Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Laura Griffin | Breaking in this New Year: Tips for Aspiring Writers
Uncategorized / January 21, 2009

Are you one of those voracious readers who believes that somewhere, deep down, you have a book inside you? If you are, I’ve got some tips about how to break into the business this year. Tell Laura about one of your favorite childhood reads, and you’ll be eligible to win a free autographed copy of her upcoming release, WHISPER OF WARNING (Pocket Star Books). Comment below or Click Here As Susan Sontag once said, “Writers begin as bewitched readers,” and I know this was certainly the case for me. I can remember combing the dusty bookshelves in my grandmother’s house and making a discovery that would impact my life: a complete collection of Nancy Drew mysteries. What books influenced you as a kid? I love asking book lovers this question, and I’m always amazed by the varied responses. Pre-order WHISPER OF WARNING Copy today Now for those tips I promised. If you follow these suggestions, I can’t guarantee that you’ll land that elusive book deal. But I can guarantee you’ll be several steps closer than you were before: Join a writers group. Surrounding yourself with professional and aspiring authors is a great way to kick your butt into gear. Many…

Kate Kingsbury | Summers Past
Uncategorized / January 20, 2009

Many years ago in my distant past, when I was still living on the southeast coast of England, I spent four memorable summers working for my mother in her small seaside hotel. I laid, waited on and cleared dining tables, cleaned rooms, welcomed guests and hauled heavy luggage up two flights of stairs since we had no elevator. It was hard physical work and long hours, made even longer by my mother’s insistence that I entertain the guests on the piano when all the chores were finally done. All I received for my pains were room and board, and tips that were few and far between. A poor return for the efforts I put in. At least, that’s how it seemed at the time, when I was stumbling exhausted to my bed, only to rise a few hours later and do it all over again. Looking back on that experience much later in my life, I realized it had given me so much more. I made some wonderful friends, met some bizarre characters, and had adventures that would have made my mother’s hair curl if she had ever found out. Life back then was unpredictable, exciting and fun!More than twenty…

Victoria Dahl | Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone
Uncategorized / January 19, 2009

Victoria Dahl When my agent first asked me to write a straight contemporary romance, I was taken aback. “Me? But I don’t write contemporary.” At that point I was published in historical romance (To Tempt a Scotsman) and distinctly unpublished in paranormal (a vampire trilogy you are unlikely to ever see). My agent was unconcerned. “Your paranormals are sexy and funny and contemporary. I just want you to try it without the vampires.” Order LORDS OF DESIRE Copy today Without vampires? Was she kidding? I find it remarkably easy to come up with story ideas. Paranormals are no problem. There are vampires, for goodness sake. And werewolves. And maybe even sexy superpowers. Conflict? Well, how easy would it be for you to date if you had fangs? There are built-in complications galore! Historicals are even simpler. You can do anything to these people. The heroine can be compromised. She can be held captive by a cruel stepfather. She can be kidnapped by a vengeful pirate. Forced into a marriage of convenience. By God, she can be hidden away in the tower of a dark castle for ten years! And the heroes? They can be dukes or privateers or highwaymen. They…

Sandi Shilhanek | Biography
Sundays with Sandi / January 18, 2009

Friday night I went to dinner and a book signing with several members of the DFWTea Readers group. While at the bookstore what kind of reader would I be if I didn’t take a moment to do a quick perusal of the shelves? That quick look had me spotting two books on Barak Obama. Then I came home to do an online chat with some friends, and again the talk turned to the incoming president. The combination of these two things has me thinking about biographies. Do you read biographies? How do you decide whom you are going to read about? I personally am not a big biography reader, and if truth be told can’t remember the last time I read one. However, I did recently buy several about Lucille Ball. I also have a biography about the late Princess Diana in my TBR pile. Will I read them anytime soon? Unlikely. However, should I decide to get educated about either of these two women I’m ready! Sandi ShllhanekDFW Tea Readers GroupReaders ‘n ‘ritas … celebratepassionate literary obsessions Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

DFW Tea Book Club | Friends, Dinner and Signing Hopping
Uncategorized / January 17, 2009

Friday nights are always better with friends and good stories. This week was no different, since I had the chance to catch up with some good friends I hadn’t seen since the beginning of 2009. We started our night at the Cheesecake Factory, a favorite of ours because who doesn’t love cheese and cake? After we thoroughly stuffed our gullets with deliciousness, I headed over to Borders for Scott Sigler‘s signing of his new book CONTAGIOUS. The moment I walked into the store I knew I was in for a great night. He read for over 20 minutes, enthralling the over 100 people with his wonderful storytelling. He ended up selling out of CONTAGIOUS and promised if the crowd was the largest on this leg of the tour, everyone present would be mentioned, by name, in his next book. I thought that was pretty sweet, so you better believe Guinevere Reyes was the first to sign her name! I couldn’t get a book, but I did get a few pictures of Scott reading. Buy Your Copy today Buy Your Copy today Over at the other big Friday night book signing, was the Oprah fitness guru Bob Greene at Barnes &…

