley A. Baird's BlogVisit Beverley's blog as she reviews A Wingman for Christmas by Barbara Barth.https://beverleyabaird.wordpress.com/ December 14th @ Avonna Loves GenresJoin Avonna as she reviews A Wingman for Christmas by Barbara Barth.https://avonnalovesgenres.com/ December 15th @ One Writer' JourneyVisit Sue's blog where she features a guest post by Barbara Barth about finding inspiration around you.https://suebe.wordpress.com/ December 15th @ Knotty NeedleVisit Judy's blog again as she shares her thoughts about Barbara Barth's fun holiday read A Wingman for Christmas.http://knottyneedle.blogspot.com December 16th @ Beverley A. Baird's BlogJoin Beverley as she features a guest post by author Barbara Barth about writing fiction versus memoir.https://beverleyabaird.wordpress.com/ December 18th @ Life According to JamieJamie will be reviewing a fun novella for the holiday season: A Wingman for Christmas. https://lifeaccordingtojamie.com/ December 19th @ Lisa Haselton's Reviews and InterviewsJoin Lisa as she interviews author Barbara Barth about her book A Wingman for Christmas.https://lisahaselton.com/blog/ December 20th @ Word MagicVisit Fiona's blog as she features a guest post by Barbara Barth about researching your topic as well as your time frame.https://fionaingramauthor.blogspot.com/ December 21st @ World of My ImaginationVisit Nicole's blog as she reviews A Wingman for Christmas.https://worldofmyimagination.com/ ***** BOOK GIVEAWAY ***** Enter to win a copy of A Wingman for Christmas by Barbara Barth! Fill out the Rafflecopter form below. The giveaway ends December 11th at 11:59pm CT. We will announce the winner in the Rafflecopter widget the next day and follow up via email. Good luck and happy holidays! a Rafflecopter giveaway(C) Copyright wow-womenonwriting.com Visit WOW! Women On Writing for lively interviews and how-tos. Check out WOW!'s Classroom and learn something new. Enter the Quarterly Writing Contests. Open Now![url={url}]View the full article[/url]

One of the elements in cozies that can be lots of fun for authors to create is the main character’s occupation. As you peruse titles you find the genre offers bakers, librarians, booksellers, crafters, teachers, pet shop owners, chefs, and the list goes on. The challenge for me in creating the Paint by Murder mysteries was finding something unique and entertaining for my character to do when she wasn’t busy chasing clues to solve murders. My process in choosing what I want to include in my stories is influenced by personal experiences. In the case of the Paint by Murder mysteries, the setting of a small lakeshore town along New York’s Chautauqua Lake seemed a perfect choice. I’d traveled to the touristy Bemus Point, New York many times and that inspired my creation of my fictional town, Whisper Cove. In fact, many descriptions would be familiar to locals, such as the ferry which takes visitors across the lake to the town of Stow. I loved being able to include my version of the Bemus Point ferry in the mystery, Kill Them With Canvas. However, what made my series rather unique is the occupation of the Abbington sisters. Chloe and Izzie run a painting event business called Paint with a View where guests paint beautiful pictures on canvas with the guided instruction of the sisters. Events are a fun way for locals and visitors to spend an afternoon or evening. My real life experience with attending a few party events is what inspired me to use that theme in my series. A unique, fresh idea is always a plus. In fact, after researching, I’d found only one other series with a painting event business. What I didn’t realize was just how many other mysteries had art as a theme and characters with all sorts of occupations—art historian, police sketch artist, art teacher, art theft authority, to name a few. It’s exciting to be in such inspiring company while I add several authors’ work to my to-be-read pile! I’m thrilled to share with you six mystery series with an art theme. I hope you’ll find one or several that interest you. Picture Miss Seeton by Haron Carvic I want to start with the Miss Seeton series, classic British mysteries by Haron Carvic, where the very talented and mostly retired art teacher, Emily Seeton, is able to use her artistic knowledge in solving crimes. Her sketches provide plenty of clues, and the local authorities appreciate her innate ability to see underneath the surface and portray such things as a suspected criminal’s true character. She’s rather naïve about the dangers around her, yet somehow bungles her way unscathed in finding clues and catching killers. In some ways she reminds me of Inspector Clouseau of the Pink Panther series. There are a total of twenty-four books in the series, beginning with Picture Miss Seeton. Sketch Me If You Can by Sharon Pape This next