Kim Antieau - Her Frozen Wild - Author Interview

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
Ursula Smith, a Portland-based archeologist who was raised by her grandmother when her mother disappeared in Siberia when Ursula was a child.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
A group of scientists unearth a frozen mummy in Siberia that turns out to have Ursula’s DNA. When she goes to Russia to try and figure out how that is possible, she meets a mysterious Russian who tells her she is fated to save the shape-changing People.

3. When does the plot take place?
It takes place in various time periods. It begins in the early years of the 20th century. A lot of it takes place at the end of the 20th century. Ursula goes back and forth through time. She lives in 18th century Siberia and in Siberia 2,500 years ago, too.

4. Where does the plot take place?
Most of it takes place in Siberia, although some of it takes place in Portland, too.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
Hmmm. I’m not sure how to answer this question. When I get an idea for a book, it feels as though the main character comes and tells me her story. In many ways, it feels as though I’m taking dictation. This was the adventure Ursula had, and I wrote it down the way she told me!

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
The story unfolded after I read an article in National Geographic about an “ice maiden” found in a grave in Siberia.

Book Summary

Scientists in the Altai in Siberia uncover the 2,500 year old frozen mummy of a tattooed priestess or shaman. This mummy has the same mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) as American archaeologist Ursula Smith whose mother disappeared in Siberia 30 years earlier. Ursula travels from the U.S. to Siberia to unravel the mystery of the “lady” and meets Sergei Ivanovich Polyakov, a Russian doctor who graciously invites her into his home. After they become lovers, she discovers he has the same tattoos on his body as the tattooed lady. He tells a disbelieving Ursula that they have met before and she is destined to save the ancient People, considered as devils by some and shape-changing gods by others. A shaman takes Ursula to one of the sacred timeless caves where Ursula’s mother supposedly disappeared. When Ursula allows the shaman to tattoo her, she is thrown back in time where she must unlock the mystery of the People and their link to her past in order to save them and Sergei—even if it costs her her life.

price: print: $16.99, e-book: $6.99
number of pages: 372
genre: adventure, mainstream, fantasy, science fiction
publisher: Green Snake Publishing
release date: January 2012
buy links: Print, Kindle, Barnes&Noble.com, Smashwords

About the Author

Kim Antieau has written many novels, short stories, poems, and essays. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, both in print and online, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Asimov’s SF, The Clinton Street Quarterly, The Journal of Mythic Arts, EarthFirst!, Alternet, Sage Woman, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. She was the founder, editor, and publisher of Daughters of Nyx: A Magazine of Goddess Stories, Mythmaking, and Fairy Tales. Her work has twice been short-listed for the Tiptree Award, and has appeared in many Best of the Year anthologies. Critics have admired her “literary fearlessness” and her vivid language and imagination. She has had nine novels published. Her first novel, The Jigsaw Woman, is a modern classic of feminist literature. Kim lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, writer Mario Milosevic.

Connect with Kim
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
LibraryThing

Greg Messel - The Illusion of Certainty - Author Interview

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
There are two parallel stories--one that tells the story of a young attorney named Alexandra and a second plot around a successful businessman named Marc. I originally started to build the story around Marc and have Alexandra be a character who comes into Marc’s life. However, I thought it would be much more interesting for the story to follow both characters. By doing so, the readers is much more familiar with both characters when their lives intersect.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
The theme is that we think we are in control of our lives, then every once in a while something happens which makes you realize that you were never in control. That’s “the illusion of certainty.” This takes the form of illness, sudden death, the breaking apart of a marriage and reversals of fortunes in business. The plot unfolds against the backdrop of the economic downturn of 2008 which creates more uncertainty.

3. When does the plot take place?
The story spans the years from 2007-2010.

4. Where does the plot take place?
It mostly occurs in Portland, Oregon.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
The first part of the book introduces you to the characters and there are sudden developments which really change the direction of the main character’s lives. I tried to bring various forms of adversity into the character’s lives without the whole first part being a real downer. The second part of the story deals largely with the aftermath and consequences of some of the things which occur in the first part of the book. A marriage ruined by an unfaithful partner, the economic downturn and the lose of a job and the sudden death of one of the main characters are among the challenges faced by the two main characters--Alex and Marc. The third part of the book is how they overcome the uncertainties that have devastated their lives. Ultimately, they find redemption and each other. It is finally about the healing power of love despite heartbreak that can come from the uncertainty nature of life.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
In my own life and in others, I have been amazed at how things can suddenly change for any one of us. We may think we have things under control but it is only an illusion. I was diagnosed with cancer before I began writing this book. I marveled and how that changed my life. All of the things I thought were important before now did not seem that significant. Fortunately, I have been cancer-free for almost two years and I am doing well. However, we all must come to grips with the idea that uncertainty is always a factor and can suddenly change us.

Book Summary

The Illusion of Certainty follows two parallel storylines. Marc is a successful businessman who seems to have everything—a great job, a beautiful wife, a house in an upscale neighborhood of Portland, Oregon and two great kids who are preparing for college. But something is not right. Marc is unsettled by the sudden change in his wife, Aimee, who seems distant and unhappy. What’s going on with her?

The second storyline involves a successful young attorney, Alexandra Mattson. Alex, as she is called by her friends, meets a handsome young cop, Sean, during an unexpected crisis in her neighborhood. Sean and Alex seem made for each other and begin to merge their futures in a world of uncertainty.

