You know, even after 2+ years of being part of this wonderful neighborhood of book blogging and reviewing, I still wake up every morning and look forward to turning on my computer to see what awaits me.    And it still amazes me that me, a (I was going to say how old but let’s skip that part lol) little ole blogger from the smallest state receives emails from publishers asking if I would like to review a book.   Well, that happened again a few weeks ago.   Kristin from Simon & Schuster sent me such an email.

Since I am slowly getting back into my reading routine, I have once again started accepting reviews that I feel I will 99% truly enjoy.  And after reading the synopsis of today’s guest debut novel, not only did I agree to read it, I asked if she would stop by and visit.  She accepted.  Please help me welcome Ka Hancock to the CMash blog!

ABOUT KA HANCOCK

KA HANCOCK makes her fiction debut with Dancing on Broken Glass. She has two nursing degrees and has specialized in working with psychiatric and substance abuse patients. She lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and has four children. Visit her at www.kahancock.com

GUEST POST

I think I was nine when I crafted a story about my mean teacher who was found dead in his stinky house, which explained why he wasn’t at school. I have to admit that as a child, I was a bit overwhelmed by my absolute power to write someone dead. So much so, that I brought Mr. Meany back to life—albeit with an intractable ear infection. I was pretty much hooked on writing—the power of writing—from then on. But I had to learn how to do it because these were not natural bones for me and I knew interest, obsession, and irrational self-confidence were never going to be enough. It got a little tricky because I had to learn this craft while I wasn’t busy doing other things like getting a couple of nursing degrees and raising a few kids. But spare moments yielded pages and, despite my busy life, I soon learned that, for the writer in me, nothing was ever going to be wasted. Every good, bad, bizarre, heartbreaking, or embarrassing experience was somehow destined for the compost heap of my brain. There, it all simply ferments until it surfaces as an idea or the perfect detail in a story.

Dancing on Broken Glass started out as a very sparse idea. Two sisters, cancer, an unplanned pregnancy, and a little town were all I had to go on. Those four elements woke me up one night like a whisper from God. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was enough to keep me very preoccupied with the possibilities. My hero came later when I needed a good reason for his ill wife to give their child up as opposed to trusting him to raise her. So Mickey showed up as a man afflicted with bipolar disorder, which seemed like excellent reasoning on my part. Silly me! I don’t outline, so Mickey’s story was not immediately clear to me, but I wasn’t worried because I’m a psych nurse and the compost heap was teeming with material. It wasn’t until a major revision brought Mickey’s mental illness to the forefront of the story that it became a driving force—when I knew him, the story blossomed. My process is flawed, to be sure, but it works for me. I should probably outline (it would undoubtedly save me some time), but I kind of like stumbling around in the dark; I like the discovery. I should also write every day, but I don’t do that either. What I shoot for is the completion of two chapters a month, minimum. I meet with my highly intuitive writer’s group—two other novelists and a mega-reader—every other Wednesday. My goal is to come prepared to read a polished chapter, about 20 pages. If I can do that, I’m a happy writer.

Next up for me: The story of a heroine who was a piano virtuoso before she suffered a traumatic brain injury. I have no piano experience I can pluck from the compost heap, not a single note. So, I’m taking lessons. LOL! How’s that for process?

ABOUT THE BOOK

An unvarnished portrait of a marriage that is both ordinary and extraordinary,  DANCING ON BROKEN GLASS  (Gallery Books; on-sale March 13^th , 2012; Trade Paperback; $15.00) takes readers on an unforgettable journey of the heart.

Lucy Houston and Mickey Chandler probably shouldn’t have fallen in love, let along gotten married. They’re both plagued with faulty genes – he has bipolar disorder; she, a ravaging family history of breast cancer. But when their paths cross on the night of Lucy’s twenty-first birthday, sparks fly, and there’s no denying their chemistry.

Cautious every step of the way, Mickey and Lucy are determined to make their relationship work – and they put their commitment in writing. Mickey will take his medication. Lucy won’t blame him for what is beyond his control. He promises honesty. She promise patience. Like any marriage, there are good days and bad days – and some very bad days. In dealing with their unique challenges, they make the heartbreaking decision not to have children. But when Lucy shows up for a routine physical just shy of their eleventh anniversary, she gets an impossible surprise that changes everything. Everything. Suddenly, all their rules are thrown out the window, and the two of them must redefine what love really is.

