I’ve always loved a bolter–Nancy Mitford’s perfect description of women who make a dash for it.  But strangely enough, until I was asked to write this blog, it had not occurred to me that all of my heroines are, without exception, bolters, or traveling women–either in the direction of a new job, or a new life, a new country or some unsuitable adventure in a stranger’s arms. The reasons why I am drawn to such women wouldn’t take long on the analyst’s couch.  I was an air force brat. When I was a child, I changed friends, schools, houses, and often countries every two and a half years. As children do, I accepted this as normal, and if I was emotionally scarred by it, I’m not aware of it, but what it does mean is that certain restlessness is bred in the bone. Which is why I love writing historical fiction: it gives me a perfect grown up excuse to scratch that itch periodically –roughly every two years come to think of it. My first book, THE WATER HORSE, published in the U.S. under the title: BAND OF ANGELS, is a fictionalized account of the life of a woman called…

Fire #1 April 2010 On Sale: April 6, 2010 Featuring: Anya Kalinczyk 368 pages ISBN: 1439167656 EAN: 9781439167656 Mass Market Paperback $7.99 Add to Wish List Fantasy Urban Buy at Amazon.com Embers by Laura Bickle Detroit is burning…but it’s just the beginning. A sizzling debut depicts a Detroit where phantoms invade urban life and a supernatural arsonist seeks an ancient power to leave the city in cinders. Unemployment, despair, anger–visible and invisible unrest feed the undercurrent of Detroit’s unease. A city increasingly invaded by phantoms now faces a malevolent force that further stokes fear and chaos throughout the city. Anya Kalinczyk spends her days as an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department, and her nights pursuing malicious spirits with a team of eccentric ghost hunters. Anya–who is the rarest type of psychic medium, a Lantern–suspects a supernatural arsonist is setting blazes to summon a fiery ancient entity that will leave the city in cinders. By Devil’s Night, the spell will be complete, unless Anya–with the help of her salamander familiar and the paranormal investigating team–can stop it. Anya’s accustomed to danger and believes herself inured to loneliness and loss. But this time she’s risking everything: her city, her soul,…

I hope that you have noticed the logo on the home page of Fresh Fiction advertising the Reader’s ‘n’ Ritas conference in November 2010, and I’m here to recommend Tara Taylor Quinn who will be attending the conference. If you haven’t yet read Ms. Quinn I think you’ll be in for a pleasant surprise. She writes a variety of books from those that are heavy on romance and laughter, to those that are more suspenseful, and show how right and love always overcome the evil wrongdoer. I’ve never personally met Ms. Quinn, and am really looking forward to the opportunity to meet her, and have her sign her upcoming books (that should all be available by the time the conference arrives) The First Wife, The Second Lie, The Third Secret, and The Fourth Victim. I have no idea what these books will be about, but I know that they will be page-turners that I won’t want to set aside, because Ms. Quinn is that type of writer. She’s written numerous books about a fictional town called Shelter Valley, of which I’ve not read all, but have read several. I wish I could tell you which ones, but unfortunately I don’t…

May 2010 On Sale: May 6, 2010 Featuring: David Martinez 448 pages ISBN: 0670021911 EAN: 9780670021918 Hardcover $26.95 Add to Wish List Thriller Arcane Buy at Amazon.com The Marks Of Cain by Tom Knox A thrilling and startling novel from the author of the international bestseller The Genesis Secret When David Martinez, a young lawyer, receives an ancient map from his dying grandfather, the mysteries of his past begin to open up before him. The map leads David into the heart of the dangerous Basque mountains, where a genetic curse lies buried and a frightening secret about the Western world’s past is hidden. Meanwhile, London journalist Simon Quinn may have found his big break. A wealthy, elderly woman has been murdered in the most horrific fashion, and another homicide soon follows. Both victims came from villages in the Basque region, both were interred at a top-secret Nazi camp, both have been silenced for what they know about the experiments conducted on the Basques, the Jews, and a dwindling mystical tribe of pre-Caucasian locals called Cagots. From the North Sea islands to the Arizona desert, from the graveyards of the Basque countryside to the heart of colonial Africa, Martinez’s and Quinn’s…

I had one of those weeks — eventful but feel like I didn’t do ANYTHING. I know I read some books because my husband cleaned out the stack I left on his side of the bathroom. He really hates to see my book discards, it sorta drives him absolutely batty. Especially if it’s book club week and he’s in charge of making sure the house is “company-ready.” So he’ll go through and collect all the books and sort them into: business books (ones for Fresh Fiction), borrowed books (library and friends), keepers, and ones for book club trade. I’ve learned (sigh, no make that BIG SIGH) to let go of books that I’m not going to re-read or ones that were good but not great. It’s time to release them into the wild or in my case, to book club members. So, I did spend 30 minutes on Wednesday going through his stacks of books. Fortunately for him, he makes this easy to do. In other words he brings all the books to me in my office, loads them up on the desk so I’m forced to “deal with them” and comes prepared with bags and a box. Work and…

