Jerold Last

Authorsday

1. How long have you been writing?

About 1.5 years with respect to fiction, but I spent a lot of time thinking about it before I actually tried to write my first novel. However, I've been writing scientific papers for my entire adult life.

2. How did you pick the genre you write in?

My lifelong hobby has been reading mystery novels, especially the California mystery novels of my favorite authors, Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, Michael Connelly, Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series, and Robert Crais, and wandering out of California, Robert B. Parker's Spenser series and James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux stories. My interest in writing my own mysteries came from reading the masters and from teaching a Freshman seminar for many years at the University of California's Davis campus on California Mystery Novels.

3. Did you encounter any obstacles in researching it?

No. The settings and locales for all of these novels are authentic; I've lived previously in Salta, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay during a sabbatical leave, and have ongoing collaborations with local scientists in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. The Matador Murders, set in Montevideo and Santiago, Chile, is the fourth book in this series, following The Empanada Affair, set in Salta in Northwest Argentina, The Ambivalent Corpse, set in Montevideo, Uruguay and the surrounding region, including Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, and The Surreal Killer, set in Peru and Northern Chile's Atacama Desert region. I try to write books that are fast moving and entertain the reader, while introducing the readers to a region where I've lived and worked that is a long way from home for most English speakers.

Montevideo, Salta, Machu Picchu, and Iguazu Falls are characters in these books, and I hope that some of you feel that you'd like to visit these places because they seem so vivid and real.

4. What was the name of the first novel you wrote? Did you try to publish it?

"The Empanada Affair". Your readers can buy a copy for $0.99 from Amazon. Smashwords, Apple, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, or any of the other usual e-book outlets. In my opinion it's not nearly as good as anything else I've written, but you can certainly see me looking for my voice and characters, which are much better done in the subsequent books, and basically learning how to write a mystery novel.

5. How many rejections have you received?

It depends on how you keep score. If we're talking about mystery novels, due to the wonders of self-publishing as an Indie author on Amazon, the answer is none. If we include my larger body of more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers in biochemistry, toxicology, and pulmonary medicine, the number of rejections received is a whole lot higher than that. There are some similarities between scientific writing and writing fiction that have allowed me to learn a lot about the mechanics of writing before I ever tried to write my first novel.

6. If you have a day job, what is it?

I'm a Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of California's Medical School at Davis, near Sacramento in Northern California. I have a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry and do research in asthma and health effects of air pollution on the lungs, as well as teaching and administrative stuff.

7. What’s your writing schedule?

When you have a full time job in a profession, as I do, and the constant need to be your own publicist as a self-published author, the writing schedule is whenever I can.

8. What other time period besides your own would you like to experience?

I think at or near the top of the list would be the Wild West of the USA of 1870-1895. I could have been a gunfighter, stagecoach robber, or U.S. Marshal, since I'm a very good shot with a handgun and an excellent marksman with a rifle.

9. What do you do when you are not writing?

When I'm not writing, working, trying to sell books by social networking, or editing novels and short stories, I enjoy walking (and hunting) with the German Shorthaired Pointers my wife breeds, playing with our children and grandchildren, eating ethnic foods, and curling up on the couch with a dog or two to watch TV.

10. Who is your greatest cheerleader?

My wife, Elaine. She also helps edit everything I write. Honorable mention should go to some of the experienced writers on Facebook who have been generous with their advice and support.

Author Bio

Jerry's South American Mystery series includes the newest novel, The Matador Murders, set in Montevideo, Uruguay and Santiago, Chile, The Empanada Affair, set in Salta in Northwest Argentina, The Ambivalent Corpse, set in Montevideo, Uruguay and the surrounding region, and The Surreal Killer, set in Peru and Northern Chile's Atacama Desert region. All of these mystery novels are available as Kindle books from Amazon; the first two books are also available from Smashwords, Apple, Nook, and Kobo. A fifth book in this series, The Body in the Parking Structure, is an 11,600-word novelette set in Los Angeles available from Amazon.

Book Blurb

The Matador Murders, a new South American mystery novel, is set in Montevideo, Uruguay and Santiago, Chile. With apologies to reality, the Montevideo of this novel is much like the lawless Chicago of the prohibition years. That’s part of the fun of writing fiction----an author can turn one of the most law-abiding and civilized big cities in the world into the wild, wild west of the 19th century American frontier with the stroke of a pen (that’s a metaphor; it's more the click of a keyboard these days).

Love and Not Destroy

ExcerpTuesday

Sandra Carey Cody

“WHO LEARNS WILL LOVE AND NOT DESTROY THE CREATURES LIFE THE FLOWERS JOY.” Attributed to Henry Chapman Mercer

CHAPTER ONE

MAY 1987

He stood at the crest of the hill, already shamed by the act he was about to commit. Could he go through with it? No choice. He studied the workers scurrying around the base of the building. No one seemed to notice him–or the bundle he carried. He moved closer, seeking accessible shelter. Behind the castle-like structure, a three-walled shed hugged the side of the hill. A half dozen steps put him in position to see that the interior was filled with antique carriages and farm wagons. There was no security guard in sight. A sure sign of a safe town. The decision made, he walked away.

He came back in the darkest part of the night, slipped through the opening in the fence, and moved, step by irrevocable step, toward the shed. A wooden sign suspended from a thick rope proclaimed the area off limits. He ducked under the barrier and squeezed past the conveyances.

A twig snapped.

He stooped low and squinted into the shadows. A dog. He tensed when the animal approached, nodded when it ignored him. Yes, safe. Stray dogs don’t fear strangers here.

He set his burden in the corner and stepped back, but remained poised, ready to intercede. He watched the animal sniff, then curve itself harmlessly, even (he told himself) protectively, against the basket’s side. The deed done, he slipped back through the opening in the fence and paused only momentarily to stare into the dark void that was the shed’s opening before he walked away.

He returned when the sun was high to observe from outside the fence. The festival was in full swing, with celebrants swooping over the lawn like flocks of earthbound swallows. Strains of a dulcimer floated in the intervals between blacksmith hammer blows. Voices rose and fell in an easy-going hum.

The dog began to bark in the shed. And didn’t stop.

Someone will check on that.

Again, he walked away and, this time, did not allow himself a backward look.

-----

A baby is found in a basket on the grounds of a small-town museum during their annual Folk Festival. Twenty-two years later, a homeless man is murdered in exactly the same spot. Connection? Or coincidence? Peace Morrow, the foundling, now an adult working at the museum, is haunted by this question and thus begins a quest that explores the nature of family, of loyalty and responsibility. As she tries to reconstruct the victim's history, his story becomes entangled with her own search for family roots, a journey that leads her through the dusty boxes in the museum's basement, to the antique markets in northern Pennsylvania and, ultimately, to the innermost reaches of her own heart.

