Alma Katsu is an award-winning novelist who happens to have spent 34 years in intelligence with CIA and NSA. Her first spy novel, Red Widow, the story of two women CIA officers pitted against one another in a race to find a deadly mole inside Langley, was named a NY Times Editors Choice and has been optioned for TV by FOX. In the world of espionage, it seems there’s finally a place for women—at least on television and, to a lesser extent, movies. Carrie Mathison (Homeland). Elizabeth Jennings (The Americans). Sydney Bristow (Alias). Maya (Zero Dark Thirty). If you look at lists of espionage novels, you’ll see that this is where things break down a little. Lists of the most popular spy novels tend to be dominated by male writers and male protagonists. If women write in the field, it tends to be historical fiction, standalone novels about women in the resistance during World War II or toiling away in the steno pool during the Cold War. And while these books are inspiring, as an intelligence professional it was a little disappointing to not see the work of my female peers being represented in literature. This was my main motivation…

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Michelle! We are excited to chat with you today. Please tell us a bit about your new series, Carolina Girls.   Michelle: Thank you so much for having me visit today—I’m excited to be here! The Carolina Girls series is a fun spinoff from the original Magnolia Sisters series set in the fictional town of Magnolia, North Carolina. The series features an unlikely friendship between three women all working to start over and create a new life for themselves. The stories are romances at their heart but also explore the importance of friendship, community and finding the right place to call home.  We love a smalltown setting! What do you love most about Magnolia, North Carolina? If you were to spend a day there, where would you visit?       Well, since I currently live in Colorado, which is a beautiful—but very landlocked state—I’d definitely make a trip to the beach outside of Magnolia. The town is based on a few coastal towns we visited when I was a kid vacationing every year in the Outer Banks area of North Carolina and also further south to Hilton Head, South Carolina. I hope I’ve been able to infuse Magnolia with…

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 Kim Redford. Writes: Oh wow, I just write about life…fascinating, intriguing, exciting life with all the quirky characters, small town community and deep emotions that fuel my novels. Laughter. I’d rather laugh than cry, although those two frequently go together. Cowboy Fire took a funny turn at the end that surprised me, so I bet it’ll surprise readers too. Did I say I like surprises, particular funny ones? And heat. Those sexy cowboy firefighters know how to put out fires, but they definitely know how to start them too. About: Chocolate. Cats. Comedy. All those come together late nights at the keyboard. Days, I like a little adventure. I might ride horses with cousins or go to a rodeo or kickback at a pond and pretend I’m fishing when I’m really plotting the next scene in my novel. Of course, I like a good book…write, read, discuss, contemplate, you-name-it. I’m all about books. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader…