ExcerpTuesday: Joel M. Andre

EXCERPT: 

Chapter 21

Jessica was dead. The words were more of a shocked thought than an actual statement. Disbelief clung to the poor elf’s face.

First it was Kris and now Jessica. The body count was going up and, in his mind, Pepper wondered who would end up the next victim if they didn’t catch the killer soon. But as far as he heard from the gossip around town, there wasn’t even a solid suspect.

The police had all left the area and the body of Kris had been hauled away to the medical examiner’s office. Now he had stumbled upon Jessica’s body, decapitated, with blood blasted all around.

He knew he needed to call the police. They needed to get back here and protect the village. This wasn’t a random incident after all. He wondered what, if any, clues had been pieced together.

Then again, Kringle had told him that the killer they were dealing with wasn’t even human. If that was the case, should he even bother getting the police involved?

There was that female detective; perhaps she had something that could help him. Maybe if he told her what Kringle had told him! Although, perhaps that was a remarkably stupid idea after all. She didn’t even believe that the dead man before her was Santa Claus. How was he going to convince her that a demon was on the loose?

He was standing there, deep in thoughts, when he heard the front door slowly open. The sound of the cold and bitter air as it rushed in and mixed with the warm air. Then softly the door closed again. His ears perked up.

Pepper could hear footsteps hammering onto the hard wood floors approaching him. Not just one pair, but what appeared to be two.

He began to back towards the curtains along the window in the back of the room, and slowly slid behind them. He slowed his breathing, taking low silent puffs of air as needed to avoid being discovered.

The sound of shoes falling on the floor entered the room. The rhythm of the falling footsteps started matching the pace of his beating heart, steady and firm. They stopped short and he heard a woman gasp.

Another voice said something he couldn’t understand, but he could tell it was male. He slowly pulled the curtain back to see if he recognized the individuals.

As his eye slowly crossed the edge of the curtain; he saw a large man he had never seen before and the back of a woman with a badge on her belt. The woman who was investigating the other murder!

“Oh thank God!” he screamed. He tore out from behind the curtains. Arms rose to embrace Lauren in a hug.

Protectively, the ghoul, now in human form lunged at the man. He smacked him hard, knocking him to the ground and pinning him there, protecting his friend Lauren.

“You leave lady alone” the tall man growled.

“Let me go you idiot,” the elf screamed at him.

“Well here is an interesting circumstance.” Lauren spoke up. “Drew, let him go.”

The elf shoved against the large man and jumped quickly to his feet. Brushing his elbows and knees he gave a quick and angry glare at the tall man. He then turned to Lauren.

“I need to tell you what’s going on,” the elf quickly said. “It’s very important I tell you.”

“If you are going to admit to the murders, we need to get a sworn statement, and that’s not something I can do right here.” Lauren responded.

“But I didn’t kill them; I came in only a few moments before you! There isn’t even a drop of blood on me. Jessica was dead when I arrived.” Pepper pleaded.

“Well, then let’s hear your side of the story.” Lauren responded.

Pepper looked at her and began recounting the experience with the spirit in the woods, the anger and the search for answers leading to the discovery of Jessica’s body.

The whole time, Lauren stared at him intently, judging the words he said, and trying to find items that did not mesh up, making notes for questions she still needed answered.

As the investigation continued, Lauren again asked Pepper to repeat the portion about the encounter with the apparition in the woods, studying the details and watching the facial expressions of the elf.

After all was said and done, she realized she believed the elf. Worst of all, it appeared as though there was an unholy evil stalking them in the North Pole.

Book Details:

Genre:Adult Suspense, Mystery, Thriller,Horror
Publisher: Darkcountry Publications
Publication Date: June 13, 2008
Purchase:Amazon

Synopsis:
Detective Lauren Bruni has dealt with death for her entire life. She has watched it ruin lives, and brought people closer together. Her job taught her to separate fact from fiction.
But on a cold December day, all Lauren had believed in would be shattered and tossed aside. Thrust in a world unlike any she has seen before, she investigates a prominent figure’s grisly murder, and searches for answers along a strange new set of people.

