Review: Sister of the Mist by Eric Wilder

Interesting book.  Sort of two different mysteries in one.  Both set in New Orleans amidst its craziness.  One mystery is the story of men investigating the murder of a jockey and a racehorse.  Another is a group of very different people on a magical quest to save a woman who joined a convent after the death of her twin sister.  Only the convent was a front for a very evil priest and nun who were human trafficking.  Throw in some vampires, Swamp monsters and a Scottish warrior and it is very dramatic and intriguing.  I am honestly not sure why the two divergent mysteries in the same book though.

That said, it is an amped-up New Orleans Halloween blast!

Review: Stalked: Secret Salem Book 1 by JN Colon

Rubi is sent to a snotty private school in Salem where strange and violent things happen.  Murders and vampires.

It was a pretty quick read.  I liked the basic premise and setting.  I was frustrated a LOT though by the fact this is a private school where multiple students have been killed and there are no police, no media, no upset parents, no raised security and a bunch of rather superficial underdeveloped characters with no real grief for their murdered friends.  

So I say, the ideas are there but more time needs to be spent on character development - honestly all the rich kids could have been one and the same for all the individuality I saw, releasing clues along the way so the reader can feel involved and not just holding them ALL out for the grand reveal scene (which was interesting). 

Am hoping the next one in the series is better at both beside the ideas, as I said, ARE there.

Terri

Review: Vampire Dead-tective by Mac Flynn

Liz's world is turned upside down when her roommate is murdered.  It turns out he had a big secret.  He left a ring and when she puts it on, she is bound to a vampire, Vincent.  Cops and werewolves are after her and she has to figure out all that is happening.

So, I enjoyed the book, but Liz was so annoying with her whining and stubbornness.  There were times I wanted to shake her and say you are going to get yourself killed - stupid.

That said, Vincent is a jerk too - who really wasn't explaining anything to her and just expecting her to come along with him.

A lot needs to be sorted out between the two of them before I will like either one.

Terri

Review: Day for Night by Stacey E Bryan

Rae is an actress who has recently been kicked off a reality tv show.  In her apartment laundry room, she witnesses an attempted alien abduction.  Now she is in a spiral trying to deal with her insane life.  Then add vampires, aliens, a vampire hunter boyfriend and an adopted godson named after one of Jupiter's moons and an ex- who leads a cult.  Combination = silly, funny and crazy.

I laughed a lot and the cultural references added to the insanity of the whole ride.  Very fun read.

Terri

Guest Blogger: Stacey E. Bryan

The Magic and Mayhem of Being Out of Sync

Thank you, Terri and Pamela, for hosting me on my blog tour, which is my first ever.

It’s apropos to be visiting Mayhem and Magic, as those two Ms have been a large part of my life lately, heavy emphasis on the mayhem.

Once Day for Night was accepted for publication, I gritted my teeth and jumped into the waiting vat of oil. Social media may not feel like a vat of oil to most people, but imagine this: You live in a city that’s made entirely of cars (Los Angeles) and yet you hate to drive. You still had a flip phone a year ago. For no discernible reason, the family poodle Puff hated your guts. You sent your first Tweet three months ago. And you’re still not sure where it ended up.

I have often been out of sync with things, and social media has been the monster plaguing me lately. When I was querying for my novel, one publisher wanted to know “my marketing plan,” and when I wrote back, essentially, “Could you…define…marketing plan?” I never heard from them again.

And rightfully so! I suppose. I wouldn’t want to hold my hand through the publishing process. I did promise to be open-minded and eager to learn and assured folks that I had lots of writer friends who could help me. And thankfully, my publisher believed me. It’s been a rocky road, but it’s also been informative and even border-opening. Lots of new faces, names, ideas, possibilities have come with my finally taking that dreaded hot oil bath. And really…the oil wasn’t even that hot.  Definitely not blistering and blinding. Just a tad past uncomfortable. When I stumbled across someone in Pamela’s blog saying that they “somehow ended up with a Google AND a Twitter log-in,” and was trying to resolve that, I was like…yeah! Not alone. Not alone!

Being out of sync with things is probably mostly why I write. It inspired the main character of my novel who never quite fit in, gets pulled in different directions without a solid plan, and ends up reassessing her life around the time when most people start to seriously plan for retirement. She’s not at retirement age, but she’s also not 25 anymore, and this fact can be and usually is a death knell when it comes to Hollywood, where she lives, causing her a lot of anxiety.