series really interests me since it’s a paranormal mystery with a resident ghost who teams up with the heroine. In Sketch Me If You Can, a Portrait of Crime Mystery, author Sharon Pape introduces us to Rory McCain, a police sketch artist, who has inherited her uncle’s detective business and a stack of unsolved cases, as well as his Victorian house that’s haunted by a ghost. Can’t get more entertaining than that! In this first installment, the ghost, a former marshal, attempts to help Rory figure out who murdered her uncle. Borrower of the Night by Elizabeth Peters An art historian who goes on adventures all over the world to solve mysteries of the past—what’s not to love? Vicki Bliss is an expert in lost museum treasures, and she’ll do anything, go anywhere to track them down. In the first book, Borrower of the Night, written by Elizabeth Peters, Vicki travels with her rather pompous colleague to explore a German medieval castle to find a missing artifact. Facing danger and the hint of an evil supernatural power, this promises plenty of suspense. Art, lost treasure, and mystery—Robert Langdon and Indiana Jones, make room for Vicki Bliss! Death in a Pale Hue by Susan Van Kirk Death in a Pale Hue is the first book in a new series by Susan Van Kirk. The main character, artist Jill Madison, returns home after a failed career in Chicago and becomes the director of the new community art center. A self-made artist without a formal education, Jill is determined to use her talent and prove her ability to run the center. However, on the eve of the center’s opening, a value piece of art is stolen, and the investigation leads to the discovery of a skeleton in the basement. These events, along with an unpleasant board member who doubts Jill’s competency, threaten to destroy the director’s future. Perfect motivation for this artist to turn amateur detective and figure out the mystery, cleverly penned by this author. The Collector by Lane Stone Yet another new series with an art theme begins with The Collector by Lane Stone. Art expert Emma Kelly travels across the ocean to England to track down art thieves who are stealing and destroying valuable art pieces with blue paint. At the beginning of the story, a disgraced philanthropist is found murdered with a destroyed painting next to his body. Kelly’s quest to track down the killer and a painting stolen by Nazis during the war leads her to discover yet another murder. This time, the victim is a diver who was exploring a sunken Nazi submarine at the time. What is most impressive to me is the author’s background. She studied antiquities theft and art crimes in college. Adding this knowledge to her talent as a writer in creating a suspenseful story is definitely the formula for a great mystery read. Still Knife Painting by Cheryl Hollon I mentioned earlier that I had discovered one other cozy mystery series that includes a painting event business. The Paint & Shine mysteries by Cheryl Hollon is a fun series in which the main character, Miranda Trent, inherits her uncle’s property in Kentucky. Miranda combines painting events with moonshine and southern cooking in her business, Paint and Shine. In the first book, Still Knife Painting, Miranda knocks heads with her cook who ends up murdered, and of course Miranda is the number one suspect. Scenic mountain views, southern hospitality, paint parties, and scrumptious meals topped off with sips of distilled moonshine add lots to this entertaining mystery. *** View the full article

Another week, another batch of books for your TBR pile. Happy reading, folks. * Louise Penny, A World of Curiosities (Minotaur) “Another superb achievement… Penny weaves together all these narratives―the series of modern-day killings, the decade-old bludgeoning murder and the haunting artwork that has remained shrouded in mystery across the centuries―with a master’s deft hand.” –BookPage Rae Meadows, Winterland (Henry Holt) “Meadows skillfully articulates the risks and rewards of high-level competition, the divine feeling of being chosen to represent one’s country and the fragility of the human body… Winterland is a historic look back at a generation of Soviet talent, ambition, and sacrifice, inside and outside the gym.” –Booklist Holly Jackson, Five Survive (Delacorte) “Intervals of intense suspense and a well-crafted puzzle blend to create a thrill ride of a story.” –Kirkus Sara Driscoll, Still Waters (Kensington) “Fans of the series will enjoy this entry, which includes fascinating details about search dogs and their work as well as a unique settings and a colorful cast of recurring characters.” –Library Journal Edward Humes, The Forever Witness: How DNA and Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder (Dutton) “Humes’ writing is suspenseful yet also journalistic, providing