Category: Guest Author

Guest Author Jack Patterson

Do you have the fever?  Football fever?  If so, I have the perfect book for you.  Full of suspense!!  Today we are having a pre game party right here at CMash Reads!!  I ask for your help in welcoming Jack Patterson as he kicks off  his virtual tour with PICT!

JACK PATTERSON

The first signs that I might like writing about sports — and be slightly competitive — appeared when my year two (or first grade) teacher, Mrs. Holland, asked my class to write and illustrate our day. Mine read like this: “The Red team beat the Blue team, 1 to nil. And I won.” The next 47 entries covered my exploits on the soccer pitch while growing up in Ipswich, England.

In South Carolina as a teenager, my dad told me that I could get paid to watch sports provided I could write about it. Sounded easy enough and by the time I was 16, I landed a job at my town’s daily newspaper and had a column on Major League Baseball players from our area. I also covered my first riot there at a sporting event — and it’s safe to say I was smitten with journalism.

After graduating from one of the best journalism schools in the country, I took a job as a sports editor in South Georgia and learned firsthand about the passion of high school sports in rural America. I thought I knew before, but I didn’t. This was another world.

I also had the opportunity to cover major sporting events like the Olympic Games, the World Series, the Super Bowl, and the Final Four. It was a thrill!

But nothing was as thrilling to me as uncovering the truth in investigative assignments. I once broke a story about a prominent southern football team’s NCAA violation — and found out the violating coach had committed suicide only a few months earlier. The story won a national writing award and stoked my desire to write about these issues. It made me realize that the sports world was just another fantastic backdrop for drama.

After writing non-fiction books with athletes, for athletes, and ghost writing for many others, I decided to enter the world of fiction writing. It had been something I wanted to do but never found the time. So, I made the time–and am now having a blast. I hope you enjoy reading my novels as much as I enjoy writing them!
Visit Jack Patterson at his website here, Facebook and Twitter
Follow Jack Patterson’s tour here where you can enter to win Cross The Line

ABOUT THE BOOK

When veteran NFL quarterback Noah Larson finally guides his team to the Super Bowl, his dreams — and life — are dashed when his six-year-old son is kidnapped for a unique ransom: lose the game or his son dies. Seattle sportswriter Cal Murphy and photographer Kelly Mendoza get pulled into an FBI sting to help rescue Noah’s son in Mexico. But when everything falls apart, Cal and Kelly are left to save themselves, save Noah’s son, and save the Super Bowl.

Read an excerpt:

“Journalism will kill you, but it will keep you alive while you’re at it.”- Horace Greeley

CHAPTER 1

NOAH LARSON WATCHED RAINDROPS cascading down the window over the kitchen sink, racing to a predictable end. Most drops would find their way to the bottom of the sill before joining others to form a small stream that spilled into a dormant flowerbed. A few lucky ones would take control of their fate, resisting the urge to be like all the others by clinging ever so tenuously to an open spot on the glass. But even they were susceptible to being washed away by a collision with just another raindrop or a blast of air. It was a depressing thought, but momentary when the reality of Noah’s life collided with it. Who had time to ponder the depths of existentialism when there was a Super Bowl to win?

In three hours, Noah was scheduled to join his teammates on a charter flight to Houston where the Seattle Seahawks would attempt to bring home the city’s first Lombardi Trophy. And it was going to happen—he just knew it. Nothing could stop destiny. Ever since he began playing peewee football, Noah’s talents were apparent to everyone, including himself. He had boxes of personal trophies, plaques and accolades stored in unmarked containers on a shelf in his garage to prove it. The only trophy Noah wanted to show off was the smooth silver one, hoisted above his head while confetti rained down from the rafters of Gillette Stadium. That destiny was only six days away.

“Dad, did you pack my lunch?” came the question from across the kitchen. Noah snapped back to the present.

“Sure, Jake. Got it right here.” The pro quarterback handed his six-year-old son a Spiderman lunch box. “I even remembered to put your favorite Capri Sun in there, too.”

“Apple?”

“I thought you liked grape.”

“Daaaaad! You always mix up my favorite flavors. I like grape jelly but apple juice.”

“Well, we can fix that right now.”

Noah shuffled to the pantry and ripped open a six-pack of apple-flavored Capri Suns, grabbing one for Jake.

“Here you go, son. I’ll get it right next time—don’t you worry.”

“It’s OK, dad.” The first grader stuffed the bottle into the lunch box. “You know, I’m really gonna miss you this week.”

“I’m gonna miss you too, sport. But I’ll see you on Friday. You and mom are flying down and we’ll do something fun when I’m not busy.”