Having focused on topics like anorexia, divorce, and artistic suffering in the past, turning to second reality paranormal comedy was a change for me and lots of fun to write. Much like Terri, I’m into Stephen King and one of my favorite novels used to be I Never Promised You A Rose Garden. But also like Terri, I love Janet Evanovich’s hilarious series. I’ve been through number Twenty or Twenty One of her Stephanie Plum novels. And, in fact, my main character Rae is a lot like Stephanie Plum, and if they knew each other, they’d probably be good friends.

Day for Night takes place in Los Angeles, where I was raised, so there’s lots of talk about traffic and flaky people naming their children after the moons of Jupiter and being in the Biz, if only in the fringes. Another aspect contributing to my feeling somewhat apart from things while growing up was being mixed race, and race in general is a huge issue in the City of Dreams. That inspired me to make Rae mixed race and to tread those waters continuously throughout in what I hope are humorous but yet eye-opening ways.

Apart from these everyday facts of ordinary life, Rae is about to find out just how paranormal the world actually is. And she doesn’t handle it well. She’s a hard-drinking, sometimes foul-mouthed 38-40-something protagonist who simply wanted to buy a condo in Hermosa Beach. Her attempts to pretend nothing is happening while her life continues to spiral out of control, largely due to making important decisions while dead drunk, were a lot of fun to write. Of course, getting other people to laugh with me—that’s my biggest goal. That’s where the magic comes in!

***************************

When reality TV star Rae Miller is kicked unceremoniously to the curb by her back-stabbing cast mates, she quickly realizes that revenge fantasies and unemployment are the least of her problems after she witnesses an alien abduction in broad daylight. Worse, after escaping a terrifying almost-abduction herself, Rae succumbs to a sexy Nosferatu’s silky assurances, becoming undead in order to up her alien Ultimate Fighting skills. Life is hard as a 38-to-40-something aspiring actress in L.A. Thank God for Jack Daniel’s and denial.

Stacey was raised in the San Fernando Valley but born in San Francisco, where she left part of her heart. She has worked on a dude ranch, coached gymnastics, and captions for the hearing impaired. Her work has appeared in several literary magazines in New York and L.A., including Ginosko and The Rag. She is currently working on the sequel to her novel Day for Night. She lives in “beautiful downtown Burbank,” as Johnny Carson used to say, with her husband who is also a writer. 

Visit her at https://staceyebryan.wordpress.com

www.vagabondagepress.com

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An Interview with Maggie Shayne

INTERVIEW WITH BESTSELLING AUTHOR: MAGGIE SHAYNE

BY: Pamela James

MM2: Maggie, give us the backstory on your writing career?

Back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth my goal was to get published before the youngest of my five daughters started kindergarten. I sold my first novel, Reckless Angel, to Silhouette Intimate Moments for a $4000 advance with just a couple of weeks to spare: August 24th, 1992. I had also submitted a vampire novel, Twilight Phantasies, to Silhouette’s new Shadows line, and a few weeks later, they bought that one too. It was the beginning of my vampire series, Wings in the Night, which I’m still writing today. 

For the next several years I alternated between writing paranormal stories for Shadows and writing westerns and romantic suspense novels for Intimate Moments. 

When the Shadows line folded, I was told no more vampires. I wrote another one in 8 weeks flat, because that’s how I react to being told not to do something. (I’m sure this was challenging for my mother.) Harlequin eventually published that as a “Silhouette Single Title” which I didn’t even know was a thing. 

Over the next 22 years I published novels with Avon, Berkley, and Harlequin MIRA, continued writing category length romances for Silhouette Intimate Moments and wrote numerous novellas for all of the above plus Pocket, St. Martin’s Press, Spilled Candy Books, and others.

I spent a year writing story arcs for CBS’s GUIDING LIGHT and AS THE WORLD TURNS and was offered the job of co-head writer for GL. I tearfully turned down CBS's million dollar offer because my heart was in my books.

In March of 2014 Harlequin and I went our separate ways. We’d had a very good working relationship and because of that, I was able to leave with a sort of a severance package that included two of my western series, The Texas Brands and the Oklahoma All-Girl Brands. Several books in each of those series had already reverted to me, and as an act of good will, Harlequin reverted the remaining titles. (There is a lesson in this!)

I was in a panic having no other source of income. My oldest daughter Jessica, who had been helping me re-publish reverted backlist titles here and there, did a happy dance and promised to make me rich now that I could finally focus on being a completely independent author. She’d formed her own company by then, (Authors Lifesaver, Inc.) and she had a real handle on how to manage indie books.

