WELCOME AUTHORS

Linda Joy Myers, Kate Farrell and Amber Lea Starfire

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GUEST POST

“Legacy of the ‘60s and ‘70s and What It Means for Women Today”
by Elise Frances Miller, Winner Second Place, Prose

In the early ‘70s, I was doing just what I wanted to do: teaching three art history and humanities classes and conducting research as a college instructor. I was not happy being “part-time,” underpaid, and with no benefits. I did not consider myself an artist, though I still tried my hand at a variety of media in those days. I admired artists, especially women, who put their work out there in public, sometimes defying a parent or spouse, usually for very little remuneration.

Then I joined an organization called “Women Artists It’s Time” (W.A.I.T). The mission was clear: find ways for female artists’ work to be appreciated and understood on a level commensurate with that of male artists. We had role models from Berthe Morisot to Georgia O’Keefe, Louise Nevelson to Joan Brown, but these pioneers did not have many peers. In the realm of art history, Women Artists: 1550-1950 published in 1976 by Linda Nochlin and Anne Sutherland Harris took academic art history departments and the stuffy College Art Association by storm.

At universities in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, almost no female artists made it into the curriculum. Nochlin and Harris broke the Western, white, male version of art history, and encouraged others, both men and women, to broaden their research for international, ethnic and gender equity in publications.

Our small efforts in W.A.I.T. soon blossomed, not because more women chose to go into art, but because more of them became known. We also celebrated the recognition of women’s “crafts” by art museums. Quilting, weaving, needlework and other handicrafts were accepted as subjects for both historical and current exhibitions.

By the 1970s and ‘80s, I was writing art reviews for major newspapers and magazines. Judy Chicago, Betye Saar, Eleanor Antin and Jennifer Bartlett were just a few of my favorite artists to review. As galleries began to exhibit women’s artwork, I encountered no resistance to featuring them in my articles.

Today there is no lack of women artists. Some of these have made a splash, but as in other fields, the struggle is not behind us. Women still lag behind men both in exposure and remuneration.

As a member of W.A.I.T., I learned that when we band together, boosting our sense of purpose, we push forward, and best of all, we create in diverse fields, guilt-free, with families and all. This personal growth was important to the expansion of social, political and professional roles for women in the 1970s, and in turn, women’s movement activity also enhanced the individual’s journey.

The Times They Were A-Changing: Women Remember the ‘60s and ‘70s preserves the record of that two-way nourishment in varied circumstances. As this anthology shows so well, in tandem with the political struggles, social experiments, and hard-fought gains that are the legacy for today’s women, there was always the girl becoming a woman, unsure, seeking strength through collaboration, building the story one scene at a time. Since our era, as never before, that has been the way it is done.

Elise Frances Miller’s novel, A Time to Cast Away Stones (Sand Hill Review Press, June, 2012), is set in 1968 Berkeley and Paris. With degrees from UC Berkeley and UCLA, Elise began writing about arts for the Los Angeles Times, Art News and San Diego Magazine. She taught high school and college humanities, and served as communications director at San Diego State University and Stanford. Her short stories have appeared in The Sand Hill Review (fiction editor, 2008), Fault Zone: Stepping Up to the Edge, and online. Her novel and its historical background are described at http://www.elisefmiller.com.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Just in time for the holidays, Linda Joy Myers, Kate Farrell and Amber Lea Starfire launch their anthology Times They Were A-Changing: Women Remember the ’60s and ’70s. The book is the perfect gift for opening discussions with friends and family members and illustrating what a powerful time the ’60s and ’70s truly were.

Forty-eight powerful stories and poems etch in vivid detail breakthrough moments experienced by women during the life-changing era that was the ’60s and ’70s. These women rode the sexual revolution with newfound freedom, struggled for identity in divorce courts and boardrooms, and took political action in street marches. They pushed through the boundaries, trampled the taboos, and felt the pain and joy of new experiences. And finally, here, they tell it like it was.

Through this collection of women’s stories, we celebrate the women of the ’60s and ’70s and the importance of their legacy.