The only certainty in life is that we will face uncertainty. Despite all of the technology and controls available in the modern world, sometimes the only comfort comes from the human touch.

Price: $14.99 for softcover and $2.99 for e book

# of Pages: 323

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Yorkshire Publishing

Release Date: September 14, 2011

Buy Links:

http://www.amazon.com/Illusion-Certainty-Modern-Romance-ebook/dp/B005N49270/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327210088&sr=1-3

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-illusion-of-certainty-greg-messel/1104533824?ean=9781936750528&box=978-1936750528&pos=-1&ugrp=2&

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/the-illusion-certainty-a-modern/id460389613?mt=11

Author Bio

Greg Messel has written three novels and three unpublished memoirs. He published his premiere novel “Sunbreaks” in 2009, followed by “Expiation” in 2010 and “The Illusion of Certainty” in 2011. He currently is completely his fourth novel “The Last of the Seals.” Greg has had a newspaper career as a columnist, sportswriter and news editor. He won a Wyoming Press Association Award as a columnist. Greg also spent many years in the corporate world as a Financial Manager. He now devotes his energies to writing at his home in Edmonds, Washington on the Puget Sound just north of Seattle, where he lives with his wife, Carol.

Connect with Greg:

Website URL: www.gregmessel.com

Facebook URL: www.facebook.com/greg.messel

Twitter URL: @gregmessel

Douglas Misquita - Haunted - Author Interview & Guest Post

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
The plot is based around a federal agent, Kirk Ingram who has not come to terms with the loss of his wife and daughter. As he battles with the memories of his failure to save them, he turns to relentlessly claiming vengeance against the specter of organized crime and terrorism because it soothes his guilt and gives his haunted life a sense of purpose.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
The plot explores the idea of a nexus between organized crime networks and corporates and how the two can combine to unleash a deadly form of terrorism whether explicit through open carnage or implicit by creating an atmosphere of mistrust and fear of immigrants.

3. When does the plot take place?
The plot takes place in modern times, circa 2010.

4. Where does the plot take place?
I’ve tried to fuse fiction and real places. So the story takes the reader from a fictitious dictator state on the fringes of the collapsed Soviet Union, to Costa Rican villages. The bulk of the plot takes place in Los Angeles and off the west coast of the United States with a hostage situation and some good ‘camera-shot’ story-telling in the Mojave Desert. I call it camera-shots because I switch perspectives like you would see different angles of the same scene in a movie.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
Well, I try not to analyze that too much; there are some unknowns in that thinking process that should be left as is. Anyway, the plot came together first as a sequence of large-scale action scenes; I wanted to have explosions, gun-battles, undersea action, UAV drone action, use cool weapons. And then the story was constructed around these scenes. Sort of like a backward approach. It also created some roadblocks but then I got practical, twisted the story some more, introduced more linkages and tied the whole thing up neatly.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
That’s easy: I love the concept of incidents that can push an individual over the edge into a vendetta against something or someone, fuelled by the individual’s own guilt and failures.

Guest Post

While writing Haunted I set out with the goal of creating literary live-action. I wanted to be as descriptive as necessary to make the reader feel he or she was in the action living out those gun-battles and car chases with the characters of the book. At the same time I wanted the book to be as fast as it could be. With that goal in mind, I spent a lot of time visualizing the action-sequences from the perspective of the characters and then using adjectives and adverbs that readers could relate to, to get a sense of the live action.

The outcome of these ‘scenes’ essentially led to other ‘scenes’… For example, I started off with “How would a revenge-killing in a scrapyard in a thunder shower play out” and after I wrote that opening chapter I was left with a physically and psychologically devastated Kirk Ingram. So what do I do with Kirk Ingram? He’s too wounded to get to work immediately, so I decided to plug the hiatus with something that would give Kirk enough time to step back into the action when he was better. This branched me off to Russia and the theft of a nerve agent and the undersea search for the shipwreck carrying the nerve agent.

Thus I had two threads now: one with the nerve agent which is blatant terrorism and one with Ingram which deals with organized crime. There had to be a link between the two for it to make sense, so I had my villain who was trying to enter the big time: moving from organized crime to terrorism. This allowed me to explore facets of an upcoming villain - I mean, I’m sure they don’t get it right all at once, there’s bound to be mistakes, goof-ups. At the same time it allowed me to keep more than one protagonist because realistically speaking, there’s no “one” hero. Every hero has all those people who help him or her. So everyone in the story is capable and I think a lot of the readers would like to associate themselves with the various characters in the story.

But now, I had all these characters and here’s where a lot of walking up-and-down my living room helped. There’s no easy way out of a mire of a plot and with Haunted, since the story was developed around scenes and not vice-versa, I really had a hard time working out relationships between the characters. The first draft of the book was like a carpet with all these threads hanging loose because I just wanted to be done with the story. But after a long break, I returned with a more mature thought process and by the fourth or fifth revision had all those threads neatly trimmed and tied up.

For authenticity I researched a lot online ensuring that characters used the right weapons, drove the right vehicles and even smoked the right brands of cigarettes.

Yeah, I guess that about sums it up. That’s how Haunted came together.


Book Summary:

FBI Special Agent Kirk Ingram’s life is torn apart when his family is brutally murdered before his eyes. Devastated physically and psychologically, he vows to destroy organized crime in all forms.
In the Eastern bloc, a rogue dictator state is stockpiling Citex, a deadly nerve agent...