During the remaining months of 2014 while I finished writing the two remaining books on my final Harlequin contract, Jessica formatted, packaged and uploaded all the 14 westerns. My oldest daughter Jena also launched her own business, Practical Proofing, and she took over the editing end of things. By the end of 2014 year, my income from those backlist books was double my best year ever with traditional publishers.

2015 has left 2014 in the dust. I’ve incorporated Thunderfoot Publishing Inc. I’ve written several new titles and have more in the pipeline, and I’m having more fun than ever before in my entire career. Better yet, two more of my daughters are coming into the business as authors in their own right and will be publishing their work through Thunderfoot in 2016.

 August 24th, 2015 marks my 23rd year in this biz. My first book was contracted in August '92 and released in August '93. 

MM2: Where is your favorite place to write?

Mainly I write in my office on the second floor of my home. It was originally the master bedroom. Its walls have giant peel & stick sections of dry erase. My view is spectacular and it holds all my favorite thing including my antique typewriter collection. (Well, I have three. It’s the beginning of a collection.) 

MM2: Take us thru your writing day?

It has evolved. A lot. Nowadays I spend about two hours a day writing, and about that same amount of time running the rest of the business, which includes a lot of time on social media. 

I start each morning with a cup of coffee or tea, and if the weather’s nice, I take that out on the back deck and listen to the birds and sip and think. I like to get my mornings off to a quiet, peaceful start. Often during this time I make a list of my priorities for the day. This seems to help a lot in keeping me on track. I ease into a half hour of yoga, shower up and get to work. After that it’s email, social media, and any business items that need attending to. I’ve found it’s best if I set a timer for those things, or they’ll take up the entire day. An hour in the morning, no more. Then up to the office to write for a couple of hours, and after that, if there’s more business and online stuff to be done, I tackle it in the afternoon.

Now this can vary a lot. When I’m approaching deadline, the online and business stuff takes a back seat and the writing takes up much more of the day. Other times, I feel like writing first. I kind of go with what I feel most like doing at the moment. It never steers me wrong. 

MM2: What are the genres that you write in and tell us about the latest book in each series ?

Contemporary Western Romance, Paranormal Romance, Romantic Suspense and Thrillers, and Paranormal Romance are my genres, with a little non-fiction self-help for good measure.

My western series are: The Texas Brands, The Oklahoma All-Girl Brands, and coming soon, The McIntyre Men. These series are all related, and The McIntyre Men will launch with a very special holiday anthology this year. The latest book in the Oklahoma series is SWEET VIDALIA BRAND.

My suspense series are: The Mordecai Young Series, The Secrets of Shadow Falls, and The Brown and de Luca novels. The first two of these are related, and the third is its own series. My most recent Brown and de Luca novel, Deadly Obsession, was also my final book for Harlequin.

My paranormal series are: Wings in the Night and Wings in the Night: Reborn, The Portal Series, The Immortal High Witches Series, The Fairies of Rush duet. The most recent releases are Twilight Guardians and Twilight Vendetta in the Wings in the Night: Reborn series. 

MM2: Dead or alive if you could interview three authors who would they be? What would you ask them?

I talk to authors all the time. There’s this vast pool of knowledge and experience that is right there to tap into. When I want to ask a living author a question, I just ask it. I love living in the internet age where that is possible. When I want to ask a “dead” (no such thing) author a question, I do the same. And very often, I get answers. Nor orally, but I’ll get a blinding insight, a new idea, a sign, something. And I’ll know.

MM2: What is your greatest fear? Do you plan to conquer it someday?

I don’t have any fears. Everything’s going exactly the way it’s supposed to. Nothing happens to me, everything happens for me. There’s never any reason for fear. When something unwanted happens in life, it is always coming for a reason, often to clarify what would be better, to spur growth in a particular area, to point out a place where more balance is needed. The secret is to get your focus off the problem and onto the solution as quickly and completely as possible. There’s never anything to fear. Not death, not disease, not debt. Nothing.

MM2: Where would you like to spend your golden years?

Every year is a golden year. I always do exactly what I want to do, and I spend my time exactly where I want to be now, rather than waiting until I’m older or retired or whatever. I live every day in bliss, and that’s what I want to keep on doing. Whether rich or poor or anything in between, I choose happiness and joy every single day. I adore where I live, I love my home, I am madly in love with my soulmate, and I absolutely adore my life. And this was as much the case 8 years ago after my home was gutted by fire as it is now. I’m the happiest person I know. My happiness never depends on conditions around me. It depends on me looking at what’s good, realizing how blessed I am, appreciating all that I am, and loving just being alive on Planet Earth.