BOOK DETAILS:

Paperback: 354 pages
Publisher: She Writes Press
Publication Date: Sept. 8, 2013
ISBN-10: 1938314042
ISBN-13: 978-1938314049

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WELCOME JAC WRIGHT

JAC WRIGHT

Jac Wright is a poet published in literary magazines, a published author, and an electronics engineer educated at Stanford, University College London, and Cambridge who lives and works in England. Jac studied English literature from the early age of three, developing an intense love for poetry, drama, and writing in Trinity College Speech & Drama classes taken afternoons and Saturdays for fourteen years, and in subsequent creative writing classes taken during the university years. A published poet, Jac’s first passion was for literary fiction and poetry writing as well as for the dramatic arts. You will find these influences in the poetic imagery and prose, the dramatic scene setting, and the deep character creation.
These passions – for poetry, drama, literary fiction, and electronic engineering – have all been lovingly combined to create the first book in the literary suspense series, The Reckless Engineer. There are millions of professionals in high tech corporate environments who work in thousands of cities in the US, the UK, and the world such as engineers, technicians, technical managers, investment bankers, and corporate lawyers. High drama, power struggles, and human interest stories play out in the arena every day. Yet there are hardly any books that tell their stories; there are not many books that they can identify with. Jac feels compelled to tell their stories in The Reckless Engineer series.
Jac also writes the literary short fiction series, Summerset Tales, in which he explores characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances in the semi-fictional region of contemporary England called Summerset, partly the region that Thomas Hardy called Wessex. Some of the tales have an added element of suspense similar to Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected. The collection is published as individual tales in the tradition of Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers and Thomas Hardy’s Wessex Tales. The first tale, The Closet, accompanies the author’s first full-length literary suspense title, The Reckless Engineer.
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Q&A with Jac Wright

-Do you draw from personal experiences and/or current events?
Quite a bit of my experiences make their way into my writing, but not in a direct way. Bits of different experiences are mixed together with a lot of imaginary and fictitious characters and events.  A character might have the looks of a stranger I might have spotted on the train, certain mannerisms of a friend, and a completely imaginary personality. It is so mixed together that the end result is fictitious.

I have not used events in the news for my books published so far.  However, I use parts of the Northern Bank Robbery which happened in Belfast in December 2004 as an event to fictitiously model some action in my next book, “Buy, Sell, Murder”.  I also use the Barclays Libor fixing scandal somewhat carefully in it.

-Do you start with the conclusion and plot in reverse or start from the beginning and
see where the story line brings you?
Oh, no.  I start with a core idea central to the plot that would have come to me in a moment of inspiration, almost like a dream or a segment of a movie. The main characters are inextricably interwoven into this segment.  I then build the other characters around this, give each character a psychology, and let the characters drive the story forward by keeping each one true to his or her psychology.

For example, I woke up late on a warm summer day this June with an image of a fugitive escaping and running away from an overturned van transporting him to court from prison that had met with an accident. Prisoners wear normal clothing in England, not orange jumpsuits, and they are not in chains.  He runs into the crowds and a bus parked behind a mall to hide among the people only to find that it is a film set.  The actor playing a main character of the movie and the director are having a fight. The actor suddenly punches the director in the face who falls backward. My protagonist fugitive hiding among the supporting film crew catches him and breaks the fall.  The director gets up, wipes the blood off his nose, fires the main actor loudly, and asks him to get out of his movie set.  He turns to my protagonist and asks: ‘You there, what’s your name?’  ‘Art Miller,’ he gives a fake name.  ‘Art, you are playing Michael Fallon. His trailer is yours now. Go with my crew and get dressed.’  And there I have the plot, the main characters, and the first chapter of my standalone book, In Plain Sight.

-Your routine when writing?  Any idiosyncrasies?
My only routine is I have none. I write when time allows me and inspiration hits me. I usually prefer to write at my desk on my big-screen server I do my engineering work on, but sometimes I might move to a different spot or go outside with my laptop.  To make it easy I keep my writing on a USB drive and back up onto my 3 computers about once a week.

-Is writing your full time job?  If not, may I ask what you do by day?
I am an electronics and software engineer by day. However, I have recently left full-time nine-to-five work to start an engineering firm with a friend and I take on engineering subcontracts that allow me more flexibility to write when I want and do the engineering work when I want.

-Who are some of your favorite authors?
I love most of the classics. Out of the authors in my genre I really like Patricia Highsmith, Roald Dahl, Ian Rankin, and Benjamin Black.

-What are you reading now?
I am re-reading Wuthering Heights. I grew up reading a lot of mystery and suspense fiction and writing in the suspense genre comes easily to me.  However, I need to hone my skills in writing the romances that run as sub-plots in my work, and what other way is there to do that than read the greatest romances ever written? I read Wuthering Heights in my mid-twenties, but I have forgotten the details; and this time I am really absorbing the work.