“I can’t wait! Can we go see the Dynamo’s stadium while we’re down there?”

“The Dynamo? Son, I’m playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday and you want to go see an empty soccer stadium?”

“Aww, dad. Soccer is cool, too. Maybe if you win, the Seahawks can have a parade just like the Sounders did when they won the MLS Cup.”

Noah tried not to let his son’s remark bother him. Jake loved soccer and preferred using his dad’s celebrity status to rub shoulders with the city’s star soccer players rather than visit the NFL locker room. What gnawed at Noah the most was the fact that Seattle threw a parade befitting of royalty when the city’s pro soccer team won the championship the previous fall. The cash-strapped city never dreamed another title might come so soon. But if the Seahawks won, forget budget restraints. Seattle would have a Super Bowl champion and it would celebrate.

Noah knew the city would go into debt in six days to throw a matching parade. He cared less about competing with the city’s other pro sports teams but more about the overall sense of despair hovering over Seahawk fans’ mentality. Doom and gloom held season tickets for the Seahawks—all 67,000 of them. Noah would change all that, maybe even turn his son into a die-hard football fan in the process.

“Don’t worry, son. You can ride with me in the parade next week after we come back home with a trophy.”

“Go, Seahawks! Beat the Dolphins!” Jake pumped his fist in the air and without reservation, sprinted across the kitchen to give his dad a high-five. They both laughed. Noah picked his son up and spun him around once. They shared a hug that ended with a tight squeeze.

“Don’t forget your rain coat, buddy. It looks like you’re going to need it.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Better hurry before you miss your bus.”

“Dad, you’re beginning to sound like mom.”

On cue, Ellen Larson wobbled down the stairs, trying to stay upright in her four-inch stiletto heels. Her naturally blonde hair clung smoothly to her head as her usually flowing locks were twisted into a tight bun and held in place with a diamond-studded hair stick. She wore the shimmering red dress well, which outlined the contours of her curvaceous figure. The silk shawl draped over her shoulders toned down the image of a woman that would put most men’s head on a swivel.

Noah drew out a long whistle and shook his head in delight as he watched his wife of eight years come down the staircase. Who cared if she wasn’t the most graceful woman at the moment? Noah certainly didn’t. And neither did Jake.

“Jake, don’t think you’re going to school without giving mommy a kiss.”

Jake didn’t wait for his mother to make it to the front door. He liked being the first kid to arrive at the bus stop and wasn’t going to let the obligatory kiss from his mom prevent him from achieving his daily goal.

“I love you, Mommy,” Jake planted a wet kiss on her cheek

“I’ll pick you up from school today and then we’ll go shopping. We need to get some warm clothes for our trip.”

“OK, Mom. See you then.”

Ellen went to plant a kiss on Jake’s cheek, but he dodged and resisted. If there was one thing that was sure to get a first-grade boy laughed at, it was having bright red lipstick on your cheek. Instead of getting her way, Ellen withdrew and blew a kiss. Jake’s face lit up with a toothy grin as he put on his raincoat, grabbed his book bag, and ran toward the door.

The large number of students living in the Larsons’ neighborhood who attended Westminster Prep necessitated a school bus. Jake’s walk to the bus stop for the city’s most prestigious prep school was less than a block. Noah and Ellen had no reservations about letting their son walk alone to the corner of this quiet, tree-lined street. Even on a day that registered as extra blustery and rainy by Seattle’s sopping wet standards.

Noah watched Jake pull the door shut and hustle down the steps. Once Jake reached the sidewalk, Noah could see Jake tossing his Sounders soccer ball in the air as he skipped toward the bus stop. Noah craned his neck to watch Jake until he disappeared from his field of view. Noah smiled and shook his head, proud of his little guy.

“Don’t you look nice,” Noah spun around and turned his gaze toward Ellen.

“Thanks, honey. I am going to miss you. I can’t wait for Sunday to get here and this season to be over with. It’s so much better when you lose and don’t make the playoffs.”

Noah moved closer to Ellen. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

“I don’t know how to respond to that. Wouldn’t you rather be married to a Super Bowl champion quarterback to impress all your socialite friends?”

“I don’t care about that—I just want you to be done with football so we can enjoy life together again. This football stuff just gets in the way all the time.”

“Well, we’ll see.”

Ellen suddenly grabbed Noah’s arms.

“Seriously? Are you going to retire from football?”

“Well, I’ve been playing football for a long time, living up to a lot of people’s expectations and doing what everyone else thinks I should do. I’m kind of tired of it. Besides, what better way to go out than on top and be the king of this city?”

Ellen began shaking Noah, giddy with excitement. She was careful not to jump up and down in her unstable shoes.

“I can’t believe this!”

“I was hoping you would react like this. Honestly, I’d like for this to be the last game I play and go out with a Super Bowl win. It’s time.”

Ellen smiled.

“You’re not just going to win,” she said, poking Noah in the chest, “you’re going to destroy the Dolphins!”

She turned and headed back upstairs to finish primping for her shopping outing. Noah watched her put her fist in the air and mumble something about “no more football.” He knew retiring would make her happy—and it was time to make it official.

Noah glanced at his packed bags by the door. He then walked back to the kitchen and resumed raindrop watching. Noah stared out the window, grappling with the fact that he had uttered aloud the thought that had been tormenting him for the past six months: Did he have the nerve to walk away from the game that had consumed his entire life? But there was no going back now. Ellen had likely already committed to memory their entre conversation, word for word. And Noah knew she would make sure he kept his word. It was one of the things he liked best about being married to Ellen. It was also one of the worst.

***

Carlos Rivera nursed the cup of coffee in his right hand. It wasn’t cold yet but it was getting there quickly. Another minute or two and it would be undrinkable. Not that he minded. He thought the claim that Seattle was home to the best coffee in the United States was a chiste. It had been a week since he arrived in Seattle, and this was the fifth different brand of coffee he had tried. He remained unimpressed. However, he knew next month Seattle would be invaded by Buenisimo!, the best coffee south of the border. It would make his return trip more palatable.

Yet a chance to sample Seattle’s famous coffee was hardly the reason Rivera found himself far away from his family. Not that he had a choice. When Mr. Hernandez said, “Go to Seattle,” he went. No questions, no protests. Yet this job made Rivera sick. He told himself he was a professional and he could do this. It’s what he told himself every time that Mr. Hernandez required him to do something distasteful. Rivera hated dipping a rival gang member’s hand in acid. Neither did he care for shooting a man’s beloved dog just to make a point. But this assignment? This one was exceptionally cruel. It was so monstrous in its nature that Rivera wondered if Mr. Hernandez even had a conscience anymore—or a heart. Of course, Rivera could refuse. But he loved his family too much. He preferred ever so slightly this sordid existence over death, even if it was a half-step above. Choosing one over the other was about a 50-50 proposition. Rivera chose to live.

Rivera shook his partner, Juan Morales, who had just dozed off in the passenger’s seat.

“It’s time. Wake up.”

Morales rubbed his face and looked through the rain-speckled windshield at their target meandering down the sidewalk. The pulsing wipers swept away a handful of raindrops, gliding across the glass creating a clean space for more raindrops to gather.

“That’s him,” Rivera said.

He eased the car forward and stopped about 10 feet past the target.

With great precision and efficiency, Morales jumped out of the car and grabbed the confused boy. Jake resisted his abductor yet was only able to make one muted call for help. Rivera secured the boy’s arms and mouth; Morales snatched his legs. The boy squirmed and tried to kick free, but in less than two seconds, he was in the backseat of the Town Car wedged between the seat and Morales’ left knee. It was a fight the boy had no chance of winning. His muffled cries went unheard.

Morales grinned and patted Rivera on the back as they pulled away from the curb and headed down the street.

“We got him!” Morales said.

Rivera said nothing. He adjusted the mirror so he could only see Morales. Seeing the terror in the boy’s eyes as Morales was wrangling him in the street was too intensely personal for Rivera. With a six-year-old son of his own, Rivera could hardly stomach this task. But he couldn’t let this get personal. This was business, a business he had to conduct professionally and efficiently or his own family might end up victims of Mr. Hernandez.

Morales couldn’t stop grinning as he basked in his moment of triumph, albeit a sick one—a 28-year-old man overpowering a six-year-old boy 180 pounds his junior. He looked down at his catch, brooding over him with a gruff voice.

“Hola, Jakie boy.”

Book Details:

Pages: 256
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
Publisher: Hangman Books
Publication Date: 11/25/2012
ISBN: 1938848144

Purchase Links:  

    

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DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
in exchange for my honest review.
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.

Guest Author Sola Olu

When Jodi from WOW! Women On Writing on today’s book, I wanted to hear more.  As a parent and having a sister who is extremely challenged, I felt that I wanted to read this memoir.  I’m hoping you feel the same.  So without further ado, Ms. Sola Olu!!

