Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Carol Cassella | Rich and Famous
Uncategorized / July 31, 2008

A friend at the hospital heard I was a newly published novelist and asked me if I would be calling in too “Rich and Famous” to work soon. After all, I am on a book tour! I have just published a novel! Published a novel?? Me?? Who would have dreamed it when I was slogging away in our grungy basement, or local coffee shops with the same fantastical self-image as any middle-aged mother who suddenly decides to reinvent themselves? Was this novelist thing any less outrageous than suddenly taking up yodeling or body piercing? I told my her that I would be happy merely to call in “Out of Debt and Keeping my Same Old Friends.” Unanticipated as it is, it has been a bit miraculous to be on a book tour, finally holding in my own disbelieving hands the weighty, hard back product of a decade’s worth of silent musing. If I may confess it to this anonymous audience, the only event to surpass this so far is the birth of my twins. Even my wedding paled. (Sorry, sweetie!) In my fleeting fifteen minutes of fame, I can admit that it has been glorious, and the cause of many…

Sara Reyes | Conestoga, Furries, Diana Gabaldon and Going West
Uncategorized / July 30, 2008

Jeanne Stein and GwenOriginally uploaded by freshfiction Some people plan their vacations around non-business activities but for me, a conference is a reason to get out of town and explore just a wee bit. So, this last week of July is a doozy! Gwen and I are on a road trip from Dallas to Tulsa to San Francisco and back to Dallas. For some that is a reason to fly but I’ve never been able to see the deserts of the west except at 40,000 feet and I really wanted to explore the famous Route 66 before it completely disappears. So I convinced Gwen that a week in a car in the summer isn’t really that bad! The good news, we haven’t killed each other. So to our tale of exploration…first stop Tulsa and the Conestoga 12, Oklahoma’s largest literary science fiction and fantasy convention. The 2008 guest of honor was Diana Gabaldon. I’ve been a fan of Ms. Gabaldon since my favorite bookseller — Judy Oerke — suggested OUTLANDER in the late 80s. And when they still had two Gold Tickets left — dinner with Ms. Gabaldon — I couldn’t say no! Well, I could but it was a…

Lisa Jackson | The Real Dirt on LEFT TO DIE
Uncategorized / July 29, 2008

People ask me why I decided to set a new series in Montana. After all, I’ve pretty much settled into New Orleans. Well, the truth of the matter was that I wanted a new, fresh extremely different locale for LEFT TO DIE and the books that follow in the series. I figured a small podunk fictional town like Grizzly Falls was nearly a one-eighty in atmosphere from the French Quarter or Garden District of the Crescent City. I wanted away from the southern bayous and into the mountains of the west. What I didn’t expect was the new characters and how I’d come to love them. I’m a small town girl at heart–born and raised in a tiny timber town in Oregon–and so the back-woodsy rural part was natural. But the characters, wow. First of all the heroine, Jillian Rivers is on the warpath, trying to find out if her first husband, the one whom she thought died in the jungles of South American, the jerk who left her holding the bag when he disappeared and owed tons of investors money, might be alive. Then there’s the hero, Zane MacGregor, a loner’s loner, sexy as hell and once charged with…

Angie Fox | How I sold my first book.
Romance / July 28, 2008

Or: Everything I needed to know, I learned from George Costanza I’ve always loved to read, so it was no surprise to anyone when I eventually decided to write a book of my own. When I did, I attacked it head on. I planned, I worked, I outlined more than any woman should. The end result? I wrote three mysteries that didn’t sell. I don’t know how many of you watch Seinfeld, but there is a time in George’s life where he decides what he’s been doing hasn’t been working, so he decides to do the opposite. That’s what I did with my books. I’d been writing serious mysteries, with lots of science and research involved. They’d generated some interest, enough to almost, almost sell. But nothing quite happened. To take my mind off the latest mystery making the rounds with agents, I decided to write something completely different, a funny paranormal romance where I could build my own world and make up my own rules. I fell in love with the idea of a preschool teacher who is forced to run off with a gang of geriatric biker witches and The Accidental Demon Slayer was born. Instead of a…

Sara Reyes | Author Tour Report: Jeff Abbott in Dallas
Uncategorized / July 24, 2008

Jeff Abbott at the Q&AOriginally uploaded by freshfiction Last night we had the opportunity to meet a native Texan in town for a tour of COLLISION, Jeff Abbott. Fresh from a week in London and still jet-lagged, Jeff regaled us with his exploits of researching a book with his mom in Frisco. Now, Frisco is across the road from where I live and my closest shopping area, so finding out that we were the backdrop for an international thriller was a bit, well, ‘thrilling.’ Although, if he got it wrong, even a bit of the streets or neighborhoods or prairie, it would throw me out of my reading. Sorry, but that happens to me and it’s annoying especially if the book was going along so well. And Jeff picked a road under construction. Of course, right now, that could be true since they are busy building TWO toll roads in Frisco. The only city in North Texas where BOTH of the primary arteries costs 25 cents a mile to traverse! It’s outrageous! you pay for the bonds and taxes and then they charge you for usage as well! They may not say they raise taxes but they’ll enjoy quarter and…