I am also reading this time’s Mann Booker prize winner, The Luminaries.

-Are you working on your next novel?  Can you tell us a little about it?
One of them is In Plain Sight that I described above.  The second in The Reckless engineer series – Buy, Sell, Murder – and Summerset Tales #2 – The Bank Job– are also half written.  I hope to publish two of these in 2014.

-Your novel will be a movie.  Who would you cast?
Daniel Craig would be good to play the series lead, Jeremy Aiden Stone, though he would have to look a decade younger.
A great alternative would be Scott Eastwood (Clint Eastwood Junior) if his acting abilities are anything like his dad’s, but they would have to age him a decade which I not hard.
Richard Armitage would be absolutely perfect to play Harry Stavers, the defence counsel.
Desmond Harrington (from Dexter) could play the mess that is Jack Connor really well.
Jessica Biel had the right looks for Caitlin McAllen-Connor, Jack Connor’s wife, with a shorter haircut; and she would have to play the character a stronger personality than she is used to.
Jeremy Irons for Douglas McAllen, Caitlin’s father.
I know Otter looks like Lenny Kravitz.  So they will have to cast a new actor in the role.

-Manuscript/Notes: hand written or keyboard?
Keyboard.  It is too hard to do re-writes and corrections with handwritten.  Having said that, I admit that I wrote chapters 28 through 44 (to the end) with a black ballpoint pen, doing correction with a blue ballpoint pen first and typed it up later.

-Favorite leisure activity/hobby?
Writing. LOL. Other than that I love kittens and puppies.

-Favorite meal?
Authentic Spanish enchiladas with a shredded beef filling; with a Margarita to sip.

Thank you for stopping by CMash Reads and spending time with us.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Can you forgive betrayal?

The aftershocks of an affair reverberate out to those in the lives of the lovers, who will NOT take it lying down.

Jack Connor lives an idyllic life by the Portsmouth seaside married to Caitlin McAllen, a stunning billionaire heiress, and working at his two jobs as the Head of Radar Engineering of Marine Electronics and as the Director of Engineering of McAllen BlackGold, his powerful father-in-law’s extreme engineering company in oil & gas. He loves his two sons from his first marriage and is amicably divorced from his beautiful first wife, Marianne Connor. Their delicately balanced lives are shattered when the alluring Michelle Williams, with whom Jack is having a secret affair, is found dead and Jack is arrested on suspicion for the murder.
Jeremy Stone brings in a top London defence attorney, Harry Stavers, to handle his best friend’s defence.

Who is the bald man with the tattoo of a skull seen entering the victim’s house? Who is the “KC” that Caitlin makes secret calls to from a disposable mobile? Has the powerful Douglas McAllen already killed his daughter’s first partner, and is he capable of killing again? Is Caitlin’s brother’s power struggle with Jack for the control of McAllen Industries so intense that he is prepared to kill and frame him? Is the divorce from his first wife as amicable on her part as they believe it to be? Are his sons prepared to kill for their vast inheritance? Who are the ghosts from Caitlin’s past haunting the marriage? What is the involvement of Jack’s manager at Marine Electronics?

While Jack is charged and his murder trial proceeds in the Crown Court under barrister Harry Stavers’ expert care, Jeremy runs a race against time to find the real killer and save his friend’s life, if he is in fact innocent, in a tense tale of love, friendship, power, and ambition.

Read an excerpt

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Mystery, Legal Thriller, Suspense
Print Length: 340 pages
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing
Publication Date: November 3, 2013
ISBN-10: 1619353210
ISBN-13: 978-1619353213
ASIN: B00GH67LVC

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WELCOME MARIANNE HARDEN

MARIANNE HARDEN

Marianne Harden loves a good laugh. So much so, she cannot stop humor from spilling into her books. Over the years she has backpacked through the wilds of Australia, explored the exotics of Asia, soaked up the sun in the Caribbean, and delighted in the historic riches of Europe. Her goals in life are simple: do more good than harm and someday master the do-not-mess-with-me look. She divides her time between Switzerland and Washington State where she lives with her husband and two children.
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ABOUT THE BOOK

Is it strange to have the unemployment office on speed dial? Not for twenty-four-year-old college dropout Rylie Keyes. However, her current job at a small retirement home is worlds more important than all her past gigs. Fact is, if she loses this one, she’ll fail to stop the forced sale of her grandfather’s home, a modest lakeside bungalow that has been in the family for ages. But to keep her job she needs to figure out the truth behind the death of a senior citizen found murdered in her care.