MM2: As a writer what is the best advice you have read, been told or spent some time implementing?

Find your joy first. Find what makes your heart sing, and do that. Being joyful in what you do is the definition of success. You do that, and the other trappings of it will follow. The money, the things. But it’s not about money or things. It’s about joy. Love what you do. Don’t strive, don’t struggle, don’t fight for it. Relax into it. Life is short. There is no reason to spend it striving and stressing and working hard. Spend it doing what you love to do. That’s what it’s for.

MM2: They say it takes a village to write  book. Who are the members of your village?

My husband, spiritual partner, and co-plotter, Lance. 

My daughter Jessica, who’s my right hand woman in all of this.

My daughter Jena whose editing skills have reached the level of the best NY editors I’ve worked with. 

My daughter Katie who keeps me laughing and finds the humor in every situation.

My daughter Stacie, who’s expecting her first baby and writing her first novel, which is absolutely delightful.

My daughter Lisa who’s also writing her first novel and is a better writer on number 1 than I am on number 85.

My grandchildren, all 10 (almost 11) of them!

My critique group, affectionately known as The Packeteers.  

My street team leader Michelle Leah Olson of Literal Addiction.

My photographer, Paige Wissenbach.

My dear friends in RomEx. 

The fabulous NY editors I’ve worked with, who taught me so much, Leslie Wainger, Cindy Hwang, and Melissa Senate who “Discovered” me. 

My agent of many years, Eileen Fallon.

Rose Sversky and Mitch Gary, two high school teachers who had a huge impact on my early years.

MM2: Now or some fun questions. Be the tour guide and tell us where you live? What is your favorite drink? Meal and dessert?

What is your favorite song, television series, movies and place to vacation?

I live in the rolling hills and forests of Cortland County NY, which is the heart of Wine and Dairy country. My nearest neighbor has a 700 acre farm. I look outside, and see nature. Deer, wild turkeys and coyotes are rampant here. Bald eagles, red tailed hawks and turkey vultures are constant companions. It’s far from what most people think of when they think of New York. 

Favorite drink: Coffee. Then water. Trying to reverse that.  

Favorite meal: The local volunteer fire department’s bbq chicken. 

Favorite dessert: Chocolate Lava Cake. 

Favorite song: Some of my top picks are Happy by Pharrel, Rhiannon by Stevie (that song inspired my vampire character Rhiannon) and Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran. 

Favorite TV Series: Ever? Buffy and Breaking Bad. Current? Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead.

Favorite Movies: The Princess Bride, Young Frankenstein, Legend 

Favorite Places: The red rocks of Sedona Arizona. That place takes my breath away. And my home, Serenity.

MM2: What comes first the plot, the setting or the characters?

Usually it’s the conflict. I come up with a situation where if one wins, the other loses, and both goals are vital. Then from there I start trying to figure out who these two people are and what makes them tick.

MM2: Give us a sample of what your characters have to say about you?

Rhiannon talks about me all the time. She loves me when I’m writing about her, and resents me when I’m writing about anyone else. (She’s @VampRhiannon on Twitter.)

Mostly, I think they would say that I do my best work when I stop trying so hard and just let them whisper their stories into my head. It’s all about relaxing and opening, and then just taking dictation. Any sort of struggle or effort blocks it. It has to flow like water.

MM2: In closing what would you like to tell your readers?

I give away a lot of prizes and a whole lot of free reads, including a free serialized novel in my newsletter. I truly enjoy interacting with my readers, so I hope you’ll come join me on Facebook and elsewhere.

Also, I want to let you know about my current freebies and bargains:
TWILIGHT GUARDIANS, Wings in the Night: Reborn Book 1 is FREE 

THE LITTLEST COWBOY, Texas Brands Book 1 is FREE (contemporary westerns)

THE BRANDS WHO CAME FOR CHRISTMAS, Oklahoma All-Girl Brands Book 1 is FREE (contemporary westerns)

ETERNITY Book 1 of the Immortal High Witch series is FREE. (Epic paranormal romance)

DREAM OF DANGER, a Brown & de Luca novella is FREE (romantic thrillers)

And if you want to connect, here are my digits, so to speak.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaggieShayneAuthor

Https://www.facebook.com/WingsintheNightNovels 

Twitter: @MaggieShayne @VampRhiannon

Websites: www.MaggieShayne.com

www.WingsintheNight.com

Law of Attraction Blog: www.MaggiesBlissBlog.com

MM2: Lastly what comes next in your career?

