tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14100681661900757672024-02-19T02:26:46.401-05:00Write Now, Right NowThoughts on writing, book reviews, guest bloggers who are writers, and other writing-related musings.
Check out my novel, <i>Mad Max Unintended Consequences</i>, on Amazon (http://amzn.to/16wZr4d )Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.comBlogger244125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-89131477429054899582015-06-26T14:00:00.000-04:002015-06-26T14:00:06.169-04:00Storyboards and Living Documents<br />
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Hi all,<br />
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<span style="line-height: normal;">I'm reblogging a great post on Sue Coletta's crime writing blog. Craig Boyack talks about using outlines, storyboards and photo repositories to inspire his stories. Hope you enjoy this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Storyboards and Living Documents</span></h1>
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<span class="sep" style="border: 0px; color: #833706; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a href="http://suecoletta.com/2015/06/17/storyboards-and-living-documents/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #824428; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="3:02 PM">June 17, 2015</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 29.25px;">Things are crazy right now for me, working with my editor and setting up a new computer — all these foreign keys make me feel like I’ve never used a computer before — but I didn’t want to leave you flat. Hearing my tales of woe, friend and fellow writer Craig Boyack sprang into action. Some of you are familiar with his site</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 29.25px;"> </span><strong style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 29.25px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: maroon; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com/" style="border: 0px; color: maroon; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Entertaining Stories</a></span></strong><span style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 29.25px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com/" style="border: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">,</a> where he shares some of the best short stories and flash fiction I’ve ever read, along with various other topics. If you get a chance stop by and say hello. While you’re there browse his Idea Mill — great fodder for creativity.</span></div>
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All yours, Craig!</div>
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When Sue asked me if I’d do a guest post I was ecstatic. Then it dawned on me that many of her readers are probably crime writers. I write speculative fiction; what the heck can I bring to crime writers?</div>
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Crime happens in speculative fiction too. It’s mostly in paranormal and science fiction, but fantasy isn’t immune. We tend to gloss over it, and build worlds that get more focus.</div>
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Then it dawned on me, <i>writer</i> is also part of the title. I can talk about writing. I tend to see things a bit differently than most, so I do things differently too. I’m going to mention some of them in this post.</div>
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I’m an unashamed outliner. I like three act structure, but I use a storyboard for my outline. There are index cards for the beginning and end of each act, the rest get filled in as I brainstorm my story. I like this method, because I can add photos, maps, sticky notes and all kinds of things. It’s possible to get pretty elaborate with projected word count, plants and payoffs, pinch points, and more.</div>
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I don’t always get that elaborate, but I like the method. A different writer might adopt the heroes journey, or fairy tale structure to a storyboard. To tell the truth, I snipe from these all the time too.</div>
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I don’t use a physical storyboard. Turns out there’s an app for that. I can take my storyboard with me on my iPad.</div>
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I also use direct feeds like my RSS reader and something called Zite Magazine. These work by subscribing to content I like and the Internet sends me data. A writer has to get ideas from somewhere. Many of my coolest story elements came to me this way.</div>
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Zite is particularly fun, because it’s smart. When I first subscribe to a category, it sends me everything it can find. As an example, when I set up a category called “voodoo” I got articles about doughnuts, beer, Jimmy Hendrix, and more. Zite lets me give articles a thumb up or down. It corrects over time and now it’s all about mojo hands and dolls with pins.</div>
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I’m sure an enterprising crime writer could do something similar. When I get enough fun ones, I post something I call The Idea Mill. My blog followers seem to really enjoy those posts. I have enough right now for the next one.</div>
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The last thing I’ll mention is living documents. I keep living documents for various reasons. Writing advice is everywhere today, and it all gets a bit repetitive. Sometimes there is a real gem posted. When I get these, the data gets summarized in my living documents. My memory isn’t what it used to be.</div>
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I keep documents about editing, writing tips, cryptids, and fantasy. There are very brief notes about the villain’s journey, Pixar secrets, and the tidbits that help me in my projects. Most of these are helpful on the editing passes. I have a whole page on suspense tips.</div>
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Sue has something similar called “<span style="border: 0px; color: maroon; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://suecoletta.com/2015/01/29/50-ways-to-murder-your-fictional-characters/" style="border: 0px; color: maroon; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">50 ways to murder your fictional character</a></span>.” If she were to add to it on occasion, it would be a living document. <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(Note from Sue: I’ve been adding. I’ll send an update once there’s enough new information to make it worthwhile.)</em></div>
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I hope I’ve provided at least one nugget you can take home with you today. Looking at things differently might help you create a major hit one day.</div>
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I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I have book I’m promoting right now. That’s part and parcel for guest posts. It’s called <span style="border: 0px; color: #003366; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://a-fwd.com/asin-com=B00UPH6BNS" style="border: 0px; color: #003366; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Will O’ the Wisp</a></strong></span>, and I think it’s my best so far. Here’s a little blurb:</div>
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There is something evil up Bergamot Holler, and it’s been targeting the Hall family for generations.</div>
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Patty Hall is fifteen years old. She loves stargazing, science fiction, and all things related to space exploration. This leaves her perfectly prepared for the wrong problem.</div>
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Patty is afraid her mother will send her to a care facility if she tells her what she’s seen. If she doesn’t figure things out soon, she’s going to join her father in the Hall family cemetery plot.</div>
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Patty has to come to grips with her own physical handicap, survive the wilderness, and face an ancient evil all alone if she’s going to survive.</div>
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Will O’ the Wisp is suitable for young adults. It involves strong elements of suspense, and is set in the mid 1970s.</div>
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Here are the Amazon links:<br />Northern American Continent <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://a-fwd.com/asin-com=B00UPH6BNS" style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://a-fwd.com/asin-com=B00UPH6BNS</a></span></span></div>
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Rest of the world <span style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://a-fwd.com/asin-com=B00UQNDT2C" style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://a-fwd.com/asin-com=B00UQNDT2C</a></span></div>
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Thank you, Sue, for having me over today. It’s a real pleasure.</div>
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Craig Boyack</div>
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No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune. – Plutarch</div>
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Follow my blog: <span style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: navy; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com/" style="border: 0px; color: navy; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com</a></span></div>
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Check out my novels here: <span style="border: 0px; color: navy; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00ILXBXUY" style="border: 0px; color: navy; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00ILXBXUY</a></span></div>