The victim was thought to be a penniless man with a silly grudge against Rylie. However, his enemies will do whatever it takes to keep their part in his murder secret.

Forced to dust off the PI training she must keep hidden from her ex-detective grandfather, Rylie has to juggle the attentions of two very sexy, very different cops who both arouse and fluster her at the same time. And as she trudges through the case, she has no idea that along the way she just might win, or lose, a little piece of her heart.

Watch the trailer

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Contemporary Romance (Mystery)
Paperback: 290 pages
Publisher: Entangled Select
Publication Date: October 22nd, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62266-033-9

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WELCOME KEVIN RAMSEY

KEVIN RAMSEY

Kevin has worked in the IT industry since the 1970s. (Yes, there WERE computers around in the 70s!) He has worked and lived in England, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore and has travelled extensively around the world.

For years he wrote reports, technical books and papers in the IT industry, but all that time there was a novelist waiting to get out.
He’d always enjoyed crime, mystery and political thriller novels, as well as more general stories – and even some science fiction!

Authors he long admired include (in no particular order) Frederick Forsyth, John Le Carre, Ian Rankin, Colin Dexter, Henning Mankell, John Braine, Stan Barstow, Fred Hoyle, Frank Herbert, Stieg Larsson, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley.

For years he wanted to write his own novel but work, family, inertia, fear all got in the way. Finally, after massive encouragement from his wife, he started. The end result, after more than a year’s work, is his first (and hopefully not last) novel The Andersen Plan.

This interesting mix of political and crime thriller is set in England and Australia, where he lived for many years.
Connect with Kevin at these sites:

Q&A with Kevin Ramsey

Writing and Reading:
Do you draw from personal experiences and/or current events?
A bit of both. This novel is mostly drawn from reflections of current events but all the locations are places I know well.

Do you start with the conclusion and plot in reverse or start from the beginning and see where the story line brings you?
I had a rough outline and started writing different bits, in rough chronological order, but sometimes I would go back. Parts of the plot and some of the characters changed several times in the process

Your routine when writing?  Any idiosyncrasies?
Much of the early work on the book was written sitting in my car in a car park. I guess that’s a bit odd. I prefer my first draft to be scribbled in a notebook rather than typed. I type it up later and do a bit of tidying up in the process. I did the final version and editing on my laptop. I don’t have a set time of day or a specific place to write. When I’m on holiday somewhere warm I like to mix writing with lying in the sun and swimming.

Is writing your full time job?  If not, may I ask what you do by day?
When I wrote the first draft I was working full time as a freelance IT project manager. When the job ended I took some time off to finish off the book and edit and publish it. Although I am looking out for more freelance work I am currently writing full time. If I can achieve any success with it I would love to become a full time writer.

Who are some of your favorite authors?
That’s quite a long list for different reasons. George Orwell and Aldous Huxley for their predictions of where society was heading; science fiction writers like Isaac Asimov, Fred Hoyle, Frank Herbert and Arthur C Clarke; crime fiction – Stieg Larson Ian Rankin, Colin Dexter, Henning Mankell; philosophy / economics – John Gray, Daniel Kahneman; political thrillers – Frederick Forsythe

What are you reading now?
“Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman. It’s good but a bit heavy going. When I’ve finished I want to relax with the new Rebus novel.

Are you working on your next novel?  Can you tell us a little about it?
I’m currently working on a sequel to The Andersen Plan, tentatively titled The Andersen Contract. It’s a totally new plot line but follows on from the first book and uses many of the characters. Like the first book it mixes politics with crime and ranges from London to South Australia.

Fun questions:
Your novel will be a movie.  Who would you cast?
In my book the main “baddies” are Australian Brothers Greg and Tony Andersen. From the moment I wrote them I envisaged Javier Bardem playing both of them (if he can master a decent Australian accent), mainly because of his chilling character in “No country for old men”

Manuscript/Notes: hand written or keyboard?
Scribble in a notebook while I am creating, then type / edit on my laptop.

Favorite leisure activity/hobby?
In warm sunny weather I love walking, swimming, cycling, eating out. In cold weather I tend to hibernate, watch TV, read and play my guitar and bass. I also love art galleries. I would have liked to have been a painter but I don’t think I have the talent for it.