SOLA OLU

Sola Olu was born and raised in Nigeria. As a child, she loved making up stories and as soon as she could write she started putting them down on paper. She holds degrees in English and Information Systems, Sola works in the retail industry and volunteers as a counselor to mothers of premature babies. Her writings include essays, poetry and children’s stories. She loves to cook, travel and attend the theater. She lives in Illinois with her husband and two children.
Visit Sola at her website here.

GUEST POST
ABOUT THE BOOK

Sola Olu was expecting: expecting to receive a graduate degree from DePaul University and expecting her first child. Instead she went for a routine doctor’s visit and found herself delivering her daughter Angel at a perilously premature time. Sola and her husband Chris were thrust into an unimaginable odyssey spanning seven months, several surgeries, and a painful separation with their newborn.The Summer Called Angel provides intimate, hands-on details of the medical complexity as well as the emotional toll taken on parents who must witness their tiny baby struggle for life. The Summer Called Angel also touches on Sola’s second premature birth. This memoir serves as a powerful tribute to maternal love in the face of unexpected challenges. It is certain to offer strength to readers experiencing prematurity and offer a celebration of devotion that will resonate with parents everywhere.

THANKS TO AUTHOR, SOLA OLU, I HAVE ONE (1)
EBOOK OF THIS MEMOIR TO GIVE AWAY.  OPEN TO ALL

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTRY PAGE

DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
in exchange for my honest review.
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 affliate.
I am providing link(s) solely for visitors
that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

GIVEAWAY ENTRY “THE SUMMER CALLED ANGEL” by Sola Olu ENDED

JANUARY 24th to FEBRUARY 7th, 2013

THE SUMMER CALLED ANGEL
by SOLA OLU

SYNOPSIS:
Sola Olu was expecting: expecting to receive a graduate degree from DePaul University and expecting her first child. Instead she went for a routine doctor’s visit and found herself delivering her daughter Angel at a perilously premature time. Sola and her husband Chris were thrust into an unimaginable odyssey spanning seven months, several surgeries, and a painful separation with their newborn.The Summer Called Angel provides intimate, hands-on details of the medical complexity as well as the emotional toll taken on parents who must witness their tiny baby struggle for life. The Summer Called Angel also touches on Sola’s second premature birth. This memoir serves as a powerful tribute to maternal love in the face of unexpected challenges. It is certain to offer strength to readers experiencing prematurity and offer a celebration of devotion that will resonate with parents everywhere.
THANKS TO AUTHOR, SOLA OLU,
AND THE AMAZING LADIES  AT WOW!
I HAVE ONE ( 1 ) EBOOK OF THIS
MEMOIR TO GIVE AWAY.
HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN.
*USE THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM BELOW
IN ORDER TO BE INCLUDED IN THE GIVEAWAY
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BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL
ADDRESS IN THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
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WHO HAD TO FACE CHALLENGES?*
*EBOOK–OPEN TO ALL*
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ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.

*GIVEAWAY ENDS FEBRUARY 7th AT 6PM EST*

WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RAFFLECOPTER AND NOTIFIED
VIA EMAIL AND WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO RESPOND
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Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
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I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
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Guest Author Jenny Milchman

When Samantha, from JKS Communications emailed me with their January tours, I know I wanted to meet and hear more about today’s guest, as I’m sure you will too.  So without further ado, Ms. Jenny Milchman!!

JENNY MILCHMAN

Jenny Milchman is a suspense writer from New Jersey. Her debut novel, COVER OF SNOW, is forthcoming from Ballantine in January 2013 and is available for pre-order now. Her short story The Closet was published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in November 2012. Another short story, The Very Old Man, has been an Amazon bestseller, and the short work Black Sun on Tupper Lake appears in the anthology ADIRONDACK MYSTERIES II.

Jenny is the Chair of the International Thriller WritersDebut Authors Program. She is also the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, which was celebrated last year in all 50 states and four foreign countries by 350-and-growing bookstores.

Jenny hosts the Made It Moments forum on her blog, which has featured more than 250 international bestsellers, Edgar winners and independent authors. She co-hosts the literary series Writing Matters, which attracts guests coast-to-coast and has received national media attention, and loves to teach and speak about writing and publishing for New York Writers Workshop, Arts By The People, and WomenWhoWrite
Visit Jenny at her website, Facebook, Twitter and GoodReads.

GUEST POST

A Day in the Life of a Debut Novel…Make That Many Days

My debut novel, Cover of Snow, started life when one question grabbed me around the throat and refused to let go. What would make a good man do the worst thing he possibly could to his wife?

Of course, first I had to figure out what that worst thing would be.

