Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Sarah Zachrich Jen | Exclusive Interview: THE OTHER ME
Author Guest / August 9, 2021

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Sarah, and congrats on your debut novel, THE OTHER ME! Can you tell us a little about your journey into publishing this book?   Sarah: Thanks for having me! The book that eventually became THE OTHER ME went through several rewrites on its way to publication. When I started writing, I had no idea that it would be a thriller—I was having more upmarket/literary thoughts, though still with the speculative element, and the original pacing and ending reflected that. I took a few years to get the book to where I thought it was ready to query, and then I entered the Pitch Wars mentoring program, which I’d read good things about online. I didn’t get in, but PW mentor Layne Fargo (who’s also an amazing author) loved my manuscript. She was kind enough to refer me to an agent she knew, who asked me to revise and resubmit. I signed with that agent, did one more revision, and settled in to wait for months while my agent shopped the book around to editors. My agent emailed the manuscript to one editor on a Friday to give her an advance look before we went on…

Anita Kopacz | Exclusive Interview: SHALLOW WATERS
Author Guest / August 5, 2021

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Anita! We are so happy to have you here. Can you introduce yourself so our readers can get to know you a little bit?   Anita: I’m Anita. My mom call me Teets. I love to dance. I love people. I love storytelling. I love my kids. I could list all of my credentials, but that’s a bore. Let’s go deep or not go at all. I’m a mermaid. A Black mermaid. I wrote Shallow Waters to help me heal my ancestral wounds. As a descendant of people who experienced chattel slavery, I needed a spiritual hero to take me back and face those wounds. Yemaya was exactly that.  SHALLOW WATERS is your debut novel! Will you share your journey into publishing this book?   I’ve never been the type to do anything by the book. During the BLM movement in 2020, I knew it was time to put Shallow Waters out there. I didn’t really send it to many publishers, but I kept feeling like I needed to make a move immediately. I decided to self-publish, because I felt like the story was ripe. While I was in the process of self-publishing, my bestie, Yadi…

Angie Barrett | 20 Questions: LOVE SPELLS AND OTHER DISASTERS
Author Guest / February 5, 2021

1–What is the title of your latest release? LOVE SPELLS AND OTHER DISASTERS 2–What is it about? This is an ooey-gooey romance about a girl who writes some love spells for a class project then discovers they actually work! 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I love the Marshall mansion with all of its ghostly appeal. I love the candle store, Scents and Things, where Rowan and Abby get one of their spells from –it’s modeled after some of the stores I’ve visited in Salem, Massachusetts. I love the Grady Farm and the renovated barn that Luca takes Rowan for a romantic evening. 4–How did your heroine surprise you?  I created Rowan to be the embodiment of so many of my past students that she has all of the parts that I loved the most. While it didn’t surprise me, I love that she finds the strength to reconnect with her mom and through their bond, find a solution to her love spell dilemma. 5–Why will readers love your hero?  Luca is caring and respectful. He understands consent and doesn’t push Rowan into doing anything she isn’t comfortable with. He knows what he wants to do…

Janet Rebhan | Exclusive Excerpt: RACHEL’S RETURN
Author Guest / July 16, 2020

Content Warning: detailed depiction of physical abuse/assault.  *** Prologue Caroline Martin stared up at the ceiling tiles, small and square with tiny black holes that evoked an image of pepper jack cheese. Some were stained from leaky pipes that created ghostly formations of gray outlined in black above her head. The room was cold, and she began to shiver. One of the OR nurses noticed and covered her with another preheated hospital blanket, tucking it in under her chin and over her shoulders. “Thank you,” Caroline said through clenched teeth. She couldn’t move because they had already strapped her down to the operating table at her arms and just below her breasts. They left her legs free, covered with socks and leg warmers, as they would soon be placing her calves in stirrups. At least they had the decency to wait until she was completely under first. But after that, she was certain there would be no concern for her modesty. The pill they had given her fifteen minutes earlier began to take effect. Background noises blended together in a smothered cacophony, and only when someone got up close in her face was she able to focus. Even so, it…

Debbie Wiley | Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night…
Author Guest / May 21, 2020

by senior reviewer Debbie Wiley Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie. When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing- wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king?  I have a love/hate relationship with birds that started with Mother Goose and the Song of Sixpence nursery rhyme. Sure, there are birds I dearly love, like the graceful Sandhill cranes and the majestic owls, but it is the mystery of those blackbirds that has left me with a healthy dose of fear for birds. I know I’m not alone as look at Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, or Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (shudders). Several authors recently have challenged me to rethink how I feel about some of these maligned birds and I’d like to share their wonderful books with you. Heather Webber tackles the Song of Sixpence directly with a bit of magical realism in MIDNIGHT AT THE BLACKBIRD CAFE. Anna Kate Callow has arrived in Wicklow, Alabama, to bury her beloved Granny Zee. Unbeknownst to her, she inherits her grandmother’s entire estate, including the Midnight Cafe under one condition- she has to remain in Wicklow and run the cafe for a specific amount of time. Anna Kate has preconceptions about Wicklow….