Across the globe, an international trade house funnels Balkan organized crime activities through its business channels and now hatches a plot to distribute Citex to major cities in the world, creating a nexus with terror that threatens to bring the world order to the point of anarchy.

And only one man stands in the way of global terror and paranoia. One man seeking redemption and waging a personal battle against the demons of his past.

Price:
USD 16/-, INR 350/- (discounts available with online stores in India)

Number of Pages:
372 Pages

Genre:
Action-thriller

Publisher:
Leadstart Publishing Corp. (Imprint: Frog Books)

Release Date:
January 2011

Buy Links:

Online/ Offline store listing http://www.douglasmisquita.com/html/grab_your_copy.html

Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Douglas-Misquita/dp/938015495X/

Flipkart.com http://www.flipkart.com/books/9380154954

Simplybooks.in http://www.simplybooks.in/haunted-douglas-misqita-book-isbn-9789380154954-107179

Landmarkonthenet.com http://www.landmarkonthenet.com/books/haunted-douglas-misquita/9789380154954

Indiaplaza.com http://www.indiaplaza.com/haunted-douglas-misquita/books/9789380154954.htm

Infibeam.com http://www.infibeam.com/Books/haunted-douglas-misquita/9789380154954.html


Author Bio:

Douglas Misquita is an action-thriller writer from Mumbai, India. His debut novel Haunted has been very well received by fans of the genre. Besides writing, Douglas plays lead guitar on a rock n roll band and enjoys travelling and reading about places that are steeped in history. He has an MBA in Information Technology and Systems and a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering and is currently a Project Manager in the wireless communications industry.

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/Haunted.Novel
http://www.facebook.com/douglasmisquita

Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/douglasmisquita

Web Site:
http://www.douglasmisquita.com

Blog:
http://www.douglasmisquita.com/blog

Video Book Trailer Links:
http://www.douglasmisquita.com/html/video.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB_UresgR28

Tom Weston - Fission - Author Interview

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
Fission is based on the true life story of Lise Meitner. The story is also full of many famous people from that period: Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, Adolph Hitler, Eleanor Roosevelt, President Truman and Kaiser Wilhelm II, to name a few.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
Lise Meitner, an Austrian Physicist, born in Vienna in 1878. is amongst the first women to be admitted to the University and to be awarded a PhD in Physics. From there she goes to Berlin, and eventually becomes Head of the Physics department at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. Due to her status as a Jew in Nazi Germany, Lise is forced to flee the country and move to Sweden, where she discovers nuclear fission and sparks the race for the atomic bomb. After the war, the Nobel Foundation controversially denies her the Nobel Prize for her discovery.

What is remarkable about Lise Meitner’s obscurity today is that at one time, Lise was probably the most famous woman in the world. Now I know that Andy Warhol talked about 15 minutes of fame and Lise at one time had that, but when we put her in the context of her contemporaries, Max Planck, Niels Bohr and certainly Albert Einstein – people we still talk about – it beggars belief that we have forgotten her. So what I tried to do in Fission was to focus on the reasons that led us to forget rather than the science. In fact, for a book about scientists, there is very little science in Fission. The biographies of Lise Meitner cover the science in great detail, and I wasn’t looking to emulate them. I decided instead to focus on the human side of this story.

3. When does the plot take place?
Lise was born in 1878 and she died in 1968. That’s a fairly long period to cover: 90 years - so I pretty much ignore her childhood and pick up the story in 1906 and follow it through to her death in 1968. That way I only had to do 62 of the more interesting years.

4. Where does the plot take place?
It’s a sweeping epic of a story, with the action shifting from Imperial Vienna to austere Berlin, then to Copenhagen and the seclusion of the Swedish countryside. Along the way, we take side trips to London, New York and Washington; and we travel by the Orient Express and the Dixie Clipper.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
Originally, I wrote Fission as a screenplay, with one eye firmly on the visual appeal of this story; and because that format requires a different set of rules than for the novel, there were certain production realities and limitations within which I had to work: how to reduce a 68 year long history to a 130 page script, how to keep the cast of characters manageable, and so on. For example, an important figure in the early life of Lise was Paul Ehrenfest, but the real Paul’s death in 1933 would have required a detour from the narrative to explain it. Niels Bohr became critical to the story later on; and the problem was how to convey the emotional tie between Meitner and Bohr when there were no earlier scenes to develop that bond. So for the sake of continuity, I chose to merge the character of Ehrenfest with that of Bohr. The result is that, in my story, Bohr appears to attend Vienna University with Lise, which he didn’t do in real life, but it works to set up the later interplay between Meitner and Bohr - Artistic License.

And in trying to be true to the history, much of the dialogue in Fission is derived from the real speeches, correspondence, and interviews of the people involved. As another example, I start the story with an interview with the ghost of Otto Hahn. This is a fictitious setting, but the dialogue is lifted from a very real interview that Hahn gave to British Intelligence when he was a prisoner after the war.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
I first heard of Lise when I read the David Bodanis book, e=mc2. When I read about Lise – it was such an incredible story that it seemed perfect as a Hollywood blockbuster or an epic TV miniseries. It had everything you could ask for – intrigue, danger, 2 World Wars, Nazis, Emperors, Presidents, and the Bomb – the story just cried out to be told. As no one else seemed interested in telling it, I decided that I would.