-----
Sandra Carey Cody grew up in Missouri, surrounded by a family who loved stories, whether from a book or told on the back porch at a family gathering. She's lived in various cities in different parts of the country, but wherever she's gone, books have been the bridge to her new community and new friends. She now lives in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, the setting of her latest mystery, Love and Not Destroy. In addition, she is the author of the Jennie Connors mystery series: Put Out the Light, Consider the Lilly, By Whose Hand, and Left at Oz. These stories explore the challenges facing a single mother as she learns to balance independence with family and career responsibilities.
To learn more, please visit her website: http://www.sandracareycody.com
She blogs at: http://www.birthofanovel.wordpress.com

Want To See Some Cows?

By Susan C. Muller

“Want to go with me to see some Jersey cows?” my friend Delma asked.
I had to think about that for a moment. “Don’t we have enough cows in Texas? Why do we have to go all the way to New Jersey?”
Turns out Jersey was the type of cow, and they were in La Grange, Texas, on a dairy farm. Delma was in charge of planning an outing for the Prime Timers group at her church and she needed twenty riders to get the free county bus. She only had nineteen signed up. And I thought it was my charming personality.

“They’ll even let you milk one if you want to,” she assured me.
How could I pass up an offer like that? Milking a cow wasn’t on my bucket list, but I’ll try anything once.
The bus was due to leave at 9:00 o’clock, and I arrived at 8:40. The bus was already full. Prime Timers don’t like to wait ‘till the last minute; anything could happen. Luckily, Delma had saved me a seat. And paid my $5.75 admission fee. Wow, the day was starting out right.
It’s a two hour bus ride from Houston to La Grange and, believe me, Delma and I can talk that long with no problem. I hadn’t seen her in almost two days.
An hour out of Houston, we began to see bluebonnets. At first just a few were sprinkled along the roadside. Soon they carpeted every available space. They were so beautiful that for a few minutes, Delma and I forgot to talk.
When we arrived at the dairy farm, the wind almost knocked some of the Prime Timers over. High wind and big, heavily sprayed Texas hair are not a pretty combination. But there stood Belle, the symbol of Blue Bell Ice Cream.
I don’t know if you have Blue Bell where you live, but if not, you might want to consider moving.
All of Belle’s descendants have bell in their name, and the cow I milked was Belladonna. It wasn’t as difficult as I’d imagined. One squeeze and here came a stream of warm milk. Jerseys have a high butterfat content to their milk and on this farm, all of their product went straight to Blue Bell.
The farm is family owned and operated and one of the daughters asked if we had any questions. I raised my hand. “What happens to the cows when they get too old to produce?” A fair question for a group of older citizens.
I was assured that no cow is ever slaughtered. “They’re put out to pasture to live out their days.”

I didn’t see any fields of elderly cows munching their lives away, but the farm had a lot of acreage, and the old gals might have been behind the tree line. That’s what I choose to believe, anyway.
My novel, The Secrets on Forest Bend, is set in Houston, but my hero is a cop, not a cowboy. Delma asked me if I could use this experience in my next novel. I promised her I would. I don’t know how yet, but if I bothered to do it, you can be sure I’m going to use it.
What about you? Are you always up for a new adventure, or do you prefer the comforts of home?
The Secrets on Forest Bend is available from: www.soulmatepublishing.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble.
Follow Susan at www.susancmuller.com
No cows were harmed in the writing of this blog.

Themes and issues

How writers exploit their issues using characters 

By Julie Eberhart Painter 

In every one of my books adoption is an issue. It’s integrated in my quest. The many facets of adoption: being given away, giving away, and watching our grandchild given away are woven into our family history. Thus, secret baby style, my issues are explored in my romance and mystery novels.

Adoption has fueled my imagination. Who am I, and who were they, the givers of life but not for a lifetime?  It’s fired my passion to examine my written characters’ motives. Such life experiences make for inflammatory prose. The adoption issue creeps into my work like murder into crime novels.

At a hospice seminar, I told a perfect stranger, “Hi, I’m Julie. I’m adopted, I come with a disclaimer.”

Disarmed by my subconscious honesty, she answered, “I’m Jane, and I can’t have children.” We both had an issue-issue.

I was only nine months old when I was taken from a succession of foster homes and placed with my adoptive family—permanently. My first word was “home,” not Mommy or Daddy.  At four-years of age, I remember hiding when people came to the house, fearful of losing my home.  I ran from cars passing on the dirt road out front. In 1998, I petitioned the court to get my “story.” The non-identifying information stated that at three months of age I was friendly, alert and able to stand up for myself. Not afraid?

In Mortal Coil, the main character, Ellen, a nursing home administrator, has a compassionate heart. She and her first husband adopted a child, but didn’t tell her she was adopted. This loving omission became a problem for Ellen when her husband was killed in a car crash.

Secrets ignite violence. Murders in Ellen’s nursing home strike a match under an unlikely pair who would never have met without the afore-mentioned deceptions.

In Tangled Web, a seduction scene drives the plot that leads the reader from 1935 to 1951. It’s my projection of my birth mother’s life as I hope she lived it. Illegitimacy and adoption were life-changing moral issues during the 30s. Some time in the late 60s the mores became less judgmental and eased. But in the 30s with war on the horizon and women reaching beyond their domestic roles to find careers and help support their families, my character emerged stronger. She learned that the powerful do not always win.

In my most recent novel, Kill Fee, my heroine, Penny, must overcome a similar identity crisis. She discovers she has not inherited her fortune from her uncle, but from her loving father who has quietly guided her life.

A 95-year old resident in the nursing home where I worked as a volunteer asked me, "Do you think when I die I’ll finally meet my birth mother?"

It’s never over.

Julie was born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and moved 17 times since her marriage. She stabilized, and has remained for 24 years in a California ranch five miles west of Daytona Beach, Florida. With seven novels in print, you can check her website: http://www.books-jepainter.com, and go to her Amazon Author Page:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_tc_2_0?rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3AJulie+Eberhart+Painter&keywords=Julie+Eberhart+Painter&ie=UTF8&qid=1321374034&sr=1-2-ent&field-contributor_id=B005EYUYSK

           

Plotting the Novel, Murder on the Danube

William S. Shepard

            “Murder On The Danube” was a story that I wanted to tell. The heroic days of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 had thrilled the world, and I wanted that story to be known by a new generation. When I was assigned to the American Embassy in Budapest as Political Officer in the early 1970s, however, the country was still under a Communist regime, and research into the period was impossible. It was even dangerous for Hungarian citizens to be seen talking with Western diplomats, let alone telling their story of this famous uprising.

