Category Archives: Interviews

Issued by Paris Wynters-Review, Interview & Giveaway Tour

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Issued (Navy SEALS of Little Creek #1) by Paris Wynters-Review,  Interview & Giveaway Tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date June 25, 2020

She needs a total life reboot… even if it means marrying a stranger

Taya Maverick has just volunteered to marry a random Navy SEAL as part of the military’s new spouse-matching program. What other choice does she have? Her former best friend killed her father and torched her house. Taya’s determined to start over, but to be safe she has to disappear. The program is the perfect opportunity, complete with refuge and a built-in bodyguard. Her Navy SEAL husband can keep her safe, right?

After one spectacularly disastrous marriage, Jim Stephens nixes round two. But his commanding officer never accepts no for an order. While an injury may have sidelined him temporarily, Jim still needs to salvage his career after a mistake in combat puts him in leadership’s cross-hairs. Being the first in the pilot program guarantees him his rank and eventual active duty clearance…as long as he can last the trial year.

The I dos are barely uttered before Jim and Taya realize they’ve each miscalculated. Their sizzling chemistry might lead to bed, but neither is prepared to open their heart. And then Taya’s past comes knocking…

•••••••

REVIEW: Issued begins with Jim Stephens temporarily sidelined due to an injury while deployed. He’s worried that they sideline him permanently. While meeting with his commanding officer, he is told about a newly rolled out spouse-matching program. When he is told he will be the first to participate in the program, he is stunned. He also learns that the program will guarantee his being cleared for active duty. Knowing he has no choice, Jim accepts. After all, he only has to withstand this kind of torture for a year. Surely, he can last that long?

Taya Maverick had applied for the new spouse-matching program a while back and was surprised to get the call that she had been matched up with a Navy SEAL. The timing couldn’t have been better. Her father had been murdered and her house burned down……all by her former best friend and she knew she wasn’t safe staying where she was. Surely, she would be safe with a SEAL?

Jim is not happy about the arrangement but tells himself that all he has to do is survive it for a year. When Taya arrives, she is nervous, but holds her head up and knocks on the door. Once inside, introductions are made, and a quick ceremony is performed. Once the ceremony is over, Jim shows her around the house and shows her to her room. Her room looks comfortable, except for the fact that she is not into pink and frilly. Jim then leaves, which leaves her wondering just what in the world she was thinking. He didn’t seem any happier about things than she did.

As the two of them get to know each other, one thing is for sure: they have chemistry. Both try to deny their mutual attraction for reasons unknown to the other. However, just when things start to work between them, danger arrives in the form of Taya’s past.

Issued is the first I’ve read by Wynters. Even though the premise is a bit over the top, it is nicely written story. Taya and Jim have a hard time opening up to each other, but once they do, the chemistry is palpable. The characters are well written and engaging. The secondary characters are well written as well, leaving you wanting their stories. Taya’s backstory and the reason she’s running is a hard one. However, Jim’s backstory, once revealed in its entirety, endears him to the reader. Heartbreaking is the only way to describe it. Issued is ultimately a story of building trust and opening one’s self up to possibilities. Well done, Paris Wynters!

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Vickie

 

In less than a minute, I’ll be meeting James A. Stephens, the man who’s assigned to be my husband, for the first time. A groan rumbles past my lips, my breath fogging the shield in front of my eyes. I clutch my left fist and downshift to third gear, and the loud whoosh of the wind against the bike drops a little in volume. The GPS alerts me through my earbuds that his house is three hundred feet away. What the hell am I thinking marrying a perfect stranger?
Oh, yeah. I’m homeless. My father was murdered. And the people responsible are walking free because there wasn’t enough evidence to convict the bastards. So, what better way for a fresh start on life than to volunteer to be assigned as a spouse to a member of the military? Didn’t sound so bad after everything I’d lost. Everything that was taken from me.
My heart hammers against my rib cage as my right thumb, ring finger and pinky reduce the throttle on my bike, two of my fingers always on the front brake. Some days, I wish I had a sibling, someone to grieve with over the loss of my father. After five months, the painful ache hurts as much as the day they lowered my dad’s coffin into the ground. I sigh and dip my shoulder as I lean into the unfamiliar turn of this street.
Virginia Beach, with its salty ocean air and the constant lull of crashing waves, is a fresh start. Complete with a roof over my head, medical benefits, and a built-in bodyguard. Not that I can’t protect myself, but when the person who killed the man I loved most is my former best friend that I’ve known since childhood, I’m at a loss. Marco knows me too well. And disappearing is the only way I can truly be safe.
When I overheard one of my former search and rescue teammates talking about the program at last year’s conference, I choked on my water laughing. An arranged marriage? Not my idea of happily ever after. But the sly veteran quirked his eyebrow in my direction and threw a five-hundred-dollar dare out, so I picked up my phone and made a quick buck. What were the chances my shoddy application would be picked?
I snort. I should’ve known better than to trust fate. But I had to go through the screening process. God only knows what the repercussions would’ve been if the military found out I wasn’t serious when I filled out the application. But since finding a match could’ve taken a while, I did have the option later to withdraw my application.
Except my circumstances changed in a terrible way. This new program is now about to become my saving grace . . . with a man whose name and address are on the piece of paper in my pocket. But who in their right mind signs up to be “issued” a husband, even with a rigorous screening process? At least I won’t have to look over my shoulder here. Or be reminded of everything that I lost at every corner.
My heart twists sharply at the memory of all that’s vanished forever, before kicking up to a rhythm of stampeding wild horses the closer I get to the two-story, cobalt-blue Colonial house where my future husband and the officiant are waiting. Holy hell, I’m going to be someone’s wife by the end of the day.
I pull up to the curb, kill the engine and push out the kickstand. Dismounting, I take a moment to look around while my ears adjust to the quiet after hours on the road. The landscaping is immaculate. The Ford F-250 looks brand new, or at least it’s washed and shined to reflect even the dimly lit morning. The rocks lining the walkway to the front door are perfectly spaced, like someone had laid them in rows by hand.
Everything is just . . . too perfect.
I close my eyes and mutter a prayer this man isn’t one of those people who has to line up his cereal boxes in size order. Or worse—alphabetically. Because I’m anything but organized. And I can’t cook for shit.!


 

TRC: Hi Paris and welcome to The Reading Café. Congratulations on the release of ISSUED.

We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Follow Paris: Website/Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads/

Paris: Well, I outside of being a writer I am also a Search and Rescue K-9 handler.

TRC: Who or what influenced your career in writing?

Paris: Books actually influenced my career in writing. Believe it or not, my favorite authors growing up were Stephen King and Robin Cook. Actually, Robin Cook inspired my interest in science and is the reason why I majored pre-med in college.

TRC: What challenges or difficulties did you encounter writing and publishing this story?

Paris: One of the biggest challenges I faced is that military stories aren’t necessarily the “in” thing with a majority of publishers focusing on Romcom. I was fortunate that the team over at Tule Publishing loved the story and were happy to take it on.

TRC: Would you please tell us something about the premise of ISSUED?

Paris: So, having a family in the military and friends you always hear stories of divorce rates and shotgun weddings, and even that old saying “if we wanted you to have a wife we would have issued you one.” Well, I thought that was an interesting concept and hence ISSUED was born.

TRC: How many books do you have planned for the NAVY SEALS OF LITTLE CREEK series?

Paris: Currently three. Book 2 will be releasing in September.

TRC: What kind of research/plotting did you do, and how long did you spend researching /plotting before beginning ISSUED?

Paris: I spent a fair amount of time interviewing friends and family to make sure some of the more military aspects of the story were correct. I did some research on home selling websites to find the perfect home for my characters. That was a lot of fun. Also, I researched a Whiskey bar down in Virginia Beach that I modeled Shaken & Stirred off of.

TRC: How did your experiences as a certified search and rescue technician contribute to the story line?

Paris: It’s worked into the story as something the heroine is involved in. She isn’t a K-9 handler like myself but more of a general technician. This is where we all start so it was a nice way to introduce a character because most of the time we go out on calls as a ground pounder rather than using our more specialized skill set.

TRC: Do you believe the cover image plays a deciding factor for many readers in the process of selecting a book or new series to read?

Paris: Of course. And the reason I say that is because of my own purchasing habits. A good cover will catch my attention and make me read the blurb or research the book further to see if it’s something I want to buy.

TRC: When writing a story line, do the characters direct the writing or do you direct the characters?

Paris: It’s a little of both. There are beats I want to hit and plot points I need to get to, but how the characters get there will be determined by them. Most of the time I really flesh out my characters first so I know them because I like to be intentional in how they are going to react to a situation. There’s nothing worse for me as a reader to have someone’s mind and emotions not match their physical reactions. I like my characters to be consistent and know why they are doing and feeling what they are doing and feeling.

TRC: The mark of a good writer is to pull the reader into the storyline so that they experience the emotions along with the characters. What do you believe a writer must do to make this happen? Where do you believe writers fail in this endeavor?

Paris: They have to know their characters and they have to do things intentionally. You have to go three levels deep into why a character acts the way they do. For example, anger can stem from fear and fear can stem from a core wound of abandonment. And then that fear has to match who the character is. And it has to be consistent throughout. Where I feel writers fail are in the consistency, especially in romance. New authors really do a great job at conveying nonverbal communication, but the longer a romance author seems to write the more they seem to stop paying attention to this. Ninety-three percent of the way we communicate is non-verbally. Our characters should be doing this as well. And not the constant smile, raised eyebrow, narrowed eyes. But give more or three lumped together. Thriller writers are great at this. And it really helps connect to characters.

TRC: Do you listen to music while writing? If so, does the style of music influence the storyline direction? Characters?

Paris: I don’t listen to music while I write. I actually listen to it while I drive or while I’m visualizing a scene or a character. But when I write or read, I prefer silence. As far as what I listen to…I listen to everything. So Tech9, Eminem, NF, Lady Gaga, and Yusef Alev all played a part in some aspect of ISSUED.

TRC: What do you believe is the biggest misconception people have about authors?

Paris: That it’s easy and that we make a lot of money. Writing and editing is very hard, and it’s very hard emotionally. Plus, we are always writing on our own so it can be very lonely. Most authors also have full time jobs or at least another job so balancing deadlines and writing is another challenge we have to face.

TRC: What is something that few, if anyone, know about you?

Paris: I was a single mom for 13 years after leaving an abusive situation. It was a very difficult time as I was always trying to make ends meet, slept on the floor with just a pillow and blanket for twelve of those years, and even had to separate from the dog I owned at the time. I was fortunate to have had friends who helped me escape, and one who took my dog to make sure she was safe. Now I am blessed with an amazing husband and an eighteen-year-old who is well adjusted and has even been certified as a Search and Rescue technician himself.

TRC: Who is your favorite author (living or dead)?

Paris: Robin Cook

TRC: On what are you currently working?

Paris: I am simultaneously working on Book 3 and a holiday Mongolian romance

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food- Lamb Chops

Favorite Dessert- Apple Crostata

Favorite TV Show- Family Guy

Last Movie You Saw- Star Wars the Rise of Skywalker

Dark or Milk Chocolate- I’m allergic to chocolate so neither

Secret Celebrity Crush- David Boreanaz and Ignacio Serrichio

Last Vacation Destination- Arizona

Do you have any pets? Yes, two working dogs

Last book you read- Little Creeping Things by Chelsea Ichaso

TRC: Thank you Paris for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations on the release of ISSUED. We wish you all the best.

NOTE: The Reading Cafe is NOT responsible for the rafflecopter giveaway. If you have any questions, please contact the tour operator

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Changing Lanes by Season Vining-Review & Guest Post

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Changing Lanes (Welcome to Grace #1) by Season Vining-Review and Guest Post

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 1, 2020

Stella Locke is starting over. After an ugly divorce, she picks up her Southern roots and transplants to upstate New York where the air is crisp and no one knows her name. She’s an enthusiastic reader and just so happens to pick the quaint little spot where her favorite author lives. The small town of Grace welcomes Stella with open arms, a new job, and a smoking hot neighbor.

Lane Holder is a bit mysterious with his midnight jogs and brazen flirting. He’s got an adorable corgi named Chap who immediately steals Stella’s heart. In time, Stella is blown away by Lane’s charm, maturity, and undeniable interest in her. Being out of the dating game for 20 years has filled her with self-doubt and the hurt endured from her marriage has made her want to keep that part of her past hidden. Still, Lane convinces her to take a chance on him.

Their relationship is a slow, steamy burn that seems to be building toward something special and permanent. But as with any relationship built on secrets, one wrong move and it all could come crashing down.