All while a killer watchers her every movement from the background. He waits in the shadows, waiting to strike at her when the time is right.

What is the secret of the death at the North Pole, and what is the larger horror at hand? Life lessons are learned and a realization that sometimes the most real things in this world are the ones we believe in the least. 

About Joel:
Joel M. Andre was born January 13, 1981. At a young age he was fascinated with the written word. It was at fourteen that Poe blew his mind, and Andre began to dabble with darker poetry.

Between the years of 1999 and 2007 Joel was featured in various poetry anthologies and publications. In 2008 he released his first collection,Pray the Rain Never Ends.

Knowing there was something deeper and darker inside of his soul, Joel decided to take a stab at commercialism. Releasing the dark tongue in cheek, A Death at the North Pole, created a dark world among the death of Kris Kringle. Ultimately providing a tale of redemption.

October of 2008 saw Joel release his second book, Kill 4 Me. A tale in which a woman is haunted by a vengeful spirit through text messages and instant messaging.

Taking some time off and doing a lot of soul searching, Joel took things in a new direction and dabbled in the Fantasy Genre with, The Pentacle of Light. The tale dealing with five major races battling for control of Earth, and the acceptance of their God.

Finally, after missing his detective Lauren Bruni, he released the book The Return in October 2009, this time moving the action from the North Pole and placing it in the small Arizona community he was raised in.
Andre’s latest book is The Black Chronicles: Cry of the Fallen about a dead man who seeks revenge on the woman that tormented him in peaceful Northern Arizona.

Currently, he resides in Chandler, AZ.
You can visit his website at www.joelmandre.info

The Next Stop:

December 14th-Guest Post@ I'd Rather Be At The Beach

He says, She Says

The Writers’ Life

(He says, She says)

            Collaborating and cohabitating is not the easiest way to write a crime novel, or any novel.

            What you usually need to launch a collaborative writing effort are two people who have close to the same level of writing experience, have similar approaches to telling a story, and can spend long periods in the same room, exchanging ideas without killing each other.

            We had none of that background going for us, except for the no-mayhem part.

            It started one day when J. J. was “between books” and Bette, an RN and artist/sculptor, 

came up with an idea for a book she thought J. J. should write.

             For months the dialogue went something like this:

            “I think you should write this great book.”

            “I don’t want to write that book.”

            To break the impasse, J. J. brought home a ream of paper, pulled an old portable Royal manual typewriter from a closet, and said, “If you think your idea is so wonderful, then you write it.”

            The response, as anyone who knows Bette might expect, was, “Okay! I will!” And she did.

            An underlying goal for Bette was to create a strong nurse protagonist as opposed to the usual doctor-hero approach of most medical thrillers. She also wanted to take a big step away from the nurse-as-handmaiden-to-the-doctor stereotype too often found in books, television, and the movies. Something more like “Nurse Jackie,” but without the nose candy.

            Collaboration was a completely new experience for J. J., who had always worked solo as both a fiction and non-fiction writer. And other writers warned that attempting to collaborate and cohabitate could produce nasty results.

            Big arguments and very tense moments? Oh, yes. About everything -- the meaning and use of various words, how to make dialogue sound like real people, what was or wasn’t a complete sentence, and a few other things here and there that probably should never, ever be mentioned again.

            We quickly learned that to have a successful writing collaboration, it was essential to discuss everything and not let down-and-dirty disputes (we still have them now and then) escalate. Also, it was disastrous to allow individual egos to bar the way to compromise.

            We continue to work at the process, trying different approaches -- each writing every other chapter, adopting specific characters, taking on certain types of situations and settings, and various combinations of these.

