Welcome back to Fresh Fiction! Can you tell us a little bit about Fix Her Up and the new series it starts, Hot and Hammered? Thank you for having me! The Hot and Hammered series was inspired by a trip I took to Port Jefferson, Long Island. It’s got this rustic, small town vibe—right on the water—and I immediately wanted to write my local family of house flippers, the Castles. FIX HER UP is the youngest daughter’s story. She’s a birthday party clown who no one takes seriously. Enter Travis Ford, her lifelong crush and major league baseball’s tabloid favorite. They decide to pretend date to change their reputations, but of course fall deeply in love along the way. Georgie has always been viewed as the “little sister” – generally annoying, always cracking jokes, and often ignored or forgotten. But as readers find out, Georgie is a sensitive, hardworking, and complex woman. What did you learn from Georgie as you developed her character? I learned how sensitive she is the moods/issues of those around her. She really listens when people talk and wants to help, like creating a Kickstarter for her friend’s restaurant or boosting Travis when he reveals he’s…

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors as a reader you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Tracy Townsend!  What do I write: I’m an author who looks at fantasy and science fiction and says, “This is great. I want to do all of it.” I love fantasy that dabbles with technology; futurism riddled with fun anachronism; big-concept genre plots with deep, personal, character-driven stakes; people who are almost monsters and monstrous beings that are almost people. I love writing that appeals to a sense of adventure and doesn’t give up on literary style to do it. My novels are set in a world full of washed-up mercenaries, crooked cops, charming criminals, scrappy pickpockets, cynical clergy, murderous trees, nightmarish ogres, and endless secrets and conspiracies. More about me: I teach science fiction and fantasy literature as well as creative writing, so you can bet I put story craft and knowledge of genre fiction at the front of my writing. Of course, there’s a lot of my background as a martial arts instructor and acting coach mixed in, too. I…

Self-driving cars are coming! In my latest novel, THREE LAWS LETHAL, New York City is swarming with fleets of them, all competing for your business. The cars are programmed to keep people safe…right? Of course they are. But as the AIs driving the cars find more and more creative ways to beat the competition, they start to develop minds…and goals…of their own. But what about you? Are you lining up to buy a Tesla? Or staying as far away from them as you can? The question brings us to our Top Five list! A self-driving car might kill you in the following five ways: By Saving Someone Else. Let’s say a tree falls in front of a self-driving car and you’re walking nearby. Does the car kill its passengers by hitting the tree, or swerve to save them and kill you instead? With a human at the wheel, there would be no time to consider the question, but an AI has plenty of time to make a choice. In fact, it’s been programmed ahead of time to find the “best” option in any situation. So which one is best? Should it value the life of its owner more than it…

Hi Everyone! Thanks for allowing me to be here today.  When I was here last year, I wrote about my five favorite go-to romance movies last year.  So, I decided to write another “Top 5” list, and a few nights ago, I sat on the couch and started pondering ideas. Hubby came in with the glass of Sauvignon Blanc I’d started and accidentally left in the kitchen (I think he knows my best ideas start with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc), and sat down across from me. Me: I need to come up with a Top 5 list to write about. Something interesting. *takes a sip of wine* Hubby: How about Top 5 dog breeds? Background: I love dogs, especially older rescue dogs. We’ve had seven since we’ve been married and currently have 3, one of which just joined the family last month. Gizmo is a ten-year-old going-blind, going-deaf sweet-ball-of-fur shih tzu.  I also write children’s books about said rescue dogs. You can check them out at: www.dogsandbooks.com . Me: It needs to be romance-related. And fun. And unique. Hubby: How about five best sexual positions? Me:  *sigh* And clean. *takes another sip of wine* Hubby: How about the five…