Debra Webb | Tales Your Grandmother Told
Uncategorized / January 16, 2009

When I was a kid my grandmother always told me not to go too deeply into the woods or the boogeyman would get me. The boogeyman, she insisted, lived in the deepest, darkest area of the woods and he loved snacking on kids who got lost in those woods. Though I had certainly never seen a boogeyman in the woods or any place else, my grandmother had lived a lot longer than me and I wasn’t taking any chances. So, each time I ventured into the woods (which was most everyday in the summer—usually with my younger brother in tow), I would stop at a certain point and turn back. I wasn’t risking running into the boogeyman. As a kid, those types of warnings scared me to death but actually kept me from getting into trouble. Then there were the other tales, the ones about certain people or particular houses. Every community has them. Some folks believe there’s some truth to the old stories, others insist they’re just stories that maybe evolved from gossip or flat out lies. The villages along Maine’s southern coast are no different. There are tales related to unsolved murders and folks who went missing never…

Joey W. Hill | Singing and Dancing, Angels and Mermaids…
Uncategorized / January 15, 2009

I’m sitting here listening to the soundtrack to Mamma Mia and thinking about why I love the movie so much. Yes, I could say it’s nowhere near as stunning as the Broadway production, and many of the casting choices had more to do with box office draw than singing ability. (I never thought an Irish boy could sing as badly as Pierce Brosnan – and I love Pierce!) And some of the scenes are more than a little silly. But you know what? I like it anyway. Heck, I love it. It’s a wonderful story of young love, while celebrating and acknowledging the gains/losses of getting older (and no, not talking about pounds – lol). It recaptures the excitement of having a wedding, and the setting is drop dead gorgeous. Throw in music and dancing and, my gosh, you have the ultimate feel-good chick flick. While my recent release, A WITCH’S BEAUTY, is not quite so light hearted, it reflects my core belief that a story is most worth reading if, after an amazing array of daunting obstacles, love wins out. Mina is a sea witch whose life has sucked in so many ways most of us would have just…

J.T. Ellison | Fictionalizing Reality
Uncategorized / January 14, 2009

Twisted as I am, my imagination usually guides my stories. I dream up horrific endings by villainous creations (who end up giving me nightmares,) and terrorize my adopted hometown of Nashville with crazed killers. But up to now, every story I’ve written has been pure, straight out of my head, fiction. I made an exception for JUDAS KISS. The fictional murder of my victim, Corinne Wolff, was based on a real case. In 2006, I saw an article from a North Carolina newspaper about a young pregnant mother named Michelle Young who was found murdered by her sister. Her death was unspeakably violent, and her child had been alone in the house for days with her mother’s corpse. The media reported a number of salient details, including the bloody footprints the child had left through the house. I watched the case, hoping there would be a resolution. Unfortunately, Michelle Young’s murder still isn’t solved. Her husband is the prime suspect. Order Your Copy today Her story became the opening of JUDAS KISS. The crime stories that seem to capture our interest as a society are the ones that take place where we feel the safest, which is inside our own…

Gerry Bartlett | Forget those resolutions! How about a revolution?
Uncategorized / January 13, 2009

Gerry Bartlett here, author of the REAL VAMPIRES series from Berkley. Like my vampire Glory St. Clair, I have an antique business. Too bad it was on the historic Strand in Galveston. Hurricane Ike swooped in and dumped eight feet of water in the shop. Of course, as a writer, I love books and had to watch a mini-bulldozer shove hundreds of my precious volumes to the curb. Sigh. Can you blame me if I’m more than ready to kiss 2008 good-bye? Enough of looking back. Time to look ahead. To a new year. And I vowed a long time ago to never start another year with resolutions. They last just long enough to give me a serious case of the guilts. You know those resolutions. One: Lose weight. Yeah, right. I stick to that diet just until temptation crosses my path. Writer, know thyself. And when a chocolate chip cookie calls my name? Gerry answers. Second same old, same old: Get organized. Sure. Just as soon as I find that box of color coordinated folders I bought in 1998. Oh, and the label maker. Love the label maker. But I lost the directions in 2002. Yup, I’m an organizational…

Hope Tarr | The One Who Got Away…
Uncategorized / January 12, 2009

We all have one, which is to say a “The One.” You know what or rather who I mean. The O-N-E. Maybe he was your first love or your first big love. Maybe he was both. Maybe you broke up with him–but I’m betting my next book advance he broke up with you. Maybe you never really had him in the first place…but again, I’m betting you did. At least long enough for a part of him to sink into your psyche and your soul. Like that tattoo you rethink years later, you can obliterate the image but not the experience. That shiny white scar is yours–for keeps. Only by definition The One Who Got Away isn’t a keeper, or at least he hasn’t been so far. And yet who among us hasn’t been moved by those real-life stories of high school sweethearts who find each other on ClassMates.com or reunion night after years, decades apart and fall in love all over again, even marry, in mid- and sometimes late life? Buy EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE… today In EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE…, my latest Harlequin Blaze release, former FBI Special Agent Cole Whittaker and microbiologist Alexandra–Alex–Kendall meet again after five…