Inspired by her years as a psychiatric nurse, Hancock’s debut novel showcases her deep understanding and empathy and brings to life a story of imperfect love, loss, and bipolar disorder. Her underlying faith in the resiliency of the human spirit, despite the challenges of mental illness, shines through in this powerful first novel.
Watch for my review in the coming weeks.

THANKS TO KRISTIN FROM SIMON & SCHUSTER,
I HAVE 3 COPIES OF THIS BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

We all need laughter and humor in our lives and Nicole, from Tribute Books, is stopping by today with just that type of author.  So please welcome Mark Saunders to the CMash blog!!

ABOUT MARK SAUNDERS

An award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and cartoonist, Mark Saunders tried standup comedy to get over shyness and failed spectacularly at it — the standup part, not the shyness. He once owned a Yugo and still can’t remember why. Nearly 30 of his plays have been staged, from California to New York – with several stops in-between – and two plays have been published.

With three scripts optioned, his screenplays, all comedies, have attracted awards but seem to be allergic to money. Back in his drawing days, more than 500 of his cartoons appeared nationally in publications as diverse as Writer’s Digest, The Twilight Zone Magazine, and The Saturday Evening Post.

As a freelancer, he also wrote gags for the popular comic strip “Frank and Ernest,” as well as jokes for professional comedians, including Jay Leno. Nobody Knows the Spanish I Speak is his first book.
Mark Saunders’ web site
Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook
Nobody Knows the Spanish I Speak blog tour site

GUEST POST

Some cultures record their history by cataclysmic events: the year of the big fire or flood, the day the great earthquake or tornado struck. My history is recorded by my stomach. In conversations with my wife and friends, it’s not unusual for me to interject a comment such as, “Oh, I remember now, dear, that was the time we were in San Francisco and I took my first bite of monkfish in lobster sauce.”

With such habits, it should come as no surprise that what I miss most about no longer living in Portland, Oregon, is Dungeness crab. I currently reside in the middle of Mexico, six thousand feet up in the mountains and three thousand miles from the nearest Oregon crab pot.

These days, when December rolls around, generally considered the official start of the Dungeness crab season, I am depressed. For me, there’s nothing quite as simple or as bountiful as a meal of fresh, sweet, and meaty Oregon Dungeness crab, a loaf of sourdough French bread, and a green salad, all complemented by an inexpensive bottle of wine from Trader Joe’s. Now that is a meal.

Unfortunately, for me, those days and meals are gone. I’m not complaining, mind you, I’m just describing.

It goes without saying, of course—which is why I’m going to say it—I also miss the friends we left back in Portland, even though we find no shortage of new friends here in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a convivial tourist town known for its fiestas.

I miss certain urban conveniences. Portland, for example, believes so thoroughly in public transportation that they let you ride for free in certain areas. It has, perhaps, the best used bookstore in all of America, along with well-stacked and oft-frequented libraries. I like and miss the fact that Portland is almost equidistant, slightly over an hour each way by car, from either the ocean or the mountains.  I miss the clean air that floats through Portland because it is, at times, so fresh it could serve as a role model for retail air fresheners. I certainly miss the variety of lush parks full of gorgeous trees and vibrant shrubs, as well as the breathtaking sweep of the Cascades, with at least two volcanoes in easy view.

However, I do not miss the damp weather or gloomy skies or traffic or pace or the high cost of living of Portland. I’ve replaced all of those things with what I consider to be a kinder-gentler way. My new life in old Mexico is full of dry-blue skies and a sun at my back. I walk everywhere and everywhere I walk I see brightly-colored houses, like field color paintings, that make me smile.

Oregon, it’s been said, is like Ireland: All green and no gold. But if you ask me, there’s plenty of gold in Oregon, and it’s usually panned in crabbing nets during winter.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Ay, chihuahua! Ay, caramba! Oy vey!

In early December 2005, Mark Saunders and his wife, along with their dog and cat, packed up their 21st century jalopy, a black Audi Quattro with a luggage carrier on top, and left Portland, Oregon, for San Miguel de Allende, three thousand miles away in the middle of Mexico, where they knew no one and could barely speak the language.