            What works best is that after agreeing on a story idea, one of us -- usually Bette -- will write a first draft, with continuous input from the other on plot and character development. Then we reverse roles for the second draft. No matter what crazy course the story-telling takes, we end up sitting down side by side at the computer keyboard, going through the manuscript word by word to create what we hope is the final draft (too it often isn’t).

            The magic of the whole process is that the completed ms. reads as a third voice, neither Bette’s nor J.J.’s. People who know us will insist they can tell who wrote which passage or scene. They’re always wrong. In fact, after a book is completed, even we can’t always tell who wrote what.

           

            To date, we’ve written five novels together -- four medical thrillers and a suspense-adventure -- without killing or seriously maiming each other.

.           Our first collaboration was BONE DRY, a medical thriller described by Publishers Weekly as “not for the squeamish.” This was followed by HEIR TODAY…, a suspense-adventure that was compared favorably with the Nick and Nora Charles books. Both were published by Five Star, and are now available as e-books.

            This past August, we independently published SISTERS IN SILENCE, another fast-paced medical thriller, as both an e-book and trade paper back.

            We’ve discovered that there are incredible advantages to writing and sleeping together: having a wonderful, supportive companion at writer/fan conferences; not being lonely on book-signing tours; and, most important, having someone always there for you when you wake up with an idea in the middle of the night.

           

# # #

BIOS

Bette Golden Lamb

J. J. Lamb

          Bette Golden Lamb and J. J. Lamb are the co-authors of three crime novels. Most recently, SISTERS IN SILENCE, a medical thriller about a fertility counselor who has gone off the deep end; HEIR TODAY…, a fast-paced suspense/adventure featuring a husband-wife team “reminiscent of Nick & Nora Charles;” and BONE DRY, a high-tension medical thriller described as “not for the squeamish.”

            They combine collaboration and cohabitation in an air of creative exchange in their Northern California home.

            When not writing, either with J. J. or on her own, Bette, unmistakably from the Bronx, can be found in her studio playing with clay -- she is a professional ceramist, sculptor, and artist. (www.bettegoldenlamb.com) whose creations appear in regional, national, and international exhibitions. She’s also an RN, and a devoted gardener.

            “As an RN, I wanted to write medical thrillers that put nurses smack in the center of a story,” she says. “Most such novels have MDs as the protagonist, when in reality doctors sort of breeze in and out of a hospital a couple of times a day, while nurses run and control the hospital environment.”

             J. J. is a former newspaper reporter, Associated Press staff writer, trade press correspondent, and freelance journalist. His journalism career was interrupted early on by the U.S. Army, which provided him with a Top Secret clearance, locked room with table, chair, and typewriter, and time to write short stories.

            The stories evolved into an original paperback series featuring Las Vegas-based PI Zachariah Tobias Rolfe III. Then came collaboration with Bette on their current series of books. He’s also a proud and skilled jack-of-all-trades, typical of a born-and-raised Hoosier (www.jjlamb.com).

            Between them, the Lambs belong to Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and the same writers critique group for the past 19 years. In addition to the successful launch of their latest co-authored thriller, they are looking forward to the publication of new individual novels - an Urban Fantasy from Bette, and a new Zach Rolfe caper from J. J. And there is another medical thriller in the works.

Sister in Silence

            Fertility counselor Zondra Vesey is not a serial killer -- she’s on a mission, a noble mission.

            For ten long years she has slaved to help make one man a star specialist in the highly competitive field of infertility treatment.

            Her thanks? Woman after woman sleeps in his bed, fills his personal life -- as she once did.

          Instead of loving her, his surgeon’s hands sliced her open, mutilated her insides, and left her sterile, as barren as the women who flock to him for the miracle of motherhood; the women she counsels.

            Now, Zondra is angry, grief-stricken, and frilled with sorrow -- a deadly mission burns deep within her.

            She will, she must, save her sisters from their suffering.