            Years later I left the Foreign Service and became a writer. I began to plan the novel, which would incorporate the Hungarian Revolution as a backdrop for a present day murder. I must confess that the film, “The English Patient,” had made quite an impression on me. I wanted also to have a memorable love affair in the back story of this novel set in Budapest.

            The initial problem was how to portray the Revolution itself. Those who knew it knew those thirteen days from October 23 to November 4, 1956, intimately, every detail remaining etched in their memories. Would I have flashbacks from time to time? That struck me as confusing for the modern reader. At the same time, I had to give enough detail so that the reader who didn’t have knowledge of those days would acquire it. The problem bothered me for several months. Finally, an inspired comment from a high school student in a seminar on creative writing that I was giving provided the answer. He suggested that at the end of each chapter, I set forth what happened in one day of the Revolution itself. With this insight, the structure of the novel began to take shape.

            Those chapter end segments would, of course, have to be tied together to the main plot line. Why not have their development parallel what was going on in the main story? Then it occurred to me – the best way for both the current story and the background to fit together would be for the same characters to fit in both. If I told the story of a small group of Freedom Fighters, for example, one traitor on the group could also be the murderer in the present day story – he or she would kill to avoid the truth coming out.

            This is where the plotting came in, and it lasted for months. I did charts and time lines for each character, when he or she was with other members of the resistance group, and when alone. And then, with a good time line in the form of a memoir by the group’s leader, I couldn’t resist having him mistaken on several key details! Unlocking those unplanned errors would be the job for my diplomatic sleuth, Robbie Cutler.

            Of course, clearly I would have the final manuscript vetted by a veteran of that heroic street fighting. But I had to master the details, and so with the assistance of the Hungarian Embassy in Washington I visited Budapest and went to the 1956 Historical Institute, where I held a seminar on the period, and in turn received a thorough, day by day briefing on the street fighting.

            And so the novel began to take shape, the back story developing nicely, and the contemporary story gave me an opportunity to have the reader discover today’s Hungary – with even a peep over the Romanian border for a scene or two in Transylvania! For fun, I also introduced a ranking Australian diplomat who escaped Hungary in 1957, became a distinguished Australian citizen, and has now returned to Budapest – to find who murdered his brother during the 1956 uprising!

            All was now ready for the conclusion, when the entire process ground to an unexpected stop. How was I going to have Cutler find out who was the traitor in 1956, when all of the records from the period have been officially sealed? I checked this out with the Hungarian Embassy, and found that this policy had been rigidly followed. They did not want the murders and cries for vengeance that had followed when other former communist nations had opened their records from the period.

            For a month or so I was stuck. Then the solution occurred to me out of the blue – I remembered Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Purloined Letter.” Sometimes the solution to the most difficult of problems is really right in front of you, in plain sight!

William S. Shepard

            Now residents of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the Shepards enjoy visits from their daughters and granddaughters, fine and moderate weather, ocean swims at Assateague, Chesapeake Bay crabs, and the company of Rajah and Rani, their two rescued cats.

            Prize winning mystery writer William S. Shepard is the creator of a new genre, the diplomatic mystery, whose plots are set in American Embassies overseas. That mirrors Shepard’s own career in the Foreign Service of the United States, during which he served in Singapore, Saigon, Budapest, Athens and Bordeaux, in addition to five Washington tours of duty.

            His books explore this rich, insider background into the world of high stakes diplomacy and government. He evokes his last Foreign Service post, Consul General in Bordeaux, in Vintage Murder, the first of the series of four “diplomatic mysteries.” The second, Murder On The Danube, now also available on Kindle, mines his knowledge of Hungary and the 1956 Revolution. In Murder In Dordogne Robbie Cutler, his main character, is just married, but their honeymoon in the scenic southwest of France is interrupted by murders. The most recent of the series, The Saladin Affair, has Cutler transferred to work for the Secretary of State. Like the author, Cutler arranges trips on Air Force Two – now enlivened by serial Al Qaeda attempts to assassinate the Secretary of State.

Buy Link:
http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Danube-Diplomatic-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B005UE63KW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1322076134&sr=8-2

ExcerpTuesday: Shobhan Bantwal

THE UNEXPECTED SON


Prologue

There was something odd about it, despite its plain and inconsequential appearance. Vinita gazed at the mystery envelope for a long moment, weighed it in the palm of her hand. Her instincts were prickling. It went beyond mere feminine intuition.

She didn’t receive any letters from her family in India anymore. Cheap long-distance telephone rates and email had put an end to that somewhat antiquated form of communication.

The smudged postal seal on the envelope read Mumbai—one of India’s largest and most populous cities—a place Vinita was very familiar with. It didn’t look like the occasional wedding invitation or the quarterly statements from the bank.

There was no return address, but it was sent to her attention—neatly hand-printed. She slit it open and eased out the contents—a single sheet of white ruled paper. Her hands shook a little. She wasn’t sure if it was anticipation or anxiety. Or both.

The message was brief—a few lines penned in blue ink. She scanned it quickly, trying to ignore the tingle crawling up her spine like a venomous spider. The subject matter was bizarre. The writer’s name was missing.

Only minutes ago it had looked like any ordinary Saturday morning—a day to recoup after five hectic days of poring over spreadsheets, memos, and databases till her eyeballs ached.

Her husband was on a business trip to Detroit, and wasn’t due to return until the following week, so she had the weekend to herself. She’d planned to indulge herself.

Working late the previous evening had prevented her from looking at the mail right away. Now, as she sat on the bed and checked the mail, she wondered if the weekend of self-indulgence she’d been looking forward to was already beginning to wilt and curl at the edges.

Who could have sent her the odd message? Perhaps there were clues she had missed the first time.

My dear Mrs. Patil,

I am writing to tell you about your son. He is suffering from myeloid leukemia. Many years ago, I had made a promise never to reveal anything about him, but this is a serious matter. A bone marrow transplant is his only hope. My conscience will not allow me to let a young man die without having a chance to try every possible treatment. Your brother may be able to give you all the details.

I leave the matter in your hands.

Blessings,

A well-wisher

Something about the message was disturbing.

Was it possible the letter was erroneously mailed to her? But what if it wasn’t a mistake and she was indeed the intended recipient?

Was this someone’s idea of a sick joke? But everything about the letter spelled serious intent.

This was no hoax ...