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Twitter: <span style="border: 0px; color: navy; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/Virgilante" style="border: 0px; color: navy; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">https://mobile.twitter.com/Virgilante</a></span></div>
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On Goodreads: <span style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: navy; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9841203.C_S_Boyack" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: navy; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9841203.C_S_Boyack</a></span></span></div>
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Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-59811413122258394732015-06-19T09:47:00.000-04:002015-06-19T09:47:00.487-04:00Book Review: Eyes of the Innocent by Brad Parks<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9371792-eyes-of-the-innocent" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Eyes of the Innocent (Carter Ross Mystery #2)" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317065775m/9371792.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9371792-eyes-of-the-innocent">Eyes of the Innocent</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2941328.Brad_Parks">Brad Parks</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/871503512">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Brad Parks delivers a character as funny as Stephanie Plum. Carter Ross, investigative reporter at the Newark Eagle-Examiner, shows up at a house fire where two boys died. At first he thinks this is a tragedy, two kids home alone, single mother working to put food on the table. He meets the boys' mother who should be a professional storyteller for all the lies she tells.<br />
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When Ross is assigned a perky, blond intern nicknamed Sweet Thang, he hands her a research project to check out the truth of the woman's story. It unravels just before the paper is to go to press with the heart-tugging story. Ross tries to stop it, because Sweet Thang has uncovered some of the woman's lies. <br />
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The complete story becomes so delicious that Ross can't stop investigating. Add the disappearance of a city councilman, rumors of corruption in house flipping and downright hilarious political corruption, and you have a book that will keep you turning pages until the last one. And then you'll want more.<br />
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To be transparent, I know Brad Parks. I know he's funny, profane, zany -- just like his main character. So, is Carter Ross really a thinly disguised Brad Parks? You'll have to ask him. My money is on "yes."<br />
<br />Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-81628449908813580852015-06-16T08:56:00.000-04:002015-06-16T08:56:00.367-04:00Author Interview with Michael Murphy<h1 class="entry-title" style="background-color: white; border-top-color: rgb(224, 224, 224); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 5px 0px 0px; clear: both; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 30px; margin: 20px 0px 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
This originally appeared in the SplashesIntoBooks blog.</h1>
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Author Interview: Michael Murphy</h1>
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<a href="https://splashesintobooks.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/michael-murphy.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #835504; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Michael Murphy" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-2632" src="https://splashesintobooks.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/michael-murphy.jpg?w=547" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-right: 12px; max-width: 100%;" /></a>Michael Murphy is the author of the superb ‘Jake and Laura’ mystery series of novels and kindly agreed to be interviewed for my blog. His books in this series include:</div>
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1: The Yankee Club</div>
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2: All that Glitter</div>
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3: Wings in the Dark</div>
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<a href="https://splashesintobooks.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/the-yankee-club.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #835504; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="The Yankee club" class="alignleft wp-image-2627" height="200" src="https://splashesintobooks.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/the-yankee-club.jpg?w=150&h=200" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-right: 12px; max-width: 100%;" width="150" /></a><a href="https://splashesintobooks.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/all-that-glitters.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #835504; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="All that Glitters" class=" wp-image-2628 alignleft" height="200" src="https://splashesintobooks.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/all-that-glitters.jpg?w=150&h=200" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-right: 12px; max-width: 100%;" width="150" /></a><a href="https://splashesintobooks.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/wings-in-the-dark_murphy.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #835504; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Wings in the Dark_Murphy" class=" wp-image-2602 alignleft" height="200" src="https://splashesintobooks.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/wings-in-the-dark_murphy.jpg?w=150&h=200" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-right: 12px; max-width: 100%;" width="150" /></a></div>
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On July 18th, 2015 further information about these books will be available as part of the blog tour celebrating the release of<a href="https://splashesintobooks.wordpress.com/2015/07/18/bt-wings-in-the-dark/" style="border: 0px; color: #835504; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">‘Wings in the Dark’ by clicking here</a></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: green; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: rgb(204, 255, 255) 2px 2px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Where did you get the inspiration for the series?</strong></span></em></div>
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One day I noticed Turner Classic Movies was having a Thin Man marathon. My wife and I sat down and watched the first, then the second. I’d seen most of the movies years earlier but this time I focused on the interaction between William Powell and Myrna Loy; the humor, romance and sex appeal of a likable couple. It wasn’t the stories that drove the movie series, but that interaction between characters. I decided I wanted to create two characters with that same dynamic interaction. I hope I’ve succeeded with Jake and Laura.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: green; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: rgb(204, 255, 255) 2px 2px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">What is your writing process?</strong></span></em></div>
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My process has evolved over the years when I started out as a write by the seat of your pants kind of author. With a series, it’s necessary to organize the process since what happens to the characters in the first book impacts the characters in the second and so on. I started with detailed character studies of all major and secondary characters and I construct a chapter outline before I begin. Once I start, however, as long as I haven’t contradicted anything that’s happened before, I exercise enough freedom to tweak the plot by adding additional characters or conflict.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: green; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: rgb(204, 255, 255) 2px 2px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Do you write using pen and paper or on a computer?</strong></span></em></div>
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When I’m writing, I use a computer and a legal pad for notes. However I learned early on that the most important tool for creating fiction is the sub-conscious. The creative part happens when I’m on a treadmill, driving, or sleeping. Ideas pop into my conscious so writing it down on a computer is really just a mechanical process, secondary to the creative process from my subconscious.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: green; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: rgb(204, 255, 255) 2px 2px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Who is your favourite character out of your stories and why?</strong></span></em></div>
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Although I like Jake and Laura very much, secondary characters are more fun for me to write, especially sidekicks. Gino Santoro, in The Yankee Club, is that kind of guy, a scoundrel, quick with a joke, a guy who really who drinks too much and can’t commit to women. It might be unlikable, if he wasn’t such a nice guy.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; color: green; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: rgb(204, 255, 255) 2px 2px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you were a character in your story, which would you like to be?</strong></em></span></div>