           

 

ExcerpTuesday: John J. Smith

“Veronica–Veronica Williams?” Jared said in a surprised manner.

She turned to him, hesitated for a long moment while fighting a severe case of nervous jitters that she hadn’t expected. She went from being angry to being nervous as she boarded an emotional roller coaster.

She feigned surprise. “Jared?”

He smiled a warm smile. “I thought that was you–how are you?”

She touched her neck as she tried to conceal her nervousness and answered in a choppy and rapid manner, “I’m fine, good, and you?”

He proffered his hand, hoping for a moment when they might touch, but she didn’t offer hers back, she merely stood in silence as he continued, “Good. How have you been?” She didn’t answer. “What’s it been, twenty years now?”

Too nervous to talk, Veronica nodded. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, cleared her throat. “Twenty years last June.”

He flinched. He couldn’t believe that she remembered the date. He always assumed that he was the only one who had remembered every moment that they had spent together, every moment that they had spoken on the phone, and every silly note that they had passed to each other in the hallway when they were between classes. Each date, event, note, and conversations were deeply etched into his mind. Especially the love he had felt for her.   ...

They stared at each other in a long silent awkward moment, neither knowing what to say or do next.

Jared looked to the gate, glancing at the ticket agent as she updated the time of departure on the board. When he turned back to Veronica, he noticed that she had never let her gaze roam, and smiled at the thought.

Jared asked, “Can I buy you a drink, a coffee, coke, beer, or something?”

Veronica hesitated. She was in no mood for this. That was the last thing she wanted. “I better not.”  ...

Jared glanced at to a table that was near the entrance. “If we sit there we’ll be able to see the gate, and hear the announcements”

Veronica hesitated. She really didn’t want to. Why should she, he dumped her. Why should she give him another chance?  ...

“Please,” Jared softly whispered. “I’d love to visit with you for a few minutes.” He turned to the window. “From the looks of it, the snow isn’t going to let up anytime soon, and I don’t know if you’re going to Dallas or just passing through, but I have good word that an ice storm has hit Dallas shutting down the airport.”

Unable to control her anger, Veronica furiously snapped, “Aren’t you just a plethora of bad information.”

                                                                                                                             Page 1 of 2

Delayed Flight Description:

Publisher: DarkRedPress

Category: Romance, Mystery

Date: January 1, 2011

Available in Paperback, Kindle, and Nook: 300 Pages

After 20 years, two former childhood sweethearts meet and discover that the love they had for each other never died. (Woman) painfully realized that it had been her own father that had come between them forcing her to live a nightmare of separation rather than her schoolgirl dream of "ever after" with her sweetheart. 

About John Smith:

John writes under two names John J. Smith and pen name Jonathan Black. Why does he do this?  He has been told when a reader sees his work they have an expectation, hence the two names. He has won several awards under each name.

He has been called a prolific Fiction writer. he enjoys writing romance and mainstream as John and paranormal and paranormal romance as Jonathan.

Several of his novels have been converted or rewritten into screenplays; for which he has also have won several awards.

John J. Smith resides in Plano, a suburb of Dallas, Texas.

Why I Write

How do I write?

Like many writers, I find it difficult to find time to write. Most of us have day jobs, and in today’s economy, most employees are putting in many hours, and fighting the fatigue that goes along with that. However, it is still possible to find time to write. I have several strategies that I use.

I frequently get up a half hour early and go straight to the computer. Making writing my first daily priority works well for me.

If I need to write at another time during the day, I use music to activate the right side of my brain and put myself in the mood of the story. I have a couple of “right brain” tracks that serve this purpose well. If I need to think of the plot, or find myself stymied with the progression of the story – I’ll put on my soundtrack from Phantom of the Opera. Those first notes from the organ get the thoughts flowing.

