Blood and High Heels

D'Elen McClain

I have long been a fan of romance, thriller, and mysteries books. I read for pleasure. I read to escape. I want to be taken away from life and my dirty house.

I am now a police detective and my reading habits are changing. I’ve expanded to paranormal, sappy love stories, and even fantasy/science fiction. You might wonder why?

I now see police procedural from the front lines. I work with dead bodies and rape victims. This is not where I choose to spend my relaxation time. Writers, please take me away. Take me away from fictionalized female police detectives in high heels. Grab my gun and shoot the detective who spills her breasts over the crime scene. Kill zombies, vampires and weres with boot stomping, blood resistant black leather.

Men, embrace those needy ladies with love dripping from your soul. Give me the swashbuckling shirt, unbuttoned and showing your manly physique, yes, I’m imagining you in my bed. Wrap your strong arms around that woman who makes your heart burst from your chest. Carry her away and never let her go.

Give me a spaceship with aliens discovering a new universe. I want an ugly and deadly troll under the bridge. Give me a wicked witch or a beauty that saves the day. I want women who are strong and fight their weakness for muscular arms that don’t appreciate them for their capabilities. If she must have high heels, may they be stiletto, kick ass, weapons.

I want the man to win her heart through honor, fortitude, and the realization he can’t live without her. I need fairies to cause mischief and mayhem. I carry a Glock 35 .40 caliber. It’s big and bad. Know your weapons and understand how they work. Make me laugh, make me cry, and most of all make me want more.

D’Elen McClain writes paranormal romance. The Fang Chronicles available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. She also writes her humorous adventures of becoming a police officer and detective during her mid-life crisis under the name Suzie Ivy. Bad Luck Cadet is available at Amazon and Bad Luck Officer is coming soon. She will answer police procedural questions at suzieivy @ ymail. com

Authorsday - Beth Solheim

A hearty blog welcome to author Beth Solheim today. She'll talk about her writing style and how she came to write At Witt's End.

How did you pick the genre you write in?
I am an avid mystery reader. My ideas flowed toward writing cozy mysteries.

What drew you to the subject of At Witt’s End?
Channel surfing. I flipped from channel to channel and heard someone casually mentioned crossing over to the other side. I chuckled and hoped that person wouldn’t take a wrong turn on their journey. That silly thought grew into an idea, moved on to character development, and end up as my Sadie Witt mystery series.

What type of research did you do for your humorous paranormal series?
For the paranormal part, none. It stemmed from my imagination and tidbits I’ve read or watched on television. Because the setting for the series is at a resort situated next to a mortuary, I spent time with a funeral director (grateful it was from a live perspective) so the mortuary scenes would ring realistic. I am in awe of folks in that profession.

How long have you been writing?
About ten years, six seriously. Classes, critique groups and sticking to a schedule helped me understand the intricacies of writing, marketing and the publishing process. It’s an on-going learning process.

Do you plot or write by the seat of your pants?
I plot and outline, chapter by chapter. I can’t go anywhere without a road mad and the same holds true for writing. The hardest part is developing the outline sequence because all those jumbled ideas fight for a starring role. After I have a chapter outline, writing the story is quite enjoyable.

What’s your writing schedule?
I work full time at a hospital in Human Resources, so I write evenings and weekends.

What is your favorite word?
Shenanigan. Sounds like a whole lot of high jinks, humor and entertainment.

What did you learn from writing this book?
Two things. First, if you truly believe in something, keep working on it until it comes to fruition. Second, nearing retirement is the beginning of a whole new adventure. I’m thrilled to see so many senior writers being published. Maybe there’s something to be said about ‘gray’ gray matter.

If you could ask your readers one question, what would it be?
Are you interested in reading the second book in the Sadie Witt series? Their answer will determine the future of Sadie and her wacky cohorts.

Tell me something about yourself that very few people know?
I have a wild female grey fox that comes to feed on our patio. If we entertain around our patio table, Foxy Lou plops down on the grass about ten feet away and rotates her gaze toward the person talking as if she understands every word. She’s frequented our yard for three years. She’s part of our little piece of paradise.