•••••••

REVIEW:Changing Lanes by Season Vining is book one in The Welcome to Grace series.

Stella Locke has recently divorced her cheating husband and has decided to pick up her life and move to upstate New York. Stella picks Grace, New York because that is where her favorite romance author Alaina Taylor lives. Her thinking is that if its good enough for Alaina its good enough for her to start over. Upon arriving in Grace she meets her next door neighbor Lane Holder. Mysterious, smoking hot man that jogs every night at midnight. Lane slowly breaks down Stella’s defenses and a beautiful relationship begins.

The sub-characters in this story were amazing and hilarious. Stella’s real estate agent turned best friend is outrageously hilarious and I am praying that she gets her own story soon. She is on of those characters that you want to know more about.

Stella and Lane have amazing chemistry, but when Stella finds out that Lane has been lying to her, all games are off. She has been betrayed before by her ex-husband, but this hurts way worse. Will she be able to forgive him?

And will she even want to take him back?

This was an imaginative, fun romantic read. The story pulls you in and you become invested in small town Grace and the characters that live there.

Looking forward to more books in this series. Recommend highly if you are looking for a boy next door romance with lots of laughs.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed By Erin K

What makes a cover?
by Season Vining

Along with the apparent upswing in romantic comedy novel sales has been a trend in illustrated covers to go along with them. Maybe both of these things coincide with the madness and chaos of the world today. People need a distraction—something light with moments of hilarity and heart. RomComs and illustrated covers seem to both fit the bill. Plus, they’re fun. And for those of you who like to carry around paperbacks in public, they are not sexually suggestive no matter what the content of the book is.

The first question when building a cover is, do I want a couple or just one person or just an object. This is completely subjective to the author/designer/publisher’s taste and what they think will sell the book. For RomCom, both members of the couple are almost always represented. Then, what do you want your audience to feel when they look at your cover? Turned on? Happy? Inquisitive? The answer will set the tone of the cover, which could covers everything from the style of illustration, background elements, and colors used.

Like in my new RomCom, Changing Lanes. I knew I wanted an illustrated cover and I knew I wanted the couple on there. But I also knew that Chap, the adorable and lovable corgi featured in the story, should have his place too. There are a lot of elements of the story represented on the cover. For example, you can see Stella’s work apron with the name of the bookstore she works at. Chap sits atop a stack of books, so you know that those are important to the theme of the story. There are fall elements, letting you know when the book takes place. And finally, a road to literally represent Changing Lanes.

When the book is part of a series, you’ve really got to think ahead enough to makes sure that you can create a cover for each book that is unique and appealing while fitting in with the rest of the series seamlessly. Changing Lanes is book 1 in the Welcome to Grace series. I added the fall elements, because there are four books and four seasons. Each cover will have its own theme.

In the end, the cover is usually what sells your book. It is what makes people stop and read the blurb. It is the first impression. So, make sure it’s a good one. Most importantly, make sure it represents the story and overall feel so that readers know exactly what to expect. Sure, there can be twists, turns, and surprises… but leave that to the writing.

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The Magnolia Sisters by Michelle Major – Review, Excerpt & Q&A

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The Magnolia Sisters by Michelle Major – Review, Excerpt & Q&A

 

Amazon / B&N / Kobo / BAM / Book Despository / Google Play / Apple

 

Description:
An inheritance brought her to Magnolia, but love just might keep her there…

Avery Keller arrives in Magnolia, North Carolina, with one aim: collect her inheritance and quickly put the quirky town in her rearview mirror. But the father who didn’t acknowledge her when he was alive has left Avery a mess to sort through—along with two half sisters she’s never met and a gorgeous single dad living next door. Soon her plan to keep this colorful, close-knit community at a distance gets complicated….

Grayson Atwell has rescued plenty of people in his firefighting career. His work and his little girl, Violet, are his entire world and there’s no time for anything—or anyone—else. But the vulnerability beneath Avery’s prickly facade brings out a fiercely protective side of him. Despite her protests, Gray can see that Avery’s falling under Magnolia’s spell—just like he’s falling for her. Now the only question is: How can he convince her to give them both a chance at forever?

 

 

Review:

The Magnolia Sisters by Michelle Major is a wonderful small-town romance that I thoroughly enjoyed, and I expect this will be a series.   Avery Keller, our heroine, arrives in Magnolia to claim an inheritance from a father she never knew.  Avery is coming off of an emotional breakup with a boyfriend who she didn’t know was married, and upon arrival comes across as embittered and snarky.  All she wants is her money and to leave and start a new life elsewhere.

Grayson (Gray) Atwell, our hero and a firefighter, meets Avery at the local coffee shop and finds her a bit nasty.  Gray does find Avery attractive, despite her attitude, but he has no plans to become involved, as he has a young daughter, Violet, who is his number one priority.

Avery meets the other two women, who also share the inheritance, and who are her half- sisters (Carrie & Meredith) that neither of them knew anything about; but they all have one thing in common…their despair over the deceased father, who kept all those secrets.   They both grew up in Magnolia, though never really friends.  When Avery talks about selling, both of the girls do not want to sell, and will work on Avery to think about changing and fixing things in Magnola, as well as convince her to stay. I loved how in a short time, Avery began to become close to Carrie and Meredith, opening up her battered heart to having a family for the first time in her life.  But convincing her to stay is a difficult proposition, especially when she finds herself falling hard for Gray, and in time his daughter. 

What follows is a wonderful heartwarming story with both Carrie and Meredith becoming very close to Avery, and making such a great team.  They also play a big part in helping Avery face the fact that she has fallen in love with Gray, which also included Violet.  I loved how they all bonded to make sure that Avery knew her life belonged in Magnolia with all of them. 

The Magnolia Sisters was written so very well by Michelle Major, with so many wonderful characters; Avery, Carrie, Meredith, Gray, Violet and many of the townsfolks.  I look forward to the next book in this series, which I expect to be about Carrie.  Cannot wait, as I loved everyone in Magnolia. I suggest you start with series by reading The Magnolia Sisters.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 


The house was one of the oldest in Magnolia, with ten-foot ceilings even on the second floor. That fact gave the room an open feel, despite how crowded it was. But it wasn’t going to make it any easier to get Avery unstuck.
“Gray’s here,” Carrie called, and Gray saw the legs go tense.
“I’m fine.” Avery’s tone was exasperated but he could hear the thread of pain in it. “I don’t need help.”
“Where’s the attic?” he asked Carrie.
She backed out of the bedroom and pointed to an open doorway across from the main staircase. “I warned her not to go up there.”
“This isn’t the time for ‘I told you so,’” Avery shouted.
Carrie gave him a look and lowered her voice. “Get her out, Gray. She’s irritating as hell, but I can’t have her hurt in this mess of a house.”
“She’ll be fine,” he reassured her. “I’m going to try to make this work from above instead of below. I’ll need reinforcements if we’re going to move the furni¬ture. That’ll take too long.”
He climbed the steps, waving a hand in front of his face until the dust that filled the air cleared.
“You sure know how to make your mark on a place,” he said casually as he surveyed the scene.
“I don’t need your help,” she snapped. “Doesn’t Car¬rie have a helpful neighbor she could call?”
“She called me,” he answered simply. He kind of liked Avery Keller’s attitude and admired her calm in the situation, but right now he was all business. “Can you tell if the floor joists around you will hold my weight or are they too damaged?”
“The ones in front of me will give,” she answered. “I’m wedged in here tight and when I try to shift my weight to lift myself up, everything feels like it’s sag¬ging.”
“Then don’t move.”
“Thanks for the tip,” she muttered. “In case you care, I also have a piece of splintered wood lodged in my left arm. So I can only use the right one at the moment.”
His gut tightened at the thought of her in pain. “Do you think anything’s broken?” He stepped gingerly to¬ward her, making sure to test each section of floorboard before he moved. He couldn’t very well help her if he ended up in the same predicament.
“Bruised,” she admitted, “but not broken. Do you think Clark Griswold knew how lucky he was to land on that bunk bed?”
“That’s the Hollywood version of this scenario. This is real life.”
“Does that mean I’m not going to get a happy end¬ing?”
“You’re going to be fine,” he told her, placing his tool bag on the floor and pulling out a small saw.
“You must practice that commanding tone at the fire¬house.” She laughed softly. “It’s weirdly reassuring.”
“My job is rescuing people. I’m good at it.”
“Great.” For the first time since he’d encountered her at the convenience store, Avery sounded defeated.
It bothered him more than he cared to admit.
He began talking her through his plan, mostly mak¬ing it up as he went along. The floor joists behind her seemed to be structurally sound, but he wasn’t going to risk putting the weight of his entire two hundred pounds on them.
“Can you get her out?” Carrie called from below them. “I climbed over the mess in here and I’ve got pil¬lows to cushion a fall just in case.”
“I’m glad I didn’t wear a skirt today,” Avery said through clenched teeth.
“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” he reassured her, earning a snort.
She shifted to look over her shoulder at him, and the floor around her heaved.
He heard Avery’s gasp, along with Carrie’s worried cry from the bedroom.
“Stay still,” he commanded, then called to Carrie, “Don’t stand directly underneath her.”
“I don’t want to fall,” Avery said, more to herself than to him.
He answered anyway. “You’re not going to fall.”
She drew in a ragged breath. “I might be starting to panic. I don’t usually panic.”
“No reason to.” He bent to his knees, then crawled forward, stretching out to reach her. The ideal way to handle this would be clearing out the spare bedroom and having some of his crew supporting her from below. But there was no guarantee that more of the floor wouldn’t give way while they waited for backup to arrive. Plus she was in pain, and he wanted her safe on solid ground as soon as he could manage it.
“I’m right behind you,” he said as he got closer. “I’m going to cut the piece of wood that’s got you wedged in here.”
“I feel like a chicken skewer.”
One side of his mouth curved, and he inched forward. Narrating his movements for her, he managed to saw through the splintering section of wood.
Avery let out a sigh when it fell away from her arm. She had a deep cut, but it wasn’t bleeding badly at the moment.
“Now I’m going to lift you back toward me. Use your elbows to brace on the joists on either side of you.”
“I can do three pull-ups in my CrossFit class,” she announced. “Who knew all my upper body strength would come in so handy?”
“Exactly,” he agreed, knowing it was fear driving her seemingly casual chatter. “Do you upend tires, too?”
“Sometimes. Mostly it’s a lot of burpees and suicides.”
“I hate burpees.” He positioned his hands under her arms. “You’re strong, Avery. You’ve done a great job holding steady. Just a few more seconds and…” He half lifted, half dragged her up out of the hole, quickly moving both of them away from the water-damaged section of the attic.
“You did it,” Carrie shouted from the bedroom below.
“You did it,” Avery echoed in a hoarse whisper.
“We did it,” he corrected. He had the crazy urge to wrap his arms around her and pull her close, holding her to him until the tremors he felt rippling through her body subsided. The notion was odd and out of character. He’d rescued plenty of people in his years as a firefighter.
Hell, just last week, he’d come to the aid of Kenneth Masminster when he’d locked himself in his tool shed. But a seventy-five-year-old gardener who smelled like menthol and mothballs hadn’t elicited near the emo¬tional reaction that Avery did. Avery, with her shiny hair and manicured nails, and the scent of expensive perfume on her skin that was at odds with the hot, dusty attic. A scent that should put him off. As appealing as it was, what the scent conveyed about the woman who wore it made her all wrong for him.
“Thank you,” she said into the front of his uniform shirt. She seemed as unwilling to let go as he was.


 

 


Michelle Major is the Publishers Weekly best-selling, RITA award winning author of over thirty sexy and sweet contemporary romances. She loves second-chances love stories, smart heroines and strong heroes. A Midwesterner at heart, she’s made the Rocky Mountains her home for nearly half her life and is thrilled to share her books with readers. Connect with her at www.michellemajor.com.

 

 

 

TRC: Hi, Michelle.  Welcome to The Reading Café

Michelle: Thank you for having me. I’m so glad to be here.

TRC: We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Michelle: I grew up in Ohio but have lived in Colorado for over twenty-five years. No matter how long I’m here, I’ll always consider myself a Midwestern girl at heart. I write sweet and sexy contemporary romance and have published over thirty books. I’m so excited about the release of The Magnolia Sisters, which kicks off my first single title series with Harlequin.

TRC:  What inspired you to become a writer?