I have a couple of close friends who function as my muse. One of them is my husband, and I have a few other acquaintances who also fill this role. Most are male, and I find this interesting because they all approach life very differently than I do. I’ll discuss the story with them, and they frequently have ideas or perspectives that I’ll incorporate into the novel. I am kind of surprised at how well my husband does this, because he is not a writer. But – he is a reader of mysteries.

I write from several points of view in my novels. I literally imagine myself “inside the head” of the particular character I’m writing about. If I’m describing action, I imagine the scene around me, how I would be seeing and feeling it, and I try to get that mental picture to the page.

These are my strategies. They work for me, once a actually sit in the chair, and begin to write.

C. L. SHORE

                C. L. Shore is a health care provider and educator. She grew up reading the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series and remains an avid fan of the mystery genre.

Her first mystery, Seeker of Truth, was published by Eternal Press early in 2011. The novel takes place in Indianapolis following the world’s largest half-marathon. She is currently finishing Maiden Murders, a mystery involving a serial killer and a thousand-year-old assassination.  

C. L. Shore lives in Indianapolis with her family and an ornery tabby cat. She continues to read mysteries whenever she has the chance.  Visit her website at www.clshoreonline.com.

25 Days of Christmas Giveaway

From Cheryl Tardif, publisher and owner of IMAJIN BOOKS, comes...

25 Days of Christmas Giveaways

December 1-25, 2011

This Christmas, great things come in fours at Imajin Books! So we have four ways for booklovers to celebrate the Christmas season: an eBook Sale, eBook Giveaways, Basket o' Books Draw, and a Grand Prize Draw for the all-new Kindle Fire ereader.

1. eBook Sale - all our ebooks will be priced between $0.99 and $2.99.

The sale is on from December 1st to January 7th. To purchase ebooks from Smashwords (multiple file formats including ePub, PDF & more), visit our Winter Events page to view the special coupon codes to buy ebooks at our sale prices. Or buy from Amazon.com where the list prices have been changed to sale prices.

2. eBook Giveaways - 4 ebooks (winners' choice from our titles) will be given away daily.

Rules: To enter, leave a comment and your email address on our Winter Events post in our Contests & Events section. Comments without email addresses will not qualify. You can enter every day; 1 ebook per winner per day. You may format your email address like: myemailaddress (at) emailprovider.com (or similar) if you'd like to; as long as we can read it, you'll be entered. No exchanges, no cash value. Ebook prizes will be awarded daily.

3. Basket o' Books Draw - paperback collection of winner's choice of 4 books

Rules: To enter, leave a comment and your email address on our Winter Events post in our Contests & Events section. Comments without email addresses will not qualify. You may format your email address like: myemailaddress (at) emailprovider.com (or similar) if you'd like to; as long as we can read it, you'll be entered. No exchanges, no cash value. 1 entry per person. This draw will take place between December 25 and December 31. Winner will be announced on our website.

4. Grand Prize Draw for a Kindle Fire ereader - 1 winner

Rules: You will get one entry for any of the following:

1. Review any of our books from December 1-December 24th, 2011 on Amazon.com or Smashwords.com and email us a link to your review. 1 entry per book title reviewed.

2. Tweet any of the following messages (1 entry per post per day; max. 3 entries/day):

Check out @imajinbooks 25 Days of Christmas Giveaways for prizes & win a #Kindle Fire http://imajinbooks.com

eBooks $2.99 or less - @imajinbooks 25 Days of Christmas Giveaways - prizes & win a Kindle Fire http://imajinbooks.com

25 Days of Christmas Giveaways @imajinbooks - eBook SALE, prizes & win a Kindle Fire http://imajinbooks.com

3. Post an announcement on your Facebook page to help us spread the news and email us with the link to your FB page (1 entry per post per day; max. 3 entries per day):

Enter the 25 Days of Christmas Giveaways for prizes & chance to win a #Kindle Fire http://imajinbooks.com

Ebooks $2.99 or less - 25 Days of Christmas Giveaways - prizes & chance to win a Kindle Fire http://imajinbooks.com

Want to win a Kindle Fire ereader? Check out the 25 Days of Christmas Giveaways at http://www.imajinbooks.com

4. Buy any of our ebooks or paperbacks between December 1-25th and forward us your receipt by email; receive 10 entries per title purchased.