But what shocked me - what compelled me to pick up my pen and write - were the reasons why she is not better known; and I chose to tell a different story from the biographies - of one person’s struggle in the face of overwhelming odds, a story in the mould of epic mythology; of the small and powerless standing up to evil empire. At the end of such stories - the happily ever after - the villains are vanquished and the heroism, if not always rewarded, is at least remembered and honoured. I find it hard to believe that the world preferred to forget Lise Meitner rather than honour her. And it was a chance to redress that wrong which inspired me to write Fission.

Book Summary:

First they tried to deny her.
Then they tried to destroy her.
But she survived to discover nuclear fission and spark the race for the atomic bomb.

Imagine a story of hate and greed, intrigue and danger, war and destruction, the slaughter of the innocents on a biblical scale and the collapse of empire. And imagine at the centre of it all one little woman, brilliant but shy, victimized but resolute, betrayed but ultimately vindicated. What a story that would make! Well, you don't have to imagine it, because that is the Lise Meitner story. And I didn't have to invent any of it . . . it's all true.

Historical Fiction
published 2011 by tom weston media

Available in Hardcopy, Paperback and eBook:
Hardcopy: 329 pages, 6″ x 9″, ISBN 978-0-981-94135-6. MRP $26.95
Paperback: 329 pages, 6″ x 9″, ISBN 978-0-981-94137-0. MRP $10.95
eBook/Kindle/Nook: ISBN 978-0-981-94138-7. MRP $6.95

Amazon.com (including Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981941354

Barnes & Noble (including Nook): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fission-tom-weston/1104968444

Support your local book store: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780981941370

Purchase an autographed copy of FISSION from the publisher at: http://www.tom-weston.com/purchase-fission/

A portion of all sales of Fission, no matter where purchased, go to the ‘Because I am a GiRL’ campaign by Plan, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children since 1937. Visit PlanUSA at http://www.planusa.org/content1619891 or get involved with your own national/regional Plan office.

Author Bio:

Originally from England, Tom Weston now resides in Boston, Massachusetts. His works include the fantasy based, Alex and Jackie Adventures, and the collection of short stories, Tales from the Green Dragon Tavern.

Web Site: http://tom-weston.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tom.weston.readers

Twitter: http://twitter.com/tomwestonmedia

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12869740-fission

Trailer for Fission: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RCp6MCS_LrQ

B.K. Ethridge - Black & Orange - Author Interview

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
The plot of “Black & Orange” is broken into two main storylines. You have the two Nomad characters, who are essentially the good guys, and then you have the Church of Midnight characters, which represent the bad. There are a couple brief subplots that revolve around other characters with proximity to the main ones, but essentially in this novel you have two large trains moving toward a connection spot.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
For the Nomads, the plot centers on them working toward finding the Heart of the Harvest, a sacrifice they are bound to protect every Halloween. Recently they have run into a series of complications, the largest of which is that the character of Teresa has cancer and doesn’t want to do anything about it. She just wants to continue doing their job, but her partner Martin can’t accept that, so when he has a chance to help her, he goes after it.

For the Church of Midnight, the plot centers on the relationship between the ambitious Paul Quintana and the Priestess of Morning and all the things he goes through to have her. Paul’s only real goal is claim her physically. He and the Priestess both become powerfully bound to each other through an attraction they cannot explain. Things go too far with them at one point and he decides he’s willing to do anything to get her back, even if it means working with the enemy.

3. When does the plot take place?
I tried to make the actual date and year ambiguous, but with some the technology used, it has to be considered the 2000s.

4. Where does the plot take place?
Southern California. In a small city called Colton.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
I always wanted to write a novel about a cult from the point of view of a cultist. Most I had read or seen in movies always had the cult characters relegated to corny little subplots and there was little substance. As I wrote “Black & Orange” I realized that I had my good guy story, so why not have a bad guy story too? Why not give them equal space in the book? The plot flowed from that point and with the help of the characters I’d created, the events that they took on and the choices they made seem to propel the overall story towards its destination.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
For the Church of Midnight plot, I had a lot of material to work on from having obsessive relationships and seeing some of my friends and family have obsessive relationships. I knew how those stories tended to roll out. With the Nomads, I’d also unfortunately seen my fair share of loved ones with cancer, as well as experienced certain stubborn natures from the pool of people I knew—so I had an idea what somebody with cancer, who also happened to be pigheaded, would add to an already stressed-out relationship based on obligation. For me, it’s the characters that created the idea for the plot. Once I knew them, I knew the story, and the plot followed.

Bio:

Benjamin Kane Ethridge is the Bram Stoker Award winning author of the novel BLACK & ORANGE (Bad Moon Books 2010). Beyond that he's written several collaborations with Michael Louis Calvillo, one of which is a novella called UGLY SPIRIT, available in 2011. He also wrote a master's thesis entitled, "CAUSES OF UNEASE: The Rhetoric of Horror Fiction and Film." Available in an ivory tower near you. Benjamin lives in Southern California with his wife and two creatures who possess stunning resemblances to human children. When he isn't writing, reading, videogaming, Benjamin's defending California's waterways and sewers from pollution. Say hi and drop a line at ben@bkethridge.com or tweet him at @bkethridge, or Facebook him at www.facebook.com/benjamin.kane.ethridge

Karen Mueller Bryson - The Incredibly Awesome Adventures of Puggie Liddell

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
The main character is the wise-cracking, whiz-kid Puggie Liddell. When his modified Gameboy accidently activates a time portal, he and his sibling rival, teen sister, Gigi, are forced to travel through time together.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
Puggie and Gigi must learn to work together to find a portal back to the present before the eccentric scientist, Nikola Tesla, or his arch nemesis, inventor Thomas Edison, can steal the Gameboy and use it to complete a death ray machine, an invention powerful enough to disturb the very fabric of space-time and create an instantaneous world disaster.