fascinating details about the case, technological advances in police work, and genetic genealogy. A winner for any fan of true crime.” –Booklist Sarah Fox, Through the Liquor Glass (Kensington Cozies) “When a food critic is killed, a Vermont pub owner is determined to keep her boyfriend from becoming a suspect.” –Kirkus Reviews Kaira Rouda, The Widow (Thomas & Mercer) “A deliciously diabolical take on marriage, politics, and the lies that bind.” –Library Journal Kimberly Belle, The Personal Assistant (Park Row) “This taut and twisty domestic thriller will keep readers guessing until the very end.” –Booklist Sharon Dempsey, The Midnight Killing (Avon) “A dark, twisting, compelling tale … Sharon is part of a new generation of crime writers able to mine Northern Ireland’s troubled history to craft gripping stories for today.” –Stuart Neville Rosemary Simpson, Death at the Falls (Kensington) “This one’s for history buffs and fans of smart female sleuths.” –Publishers Weekly View the full article

In March 2013, a c-suite executive with a large Mexican corporation traveled with his family to their home in Miami, and later to New York City. On Friday, the 29th, they visited the Metropolitan Museum where he attempted to take a 19th century Islamic rosewater/perfume sprinkler from its case in the Damascus Room. Fortunately, a specifically designed mount secured the eleven-inch-tall object’s base and a wire held its top. The museum visitor walked away but returned twenty minutes later and snapped the carved red coral lid and silver stopper off and, after looking lovingly at it, put it in his pocket. The act was recorded on video and because his daughter had used a credit card in the museum store, he was later identified. The next time he entered the U.S. he was arrested. The man was well educated, with advanced degrees, and had held high-level government positions in his home country. There was no financial motive. What came over him? We can think of numerous crimes committed without an economic motive – from DUI to dueling, from Keeping a Disorderly House to homicide – but theft isn’t one of them. Except, that is, for certain cases of art, antiques and antiquities theft. When I went back to school after many years, my first homework assignment was to answer the questions: Is art crime a separate type of crime? And why? My answer was yes, and because art isn’t like anything else, art crime is unique. Crime happens at the nexus of (1) a motivated offender, (2) a suitable target and (3) the lack of a capable guardian. Who are these motivated offenders? What kind of person steals art? Turns out there are two kinds: profit-motivated (which makes up the majority of art thefts, are more likely to be committed by a group and more likely to use violence) and art-motivated (works alone since there will be no payoff to share and because he wants to keep the art for himself.) One art-motivated thief, Etoh Mvondo, stole three paintings from Paris museums in 1990 because he was an art-lover captivated by “the idea of owning a Renoir at the age of twenty.” A third type of art thief is politically motivated, but he is relatively rare. Lately we’ve seen a wave of politically motivated art vandalism, but not theft. Vincenzo Perugia, who stole the Mona Lisa in 1911, was not profit-motivated at the time of the theft, but later tried to sell the painting for 500,000 lire. His obsession with one particular work brings us to the next point. Was there something inherent in the painting itself that inspired the crime? Can art be criminogenic or corruptive? The fact that these criminal activities are in relation to particular objects says it can be. And the repeat victimization of certain artworks also says yes. Returning to our first example, we have to ask how does art exert power over people who appear to follow other social norms, leading them to commit a crime with limited or no financial motivation, and with limited or no direct social pressure to do so? Their irrational choices hint at something beyond human centric models of why people commit crimes. To use this in your manuscript, you’ll need an object-centered slant. First, art can be criminogenic when it inspires a higher loyalty. Examples of the higher loyalty appealed to include saving the artwork or antique, their special appreciation of the object’s beauty, or for their own cultural edification. These lawbreakers valorize their criminal activity. Another criminology term is neutralization. This is a narrative tool offenders use to justify the injurious effects of their actions. Higher loyalty is different from other neutralization stories (denial of responsibility, denial of victim, etc.) because these thieves have no guilt to assuage. Higher loyalty says stealing the antique was not wrong because “I had to save