When emailing us during this contest, please put "25 DAYS" in the subject line. Include your name and pertinent contest info.

Entries must be received by December 25th, midnight MT. Open to anyone 18+, anywhere. Void where prohibited. No cash value, no substitutions, no exchanges.

Basket o' Books and Kindle prize will be awarded by January 7, 2012. All prizes must be claimed by January 30, 2012 or they will be void.

Breaking the Rules

The Writing Life – Breaking the Rules

This is sort of a confession: I don’t always follow the rules.

I’m not talking about speed limits or red lights late at night. It’s not that kind of confession.

I’m talking about those rules of writing that “everyone” knows and says you must follow.

Don’t let them kid you. You don’t have to follow them all slavishly. But—big “BUT”—you do need to know what they are and how to follow them before you’re allowed to break them.

First rules up for discussion are the rules of English grammar. In truth, I’m pretty fanatical about them. There are right ways and wrong ways to break these rules. Yes, there is fidget room within the rules, and places where it’s okay to ignore them, but ONLY after you’ve mastered them. Every craftsperson needs to know how to use the tools of their trade. Our tools are words, sentences, and paragraphs. A good writer knows how to use them properly.

And how to break them, of course. Like most writers I use the occasional sentence fragment. When you’re deep inside a character’s point of view, for instance, you can use fragments to reflect their thought process, which rarely happens in any neatly grammatical way. Dialogue is full of sentence fragments and other bits of odd grammar. Eavesdrop on conversations and you’ll hear that people don’t always speak in neat full sentences. Even strange punctuation can serve a purpose in your prose.

But know this. Editors and readers can tell the difference between grammatical mistakes that serve a purpose and errors of ignorance.

Then there’s the rule that says you must write every day, if you want to be considered a serious writer. I admit that it’s good in theory. I’d love to be able to write every single day. But I have a demanding job, a husband, family, and friends. They’re all important to me, and they all demand major chunks of time. I have to do promo for my books that are out, which can also take large bites out of the day.

There are days that writing just isn’t possible. There are just too many other things going on in my life. Sadly, I’m not the kind of writer who can grab any open few minutes to add to the opus. I need to get into my world and really soak in it for a bit before I’m ready to start reporting on it again.

The result is that I’m more of a spurt writer than a steady one.  I tend to write on free nights and weekends, any time I can get a decent chunk of time without too many distractions.  Most experts frown on that, saying you should have the discipline to write some every single day. But it’s not discipline I lack. It’s time.

Does that mean I’m not a serious writer? You tell me. I’ve published eleven novels, several novellas, and quite a few short stories.  I’ve got probably that many more unpublished stories sitting on my hard drive.

But now, just to round it out, here’s one of those “rules” that I never break: I never send out the first draft of a novel. In fact, my manuscripts go through several rounds of revision and editing before I turn them loose in the cold, cruel world of publishing. And then they’ll likely see several more rounds of editing before they’re released to the public.

A novel is too big a project to think it can possibly come out perfect on the first try.

So… What writing rules do you break?

