Classic characters never really stay put, do they? Well, who can blame them, a couple hundred years stuck between the same paperback covers might make anyone a little stir crazy, even if you’re hanging out at amazing manor homes like Pemberly, Hartfield or (a pre-burnt-to-the-ground) Thornfield Hall. I think that’s why these classic characters like to stay on the move; they may travel through different ports – traversing the Wide Sargasso Sea to a new bookshelf, or channeling a Beverly Hills teenager on the screen – they may tangle with Zombies, fourth-wall breaks, and evolving modern values, but they find their way into present-day, over and over again, and so many writers are there to help them along, finding new scenes and new forms for them to inhabit.     I didn’t consciously intend to be one those writers, but Jane Eyre had other plans when I spotted her sitting in a cubicle in my office, glancing nervously at Mr. Rochester’s closed door across the hall. Inspiration struck – and exhaustion struck because when you start to see fictional characters walking around and using the photocopy machine maybe it’s time to take a vacation and get out of the office…

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 you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Lauren Willig!   Writes: Hi!  I write historical fiction about the strong heroines who have been written out of the history books.  I started my career writing about female spies in the Napoleonic Wars (The Secret History of the Pink Carnation!), and then moved on to all sorts of other interesting corners of history, most recently the 1890s (yep, the Gilded Age—but there was so much more than just gilt!). My latest book, based on a true story, follows an 1896 Smith College graduate as she goes to Greece to train as an archaeologist, only to be told that women can’t excavate.  In a fit of pique, she takes a Red Cross nursing class and finds herself swept up in first the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and then the Spanish-American War of 1898, learning her true strength in the battlefields of Cuba with Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.  The book is called TWO WARS AND A WEDDING—and I promise, there are actually two wars AND…

Q: What can you tell readers about your new book, SMOLDER? Will we see the wedding? For me, I’m less anxious about Anita’s wedding and more so about some character going all Maleficent and being miffed on an epic scale about not being invited or jockeying for position over table placement! A: No, the wedding has to wait. First, we need to deal with Anita’s family who hate that she’s marrying a vampire, a new hate group that is killing vampires across the country, and vampire politics that threaten everything that Jean-Claude, Anita, and everyone they love have built. I really want the wedding to go over well, so trying to clear out all the things that might disrupt it first.   Q: I’m always super excited for a new Anita book. Without giving too much away, Richard makes an appearance in SMOLDER. I realize how polarizing a character Richard is. My husband is, I think, in the minority because Richard was always one of his favorite characters. I think it’s because he loves relationships with a little angst, and he likes flawed characters who are often their own worst enemy. I never connected as well with Richard but found…

1–What is the title of your latest release? HOW I’LL KILL YOU 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? For six years, Sissy (not her real name) has been running the cleanup to protect her serial killer sisters from getting caught each time they murder their boyfriends and skip town. Now, to test her loyalty, her sisters have demanded that Sissy also picks a lover to kill. But when she sets her sights on a charming young widower named Edison, she commits the greatest sin of all: falling in love and wanting to protect him from her sisters, and from herself. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? The story opens with Sissy trying to pick out her first mark as a serial killer. When I imagined her would-be mark entering the diner she’d been staking out, a picture emerged of a man standing against the desert backdrop. There’s something really clean and pretty about an empty desert. In a remote town where people leave their doors unlocked and everyone knows each other, and nothing ever happens, nobody would suspect that polite newcomer to be a serial killer. 4–Would you hang out with your…

1–What is the title of your latest release? A TEMPEST AT SEA, Lady Sherlock book 7 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Like Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile, except on the high seas. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I wanted my characters to go away somewhere for a bit and the idea came that perhaps they could be on a steamer, on an ocean voyage. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? With Charlotte Holmes, Lady Sherlock? I would. We can just eat cake and each do our own thing side by side. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Gender-bent Sherlock Holmes. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I learned that on a London-Bombay voyage in the 1880s, one typically stopped only in these following places along the way: Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, and Aden. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I edit as I draft, but not daily, only when I think I’ve gone as far in a particular draft as possible, then I start another draft. 8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? Ooh, probably loaded…