it,” whereas neutralization says stealing the antique was wrong but “rich people have insurance.” This observance of a higher loyalty may lead art thieves to feel the law is invalid or unjust, and certainly minimizes the legitimacy of the system of laws. As antiquities collector, George Ortiz, said, “Objects came my way, and some of them unquestionably, it seems to me, because they had to do so. It is as though imbued with the spirit of their creator, they came to me because they knew I would love them, understand them, and would give them back their identity and supply them with a context in keeping with their essence, relating them to their likes.” The short answer to ‘what came over him’ is a belief system that our laws interfere with. According to Dr. Donna Yates at the University of Maastricht, where they see social benefit, the law sees crime. Sociological theory tells us why art has value to a collector, but since the art thief can hardly show off his Picasso, possessing the object brings a different kind of thrill. It might be as simple as the thrill of the chase. Or maybe this need for the object, even if it involves criminal activity, goes deeper. The beauty, uniqueness, and social significance of these objects creates a strong demand, which results in limited access. Limited access creates exclusivity. And that gives the possessor of the art work, antique or antiquity power. Restriction of access to the painting goes beyond museums not being open twenty-four/seven. Dealers act as gatekeepers – some brag about only selling art to certain people. Museum curator and collectors act as taste setters. Antique stores display goods so peculiar that only the oldest of old money can understand and appreciate it. The nature of the art market – the secrecy and the opacity – make it practically impenetrable. It’s easy to see how an outsider would feel powerless and frustrated enough to literally take matter into his own hands. One final factor to include in an object-centric look at crime is what is called supply-demand dynamics. Without value, there’s no crime. (How many people are in prison for stealing pinecones?) The law affirms the values that make the object desirable, supporting and enhancing the objects’ power. For instance, the lid of the perfume sprinkler in our opening example was valued at over $5,000, so the FBI’s Art Crime Team, with their resources, was brought in. Laws punish art thieves because art is valuable. Art thieves steal art because it’s valuable. See how the object is exerting parallel power on both the people making and the people breaking the law? You may be wondering what happened to Mr. X who wanted to take a piece of the Met home with him. He returned the lid, reimbursed the museum for costs incurred restoring it, plus a fine of $50,000. He was confined to house arrest at his home in Miami for a year wearing new jewelry – around his ankle. *** View the full article

Happy Monday! Let’s have some Cover Snark! From Squee_Me: Cover snark! I’m not sure if this is the right place to share a proposed cover snark…I saw this in a Kobo 2 for 1 sale. The guy’s abs look like the Transformers Autobot logo (I know this thanks to my husband and 11 yr old kid) or maybe a face of an alien. And now I can’t unsee it. Also the tattoo and his right nipple appear to be battling for position on his chest. Sarah: Nope, can’t unsee it. Transformers! ROLL OUT. Amanda: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE Sarah: I have to say, the Transformers ride at Universal is one of my favorites. Sneezy: Probably not that nipple’s. It looks like it’s losing. Maybe this is an illustration of how to become cyborgs? AJ: I actually really like that tattoo placement, it looks intentionally designed which is not too common in Cover Dude Land. His nipple is definitely losing the battle, though. From Jen: For cover snark. when will authors learn that animal placement on the cover matters? do not put the bear directly in front of the man’s hips. Sarah: Wait have we done this one? Amanda: LEAVE THIS BEAR ALONE, COVER DESIGNERS! THEY’VE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH Sarah: Poor bears. My gosh. To say nothing of the health and food service code violations of both A Bear and A Bare Chest in the bakery. Amanda: A deep internet meme cut for all us olds Sarah: OH that is a deep cut. Much retro! Hollie also submitted the poor Bakery Bear, saying, “I saw this cover, and immediately had snarky thoughts, and wanted to share it with you. You’re welcome! LOL.” And Elizabeth: “Looks like he is doing something naughty to the bear.” I think many people saw this cover and thought, OH, ok, Smart Bitches needs to know about this. Which is so flattering, tbh. This cover represents a number of choices that I do not understand at all. Sneezy: At