Bio for Karen McCullough

Karen McCullough is the author of ten published novels in the mystery, romantic suspense, and fantasy genres and has won numerous awards, including an Eppie Award for fantasy. She’s also been a four-time Eppie finalist, and a finalist in the Prism, Dream Realm, Rising Star, Lories, Scarlett Letter, and Vixen Awards contests. Her short fiction has appeared in several anthologies and numerous small press publications in the fantasy, science fiction, and romance genres. Her most recent releases are MAGIC, MURDER AND MICROCIRCUITS, a paranormal romantic suspense now available in most electronic formats, A GIFT FOR MURDER, published in hardcover by Five Star/Gale Group Mysteries, and the re-releasedebook of A QUESTION OF FIRE. She invites visitors to check out her home on the web at http://www.kmccullough.com and her site for the Market Center Mysteries series, http://www.marketcentermysteries.com

Blurb for MAGIC, MURDER AND MICROCIRCUITS:

A powerful wizard with a physics degree and a checkered past invents a shield to ensure he'll never again be tortured almost to death…

The wizarding powers-that-be fear the repercussions of such a device and send his former girlfriend, an accomplished wizard herself, to retrieve the device or destroy it…

When the shield is stolen by the magical mafia, Ilene McConnell and Michael Morgan have to set aside their differences and work together to recover it. Michael claims he needs the device as insurance against the kind of injury and injustice he suffered once before. Ilene maintains its potential to upset the delicate balance of power makes it too dangerous and that it needs to be destroyed. But none of that will matter if they can’t retrieve it before a ruthless, powerful wizard learns how to use it for his own ends.

Buy links for MAGIC, MURDER AND MICROCIRCUITS:

Amazon Kindle Edition:

http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Murder-and-Microcircuits-ebook/dp/B0060Y5IQ6/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1319925543&sr=1-6

Nook Edition:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1035815244?ean=2940013212879&itm=3&usri=karen+mccullough

Order from Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/100257

Authorsday: Vonnie Winslow Crist

Author Bio: Vonnie Winslow Crist is a contributor to Faerie Magazine, a columnist for Harford's Heart Magazine, an illustrator for The Vegetarian Journal, and editor of The Gunpowder Review. Her fantasy short story collection, The Greener Forest, in which the world of Faerie mingles with our workaday world, was published in 2011 by Cold Moon Press: http://coldmoonpress.com/quickbuy.html Her award-winning fiction has appeared in Dragon's Lure, Tales of the Talisman, Shelter of Daylight, Cemetery Moon, While the Morning Stars Sing, Dia de los Muertos, Potter's Field 4,Sideshow 2, and elsewhere. You can find her at: http:vonniewinslowcrist.com& http://vonniewinslowcrist.wordpress.com

  

1.      What drew you to the subject of The Greener Forest? Since I was a child, I've always believed magical beings existed in the most mundane places: The moth fluttering around the porch-light could as easily be a fairy as not. The mouse nibbling on a few seeds scattered beneath the birdfeeder might be gathering intelligence for the garden gnomes. The creature that scoots into a hole between the roots of a tree before you can get a good look at it might be a woodchuck or it might be a goblin. And it's that “why not?” attitude about the mysterious and supernatural that I wanted to write about in The Greener Forest.

2.      Did you encounter any obstacles in researching it? I think the hardest part about researching the individual supernatural creatures I used in the stories was the limited number of resources with specific details about the less familiar Faerie beings. It's easy to find lots of general information, especially on well-known creatures like mermaids, flower fairies, dragons, and elves – but there's limited information on the more obscure Faerie beings like spriggans, gremlers, bogles, and such. I ended up “filling in the blanks” with my own details when it came to the habits and physical appearance of those lesser-known creatures. Since I totally made up a couple of beings (applehead gnomes and Muds), those necessary leaps of imagination were great fun!

3.      What was the name of the first novel you wrote? Did you try to publish it? Enchanted Skean is the first novel I wrote. It's a YA-Cross-Over fantasy novel set in Lifthrasir – a world of my creation. Against odds, I secured a New York agent for the novel, but not long afterward, her agency closed and the agent retired from the business. Sigh. I've just recently decided to try and find a publisher for Enchanted Skean  myself. I'm hoping if the manuscript was good enough to attract the attention of an agent, it will catch the eye of an editor at a publishing house. We'll see! By the way, a “skean” is a dagger.