Things fell apart almost from the beginning. The house they rented was as cold as a restaurant’s freezer. Their furniture took longer than expected to arrive. They couldn’t even get copies of their house keys made. They unintentionally filled their house with smoke and just as unintentionally knocked out the power to their entire neighborhood. In other words, they were clueless. This is their story.

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

Today, Melissa from Simon & Schuster, has given me the distinct honor to host as my guests today New York Times Best Selling Authors, W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear.   Please help me give them a warm welcome to the CMash blog.

ABOUT W. MICHAEL GEAR and KATHLEEN O’NEAL GEAR

W. MICHAEL GEAR and KATHLEEN O’NEAL GEAR are the New York Times bestselling authors of Coming of the Stormand Fire the Sky, the previous books in the Contact series, and more than thirty international bestsellers that have been translated into twenty-eight languages. Their novel People of the Raven won the Golden Spur Award. In addition to writing both fiction and nonfiction together and separately, the Gears operate an anthropological research company, Wind River Archeological Consultants, and raise buffalo on their ranch in Wyoming.

W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear welcomevisitors to their website. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

New York Times bestselling authors W. Michael and Kathleen O’Neal Gear richly portray a clash of cultures and a native peoples’ struggle to protect their world in the eagerly awaited third installment of the Contact: Battle for America series, A SEARING WIND (Gallery Books; March 6, 2012; $26.00).  Set against the tragic war sparked by Hernando de Soto’s brutal invasion of the American South, A SEARING WIND heightens the historical action in this series hailed as “magnificent” (Douglas Preston) and “exciting, skillfully crafted, and fast-paced” (Publishers Weekly).

Black Shell is an exile, banished by his people for his cowardice in battle. To his fearsome patron spirit, Horned Serpent, however, he is imbued with the courage and keenness to stop the Kristiano onslaught. He and his beautiful wife, Pearl Hand, have fought them from the Florida Peninsula through the very heart of native America. A trader by profession, Black Shell now dedicates his soul to destroying the invaders, with their impenetrable armor, their swift cabayos, and their flashing, razorsharp swords.

Black Shell and Pearl Hand have seen the shackled, naked, starving slaves, heard the broken promises—and learned de Soto’s plans. While the battle of Mabila cost many Kristianos life and limb, the marauder does not retreat. Now he heads for Chicaza and the people from which Black Shell was once exiled.

Wounded and pursued by memories and visions, Black Shell is obsessed with setting the perfect trap. To do so, he must use the Chicaza and their stockpiles of food and supplies. And he must gamble everything on his people’s pride, traditions, and failings. As winter sets in, new dangers abound—that of a family’s shame, a woman’s anger, and a betrayal that may force Black Shell to forfeit his last chance to save their world from utter destruction. But, worst of all, he and Pearl Hand must walk boldly into de Soto’s camp and engage the cunning monster in a desperate game of wits that will decide the fate of a continent.  Powerful and pulsing with authenticity, A SEARING WIND is an unforgettable tale of humanity and cruelty, passion and ignorance—and of historical events burned into America’s history and soul.

THANKS TO MELISSA FROM SIMON & SCHUSTER,
I HAVE 2 SETS OF THIS TRILOGY TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

If you are a frequent visitor, today’s guest may sound familiar.  He was here back in May of 2011 when he stopped by to talk about his novel Dead of Wynter, which I had stated to put him on your radar.  So when Erin and Kate, from The Book Trib, contacted me to review his latest novel, be part of his tour and scavenger hunt, it was a definite yes.  So please help me welcome back, Mr. Spencer Seidel.

ABOUT SPENCER SEIDEL

Spencer Seidel’s love of reading and writing began as a child after he discovered Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. His first novel, Dead of Wynter, was published in 2011 and was well-received by critics and readers alike. When he’s not writing novels, Spencer enjoys playing loud rock guitar, something he’s been doing for over twenty-five years.

You can connect with Spencer Seidel at his website, Facebook, Twitter and Author Page at The Book Trib

GUEST POST

The Terrifying World of a Writer

By Spencer Seidel

Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll tell you that I can be overly scheduled, neurotic, a tad eccentric . . . Well, I won’t go on. You get the picture. Let’s just say that sometimes I’m not real good with going with the flow.