Bio:


Shobhan Bantwal calls her writing "Bollywood in a Book," commercial fiction about India, women’s issues & socio-political topics, with romantic & cultural elements. Her articles & stories have appeared in The Writer, Romantic Times, India Abroad, Little India, Desi Journal, New Woman & India Currents. Her short fiction has won honors/awards in contests by Writer's Digest, New York Stories & New Woman magazines. Her debut book, THE DOWRY BRIDE, won the 2008 Golden Leaf Award.

Visit her website: www.shobhanbantwal.com or her Facebook page

Book Blurb for THE UNEXPECTED SON:

What happens when a woman who's realized her dreams wakes up one morning to a shocking truth? Vinita Patil opens a mysterious letter from India that instantly turns her comfortable life upside down. It tells her an impossible story: she has a grown son in India, a child she was told was stillborn 30 years ago. Now his life may depend on her...

Recipe Wednesday - Nancy Lynn Jarvis

Nancy Lynn Jarvis has been a Santa Cruz, California, Realtor® for more than twenty years.

After earning a BA in behavioral science from San Jose State University, she worked in the advertising department of the San Jose Mercury News.  A move to Santa Cruz meant a new job as a librarian and later a stint as the business manager of Shakespeare/Santa Cruz.

Nancy’s work history reflects her philosophy: people should try something radically different every few years. Writing is her newest adventure.

 Details and ideas for Nancy’s Regan McHenry Mysteries come from Nancy’s own experiences.

Regan's recipe for keep-in-your-freezer dough features a
mystery ingredient that makes her cookies especially good.
See if your friends can "detect" it.

Cream together until light and fluffy:     1 cup butter     3/4 cup light brown sugar     3/4 cup granulated sugar Add:     2 eggs     1 1/2 t vanilla     1 t baking soda     1 t habanero chili oil *     1 t cinnamon Mix well. Add:     2 1/4 cups flour Mix again until well blended. Stir in:     18 ounces chocolate chips *     2 cups rolled oats or oatmeal

Drop by generous spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350º for between 12 and 15 minutes, depending on

 Size of the cookies. Cool before removing from the cookie sheet.

*Regan uses Coeur D'Olives Habanero Oil and Trader Joe's Chocolate Chips, but you may substitute your favorites.

Read the first chapters of books in the Regan McHenry Mystery Series at www.goodreadmysteries.com

Recipe Wednesday - Carolyn J. Rose and Mike Nettleton

Welcome to Carolyn J. Rose and Mike Nettleton.

Mixing Marriage and Mystery

Carolyn J. Rose and Mike Nettleton

Attempting to meld two distinct writing styles and a host of different ideas can be a recipe for both literary and marital disaster. But somehow we’ve kept it together through 21 years and cooked up five co-authored projects as well as a number of individual efforts.

Last year we mixed greed, lust, political aspirations, and secrecy to create The Big Grabowski (Krill Press), a cozy set in fictional Devil’s Harbor, Oregon.



In the sequel, Sometimes a Great Commotion, due out this summer, the ingredients for chaos are: a sewage treatment system about to crash, a tree-sitting scam artist blocking the timber sale that could keep the town flush (pardon the pun), and an image scorched into a grilled crab cake. Thousands flock to see it, prompting the mayor to plant a portable toilet on every lawn. Then someone cuts down the tree-sitter’s perch with him aboard and murder gets tossed into the mix.

Sometimes a Great Commotion Crab Cakes

1 c. seasoned breadcrumbs (Italian)

2 eggs, beaten

½ c. finely chopped green onion

¼ c. finely chopped celery

2 t. Dijon-style mustard

Big dash of Worcestershire sauce

1 16-oz can of refrigerated pasteurized crabmeat, drained

(or freshly cooked Dungeness crab if it’s available)

2 t. Creole seasoning or dash of Tabasco sauce

(optional and depending on how hot you like your food)



Combine all ingredients and let stand in the refrigerator for about half an hour. Check consistency and add a few more crumbs or a few drops of water if necessary.



Form patties. Coat with more breadcrumbs if you want.



Fry in oil or butter until nicely browned. (Note: we can’t guarantee an image of anyone—real or fictional—will appear.) Serve with lemon and tarter sauce.

Carolyn J. Rose grew up in New York’s Catskill Mountains, graduated from the University of Arizona, logged two years in Arkansas with Volunteers in Service to America, and spent 25 years as a television news researcher, writer, producer, and assignment editor in Arkansas, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. She teaches novel-writing in Vancouver, Washington, and founded the Vancouver Writers’ Mixers. Her hobbies are reading, gardening, and not cooking.



Mike Nettleton grew up in Bandon and Grants Pass, Oregon. A stint at a college station in Ashland led to a multi-state radio odyssey with on-air gigs in Oregon, California, and New Mexico under the air name Mike Phillips. He’s been with KEX in Portland since 1994. His hobbies are golf, pool, Texas held-em poker, and book collecting.



Surf to www.deadlyduomysteries.com for more information.

Authorsday - Mary Reid and Eric Mayer

Co-authors Mary Reed and Eric Mayer are here today to answer some questions.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?




Mary had made her mind up by the time she was nine or ten. She used to remark that when she grew up she wanted to be a writer and live in a garret, probably inspired by Jo March in Little Women, who didn't actually live in a garret but wrote in one. Jo is the only fictional character with whom Mary identified herself.



Eric can't remember when he wanted to be a writer, at least in the sense of wanting to spend his time writing, because he was drawing picture stories in crayon before he knew the alphabet. Probably when he began checking science fiction books out of the library was when he decided that it must be wonderful to be able to do nothing but get paid to make stuff up, like all those science fiction authors. In that sense, he's still hoping to be a writer when he grows up.



--How did you pick the genre you write in?



Mary loves mysteries and has always been interested in history, so writing historical mysteries was an easy choice. She also prefers Golden Age mysteries to modern ones and those older books are, in some sense, historicals now. It was Mary who first sold mysteries, to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and she suggested Eric collaborate with her. He'd read some mysteries, along with other genres, and he also loved history, so it seemed like a good idea. We both read a lot of science fiction and fantasy when we were younger and the historicals allow us to incorporate some of that sense of exotic locations and alien societies we both enjoyed reading about.





--Do you plot or do you write by the seat of your pants?



When we write together we plan the books out in detail, using a scene by scene outline. Since we trade chapters back and forth, writing and rewriting each other's work, it would be too easy to become confused without having a master plan to refer to as necessary. Especially since we need to keep track of the clues involved in the mystery puzzle. This is fine for Eric, who always outlines, but Mary, left to her own devices, prefers to dive in and see where she ends up. She's happy enough to call a character. "Fred" until she knows his real name. Eric, on the other hand, can't write the first sentence until he knows "Fred's" first, last, and middle names, his eye color, the identities of his father and mother, his place of birth, and his mother's maiden name.