Favorite meal?
I like most things but particularly really tasty dishes such as chilli, curry and possibly my favourite is a good paella.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When a young British man goes missing in Australia, his fiancée forms an unlikely partnership with an ambitious newspaper reporter; the pair travel to the Outback to investigate.

It’s 2022 and Britain’s economy has been in steady decline for the last decade. As a result of the ongoing employment crisis, thousands of young Brits travel to Australia each year, in search of work. But Australia’s economy has taken a turn for the worse too, and the government has tightened its immigration laws to curb the flow of migrant workers.

A pair of Australian brothers, Greg and Tony Andersen, devise an illicit scam to take advantage of the situation: Greg Andersen, the elder brother, is based in the UK where he entices young jobseekers by promising to help them find work; the unsuspecting Brits are then sent on a plane, having apparently had all the appropriate paperwork taken care of, only to be met on the other side by Tony Andersen who beats them up, takes their money and leaves them stranded in the Outback. When the bloodthirsty Tony gets carried away and one of their victims ends up dead, the police start to take notice – DI Brian Chambers launches an investigation into the mystery of the growing number of missing and robbed Brits, in this bizarre new form of people smuggling.

Alan Warner is a young Englishman who is enticed by The Andersens’ scheme, and sets off to Australia in hope of starting a new life there. When he arrives in Australia all communication with him stops. Then his fiancée Carol sees a newspaper article about Brits going missing in Australia and fears that Alan might be headed towards the same fate. Not knowing where else to turn, she contacts the journalist who wrote the piece, John Foster. The pair, now almost certain that Alan is a victim of the same series of robberies being investigated by the police, decide to travel to Australia to find him. When they arrive in the small South Australian town of Mannum, they join forces with DI Brian Chambers who confirms that Alan is missing, but warns them not to interfere with his investigations. Carol is devastated but John is distracted by his wild affair with their Australian guide, Debbie.

Will The Andersen’s be caught and Alan Warner saved, or will Carol, John and Debbie’s reckless vigilantism undermine any chance of finding him alive? Is Alan dead or kidnapped – and why?

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Crime Thriller
Published by: CreateSpace (paperback) and KDP (ebook)
Publication Date: 1st August 2013
Pages: 206
ISBN: 978-1491235560

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WELCOME LIZ STAUFFER

LIZ STAUFFER

After some thirty years writing everything from political encyclopedias to software manuals, I retired from corporate life to write fiction, travel, and play on the beach. Since that time, I’ve traveled extensively throughout the United States and the world. I live most of the year in Hollywood, Florida, with my two doggie best friends, Mattie and Jakey, where I own and manage a vacation rental business.
Connect with Liz at these sites:

ABOUT THE BOOK

Things are not always what they seem in Liz Stauffer’s fast paced book of murder, mystery, and intrigue. When the “breakfast club” ladies of idyllic Mount Penn see bruises on Clare Ballard’s pretty face, they suspect her hot-headed husband of abusing her, but the truth is much more complicated. When violence disrupts this Appalachian village’s lazy routine, the ladies, led by the irascible Lillie Mae Harris, jump feet first into danger as bodies appear, neighbors disappear, and Clare is arrested for murder. Follow Lillie Mae and the other “breakfast club” ladies, who, armed with casseroles and pastries, help the police uncover the deep secrets this town hides beneath its perfect facade.

Read an excerpt

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Mystery & Detective – Women Sleuths
Publisher: Sartoris Literary Group
Publication Date: June 28, 2013
Number of Pages: 244 pages
ISBN-10: 0989318605
ISBN-13: 978-0989318600

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WELCOME FRANCES FYFIELD

FRANCES FYFIELD

“I grew up in rural Derbyshire, but my adult life has been spent mostly in London, with long intervals in Norfolk and Deal, all inspiring places. I was educated mostly in convent schools; then studied English and went on to qualify as a solicitor, working for what is now the Crown Prosecution Service, thus learning a bit about murder at second hand. Years later, writing became the real vocation, although the law and its ramifications still haunt me and inform many of my novels.