this point, we might as well come up with a pretentious name that vaguely sounds like an art movement for all the covers that harasses this poor Pooh. AJ: Arctusian? … Grizzly Style? Elyse: I realize he’s an alien but he’s missing a nipple and I don’t think veins should do that. Sneezy: Or skin for that matter. I had to check if my night view was off, aaaaand yup, someone indeed stole what was supposed to be Pikachu spandex. Sarah: I want to bring this person a glass of water. Or 12. AJ: These tattoos are TERRIBLE. I’m getting early 2000s flashbacks. Someone bring me a dragonfruit Sobe and an Alanis Morissette CD, I’ll be over here on my inflatable chair weeping softly. This guy should have asked the other dude for a referral. Aliens: do your research! Don’t just come to Earth and walk into the first tattoo shop you see! From Sukari: It looks like his head and his pecs are going in different directions. Manifestation of an internal crisis? Sarah: The little curl of cloud behind his head looks like a line indicating motion, like he just whipped his head around and said, “WHAT did you just call me?!” NASH. I called you NASH. It’s written on your abdomen. Amanda: Speaking of the cloud, Nash seems like he’d believe in chemtrail conspiracy theories. Elyse: Was I the only one who thought he didn’t have pants on? No pants, unbuttoned shirt. That’s a look. Sneezy: You know Amanda, I don’t know what chemtrail conspiracies are, and his face is making sure that I’ll stay under my little rock. My nice, cozy rock with Michelle Yeoh posters everywhere. View the full article

Slippery Creatures RECOMMENDED: Slippery Creatures by K.J. Charles is FREE! AJ reviewed this one and gave it a B+: Long story short, if you’re looking for a fun thriller and you don’t mind buckling up for the long-ish haul on the romance (or if you just miss used bookstores as much as I do), give it a try! Will Darling came back from the Great War with a few scars, a lot of medals, and no idea what to do next. Inheriting his uncle’s chaotic second-hand bookshop is a blessing…until strange visitors start making threats. First a criminal gang, then the War Office, both telling Will to give them the information they want, or else. Will has no idea what that information is, and nobody to turn to, until Kim Secretan—charming, cultured, oddly attractive—steps in to offer help. As Kim and Will try to find answers and outrun trouble, mutual desire grows along with the danger. And then Will discovers the truth about Kim. His identity, his past, his real intentions. Enraged and betrayed, Will never wants to see him again. But Will possesses knowledge that could cost thousands of lives. Enemies are closing in on him from all sides—and Kim is the only man who can help. A 1920s m/m romance trilogy in the spirit of Golden Age pulp fiction. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. Sleepover RECOMMENDED: Sleepover by Serena Bell is $2.99! Elyse recently read this one and loved it. She gave it an A: I really, really love a contemporary romance that features an emotionally fluent hero and real conflict that’s handled with respect and intelligence. Sleepover by Serena Bell hit both these nails on the head, making it one of the best, most emotionally satisfying contemporary romances I’ve read this year. It’s also got some crazy-hot sex scenes which is a nice bonus. A brand-new contemporary romance from the USA Today bestselling author of Head Over Heels. The girl next door is the one that got away. He just doesn’t know it yet. . . . Sawyer: After my wife died, I promised myself I’d never go through the pain of losing someone again. Now I keep my flings neat, tidy, and one-time-only. Besides, my son needs me more than ever. He’s miserable in our new town, so I’m pumped when he makes friends with the kid next door—until I recognize his mom from a one-night stand. Perky and upbeat, Elle Dunning is not my type for anything other than tearing up the sheets. So why do I keep letting myself get roped into game nights and get-togethers? Elle: It so hasn’t been my year. That’s my first thought when I see my new next-door neighbor. I never would have hooked up with Sawyer Paulson if my husband hadn’t left me for his high-school sweetheart, but because our eight-year-old boys have become best friends, I’ve got to make nice with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Silent. Yet the more time we spend together, the more Sawyer opens up. We’ve both been hurt—badly. So it’s one thing to send the kids off to sleepaway camp together. It’s quite another to promise each other a lifetime of sleepovers. . . . Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. Would Like to Meet RECOMMENDED: Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters is $2.99! Lara read this one and gave it a B: I was raised on classic rom-coms like One Fine Day and While You Were Sleeping (which I will never rewatch as I fear they’ve not aged well) and for each new outing of a tried and true trope, I continue to be there, first in line. So my appreciation for the trope is as much nature as it is nurture. As a result, I am delighted to report that this book has SO MANY OF THE TROPES, but its specialty is my personal favourite: the meet-cute. In this charming, feel-good debut novel, a cynical assistant at a screenwriting agency must reenact the meet-cute scenes from classic romantic comedy movies in order to help her #1 client get his scriptwriting mojo back–but can a real-life meet-cute be in store for someone who doesn’t believe in happily ever after? After seven years as an assistant, 29-year-old Evie Summers is ready to finally get the promotion she deserves. But now the TV and film agency she’s been running behind the scenes is in trouble, and Evie will lose her job unless she can convince the agency’s biggest and most arrogant client, Ezra Chester, to finish writing the script for a Hollywood romantic comedy. The catch? Ezra is suffering from writer’s block–and he’ll only put pen to paper if singleton Evie can prove to him that you can fall in love like they do in the movies. With the future of the agency in jeopardy, Evie embarks on a mission to meet a man the way Sally met Harry or Hugh Grant met Julia Roberts. But in the course of testing out the meet-cute scenes from classic romantic comedies IRL, not only will Evie encounter one humiliating situation after another, but she’ll have to confront the romantic past that soured her on love. In a novel as hilarious as it is heartwarming, debut author Rachel Winters proves that sometimes real life is better than the movies–and that the best kind of meet-cutes happen when you least expect them. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. The Mermaid from Jeju The Mermaid from Jeju by Sumi Hahn is $1.99 and is a KDD! I mentioned this one on an edition of Get Rec’d. If you like historical fiction, especially time periods near WWI and WWII, but want something a bit different than a UK setting, this is worth a try. In the tradition of Yangsze Choo’s Night Tiger and Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko comes a magical saga that explores what it really means to love. In the aftermath of World War II, Goh Junja is a girl just coming into her own. She is the latest successful deep sea diver in a family of strong haenyeo. Confident she is a woman now, Junja urges her mother to allow her to make the Goh family’s annual trip to Mt. Halla, where they trade abalone and other sea delicacies for pork. Junja, a sea village girl, has never been to the mountains, where it smells like mushrooms and earth, and it is there she falls in love with a mountain boy Yang Suwol, who rescues her after a particularly harrowing journey. But when Junja returns one day later, it is just in time to see her mother take her last breath, beaten by the waves during a dive she was taking in Junja’s place. Spiraling in grief, Junja sees her younger siblings sent to live with their estranged father, Suwol is gone, the ghost of her mother haunts their home–from the meticulously tended herb garden that has now begun to sprout weeds, to the field where their bed sheets are beaten. She has only her grandmother and herself. But the world moves on without Junja. The political climate is perilous. Still reeling from Japan’s forced withdrawal from the peninsula, Korea is forced to accommodate the rapid establishment of US troops, and her grandmother, who lived through the Japanese invasion that led to Korea’s occupation understands the signs of danger all too well. When Suwol is arrested for working with and harboring communists, and the perils of post-WWII overtake her homelands, Junja must learn to navigate a tumultuous world unlike anything she’s ever known. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. View the full article

Welcome back! Whoa, we’ve reached thirty of these things! However, I do have some news. Next week will be my last week as a bookseller at an independent bookstore. It was a very emotional decision, but my commute was starting to wear on me. That being said, Get Rec’d will still continue. Don’t you worry! How about you? Receive any great recommendations lately? Front Desk The bookstore had a customer come in wanting to find some middle grade books for her niece that primarily feature Chinese main characters. Kelly Yang is a fantastic writer and a big seller in our area. Mia Tang has a lot of secrets. Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests. Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they’ve been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed. Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is not her first language? It will take all of Mia’s courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams? Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. The Hacienda This one is my go-to for anyone still riding the high of Mexican Gothic and wants some similarly Gothic stories. Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in this debut supernatural suspense novel, set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, about a remote house, a sinister haunting, and the woman pulled into their clutches… In the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father is executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost. But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined. When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz’s sleep. The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move. Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz’s fears—but why does she refuse to enter the house at night? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark its doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano? Beatriz only knows two things for certain: Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will help her. Desperate for help, she clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally. No ordinary priest, Andrés will have to rely on his skills as a witch to battle the malevolent presence haunting the hacienda. Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. Suburban Hell A great read-a-like that I often recommend for people who like Grady Hendrix or who want a mix of horror and humor. Bad Moms meets My Best Friend’s Exorcism in this lite-horror-comedy about a group of women in the Chicago ‘burbs, whose cul-de-sac gets a new neighbor: a demon. Amy Foster considers herself lucky. After she left the city and went full minivan, she found her place quickly with neighbors Liz, Jess, and Melissa, together snarking the “Mom Mafia” from the outskirts of the PTA mom crowd. So, one night during their monthly wine get-together, the newfound crew concoct a plan for a clubhouse She Shed in Liz’s backyard – the perfect space for just them, no spouses or kids allowed. But the night after they christen the space with a ceremonial drink, things start to feel…off. What they didn’t expect was for Liz’s little home improvement project to release a demonic force that turns their quiet suburban enclave into something out of a nightmare. And that’s before the Homeowners’ Association gets wind of it. Just as Liz is turned into a creepy doll face overnight, cases of haunting activity around the neighborhood intensify, and even the calmest moms can’t justify the strange burn marks, self-moving dolls, and horrible smells surrounding their possessed friend, Liz. Together, Amy, Jess, and Melissa must fight back the evil spirit to save Liz and the neighborhood…before the suburbs go completely to hell. But at least they don’t have to deal with the PTA, right? Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. The Whispering Dead This one was actually a recommendation I received! It was mentioned as being “horror-lite” with lots of atmosphere! USA Today bestseller and rising queen of atmospheric horror Darcy Coates returns with a ghost story that will haunt you long after the final page. She hears them whispering… Homeless, hunted, and desperate to escape a bitter storm, Keira takes refuge in an abandoned groundskeeper’s cottage. Her new home is tucked away at the edge of a cemetery, surrounded on all sides by gravestones: some recent, some hundreds of years old, all suffering from neglect. And in the darkness, she can hear the unquiet dead whispering. The cemetery is alive with faint, spectral shapes, led by a woman who died before her time…and Keira, the only person who can see her, has become her new target. Determined to help put the ghost to rest, Keira digs into the spirit’s past life with the help of unlikely new friends, and discovers a history of deception, ill-fated love, and murder. But the past is not as simple as it seems, and Keira’s time is running out. Tangled in a dangerous web, she has to find a way to free the spirit…even if it means offering her own life in return. Add to Goodreads To-Read List → You can find ordering info for this book here. View the full article