--What do you know now that you are published that you didn’t know pre-published that you wish you knew?



We weren't aware of the importance publishers place on authors' promotional efforts, or anything about how to promote our books. We learned, for instance, that a website is vital, as a calling card when querying publishers, and for giving the writer a presence on the Internet, a place where people can go to find information about the work.



Also, we knew that it was difficult to get published, that it took not only skill but a lot of luck and that many deserving writers never do find a publisher. However, we didn't realize just how difficult it is. It's probably fortunate we didn't know. We might not have been quite so blithe about submitting our manuscript.



--How many rejections have you received?



Lots. Sometimes it seems like we have both had endless rejections so altogether...well, what's twice infinity? Neither of us are any good at math.



When Mary was writing nonfiction her record was twelve rejections in 24 hours. They were all eventually published. Her theory is to always get the rejected piece out again immediately.



Eric tried, briefly, to keep track of his rejections when he started to make a serious effort to publish nonfiction and essays. He had six rejections before his first essay was accepted. That seemed like a pretty good record. Forty-four rejections later, without another sale, and decided maybe he wasn't the record-keeping type.



One for Sorrow, the first novel we sold, only garnered five or six combined rejections from agents and publishers before it sold.



--Why did you pick the publisher that ultimately published your book?



When Mary saw in the Mystery Writers of America newsletter that Poisoned Pen Press had a nonfiction book nominated for the Edgar she wrote to congratulate them and asked whether they planned to branch out into fiction. They did intend to do so. It transpired editor Barbara Peters had often thought that someone should set a mystery series during the Byzantine period. Not only did One For Sorrow, which takes place in sixth century Constantinople, fit the desired time period, it also matched the description of the sort of books the new press sought to publish -- well written but not the sort of thing big publishers, with their enormous sales expectations, might want. We're not sure how often writers choose their publisher. It is usually the other way around. But in this case Mary might well have chosen the only publisher who would have published the series.



--What three things would you want with you on a desert island?



Mary could do with a working computer, a complete collection of all Golden Age mysteries, and a large tent. Eric would go for Mary, our cat, and a lifetime supply of coffee.

--What’s your favorite food?



Mary likes egg curry, peaches and custard, cheese sandwiches, and cheese cake, ignoring the blandishments of long ago favorites such as liver and onions or tripe. Eric will agree with those likes (and heartily agree to ignore the "old time favorites") but he also enjoys pizza and Chinese take-out, or the mid-eastern cuisine he had when he lived in Brooklyn, but which doesn't seem common in other parts of the country.



--What would you like to learn to do that you haven’t?



Mary reckons she would like to learn to play the accordion or juggle, preferably both at the same time. It might come in handy at book signings. Eric wanted to play professional baseball even before he wanted to write. Of course, being a bookworm and writer, he never played organized baseball even as a kid. He suspects he will never get started on his baseball career since he is too old to join the Little League.

--What was the hardest scene to write?



There is a scene in Eight For Eternity in which the excubitor (palace guard) Felix finds himself in the midst of a riot in a narrow alley. The fighting is chaotic and bloody. After having hinted at the chaos in the streets as mounted imperial troops battled the mobs, we felt it necessary to finally show the reality. It was difficult, however, since neither of us have ever been in a street riot, or served in the military, or wielded swords or spears, or sharpened sticks, or thrown bricks and stones. At least not at other people. Nor have we ridden horses, except on carousels. Eric could at least imagine how terrifying it must be to see a horse bearing down on you, even without an armed rider. Mary recalled having queued up outside a store on the opening day of a sale. With that little to go on the scene did require some heavy lifting from our imaginations.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Recipe Wednesday - Janis Susan May

Cooking Up A Story




I have been asked to write – which I do moderately well – a post about cooking – which I do not do well at all! The fact that for several years I successfully wrote a cooking column testifies more to my generous cooking friends and a vast collection of cookbooks than to any personal skill. My years as a Food Editor were easy – I like to eat.

The more I think about it, however, there is a distinct correlation between cooking and writing a novel. No, I’ve never burned my fingers on a hot manuscript nor made a delicious snack out of several thousand words, but there is a unity of spirit in both disciplines forged in the act of creation.

First, with book or dish, you have to make the decision as to theme – is it to be hot and spicy? Exotic and redolent of foreign lands? Comforting and homey?

Just like cooking – is it going to be chili with lots of peppers or hummus and tabouli or meat loaf and mashed potatoes? To whom are you going to serve it? Your adventuresome and sophisticated friends or elderly Uncle Homer who’s never been more than fifty miles off the farm where he was born?

And there must be continuity and a similarity of purpose in your entire meal. Imagine a meal made of nothing but homely meat loaf and exotic hummus and fiery chili. While each is delightful in their own realm, combined in a meal those three dishes would be unsettling. That way lies digestion of the spirit as well as the stomach.

Books are similar. Today genre combinations are very popular, but even if your Victorian heroine does travel across the seas or in time, there is a continuity. Readers have a certain set of expectations that is based on any number of things. The author’s brand. The genre. The jacket copy. Primarily the jacket copy. If a customer buys a book that is touted as a cozy mystery and finds half-way through that it turns without warning into an erotic romance – or vice-versa – that is going to be one unhappy book buyer.

You don’t want to bite into a fried stuffed jalapeno to find it filled with mint chocolate fudge, do you?

It’s the same thing within a genre. Once the framework is set up within the book, it must be played out within the rules the author has set up. No fair to use the old deus-ex-machina device, where the skeins of the story are so tangled up that the only way for there to be a happy ending is to have a god descend from Olympus and straighten everything out.

This doesn’t mean you can’t push the envelope. If your heroine is afraid of water and of going out alone at night, there’s no way she should decide out of nothing but curiosity to go swimming in the lake at midnight just to see what it’s like. On the other hand, if the only way she can find the needed clue to save her kidnapped brother’s life is by going swimming in the lake at midnight her need becomes an interesting study in character. Just how much will she sacrifice of herself to save her brother? The believability of this scenario depends on how the writer has set up the framework. Are the heroine and her brother close? Are they enemies? Did she even know she had a brother until this scenario began?