Michelle: For over a decade I worked in Human Resources and traveled for my job. I had a crazy fear of flying and randomly picked up a romance novel in an airport bookstore (it was a Johanna Lindsey). I loved it so much and realized that the stories I told myself in my head were romance novel plots. That’s when I began to write. It took a lot of years (and getting my two kids through the toddler years) before I got published. It was worth the wait!

TRC: Can you please give us a brief description of The Magnolia Sisters?

Michelle: The Magnolia Sisters is a series that focuses on three women who discover they share the same father after he dies and how they manage to forge a bond in the small town of Magnolia, North Carolina. In the first book we meet Avery, a big city transplant who is starting over and definitely not looking for love (spoiler alert: she finds it with a sexy firefighter). I loved (as always) writing an emotionally charged romance but also having the opportunity to explore the relationship between the three sisters.

TRC: Based on the ending, I am hoping this is a series.  How many books do you plan on writing for this series?

Michelle: Well, I’m so glad you feel that way and, yes, The Magnolia Sisters is currently planned as a three-book series. The second book will be Carrie’s story and the baby sister, Meredith, will be featured in book three. I’m mid-way through Meredith’s book now and still love writing in this world, so fingers crossed readers love it too. You might be seeing even more Magnolia books in the future.

TRC:  What is your writing process?  Do you like to write at specific times, in a special place?  Do you plan your books in advance or let them develop as you write?

Michelle: I’m definitely of the Nora Roberts’ school of puking out the first draft—I plot the major points of the story and take lots of notes as I write the first draft. My normal production for a first draft is 10-15k words a week. Then I do a deep dive edit. When I’m drafting, I love editing. When I’m editing, I love the drafting process. I have an office connected to the house (it’s also the rec room area) but I always write on my laptop and I take it everywhere.

If you saw the layer of dust on my furniture or the sweeping piles of dog hair blowing down the hall, you’d know why I have time to write. I have learned to be fairly disciplined with my schedule, especially with multiple deadlines. Giving the time to my craft is most important to me. Practically, I set word count goals each week and I put my butt in the chair until I meet them.

TRC: Walk us through a day in the life of Michelle Major.

Michelle: Most of my days follow the same schedule (at least Monday – Friday). My husband leaves for work early (normally before 5:30) so I wake up then. I usually write in my journal or do a bit of stretching and plan the day. My high schoolers are then up and I like to be with them while they have breakfast and make lunches. They leave by 7:00 and the rest of the day (until 2) is spent writing, working on the business of being an author, procrastinating by doing laundry or other housework (no lie!). I love listening to podcasts and audiobooks, so I keep myself entertained that way. I normally make time for a dog walk as well and feel so blessed to live in Colorado near the mountains. Once my  kids get home, I continue to work but it’s stop and start as they take priority in the afternoon and evening. Unless I’m on deadline, and then the deadline takes all the priorities. I’m a creature of habit so I usually have the same thing for breakfast and lunch most days. When the kids don’t have activities, we always eat as a family. That’s important to both my hubby and me.

TRC:  Can you tell us about what’s coming up next for 2020 & 2021.

Michelle: I’m so excited about The Magnolia Sisters series. In addition to The Magnolia Sisters, the second book in the series, The Merriest Magnolia, will release in October. I also have three books in a new series, Welcome To Starlight, with Harlequin Special Edition so it’s an exciting year for me! 2021 will continue both series and hopefully even more books to come.

TRC: What are hobbies or interests do you have?

Michelle: I love doing anything outside—lots of hiking with my dogs. My kids are teenagers so much of my free time is spent on the sidelines of their activities. And we also foster kittens for a local animal rescue. Pretty much anything with fur, I’m in!

TRC:  Would you like to add anything else?

Michelle: If you’re at all interested in writing, my best advice is “baby steps.” Even now—over 30 books written—sometimes I start the day setting my timer for 15 minutes. Just to start. I feel like I can do anything in small chunks. You can too! ☺

 

 

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Winter’s Divide by M. LaVon-Review & Interview

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Winter’s Divide by M. LaVon-Review and Interview

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N (paper) / Amazon.au /Amazon. uk /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 14, 2020

The end of the world didn’t happen with one single event or happen without warning. No, it happened a little at a time, in plain sight, with everyone watching and doing nothing to stop it.

As the pandemic that threatens to end human civilization makes landfall in the United States, Cate Winter’s life is turned upside down. After she and her sons fall ill with the mysterious virus, her husband, Tom, disappears. Weeks later, when Cate wakes up from a coma, she is alone—and the world has been torn apart.

One-third of the human population across the globe is dead and domestic militants and vigilantes are forcing the government into a civil war. And soon Cate begins to uncover secrets, secrets that have shattered her image of a picture-perfect life and entered her into the most heart-wrenching fight for survival. Can Cate uncover the truth—in time to save the survivors?

•••••••

REVIEW:WINTER’S DIVIDE is the first instalment in M. LaVon’s adult, post –apocalyptic series focusing on the aftermath of a viral pandemic that has killed over thirty per-cent of the world’s population in the year 2025.

WARNING: WINTER’S DIVIDE contains scenes of graphic violence, bloodshed and assault that may not be suitable for all readers.

Told from numerous first person perspectives including Cate Winter, Cate’s chief of staff Liz Hutchenson, and Liz’s brother, arms dealer Adam Hutchenson, WINTER’S DIVIDE follows our heroine after she wakes from a six week coma caused by a virus of unknown origins. With her husband missing, and her two teenaged sons by her side, Cate returns to her family owned company WMS (Winter Medical Solutions) in an effort to help contain the fall-out of a pandemic that is destroying the people and country she loves. But all is not well in the world she once lived, as several hundred survivors have gathered at the Winter Estate compound in the hopes of finding a safe harbor in the face of the upcoming war. As Cate and her team battle to survive, the enemy presents itself with an all too familiar face.

WINTER’S DIVIDE is a timely release in the face of the 2020 Coronovirus pandemic. From the inability to contain the virus, to the conspiracy theories surrounding government intervention and a biological weapon used to contain the hordes, WINTER’S DIVIDE is a dark, gritty and oft-times graphic depiction of a world gone mad-think The Walking Dead ™ without the zombies. From anarchy to rogue bands of militia controlled by a faceless, psycopathic enemy who sits in the high tower of power and control, chaos and disorder ensue when the Free Nationalists (FN) declare war against the US government, attacking military bases, research facilities and government organizations. No one is safe: no one can be trusted; family and friendship are just two more f-words to add to the list.

M. LaVon pulls the reader into a raw and startling world of what ifs and whys. A cautionary tale of survival in the aftermath of a civilization gone mad.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

TRC: Hi Mandy and welcome to The Reading Cafe.

We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Follow: Amazon author page / Goodreads

Mandy: Personally—I am a mom of two super active school age boys and have a pretty cool husband who supports my ever-evolving artistic passions. I love crafts, including decorating theme cakes, painting, writing, and creating. Professionally—I am a communications professional who loves to help others tell their story. I manage executive level communications, employee engagement, and operations for a tech company. I have a master’s in communications from the University of Washington (Go Huskies!).

TRC:Who or what influenced your career in writing?

Mandy: My mom—She had a passion for poetry and would read to us when we were young. I would try and write poems, short stories and such, attempting to mimic what I had heard. She always loved reading my writing. But I had some challenges, I am dyslexic, and for most of my life I was terrified to put my work out there for people to see. Creative writing has a certain level of inherent vulnerability. You are sharing a part of yourself. So, I focused on technical and formal writing, finding comfort in writing for other people.

My mom really pushed me to write for myself. She battled breast cancer for 17 years. In her final year, I wrote an article about my professional journey as a dyslexic communicator, and she cried and I cried, and she insisted I finally write a book and “show the world…”. As her health began to take a turn, sitting in her hospital room on my birthday, I jotted down the first few lines of Winter’s Divide.

Then the cancer spread, and her eyesight began to deteriorate, I would write a chapter then read it to her. I read her the last chapter a couple of days before her journey came to an end. She was very proud. My mom was my best friend and my biggest fan, it meant a lot to share that experience with her.

TRC:What challenges or difficulties did you encounter writing and publishing this story?

Honestly, the writing part was exhilarating. It poured out and I loved every moment. It was an escape from my own personal painful reality, imagining life without my mom. As for publishing—terrifying and exhausting. I put it out to a few agents, but ultimately chickened out and published it myself. There are elements of the story that are real and raw, and not as commercially appealing for a broader audience. I felt those elements were important enough to talk about and take a risk.

TRC:Would you please tell us something about the premise of WINTER’S DIVIDE?

Mandy: I am a big fan of the dystopic/post-apocalyptic/end-of-things genre, there are a lot of stories that are really centered around men and young adults, I really wanted to tell the story from a different perspective. Being careful to not share a spoiler—There were certain social undertones I felt were important to dive into, to spark debate and conversation about things that make us uncomfortable, like politics, equality, mental health, etc. I also wanted to write a story where the line between good and evil was harder to define.

TRC:How many books do you have planned for the series?

Mandy: I currently have 3 planned for this series. Book 2 is almost done and will hopefully be out in the fall. It is a continuation of the story and picks up shortly after Winter’s Divide ends.

TRC:What kind of research/plotting did you do, and how long did you spend researching /plotting before beginning WINTER’S DIVIDE?

Mandy: I had the basic idea for Winter’s Divide for a few years, but I did not start writing right away. I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to research, I studied a lot. Mostly around the catalyst for what would be the end-of-things. After the first sample chapter, that defined the tone I wanted, I plotted out the sequential key moments and built from there over the course of a few months.

TRC:With the recent outbreak and pandemic of the Coronavirus, how significant to, or similar in retrospect, is your story line premise to real-life events?

Mandy: I have heard from several of my early readers, asking how I have felt in light of the current circumstances and remarking on the eerie coincidences within my book. Honestly, the timing is not at all what I had imagined for my book launch period. I thought I would be casually reading excerpts, sipping a glass of wine, and chatting with readers about the shocking reality I created. Not living out aspects of my story, isolating in my home and watching life as we know it shift to a ‘new normal’.

Though there are several areas in my book that feel too close to home right now, thankfully, it is fiction. And our current situation is not as dramatic as I depict in the book. As I wrote it, I did know that it was a story on the border of being more realistic fiction, but I think that is what makes it relatable. However, I could not have imagined this level of relatability.

TRC:The story line contains a number of triggers for more sensitive readers. How, if at all, were you affected by your own writing and the imagery presented?

Mandy :  In some spots, it was really rough to get through and there were times I really had to grit my teeth and stop myself from sugar-coating the description. When I first set out to write this book, I had a very long conversation with my sister (super bibliophile), about the story arc, what I wanted to convey, and the tone I wanted to set. I wanted it to be gritty, real, raw, and brutal. Not like anything I had ever written. I wanted to describe the primal side of survival from a female perspective. My sister was my gut check for every twist and turn, making sure I was being true to my vision.
Every challenging moment, positive or not, was intentional and purposely positioned throughout the book. They are meant to be shocking and thought provoking.

TRC:Do you believe the cover image plays a deciding factor for many readers in the process of selecting a book or new series to read?

Mandy:  Yes! Totally. I actually did a cover survey with some of my early readers, and the high contrast black and white was the favorite. The cover art I chose was intentionally out of the norm for the genre. I wanted to differentiate the book and give it room to breathe in a sea of similar covers. Book 2 has a similar cover to connect them.

TRC:When writing a storyline, do the characters direct the writing or do you direct the characters?

Mandy: I love this question! Like I mentioned before, I was very planful of my overall story outline. But when I was struck by something, a feeling, inspiration to dig deeper, to follow the breadcrumbs a character was leaving, it was hard to ignore. There were certain points where I made some choices that would support a future for those characters. The future of the characters really laid the groundwork for book 2.

TRC:The mark of a good writer is to pull the reader into the storyline so that they experience the emotions along with the characters. What do you believe a writer must do to make this happen? Where do you believe writer’s fail in this endeavor?

Mandy: Be there with their characters—I am not going to lie, there were moments where I found myself crying my eyes out, and my husband was like “um… why are you crying? You wrote it”. But when you imagine it, you are there, you are beside them for every moment and you define how they go on. You pick them up and make them go on sometimes. It is hard to ignore those emotions.

I hope people connect with the characters as much as I did. I am an avid reader as well, and I appreciate the books that give me chills, tears, make me laugh out loud, or break me into a million little pieces… Just know if you cry, are mad, or angry when reading Winter’s Divide, I was right there with you.

TRC:Do you listen to music while writing? If so, does the style of music influence the storyline direction? Characters?