3. When does the plot take place?
The plot begins in present day. When the siblings travel through time, they initially land in 1893 and then travel back to the America Civil War era.

4. Where does the plot take place?
Puggie and Gigi travel from Florida to Chicago by stage coach and train. They attend the great Chicago World’s Fair, then travel to New York, where they visit Tesla’s laboratory. When the kids accidently travel further back in time, into the Civil War era, they visit P.T. Barnum’s America Museum and then must take the Underground Railroad back down south.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
I wanted to integrate the most interesting historical figures and events into a fast-paced and fun adventure story that would, hopefully, motivate kids to want to learn more about history.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
I’ve always been fascinated by Nikola Tesla and the rivalry he had with Thomas Edison. I wanted to write a time travel adventure for kids, so I made both Tesla and Edison the antagonists of the story. I initially had hundreds of ideas for historical figures I wanted Puggie and Gigi to meet but they would not all fit in one book, so there will be many more time travel adventures in the series.

Book Summary:

History made fun! The Incredibly Awesome Adventures of Puggie Liddell integrates historical figures and events into a fast-paced and action-packed time travel adventure for tweens. The novel is great for reluctant readers or kids on-the-go.

Price: $6.95 print / $2.99 eBook
Pages: 90
Genre: Tween Adventure
Publisher: Zeta Comics
Release Date: September 2011
BUY PRINT: http://www.amazon.com/Incredibly-Awesome-Adventures-Puggie-Liddell/dp/0986842818/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319641713&sr=8-1
BUY eBOOK: http://www.amazon.com/Incredibly-Awesome-Adventures-Liddell-ebook/dp/B005UHIK6E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1319641713&sr=8-2


Author Bio:

Karen Mueller Bryson, Ph.D. is an optioned screenwriter, produced playwright and published novelists. Karen has been writing since she learned to read and fell in love with books! Karen is the creator of Short on Time Books, a series of fast-paced and fun novels for readers on the go. When she’s not at her computer creating new stories, Karen enjoys spending time with her husband and their bloodhounds. For additional information, visit Karen’s website: http://www.ahorsewithnoname.com.

Website: http://puggie.homestead.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thepuggiepage
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThePuggiePage
Blog: http://puggieblog.tumblr.com/
Youtube Trailers: http://www.youtube.com/user/karenmbryson

C. Elizabeth - Absolute Obsession - Author Interview

My thanks to C. Elizabeth for stopping by The Plot Thickens for an author interview during the blog tour for her book, Absolute Obsession.

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
Rose Gerbaldi and Michael Terrance

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
Finding true love, losing true love and discovering that fate always has a way.

3. When does the plot take place?
It takes place in the present.

4. Where does the plot take place?
It takes place in Edmonton, Alberta, London, England and Los Angeles, California.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
The plot developed as it did because that is how Rose and Michael told it.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
The idea for the plot was brought to me by the characters.

About the Book
Absolute Obsession

Book Details:
Publisher: Wings ePress
Published: May 2011
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Pages 476
Format: paperback, ebook
Price: $16.95-$19.95 paperback, $7.50-$8.95 ebook

Buy Links: Kindle, Amazon, Wings Epress, Fictionwise

Blurb:
Triggering an intervention of fate, 42 year old Rose Gerbaldi, discovers her heart and soul have been forever united with beautiful, 30 year old, British movie star, Michael Terrance - - a discovery that compels her reality to fiercely reclaim her, ultimately devastating the very lives fate had so lovingly entwined.

Forsaken by a woman he’s never met, unable to control the debilitating agony, Michael seeks solace on the darker side of Hollywood. Meanwhile in Western Canada, having been doubly devastated, Rose relinquishes to a life of loneliness. Both are certain they’ll never again find that for which they long for - - each other.

Foolish people – fate is infallible.

About the Author
C. Elizabeth

C. Elizabeth lives in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada. She stumbled upon writing, it found her, she finds writing a peaceful escape and is very excited to have her characters come alive in her readers’ minds. Her contemporary romance novel, Absolute Obsession, is about 42 year old Rose Gerbaldi who by an intervention of fate unites her heart and soul with 30 year old British movie star, Michael Terrance.

Connect With C. Elizabeth:
Web Site

Facebook

Twitter

About the Tour

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Tuesday, November 1

Book reviewed at Mad Moose Mama

Wednesday, November 2

Guest blogging at Thoughts in Progress

Thursday, November 3

Book reviewed at Live to Read

Friday, November 4

Interviewed at Examiner

Monday, November 7

Book reviewed at Cafe of Dreams

Tuesday, November 8

Interviewed at Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews

Wednesday, November 9

Interviewed at Book Marketing Buzz

Thursday, November 10

Guest blogging at Reader Girls

Friday, November 11

Book reviewed at Reader Girls

Monday, November 14

Interviewed at Laurie’s Thoughts & Reviews

Tuesday, November 15

Guest blogging at Coloquium

Thursday, November 17

Guest blogging at Cocktails and Books

Interviewed at Blogcritics

Friday, November 18

Interviewed at The Plot Thickens

Chat with C. Elizabeth at Pump Up Your Book Live! November Author Chat / Book Giveaway Party!