Julie Lockhart spent most of her career in academics, publishing extensively in peer-reviewed journals, such as Critical Issues in Environmental Taxation, and Advances in Accounting Education. During the last years of her career, she led a grief support nonprofit, where she discovered the beauty and depth of personal stories, sharing her own experience as well as that of others to help grieving people feel less alone. Her essays have appeared in the Medford Mail Tribune, Ashland Daily Tidings, Women on Writing and the Journal of Wild Culture. Julie’s website is: www.julietales. interview by Marcia Peterson WOW: Congratulations on your top ten win in our Q3 2022 Creative Nonfiction essay competition! What inspired you to write your essay, “Lego Girl?” Julie: Thank you for these questions! Lego Girl came out of a writing class with Chelsey Clammer. She had an assignment choice to write about a special toy from childhood while weaving in some research. I pretty quickly came up with Legos since they enhanced my creativity as a child and occupied me for hours. When I write about the challenges I’ve faced in my life, I also strive to show how I’ve moved through them so the reader may be inspired to grow through their own stuck places. Lego Girl evolved into such an essay. WOW: That's great, and we love to hear of your successful experience with Chelsey's class. How did your essay develop, both in your initial thinking about it and in the revision process? Julie: Sometimes I know my story line right away, but for this one I had to work it out as I went along. The assignment required taking a different look at how to tell my story. I started out with researching some of the basic facts about Legos as I told the story of building Lego mansions as a kid. The writing then reminded me that my messiness around Legos followed me into adult life, which brought me to the relationship with my first husband where my messiness triggered his anger. I started to see how Legos could become a metaphor for the mold my parents and other relationships tried to put me in. I know I’m not alone in the challenge of breaking molds to become who we are, especially for women. Next, I looked to the research to see what benefits Legos have for Attention Deficit Disorder, which I was happy to find. I hoped to take the reader through my own understanding that ADD was actually a good thing; the way my brain works, once I was able to understand it, has allowed me to have a very successful career. Intuitively, I chose to write the essay in third person. This is the first time I’ve done this, and I really like how it came out. As I edited the piece, I worked to weave appropriate metaphors of Legos into the essay, such as “hard plastic hurts,” and “…they broke the mold…” I also found the writing process to be cathartic – where I came from, and where I am now. I didn’t know how I would construct the essay until I did; the different aspects of the essay and the ending surprised me, which is fun! WOW: Thank you for sharing your essay writing process. What are you reading right now, and why did you choose to read it? Julie: I’m often in the middle of several books at the same time, part of my ADD nature. Priest Daddy, by Patricia Lockwood, is a wonderful memoir that I recommend. I am also reading a lot of literary magazines online to get a feel for where my essays might be accepted. I have a lot of unpublished pieces, and a “stack” of rejection letters (part of the process), although I’ve had some recent successes. This comes from studying these magazines and persistence in continuing to submit! WOW: Are you working on any fun writing projects? What’s next for you? Julie: It’s all fun, especially since I’m retired and looking back at my life from a place of peace and contentedness. I’ve been focusing on learning and experimenting with the different forms of writing personal essays, such as collage and braiding. I recently revised a personal story by braiding in another story from my childhood. I watched the piece magically transform from a good story to one with so much more depth. And then there’s my memoir. I want to get back to it as winter sets in, but I’ve been having so much fun writing short essays where my ADD brain loves that the finish line is in sight. I’m starting to look at classes on writing a memoir so that I get an outside push to finish it! WOW: Thanks so much for chatting with us today, Julie. Before you go, can you share a favorite tip or piece of advice related to creative nonfiction writing? Julie: The best thing I’ve done for myself is to loosen up my writing and experiment with different forms of constructing essays. My professional career started in academics (accounting) where I stuck with all the rigid writing rules I learned in school. Creative nonfiction writing has given me the opportunity to explore and break out of rigid molds. I encourage it for everyone! **** For more information about our quarterly Flash Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Essay contests, visit our contest page here.(C) Copyright wow-womenonwriting.com Visit WOW! Women On Writing for lively interviews and how-tos. Check out WOW!'s Classroom and learn something new. Enter the Quarterly Writing Contests. Open Now![url={url}]View the full article[/url]