Mandy: 100%, yes! I love a good climactic movie scores and dramatic instrumentals when I write. Especially, something moody and emotional. When I commute to work, I put on my playlist and use that moment of solitude to get deep in the mood and lost in imagining the story. When I know I am going for a certain feeling, I am very deliberate with the music I listen to. Some of my go to artists for Winter’s Divide included: Paul Cardall, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, David Tolk, James Blackshaw, Max Richter, Ahn Trio, and Bon Iver. Also, the playlist at the back of the book is true to that character. It is a very unexpected compilation, but intentionally colorful and mood setting.

TRC:What do you believe is the biggest misconception people have about authors?

Mandy: That every writer is 100% just a writer. Many of the writers I know and from my personal experience, have day jobs and families. We write between kids and work. I write with kids running around or late at night after I have read a bedtime story or folded laundry. I work a normal full-time job during the day and write when I can. I have been known to crank out a chapter or two on my phone notepad at a baseball game. Just a normal, average, working mom with a passion to share stories.

TRC:What is something that few, if anyone, know about you?

Mandy: I am super artsy, but have no musical talent whatsoever. I played the flute in Junior high and was so bad they moved me to tuba.

TRC:Who is your favorite author (living or dead)?

Mandy: Ugh! Hardest question! I have a lot of authors that I love for different reasons; for how they made me feel, what thoughts they inspired, what sleep I lost, how hard I cried… If I am not writing, I am reading. Elizabeth Barrett Browning. just because at one point in my childhood I wanted to be her.

TRC:On what are you currently working?

Mandy: Book 2! I am excited to bring the next phase of the story to life coming in the fall.

TRC:Would you like to add anything else?

Mandy: I know these are difficult times for everyone. We will get through this. Be thoughtful of each other. Help your healthcare workers out and social distance, us this time to read a good book. The team here at the Reading Café has provided some amazing suggestions.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food – Spaghetti Squash, with a taco top! (Baked spaghetti squash with turkey taco meat, beans, cheese, salsa… baked until the cheese is melty, then add all the taco fixings, trust me, it is so good!)

Favorite Dessert – I am not a big fan sweets, but I can’t say no to a good tiramisu.

Favorite TV Show – I love Blacklist and the new Lost in Space, and no surprise Handmaid’s Tale

Last Movie You Saw – Harriet, love it, cried throughout

Dark or Milk Chocolate – Milk Chocolate with salted caramel

Secret Celebrity Crush – Tom Ellis or Russell Wilson

Last Vacation Destination – Nashville, TN

Do you have any pets? – Sadly no, but I love animals (especially big, soft, lazy ones)

Last book you read – The Wolves of Winter by Tyrell Johnson, really enjoyed it

TRC: Thank you Mandy for taking the time to answer our questions. We wish you all the best and congratulations on the release of Winter’s Divide.

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Rogue Sentinel by Tom Wither-Review, Interview & Giveaway

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Rogue Sentinel by Tom Wither-Review, Interview & Giveaway

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 31, 2019

Lieutenant Commander Mathews’, an experienced Tier One Operator is sent on a solo mission to capture an American who has joined ISIS, planning operations that have killed hundreds. After an extended close surveillance while undercover in Jordan, Mathews and his trusted NCO, Senior Master Sergeant Simms attempt to capture the man known as ‘al-Amriki’ – The American. As they close in, weapons at the ready, they inexplicably receive orders to let al-Amriki go – from the President of the United States. Why is the President of the United States letting a known terrorist live, and what can be done by Mathews to stop The American from killing more innocents?

Supported by David Cain, chief of the Counter Terrorism Shop in Fort Meade, MD, Mathews locates and positively identifies Objective FULLBACK – called ‘al-Amriki’ (The American), and begins to surveil him to establish a pattern of life to enable a capture operation. After locating and tracking him for several days, Mathews, supported by trusted NCO, Senior Master Sergeant Simms, executes the operation to capture al-Amriki. Mathews and Simms stand toe-to-toe with al-Amriki in a deadly standoff when Mathews receives the order to abort the mission. After being recalled to the U.S. embassy in Jordan, Mathews is told why – ‘al-Amriki’ is a CIA deep cover operative, and Mathews is ordered to help him identify and eliminate the senior leadership of ISIS. Al-Amriki arranges a covert meeting with the heads of ISIS to enable the strike, but his cover has been blown – now Mathews and Simms need to save al-Amriki’s life – and their own!

••••••••

REVIEW:Rogue Sentinel begins with Lieutenant Commander Mathews, along with his girlfriend, on a trip to San Diego for some R&R. Mathews is still having a hard time with the fact that he lost a team member on a previous mission. When his girlfriend tries to get him to talk about the loss, it leads to Mathews losing his temper a bit and yelling at her. When Mathews is contacted and advised he’s been tagged for a mission to Jordan, they cut their trip short and head back to base. The trip back is tense between the two of them and only gets worse once they land.

Mathews is briefed on his mission: he is going in solo to capture an American who has joined ISIS, and is the mastermind behind some of their attacks. As Mathews readies for the mission, things between him and X go from bad to worse when she tells him he’ll have to find someone else to feed his fish while he’s gone. Mathews heads to Jordan, knowing that he has to keep his focus on the task at hand. But, he does hope that she’s waiting on him when, and if, he gets home.

al-Amriki (The American) has established himself as one of the top minds in ISIS. Even though some do not trust him, Akil, to whom al-Amriki reports to, trusts him almost implicitly. Once Mathews arrives in Jordan, it doesn’t take long, to his surprise, to run into al-Amriki face to face in a local shop. al-Amriki is suspicious of Mathews but stays the course. As Mathews reports back to his superiors, the decision is made for him and a fellow soldier, Simms, to go in under the cover of darkness to capture their target. Once they gain entrance to al-Amriki’s modest house, they are literally feet away when the mission is called off, which leaves Mathews furious and al-Amriki shaken. What follows leads Mathews and Simms down a covert path that will see them not only working with al-Amriki, but fighting against some of the top leaders of ISIS.

Rogue Sentinel is a story full of intrigue and surprises. The characters are well written and relatable. However, there is a lot going on in this book. Lots of secondary characters and lots of acronyms that lost me at times. Parts of the book almost read like a screenplay with it’s descriptive dialogue. Once I got used to the author’s way of telling his story, I really enjoyed the book. Mathews was a great character. HIs real life issues with losing a teammate on a mission makes him believable and relatable. His support team was great as well. I loved the action sequences and the interactions between the characters. Rogue Sentinel deals with real life, modern day life and death issues faced every day by members of our military. If you’re a fan of the intelligence and military world, you’ll enjoy this one. Well done, Tom Wither!

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed By Vickie K


TRC: Hi Tom and welcome to The Reading Café. Congratulations on the release of ROGUE SENTINEL.

Tom Wither: Thank you very much.

TRC: We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Follow: Facebook /Twitter/

Tom Wither: I’m originally from Connecticut, but reside in Maryland, outside of Baltimore. Professionally, I’ve worked for Air Force intelligence for more than 30-years, and while I’ve be a writer since 2002, my writing career was officially launched in 2012 when I signed my first contract. ROGUE SENTINEL is my third novel.

TRC: Who or what influenced your career in writing?

Tom Wither: I’ve always been a reader, and when I was in my teens, my mother introduced me to the novels of James Clavell and Robert Ludlum. As much as I enjoyed Clavell’s Asian Saga novels (Tai-Pan, Noble House, and Shogun especially) Ludlum’s thrillers, particularly the Bourne Identity and the Parsifal Mosaic really caught my attention. Later, as Tom Clancy began to find success with his Jack Ryan novels, I devoured those as well. After 9/11, as the intelligence community was being castigated in the media, I coupled my love of reading with a desire to give people an ‘insider’s view’ of intelligence and military operations, driven by characters reflective of the real world people I’ve had the privilege of working with and the realities of modern warfare.

TRC: What challenges or difficulties did you encounter writing and publishing this story?

Tom Wither: The biggest challenge is mapping everything in a story, so everything is synchronized – all the plot elements and activities across the global scale of my novels need to line up, especially in the massively interconnected world we enjoy. For instance, I can’t have a character sending an e-mail during a sunny late afternoon in Washington D.C. and then have another character reading that e-mail moments later in downtown Kabul in a setting I describe as a sunny day, when in fact, it’s 2 AM in the morning the following day. When it comes to publishing, the challenges vary. I’ve worked with two publishers so far and I do my very best to be responsive to their timelines, which can be challenging if a publisher needs a quick approval on a manuscript change or I’m having a disagreement with an editor – at the end of the day, it helps to keep in mind that the goal for both author and publisher is to see the book in print and deliver a story they both think readers will enjoy.

TRC: Would you please tell us something about the premise of ROGUE SENTINEL?

Tom Wither: Sure. Lieutenant Commander Mathews’, an experienced Tier One Operator is sent on a solo mission to capture an American who has joined ISIS, planning operations that have killed hundreds. After an extended close surveillance while undercover in Jordan, Mathews and his trusted NCO, Senior Master Sergeant Simms, attempt to find the man known as ‘al-Amriki’ (The American). Supported by David Cain, chief of the Counter Terrorism Shop in Fort Meade, MD, Mathews locates and positively identifies al-Amriki. Mathews begins to surveil him to establish a pattern of life to enable a capture operation, resolved to make al-Amriki pay after the recent death of one of Mathews’ men. After tracking him for several days, Mathews and Simms execute the operation to capture al-Amriki. As Mathews and Simms close in, weapons at the ready, the CIA intervenes – ‘abort immediately!’ Why does the CIA want them to stop and allow a known terrorist to escape only to kill more innocents? The mission has changed…but action only grows. How can Mathews stop al-Amriki and deal a death blow to the Islamic State?

TRC: Do you plan on writing any more story lines focusing on Lieutenant Commander Matthews, or any of the characters found in Rogue Sentinel?

Tom Wither: I’ve written two other novels featuring Mathews, THE INHERITOR and AUTUMN FIRE. They first two novels of a trilogy that will close out with the story called SWIFT JUSTICE. These three novels take place before ROGUE SENTINEL, and l’m still working on crafting SWIFT JUSTICE. I also have two other projects under development – my project names for them are PALADIN 6 and PROJECT JANUS.

TRC: What kind of research/plotting did you do, and how long did you spend researching /plotting before beginning ROGUE SENTINEL?

Tom Wither: I’m a detailed researcher and plotter, but I do leave room for creative license. I gather as much information as I can about the technology, aircraft, military vehicles, weapons, skills, and locations that I want to use in my stories – I’ve even traveled to some of the locations; either during my military career or on my personal time, to experience first-hand the sights and smells of the environment. Where it’s possible and permitted, I also take photographs or use publicly available imagery. When it comes to fictional elements, I’ll hand draw building designs or floorplans, and make sketches of areas where combat scenes will take place, then build the assault or action plans for the scenes, all of which I overlay on the real-world location – not quite storyboards, but good references I can use when writing. I also create a detailed outline for each chapter in the book to help synchronize locations and timing, include the scenes I want to have in each chapter, and then use that as the guide as I draft and re-write each chapter. ROGUE SENTINEL’s outline was close to 30 pages long, while AUTUMN FIRE’s outline was closer to 80 pages (I’ve become more concise in my outlining over time).

TRC: Is any of the story line based in reality e.g. characters, events

Tom Wither: Yes. The story itself it set against the coalition fight against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, led by Combined Joint Task Force Inherent Resolve (https://www.inherentresolve.mil/), a coalition of military forces that are still working to eliminate the remnants of the Islamic State, even after the re-taking of the territory ISIS held in Iraq and Syria.

TRC: How do you manage to keep the military story line authentic without ‘over simplifying’ details, or inundating the reader with overwhelming or confusing military jargon?

Tom Wither: I try to strike that balance in a few ways. I do my best to use a limited amount of internal dialog by characters in specific situations to explain the military technology, weapons, etc., and sometimes the jargon. I also try to leverage context in the conversation between characters to explain military jargon or technology. Lastly, I like to create a situation where one character who is unfamiliar with a term or technology as another character explains it. The first character acts as a proxy for the reader, who receives the explanation as well, which I also feel draws the reader further into the story.

TRC: Do you believe the cover image plays a deciding factor for many readers in the process of selecting a book or new series to read?

Tom Wither: I think so, yes. The cover image needs to give a potential reader a clear and focused ‘at a glance’ look at the story inside. If the cover does not represent the story, it effectively deceives a potential reader (or fan), souring them on your work. It’s a key element that publishers must focus on getting right for each book. Also, the imagery and the colors used can make a book stand out on a shelf, and promise adventure, romance, exotic locales, etc. If a cover doesn’t attract a reader and get them to read the flyleaf or the synopsis on the back, you have little chance of gaining a new fan.