I wasn’t a newlywed when the idea for Cover of Snow occurred to me, but we didn’t have kids yet, so were in that vast untrammeled region when the world still orbits around you as a couple. The worst thing a husband could do to his wife would be to leave her.

But how?

I’m a suspense writer, so my mind tends to go to dark scenarios. This wouldn’t be a women’s fiction novel about a divorce or love triangle. My heroine’s husband would abandon her in a way that revealed a whole nest of dark secrets.

Once I had that, I could begin to write. But if it seems easy from there…well, it wasn’t. This novel was written in two versions and two distinct phases of my life. The first one— with a different title, different cast of characters, different plot trajectory—contained only the above kernel. Husband loves wife, husband does something very bad.

That version was written before there were laptops, and largely before there was internet. I was accompanying my own husband on a business trip to North Carolina, and wrote chunks on a rented word processing machine at Kinko’s. Copying and other businessman’s and woman’s shuffle went on around me as I pounded out words.

I now know that I wrote that novel completely wrong—and not only because I was on a stool at Kinko’s—but also because aside from the opener, I didn’t have much of a story. And what I did have, I wasn’t sure how to communicate to the reader.

But that initial question had grabbed me around the throat and refused to let go. So some ten years later, I sat down and reread the novel I’d written in a copy shop. And I realized what was wrong with it.

Everything.

Now I could get to work.

A writing day in the life of Cover of Snow went something like this. I would wake up and not check my email. (Checking email is a recipe for delaying writing by two or three hours. For me anyway). There is one holdover from my Kinko’s days, and that’s that in addition to my netbook, I retain an old word-processing machine with a tower that runs Windows 98. This wondrous piece of machinery has never met an internet connection; in fact, it still backs up on floppies. (They’re growing scarce, so if you run across any, please send ’em my way).

First I would read over the previous day’s work, then stop for a quick breakfast. After that, I wrote for about three or four hours. Sometimes I looked at the old version, the one that didn’t work, to remind myself of characters or a line of dialogue, but mostly I was writing new. In the end, about 250 words were retained from that original novel.

A novel is a conversation between writer and reader, and even between a writer and herself. Anything you write one day will look different the next—that’s why it’s so hard for writers to stop editing and perfecting their work.

And sometimes you write the right book at the wrong time. The trick is to know when that has happened—and what the right time is.

Jenny Milchman is a suspense novelist from New Jersey whose short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Adirondack Mysteries II, and in an e-published volume called Lunch Reads. Jenny is the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, and the chair of International Thriller Writers’ Debut Authors Program. Her first novel, Cover of Snow, is published by Ballantine.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Waking up one wintry morning in her old farmhouse nestled in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, Nora Hamilton instantly knows that something is wrong. When her fog of sleep clears, she finds her world is suddenly, irretrievably shattered: Her husband, Brendan,  has committed suicide.

The first few hours following Nora’s devastating discovery pass for her in a blur of numbness and disbelief. Then, a disturbing awareness slowly settles in: Brendan left no note and gave no indication that he was contemplating taking his own life. Why would a rock-solid police officer with unwavering affection for his wife, job, and quaint hometown suddenly choose to end it all? Having spent a lifetime avoiding hard truths, Nora must now start facing them.

Unraveling her late husband’s final days, Nora searches for answers—but meets with bewildering resistance from Brendan’s best friend and partner, his fellow police officers, and his brittle mother. It quickly becomes clear to Nora that she is asking questions no one wants to answer. For beneath the soft cover of snow lies a powerful conspiracy that will stop at nothing to keep its presence unknown . . . and its darkest secrets hidden.

DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.

Guest Author J.M. Hoffman

I received an email from Nicky at Uniquely Books, wanting to introduce me to a new to me internationally acclaimed author J.M. Hoffman.  And instantly, I wanted to share with all of you.  So today, we get the chance to welcome and visit with Mr. Hoffman, here at CMash Reads.

J. M. HOFFMAN

Acclaimed as a “master raconteur” who writes with a “flair”(Times Literary Supplement of London), Hoffman has authored two non-fiction books and contributed to over a dozen others.

The Warwick Files is his debut work of fiction.

In addition to traveling the world lecturing about his books, Hoffman has also directed a dance troupe, taught darkroom technique, and explored Patagonia on horseback.

He lives just north of New York City.
Connect with author at his website here.
Learn more about the series here.

GUEST POST

My 2010 non-fiction book “took me five months and fifteen years to write,” as I explain in the Introduction: “five months of actual writing,” and fifteen years of research.

How long, then, did it take me to write “Checkpoint,” the inaugural tale in The Warwick Files?

It’s a short story, not even 10,000 words long.