AUTHOR BIO
Like the main character in her Sadie Witt mystery series, Beth Solheim was born with a healthy dose of imagination and a hankering to solve a puzzle. She learned her reverence for reading from her mother, who was never without a book in her hand.

By day, Beth works in Human Resources. By night she morphs into a writer who frequents lake resorts and mortuaries and hosts a ghost or two in her humorous paranormal mysteries.

Raised and still living in Northern Minnesota, she resides in lake country with her husband and a menagerie of wildlife critters. She and her husband are blessed with two grown children and two grandsons

BOOK BLURB
Mayhem is on the rise at the Witt’s End Resort, especially Cabin 14, where no guest ever leaves alive. To make matters worse, Sadie Witt must untangle a murderous web while struggling to prevent an unscrupulous sheriff’s deputy from shutting down her lakeside resort.

When guests arrive at Cabin 14, they’re stunned to learn Sadie is their conduit to the hereafter. Clad in outlandish outfits, (clothing typically reserved for those without sagging body parts) and sporting hairdos that make bystanders want to look away but can’t, Sadie realizes one of the guests has been murdered and works against the clock to prevent further mayhem.

WEBSITE
http://www.bsolheim.com/

ExcerpTuesday - Ric Wasley

Welcome paranormal author Ric Wasley. He's sharing an excerpt of his book The Scrimshaw.

Here's what it is about:

Spring 1858, Nantucket Island. Just outside of the harbor, a ship is approaching. She is the Elizabeth James, a trading vessel, home to Jeptha Dawes after two years in the South Sea Islands. But the Elizabeth James will not be enjoying the welcoming lights of Nantucket Town this night, because the cargo carried by the Yankee clipper ship is not just silks and spices. It's something that the ship's dying captain has sworn must never be allowed to set foot in the town of his birth. It is a cargo of pure evil.... Summer 1968, Cape Cod. Mick and Bridget ride on a 650 cc BSA motorcycle as it roars them over the Bourne Bridge spanning the Cape Cod Canal. They don't care about everyday life. They're on vacation, heading for a well-deserved rest, far away from city cares and hassles. They've picked out a quiet little town halfway up the Cape Cod peninsula. There, they plan to relax in a quaint white clapboard inn, surrounded by beach plums and primroses, encircled by nothing but sand, sea, and each other. Peace, quiet, and safety. Or so they think. What they don't know is that they're riding smack dab into the middle of trouble.... And something that's been waiting...for 110 years.

The excerpt:

The Skaket Creek Inn August 18th, 19687:52 a.m.
Bridget picked up the oddly shaped pieces one by one and turned them over in her hands. She held one up to the filtered morning light streaming in through the small semicircular window set high up in the basement wall. She shook her head and blew a stray wisp of jet-black hair from her eyes. Finally she turned back to Kathy Dawes standing in the doorway, leaning against the heavy oak door. An old fashioned brass key dangling from a faded, red velvet ribbon hung from her right hand.
"All right." Bridget sighed. "I give up. What are they?"
Before Kathy could answer, Mick asked quietly, "Do you remember what you asked me the first time we walked into the pub upstairs?"
Bridget glanced up at the heavy beams overhead that supported the pub's wooden floor. Yes, she remembered, the night before last. Had it really been so short a time? Time enough for their lives to be horribly changed. She gave a tiny, involuntary shudder and said, "Yes, I think so."
She frowned and tried to recall the exact words. "We'd just come in, and I was looking over at the bar, and there was a sign above it and...yes--the sign. I asked you what that word meant. Scrimshaw."

Bio:

Ric Wasley thrived on music in the sixties and performed as a folksinger and in several rock bands all over New England and later while attending the University of Kentucky. While at UK his band performed as an opening act for the Kingsmen and while touring as a folk singing act he met the likes of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.

Ric graduated with a BA in History from UK in 1968 and has been writing for over 30 years. He has been published in several literary magazines in L.A. and San Francisco while living in California. He currently lives outside of Boston with his wife and three children, works for a major media company and retains his love of music and writing.
His other works include:
The Scrimshaw – 2008 - Novel
Shadow of Innocence – 2007 - Novel
Acid Test — 2004 - Novel
At my Window with a Broken Wing – Novella - 2009