I’m a novelist, short story writer for magazines and radio, sometime Radio 4 contributor, (Front Row, Quote Unquote, Night Waves,) and presenter of Tales from the Stave. When I’m not working (which is as often as possible), I can be found in the nearest junk/charity shop or auction, looking for the kind of paintings which enhance my life. Otherwise, with a bit of luck, I’m relaxing by the sea with a bottle of wine and a friend or two.”-Frances Fyfield
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ABOUT THE BOOK

Marianne Shearer is at the height of her career, a dauntingly successful barrister, respected by her peers and revered by her clients. So why has she killed herself? Her latest case had again resulted in an acquittal, although the outcome was principally due to the death of the prime witness after Marianne’s forceful cross-examination. Had this wholly professional and unemotional lawyer been struck by guilt or uncertainty, or is there some secret to be discovered in her blandly comfortable private life? Her tenacious colleague Peter Friel is determined to find out of that last trial held the reason for her taking her own life. The transcript holds intriguing clues, but it is another witness at the trial who holds the key to the truth.

READ AN EXCERPT

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Crime Thriller
Published by: Witness Impulse
Publication Date: 11/26/2013
Number of Pages: 336
ISBN: 9780062301864

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DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I am an IndieBound affiliate. I am providing link(s) solely for visitors that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

WELCOME MARTHE JOCELYN

MARTHE JOCELYN

Marthe Jocelyn spent her childhood in Toronto reading books and putting on plays and circuses in her backyard. Marthe has a long string of jobs: theatre usher, cookie seller, waitress, photo stylist, even toy designer before she finally settled on writer.

Marthe lives in Ontario with her daughters Nell and Hannah but still goes back home to NYC each summer.
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GUEST POST

Readers of this blog are often mystery fans as well,  so you may be wondering why a craft book written to inspire children would be featured in this space. Well, I’m here to offer up a different kind of mystery-making, the kind you stumble across when you’re walking down the street of any big city. Whose baby dropped the pacifier that lies in the gutter? How did someone lose a single high-heeled shoe and not notice? What do those scrawls on the side of the garage actually say? Why is that statue of Garibaldi wearing a woolly red hat?

Walking my kids to school through downtown Manhattan was a daily scavenger hunt. We saw dozens of strange and amusing things every week, eventually inspiring us to come up with our own contributions to the great urban gallery.

One daughter spent an afternoon tying coloured yarn to the black fence that bordered the playground. The other daughter painted faces on stones and left them on park benches for unsuspecting sitters. Both girls made elaborate chalk mazes on sidewalks and elegant structures out of feathers and sticks in the sandbox.  They built little houses from jewelry boxes to hide in odd corners in the classroom, and often put surprise drawings inside menus in restaurants. Making the art was one phase. Hiding it was the next. And watching friends or strangers find it – seeing the whodunnit moment in action – that was the best last chapter.

The seeds of artistic mischief were planted, several years later to bear fruit as Sneaky Art: Crafty Projects to Hide in Plain Sight. The book is a how-to manual with instructions for 24 projects and inspiration for many more.

It comes with a disclaimer, of course, reminding young artists that sneaky art is NOT: mean, defacing, ugly, hurtful, messy, or permanent. Sneaky art is NOT graffiti or litter. Sneaky art is” funny, clever, thoughtful, temporary, subversive, playful, and surprising!

ABOUT THE BOOK

For young artists, tricksters, and crafters, here is a hip, friendly how-to manual for creating removable and shareable art projects from easily found materials. The sneaky part is in the installation! Each work of art is custom-created for display in public places — a tiny cork-bottomed boat in a public fountain, a plate of tiny paper cupcakes on your teacher’s desk, a penny left on the ground for a stranger, a funny message left on your mother’s bathroom mirror, and more. This utterly unique guide — part craft book, part art-philosophy — offers a stylish and sweet “made-you-look-twice” spirit of fun meant to put a smile on the faces of strangers and loved ones alike.

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
Age Range: 8 – 12 years
Grade Level: 3 – 7
Hardcover: 64 pages
Publisher: Candlewick; Spi edition
Publication Date: March 26, 2013
ISBN-10: 0763656488
ISBN-13: 978-0763656485

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Christmas In Lucky Harbor by Jill Shalvis

Enjoy the holiday season in Lucky Harbor with this heartwarming collection. Readers will receive Simply Irresistible and The Sweetest Thing in one volume, plus two short stories, Kissing Santa and Under the Mistletoe (both never before seen in print!) There’s no place like Lucky Harbor for the holidays…

Love awaits you in Lucky Harbor . . .