Monday, November 21

Book reviewed at Colloquium

Tuesday, November 22

Book reviewed at Wakela’s World

Wednesday, November 23

Interviewed at Literarily Speaking

Noah Baird - Donations to Clarity - Author Interview

My thanks to Noah Baird for stopping by The Plot Thickens for an author interview during the blog tour for his book, Donations to Clarity.

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
My novel, Donations to Clarity, is based around two groups of people. The first are three unemployed friends decide to make money by hoaxing Bigfoot so they can start a Bigfoot tour company. The book is also about Bigfoot and government agents who are hunting him.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
I think the plot is about people; damaged, marginalized people. I’ve always been attracted to misfits. Every character in the book is flawed. It’s a comedic book, so the flaws are outrageous but very real to the characters. It’s a humorous examination of the human condition without the photoshop treatment.

3. When does the plot take place?
It’s a contemporary book. It takes place now.

4. Where does the plot take place?
Upstate New York, near where I live. It’s loosely-based on Owego, NY in Tioga County. It also has elements of Ithaca, NY in it.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
It just did. I intended to write a very different book. During the writing process, this plot thread immediately took over. I went with it. I sat down to write a chapter with a solid plan in my head, but would end up with something very different. For example, while I was writing the chapter introducing the Elvis-impersonating sheriff, I wrote one more line: ‘As far as ________ impersonators, there is exactly one: ________.’ I loved the line so much I couldn’t get rid of it. That one line led my to creating the Julian Lennon-impersonating deputy, which changed the plot.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
I don’t tell a lot of people this, but I feel like we have a connection. The book is an autobiography. I hoaxed Bigfoot so I could open a Bigfoot tour company. I was captured by a Bigfoot because, I can only assume, he thought I was a female Bigfoot. Bigfoot tried to make his sex slave, but I escaped with the help of Elvis. It’s all true.

About the Book
Donations to Clarity

Book Details:
Publisher: Second Wind Publishing
Published: September 2011
Genre: Fiction
Format: paperback & ebook
Pages: 220
Price: $14.95 paperback; $4.99 ebook

Buy Links: Amazon
Kindle

Blurb:
The plan was simple: hoax Bigfoot, then sell tours to Bigfoot enthusiasts. The plan wasn't brilliant, and neither were Harry, Earl, and Patch. The three chemical-abusing friends only wanted to avoid the 9 to 5 rat race, but their antics attract the attention of a real Bigfoot. When the misogynistic Earl is mistaken for a female Bigfoot by the nearsighted creature and captured; it is just the beginning of their problems.

The U.S. Government has a plan to naturalize the mythical creatures living within the U.S. borders. The problem is the plan needs to be carried out carefully. You can't just drop little green men and Sasquatch in the middle of Walmart without warning Ma and Pa Taxpayer. The naturalization program is not ready to be set into motion, and the rogue Bigfoot is bringing too much attention to itself, including a feisty investigative reporter who uncovers the truth of the government conspiracy and two Bigfoot researchers. No longer able to contain the situation, government agents are tasked with eliminating the Bigfoot and all witnesses.

Between bong hits and water balloon fights, Harry and Patch come up with a plan to save Earl and the lovestruck Bigfoot. Where do you hide a giant, mythical creature? In an insane asylum, because who is going to listen to them?

Along the way, the three friends learn Star Wars was a government training film for children, the truth behind Elvis meeting President Nixon, and the significance of the weight of the human turd.

About the Author
Noah Baird

Noah Baird wanted to attend the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, but his grades weren’t good enough (who knew?). However, his grades were good enough to fly for the U.S. Navy (again, who knew?), where he spent 14 years until the government figured out surfers don’t make the best military aviators. He has also worked as a stand-up comedian in Hawaii for Japanese tourists, where the language barrier really screwed up some great jokes. On the bright side, a sailboat was named after the punchline of one of his jokes.

He has several political satire pieces published on The Spoof under the pen name orioncrew. Noah received his bachelors in Historical and Political Sciences from Chaminade University, where he graduated magna cum laude. He knows nothing about hoaxing Bigfoot. This is his first novel.

Connect With Noah:
Web Site

Facebook

Twitter

About the Tour

Pump Up Your Book

Tuesday, November 1

Interviewed at Pump Up Your Book

Wednesday, November 2

Interviewed at Beyond the Books

Thursday, November 3

Guest blogging at Reviews by Molly

Friday, November 4

Book spotlighted at Book Marketing Buzz

Monday, November 7

Interviewed at The Hot Author Report

Tuesday, November 8

Interviewed at The Writer’s Life

Wednesday, November 9

Interviewed at Review From Here

Thursday, November 10

Guest blogging at As the Pages Turn

Friday, November 11

Interviewed at Blogcritics

Tuesday, Novemer 15

Guest blogging at Night Owl Reviews

Thursday, November 17

Interviewed at Examiner

Monday, November 21

Guest blogging at Literal Exposure

Tuesday, November 22

Guest blogging at Writing Daze

Monday, December 5

Book reviewed at Between the Pages

Tuesday, December 6

Interviewed at Book Marketing Buzz

Wednesday, December 7

Book reviewed at Family Reads

Thursday, December 8

Guest blogging at Mad Moose Mama

Friday, December 9

Book reviewed at Mad Moose Mama

Monday, December 12

Book reviewed at Twisting the Lens

Tuesday, December 13

Interviewed LIVE at Blog Talk Radio’s A Book and a Chat

Wednesday, December 14

Interviewed at The Book Connection

Thursday, December 15

Guest blogging at The Book Faery Reviews

Friday, December 16

Chat with Noah at Pump Up Your Book December Authors on Tour Facebook Party! (link coming soon)

Peter Murphy - Lagan Love - Author Interview

My thanks to Peter Murphy for stopping by The Plot Thickens for an author interview during the blog tour for his book, Lagan Love.