A reader will suspend disbelief to accept almost any world a writer creates – the ordinary world of today we all inhabit or a planet with two moons and cool orange seas – as long as the writer plays fair and lives by the rules he has set up. You can’t have a perfectly normal heroine for twenty-two chapters who suddenly becomes psychic in chapter twenty-three just because the hero needs saving.

Just like you can’t serve elderly Uncle Homer meat loaf and mint chocolate fudge-stuffed fried jalapenos and expect him to be happy. At least, not the elderly Uncle Homers I know!

Now, for a recipe that can be, according to the number of peppers you put into it, either a mild or spicy dish. And easy. Not even I have ever been able to mess this one up!

This dish was created by one of the best cooks – and one of the best friends – I’ve ever known. Sadly she passed away several years ago, but her cooking will live forever.



Peggy's Corn Casserole



Mix :

1 stick of butter

16 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup milk

salt and pepper

sliced or chopped jalapenos to taste

Heat over slow fire – stirring all the time – then pour over:

2 packages (plastic sacks) of frozen corn kernels



in a shallow casserole. Bake at 325o for 45 minutes.

Recipe Wednesday - Sheila Connolly

When I read the title of the recipe I let out such a sound that the dog perked his ears up at me. I LOVE goat cheese. There's a story about my fave Crotin de Chavignol, but that's a blog in of itself. So here's Sheila to tell us about the recipe.

I set out to write mysteries, so I find it very funny that I've published a growing number of recipes. Not that I'm complaining–I love to eat, I love to cook, and the research is a lot of fun!

I took this to a whole new level with my most recent book, Red Delicious Death, in which I created not only recipes but an entire restaurant for my fictional town! Of course, for this I had to eat in a lot of restaurants (oh, poor me), and even interview chefs. I owe a lot to Justin Melnick of Tomasso Trattoria in Northborough, MA, who (a) uses local foods (very well!) and (b) was willing to give me a tour of his kitchen and answer all sorts of dumb questions. The following is modeled after one of his yummy desserts, which I modified for those of us with mere mortal skills.


GOAT CHEESE MINI CHEESECAKES

You may make these as tangy or as mild as you like, depending on your choice of goat cheese (okay, if you hate goat cheese you can go with all cream cheese, but keep the hazelnuts for flavor).

Makes one dozen

1/2 cup crumbled sugar cookies (homemade or purchased)
1/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts
1 Tblsp plus 1 tsp sugar
3 Tblsp unsalted butter

1 8-oz package cream cheese, at room temperature
8 oz. goat cheese of your choice, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.

Combine cookie crumbs, hazelnuts and sugar, then stir in melted butter. Press one Tblsp crumb mixture firmly in the bottom of each lined cup (the bottom of a glass works well for this). Bake until set, about 7 minutes.

Lower oven temperature to 275 degrees.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat cream cheese and goat cheese together until smooth. Gradually add sugar, followed by vanilla. Beat until well combined, about 3 minutes. Drizzle in the eggs slowly, stopping often to scrape down sides of bowl. Beat in sour cream and salt.

Pour batter into lined cups, filling almost to very top. Bake for 20-22 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks. Refrigerate in tins at least 4 hours or overnight.

To serve, you may drizzle honey or a berry syrup lightly over the cakes.


Blurb for Red Delicious Death: Granford newcomer Meg Corey has more than enough to do, between restoring the colonial house she's inherited and trying to manage her orchard. Then a trio of young chefs fresh out of cooking school arrives in town to open a restaurant using local foods, and Meg volunteers to help them out.

But then one of the chefs is found dead in a farmer's pig wallow. When Meg begins looking into the death, her investigation digs up some old town secrets–and Meg soon realizes that they have a locally grown killer on their hands.


Author bio: Sheila Connolly has been an art historian, a financial consultant, a political fundraiser, and a professional genealogist. Now she writes mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime: the Glassblowing Mysteries as Sarah Atwell, whose debut book, Through a Glass, Deadly, was nominated for an Agatha Award; and the Orchard Mysteries, under her own name. Sheila's new series, the Museum Mysteries, also from Berkley Prime Crime, will debut in October 2010. Sheila is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of American and Romance Writers of America. She also serves on the planning committee for the New England Crime Bake conference.

Links:
http://www.sheilaconnolly.com
http://www.sarahatwellwriter.com
http://www.poesdeadlydaughters.blogspot.com/

Recipe Wednesday - Peggy Ehrhart

Tuna salad. Brings back memories for me. I've always loved it. Today author Peggy Ehrhart offers her own version of it.

Peggy Ehrhart is a former college English professor who now devotes her time to writing mysteries and playing blues guitar. She’s the author of the Maxx Maxwell blues mystery series featuring sexy blonde blues-singer sleuth Elizabeth “Maxx” Maxwell. Sweet Man Is Gone, which takes its title from a Muddy Waters song, appeared in 2008, and Got No Friend Anyhow is due in January 2011.

Visit her on the web at http://www.peggyehrhart.com/ .

Peggy says . . .

my sleuth Elizabeth “Maxx” Maxwell is too busy with her band to think about food. She lives on eggs, tuna salad sandwiches, and the occasional batch of Chinese takeout. When I’m busy writing, I make up a quick batch of this tuna salad and it lasts me about three days, one sandwich a day. If there are a few spoonfuls left, I make a tuna-melt on day 4—grilled cheese with a bit of tuna salad between two layers of cheese.

I like this recipe so much that I served tuna salad sandwiches at the launch party for Sweet Man Is Gone and I got a lot of nice comments.

Maxx Maxwell’s Tuna Salad

1 5-oz. can of tuna packed in water. The cheap flaky kind works better than the expensive chunky kind.

3 tbs. mayonnaise

2 tbs. sweet pickle relish

½ tsp. salt

a few grindings of black pepper

¼ to ½ tsp. Tabasco

Separate the lid completely from the can when you open the tuna so you can use it to press down and squeeze out all the liquid. Dispose of the liquid.

Now mix everything together in a small bowl.

Make sandwiches using good-quality white or wheat bread. The tuna salad is also good on toast—and I butter the toast before adding the tuna salad. For an afternoon snack, spread it on crackers. I prefer the simple water crackers that don’t add a lot of their own flavor to distract from the tuna—but you can experiment.

ExcerpTuesday - W. S. Gager

W.S. Gager shares with a us part of her new release, A Case of Infatuation.