TRC: When writing a storyline, do the characters direct the writing or do you direct the characters?

Tom Wither: It’s my world, and I build plot first, and then characters to experience the story and react to the events I want to take place in the plot. Once I have the plot elements I want sketched out, then I can design the characters to experience that plot and let them feel the joy and the pain of the storyline. Horrific car bombings in San Antonio, Texas part of the plot? I need a police officer on patrol discovering one of the rigged cars parked on the side of the road, who stops to check a text from his wife to bring milk home for his kids, just before he looks in the cargo area of the car as the timer on the bomb inside reaches zero. I want you to want Mathews to catch the car bomber, and you’ll keep turning pages the moment the husband, father, and first responder dies without ever knowing why or who took his life.

TRC: The mark of a good writer is to pull the reader into the storyline so that they experience the emotions along with the characters. What do you believe a writer must do to make this happen? Where do you believe writer’s fail in this endeavour?

Tom Wither: I think I might have partially answered this in the last question. I think a reader turns the page because they care about the characters and what’s happening to them. I think the challenge for any good writer is to make your reader identify with the characters by making them relatable – they need to be real and flawed and challenged by a plot that makes a reader want to turn the page, and another page, and so on.

TRC: Do you listen to music while writing? If so, does the style of music influence the storyline direction? Characters?

Tom Wither: No, the background noise would be distracting. I re-read my outline for that scene, visualize it, and then use that image and the dialog I come up with to write – background noise would distract me from concentrating on the process of getting the creative image out of my head and onto the paper. I do usually have CNN on with the volume muted. It lets me keep an eye on world events that might inspire another book idea.

TRC: What do you believe is the biggest misconception people have about authors?

Tom Wither: The biggest misconception I’ve come across so far is that everyone I’ve spoken to at signings, etc. thinks that publishers pay for every author to go on actual book tours, traveling the country signing their books.

TRC: What is something that few, if anyone, knows about you?

Tom Wither: I’m a pretty open book to my friends and family. Certainly, the government knows a great deal – I’ve been vetted several times for security clearances. Once you fill out a form nearly 100 pages long that covers everything you’ve done since you were in your teens, there isn’t much left to tell people.

TRC: Who is your favorite author (living or dead)?

Tom Wither: Choosing just one is tough. I’m a fan of James Clavell, Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler, Eric Van Lustbader, Tom Clancy, Kevin J. Anderson, and Michael Stackpole. If we go by longevity and number of times I’ve read his work, James Clavell wins hands down.

TRC: On what are you currently working?

Tom Wither: I’m currently completing a series bible for a project I’m calling PALADIN 6. Once it’s complete, my agent plans to offer to the streaming services for consideration. I’ve also completed a synopsis for my next novel, a project I’m calling PROJECT JANUS, and I’ll start work on the chapter outline for it as soon as the series bible for PALADIN 6 is complete. At that point I’ll spend time working on JANUS and SWIFT JUSTICE.

TRC: Would you like to add anything else?

Tom Wither: I’d just like to say thank you to Sandy and team at The Reading Café for taking the time to interview me; and my thanks to Vickie for reviewing ROGUE SENTINEL. I hope The Reading Café patrons enjoy the story and my other work. Best of luck to everyone who participates in the giveaway.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food – How about meal? Filet Mignon w/twice-baked potatoes and broccoli.

Favorite Dessert – Chocolate Mousse

Favorite TV Show – Mission Impossible (the 1960s & 1970s series)

Last Movie You Saw – Star Wars – The Rise of Skywalker

Dark or Milk Chocolate – Milk

Secret Celebrity Crush – (Only one?) Salma Hayek

Last Vacation Destination – South Dakota

Do you have any pets? – Not at the moment. I am a big fan of German Shepherds. Grew up with one, and raised one.

Last book you read – Clive Cussler’s SHADOW TYRANTS

TRC: Thank you Tom for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations on the release of ROGUE SENTINEL. We wish you all the best.

Tom Wither is graciously offering a hard cover copy of ROGUE SENTINEL to FIVE (5) lucky commenters at The Reading Cafe.

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First Cut by Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell – Review, Excerpt & Q&A

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First Cut by Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell – Review, Excerpt & Q&A

 

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Description:
A hard-nosed medical examiner. A suspicious case. An underworld plot only she saw coming.

San Francisco’s newest medical examiner, Dr. Jessie Teska, has made a chilling discovery. A suspected overdose case contains hints of something more sinister: a drug lord’s attempt at a murderous cover-up. But as Jessie digs deeper, she faces unexpected pushback from her superiors—and pressure to stay in her lane, close the case and move on.

For Jessie, San Francisco was supposed to be a fresh start, a chance to escape her troublesome past in Los Angeles. Instead she finds herself overworked and underpaid, working in a dingy morgue and living under the fog in a cramped converted cable car. Now, despite warnings from her colleagues and threats from her boss, she is determined to find the truth.

As more bodies land on her autopsy table, Jessie uncovers a constellation of deaths that point to a plot involving opioid traffickers and San Francisco’s shifting terrain of tech start-ups. Autopsy means “see for yourself,” and Jessie Teska won’t stop until she has seen it all—even if it means the next corpse on the slab could be her own.

 

 

Review:

First Cut by Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell is a standalone novel.   We meet our heroine, Jessie Teska, immediately as she arrives for her first day as an assistant medical examiner in San Francisco.  Jessie left her old job in Los Angeles because she needed to be on her own, and not close to the man she had fallen in love with.  We will learn a bit more about that relationship and why she left nearer to the end, but he technically has nothing to do with this story line.

Jessie is immediately bombarded with a number of cases, with one being an overdose that is considered an accident.  As Jessie takes control of the case, she discovers some other deaths being similar, causing her to delve deeper in to the overdose case.   Her superiors want her to close the case as an accident, putting pressure on her, despite her belief that something was wrong.  Jessie begins to suspect her boss as knowing more than he is letting on, trying to push her off the case.  In a short time, with bodies showing up in the lab, Jessie begins see that this could be a murder and drug case, which now puts her own life in danger.  Despite no help from her superiors, Jessie does work closely with some of the detectives to try and find the truth.

What follows is an intense, gritty, exciting story line about the world of medical examiners, with a lot of detailed descriptions.  Melinek is a forensic pathologist in real life, and uses much of her knowledge in detailing everything throughout the book.  First Cut is a complex and fast paced story that kept our attention from start to finish, also giving me a feel similar to Patricia Cornwall. I enjoy mysteries and thrillers, which this was, but there was so much detail and explicitly gory scenes as they dissect on the human body, which gave me mixed feelings about how much I needed to know. Lol   However, this was a good compelling mystery and very well written.     

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

 

                                    PROLOGUE

Los Angeles
May
The dead woman on my table had pale blue eyes, long lashes, no mascara. She wore a thin rim of black liner on her lower lids but none on the upper. I inserted the twelve gauge needle just far enough that I could see its beveled tip through the pupil, then pulled the syringe plunger to aspirate a sample of vitreous fluid. That was the first intrusion I made on her corpse during Mary Catherine Walsh’s perfectly ordinary autopsy.
The external examination had been unremarkable. The decedent appeared to be in her midthirties, blond hair with dun roots, five foot four, 144 pounds. After checking her over and noting identifying marks (monochromatic professional tattoo of a Celtic knot on lower left flank, appendectomy scar on abdomen, well-healed stellate scar on right knee), I picked up a scalpel and sliced from each shoulder to the breastbone, and then all the way down her belly. I peeled back the layers of skin and fat on her torso—an ordinary amount, maybe a little on the chubby side—and opened the woman’s chest like a book.
I had made similar Y-incisions on 256 other bodies during my ten months as a forensic pathologist at the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office, and this one was easy. No sign of trauma. Normal liver. Healthy lungs. There was nothing wrong with her heart. The only significant finding was the white, granular material of the gastric contents. In her stomach was a mass of semidigested pills.
When I opened her uterus, I found she’d been pregnant. I measured the fetus’s foot length and estimated its age at twelve weeks. The fetus appeared to have been viable. It was too young to determine sex.
I deposited the organs one by one at the end of the stainless-steel table. I had just cut into her scalp to start on the skull when Matt, the forensic investigator who had collected the body the day before, came in.
“Clean scene,” he reported, depositing the paperwork on my station. “Suicide.”
I asked him where he was going for lunch. Yogurt and a damn salad at his desk, he told me: bad cholesterol and a worried wife. I extended my condolences as he headed back out of the autopsy suite.
I scanned through Matt’s handwriting on the intake sheet and learned that the body had been found, stiff and cold, in a locked and secure room at the Los Angeles Omni hotel. The cleaning staff called the police. The ID came from the name on the credit card used to pay for the room, and was confirmed by fingerprint comparison with her driver’s license thumbprint. A handwritten note lay on the bed stand, a pill bottle in the trash. Nothing else. Matt was right: There was no mystery to the way Mary Walsh had died.
I hit the dictaphone’s toe trigger and pointed my mouth toward the microphone dangling over the table. “The body is identified by a Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s tag attached to the right great toe, inscribed LACD-03226, Walsh, Mary Catherine…”
I broke the seal on the plastic evidence bag and pulled out the pill bottle. It was labeled OxyContin, a powerful painkiller, and it was empty.
“Accompanying the body is a sealed plastic bag with an empty prescription medication bottle. The name on the prescription label…”
I read the name but didn’t speak it. The hair started standing up on my neck. I looked down at my morning’s work—the splayed body, flecked with gore, the dissected womb tossed on a heap of other organs.
That can’t be, I told myself. It can’t.
On the clipboard underneath the case intake sheet I found a piece of hotel stationery sealed in another evidence bag. It was the suicide note, written in blue ink with a steady feminine hand. I skimmed it—then stopped, and went back.
I read it again.
I heard the clipboard land at my feet. I gripped the raised lip of my autopsy table. I held tight while the floor fell away.

 

Q&A with Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell

Q: Do you plan your books in advance or let them develop as you write?

A:The idea for First Cut was prompted by some of Judy’s actual cases when she worked as a San Francisco medical examiner. She has real experience performing autopsy death investigation, and she also has the imagination to apply that experience to a fictional framework for our forensic detective, Dr. Jessie Teska. Judy invented the story, and together we worked it up as an outline. Then T.J. sat in a room wrestling with words all day—which he loves to do—to produce the first complete manuscript. That’s our inspiration plus perspiration dynamic as co-authors.

 Q: What does the act of writing mean to you?

A: It is, and has always been, something we can do together, an important part of our marriage. We’ve collaborated as a creative team since we were in college together many years ago, producing and directing student theater. We’ve also spent twenty years raising our four children, and have always approached parenting as a partnership. We find it easy to work together because we write like we parent: relying on one another, each of us playing to our strengths. It helps that, in our writing process, we have no overlapping skill set!

 Q: Have you ever had a character take over a story, and if so, who was it and why?

A: Oh, yes! That’s our heroine, Dr. Jessie Teska. She has elements of Judy in her, and elements of T.J., but Jessie is a distinct individual and a strong-willed one. We’re often surprised and even shocked by the ways she reacts to the situations we put her in. There are times we’ll be writing what we thought was a carefully laid-out scene, and Jessie will take us sideways. She’s coming off T.J.’s fingertips on the the keyboard, both of us watching with mouths agape, saying, “What the hell is she up to?”

Q: Which one of First Cut’s characters was the hardest to write and why?

A: Tommy Teska, Jessie’s brother. He’s a minor character to the book’s plot, but the most important person in Jessie’s life, and he’s a reticent man, downright miserly with his dialogue. Tommy carries such great emotional weight, but it was hard to draw it out of him, especially because so much of his bond to our heroine is in the backstory of First Cut, not in the immediate narrative that lands on the page. We’re now working on the sequel, Cross Cut, and finding that Tommy has more occasion to open up in that story.

Q: Which character in any of your books (First Cut or otherwise) is dearest to you and why?

A: The late Dr. Charles Sidney Hirsch, from our first book, the memoir Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner. Dr. Hirsch is not just a character: He was a real person, Judy’s mentor and a towering figure in the world of forensic pathology. Dr. Hirsch trained Dr. Melinek in her specific field of medicine and imbued in her his passion for it. He was a remarkable man, a great teacher and physician and public servant—a person of uncompromising integrity coupled with great emotional intelligence.