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
Primarily Janice and Aidan. She moves to Dublin to get away from her insipid existence in Toronto and aspires to be an artist. However, she becomes lonely in her new life and when she meets Aidan, Dublin’s rising poet, she grasp the chance at what she imagines will be a bohemian relationship – something that an artist might do. Despite that he is not at all the type of man she would once have considered it seems fitting as she reinvents herself. She also wants access to his connections – the movers and shakers of the Art World. Aidan, who is running from his own ghosts see in Janice’s love, a chance for redemption and escape from the sins of his past.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
Through the choices and reactions of the characters we can look at the cost we must pay for following our dreams. We also get to look at love from a different angle – not the formula of happily-ever-after but something far more familiar to most of us – even if it is less reassuring.

3. When does the plot take place?
In the mid nineteen-eighties when Ireland was transitioning from economic depression to two decades of unprecedented growth known as the Celtic Tiger. It was a time when everything that had previously defined them was cast aside to pursue a bright and glittering future regardless of the costs.

4. Where does the plot take place?
The story is set in Dublin, a city of rich and troubled histories that form the perfect background to the ambitions and desires of the characters. Ireland is a place where history and mythology hover over all that happens – even the characters of Lagan Love.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
As the story unfolded the original idea of a cautionary tale was redirected by the happenings and reactions of the characters. Actual events in Ireland, and the wider world, also influenced and embellished the story making it more organic.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
It began to form in my growing unease with the state of the world which seemed to me to be rushing headlong into madness while discarding all the we have learned from the past. As it evolved it offered the chance to reconsider where we were going and what price we paid along the way.

About the Book
Lagan Love

Book Details:
Publisher: Fiction Studio Books
Published: June 2011
Genre: Literary Fiction
Format: paperback & ebook
Pages: 328
Price: $13.95 paperback; $3.99 ebook

Buy Links: Amazon, Barnes&Noble.com, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Chapters, Kobo Books, Sony, iBookstore, IndieBound

Blurb:
In the 1980s, Ireland was on the brink – the Celtic Tiger was yet to arise and change the face, and the faces, of Dublin with prosperity and foreigners. Volatile anger, shimmering myths and lachrymose poetry still ruled the night as rough-hewn workers and lost university students hefted pints in Grogan’s pub.

Stepping into the swirling blend of the old and the new is Janice, a younger painter from Toronto, who has crossed the ocean to seek passion in her life and her art. Her affair with Aidan, Ireland’s rising poet, leads her through the veil of the Celtic Twilight to a place of reward and danger.

Into the lives of Janice and Aidan and their more practical friends walks the mysterious Gwen, who may be far more than the beautiful seductress she seems on the surface.

Trailing Gwen like cigarette smoke in a tavern is the myth of the Lenan Sidhe, or lenanshee, a fairy spirit who inspires lovers to ever greater creative heights – at a price. Can the levelheaded Sinead, who has dedicated herself to seizing new career opportunities, of the kind and romantic Ronan, keep their friends from being swept away by the Ireland that dwells just beneath the surface?

About the Author
Peter Murphy

Peter Murphy was born in Killarney where he spent his first three years before his family was deported to Dublin, the Strumpet City.

Growing up in the verdant braes of Templeogue, Peter was schooled by the De La Salle brothers in Churchtown where he played rugby for ‘The Wine and Gold’. He also played football (soccer) in secret!

After that, he graduated and studied the Humanities in Grogan’s under the guidance of Scot’s corner and the bar staff; Paddy, Tommy and Sean.

Murphy financed his education by working summers on the buildings sites of London in such places as Cricklewood, Camden Town and Kilburn. Murphy also tramped the roads of Europe playing music and living without a care in the world. But his move to Canada changed all of that. He only came over for a while – thirty years ago. He took a day job and played music in the bars at night until the demands of family life intervened. Having raised his children and packed them off to University, Murphy answered the long ignored internal voice and began to write.

He has no plans to make plans for the future and is happy to let things unfold as they do anyway. Lagan Love is his first novel.