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I’d like to be Jake Donovan. He’s smart, analytical, totally in love with one woman (like me), brave and resourceful and willing to use his fists when necessary (unlike me.)</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: green; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: rgb(204, 255, 255) 2px 2px 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">How and why did you choose the names for your main characters?</strong></span></em></div>
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No one’s ever asked me this question before, and I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone this, but most of the names for my male leads often come from old John Wayne movies. By now, you probably know I’m a big fan of old movies. The Duke (Wayne) was always strong, tough and fair. His characters had names like Jake (Jacob McCandles) in Big Jake, Taw Jackson in The War Wagon and Cole Thornton in El Dorado. If my main character is strong, tough and fair, I want readers to picture them that way with a strong name. I often give secondary characters somewhat quirky names, like Gino. How did I name Laura? I just liked the name; had a classic Hollywood sound to it.</div>
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Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-1047235963337731352015-05-27T09:42:00.000-04:002015-05-27T09:42:00.551-04:00Book Review: Beneath the Stones by Susan Coryell<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25204114-beneath-the-stones" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Beneath the Stones" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1427144965m/25204114.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25204114-beneath-the-stones">Beneath the Stones</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1443982.Susan_Coryell">Susan Coryell</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1290105483">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Susan Coryell continues the saga of Ashby Overton she began in A WILD WILD ROSE. Five years later, Ashby prepares to marry her boyfriend Luke at her family estate, Overhome, which she discovers, much to her dismay, is deep in debt. It is up to her to find a way to save her horse farm.<br />
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Ashby sorts through mounds of bills run up by her aunt. Rather than holding a grudge, Ashby decides the only ways to save Overhome are to sell off 50 acres and expand her boarding and horse training business. When she hand her 12 yo nephew explore the acreage she want to sell, she discovers an old stone house and one very angry ghost. Ashby's only experience with ghosts has been with a benign spirit Rosabelle who saved her from peril in the first in this series. <br />
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To be able to more forward with her plans, Ashby must determine who the ghost is and why he wants to harm her.<br />
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A new character, a Civil WarBetsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-24692805267058179072015-05-15T15:26:00.000-04:002015-05-15T15:26:19.060-04:00Book Review: Weakest Lynx by Fiona Quinn<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25382657-weakest-lynx" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Weakest Lynx" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1429372302m/25382657.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25382657-weakest-lynx">Weakest Lynx</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1915520.Fiona_Quinn">Fiona Quinn</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1281120454">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Fiona Quinn has crafted a unique new crime fighter in Lexi Sobado. At just twenty, she has more skills than any normal human being should have. She's a Reiki master. She's a master shot. She's a martial arts expert. And, by the way, she's psychic. When she finds herself stalked, she calls on all of her skills to protect her.<br />
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Her stalker sends familiar poems rewritten to send her a message. Newly married with a husband deployed in Afghanistan, she turns to Dave, an old friend and mentor to help her. She buys a house in a run-down neighborhood to be near him. Her neighbors form a loose protective barrier around her, while Dave brings in experts to provide physical and electronic security. The security breaks down when the stalker gets inside her house and slashes her. He's driven off before he can kill her, leaving her for dead in pools of her own blood.<br />
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One of her mentors works for a private security firm, a cross between the NSA, the CIA, and the FBI. They take her to a safe house where they put her under round-the-clock monitoring. Lexi exposes layers of her backstory when Spider, the head of her team, lets her help with a couple of kidnapping cases. What happens next is the stuff of reading late into the night. The reader roots for Lexi to solve the kidnappings and identify the stalker even though she nearly dies trying to go behind the Veil and see through the victims' and kidnappers' eyes.<br />
<br />
I tried to find similar characters to Lexi. She's not Stephanie Plum, but she is funny at times. She's not a female Jack Reacher, because she has family and friends who care for her. She's not normal, but she is unique. Quinn's is a fresh voice in the often overpopulated thriller genre.<br />
<br />
I highly recommend Weakest Lynx. I can hardly wait for the next book in the series to be available.Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-90606876541637865892015-05-14T15:22:00.000-04:002015-05-14T15:22:43.407-04:00Book Review: Tom Named by Horse by Dutch Henry<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24925471-tom-named-by-horse" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Tom Named By Horse" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1423838204m/24925471.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24925471-tom-named-by-horse">Tom Named By Horse</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4712608.Dutch_Henry">Dutch Henry</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1249283811">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Dutch Henry delivers another well-told story set in the Old West this time as opposed to the current West of WE'LL HAVE THE SUMMER. Filled with fully developed characters, beautiful descriptions of the landscape and clashes between cultures, TOM NAMED BY HORSE is well worth reading.<br />
<br />
Henry brings us a main character who has no name. Orphaned at birth, he is traded from buffalo hunter to buffalo hunter and called nothing but "boy." After years of abuse, Boy kills his tormenter and takes his horse. Shortly after he is free, Boy happens upon another buffalo hunter surrounded by a group of young Sioux braves. The hunter fells two of the young men. Boy shoots the hunter and rescues the injured braves. He takes them to their village for treatment. His act of kindness earns the respect of the Sioux chief whose son he's rescued. <br />
<br />
When asked what his name is, Boy says it's Tom, which is the name of his tall gray horse. He feels safe in the village where he not only becomes friends with the chief's family but also with a half-white young woman to whom he is attracted.<br />
<br />
Against a backdrop of encroaching settlers and cavalry that want to take the land from the Native Americans, Tom finds himself torn between wanting to help his new friends and protect the settlers from renegades. The story unwinds at a leisurely pace with high-tension action scenes interspersed with quiet interludes.<br />
<br />
If there was anything I would change about this book it would be to have a better editor. I don't think Henry used the same editor he did for WE'LL HAVE THE SUMMER. While the ending seems rushed, the story sets itself up for a sequel.<br />
<br />
Anyone who likes romance set in the Old West will surely want to read this book.<br />
<br />Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-50417741724237097442015-04-05T12:00:00.000-04:002015-04-05T12:00:01.147-04:00Book Review: Cahas Mountain by Linda Kay Stevens<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25294865-cahas-mountain" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Cahas Mountain" border="0" src="https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/111x148-bcc042a9c91a29c1d680899eff700a03.png" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25294865-cahas-mountain">Cahas Mountain</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13778936.Linda_Kay_Simmons">Linda Kay Simmons</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1245838206">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Simmons introduces Rhodessa Rose, a child born into poverty in Appalachia before WWII. Living on a family farm on Cahas Mountain, Rhodessa Rose moves to the rhythm of the mountain's spirit. She feels safe and home only when she's on her beloved mountain.<br />
<br />
Enter a dashing moonshine operator, older than she, with few if any scruples. Willard Grimes courts Rhodessa Rose and marries her. She wants life with this man who drives a flashy car to be full of love and happiness. Instead, he's more interested in running moonshine than in running a house. Willard introduces Rhodessa Rose to a criminal element which puts her life in danger.<br />
<br />
Willard is drafted, leaving Rhodessa Rose alone with his family. She nurses her two sisters and mother during a tuberculosis epidemic. <br />
<br />
To say more would be to give spoilers.<br />
<br />
Simmons comes from the oral story-telling tradition. In the cadence of her language, you hear echoes of tales spun around pot-bellied stoves. The voice is both fresh and familiar.<br />
<br />
The book suffers from needing to be better formatted and edited. If you can overlook these two problems, you'll find an enjoyable read.<br />