 Q: What did you want to be as a child? Was it an author?

A: Judy’s father was a physician, and though she never wanted to follow in his immediate footsteps—he was a psychiatrist—she has always wanted to be another Dr. Melinek. T.J. has always been a writer, but also has theater training and worked in the film industry. As much as we enjoyed authoring the memoir Working Stiff, and as happy as we have been with its success, we are even more thrilled to be detective novelists.

Q: What does a day in the life of Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell look like?

A: Judy is a morning person and T.J.’s a night owl, so we split parenting responsibilities. Judy gets the kids off to school and then heads to the morgue, where she performs autopsies in the morning and works with police, district attorneys, and defense lawyers in the afternoon. T.J. takes care of the household and after-school duties. If we work together during the day, it’s usually by email in the late afternoon. T.J. cooks dinner, Judy goes to bed early, and he’s up late—at his most productive writing from nine to midnight or later.

Q: What do you use to inspire you when you get Writer’s Block?

A: We go for a long walk together. Our far corner of San Francisco overlooks the Pacific Ocean, bracketed by cypress trees and blown over with fog, and serves as an inspiring landscape. We explore the edge of the continent and talk out where our characters have been and where they need to get, tossing ideas back and forth until a solution, what to do next on the page, emerges. Getting away for a stroll with our imaginary friends is always a fruitful exercise!

Q: What book would you take with you to a desert island?

A: T.J. would take the Riverside Shakespeare, and Judy would take Poisonous Plants: A Handbook for Doctors, Pharmacists, Toxicologists, Biologists and Veterinarians, Illustrated.

 Q: Do you have stories on the back burner that are just waiting to be written?

A: Always! We are inspired by Dr. Melinek’s real-life work, both in the morgue and at crime scenes, in police interrogation rooms, and in courtrooms. Our stories are fiction—genre fiction structured in the noir-detective tradition—but the forensic methods our detective employs and the scientific findings she comes to are drawn from real death investigations.

Q: What has been the hardest thing about publishing? What has been the most fun?

A: The hardest thing is juggling our work schedules to find uninterrupted time together to write. The most fun is meeting and talking to our readers at book events, especially those who have been inspired to go into the field of forensic pathology after reading our work.

Q: What advice would you give budding authors about publishing?

A: It’s all about connectivity. Linking up with other writers, readers, editors, and research experts is a crucial way to get your work accomplished, and to get it out to your audience. Yes, ultimately it’s just you and the keyboard, but in the course of writing your story, you can and should tap into the hive mind, online and in person, for inspiration and help.

Q: What was the last thing you read?

A: Judy last read The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist by Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington, and T.J. last read The Witch Elm by Tana French.

Q: Your top five authors?

A: Judy’s are Atul Gawande, Henry James, Kathy Reichs, Mary Roach, and Oliver Sacks. T.J.’s are Margaret Atwood, Joseph Heller, Ed McBain, Ross Macdonald, and Kurt Vonnegut.

 Q: Book you’ve bought just for the cover?

A: T.J.: Canary by Duane Swierczynski. Judy: Mütter Museum Historical Medical Photographs.

Q: Tell us about what you’re working on now.

A: First Cut is the debut novel in a detective series, and we’ve recently finished the rough draft of Cross Cut, its sequel. We are in the revision phase now, killing our darlings and tightening our tale, working to get the further adventures of Dr. Jessie Teska onto bookshelves next year!

 


Judy Melinek was an assistant medical examiner in San Francisco for nine years, and today works as a forensic pathologist in Oakland and as CEO of PathologyExpert Inc. She and T.J. Mitchell met as undergraduates at Harvard, after which she studied medicine and practiced pathology at UCLA. Her training in forensics at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner is the subject of their first book, the memoir Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner.

T.J. Mitchell is a writer with an English degree from Harvard, and worked in the film industry before becoming a full-time stay-at-home dad. He is the New York Times bestselling co-author of Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner with his wife, Judy Melinek.

SOCIAL:

TWITTER:

Facebook: @DrWorkingStiff

Insta: Judy: @drjudymelinek

Goodreads  Judy: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7382113.Judy_Melinek

 

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Husband Material by Emily Belden – Review, Q&A and Excerpt

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Husband Material by Emily Belden – Review, Q&A and Excerpt

 

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Description:
A young widow must face the grief she’s always set aside when an unexpected delivery throws her life into disarray

Twenty-nine-year-old Charlotte Rosen has a secret: she’s a widow. Ever since the fateful day that leveled her world, Charlotte has worked hard to move forward. Great job at a hot social media analytics company? Check. Roommate with no knowledge of her past? Check. Adorable dog? Check. All the while, she’s faithfully data-crunched her way through life, calculating the probability of risk—so she can avoid it.

Yet Charlotte’s algorithms could never have predicted that her late husband’s ashes would land squarely on her doorstep five years later. Stunned but determined, Charlotte sets out to find meaning in this sudden twist of fate, even if that includes facing her perfectly coiffed, and perfectly difficult, ex-mother-in-law—and her husband’s best friend, who seems to become a fixture at her side whether she likes it or not.

But when her quest reveals a shocking secret, Charlotte is forced to answer questions she never knew to ask and to consider the possibility of forgiveness. And when a chance at a new life arises, she’ll have to decide once and for all whether to follow the numbers or trust her heart.

 

 

Review:

Husband Material by Emily Beden is a standalone novel.  We meet Charlotte Rosen, our heroine immediately, as she is with a blind date, who totally turns her off; causing her to leave earlier.  Charlotte has a successful career with a media influencer firm, as well as creating (she is a coder) her own dating app.  When she arrives home, she finds a delivery at her door, and to her horror, she discovers the package contains her dead husband’s ashes, 5 years after his death; sent to her due a fire.  Charlotte has not told her roommate or anyone she works with that she was married and is a widower.  Life is about to change, as all those memories, as well as her having to meet with her in laws and an old friend causes her grief.

Charlotte finds herself falling apart, as the hidden grief and pain comes crashing back; putting her on the road to self-discovery.  She can’t handle all the surprises and shocks she will learn along the way, as well as her job now in jeopardy.  Charlotte has to fight with her in-laws about the ashes;  meeting her ex’s best friend, who is close to the in-laws, as well as wanting to start a relationship with her; and facing her friends who knew nothing about her previous life. 

What follows is Charlotte learning to deal with some shocks about her husband, and finding the way to heal herself and be able to forgive.  It was a good story, though I thought some of it early on was a bit slow.  The thing that annoyed me the most was Charlotte herself, as she was not only frustrating but rude as well; but the last third of the book, she did get better.  I did like Brian, her ex’s friend, who did his best to help her move forward, but the chemistry between wasn’t there for me.  I did enjoy how Charlotte finally picked herself up, and moved forward, opening up to her friends, Brian and the inlaws; as well as her career.

Husband Material was a nice story line, and written very well by Emily Beden.  There were some very good humorous moments throughout the book.  The romance was more towards the background of the story, and Charlotte’s journey through her grief was interesting.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

Well, that’s a first.
And I’m not talking about the fact that I brought a date to a wedding I’m pretty sure didn’t warrant me a plus-one. I’m talking about grabbing a wedding card that just so happened to say “Congrats, Mr. & Mr.” on my way to cele¬brate the nuptials of the most iconic heterosexual couple since George and Amal. This—and a king-sized KitKat bar from the checkout lane—is what I get for rushing through the greet¬ing card aisle in Target while my Uber driver waited in the loading zone with his f lashers on.
It’s Monica and Danny’s big day. She’s my coworker, whose gorgeous face is constantly lining the glossy pages of Luxe LA magazine. Not only because she’s one of the leading ladies at Forbes’s new favorite company, The Influencer Firm, but because this socialite-turned-CEO is now married to Dan¬iel Jones—head coach of the LA Galaxy, Los Angeles’s pro¬fessional soccer team. If you’re thinking he must look like a derivative of an American David Beckham, you’re basically there. Let’s just hope their sense of humor is as good as their looks when they see the card I accidentally picked out.Before I place it on the gift table, I stuff the envelope with a crisp hundred-dollar bill fresh from the ATM. Side note: I think wedding registries are bullshit. Everybody wants an ice cream maker until you have one and never use it, which is why I spring for cold, hard cash instead. I grab a black Sharpie marker from the guest book table, pop the cap off, and attempt to squeeze in a nondescript s after the second “Mr.,” hoping my makeshift, hand-drawn serif font letter doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb. I blow on the fresh ink, then hold the pseudo Pinterest-fail an arm’s length away. That’ll do, I think to myself.I lift a glass of red wine from a caterer’s tray as if we cho¬reographed the move and check the time on my Apple Watch, which arguably isn’t the most fashionable accessory when dressing for a chic summer wedding. But aside from the fact that it doesn’t quite match my strapless pale yellow cocktail dress, it serves a much greater purpose for me. It keeps my data front and center, right where I want it, not on my phone buried somewhere deep in my purse. Bonus: the band, smack-dab on the middle of my wrist, also covers a tattoo I’ve been meaning to have lasered off.Other than telling me the time, 7:30 p.m., it also serves up my most recent Tinder notifications. I’ve gotten four new matches since this morning, which isn’t bad for a) a Saturday, since most people do their Tindering while zoning out at work or bored in bed at night; and b) a pushing-thirty New York native whose most recent relationship was the love-hate one with a stubborn last ten pounds. That’s me, by the way. Charlotte Rosen.Though present and accounted for now, the battle of Tide pen vs. toothpaste stain went on for longer than I intended back at my apartment, causing me to arrive about half an hour late to the cocktail hour. Which means I for sure missed Monica and Dan’s ceremony in its entirety. I, of all people, know that’s rude. I’m someone who is hypersensitive to people’s arrival ten¬dencies (well, to all measurable tendencies, to be honest; more on that later). But I’m sort of glad I missed the I Dos, as there is still something about witnessing the exchange of vows that makes me a little squeamish. I got married five years ago and, well, I’m not married anymore—let’s put it that way.The good news is that with time, I can feel it’s definitely getting easier to come to things like this. To believe that the couple really will stay together through it all. To believe that there is such a thing as “the one”—even if it may actually be “the other” that I’m looking for this next go-round.Late as I may be to the wedding party, there are some perks to my delayed arrival. Namely, the line at the bar has died down enough for me to trade up this mediocre red wine for a decent gin and tonic. Another perk? Several fresh platters of bacon-wrapped dates have just descended like UFOs onto the main floor of the venue, which happens to be a barn from the 1800s. Except this is Los Angeles, and there are no barns from the 1800s. So instead, every creaky floorboard, every corroded piece of siding, and every decrepit roof shingle has been sourced from deep in the countryside of southwest Iowa to create the sense that guests are surrounded by rolling fields, fragrant orchard blossoms, and fruiting trees. The reality being that just outside the wooden walls of the coveted, three-year-long-wait-list Oak Mill Barn stands honking, gridlocked traf¬fic on the 405 and an accompanying smog alert.

As I continue to wait for my impromptu wedding date, Chad, to come back from the bathroom, I robotically swipe left on the first three guys who pop up on Bumble, another dating app I’m on, then finally decide to message a guy who looks like a bright-eyed Jason Bateman (you know, pre-Ozark) and is a stockbroker, according to his profile. We end up matching and he asks me for drinks. I vaguely accept. Wel¬come to dating in LA.

I’ve conducted some research that has shown that after the age of thirty, it becomes exponentially harder to find your fu¬ture husband. What number constitutes exponentially? I’m not sure yet, but I’m working on narrowing in on that because generalities don’t really cut it for me. Thinking through things logically like this centers me, calms me, and resets me—no matter what life throws my way. All that’s to say, I’m officially in my last good year of dating (and my last year of not having to include a night serum in my skin care regimen), and I’m determined not to wind up with my dog, my roommate, and a few low-maintenance houseplants as my sole life partners.

“Sorry that took so long,” says Chad, returning from the men’s room twenty minutes after leaving. “Did you know the bathroom at this place is an actual outhouse? Thank god it was leg day at the gym—I had to squat over the pot. My quads are burning nice now.”

Confession. I didn’t just bring a date to the wedding, I brought a blind date.

No worries, though. Monica knows how serious I am about the path to Mr. Right and supports the fact that I go on my fair share of dates to get me there quicker. Plus, he isn’t a total stranger; she knows him—or, she met him, rather. He attended her work event last week at the LA County Museum of Art and is supposedly this cute, single real estate something or other. Of course he tried to hit on her and, unlike most beau¬tiful people in Los Angeles, Monica actually copped to being in a committed relationship with Danny. (Who doesn’t like to brag they’re marrying Mr. Galaxy himself?) So she did the next best thing and gave him her single coworker’s Instagram handle and told him to slide into my DMs. It’s a bold move on her part, but I appreciate her quick thinking and commit-ment to my cause, Operation: Reclassify My Marital Status.