Jo Davis | The Perfect Hero
Uncategorized / July 23, 2008

When Fresh Fiction asked me to guest blog today, I’ll admit I puzzled for days over what to write about. Like many authors, I’m an introvert at heart. When I’m not sitting at the computer racing to meet a deadline, my nose is buried in a book…rooting for a yummy hero to save the day. Eureka! That’s it! I’ll write about heroes, my favorite subject! They are sensual, moody, contradictory, playful and—ahem—one size definitely does not fit all. But what pearl of information could I possibly impart that hasn’t been discussed before? Then, thanks to an online romance readers’ discussion, I discovered The Perfect Hero—the Gamma male! This man was a revelation to me, folks. An honest-to-God two-by-four upside the head. Where have I been that I haven’t heard of this Super Male, this ultimate package of melt-your-panties goodness? Oh, right—sitting at the keyboard breathing life into Alphas and Betas. Or so I believed. I wish I could take credit for labeling this guy, but alas, I can’t, and the origin of the term seems vague. However, I’ve been creating Gammas for years without even knowing I was doing so! To better understand the Gamma, let me begin with a…

Charlene Teglia | When the To Do list is as long as the TBR pile is high
Uncategorized / July 22, 2008

I have a dilemma right now. July is a busy month for me, with two releases hitting the shelves; Naughty Nights (Pocket) July 15, and Wicked Hot (St. Martin’s) July 22. Add preparations for RWA Nationals in San Francisco to that, with all the accompanying To Dos. Then there’s the list of things to be done to get child #1 ready to start school in August. And let’s not forget the weeds in the garden, the laundry pile that’s waiting, the people who expect me to feed them three times a day, and the book that will not write itself. So I should be doing all of these things, right? Yet I look over at my TBR pile, and it is as high as my To Do list is long…and full of temptation. There’s Lynn Viehl’s latest installment in the Darkyn series, Twilight Fall. There’s Hope Tarr’s historical Blaze, Bound to Please. There’s a terrific-sounding SF/romance, Mathematicians in Love by a new to me author which I could not pass up once I read the premise. And Marjorie Liu’s Iron Hunt is pretty hard to resist. This is too much enticement for my book-loving soul to withstand. Some days the…

Jessica Barksdale Inclan | Writers or Readers
Uncategorized / July 21, 2008

Hello, everyone. My name is Jessica Barksdale Inclan, and I’m the author of a few novels, the latest BEING WITH HIM, a paranormal romance from Kensington. I am so happy to be here today at Freshfiction.com. I blog daily at www.redrom.com/, but it’s nice to have a new place to meet people. As I was thinking about what to write about to you today, I realized I didn’t want to talk about writing but reading. Writers usually are always readers first. And as that is the case with me, I relate most with being a reader. That’s what I do. That’s what I am. Reading saved me. It has always saved me. From before I could read myself, my mother’s daily and nightly reading to me saved me, kept me from thinking my own thoughts sometimes, giving me new thoughts to think about. Reading put me into worlds I had never been, worlds I wanted to go to. Reading was something I could do when all else failed. In fourth grade, I was tested at 12th grade reading level and a 2nd grade math level. Things have changed relatively little in that regard, the wide disparity still there. But then…

What a reader does in her spare time? Book signings, dine with authors, and read!
Guests / July 20, 2008

Rios Tex-MexOriginally uploaded by freshfiction Glad you asked…even if you didn’t, you get to hear. HA! the power of the blog erupts! Anyway, this week we had two signings I attended, one I missed, one conference planning session and a whole bunch of work work work on FreshFiction.com. Oh, yeah, and I read a couple of books worth mentioning. The signings…Tuesday was great! We had dinner with the book club at the fabulous little “hole in the wall” Tio Rio Tex restaurant in North Dallas. Tio Rio is one of my favorite in town Tex restaurants because it is small, the food is great and there is a tree growing through one of the walls. Now, for most you would say, “a tree! How quaint!” with a sniff on the “quaint.” But trust me, in our part of Texas, a tree that size deserves respect and admiration. And the food, well, great fish dishes and my advise is to take whatever the special is, because it will be sublime! Our book club and gang usually meets up at either “Tio Rio” or “Natalies” when we’re attending a book signing at the Borders Preston & Royal in Dallas, so they know…

Michelle Gagnon | Thrillerfest 2008
Uncategorized / July 18, 2008

Sadly, I missed the inaugural Thrillerfest, which was held in Phoenix. I had recently given birth to my first child, and the thought of Arizona in July with a newborn was not terribly appealing. Which is a shame, because from what I understand it was one for the ages. I made up for it by attending the past few Thrillerfests in New York, and I’m happy to report that despite the fact that everyone always says, “You shoulda been at the first one,” I’ve had an amazing experience each time. My week kicked off with a joint reading at the Park Avenue Borders. Tim Maleeny, Laura Caldwell, J.T. Ellison, Mario Acevedo, Laura Benedict, Shane Gericke, Alexandra Sokoloff, and I participated in “Quick Thrills from Out-of-Towners.” Lee Child graciously served as our MC, and in completely disregarding our prepared bios introduced us with anecdotes a hundred times wittier than anything we could have come up with. Everyone read for five minutes to an incredibly receptive crowd. The store was quick to add rows of seats as the place filled, we auctioned off Borders gift certificates and stuffed snakes (which were more of a hit than the $100 certificates, go figure). A…