Simply Irresistible
After losing her boyfriend and her job, Maddie leaves L.A. to claim her inheritance-a ramshackle inn nestled in the little town of Lucky Harbor, Washington. She sees the potential for a new home and a new career-if she can give the inn the makeover it needs. Enter Jax, a tall, handsome contractor who knows exactly what Maddie needs…

The Sweetest Thing
Helping her sister set up the family inn is just the thing to make Tara forget her ex-husband and focus on her new life. Until she meets a sexy, green-eyed sailor determined to keep her hot, bothered, and in his bed. When her ex reappears, Tara must confront her past and decide what she really wants.

Kissing Santa Claus
NASCAR driver Logan Perrish returns to Lucky Harbor, Washington, with love in his heart and a ring in his pocket. But can Sandy Jansen forget the past and give him a second chance? Or will Logan be spending another Christmas alone?

Under the Mistletoe
There’s no place like home for the holidays. And the Lucky Harbor Bed & Breakfast is bursting with festive lights and good cheer. But for Mia, Christmas is turning out to be anything other than merry and bright. Her recent break-up with her boyfriend Nick has made her return bittersweet. But then a surprise arrives, when Nick follows her to town bearing gifts – and asking for forgiveness.

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

A Christmas to Remember  by Jill Shalvis, Kristen Ashley, Hope Ramsay, Marilyn Pappano & Molly Cannon

This heartwarming (e-only!) anthology features new tales from popular series by Shalvis, Ashley, Ramsay, Cannon, and Pappano. These touching short stories celebrate true love at Christmastime. Including excerpts from upcoming novels by these popular authors, it’s sure to put readers in the holiday spirit!

Dream a Little Dream by Jill Shalvis: Melissa has kept every man at a safe distance-especially firefighter Ian, a sexy friend with sexy benefits. But Ian secretly longs for more. Luckily, ’tis the season for giving love a chance . . .

Every Year by Kristen Ashley: Holidays don’t come easy for Shy and his brother, Landon. But with the magic of Christmas, along with a little help from Tabby and her family, the Cage brothers are about to get the gift of a lifetime . . .

Silent Night by Hope Ramsey: Down on her luck and evicted from her apartment, single mother Maryanne hopes to start over in Last Chance. When the snow begins to fall, it looks like her baby might literally spend Christmas Eve in a manger. And Maryanne might celebrate the holiday with a handsome stranger.

Have Yourself a Messy Little Christmas by Molly Cannon: Lincoln is a bachelor who’s set in his ways-until a professional organizer dressed up as Mrs. Claus changes his life, one tip at a time. . .

A Family for Christmas by Marilyn Pappano: War widow Ilena doesn’t mind spending Christmas alone. But when a new doctor blows into town with the winter wind, will she get her secret Christmas wish?

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

Kristen Ashley grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana, and has lived in Denver, Colorado, and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.

Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multigenerational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland, and Kristen grew up listening to the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon, and Whitesnake. Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music and love was a good way to grow up.

And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.

Hope Ramsay grew up on the North Shore of Long Island, but every summer Momma would pack her off under the care of Aunt Annie to go visiting with relatives in the midlands of South Carolina. Her extended family includes its share of colorful aunts and uncles, as well as cousins by the dozens, who provide the fodder for the characters you’ll find in Last Chance, South Carolina. She’s a two-time finalist in the Golden Heart and is married to a good ol’ Georgia boy who resembles every single one of her heroes. She lives in Fairfax, Virginia, where you can often find her on the back deck, picking on her thirty-five-year-old Martin guitar.

Molly Cannon lives a charmed life in Texas with her nearly perfect husband and extremely large cat Nelson. When she’s not writing, she spends her days reading, taking dance classes with the hubby and watching all kinds of sports. Molly has three children, all married to terrific people and two wonderful grandchildren. Life is good!

Known for her intensely emotional stories, Marilyn Pappano is the USA Today bestselling author of nearly eighty books. She has made regular appearances on bestseller lists and has received recognition for her work in the form of numerous awards. Though her husband’s Navy career took them across the United States, he and Ms. Pappano now live in Oklahoma high on a hill that overlooks her hometown. They have one son and daughter-in-law, an adorable grandson, and a pack of mischievous dogs.

THANKS TO MARISSA AT FOREVER/GCP,
ONE WINNER WILL RECEIVE BOTH EBOOKS.
EBOOKS~~OPEN TO U.S and CANADA RESIDENTS

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