What I write: After spending time as a nonfiction editor and author, I crossed over to the “dark side” of the writing road, moving from contemporary romance to women’s fiction. Yes, I like happily-ever-afters, but women’s fiction lets me explore how relationships between sisters, moms and daughters, best friends—anyone we love—can be messy. The novels in the Thatcher Sisters series could best be described as my “Little Women gone wrong” books. More about me: I’m an award-winning novelist who once said she’d never write fiction and now enjoys hanging out with imaginary people. I’m a creative, but I’m also craft-challenged, so don’t invite me to join you at Hobby Lobby unless you want me to push your cart while you shop. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me taking photos of my daughter’s volleyball matches—lots and lots of photos. I learned the game through a camera lens. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader: You want a story that delves into real-life issues like complicated family relationships, grief, estrangement, breast cancer, and unexpected pregnancy. You want stories with a spiritual thread—and characters who might believe in God, might not, or who are struggling in their faith journey. You want…

Japan is famous for the ornamental cherry trees whose blossoms—known as sakura—transform the country’s mountains, parks, and rivers with spectacular pink and white blossoms every spring. The delicate sakura are an iconic symbol of Japan, and with good reason. For thousands of years, Japanese people from all walks of life have enjoyed and celebrated these lovely blooms Cherry blossoms typically bloom and die within just a few days, making them an enduring symbol of the transience and fragility of life. During the few short weeks of the sakura season, people flock to parks for hanami (flower viewing) parties beneath the trees. The sakura may be the most famous Japanese blossom, but it’s far from the only flower celebrated in Japan. In fact, flower festivals occur across Japan in every season of the year. December and January mark the blooming season for camellias (tsubaki, in Japanese), and many people visit the island of Oshima, which rises from the sea about 120-km south of Tokyo, in the Izu archipelago, to experience the hundreds of varieties of vibrant camellias growing there. In addition to their beauty, the camellia seeds produce an oil that’s used as a skin care aid as well as for…

As May brings the perfume of spring flowers, hinting of the warmth of summer to come, thoughts turn to vacation, rest and renewal.  What better way than to be an armchair traveler than to delve into historical fiction that explores the exotic worlds of the Far East? We begin in India with John Shor’s BENEATH A MARBLE SKY.  A cultural icon, the Taj Mahal is instantly recognizable.  Shorr’s novel gives us the story behind the building of this remarkable memorial by the emperor of Hindustan, Shah Jahan, in honor of his beloved wife Mumatz Mahal. Told through the eyes of the couple’s eldest daughter, Princess Jahanara, we are transported to a vast empire constantly rent by rebellion and religious strife, a place of fabulous wealth and dire poverty.  Trained in the techniques of strategy and influenced by her mother, the emperor’s favorite wife and confident, Jahanara takes over from that lady, advising her father, trying to protect her brother Dara, the rightful heir, from the machinations of his ambitious brother Aurangzeb, supervising the construction of her mother’s memorial—and falling in love with its architect, a man she can never marry.  Shorr’s novel reveals the richness of the princess’s world, full…

By May McGoldrick (aka Nikoo and Jim McGoldrick) When we set out to write the Royal Highlander series (Highland Crown, Highland Jewel, Highland Sword), our goal was to weave the lives of three extraordinary women into the fabric of a revolutionary, but largely forgotten series of historical events called the Radical War of 1820. From that mindset, the characters of Isabella, a university-trained physician; Maisie, an early activist for suffrage; and Morrigan, a militant revolutionary, formed in our imagination. Our research directed us to real historical figures of the Georgian and Regency Era who served as models for our heroines. Women like Dorothea Erxleben, physician; Mary Fildes, political activist and an early suffragette; ‘William’ Brown (birth name unknown), an African woman serving in the Royal Navy); and María Antonia Santos Plata, a rebel guerrilla leader in South America. Since Highland Crown deals with a neglected chapter in Scotland’s struggle against the English Crown, we thought we’d cast a little light on five real-life kick-ass heroines from the past. These are rebellious and radical women who would never be talked about, if some people had their way.   Abigail Adams (1744-1818). Her husband might have been the second president of the United States,…