<br />Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-74198807200494312332015-03-19T10:00:00.000-04:002015-03-19T10:00:06.186-04:00Book Review: Missing Person by Patrick Modiano<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/192378.Missing_Person" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Missing Person" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1413746957m/192378.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/192378.Missing_Person">Missing Person</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/112052.Patrick_Modiano">Patrick Modiano</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1206391143">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
I made a mistake in looking at a few reviews of this novel before I read it. I was taken by the idea of a lyrical novel about what is identity. I was looking forward to reading a mystery by a Nobel Prize winner.<br />
<br />
Had I not read the reviews and description of the novel, I'd have enjoyed it for what I thought it was: a modern existentialist novel in the style of Camus and Sartre. Once I gave up looking for a genre novel, I loved this book.<br />
<br />
Yes, there is a mystery in that the missing person, the narrator, has no idea who he is. His search is for identity, the "who am I" question. His conflict lies in desperately wanting to belong somewhere to the extent he tries on different names to see if he is that person.<br />
<br />
If a reader is looking for a mystery, this is probably not the book for you. If, however, you are looking for a study in the meaning of identity, this slim volume will entertain and inform.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3737910-betsy-ashton">View all my reviews</a>Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-1699372760998026052015-02-22T12:00:00.000-05:002015-02-22T12:00:01.581-05:00Book Review: Mercedes Wore Black by Andrea Brunais<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22530082-mercedes-wore-black" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Mercedes Wore Black" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403195994m/22530082.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22530082-mercedes-wore-black">Mercedes Wore Black</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1639063.Andrea_Brunais">Andrea Brunais</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1194662443">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Andrea Brunais has jumped into the realm of Florida-based mysteries with a well-written, finely-plotted addition to the subgenre. Along with Randy Wayne White, Carl Hiaasen and John MacDonald, Brunais has her own cast of quirky Florida characters, environmental issues and a mystery what leaves the reader wondering what is going to happen until the very end.<br />
<br />
Janis Pearl Hawk, newly fired from her job on a central Florida newspaper, needs work. When a friend offers her a chance to write a blog covering everything from local politics to corruption to environmental issues, she leaps on the opportunity. She meets with her friend, Mercedes of the title, who tells her all about the candidate for governor she works for. <br />
<br />
Enter the potential hunky maybe love interest in the guise of the gubernatorial candidate. When he offers her a job on his staff, she faces an ethical dilemma: should she give up her new-found freedom to pursue corruption or work for the man who shares much of her worldview.<br />
<br />
Tallahassee politicos, sleazy political influencers, a gay best friend and fellow journalist, several committed ecologists who are too afraid of the special interest groups provide a cast of characters that keep the reader turning pages until the grand reveal at the end. One can only hope that this is the first in a series of great Florida mysteries, this time with a female sleuth.<br />
<br />Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-34587755721376938132015-02-09T09:30:00.000-05:002015-02-09T09:30:02.173-05:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18114068-redeployment" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Redeployment" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1417987993m/18114068.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18114068-redeployment">Redeployment</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7114556.Phil_Klay">Phil Klay</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1189661350">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
While Klay may have won the National Book Award for fiction with this short story collection, he breaks no new ground it. War stories abound from WWI to Iraqistan. Some offer deep insights into the life of a soldier. Some are blatantly anti or pro-war. Some exalt warriors as heroes. Some are well written; some aren't.<br />
<br />
Had my book club not selected this work, I might not have finished it. The language in one story was little more than a list of acronyms a non-military reader wouldn't understand. I didn't "get" it. Some were little more than rehashings of Vietnam-era motifs with the desert substituted for the jungle. <br />
<br />
One touched my heart. The last one focused on a young Marine in a battery company whose long-range artillery had taken out a nest of insurgents. Or had it? The Marine's battery mates discuss how many bad guys it had killed. One wanted to see the bodies for proof. The narrator goes on a search for the dead insurgents, only to find that the hospital on his base only handled coalition casualties. The closing scene with soldiers standing silently while a fallen comrade is carried past for transport home borders on the maudlin, but just misses it.<br />
<br />
Had I not had to finish the book, I would have missed what I consider the one gem in it.Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-36301564441443862372015-01-28T13:51:00.000-05:002015-01-28T13:51:00.762-05:00Book Review: Return to Me by Kelly Moran<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20957871-return-to-me" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Return to Me (Covington Cove, #1)" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1408955785m/20957871.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20957871-return-to-me">Return to Me</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/889378.Kelly_Moran">Kelly Moran</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1133158076">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
I asked for and received an ARC for this novel. While I don't read romance all that much, I've become Kelly Moran's fan. Here she returns to a familiar theme of two broken people coming together and learning to trust each other.<br />
<br />
Ten years after Cole Covington and Mia Galdon fall in love and are torn apart by Cole’s mother, they meet again. Cole returns from the war in the Middle East with post traumatic stress disorder. When he was severely wounded, his rescuers find him holding a picture of Mia. So broken is he by the loss of some of his men in combat and by nearly losing his life that he refuses to leave his coastal home near Wilmington. <br />
<br />
Cole’s sister contacts Mia and asks her to care for Cole in his home. Unsure if she wants to see the man who broke her heart, she finally agrees to nurse Cole back to health. Her job is to get him well enough to care for himself, leave the house and return to a functional life.<br />
<br />
Romance readers will enjoy the journey of the two main characters as they try to deny they still love each other. Moran renders familiar tropes with intensity and a fresh voice.<br />
<br />
<br />Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-39874597655579236542015-01-22T08:00:00.000-05:002015-01-22T08:00:00.692-05:00Book Review: Nothing to Lose by Lee Child<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2211221.Nothing_to_Lose" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher, #12)" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388204779m/2211221.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2211221.Nothing_to_Lose">Nothing to Lose</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5091.Lee_Child">Lee Child</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1160030300">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Lee Child's twelfth Jack Reacher novel isn't as good as the earlier ones. Reacher is always himself: the loner who walks into town and routs out the bad guys.<br />
<br />
In Nothing to Lose, Reacher walks through the town of Hope, Colorado, and out the same highway to the next town, Despair. When he arrives in Despair, he stops for a cup of coffee, is arrested and charged with vagrancy, because he has no job. The fact that he doesn't want to work in Despair and take away a job from a local makes no difference to the police. Reacher is driven to the halfway point between Hope and Despair and dumped to walk back to Hope.<br />
<br />
If you know Reacher, he's not going to take this lying down, or walking around. He decides to return and find out what the town is hiding. Okay, his making a decision that the town has something to hide isn't based on anything in the book. From this point onward, it's Reacher against the town of Despair. A local female policeman provides support and a brief love interest.<br />
<br />
Plotting, scheming, trespassing, bombs. Child throws these and more into what is more of a mash up than the type of thriller he normally writes. A reader new to the Jack Reacher stories will wonder what all the fuss is about.Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-15336387993791723532014-12-26T07:40:00.000-05:002014-12-26T07:40:00.513-05:00Book Review: Deeper Than the Dead by Tami Hoad<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1747182.Deeper_Than_the_Dead" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Deeper Than the Dead (Oak Knoll, #1)" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1408930728m/1747182.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1747182.Deeper_Than_the_Dead">Deeper Than the Dead</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9890.Tami_Hoag">Tami Hoag</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1138222617">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Tami Hoag once again crafted a mystery that keeps the reader engaged from the opening when four elementary school children find a dead body in the woods until the last page.<br />