I touch-type about 75 words a minute, because even though I ignored most of middle-school, I did pay attention in one class: typing.  They trained me to type 10,000 words in two hours, twenty-two minutes.

Now, I’m a notorious procrastinator, so we have to pad that considerably with time for things like grabbing a snack, checking my e-mail, and checking the postal mail, even at 9:30am, just in case the USPS suddenly revamped my delivery schedule and didn’t tell me.  Call it a long morning to type 10,000 words.

But of course that’s the easy part.

It takes much longer to decide what to write, something I usually do while driving or bicycling. I came up with the premise for “Checkpoint” on the way home in late summer.  Then I filled in details over the course of follow-up drives and rides.  Call it a couple of weeks.

But even that isn’t the hardest part.

The bulk of the work is creating the world in which the stories take place: the details that lie in the background, the background of the characters, the character of the locales, the local color, the colorful anecdotes, and so on, to say nothing of the voice of the author.  (I promise I don’t play this kind of silly word game in The Warwick Files — at least, not often.)

While “Checkpoint” is a complete story, as are all of the short stories in the series, it’s also part of a larger picture that readers discover bit by bit.  This is why we called the stories “episodes.”

I chose the thoroughly charming village of Warwick, NY for the central location, modifying it only slightly.  That gave me much of the background.  But I still had to invent some places in the village that are vital to the storyline, but which were inconveniently overlooked by the village planners and so don’t exist.

And I needed the main characters, starting with the hero.  The reader meets him when he’s in his 30s, but I had to create the life experience that formed him: his childhood, teen years, first love, first job (which is classified, so please don’t ask me), and so on, as well as his general temperament and personality.  Without those details, I couldn’t write the story.

I had to do the same for the important auxiliary characters, some of whom don’t even appear in the first few stories, and even for the minor roles, because this kind of detail keeps things interesting.

I’d put the total time — again, mostly in the car and on my bicycle — at somewhere around two months, on and off, bit by bit.

But the real investment in time isn’t writing at all.  It’s reading. While I’ve been doing that since preschool, it wasn’t until I was in my late teens that I started making mental notes as I read: Why does this work so well?  How did the author pull that off?  What would I do differently?  And so on.

In this regard, I’m grateful to my favorite authors: John Grisham and Tom Clancy, who introduced me to fun-filled fiction; Lee Child, whose books are still my personal favorites (even though, obviously, I love all my indirect mentors equally), and more.

So it took me a morning, two months, and more than twenty years to write “Checkpoint.”

I hope you enjoy reading it.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Checkpoint: A man evades a police checkpoint and unknowingly triggers his own murder. Police Chief Kai Goodman knows why. Do you?
The Warwick Files: A police chief with a secretive past. A quiet New York City suburb. And, officially, no spies.

THANKS TO AUTHOR, J. M. HOFFMAN, I HAVE
FIVE (5) SIGNED BOOKS TO GIVEAWAY.
OPEN TO ALL (EXCEPT BELGIUM,
NORWAY, SWEDEN, and INDIA)

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTRY PAGE

 

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.

Guest Authors John Stuart and Caitlin Stuart

Ready?  Another treat for you today!  When Liz from Media Muscle contacted me about today’s book, not only did the synopsis sound like a great read but I was intrigued about meeting the authors.  Father and daughter!  So please help me in welcoming Mr. John Stuart and Ms. Caitlin Stuart!

John Stuart and Caitlin Stuart

Hiding in Sunshine is the work of a father and daughter duo who reside in the immediate area where these fictional events transpire.  John Stuart is a successful high tech entrepreneur. Caitlin Stuart is a student and an aspiring writer with a lifelong love of reading and telling stories. This is their first co-authored novel- and is proof that a teenager and her dad can indeed collaborate amicably and productively!   They have chosen to use pseudonym’s to protect their identity (going along with the nature of the book).

GUEST POST

“Do the authors imagine that a scenario (like what happens in the book) could happen in the very near future? What would they do (or recommend to do) to prepare for something so catastrophic?”

Let us start by quoting Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. On October 11th, 2012 he said, “The United States was facing the possibility of a ‘cyber-Pearl Harbor’ and was increasingly vulnerable to foreign computer hackers who could dismantle the nation’s power grid, transportation system, financial networks and government.” He further continues, “An aggressor nation or extremist group could use these kinds of cyber tools to gain control of critical switches. They could derail passenger trains, or even more dangerous, derail passenger trains loaded with lethal chemicals. They could contaminate the water supply in major cities, or shut down the power grid across large parts of the country.”