Since Chad first messaged me a week ago, I’ve done my homework on him. And I’m not talking about just your basic cyber stalking. I’m talking about procuring and sifting through real, bona fide data. It’s essentially a version of what I’m paid to do for a living—track down all the “influencers,” people with a lot of fans and followers on the internet, and match them to events we plan for our clients so they can post on so¬cial media and boost our clients’ profiles.

Some may think my side-project software, the one that com¬putes how much of a match I am with someone, is a bit…much, but I don’t see it that way at all. I’m on the hunt for a man who is a true match for me—one who won’t just up and leave in the blink of an eye. I left things up to fate once and look how that turned out. I’ll be damned if I do it that way again.

While I studied up on Chad, I conducted a hefty “image search,” yielding about a hundred photos of him that have been uploaded across a variety of social platforms over the years. In real life, I’m pleased to say he checks out. Chad is over six feet tall, tanned, and toned, with coiffed Zac Efron hair that’s on the verge of being described as “a bit extra.” From the shoul¬ders up, he’s an emoji. A walking, talking emoji. But as I step back and admire him in his expertly tailored suit, he looks like a contestant on The Bachelor. In retrospect, Chad is just the right amount of good-looking to complement my physical appearance, which can be described as a made-for-TV version of an otherwise good-looking actress.

“Something to drink, sir?” one of the caterers asks Chad.

“Yes. A spicy margarita. Unless… Wait. Do you make the margarita mix yourselves? Or is it, like, that sugary store-bought crap?”

Eek. I had forgotten my discovery that Chad is a bit of a…wellness guru. I guess so is everyone in LA, but I can’t help but be taken aback when I hear that there are people who actually care about the scientific makeup of margarita mix.

“Fuck it. Too many calories either way,” Chad announces before giving the waitress a chance to answer his question. “I’ll just take a whiskey.”

“Splash of Coke?”

“God, no. So many empty calories.”

With his drink order in, Chad rolls his neck around and pops bones I never knew existed. Then, one by one, the joints in his fingers. The sound makes me a bit queasy but I’m try¬ing to focus on the positive, like his beautiful hazel eyes and the fact that cherry tomatoes and mini mozzarella balls with an injection of balsamic vinegar are the latest and greatest munchie to hit the floor.
Chad turns to me with a smile, his palm connecting with the small of my back. “Should we find our seats? What table are we at?”

Good question, I think to myself. I’m at table six. Chad is…on a fold-up chair we will have to ask a caterer to squeeze between me and Monica’s great-aunt Sally? I kind of forgot to mention to him that I didn’t really get an official okay to bring him tonight.

“Table six,” I say pleasantly with a smile.

“Six is my lucky number. Well, that, and nine, if you know what I mean,” Chad says with a wink accompanied by an ac¬tual thumbs-up.

The waitress comes back with his whiskey neat, and he proposes we clink our glasses in a toast to meeting up as we make our way to the table. Still not over the lingering effects of his immature, pervy sixty-nine joke, I reluctantly concede to do the cheers with the perpetual high-schooler.

“So, what did you think of Monica’s event?” I say to break the ice as we take our seats at the luckily empty round table.

“Well, I don’t really know what she does for a living, but she is fine as hell. I mean, that’s why I hit on her last week at the LACMA. Sure, I saw the ring on her finger, but couldn’t resist saying hi to a goddess like her. My god, that woman is something else.”

I nod in agreement. Partly because, yes, Monica Hoang needs her own beauty column in Marie Claire, stat. And partly because I’m too shocked by his crass demeanor to really do or say anything else. Did I say Chad reminded me of a contes¬tant on The Bachelor? I think I meant he reminds me of a guy who gets sent home on night one of The Bachelor.

“She said you’re a real estate…attorney, was it?” I awk¬wardly segue. “What’s your favorite neighborhood in Los Angeles?”

It sounds like I’m interviewing him for a job, which in a way, I am. But had I known the conversation was going to be like forcefully wringing out a damp rag, just hoping to squeeze out something semidecent, I would have never invited him to join me at the wedding. In fact, I likely wouldn’t have gone through with a date, of any kind, at all. Conversation skills rank high on my list of preferred qualities in a mate. Looks like he’s the exception to the rule that attorneys are good lin-guists, because my app sure as shit didn’t predict this fail.

So how does my software work, then? Well, it’s all about compatibility. My algorithm is programmed to know what I like and what I’m looking for in the long term. So to see if a guy is a match, I comb through his online profiles, enter the facts I find out about him, and generate a report that indi¬cates how likely he is to be my future husband or how likely we would be to get a divorce, for example. One of the most helpful stats is how likely we are to go on a second date. I’ve determined that anyone scoring above 70 percent means that chances are good we’d go out again. And, well, a second date is the first step to marriage. You get the point. Anyone below a 70, I ignore and move on. Chad pulled a 74, which is a solid C if you’re using a high school grading system. Not stellar, but certainly passable with room for improvement.

As it’s turning out, there’s a lot of room for improvement.

“Huh? I’m not in real estate,” he says with a confused look on his face.

“Oh, Monica said you were an attorney at Laird & Hutchin¬son?”

“Well, yes, that’s the name of our firm. The Laird side is real estate. But they acquired Hutchinson a couple years ago, and that’s the side of the practice I work on.”

“What kind of law is Hutchinson?”

“We’re the ‘Life’s too short, get a divorce!’ guys. You’ve probably seen a few of our company’s billboards.”

Chad slides his business card my way, and as soon as I see the logo, I picture those billboards slathered all over the bus stop benches down Laurel Canyon Drive and feel physically ill. Not only because he’s in the business of making divorce seem cheeky, but also because I’m wondering what other things I might have missed or gotten wrong about Chad.

“Wait. So have you ever been divorced?” The question pops off my tongue involuntarily. As soon as the words come out, I remember he reserves the right to ask me the same question in return and immediately regret posing it. I’m not ready to explain the demise of my first marriage.

“Me? Nah. Never married.”

Luckily, a server reappears to take our dinner order. But let it be known that if Chad had asked, I would have explained that I didn’t give up on my life partner because I was frus¬trated he failed to load a dishwasher in any sort of methodical way. I didn’t just get bored and say “screw it,” chalking the whole thing up as just a starter marriage (google it, this is a thing now). In fact, if anyone abruptly left anyone, he aban¬doned me out of nowhere.

“Would you like the chicken and veggies or the short rib and scalloped potatoes?” the caterer asks me.

“Short rib and potatoes,” I say, a game-time decision made entirely by my growling stomach.

At that, Chad looks at me like I rolled into the Vatican wear¬ing a tube top. “You sure about that, Char? There are so many hidden carbs in potatoes,” he whispers with a hint of disgust.

First off, Char is reserved for people with a little more ten¬ure in my life, thankyouverymuch. And secondly—

“Yes, I’m sure. An extra scoop of potatoes if possible,” I say, loud enough for our waitress, who jots down the special instruction.

“Chicken for me. Extra veggies,” my 74 percent match re¬quests.

There it is. His wellness obsession flaring up again. I’m racking my brain for what to say next to a guy who screams “dead end” to me.

Excerpted from Husband Material by Emily Belden, Copyright © 2019 by Emily Belden. Published by Graydon House Books.

Q&A with Emily Belden

 Q: When you begin writing a love story, do you know how you want it to end? Or do you decide as you develop the plot?

A: I generally have an idea of how I want things to wrap up, but what I always struggle with is that final sentence. How do you know you’re REALLY there? I often ready my theoretical last sentence out loud, followed by saying “The End”, and if it feels like it has a certain “ring” to it, then I can shut the laptop. If not, then I know it’s not my stopping point. Wrapping up that final thought with a bow on it is super important. It’s what I want when I read a book, at least.

Q: How was it to write about grief, pain and love for the same character?

A: It was new. That’s really the best word to explain it. HOT MESS has so many autobiographical elements to it (i.e., restaurant industry know-how, dating an addict, etc.) but HUSBAND MATERIAL was all unchartered territory for me. I realized right away that in order to write about the grief of losing a spouse/partner, I had to curate a focus group of real-life women like Charlotte and really learn from them to bring the level of authenticity and nuance needed to successfully write the book.

Q: What type of love stories do you like? Or were there ones you looked to as you began writing Husband Material?

A: I like really unexpected love stories. In today’s literary landscape, there’s certainly a formula that is pretty common. So it’s the books that break or stray from that formula that really do it for me. I like stories where it’s not innately clear who the protagonist is going to end up with. Even with HOT MESS there’s a moment where (I hope) the reader is like “OMG WHAT IS HAPPENING” insofar as Allie’s love story goes. Same with Charlotte in HUSBAND MATERIAL.

Q: Do you prefer to write by planning ahead (ie outlining, etc) or just go with the flow as inspiration hits?

A: I prefer to go with the flow. My general writing pattern is banging out 1-2 chapters at a time and then ending my work with a bulleted list of what I think needs to happen next. That way, when I open up my laptop and start to write the next 1-2 chapters, I’m not totally lost or forgetful of where I left off. It helps me figure out what would make sense in the flow of the pages.

Q: When did you know you wanted to become an author? What are you currently reading and what’s on your TBR list?

A: It’s been my only god-given talent since I was a little kid. It started with really creative letters to Santa or the Tooth Fairy. I won a contest to be a kid reporter for the Chicago Tribune when I was 12 years old and after that, my fate was sealed. I knew I wanted to write at the highest level I could! I am currently reading a book called Lulu’s Cafe by an author who is also repped by my agents, Browne & Miller. I really love it and can picture it as an adorable Hallmark Movie.

Q: What inspired you to write this book?

A: I heard a news story on the TV when I was doing dishes at my (former) home in San Diego. It was about a developer who wanted to buy the land a mausoleum was on so they could tear it down and build luxury condos overlooking the ocean. I thought, how crazy if your loved one’s ashes just got mailed back to you one day and the resting place you thought was final, wasn’t. It wasn’t easy, but turned that general premise into a light-side-of-heavy rom-com.

Q: What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?

A: Over all, that second chances at love take all different forms. You never know the circumstances someone has found themselves in, so be kind. For Charlotte, I intentionally wrote the first few chapters as if she was divorced–talking about her “first marriage”. Then you find out “Oh, sh*t, she’s a widow,” and all the sudden your emotional connection with her changes. I also find it interesting writing about death. We don’t talk about it in society, especially not in contemporary women’s fiction. A tragic, unexpected death is the crux of this book. Let’s dig in!

Q: What drew you into this particular genre?

A: I saw there was room to carve out a spot for someone like me who writes unexpected, voicey, edgy, authentic women’s fiction and so I went full steam ahead with the help of a great agent to make it happen.

 

Q: If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?

A: I would sit down with Charlotte. I’ve met the “real life” versions of her when doing my focus groups for research, it would be my honor to meet her. I’d ask her if she wanted to team up and develop a dating app framed around people’s dogs.

Q: What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?

A: Instagram. I feel like I’ve become friends with people I’ve never met in real life. They cheer me on and I’m humbled by it. I also find other authors on Facebook in certain literary groups. This has been fun and has helped me grow my TBR list with books I otherwise wouldn’t have heard of.

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?

A: Be patient. Be patient with the process – success as an author is fluid and can mean many different things. Nothing happens overnight. It’s a process. And be patient with yourself. If you aren’t vibing your writing, don’t put pressure on yourself to tap keys just because you said you were going to do 1,000 words tonight. There are times two weeks go by and I haven’t opened my Word doc once. But then when I am vibing it, I can cruise for 10K words and absolutely rock it. There’s an ebb and flow, for sure.

Q: What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?

A: I am working on a third novel at my own pace right now. I’m very excited about it and just exploring where the plot takes me. I would love to work on a film/TV/podcast adaption of any of my existing works as a next step, too. I also got married nine months ago and am enjoying life with my soulmate, Matt.

 

EMILY BELDEN is a journalist, social media marketer, and storyteller. She is the author of the novel Hot Mess and Eightysixed: A Memoir about Unforgettable Men, Mistakes, and Meals. She lives in Chicago. Visit her website at www.emilybelden.com or follow her on Twitter and Instagram, @emilybelden.