<br />
The carefully posed body, half buried, head resting on a stone, with eyes and mouth glued shut, terrifies the children and their teacher. Their safe world in a nearly crime-free town in California is safe no more. The loss of innocence of both the children and the teacher extends into the town itself.<br />
<br />
To help the police solve the crime, an FBI investigator who has helped pioneer a new profiling technique volunteers his time. Nearly crippled by the remnants of a bullet in his brain, he is not officially on the job because his doctor hasn't cleared him to work. But he is needed and so he travels from Quantico to California.<br />
<br />
Clues pile up as to the identity of the killer, leading to a wild ride filled with red herrings and all the men in the novel falling under suspicion of being the killer.<br />
<br />
Hoag offers a blend of a serial killer with a twist, a host of possible suspects, a teacher desperately trying to preserve her students' innocence and an FBI agent who needs to feel vital again. The blend works on all levels.<br />
<br />
I listened to this on a long driving trip. I recommend it for long car rides or cuddling up on a dark winter night with a cup of cocoa and the lights on.<br />
<br />Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-1585227358268507432014-12-22T07:44:00.001-05:002014-12-22T07:44:47.274-05:00Book Review: Real Santa by William Hazelgrove<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21918947-real-santa" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Real Santa" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1412531682m/21918947.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21918947-real-santa">Real Santa</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4037284.William_Hazelgrove">William Hazelgrove</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1135041157">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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<br />
We expect feel-good books at Christmas. No one wants to read a downer of a story. Heck, even A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens has a happy ending. So does REAL SANTA by William Hazelgrove.<br />
<br />
Take one father who wasn't much of a father beyond being a good provider in his first marriage. Add a second marriage with a young girl who desperately wants to keep believing in the magic of Santa. Add losing a job just before Christmas. And stir in one man's desire to keep the Santa myth alive for at least one more year. And that is REAL SANTA.<br />
<br />
Hazelgrove takes the reader back to the intersection of childhood when we could believe in magic and to growing up and out of the wonder of such magic. George decides he can really be Santa for one night. He nearly bankrupts the family trying to fulfill a promise to a child.<br />
<br />
With the help of a cast of zany characters, including a frustrated Australian film director who turns the idea into a full-fledged production and a man who raises and leases reindeer. George works night and day to put together the pieces of getting live reindeer up onto his roof and him down the chimney.<br />
<br />
The story stands on its own and belongs on the shelf of Christmas stories for decades to come.<br />
<br />
I won't be a spoiler, but it does have a happy ending. <br />
<br />Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-65660486089039402092014-11-28T12:00:00.000-05:002014-11-28T12:00:03.272-05:00Mad Max Serialization, Chapter Two Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge42_yUMFivf36JW_GmPLCNydnbgYQHRaUIApHx-gG6OWPs6cFUNxAcqa5AedQXhUUDEUvl1x6TByvD1_BAsj0nm77GSwyhpkLi-cqZBh0g8OH2N07uG0UCdQ_N9mV2N9qw2tNu2V7q0g/s1600/Max+1+Cover3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge42_yUMFivf36JW_GmPLCNydnbgYQHRaUIApHx-gG6OWPs6cFUNxAcqa5AedQXhUUDEUvl1x6TByvD1_BAsj0nm77GSwyhpkLi-cqZBh0g8OH2N07uG0UCdQ_N9mV2N9qw2tNu2V7q0g/s1600/Max+1+Cover3.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
Less than four hours after I spoke with Bette, I walked down<br />
the center aisle of that last plane to National with a connection to<br />
Richmond and found my seat. The last one in the middle of the last<br />
row. I squeezed between a large woman in the window seat and an<br />
even larger man on the aisle. I fetched the toy from my bag and held<br />
it in my lap. I closed my eyes and leaned against the back of the<br />
upright seat. I couldn’t recline an inch since there was a bathroom<br />
right behind me. Before I realized what was happening, memories,<br />
like an old movie, began their thousandth rerun in my head.<br />
<br />
<br />
My husband Norm and I returned from a Friday night dinner<br />
date. We laughed and talked about stopping at the farm store for ice<br />
cream and cones for the kids.<br />
<br />
I looked past Norm in the passenger seat. Two pairs of headlights<br />
raced toward me. Before I could react, one car slammed into the<br />
passenger side and spun us out of control. The second car braked<br />
and veered to the right, rolled over in a corn field and exploded in<br />
a fireball.<br />
<br />
I was pinned to the driver’s door, my husband’s bleeding body in<br />
my arms. The driver of the lead car stared at me out of dead eyes, his<br />
body halfway through his windshield. I couldn’t see Norm’s face, but<br />
his blood soaked my lap. I was sure I held a dead man. I screamed<br />
and screamed before passing out.<br />
<br />
<br />
I stopped the movie at the end of the first reel, unable to watch<br />
it from beginning to end. I wanted to look out the window, but the<br />
woman had pulled down the shade and stuffed her pillow into the<br />
recess. I stared at the top of a balding head in the fully-reclined seat<br />
in front of me and sighed. I was one second away from pitching a<br />
fit and elbowing the people beside me. If either moved a hair, I’d be<br />
squished. I wanted to cry and wring my hands, but I couldn’t. Not in<br />
public. Instead, I stroked the toy, finding solace in its familiar worn<br />
spots.<br />
<br />
<br />
I revived as the fire department cut me free. I thrashed and<br />
screamed, “Please. My children. Take me to my children!” My<br />
stomach convulsed, and I thought I’d throw up. Instead, I hiccupped.<br />
A doctor set my broken wrist, told me there was nothing he<br />
could do for my ribs, and kept me in the hospital overnight to be sure<br />
I didn’t have a concussion. The next day, my sister-in-law brought<br />
fresh clothes and drove me home. I sleepwalked into the house to<br />
deal with two distraught kids.<br />
<br />
<br />
The jet bounced to a landing in Richmond so uncomfortable it<br />
threw us against our seat belts and sent loose items racing down the<br />
aisle. I might not have been able to move side to side, but nothing<br />
stopped me from lurching forward. Had there been any room in the<br />
overheads, sure as hell items would have shifted during flight.<br />
<br />
I grabbed a cab, phoned the Colonel, and fretted most of the way<br />
to VCU. When the taxi pulled up at the emergency room entrance,<br />
I put on my I’m-wearing-my-big-girl-panties-and-can-deal-with anything<br />
face and marched through the automatic doors. The<br />
Colonel met me, held me in a worried hug, and took charge of my<br />
roll-aboard. Door to door, it was less than twelve hours since Bette’s<br />
call.<br />
<br />
“No news."<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #c0b08a; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20.2859992980957px;">Available on </span><a href="http://amzn.to/1ugmD3s" style="background-color: #c0b08a; color: #993322; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20.2859992980957px; text-decoration: none;">Amazon</a><span style="background-color: #c0b08a; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20.2859992980957px;"> for $1.99</span>Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-78261608931694694122014-11-25T12:00:00.000-05:002014-11-25T12:00:04.737-05:00Mad Max Serialization, Chapter One Part 5<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge42_yUMFivf36JW_GmPLCNydnbgYQHRaUIApHx-gG6OWPs6cFUNxAcqa5AedQXhUUDEUvl1x6TByvD1_BAsj0nm77GSwyhpkLi-cqZBh0g8OH2N07uG0UCdQ_N9mV2N9qw2tNu2V7q0g/s1600/Max+1+Cover3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge42_yUMFivf36JW_GmPLCNydnbgYQHRaUIApHx-gG6OWPs6cFUNxAcqa5AedQXhUUDEUvl1x6TByvD1_BAsj0nm77GSwyhpkLi-cqZBh0g8OH2N07uG0UCdQ_N9mV2N9qw2tNu2V7q0g/s1600/Max+1+Cover3.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a>Eleanor and Raney talked over each other in their efforts to find<br />
out what happened. I told them what little I knew. Our cab hit every<br />
possible red light as we made our way uptown where shoppers and<br />
tourists thronged the sidewalks in spite of the cold wind. Our driver<br />
stomped on the brake when a couple stepped into traffic without<br />
looking. When we stopped in front of my building on the Upper East<br />
Side, my doorman hurried to help. Eleanor asked him to call my car<br />
service.<br />
<br />
Raney took charge of getting my bag packed. “You find a flight.<br />
We’ll do the rest.”<br />
<br />
I worked my phone until I found the last seat on a US Airways<br />
flight to Richmond through Washington National. I had just over<br />
two hours to pack and get to LaGuardia. I glanced out the window.<br />
