What is the title of your latest release?RINGS OF FATE What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?The Princess Bride meets Wheel of Time. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I write fantasy, so medieval-ish Europe-ish is the expected genre landscape. From Nora Roberts I learned you need to meet genre expectations. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Absolutely. She’s a badass. What are three words that describe your hero?Golden. Broken. Brave. What’s something you learned while writing this book?That I can rewrite a book a thousand times lol. Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?Yes I edit as I draft. What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?Hot fudge sundaes. Describe your writing space/office!A fabulous Wes Anderson style office with beautiful art pieces (I collect portraits of women from the 17th and 18th centuries), custom desks (one marble) absolutely gorgeous office that I have ruined by making it an extension of my closet and now is overwhelmed by clothing racks obscuring the art. Who is an author you admire?Stephen King, my favorite author when I was a teenager. Is there a book that changed your life?Dune – my…

I make multiple references to music in THE REDEMPTION FILE. Music has always been a big part of my life, and I’ve gone through many different phases with artists and genres. I felt it was only natural to incorporate music into my book. Although I don’t mention any specific songs, the following provide a strong representation of the soundtrack to the story. Juice (Know the Ledge), Eric B & RakimDaryl Hunter deals in drugs, and receives an urgent text message that he needs to respond to fast, prompting him to race through the city in his Ford Explorer. He turns up the music to give him momentum, allowing the base to take over the car. I like to think Daryl enjoys old school hip-hop like myself, and this is a great amp up song, mostly from the base line that grabs you from the opening. It’s also an anthem of the rise and fall of a hustler who grew up on the streets, delivered by the greatest MC of all time. It reflects a life style similar to that of Daryl and his cousin, Andre. The Four Horsemen, MetallicaRoger Austin is on his way to an important business luncheon. Like…

Book Title: JANAE SANDERS’ SECOND TIME AROUNDCharacter Name: Janae Aaliyah Sanders How would you describe your family or your childhood?Woooo chile. You just jumping right in with the nosy questions, huh? I’m an only child of a former Black beauty queen and a former bus driver. My daddy doted on me, and my mama tried to turn me into her own mini-her. But since I wasn’t interested in starving myself or hating my lovely curves, we clashed like titans. Janae holds up hand to stop whatever the interviewer was about to say/ask Now, don’t get any ideas about talkin’ slick about my mama. She’s doing the hard work to try to change and I’m gonna give her the grace to do so. Move on to the next question. What was your greatest talent?Bay-Bee! That’s easy. Your girl can burn in the kitchen. When I tell you my food’s so good it’ll have you humming while you eat, I am not exaggerating. Adam yells from his perch on the couch as he watches a basketball game on the TV She ain’t lying! Food so good she has us fighting over who’s getting the last bit of whatever she made. Significant other?Janae…

What is the title of your latest release?AXE AND GRIND What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?When Josie Hart signs on to test billionaire Axe Mackenzie “perfect match” algorithm, their chemistry plunges them deep into an addictive tangle of obsession, desire, and deceit that threatens to drag their darkest secrets into the light. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?We both went to school in PA (same school, different years) which might be why we chose it. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?In a heartbeat. Josie is a girl’s girl. We built her with love and we wept at all her bad decisions. What are three words that describe your hero?Secretive, Sexy and Scottish What’s something you learned while writing this book?AG: I learned that Julie still makes me laugh so hard sometimes that’s my daily cardio.JB: I learned that Adele still finds my stupid jokes funny and also that she tells everyone I wrote all of our sex scenes. Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?We edit as we go. There are two of us, so one goes out front and the other…

It’s time to say good-bye to another year and reflect on what made 2025 good, bad, and ugly. Let’s talk about the good first—cozy mysteries! The bad and the ugly (defined by their actions and deeds) can bugger off, or in this case, the authors will take care of them for us! And cozy mystery authors seem to do it best. Granted the action isn’t necessarily on the page, but we can fill in the blanks with our own special flair. That’s why cozy mysteries are my favorite escape genre, the authors know how to deal with those dreadful individuals and put a smile on our faces while they do it. For that reason, I will never stop reading feel good mysteries. Sometimes the fictional world is the best therapy of all.             Here are some of my favorite escapes of 2025. Mind you, there were soooo many incredible mysteries that have graced my reading list this past year, I cannot possibly note them all in one short blog. The authors who have generously given me their time and attention for an interview at the Cozy Corner, have an asterisk next to the title of their book with the month…

How would you describe your family or your childhood?SAM: Pretty normal, if by normal you mean dragged around by a mom who was married six times after your dad killed himself. WILLIAM: Misty. I was reared on an isolated mountaintop with my older sister Pen by our neurosurgeon father after our mother passed, and it was often snowing or fogged in, the view opaque and obscured. THE RABBIT: Kind of like The Hunger Games without the Games part. Mostly locked in the closet. What was your greatest talent?SAM: Procrastination! WILLIAM: I believe you mean what IS my greatest talent, my dear. There. Fixed it for you. I would humbly say a superlative facility with words. THE RABBIT: Persistence, by which I mean stalking William and his hos. Significant other?SAM: I was married for ten years to a wonderful man named Hank who’s an addict in recovery–neither the addiction or the recovery left much room for me, so we called it quits. Now…William? Hard to tell with him, but I hope so! WILLIAM: Ah, I strive, I strive. I am a hopeless romantic, but somehow matrimony, the goal that every common man has achieved, has eluded me. I do have the…

Excerpt from WHEN WE WERE EVIL by S. B. Saves: CHAPTER 1 My appearance now is completely different to my Year 10 school photo and my infamous mugshot, taken just over a year apart. Those are the two images most people connect with the name Ruby Wilcox. If you lived in the UK at the time when the story broke, you couldn’t get away from them; the photos were blown up on the front pages of every newspaper and used as stills on the TV. Both photos show a scrawny, unremarkable-looking girl with bright red hair, thin lips, and a pointy nose. Today, my hair is bottle blond and cropped short, which gives me a more pixyish look that would probably be cute if not for the lines carving across my forehead and scraping from the corners of my eyes. I’m about fifteen years too old for the style I’m trying to pull off, but my ever-changing looks have never been about vanity. I have two piercings in my left eyebrow, a small hoop in my nostril, and a ring in the centre of my bottom lip, as well as a stud in my tongue. A smudged-looking tattoo of a…

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 to check back Friday for a list of the Top 25 Bestselling Indie Ebooks.

Welcome to the debut of my revamped Jen’s Jewels interview format! I’m thrilled to kick off 2026 with New York Times bestselling author Jayne Ann Krentz, who’s here to talk about her latest release, THE SHOP ON HIDDEN LANE. For this year’s interviews, I’m letting authors choose the questions that speak to them most – making each conversation as unique as the books themselves. Jayne selected some fantastic prompts that give us insight into her psychic romantic mystery and her creative process. Let’s dive in! LIGHTNING ROUND In three words, describe the vibe of your book.Psychic romantic mystery. What’s your ideal writing fuel: coffee, tea, wine, or chaos?Coffee. Straight up. Plotter, pantser, or organized mess?Organized mess. THE DEEP DIVE Every book has an origin story. What was the “lightning strike” moment that made you say, “I have to write this”?Discovering just how much money the U.S. Government and major research institutions spent on paranormal research in an attempt to create psychic spies and weapons. Heck, for all we know, they’re still in the business. (And thereby hangs yet another tale…) Tell me about a scene you rewrote multiple times. What made it so tricky, and how did you finally crack…

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 to check back Friday for a list of the Top 25 Bestselling Indie Ebooks.