1–What is the title of your latest release? OUR BEST INTENTIONS 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Our Best Intentions follows an Indian-American working class father and daughter who get caught up in a crime in their affluent New York suburb and must confront uncomfortable and searing issues of race, class, belonging, and understanding the ones we love. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? The setting of the novel is integral to the plot: the book is about what happens in the wake of a crime in an affluent suburb; how truths become obscured, and relationships fractured under the weight of often subtle, but pernicious, classism and privilege. Having grown up in the suburbs of the Northeast, it felt natural for the story take place in a tristate suburb. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Absolutely! I’d hang out with both Babur and Angie. I think Babur would be amusing as a chatterbox driver bragging about his daughter, the prodigal swimmer. I’d also find his commitment to being a good parent is endearing. Angie, while quieter, has impressive inner tenacity and focus. I could also use a swimming…

1–What is the title of your latest release? My newest book is SECOND CHANCE AT THE WATER JUMP 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Second Chance at the Water Jump is a contemporary, sweet with heat romance featuring an equestrian theme. It is equal parts romance and horse story. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I created Pine Mountain Horse Park based off of several horse show venues I have been to, pulling the best parts from each one and setting it in southern New Hampshire so that as the anthology series progresses, I can take full advantage of the beautiful New England season and the horse community I am familiar with. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Yes, with both of them! Savannah is cool and dedicated to her sport and her horse Tucker. I would love to go riding with them and gallop across the hills between jumps. I also love photography so even if I couldn’t be riding with Savannah, I’d love to hang out on the sidelines behind the camera with Evan snapping away all the action shots. 5–What are three words that describe…

  The Girl in the Woods by Kristen Ashley Wildwood in Winter, Brother of Blood – Wildwood series by Bianca D’Arc Beach View Lane, Book 1, Crown Island series by Jan Moran Tempting Tales, Book 3, Their Little Liar series by Calista Jayne Road Trips Can Be Murder, Book 21, Charlie Parker New Mexico Mystery series by Connie Shelton Silver Tongue Devil by Stacey Marie Brown Bones of the Lich King by Megan Derr Honest Secrets, Book 2, Payback Mountain series by Diane Benefiel Gianna Mancini Mysteries Boxed Set 2 (Books 4-6) by Jennifer Fischetto Tower of Horn and Blood by Thomas K. Carpenter   Each Monday the Smashwords store lists the top ten most highly anticipated indie fiction ebooks based on the previous week’s preorder accumulations. Each title on the list is scheduled to release within the next week. To help the talented authors on this list accumulate even more preorders, click the title of the book. The hyperlink will bring you to a Books2Read page where you can order from your preferred ebook retailer. If the preorder is part of a series, click the hyperlinked series title to learn about the other books in the series. Be sure…

Excerpted from the book THE PORCELAIN MOON by Janie Chang. Copyright © 2023 by Janie Chang. From William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission.   THE PORCELAIN MOON   There had to be a way to avoid the fate outlined for her in that letter. Her dowry was meager, her prospects equally so. She knew what sort of match to expect. She might end up a shopkeeper’s second wife, worked to death and at the mercy of a resentful first wife. Or First Wife might pair her with an elderly widower who wanted an unpaid nursemaid. But worse than anything, whatever future First Wife was arranging for her right now, it would send Pauline back to China, far away from everything she loved. She didn’t want to leave Paris. Not this apartment with its tall French doors and high ceilings, or the neighbors along the Rue de Lisbonne. Not La Pagode, the store her uncle owned and all its beautiful antiques. She hurried down to the ground floor and along the corridor that led to the back of La Pagode. The store was closed most of the time now; few wanted to buy antiques while a war…

1–What is the title of your latest release? I LOVE IT WHEN YOU LIE 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Three sisters return home to the Appalachian foothills to bury their beloved Gran. They each bring a problematic man with them, and by the end of the weekend, one of those men will be in the grave with their grandmother. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I grew up in north Alabama among strong Southern women, so I knew that I wanted to write about somewhere close to home. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Ha. Love this question. I probably have hung out with my protagonist in real life. Tara is fiercely loyal to her family and willing to go to any lengths to protect them. A lot of my friends and family could be defined this way. (She’s also a pastor’s wife who is stealing money from her husband’s church, so that’s less likely.) 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Sassy, protective, fed-up 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I already knew about the tradition of Decoration Sunday, in which family members…