Oh great. Snow.<br />
<br />
“How long do you think you will be gone?” Eleanor moved<br />
through my bedroom, selected clothes, folded them, and put them<br />
into my roll-aboard suitcase.<br />
<br />
“No idea. A week, probably.”<br />
<br />
I stood helpless near the window and looked across Park Avenue<br />
into the snowy park. Please don’t let Merry die.<br />
<br />
With all that was on my mind, I forgot to change out of my<br />
standard gallery attire— cashmere sweater, matching wool trousers,<br />
scarf, and boots. I’d been channeling Ingrid Bergman, elegant and<br />
understated.<br />
<br />
I called the hospital but got the runaround. An emergency room<br />
nurse told me she couldn’t give out patient information; it was<br />
against regulations. I wanted to shout “Regulations, my ass! I’m her<br />
mother!” but I knew it would do no good.<br />
<br />
I called the Colonel. He hadn’t seen Merry. When he arrived, a<br />
half-dozen doctors were in a curtained-off area at the back of the<br />
emergency room. He used his colonel’s voice, but the ER nurse was<br />
adamant.<br />
<br />
“Should’ve been a drill sergeant.”<br />
<br />
The Colonel’s words made me smile for the first time since Bette<br />
called.<br />
<br />
I called Emilie next. She was scared and worried about her<br />
mother.<br />
<br />
“I feel Mom’s dying.”<br />
<br />
“I’m on my way. My flight leaves in a couple of hours. If you<br />
find out anything, text. Okay?”<br />
<br />
“Okay.”<br />
<br />
My phone buzzed again with a text from Alex. “I beat Em at Clue<br />
last night. Mom wrecked her car.”<br />
<br />
I held out the phone to Eleanor and Raney. “Trust a ten-year-old<br />
to have his priorities straight.”<br />
<br />
I walked toward my apartment door then stopped and took a<br />
detour into a guest bedroom. I rummaged through a drawer until I<br />
found a battered toy, which I tucked into my shoulder bag.<br />
<br />
Raney opened the door, and we left my apartment. The ten<br />
seconds we waited for the elevator seemed like an hour.<br />
<br />
“Try and keep things on the ‘on’ side with Merry.” Raney put<br />
her arm around my waist. I heard “before it’s too late” even though<br />
Raney was too diplomatic to say so.<br />
<br />
“Make this a wake-up call.”<br />
<br />
I hugged my friends, promised to call, and stepped into my car.<br />
<br />
“I’ll do my best. Just hope it’s good enough.”<br />
<br />
Raney blocked the door. “Did you ever think we’d see Maxine<br />
Davies have a Mommy two-dot-oh moment, Eleanor?”<br />
<br />
“Certainly not.”<br />
<br />
“Merry’ll tell you I wasn’t good at Mommy one dot oh.”<br />
<br />
“Well, now you have a second opportunity.”<br />
<br />
“Life is giving you a ...,” Eleanor fumbled for a word, “doo-wop.”<br />
<br />
“Do over.” Raney laughed.<br />
<br />
“You guys are giving me a do over?”<br />
<br />
“Don’t blow it.” Raney shut the car door and stepped back. Both<br />
women waved goodbye.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #c0b08a; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20.2859992980957px;">Available on </span><a href="http://amzn.to/1ugmD3s" style="background-color: #c0b08a; color: #993322; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20.2859992980957px; text-decoration: none;">Amazon</a><span style="background-color: #c0b08a; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20.2859992980957px;"> for $1.99</span>Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-65333309199391329242014-11-23T12:00:00.000-05:002014-11-23T12:00:02.769-05:00Mad Max Serialization, Chapter One Part 4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge42_yUMFivf36JW_GmPLCNydnbgYQHRaUIApHx-gG6OWPs6cFUNxAcqa5AedQXhUUDEUvl1x6TByvD1_BAsj0nm77GSwyhpkLi-cqZBh0g8OH2N07uG0UCdQ_N9mV2N9qw2tNu2V7q0g/s1600/Max+1+Cover3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge42_yUMFivf36JW_GmPLCNydnbgYQHRaUIApHx-gG6OWPs6cFUNxAcqa5AedQXhUUDEUvl1x6TByvD1_BAsj0nm77GSwyhpkLi-cqZBh0g8OH2N07uG0UCdQ_N9mV2N9qw2tNu2V7q0g/s1600/Max+1+Cover3.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
Eleanor tipped the coat check girl, and we walked out into the<br />
New York winter cold. Crosstown wind made me pull my trench coat<br />
tighter around me. Raney stepped off the curb and flagged down a<br />
taxi. The skies had dropped since we entered the gallery, and the<br />
smell of snow was in the air.<br />
<br />
I gave the girls a thumbnail account of Bette’s call.<br />
“Could she be overreacting?” Eleanor knew of Bette but not how<br />
she might behave in a crisis.<br />
<br />
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen her in an emergency.”<br />
Before I could press the recall button, a text came through.<br />
<br />
“Mom’s hurt bad. I’m scared. Please come home.”<br />
Emilie.<br />
<br />
I sent my granddaughter a text and called Bette. “What<br />
happened?”<br />
<br />
“The police called this morning. Her car ran off the road last<br />
night. She’s hurt real bad.” There was fear in Bette’s voice. “The<br />
Colonel is at the hospital, but he doesn’t know much more than I do.<br />
All the police could tell us was that they found her car this morning.”<br />
<br />
“I don’t understand.”<br />
<br />
"I’ll tell you more later. She’s in surgery. A herd of specialists are<br />
working on her.”<br />
<br />
“But—”<br />
<br />
“Just hurry, please.”<br />
<br />
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I clamped down on my emotions<br />
and tried not to panic. “Where’s Whip?”<br />
<br />
“He’s been in the Middle East for several weeks. He’s due home<br />
today. We’ve tried reaching him, but no luck. He’s probably in the<br />
air. We had the kids overnight and got the call this morning when<br />
the Colonel and I were driving them home.”<br />
<br />
“How did they find you?”<br />
<br />
“I don’t know. Anyway, the Colonel dropped the children and<br />
me at their house and went straight to the hospital. Call me here. Oh,<br />
here’s the Colonel’s cell number.”<br />
<br />
Bette rattled off a series of numbers. Before I could fumble for<br />
a piece of paper, Eleanor held up a small notebook and a silver pen.<br />
I repeated the number to be certain I heard it right. Eleanor jotted<br />
it down.<br />
<br />
“One more thing. The EMTs airlifted Merry to Virginia<br />
Commonwealth Medical Center, not County.”<br />
<br />
“Why?”<br />
<br />
“VCU has a better trauma center.”<br />
<br />
“I see. I’ll be in touch. Thanks.” I shut the phone.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #c0b08a; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20.2859992980957px;">Available on </span><a href="http://amzn.to/1ugmD3s" style="background-color: #c0b08a; color: #993322; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20.2859992980957px; text-decoration: none;">Amazon</a><span style="background-color: #c0b08a; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20.2859992980957px;"> for $1.99</span>Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-48976688515438456912014-11-20T12:00:00.000-05:002014-11-20T12:00:03.431-05:00Mad Max Serialization, Chapter One Part 3And the saga continues.<br />
<br />
I milled around wall-to-wall people who sipped wine and talked<br />
about the new hot artist having his first New York showing at<br />
Primary Colors.<br />
<br />
The crowd churned and whirled, groups forming and reforming<br />
near the artist holding court in a rear corner. Servers danced around<br />
patrons and offered wine and hors d’oeuvres on silver trays. Tiny<br />
napkins and toothpicks drifted to the floor in a rain of elegant litter.<br />
New guests brought welcome cold air into the room’s stuffy heat. It<br />
was nearly February. Had the opening been earlier in the winter,<br />
expensive perfume would have warred with mothball-protected<br />
coats. Mothballs would have won.<br />
<br />
Nancy Blair, owner of Primary Colors, worked her way through<br />
the crowd and gave me the requisite number of air kisses, two near<br />
each cheek. She did the same with Raney and Eleanor, who then<br />
moved off to look at the paintings and drawings hanging on matte white<br />
walls. Nancy linked her arm through mine and led me toward<br />
the artist.<br />
<br />
“Wait till you meet him, Mrs. Davies. He’s positively the most<br />
amazing painter I’ve had in the gallery in years.” Nancy’s breathless<br />
delivery was all gush.<br />
<br />
As we struggled through the crowd, my cell phone buzzed. I<br />
didn’t recognize the number, frowned, and flipped up the cover. I<br />
shrugged an apology at Nancy.<br />
<br />
“Hello.”<br />
<br />
“Maxine? Is that you?”<br />
<br />
“Yes.” I pressed a finger against my free ear to block the ambient<br />
din.<br />
<br />
“It’s Bette.”<br />
<br />
Bette? It took me a second. Right, Merry’s mother-in-law. She<br />
rarely called.<br />
<br />
“What’s wrong?”<br />
<br />
“It’s Merry. She’s been in an accident.”<br />
<br />
Merry? Hurt?<br />
<br />
“Come home, Maxine. She may not make it.”<br />
<br />
I hitched my handbag up on my shoulder, my brain spinning<br />
from Bette’s message.<br />
<br />
“I’ve got to get out of this noise. I’ll call you right back.”<br />
I shut the phone, waved at my girlfriends, and pointed toward<br />
the coat check.<br />
<br />
“I have an emergency,” I apologized to Nancy. “I have to leave.”<br />
“I’ll hold Two Sisters for you.”<br />
<br />
“Maxine, you look like a ghost crossed your grave. What is<br />
wrong?”<br />
<br />
Available on <a href="http://amzn.to/1ugmD3s">Amazon</a> for $1.99Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-12831538004504787592014-11-18T12:00:00.000-05:002014-11-18T12:00:01.373-05:00Mad Max Serialization, Chapter One Part 2We continue with Chapter One. Remember, all I ask is to tell your friends if you like the book.<br />
<br />
Truth be told, I let Merry dictate the terms of our contact with<br />