Connect With Peter:
Web Site

Facebook

Twitter

About the Tour

Pump Up Your Book

Monday, October 3
Interviewed at Let’s Talk Virtual Book Tours

Wednesday, October 5
Book reviewed at Live to Read

Thursday, October 6
Interviewed at Blogcritics

Friday, October 7
Interviewed at Review From Here

Monday, October 10
Guest blogging at Mad Moose Mama

Tuesday, October 11
Book reviewed at Mad Moose Mama

Wednesday, October 12
Guest blogging at Literary Magic

Thursday, October 13
Book featured at The Top Shelf

Friday, October 14
Interviewed at Beyond the Books

Monday, October 17
Interviewed at The Hot Author Report

Book featured at Thoughts in Progress

Tuesday, October 18
Book trailer spotlighted at If Books Could Talk

Thursday, October 20
Interviewed at Examiner

Monday, October 24
Guest blogging at Book Reviews by Molly

Wednesday, October 26
Guest blogging at Reader Girls

Friday, October 28
Chat with Peter at Pump Up Your Book Live! Chat & Book Giveaway Party

Tuesday, November 1
Guest blogging at Jagged Edge

Wednesday, November 2
Interviewed at The Writer’s Life

Thursday, November 3
Interviewed at Book Marketing Buzz

Friday, November 4
Guest blogging at Literarily Speaking

Monday, November 7
Interviewed at The Book Connection

Tuesday, November 8
Guest blogging at The Book Faery Reviews

Wednesday, November 9
Book spotlighted at Morgen Bailey’s Writing Blog

Thursday, November 10
Interviewed at Pump Up Your Book

Friday, November 11
Interviewed at As the Pages Turn

Monday, November 14
Interviewed at The Plot Thickens

Tuesday, November 15
Interviewed at Allvoices

Thursday, November 17
Guest blogging at Morgen Bailey’s Writing Blog

Friday, November 18
Guest blogging at The Story Behind the Book

Monday, November 21
Book reviewed at The Top Shelf

Tuesday, November 22
Interviewed at Paperback Writer

Wednesday, November 23
Interviewed at American Chronicle

Jamie McDougall - Echo Falls - Author Interview

My thanks to Jamie McDougall for stopping by The Plot Thickens for an author interview during the blog tour for her book, Echo Falls.

Author Interview

1. Who is the plot based around?
The plot of Echo Falls is based around Phoebe Martin. She is a woman who has lost everything she cares about, been betrayed by one she trusted and is now on the run from someone who wants her dead. When she arrives in Echo Falls and starts to settle in, she has to decide what's worth fighting for.

2. What is the main idea of the plot?
The main idea in the plot - and probably something that frustrates a lot of people about Phoebe - is that true change has to come from within. A lot of people are in bad situations that they have the ability to get out of. And yet they don't. That's because something has to happen within a person for them to finally say that enough is enough.

3. When does the plot take place?
Echo Falls is a contemporary novel. It never occurred to me to have it take place in something other than a modern setting.

4. Where does the plot take place?
The novel is named for the city - and the nearby waterfalls - where the story takes place. 'Echo Falls' was originally meant to be a working title only, but the legend of Echo Falls came to my mind and I felt it was appropriate for the novel to keep its working title.

5. Why did the plot develop the way it did?
I think the plot developed as it did because, while change has to come from within, it can take a long time to get to the point where a person has to believe change is possible. When a person has had so much taken away, it takes a lot of time and effort for them to believe again that anything can go right.

Phoebe needed to have the time and the events to truly believe she could stand up against her greatest fears.

6. How did you come up with the idea for the plot?
Late last year at about 10pm one night, I was getting ready for bed and this image of a woman running for her life crashed into my imagination. I knew her name was Phoebe and that she was being chased by a man who would soon turn into a wolf and try to kill her.

With a scene like that playing in my head, I had to grab a notebook and figure out why she was running and who she was running from.

About the Book
Echo Falls

Book Details:
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: July 2011
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 238
Format: paperback, ebook
Price: $10.99 paperback, $3.00 ebook

Buy Links: Amazon, Kindle

Blurb:
Running from a nightmare stalking her every move, Phoebe Martin arrives in Echo Falls hoping she has finally found a safe place to stop. But trouble has a way of catching up and soon the signs are there.

After a vicious attack in an alley, policeman Aidan O'Bryan is left with Phoebe as his only path to understanding why the Echo Falls werewolf pack - his pack - is being attacked. When another pack member is killed, Phoebe is forced to confront her past before she loses Aidan and everything she has come to love.

Love and duty become one as Aidan strives to prevent Phoebe from becoming the next victim. But with Phoebe just as determined to protect Aidan and her new home, secrets from her past threaten to tear them apart. Will love give Phoebe the strength to trust Aidan and face her fears, or will her past destroy her future?

About the Author
Jamie McDougall

Jaime McDougall is a citizen of the world, currently loving life in beautiful country Victoria in Australia. She loves eating sushi, kidnapping her husband and naming her pets in honour of science fiction authors.

She has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: High School: The Real Deal and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Campus Chronicles. So You Want to Write a Guest Post: An Author’s Guide to Promoting with Guest Blogging is her most recent non-fiction ebook. She has also enjoyed writing a column called ‘The New Australian’ in local newspapers as well as various articles online.

Echo Falls is her first paranormal romance novel.

Connect With Jamie:
Web Site/Blog

Facebook

Twitter

About the Tour

Pump Up Your Book

Nov. 1 – Pump Up Your Book Interview – In which I reveal a secret about myself…

Nov. 2 – Guest post at Review From Here where I talk about Five Reasons I Love Reviewers.

Nov. 3 – On Live to Read I talk about how I Live to Write.

Nov. 4 – Live to Read’s Krystal also gave a great review of Echo Falls.

Nov. 7 – You can win a copy of Echo Falls by checking out my interview with Aidan and Phoebe.

Nov. 8 – Lauri has also given a wonderful review of Echo Falls.