Social Links:

Author website: http://www.emilybelden.com/
Twitter: @emilybelden
Instagram: @emilybelden
Facebook: @emilybeldenauthor

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A Bloody Arrogant Power by Malcolm J. Wardlaw-Review & Interview

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A Bloody Arrogant Power /Death by Decent Society by Malcolm J. Wardlaw-Review & Interview

 

IMPORTANT: A BLOODY ARROGANT POWER was re-written and relaunched in July 2020 under a new title and series: DEATH BY DECENT SOCIETY

 

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 7, 2019

The Public Era collapsed seven decades ago. Generations have grown up in what came after. They think it’s normal.

Donald Aldingford is lucky. A barrister, he is trusted by the ruling elite of sovereign landowners. He neither knows nor cares what goes on outside the Central Enclave of London.

Then he starts to care. A young woman from the slums enters his life. For the first time, he travels outside the Central Enclave. He sees discharges perish on the public drains. He sees glory trusts bombard the slums. These sights force him to question the rule of the sovereign elite.

But he must keep these doubts to himself. Should his sovereign masters even suspect him of disloyalty, they would despatch him to the Nameless Gone.

And then revolution breaks out. Whose side will he take?

To find out, follow the twists and turns of this intricate dystopian mystery.

••••••••

REVIEW:A BLOODY ARROGANT POWER is the first instalment in Malcolm J. Wardlaw’s SOVEREIGNS OF THE COLLAPSE dark, dystopian series following in the aftermath of the ‘Glorious Resolution’ of 2038-2040.

Told from several third person perspectives including barrister Donald Aldingford A BLOODY ARROGANT POWER is a character driven story line that looks at the fascist-type governmental control between the have and the have nots in the former United Kingdom. The year is 2106, and barrister Donald Aldingford is approached by a woman who claims his younger brother Lawrence has been sentenced to work in the slave labor camps on trumped up charges against the sovereign elites. As Donald begins to investigate the claims, he soon discovers the real world beyond their cloistered existence in the Central Enclave of London. From the genocide-like massacres of the ‘surplus people’ to the absolute rule of the all powerful sovereigns, Donald is caught between two worlds that will ultimately come to battle for power and control.

A BLOODY ARROGAN POWER is a sociological study of the ‘isms’ that looks at the suppression of the masses using any means necessary including murder, starvation, and ethnic cleansing. From the time of the Glorious Resolution, those in control (the powerful elite and self-appointed sovereigns) continue to gain power, while the proletariat, and ultimately the ‘surplus’ people are left struggling to survive with the potential of another revolution on the horizon. No one is safe; everyone is suspect; a well-placed lie could mean termination of one’s liberty and life. A dystopian world where gold and silver are the currency of choice but a life bargained for, is ultimately, a life lost to the powerful few.

A thought-provoking, gritty and dramatic look at the potential and frightening possibility of the economic and political collapse of the world as we know it. Malcolm J Wardlaw uses detailed exposition and complex language to bring A BLOODY ARROGANT POWER to life. A Bloody Arrogant Power ends on a cliff-hanger, you have been warned.

Copy supplied for reivew

Reviewed by Sandy

TRC: Hi Malcolm and welcome to The Reading Café.

Congratulations on the recent release of A BLOODY ARROGANT POWER.
Thank you!

We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Follow: Goodreads/Website/

Malcolm: I’m Canadian by birth, but get dual British nationality through my parents. At the moment I’m based in Edinburgh, UK, where I’ve lived since 2002. Before that I moved around quite a bit: Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, London, New York, Switzerland, Germany and back to the UK to live in Glasgow for a while. I’m an engineer by profession, so I tend to roam about according to where there’s work for a guy who designs industrial plants. I’m 56 years old. Besides writing, my other big interest is bicycling. I have published research over the years that corrects various damaging myths about bicycling (not that this stops the perpetuation of those myths). I also read a lot of history books.

TRC: Who or what influenced your career in writing?

Malcolm: The basic influence was being a natural born scribbler. I’ve been a scribbler since I was about 7 when I wrote my first biography (of a cuddly toy cat called Passy, who is still around somewhere looking rather mangy). Up until I was about sixteen I scribbled reams and reams of trashy war stories – never with the least ambition to get published, just for the hell of it. After that, ah, other interests took over until I was in my late twenties, when I wrote a novel about a bored engineer living in a crappy industrial town in Yorkshire who gets on his motorbike to find adventure. It was so bad. I put it at the bottom of a box. I scribbled more novels through my thirties – perhaps ten of them. I did hope to publish something, but I could never figure out how to take a raw draft and re-craft it up to a decent standard. This stumped me for many years until I resolved to slog away to the bitter end, allowing myself no pity. A Bloody Arrogant Power was the eventual result of so many redrafts and edits that I long ago lost count.

TRC: What challenges or difficulties did you encounter writing and publishing this story?

Malcolm: In writing it? The biggest challenge was starting off without any real idea where I was going, and hoping for the best. This made the writing process haphazard in the extreme, but against that, I would not have been able to build an economically and socially coherent world simply by thinking about it. It required dramatic exploration to enable me to see how a new world will likely develop on the far side of the last financial armageddon to come.

As for publishing the story, the biggest challenges arose from there being so many skills and so much know-how required to take even the first step as an Indie writer. To begin with, every accomplishment is a mistake. You have to go back and do it again, and again, and again. Very frustrating! But at length, some competence sticks.

TRC: Would you please tell us something about the premise of A BLOOD ARROGANT POWER?

Malcolm: This answer is rather long, but it’s important to understand A Bloody Arrogant Power has a serious basis.
Our global economy is foredoomed to collapse due to inherent flaws in the nature of legal tender and the social contract of affluence. A Bloody Arrogant Power imagines the world on the far side of this terminal disintegration.

Considering legal tender, in our system money is created when banks issue debt. This means that as the economy grows, debt must also grow. The debt can never be paid back, since to do so would suck money out of circulation and cause a depression. That means our economic system is actually a constant race to stay ahead of our own debt. We can do this provided we can lay our hands on cheap resources, in particular cheap oil. However, as the quality of oil reserves declines, the extraction costs go up. This means the world has to borrow more and more to make up the difference.

Concerning the social contract of affluence, this is based on a simple formula: houses + cars + easy credit + cheap foreign holidays = social calm. Every society that has achieved affluence has used this formula. It is simply the real-world action corresponding to the debt-based legal tender. The purpose of the social contract is to pacify the people whilst the top crust of oligarchs harvest immense wealth off the “farmyard” of industry. Mrs Thatcher openly admitted as much to General Pinochet back in the 1980s. Democracy adds to the illusion of a “fair and representative society”.

Now, you can appreciate that all is hunky-dory provided the economy keeps growing at least as fast as debt. The people are happy with their houses, cars and cheap holidays abroad, and the banking system holds together. But if that balance breaks down, then society muct eventually suffer a crisis.

Unfortunately, our system has been in progressive decline since the early 1970s as debt has grown and grown. Today, the only thing keeping the global system going is its own momentum, a temporary glut of Asian savings and the terrifying consequences should the tower of debt collapse.
It’s a perilous situation that all politicians ignore – they keep it right out of public discourse. But at the back of any thinking person’s mind is the certain knowledge that the situation is only a reprieve. There is no way out. It’s only a matter of time before a last, terrible crisis erupts.

A Bloody Arrogant Power is set seventy years after “The Glorious Resolution” that ended our times (the Public Era). Generations have grown up in the new world, knowing nothing else. The fantastic technical achievements we take for granted today are viewed in complete bafflement by those inhabiting a largely de-populated, simple, peaceful, callous world.

TRC: Do you have plans to write a series based upon your post-apocalyptic world? If so, how many books do you anticipate?

Malcolm: I plan to write a series of four. In addition, I will write two prequels.

TRC: What kind of research/plotting did you do, and how long did you spend researching /plotting before beginning A BLOOD ARROGANT POWER?

Malcolm: As noted above, I did no research or plotting, and paid a high price in spending years fighting my way out of a mess. Despite this, I believe the world of A Bloody Arrogant Power is more richly imagined than if I had tried to work it all out beforehand. It’s not the kind of thing you can just work out on paper. You have to get into the world and think about the detail of specific daily situations. How do they surface roads without abundant oil? (England has very limited onshore oilfields) What happens to the motorways in a society built around secretive private landowners who feed trespassers to the pigs? How are cars made if rolling mills no longer exist to make (cheap) sheet metal? How are carrier pigeons flying across private land shot down? How do people cope in the total absence of mains water, gas or electricity?

TRC: Do you believe the cover image plays a deciding factor for many readers in the process of selecting a book or new series to read?

Malcolm: It’s fundamental. I had great difficulty choosing a base image for the cover of A Bloody Arrogant Power. My problem was that this world does not feature the usual dystopian/post-apocalyptic tropes. There is no nuclear war or pandemic. There is no oppressive state, because there is no state at all, and there is no police force in the sense we understand it. There are no laws as such, just unspoken rules everyone is indoctrinated to obey if they wish to survive. In many respects it is a medieval world, and yet in other respects it is not: they have contraception, aircaft, motor ships, trucks, armoured cars and radar-guided long-range artillery. It is probably closest to the Nazi economy of late in ww2, when slave labourers built ballastic missiles. But it’s very hard to get across such an esoteric message on a cover (without giving the impression it actually is about some Nazi world). I am not entirely satisfied with either the cover or the title, but will stick with them for the moment.

TRC: When writing a storyline, do the characters direct the writing or do you direct the characters?

Malcolm: Ummm. What a tough question. Perhaps the best way I can put it is to say I drop the characters in a predicament, and the characters devise their own plans for getting back to safety. It means unexpected things do happen, and I have to revise my general plan of how I wish to push events to a climax.

TRC: The mark of a good writer is to pull the reader into the storyline so that they experience the emotions along with the characters. What do you believe a writer must do to make this happen? Where do you believe writer’s fail in this endeavor?

Malcolm: I think it involves an element of magic, to be honest. I had no idea how my writing would be received by other people until they read it. You need to be in there with the characters. You must be fired up by a genuine fascination with the scene. What are the characters standing on? How warm or cold is it? What do they think is about to happen? What emotion is ruling them in this scene? How do their plans relate to their experiences?

One of the most skilful authors I have ever read in this regard was actually a non-fiction writer describing his career as a submariner in the Second World War. His style is sparing and rarely mentions any emotion, but simply by clear description of the situation and the consequences of dangers he puts the reader down there in a steel tube deep beneath the sea (One of Our Submarines by Edward Young). Akira Yoshimura similarly has a sparing style, with a knack of capturing exactly the vivid detail that nails the experience of a scene.
If writers fail, it is because they do not capture vital details in effective prose, they smear events into lazy abstractions, they fall into the passive voice, their characters are too bland, and life is too easy for them. Effective drama is about the intensification of normal life. It’s hard, but it’s also fascinating. Without that eagerness to enagage with the drama, the story falls flat. Any writer can feel this by instinct, if they have the right instincts.

TRC: Do you listen to music while writing? If so, does the style of music influence the storyline direction? Characters?

Malcolm: No. I write in silence. Noise distracts me.

TRC: What do you believe is the biggest misconception people have about authors?

Malcolm: They don’t understand how hard it is to sustain engaging narrative. It’s taken me a long, long time just to get where I am now. My family are mostly academics. They think I’m just messing about.

TRC: What is something that few, if anyone, knows about you?

Malcolm: That would be telling!

TRC: Who is your favorite author (living or dead)?

Malcolm: I can’t give one name. George Orwell, Yvgeny Zamyatin, Boris Pasternak, Akira Yoshimura, Edward Young, Gustave Flaubert and Ernst Junger are all authors I admire enormously. I expect many will find my choice ludicrous, but there it is.

TRC: On what are you currently working?

Malcolm: Book 3 of the Sovereigns of the Collapse series. It is drafted, but needs editing.

TRC: Would you like to add anything else?

Malcolm: If your readers have got this far, I think they’ve done pretty well.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food – Christmas dinner!

Favorite Dessert – chocolate ice cream

Favorite TV Show – I rarely watch TV, but David Attenborough’s programmes are outstanding.

Last Movie You Saw – Official Secrets

Dark or Milk Chocolate – please don’t force me to choose!

Secret Celebrity Crush – Nicole Kidman

Last Vacation Destination – Nice, France.

Do you have any pets? – No

Last book you read – The Unofficial History of the Falklands War by Hugh Bicheno

TRC: Thank you Malcolm for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations on the release of A BLOODY ARROGANT POWER. We wish you
all the best.

Malcolm: Thanks! I hope I’ve not written too much.

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