Senators Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins wrote an op-ed piece in New York Tines on December 6th, 2012: “A storm is surely gathering again, and we must resist the false sense of calm. The attack is not a matter of if, but when. It will not be launched from aircraft carriers, missile silos or massed armies. It will come through cyberspace and will strike our most vital computer systems, those that manage our electricity grids, oil and gas pipelines, telecommunications networks and financial markets.”

These cyber-attacks may strike us any time, and there is a possibility of occurring in the very near future. Enemies will attack when they want to. It’s not our choosing. Some of theprecautions one can take include keeping hard copies of monthly bank statements, 401K’s,and mutual fund statements. One should review credit card statements carefully and verify that there is nothing suspicious. Keep a summary of medications in printed form and routinely ask for a copy of medical records from the doctor’s office or the hospital. It’s not a bad idea to have at least one landline at home. It will be prudent to take the usual precautions for an extended power failure.

ABOUT THE BOOK

“Living lives of quiet affluence in a historic suburban Boston town, Gavin and Lisa Brinkley had no idea how quickly and decisively their lives, and those of their two young daughters, could be upended. A series of events—a mysterious break-in at their home, some menacing tailgating on the highway from Boston, a startling visit from an F.B.I. agent warning of an imminent kidnapping attempt—leads to the family’s abrupt uprooting from its comfortable existence into a terrifying new existence on the run, under new identities.  This taut thriller by a father daughter team follows the eleven-year odyssey of an American family on the run, in hiding through the mountain states of the American west, where survival skills and living off the grid are paramount, but so are friendship, cooperation, and resilience.  The enemy, always lurking just out of sight, is a foreign cyber-criminal enterprise that launches breathtaking assaults on the American banking system and physical infrastructure, but the Brinkleys also know that the threat is deeply personal, reaching ever closer to them from the shadows of the past.  At the same time, Gavin and Lisa discover the perils of wandering too close to the edges of the dark side, in the murky world of cyber-security.  A compelling story of suspense and treachery, HIDING IN SUNSHINE is also a celebration of a family’s abiding love and courage—and a young girl’s faith in the triumph of the truth.”

THANKS TO LIZ FROM MEDIA MUSCLE, I HAVE
ONE (1) COPY OF THIS BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.
U.S. AND CANADA RESIDENTS ONLY

CLICK HERE FOR ENTRY PAGE

DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
in exchange for my honest review.
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.

Guest Author Frank Zaccari

Today I have the the honor and pleasure to introduce you to Mr. Frank Zaccari, as he stops by and visits, during his VT with Providence Book Promotions.  Please help me welcome him to CMash Reads.

FRANK ZACCARI

Frank Zaccari is a native of western New York. He received his bachelor’s in finance from California State University at Sacramento after serving as a military medic in the United States Air Force. He spent more than two decades in the technology industry, holding various positions from account representative to CEO. He also spent time specializing in turn-around management of companies under $100 million. Zaccari left the industry to provide primary care of his children, purchasing a small business that was more accommodating to his family. He presently owns an insurance agency in Sacramento, where he currently resides. “Five Years to Live” is not his only book for sale. He has also written, “When the Wife Cheats,” “From the Ashes: The Rise of the University of Washington Volleyball Program,” and “Inside the Spaghetti Bowl.”
Visit Frank at his website here.

ABOUT THE BOOK

It is the phone call every person lives in fear of receiving. There has been an accident and your loved one is paralyzed. A spinal cord injury is the single most devastating and life altering event. Based on a true story, Michael and Donna were young, successful, in love and planning their life together. That life was radically changed by a tragic car accident. Now a wheelchair user as a quadriplegic, with limited movement, constant infections and multiple surgeries, doctors projected Michael’s best case life expectancy to be five years. See how this young couple battles through his injury and spends his five years making a lasting impact on hundreds of people. It will make you realize what can be accomplished when a person does not let circumstances dictate their life.
Purchase Link:  

Read an excerpt:

With terror in his voice, he said, “I’m not going to walk again, am I?”

“We don’t really know yet, like I said…”

Michael angrily cut her off “Answer the god-damn question. I’m not going to walk again am I?

“I don’t know Michael.” Tears began to will up in his eyes, and he looked at her, begging for an answer.

After she wiped the tear from her eyes she said “The odds are not in your favor.”

Follow Frank’s tour here for a chance to win a copy of Five Years To Live.

DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
in exchange for my honest review.
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 affliate.
I am providing link(s) solely for visitors
that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

Guest Author Lucretia Grindle

I received today’s guest’s book in the mail and was surprised at the delivery.  When I read the synopsis, I knew Linda from The Hachette Book Group, had sent me a book that I would enjoy.  And then I had the ultimate honor to host this author, as she stops by and tells us about her book.  Please help me give a very warm welcome to Lucretia Grindle!!!

LUCRETIA GRINDLE

Lucretia Grindle was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up spending half her time in the United States and half her time in the UK. Continuing as she started out, she still splits her time, but now calls the coast of Maine home.

GUEST POST

First, I’d like to thank you for inviting me. Being a guest author is a real honor. I’m always thrilled when readers enjoy one of my books, so I’d like to start by saying thank you for that, too. Although, strangely, once they are written, I always feel that they’re kind of ‘Out There On Their Own’, a bit like children who’ve grown up and, finally, left home. That having been said, I’m especially fond of Villa Triste. It’s a special book to me, and I’d like to take a few minutes to talk about why that is.

Several years ago, I decided that I wanted to write a trilogy of novels set in Italy. This sprang, in part, from my own realization of what I didn’t (and I’m sure still don’t) understand about a country I have come to love so much. It began with Italy’s role in World War II, which I had always found confusing, and in particular with a series of plaques that I began to notice in my wanderings around Florence. Almost all of them referred to The Partisans, whom I knew nothing about. As I began to discover more, I also began to look rather differently at the old lady who ran my green grocers, at the old man who fed the cats on the steps that lead to my favorite church, at the caretaker in the piazza around the corner from my flat, at the flower-seller and his wife who kept the kiosk on the corner. All of them were probably in their eighties; all of them had lived through 1943 and 1944. As my research grew deeper, I realized that many of them had probably fought their way through those years. More than one in four of the Italian Partisans were women. It began to occur to me that sweet old ladies, as well as sweet old men, might have very unexpected pasts.

While Villa Triste is a work of fiction, everything, down to the dates and locations of the Allied bombings, is based on fact. The two sisters are an amalgamation of several women, but the family I describe existed, as did everything that happens to Isabella and Caterina. Even the little red book is based on another tiny book kept hidden in the hem of a dress – although that one was in Milan. There was a radio circuit. It had a different name, but its fate was the same as is portrayed in the book. Villa Triste is simply my answer to what might have happened. I hope, too, that it is also the story of those very ordinary heroes who, when pressed with the moment, found such extraordinary courage.

Villa Triste is also important to me for a very personal reason. I’ve been married for the past fifteen years. My husband will be eighty-seven this year. In the course of my marriage, I have often been annoyed, and frequently infuriated, by the way older people are treated, the way they are patronized and too often, marginalized – patted on the head like sweet little creatures – or simply ignored, both in life, and in fiction. I’m sick of action heroes and heroines who are always and eternally thirty-five and beautiful. Who says beauty stops at fifty or for that matter sixty or seventy, anyway? Who says brains, guile, sneakiness, nobility and even evil stop at fifty-five or sixty-five or for that matter, ninety-five?

That’s one of my pet hates, or rather two of them – the trope of the youngish athletic overly qualified character with a weird name who steps forth to carry out derring-do, be it good or bad; and the idea that the elderly do not have Agency. And I’m sick of, and a bit sickened by, the increasingly bizarrely chopped up bodies of young women that are too often a feature of crime writing. In Villa Triste, the corpses are old men. The heroes and heroines are lost back in time, and with a few exceptions, the players who exist today are graying. Love, need, shame, courage, and fury – they bind into all of us and make us who we are, no matter what our age. To me, Villa Triste is a story about that as much as it is a story about anything. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it.

With all best wishes,

Lucretia

ABOUT THE BOOK

Florence, 1943. Two sisters, Isabella and Caterina Cammaccio, find themselves surrounded by terror and death; and with Italy trapped under the heel of a brutal Nazi occupation, bands of Partisans rise up.

Soon Isabella and Caterina will test their wits and deepest beliefs as never before. As the winter grinds on, they will be forced to make the most important decisions of their lives. Their choices will reverberate for decades.

In the present day, Alessandro Pallioti, a senior policeman agrees to oversee a murder investigation, after it emerges the victim was once a Partisan hero. When the case begins to unravel, Pallioti finds himself working to uncover a crime lost in the twilight of war, the consequences of which are as deadly today as they were over sixty years ago.

THANKS TO LINDA FROM THE HACHETTE BOOK GROUP, I HAVE
THREE (3) SIGNED COPIES OF THIS BOOK TO GIVE AWAY
U.S. AND CANADA RESIDENTS ONLY

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTRY PAGE

DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
in exchange for my honest review.
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.