Of all of the aspects of writing I’ve encountered as a reader and a writer, I think the question “Where do you get your ideas?” is one of the most common questions about writing, since everything grows out of that seed: plot, action, characters, setting – the entire world. However, of equal interest to me is how an idea develops; stories and characters take on lives of their own, and the final result might be something quite different to what the author originally intended. My first – and as yet unpublished – novel took that kind of left turn. I’d never written anything resembling a book, so when I decided to try it, I opted for a form with which I was familiar: a mystery of the Agatha Christie type. That idea lasted about two chapters, and the characters and plot took the bit in their teeth, and I simply held on. Lovers’ Knot, published this past Spring by Running Press, however, was a bit more straightforward. It didn’t veer off into unknown territory, but grew slowly and broadly from a simple beginning. I had been asked to write a short story for a friend’s anthology, as story with two…

April 2010 On Sale: April 1, 2010 Featuring: Will Piper 384 pages ISBN: 0061721808 EAN: 9780061721809 Mass Market Paperback $7.99 Add to Wish List Thriller Arcane Buy at Amazon.com Book Of Souls by Glenn Cooper In this thrilling sequel to Secret of the Seventh Son, FBI agent Will Piper hunts for an ancient book that has had a profound effect on history-and holds a truth that mankind may not be prepared to hear. Book of Souls picks up the action a year after the conclusion of Secret of the Seventh Son. Will Piper’s life has been forever changed by the astonishing secret he’s discovered hidden at the government’s clandestine installation deep under the Nevada desert. His uneasy retirement from the FBI is interrupted when a long-missing book surfaces at an auction house in London. A group of ex-Area 51 employees, who call themselves the 2027 Club, recruits Will to assist them in obtaining the book and helping them solve a mystery that will affect the fate of all mankind. As deadly government operatives try stop him, Will discovers the ancient missing volume has had a profound effect on history. Remarkably, a newly-found puzzle sonnet by a young William Shakespeare seems…

May 2010 On Sale: May 1, 2010 Featuring: John Brynstone 336 pages ISBN: 0843963824 EAN: 9780843963823 Mass Market Paperback $7.99 Add to Wish List Thriller Arcane Buy at Amazon.com The Radix by Brett King A U.S. agent has been hired to locate the legendary Radix, a relic with sacred healing powers. But the Knights of Malta–modern-day descendants of the Borgias–will stop at nothing to get the relic for their own use and gain favor with the pope. For five centuries adventurers, researchers and believers have searched for the Radix, the sacred relic thought to possess amazing powers to heal—or destroy. John Brynstone doesn’t have centuries. The president has ordered him to find the Radix now. But he’s not alone in his quest. The modern-day descendants of the infamous Borgia family will stop at nothing to wield the power of the Radix. At the same time, a secret religious organization wants the Radix for their own ends—and they’ve sent a nameless assassin to kill Brynstone before he can steal their prize. Across continents and through ancient codes and mysteries, Brynstone will have to unravel riddles no one has been able to solve for hundreds of years…while racing for his life. Previous…

The world of publishing has been shifting recently and authors more than ever are taking it upon themselves to get their work out there. Some have tried the traditions of trying to get an agent or submit it straight to publishers, but many find this way to be closed to them, the reasons many. Though vanity presses and such have been around for a long time, newer companies have entered the game, giving you more options that make it easier for you, the aspiring indie writer. Once you have selected your means of entering the industry for yourself, there are at least three :”P’s” you should follow. There might be more, but I will keep it short…or try to, at least. PROFESSIONALISM Having a book available for purchase needs to put you in the mindset of a business person. Yes, you are the author of a book, but when you self-publish, you are the publisher (and the marketer, the public relations person, the secretary, the bookkeeper, etc), the one that talks to bookstore employees and buyers, review blogs, podcasts, and other places that could possibly deal with your book. When talking to stores about carrying your book: be polite, listen…

The Reincarnationist, #3 May 2010 On Sale: May 1, 2010 Featuring: Lucian Glass 416 pages ISBN: 0778326756 EAN: 9780778326755 Hardcover $24.95 Add to Wish List Suspense, Thriller Arcane Buy at Amazon.com The Hypnotist by M. J. Rose An FBI agent, tormented by a death he wasn’t able to prevent, a crime he’s never been able to solve and a love he’s never forgotten, discovers that his true conflict resides not in his past, but in a…Past Life. Haunted by a twenty-year old murder of a beautiful young painter, Lucian Glass keeps his demons at bay through his fascinating work as a Special Agent with the FBI’s Art Crime Team. Currently investigating a crazed art collector who has begun destroying prized masterworks, Glass is thrust into a bizarre hostage negotiation that takes him undercover at the Phoenix Foundation—dedicated to the science of past life study—where, in order to maintain his cover, he agrees to submit to the treatment of a hypnotist. Under hypnosis, Glass travels from ancient Greece to 19th century Persia, while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie capital of world. These journeys will change his very understanding of reality, lead him to question…