Here is the exerpt from Chapter 2 of the book:

A woman’s hand jutted off the front porch. The rest of the body was concealed behind the white railing. The long fingers were as smooth and well manicured like a hand model on a photo shoot. It didn’t fit the neighborhood. My instincts went into overdrive telling me this was an even bigger story. I pulled a small digital camera from my leather coat pocket and snapped some shots. Reporters and cameras weren’t supposed to mix. The digital photos easily shot in low-light without a flash helped me later to vividly describe a crime scene. Most reporters couldn’t be bothered to take photos, but I was different. The photos rarely graced the printed page but were invaluable to me during the writing phase. I also used them to create follow-up articles giving rehashed information a fresh spin.
Detective Dennis Flaherty came out the front door and caught me replacing the camera in my pocket. Frowning he approached, stepping wide of the visible hand and grimacing.
“No photos.” His voice was stern but the Irish detective knew I wouldn’t print anything that would hurt a police case.
“Whatcha got, Dennis?”
“Who’s the skirt?” he asked, nodding to my appendage whose skin glowed in the morbid scene of strobe lights.
I shrugged nonchalantly. “An intern they’ve stuck me with for the night. Nothing big.” I gave him a look that said give me a minute.
I turned to Patrenka. “Why don’t you make yourself useful and interview the neighbors? See if you can get some info on the kind of people who lived here.”
Her eyes flashed and I saw a glimmer of her temper. She shrugged, smiled flirtatiously at the detective and left. No stomping, no voiced recriminations. Nothing. I had to admire that.
I turned back to Dennis. “So what do we have?”
“Follow me,” he said. Dennis and I had worked dozens of cases over the years and knew each other’s limitations. His mission was to solve crimes. I had pointed him in the right direction on a couple high-profile cases that resulted in his latest rank advancement. We’d developed an easy banter and helped each other through the years. We were friends as much as two people on opposite sides of the fence could be. I followed him back up the porch steps and got a good look at the woman’s body attached to the hand hanging off the porch. Boy, what a looker! Perfect blonde locks I doubted were natural, but were as close as you could get out of a professional’s bottle.

Synopsis
Crime Beat Reporter Mitch Malone's rules are simple: He never lets the blood and guts he covers bother him. He always works alone. And he hates kids. Mitch breaks all three rules when he unwittingly agrees to smuggle a potential witness out of a suburban Michigan home while police investigate a mob-style hit that's left two dead bodies. Mitch sends his intern (a real hottie, but nonetheless an interloper) to interview neighbors, hoping to throw her off, but when he finds the pint-sized survivor the killer overlooked, he decides she might be helpful. When the FBI accuses him of the murder, Mitch goes into hiding with the bombshell intern who doesn't talk and the precocious preschooler. Mitch works his contacts to regain his freedom from his roommates only to find they each hold keys to a bizarre story of disappearances, terrorists and the perfect hamburger recipe.Review“Great combination of gritty prose and sparkling dialogue along with a most intriguing and unusual plot makes W. S. Gager's debut crime novel a true page-turner. Highly recommended!”
F. M. Meredith, author of No Sanctuary

“I loved the characters in this book, particularly protagonist Mitch Malone. He's a reporter who manages to not only get mixed up in the crime he's reporting, but manages to implicate himself as well. Mitch is an unlikely hero, but one I rooted for until the end. The plot was intriguing, a murder mystery with a child witness nobody knows about and who Mitch ends up taking care of. If he can figure out what the child knows, he might just solve the mystery. An extremely entertaining novel that was difficult to put down, and great first book by W.S. Gager.
Holli Castillo, author of Gumbo Justice

Author BioW.S. Gager has lived in West Michigan for most of her life except for stints early in her career as a newspaper reporter and editor. Now she enjoys creating villains instead of crossing police lines to get the story. She teaches English at a local college and is a soccer chauffeur for her children. During her driving time she spins webs of intrigue for Mitch Malone's next crime-solving adventure.

Contact Information Available At
http://www.oaktreebooks.com/
E-mail: http://us.mc529.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=wsgager@yahoo.com http://www.amazon.com/
Website: http://www.wsgager.com/ http://www.barnes/andnoble.com
Facebook keyword: wsgager Robbins’ Booklist, Greenville
ISBN: 978-1-892343 Country Squire Pharmacy, Fremont
Barnes & Noble, Norton Shores &
Grand Rapids area stores
Schuyler’s Books, Grand RapidsLinks to buy the book: Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Case-Infatuation-W-S-Gager/dp/1892343584/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246043800&sr=1-1Barnes and NOble: http://books.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?WRD=a+case+of+infatuation&box=A%20Case&pos=4Oak Tree Press: http://www.oaktreebooks.com/bargainbookshop.htm#InfatuationW.S. GagerA Case of Infatuation-Now Available
http://www.wsgager.com/Purchase the book today:http://www.oaktreebooks.com/http://books.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?WRD=a+case+of+infatuation&box=A%20Case&pos=4http://www.amazon.com/Case-Infatuation-W-S-Gager/dp/1892343584/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246043800&sr=1-1

Recipe Wednesday - M.E. Kemp

A warm welcome to M.E. Kemp today author of Death of a Bawdy Belle with a yummy chocolate cake recipe.

M. E. Kemp was born in Oxford, MA, the town her ancestors settled in 1713, although family roots go back to Salem in 1636. Because of a strong sense of family history Kemp decided to write a series set in Colonial America with two nosy Puritans as detectives. She lives in Saratoga Springs, NY with husband Jack and two kitties but she frequently travels back to her hometown where her family still reside in the family home

ONE BOWL CHOCOLATE CAKE

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. Flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsn baking powder
1 tsn baking soda
1/4 tsn salt
1/2 cup buttermilk (mix in 1/4 tsn vinegar to make buttermilk)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbsn vegetable oil
1 tsn vanilla
1/2 cup hot strong black coffee


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9 inch pan with oil/spray and line pan with a circle of waxed paper. Whisk flour, granulated sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add buttermilk, brown sugar, egg, oil and vanilla. Beat with mixer for 2 mins. – Add hot coffee and beat to blend. (Mixture will be thin.) Pour batter into pan and bake until center is firm, 30 – 35 mins. Cool in pan for 10 mins.; remove from pan, peel off paper backing and cool completely. Dust with confectioners sugar when cool. (Serve with vanilla ice cream if desired.)

Book Blurb: When the beautiful Arabella Edwards, mistress of the Royal Secretary of the Provinces, is found as an extra corpse hanging from the Salem gallows it’s up to wealthy widow Hetty Henry and young minister Creasy Cotton to comb through a host of suspects – Arabella shared her favors – and to uncover a clever killer while themselves escaping from the witchcraft hysteria of Salem, 1692.

ExcerpTuesday - Teresa Burrell

Today I welcome Tee Burrell with an excerpt from The Advocate.