each other, even though I knew I was taking the coward’s way out.<br />
I’d asked Merry more than once why she seemed distant so much of<br />
the time, but she refused to discuss it. I couldn’t force her to forgive<br />
me for whatever infractions I committed while raising her. All I<br />
could do was maintain as calm a demeanor as possible.<br />
<br />
“Hey, I scheduled my annual ski trip.” I wasn’t in the mood for<br />
a discussion on something so touchy.<br />
<br />
“Changing the subject?” Raney winked at me.<br />
<br />
“Sure am.”<br />
<br />
Henri brought our salads and disappeared. We ate in near<br />
silence for a few minutes.<br />
<br />
“What do you think about this new artist? He’s supposed to be<br />
all the rage in Europe.”<br />
<br />
We always ate at Le Bistro when one of our favorite art galleries<br />
had an opening. Otherwise, SoHo was way too far off our beaten<br />
path.<br />
<br />
“Did you see his catalog?” Raney asked.<br />
<br />
“I did. He is too avant-garde for me. I prefer more conventional<br />
art where I can actually recognize what the artist painted.” Eleanor<br />
pulled the catalog from her handbag and flipped it open to a couple<br />
of abstract pieces. “Take this one. I do not see ‘Forest and Trees’ in<br />
this swirl of orange, yellow, and red.”<br />
<br />
“Maybe it’s a forest fire.” I didn’t like the painting because the<br />
colors were too vivid. I was, however, interested in a mid-sized<br />
portrait of two sisters in more muted colors. I pointed to the painting<br />
in the catalog. “I really want this one. So peaceful.”<br />
<br />
“Where would you hang it? You don’t have much wall space left.”<br />
<br />
Raney was right. I’d hung way too many prints and oils<br />
throughout my apartment.<br />
<br />
“Probably in my bedroom. I’ll move something.”<br />
<br />
We lingered over lunch and gossip until half an hour after the<br />
official opening of the gallery to avoid the crush of patrons pushing<br />
to enter.<br />
<br />
Available on <a href="http://amzn.to/1ugmD3s">Amazon </a>for only $1.99.Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-25255572954626045932014-11-16T12:00:00.000-05:002014-11-16T12:00:00.499-05:00Kicking Off Mad Max Serialization, Chapter OneBeginning on November 16, I will serialize <i>Mad Max Unintended Consequences</i> through this blog and its subsequent links in social media. Why? Three reasons, actually.<div>
<ol>
<li>I want to attract new readers.</li>
<li>My publisher Koehler Books is offering the e-book for $1.99 on <a href="http://amzn.to/1ugmD3s">Amazon </a>until further notice.</li>
<li>Book two in the series, <i>Mad Max Uncharted Territory</i> is set for publication in June 2014.</li>
</ol>
<div>
I will release bits of the first novel on this blog on <b>Sundays</b>, <b>Tuesdays </b>and <b>Thursdays </b>to entice you to pick up the book on Amazon. I track my sales carefully. I'd like to see them bump up before the holidays and continue until Max 2 comes out. Only you can help.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Please tell you friends about the serialization. Writers, please share the posts with your readers. Readers, please tell other readers. My thanks in advance.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We begin with Chapter One.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
Raney and Eleanor, two of my dearest friends, sat at a small</div>
<div>
table in Le Bistro in SoHo, gossiping about their grandchildren. I</div>
<div>
tossed my ankle-length mink trench and fedora atop their coats and</div>
<div>
slid onto an empty chair. Henri placed a cup of coffee beside me,</div>
<div>
offered a short list of lunch specials, and vanished into the back.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“Why do we call him ‘Henri’?” Raney asked. “His name’s Barney.”</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“Same reason my grandkids call me Mad Max. It fits.”</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We scanned the menu we all knew by heart. Henri returned,</div>
<div>
took our orders, and left. Talk returned to our grandchildren. Raney</div>
<div>
brought me up to date on what her darlings were doing: school</div>
<div>
dances, track meets, mid-year tests. All the usual stuff.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“My granddaughter’s pregnancy is not going as well as it should.”</div>
<div>
Eleanor’s perfect, slightly old-fashioned diction revealed her uppercrust</div>
<div>
British upbringing. “I may go to Phoenix to help.”</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“Oh, dear,” said Raney. “I hope it’s not like her first one.”</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“We will not know for a month or two.”</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I felt a familiar itch of envy for the easy relationships Eleanor</div>
<div>
and Raney enjoyed with their daughters. So normal.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“How are your grandkids, Max?” Raney asked.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“Great. Alex can’t stop buzzing about his ice hockey team.</div>
<div>
They’re having their first winning season. He’s so psyched. Em texts</div>
<div>
about her next school break. She wants to visit.”</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I talked to or texted with Alex and Emilie every day since their</div>
<div>
father, Whip, gave them cell phones for Christmas. I had more fun</div>
<div>
with my grandkids than I’d had with my own two children. Maybe it</div>
<div>
was because I had almost no responsibility except to love and spoil</div>
<div>
them. Maybe it was because I could send them back to their parents</div>
<div>
when I got tired.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“What about Merry? When was the last time you talked to her?”</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“Last week. She complained about how cold January has been.”</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“She should live in New York.” Raney shook her head and</div>
<div>
laughed.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My daughter and I had an off-again, on-again relationship,</div>
<div>
which started after her father’s death when she was eleven. I wanted</div>
<div>
us to be more “on” than “off” and worked hard to pick my words so</div>
<div>
she wouldn’t take offense. It didn’t take much to set her off at times.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“I was in Richmond over Christmas and spent all my time with</div>
<div>
the kids. They have their own phones now, so I call them directly. I</div>
<div>
call Merry just once a week. I don’t want to meddle.”</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“Why do you let her get away with placing such restrictions on</div>
<div>
your relationship?” Eleanor asked.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“She reminds me grandparents have privileges, not rights. I</div>
<div>
can’t lose contact, so I play by her rules."</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Chapter One continues on Tuesday,</div>
Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-77376050621442713612014-10-23T09:38:00.000-04:002014-10-23T09:38:18.831-04:00Book Review: The Viral Storm by Nathan Wolfe<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11129776-the-viral-storm" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1408574266m/11129776.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11129776-the-viral-storm">The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4794859.Nathan_Wolfe">Nathan Wolfe</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1069971094">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
Nathan Wolfe's The Viral Storm should be required reading for everyone talking or worrying hysterically about the current Ebola outbreak. An internationally recognized expert in the fields of viral forecasting, immunology, infectious diseases and human biology, Dr. Wolfe's book reads like a primer rather than a text book. His language is approachable for all readers.<br />
<br />
He breaks down how viruses, both good and evil, developed alongside humans. He tracks the history of viruses that are benign. We need them in our bodies to process food and protect us from the evil viruses.<br />
<br />
His discussions on how deadly viruses move from animal hosts to human hosts are the stuff of thrillers. Some, he points out, infect an individual and kill it, thereby stopping the transmission. Others, like HIV, swine flu and bird flu, are transmitted from human to human. Some,like Ebola and HIV, can only be transmitted through contact with bodily fluids. Others, swine and bird flu, are actually more dangerous because they easily pass through the human population by droplets in the air.<br />
<br />
I bought this book for research for a mystery I'm writing. The book works on that dimension. More importantly, it works as an educational work that takes the hysteria out of pandemics by talking calmly about what these viruses are, how they are transmitted and how they can be forecast at the beginning of an outbreak before it becomes an epidemic or, worse, a pandemic.<br />
<br />
I urge anyone interested in learning about illnesses to read this book. You will be better informed. Dr. Wolfe's journey is mankind's.<br />
<br />Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-73717850195442750602014-10-16T15:09:00.000-04:002014-10-16T15:09:29.921-04:00Book Review: Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past by Sharyn McCrumb<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21526881-nora-bonesteel-s-christmas-past" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past: A Ballad Novella" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1408585438m/21526881.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21526881-nora-bonesteel-s-christmas-past">Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past: A Ballad Novella</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/317.Sharyn_McCrumb">Sharyn McCrumb</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1080827103">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Fans of Sharyn McCrumb's ballad series need wait no longer for a new Nora Bonesteel story. NORA BONESTEEL'S CHRISTMAS PAST offers McCrumb at her best with two parallel stories centered around Christmas Eve.<br />