4.      What was the best writing advice someone gave you? Best advice: Always have multiple submissions “out” at publishers at all times. You can't get published if you don't submit your work. You increase your odds of publication if you have lots of your stories (or poems or artwork) on the desks or in the in-boxes of various editors. And while your poems, stories, novel, etc. are looking for a home – you should be busily creating new work.  Practicing your craft and persistence really do work!

5.      What was the worst? Did you know it at the time? The worst advice was actually included on a rejection slip. Years ago, I submitted a speculative short story to a small press publisher who not only rejected the story – but send me a handwritten note that said not to send anything else to him, and as a favor to all editors, to stop writing/submitting my fiction. After my initial gasp, I decided to prove him wrong rather than listen to his advice. I sent the story to another editor the following week who accepted the tale, and published the story (without any changes) a few months later in his small press magazine. What's the message? If you work at the craft of writing and believe in your work – don't let others discourage you.

6.      Tell me one thing about yourself that very few people know? Though I haven't taken karate classes in years, I earned a blue belt in Kenpo karate and was about to take my test for a brown belt when I suffered a wrist injury. Since I'm an illustrator as well as a writer, I sadly stopped karate classes. I still miss the concentration, beauty, and dance-like movements of karate.

7.      What’s your favorite quote? “Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”- St. Francis of Assisi. I think this advice works in the writing world as well as life. I started out writing poetry, then flash fiction, then short stories, and finally novels. When I wrote my first 7,000-word story – I could hardly believe it. When I began submitting my writing, I sent it to small, local publications. Gradually, I built up the courage to send my words out to larger publications in the USA and beyond. When I saw a book of mine displayed at a bookstore for the first time, I felt like I'd done the impossible!

8.      What’s your favorite thing about your book? I love the fact that I was able to include not only my fiction, but also a few subject-appropriate poems and illustrations in The Greener Forest. My editor was receptive to using poems and drawings of some of the Faerie creatures as “bridges” between stories. But you can only view the illustrations and old manuscript-like borders in the print or PDF versions – other electronic versions include just the poems and stories. For those interested in seeing a bit of my art (besides the cover illo), here's a link to a free, down-loadable Greener Forest maze that I drew: http://coldmoonpress.com/forreaders.html

9.      What is your favorite writing reference book and why? As much as I value a dictionary, a thesaurus is the ultimate reference book for a writer. I think we all have our favorite words and “go to” verbs. A thesaurus gives us other options, many of them wonderfully nuanced, some of them archaic, others truly poetic. I know and use lots of words, but I'm always amazed at the words from various cultures and sources that pop up in a thesaurus. And a rich vocabulary is a boon to any writer.

10.  What is the one thing your hero would do that you wouldn’t? There are 13 stories in The Greener Forest, so there are 13 heroes. But I must say that in the tale, Blame it on the Trees, the hero, Berg, jumps into a grizzly bear enclosure at the zoo to save a teenager who's fallen in with the bears. As brave as I'd like to think I am, and as much as I'd like to think I'd face anything for the sake of my children, grand-kids, or anyone's child – I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have the nerve to jump into a grizzly bear enclosure. And that's probably a good thing! But not only does my character, Berg, face off against the trio of bears – he chooses to try and save someone who'd just been unkind to him and his friends. Brave and forgiving. I think many of us would like to have those traits.

Book Blurb: In The Greener Forest anything is possible. Silver maples sing in angel-song. Spriggans skulk about cypress knees and wreak havoc at an amusement park. The Applehead Lady's true identity is revealed by moonlight. A scarecrow finds true love in an ash grove. And a wayward beech tree sends a woman into the arms of a kindhearted giant. These stories and more lead the reader into the places where Faerie and the everyday world collide. Discover that all is not what it seems at first glance, and wondrous things still happen in The Greener Forest.

http://coldmoonpress.com/quickbuy.html  or your readers can go to Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/Greener-Forest-VW-Crist-Amazon

Vonnie