“If I knew he were dead, maybe then I could let go.” Sabre Brown’s fingers slid up and down the side of her styrofoam cup as she and her best friend, Bob, walked away from the coffee cart in front of the Juvenile Division of the San Diego Superior Court.
He put his arm around her tiny waist and pulled her closer to him. “I know how much you miss him.”
“Not knowing is the worst part. You’d think after five years, I’d quit expecting him to return.” She sighed and her voice softened. “The last time I talked to him, he called to wish me a happy birthday. He called me the night before because his plane was leaving early in the morning and he didn’t want to wake me. I teased him about growing up, since waking me in the middle of the night would generally bring him great pleasure.”
They stood in silence for a moment. Then Sabre turned to Bob. “You’re a lot like him; you know…the same crazy sense of humor, only you’re less of a prankster. Once he came to my office with silly putty or something hanging out of his nose, like a booger.” Sabre swallowed and cleared her throat. “I don’t know what I’d have done without you the past few years. You make it a little easier, you know.” She glanced at her watch.
“We have a few minutes yet before the vultures start to circle,” Bob said. “By the way, Happy Birthday.”
She attempted a smile. “You remembered.”
“Sure, kid. I couldn’t forget such an important day.”
“I wish I could.”
“I know.” He slipped his arm in hers. “We better get into court.” They walked arm in arm past the metal detector just as a teenage boy placed his belt on the conveyor and then grabbed for his baggy pants as they fell to his knees, displaying his Taz boxer shorts and his warthog tattoo. They chuckled as they entered the crowded hallway.
“I need to talk to my ‘methamphetamine gazelle’ over there,” Bob nodded his head toward a woman with stringy, uncombed hair framing a face with skin spread over her bones with no apparent flesh in between. Her missing teeth added a slight whistle to her high pitched voice. She paced up and down the short hallway, rubbing her hands together and complaining to anyone who would listen.

Book Blurb

For Sabre Orin Brown, life is good; she has it all…or would have, if only she could solve the mysterious disappearance of her brother. The search for her brother and her career as a juvenile court attorney collide when she defends a nine-year-old whose father will go to any length to obtain custody.

Sabre finds herself immersed in a case with too many unanswered questions. Her quest for the truth takes her coast to coast and five years into the past. Confronted with mysterious clues and strange occurrences, Sabre is threatened by someone wanting to make her suffer the unbearable anguish of losing everything—including her life.

As Sabre’s passion to find the answers intensifies, she discovers a twisted history of desperation, deceit, and revenge. And she discovers how obscure and treacherous the truth can be.




Bio

Teresa Burrell has dedicated her life to helping children and their families in both the courtroom and the classroom. As an attorney in San Diego, Burrell maintained a private law practice for twelve years, which specialized in domestic, criminal, and civil cases. Her work in juvenile court focused on representing abused minors and juvenile delinquents. Burrell has received several awards and special recognition from the San Diego Volunteer Lawyers Program for her countless hours of pro bono work with children and their families. Burrell has also enjoyed a satisfying career as a teacher. She has taught children of all ages with diverse backgrounds and special needs. After creating an after-school program that kept kids off the street, she received a community service award. Now in semi-retirement in California, Burrell continues to educate groups about social issues impacting children and write novels, many of which are inspired by actual legal cases. She is embarking on a fifty-state tour in which she will speak about her book and do her part to help deter child abuse. She invites anyone interested in having her speak in their city to contact her directly.


Contact Information

Teresa’s website is http://www.teresaburrell.com/. She blogs at http://www.teresaburrell.blogspot.com/. Her email address is teresa@teresaburrell.com. Her books are available online at Amazon (in paperback and on Kindle), Barnes and Noble, Echelon Press, Teresa’s website, Fictionwise, and at local bookstores.

Recipe Wednesday - Lisabet Sarai

Author Lisabet Sarai shares a recipe with us on my inaugural Recipe Wednesday.

Sounds yummy!

*Tijuana Sal's Picante Mexican Casserole

*Ingredients*

1 lb. ground beef1 package corn tortillas

8 oz. jack or medium cheddar cheese, sliced thin or grated

1 small can (175 gm) tomato paste

1 tsp. white vinegar

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1 small onion, chopped

1 half red bell pepper, chopped

1 half green bell pepper, chopped

1 tsp. chopped fresh chilis, or 1/2 tsp. cayenne (or more to taste)

1 Tbsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. ground coriander

A dash of oregano

1/2 tsp. salt

Lots of fresh ground black pepper (to taste)

Yogurt or sour cream

Black olives

*Method*

1. In a heavy skillet, fry the onions, garlic, and chilis in the vegetable oil until the onions start to brown.

2. Add the ground beef, cumin, coriander, oregano, salt and pepper (and cayenne, if you are using that instead of chilis). Cook, stirring occasionally, until the beef is well-browned.

3. Add tomato paste, water, and white vinegar. Add the bell peppers. Cook on medium heat another five minutes.

4. Assemble the casserole in a brownie pan or deep pie plate. Start by covering the bottom with a layer of tortillas. (You may want to cut them in half so that you don't have two layers.)

5. Spread half the beef mixture on top of the tortillas.

6. Sprinkle or arrange half the cheese on top of the beef.

7. Add another layer of tortillas.

8. Spread the rest of the beef.

9. Cut a tortilla or two into strips and arrange artistically on top of the beef. Then

10. sprinkle or arrange the remaining cheese.

11. Broil for 5-10 minutes until the cheese melts attractively.

12. Garnish with sour cream or yogurt and chopped black olives. Serve with a fresh tossed salad and a dry red wine.

Blurb: NECESSARY MADNESSM/M paranormal erotic romanceAvailable now from Total-E-Bound Publishing,http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?P_ID=655Nineteen year old Kyle sees visions of disasters, visions that tear his world apart. Everyone assumes that he is schizophrenic, but Rob, the cop who picks him up off the street, knows better. Rob's own experience has taught him that psychic powers are real, and potentially devastating.Since his telepathic sister's brutal murder, Rob wants nothing to do with "gifted" individuals like Kyle. Yet he can't deny his attraction to the beautiful, tortured young man -- an attraction that appears to be mutual. When a brilliant, sadistic practitioner of the black arts lures Kyle into his clutches, Rob faces the possibility that once again he may lose the person he loves most to the forces of darkness.-- Both power and love can lead to madness...

NECESSARY MADNESS - New M/M paranormal erotic romance from Lisabet Sarai

Read an excerpt at http://www.lisabetsarai.com/necessarymadnessex.html

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fVZjWpvJEo

AVAILABLE NOW from Total-E-Bound!http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?P_ID=655