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…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE PERFECT RUIN 2–What is it about? It’s about a woman named Ivy Hill who finds out the name of the woman who destroyed her childhood – Lola Maxwell. Lola is a wealthy, well-known woman who is loved by many and Ivy sets out on destroying/ruining Lola’s life as payback. It’s a very twisty and suspenseful read with a revenge plot and a domestic thriller vibe. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I love that it’s set near a beach. It’s mostly set in Miami, Florida and I love that you sort of get a visual of the beach weather and the summer activities. And given that this is a summer release makes it all the more exciting! 4–How did your main character(s) surprise you?  My main character Ivy was way more calculating and manipulative than I thought she would be. She knew how to truly fake it in order to make it and to get what she wanted. 5–Why will readers relate to your characters?  Well, one reason I loved writing this book is that it touches on the effects of trauma and how some people can…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Boston. Please tell us about yourself and a little about your new book, TWO BOYS AT BREAKWATER.   A writer should never tell you a little about their own book. It might tend to sound too much like a waiter reading off to you the night’s specials. Set against the backdrop of New York in the 1950s and 60s, TWO BOYS AT BREAKWATER is about two young men growing up and learning about who they truly are, and the love they find in each other. Where did the idea for this novel originate?   I collect incidents. I listen and I watch. And what I sense will take me somewhere else I write down. I sat at my desk for a generation And watching the Bronx rain one night I recalled A moment in a drinking dive not unlike The one Gary Snyder wrote about in I Went into the Maverick Bar That too was on a rainy night Coming down hard on a tin roof. Above the room  Where a pool table reigned supreme. And where two rough type western drunks Shot eight ball and the breeze. “This is gonna come across as strange,” one said. “But…

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 J.L.Crosswhite! Writes: Christian romantic suspense with her latest release, OUT OF RANGE, book 2 of the In the Shadow series. Book 3, OVER HER HEAD, will hit the shelves on June 21. Because when you grow up in the shadow of a hero as a sibling, can you find your own adventures as well? About: California-native author who’s spent significant time in the Midwest seeks readers for a page-turning novel about clothing designer and sister of the groom Kim Taylor, who is planning the girls’ adventure and spa weekend before the wedding to prove to her brother she’s not the flighty flake he thinks she is. But when the bride’s sister has other ideas, a forest fire burns out their adventure, and a stalker sets his eye on Kim, can she find strength and comfort in fun guy Matthew Ellis? He blew his first chance with her but he’s desperately trying to make things right. When her life is on the line, can he…

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…

My husband and I have this long-standing disagreement. He likes names like John and Jane—literally the more boring the better. I, however, like something with some interest. While I have to work with him on naming our baby, I don’t have to give a hoot what he thinks about my character names! I am a collector of names. I have files in my phone for girl names, boy names, and surnames. Whenever I come across something interesting, I add it to the list and then pull my character names from there. Side characters usually have something I like but not one of my top favorites, except when I have a theme going. In NEVER MISS, which is a Christian romantic suspense book releasing from Revell on May 4, 2021, my female main character’s family all has names related to combat and fortification, which is fitting for a family of snipers. Their last name is Tolle simply because I’ve always liked that name. Bastion – her father Redan – her uncle, Bastion’s brother Caponier – her cousin Ravelin – her cousin The male character’s parents’ names are more personal. Lee Vaile is his father. Lee is my father’s middle name, and…

CHAPTER EIGHT Peter Bernhardt woke up again. He felt odd, unlike anything he had yet experienced as a digital entity. His peripheral vision registered a clean engineering room’s wipeable acoustic tile ceiling and walls. From the ceiling hung three accordioned mobile ventilation ducts. He focused on the square mouth of one duct. The image was clear but edgy, as though his digital vision tried to blend each pixel together into an approximation of human sight, but had not quite succeeded. He lay supine in the center of the room, probably on a workbench or table. Raising his index finger, he tapped the surface three times and heard the muffled thud of a thick silicone skin on metal. The table seemed real, tangible, yet his finger felt jerky, electronic. He lifted his head and heard the faint sound of servos as he stared down along the length of the table at an android body. The skin appeared to be high-end silicon, with body hair tastefully punctured into the surface. The build was athletic, but not pumped. Slim, but not skinny. Pecs had definition and the stomach was flat, with a subtle six- pack. He lifted his head two centimeters more. Below…

As I write this blog my flower beds are in bloom. My irises are gorgeous, my daisies are abundant, and my carnations are fragrant. It’s too bad something dark and sinister is creeping into the shadows. That’s right, a murderer is on the loose in my garden and an APB won’t do my beauties any good. Because tonight they will face one of the worst killers known to their kind—Jack Frost. Their death by his hand (or heroic saving by mine) might lead to some nail-biting moments on my part, but I have a feeling I’m the only one who’s truly invested or interested in their next chapter. I mean it’s not like the New York Times will write about their premature death or my valiant attempt to save their lives. But I have dug up some truly newsworthy mysteries Jack Frost can’t touch. The covers caught my eye like the blossoms in my yard, the plots are much better formed than my best buds and the characters charmed me with their style and wit. Yes, the mysteries are in bloom, and all we have to do to catch the culprits is keep turning the page. Wicked Honeymoon  An Ivy…

Everyone needs a break, including authors. I’ve been on a personal hiatus for several months from everything but family, and I have to say it was nice. Like all good things, however, my recess had an end date. Now I’m back with fresh a perspective, and a whole bunch of books to talk about! (No reader actually takes a break from cracking open a new book, do they?) While away I found several new authors that made me wonder what rock I’ve been under the past few years. (No, it wasn’t Dwayne.) I mean seriously, these are good books, how did I miss them? One series in particular just rocked my world, the Veronica Speedwell Mystery series by Deanna Rayburn.  And this series has the added bonus of audiobooks performed brilliantly by Angele Masters. I was hooked with the first book A Curious Beginning and lucky for me, book six, An Unexpected Peril, was released March 10, 2021—Yay! So yes, since December I have listened to books 1-5 and have thoroughly loved the characters and the mysteries and I’m totally thrilled to have this latest release in cue for this weekend! An Unexpected Peril  A Veronica Speedwell Mystery by Deanna Rayburn 3/10/2021 A…

Inspiration is a funny thing. It is sometimes found in the oddest of places and often leads us down paths we never saw coming. Such was the case for my upcoming psychological suspense novel, Fractals. My ideas generally start small. This one born of my own fascination with an article about the microscopic topography of tears and the life events that might influence those tears. But it wasn’t until a conversation with a former student sparked life into my main character, Carly Dalton, and with her came the driving force of this novel: trauma. We all experience trauma to varying degrees, and I’ve not shied away from it in my Blood Secrets Series, but I knew from the start that this story was different. My heroine was a teenager and my hero her teacher, their relationship taboo from the start. And although Fractals is not a romance, it does straddle the line of moral code on more than one occasion, which was a risk from the start. But one thing I’ve learned is that when a character begs for her story to be told, as an author it’s my job to ignore the risks and set pen to paper. Unlike…