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In the primary story, Nora Bonesteel, she with the Sight, welcomes a new family in the old Honeycutt place next to her family home on the mountain. Summer people have decided to spend the holiday season instead of returning to Florida. Shirley Haverty wants to be friends with Nora but lacks knowledge of mountain traditions. She's too pushy at first, although she gradually backs off. When she arrives on Nora's doorstep one morning with a tale of her house being haunted, Nora invites her in, listens to the story and has an idea about what is happening in the parlor over at the Honeycutt mansion. She's sure her old friend is keeping a promise to be home by Christmas. The promise was made in the Second World War.<br />
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A parallel story involving the sheriff and his deputy takes the two on a trip up a mountain just as bad weather sets in. Pressured by a prominent politician to arrest a man for hitting his wife's car over in Tennessee and running from the accident send the two men on a journey they aren't likely to forget. They find their quarry, an old man living in a rundown farm house, at the end of a gravel lane. When they try to get the man to go with them, he agrees but is concerned for his aging wife. She needs firewood. A window in the bathroom lets in icy air. The two lawmen help split and stack firewood and reglaze the window. Darkness comes early. Before they can leave, the old man notices his cattle have gotten out of the barn. Again, the two lawmen help.<br />
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I won't tell you what happens in either story, but long-time fans will not be disappointed. The richness of McCrumb's detail, her deep knowledge of mountain tradition, her acknowledgement that prying is a breach of good manners combine to bring us a heartwarming read.<br />
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Yes, it's about Christmas. More, it's about human nature. <br />
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Received through NetGalley before I bought the book for my collection.<br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3737910-betsy-ashton">View all my reviews</a>Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-88499489473869791942014-10-02T08:35:00.001-04:002014-10-02T08:35:40.382-04:00Book Review: Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6596547-mockingbird" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Mockingbird" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1301271068m/6596547.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6596547-mockingbird">Mockingbird</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/688672.Kathryn_Erskine">Kathryn Erskine</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1057286891">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Kathryn Erskine imagines what it would be like for a ten-year-old child to have to deal with the death of her brother. (No spoiler here) Caitlin has Asperger's syndrome and sees her world as black and white. She literally interprets what goes on around her, doesn't know how to read people's moods and has many of the tics and behaviors we associate with someone who finds the world confusing.<br />
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Until The Day Our Life Fell Apart, Devon translates the world for Caitlin. When students and teachers at his middle school are gunned down, Caitlin is set adrift. Her father has difficulty coping with her while trying to understand his own grief.<br />
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Caitlin's best friend is her dictionary. She learns two words, closure and empathy, that help her help her father.<br />
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Erskine wrote the manuscript after the Virginia Tech shootings and before Sandy Hook. Through Caitlin she explains the unexplainable. <br />
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A wonderful read for people of all ages.Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-58720800518801513112014-10-01T08:26:00.000-04:002014-10-01T08:26:39.294-04:00Book Review: 400 Things Cops KnowSometimes I buy a book because I think it will be good for research in the future. I usually scan it, pick up and read random chapters and put it on the shelf. Then I bought <i>400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman </i>by Adam Plantinga, I thought I'd follow the same pattern. So did not happen.<br />
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I don't know what I expected, but Plantinga delivered so much more information in a way that made this list of "things" a page turner. Well written with terrific organization, the book falls into chapters like "16 Things Cops Know about Booze and Drugs." Each chapter has a theme and a series of short entries. "You'll read about people on their fifth DUI conviction, their seventh, their ninth. It's enough to make you look around at the way other countries do things. Drive drunk in Finland and the punishment is a year of hard labor."<br />
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"If you encounter an assault victim in the 'hood who has been punched in the mouth and is missing teeth, ask him if his teeth were knocked out tonight or had they already been like that. It is a wholly appropriate question, for dental hygiene is one of many casualties of the urban environment."<br />
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For a writer, Plantinga's blunt and often humorous style should help us be better writers. Why? Because for one thing, he takes us inside a cop's head so we can look at the world through his eyes. Because he debunks so much of what we watch on television. It should come as no shock that the needs for visual drama trump policing procedures.<br />
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Take the Miranda bugaboo. Cops in real life don't immediately read a perp his rights. "As a police officer, you are required to read someone their rights only after they are in police custody <i>and</i> you have begun interrogating them about an offense. Custody plus interrogation equals Miranda, not before."<br />
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Chasing a perp isn't high on Plantinga's list of preferred activities. Many reasons. You don't usually stand a chance of catching a fleet-footed youth. You don't know what's around the corner and down an alley. You may have spent too much time at the Donut Diner. And female cops and detectives NEVER, EVER chase a suspect in high heels. Sure way to break an ankle. Besides, you won't catch him.<br />
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I ordered this before it was released. When it arrived, I fell on it like a starving person finding a chocolate cache.<br />
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For my mystery writer peeps out there, stop reading this and order it. Read it. Return to it often. I plan to.<br />
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Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1410068166190075767.post-87484165724951747302014-09-16T11:08:00.000-04:002014-09-16T11:08:24.081-04:00Book Review: The Forest for the Trees by Betsy LernerFirst of all, I love any writer who shares a first name with me. Betsy Lerner and I are also writers. Beyond that, I doubt there are many similarities.<br />
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Lerner divides her book into two main sections: writing and publishing. She makes clear that these are not the same, although no one is published without writing first. She explains that there are different types of writers. The ambivalent writer has so many ideas for projects that few if any are begun, let alone finished. The natural writer, a rare beast, perhaps even an endangered species, seems to have all the right words in all the right order without having to learn the craft of writing. The wicked child uses her family as the jumping off point for characters and plots. Right or wrong, often she trashes her family all in the name of art. Others are the self-promoter, the neurotic and those touching fire. Most writers will find themselves in one if not more of her types.<br />
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In the second half of the book, publishing, Lerner gives terrific advice on seeking and landing an agent (she herself is one and knows of what she writes), handling rejection (even Stephen King garnered a stack of rejections before his first sale), knowing what editors are looking for, knowing what you as a writer wants, working on the book with your editor and marketing your work after publication.<br />
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I recommend this to anyone who is starting out as a writer. Lerner pulls no punches yet leaves you laughing at some of her lessons. They serves beginning authors well. Those of us who have published a book or books already can still learn from this book. It's a reference book full of common sense and oft overlooked advice on how to behave as a writer.<br />
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It should be on every writer's bookshelf -- after the writer has read it.Betsy Ashtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06871010122475160477noreply@blogger.com0