Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Debbie Wiley | The Magic of Book Conventions
Author Guest / February 11, 2021

by Debbie Wiley I miss attending book conventions. I’ve been lucky enough to attend quite a few in Orlando, Florida over the years, including Romantic Times (now known as the Booklovers Convention), RWA, and the Shameless Book Con. Memories of attending RT and RWA with my mom often pop in my head when reading certain authors because some of those authors are ones my mom introduced me to  their books when I was a teenager. Nora Roberts and Jayne Ann Krentz will always be loved by me not only for their books, but for the memories Mom and I are even now still making as we share a love for their writing.  Just this morning, Mom and I were chatting about the time she met Nora Roberts at RT. Her hands were shaking as she clenched a book in her hands hoping to meet Nora Roberts and get a signature- and she did, making a memory that lasts even now when she’s not as mobile and Covid has her stuck in her home most of the time. Books can tie us together in more ways than stories, but here are a few recent books from authors Mom and I have…

Michael Johnston | Exclusive Excerpt: SILENCE OF THE SOLERI
Author Guest / February 11, 2021

In the narrow streets of Solus, the soldiers in red made their assault on the Harkan kingsguard, hurling spears, pressing forward, arrows raining down from every direction. The soldiers in black did their best to arrest the charge of the red army. Shield pressed shield. Shoulders butted. Iron screamed against bronze. The kingsguard fought back against their attackers, but there were simply too many soldiers in red and not enough in black. Hands flailed and shields crumpled. “We’re digging in our heels,” said Gneuss. He huddled alongside Ren, keeping his head low. “But we can’t hold out for long. Sooner or later these sons of bitches are going to break through our wall. So when the boys in red make their push, we’re going to give them a surprise. They’ll expect us to hit back. Instead, we’ll retreat into that open space, the one up there,” he said, pointing to the place where the street emptied out into a wide plaza. “It’ll look like chaos when we hit the clearing.” Gneuss wrapped his fingers around the neckline of Ren’s tunic. “They’ll expect us to fan out like a bunch of fools, but we’re going to do the opposite. The men’ll…

Janet Stilson | Exclusive Interview: THE JUICE
Author Guest / February 11, 2021

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Janet! Congrats on your new novel, THE JUICE. Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your book?  Thank you so much for featuring me! I’m thrill-honored. I kind of live a double life. On the one hand, I’m a longtime journalist who fell into writing about media companies a long time ago. They are constantly changing, and utterly fascinating to me. On the other hand, I have been a teller of fictional tales ever since I was a little girl in a tiny upstate New York village called Franklin. (Now I live in the Bronx, and I can pull out the attitude to prove it!) I like to write fantasy and sci-fi stories that take conditions present in the world today and play them forward, into another space and time. That’s what I did with THE JUICE, which is a cyberpunk sci-fi tale about a secret substance that makes people incredibly charismatic, with god-like abilities. They are “used” by a media company to bend public thought to its will. Three unlikely allies try to stop this: a dirt-poor, homely teen who becomes a sort of Cinderella when she takes the Juice; a…

Valentine’s Day Recipe Roundup: TO LOVE AND TO LOATHE by Martha Waters
Author Guest / February 11, 2021

Today’s recipe is perfect for a date-night-in! While the characters in TO LOVE AND TO LOATHE by Martha Waters have known each other for years and spent most of that time arguing, they are about to spend a ton of time together at a country house party—the perfect place for shenanigans… Tomorrow is the last day of the Valentine’s Day Recipe Roundup! Come back for one more day of fun! Jeremy, the Marquess of Willingham, and Diana, Lady Templeton, have known each other for years, and have spent much of that time at each other’s throats. They are famed among their friends for their bickering, and no one is surprised when they agree to an impetuous bet: Jeremy will be married within the year, or Diana owes him one hundred pounds. What is a surprise is when Jeremy, after receiving some unflattering commentary on his bedroom skills, proposes a no-strings-attached affair with Diana for the duration of a country house party—both to get feedback on his performance, and to dispel the inconvenient attraction that has plagued them for years. This frenemies-with-benefits arrangement quickly becomes more complicated, and both Diana and Jeremy drink a good deal of wine over the course…