 Coming up next THE RHIANNON CHRONICLES (Wings in the

Night: Reborn, Book 3)  releases on Halloween Rhiannon Chronicles

And we hope to have a very special holiday anthology, tentatively titled “Country Christmas” featuring stories by me and four of my daughters.

After those, I’ll be giving the vampires a brief break to focus on a new western series, The McIntryre Men.

Review: Undeadly by Cynthia St. Aubin

Matilda's life has become really challenging as her psychiatric patients now consist of supernatural beings she didn't know existed.  Now, she also sees ghosts and has to deal with her schizophrenic mother.  Her newest client is a vampire afraid of blood and she finds out all the supernaturals are now going to another therapist.

I felt like I came in on the middle of the story and there wasn't a lot of closure at the end.  It was fast paced, had interesting characters and some steamy sex, not to mention Demigods and a kidnapping.  So enough there to enjoy - but it really felt to me like chapters in the middle of a book.

Terri

An Interview with Michele Drier

MM2: Michele how did you become an author?

I guess I’ve always wanted to write. I spent years as a newspaper reporter and editor and had bit, scraps and unfinished manuscripts in my desk drawer.

MM2: What is your writing schedule like?

Whew, it depends. I try to lump errands, meetings and appointments on the same day so that I have maybe four days a week I’m at home all day. I spend  two to three hours every morning going through email, doing marketing, send out requests for reviews and posting to social media sites. I try to write 500 words before lunch and another 2,000 to 3,000 in the afternoon.  I write best and fastest when I have a block of time at last three hours in the afternoon. I shoot to write 12,000 words a week, then spend time editing and rewriting.

 

MM2: Let's talk about the genre/s you like to write. Tell us about your latest book.

I write in two genres, traditional mystery and paranormal romance. My latest book, published March 20, is the seventh in The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, the paranormal romances. It’s called SNAP: White Nights and reviewers are calling it the best one yet.

I write three books a year—two paranormals and one mystery.

MM2: What would you like to say to your readers?

I hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I enjoy writing them. They’re all written with a soupcon of humor and the protags view life with a slice of wry (also, I love puns, the badder the better). I have some readers who feel that the characters in the Kandesky Chronicles are family, and reading a new book is like going to visit friends. That’s the experience I’d like all readers to have.

MM2: When you have a writing idea but maybe you are not sure if it is enough to make a book. How do you decide when enough is enough? Who do you go to talk to when you are having a difficult working day?

I don’t plot out my books, but I do have an idea of where each one needs to end up. The hardest part is the dreaded middle third—after you’ve set the scene and introduced everyone but before you write the resolution. Some books become novellas when the story is finished; most become full books. And I have a great critique group. We meet every other week, but stay in touch through email, so if I’m stuck, I fire something off. I also belong to Sisters in crime, Guppies and Indie Romance Writers, so if something come up, I can send out an SOS to the listserv.

MM2: Are there favorite books that you reread?

Oh, yes. Pearl Buck, Elizabeth Bowen, Gore Vidal. I also read non-fiction and William Manchester’s A World Lit Only by Fire, Churchill biographies and The Arms of Krupp are always beside by bed. As are Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror and The March of Folly.

MM2: Do you have favorite writing conventions or writing groups you would like to share with us?

One of the writing groups that has helped me tremendously is the online chapter of Sisters in Crime, the Guppies. It began as the Great Unpublished, but now has more than 500 members who run from thinking about writing a book to published award-winners. It offers on-line classes, critique groups, specific subgroups for those looking for a publisher or agent and through the listserv, support, technical advice and caring. (Full disclosure, I’m the current president, through 2015). The website is http://www.sinc-guppies.org/

MM2: Now for some fun questions. What is your favorite meal, vacation spot, movie and

season?

Meal: Barbecued salmon, lemon risotto and grilled asparagus.

Vacation: France.

Movie: Lion in Winter

Season: Summer...summer. summer, summer!

MM2: By one of your characters please leave us with some words of wisdom?

Maxie’s mother in SNAP: The World Unfolds, Don’t get involved with someone prettier than you; they know it.

Michele Drier was born in Santa Cruz and is a fifth generation Californian. She’s lived and worked all over the state, calling both Southern and Northern California home.  During her career in journalism—as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers—she won awards for producing investigative series.
SNAP: White Nights  the seventh book of her paranormal romance series, The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, was published March 20. She’s working on the eighth book in the series, SNAP: All That Jazz, scheduled for publication in late spring 2014.
She also writes the Amy Hobbes Newspaper mysteries, Edited for Death and Labeled for Death. A third book, Delta for Death, is coming in 2014.