Show me a writer who isn’t a little strange, and I’ll show you a mediocre writer. Writers throughout history have been weird. Hemingway was weird. Same goes for F. Scott Fitzgerald. Do I even have to mention Truman Capote?

I think there’s a simple reason for this.

For those of you who don’t write, let me describe the concept with an analogy. Suppose you woke up one day with a sense of smell as keen as a bloodhound. Can you imagine how awful that would be? You’d smell everything vividly. Every cleaning product on every surface, your own BO, or worse, everyone else’s BO. And I won’t even mention that cat box or God forbid, the old cat herself. And that’s just the beginning. What about the garbage, the laundry hamper, or the week-old milk in the fridge? Even sex would be a challenge. You’d go mental.

But there’s a flip side. Imagine how wonderful freshly baked cinnamon rolls would smell. Or bacon in the morning. No wonder dogs are always begging around for food or dying to get outside. The complex and sometimes overwhelming smells must drive them nuts.

Being a writer is a lot like that, except instead of smells, it’s motivations, emotion, and possibilities. When I get into the car to drive to work every morning, it isn’t hard for me to make my writer voice say things like, “His last day on earth began just like any other.” Yikes! Even on that short drive to my day job, I’m always seeing possibilities. Things that could happen, little things that change lives forever, events that books are made of, like a dropped cellphone on the passenger-side floor that makes someone stray into oncoming traffic, or a blown tire. The more complex the situation, the worse this effect gets. I think this can make writers a little crazy and regimented in their ways as they seek to control their environments.

But, like with our newly found bloodhound senses, there is a flip side. Although some can be extremely introverted, writers are very good at sniffing out people’s angles and motivations. I contend that this makes writers very difficult to lie to. Think your writer spouse could never find out that you’re having an affair? I’ll bet she already knows. Or suspects, anyway. We can be hypersensitive and detect subtle verbal clues and facial expressions people aren’t even aware they’re using. We do that because that’s in part what makes good characterization. That’s a powerful thing.

People are always telling me I would have made a great psychologist. I’ll bet that’s true of most writers. That’s because you really need to understand people at a gut level to make believable characters.

That also gets a little hairy. You can’t just think about all the good things people do, although there is plenty of that around, despite what you hear on the news. Sometimes you have to live inside the head of a killer or rapist or worse, trying to understand how a character like that would think. It can be frightening.

I mean, what if I find out I sort of like it in there? Damn, there I go again.

SCAVENGER HUNT
Next Stop:   http://www.myatlantamommy.com

She’d fallen in love with 227 Cumberland Avenue immediately upon seeing it one snowy day in January a few years ago. She’d gotten damn tired of the scrum-dum one bedroom apartment she’d lived in for years over in Parkside and decided to trade up. She didn’t own and didn’t want to. She was a busy woman and had no time to spend fixing things or waiting for someone else to come and fix things. Here, she had a landlord for that. That cold January day, he’d explained that some young guy was moving out after less than a year there for business reasons. The hardwood floors, the exposed brick in the hallway leading to her bedroom, wrought-iron chandeliers, two full baths, brand new appliances, twelve foot ceilings, absolute quiet, and two entrances, front and back, had worked their magic in a matter of a minute or two. She signed the lease that very visit.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When the ladies at The Book Trib contacted me regarding today’s author and her book and then reading the synopsis, I just couldn’t say NO.  So without further ado, please help me in welcoming Ms. Nelle Davy to the CMash blog today.

ABOUT NELLE DAVY

Nelle Davy was born in Grenada in 1984 and was raised in London within an Anglo-Caribbean family. She studied English with creative writing at the University of Warwick and then undertook a master of philosophy degree in creative writing at Trinity College Dublin. She currently lives in London with her husband, where she works in publishing. THE LEGACY OF EDEN is her first novel and she is currently working on her second.

GUEST POST

An Insider’s Look at the Publication Process

The only thing that surprised me during the publishing process was how hard I found it. Of course I knew what would happen, the pitfalls and the difficulties but going through it yourself is something else entirely. It is hard and horrible and personally cutting, especially as I was surrounded by a litany of authors either watching their own dreams come true or fall away. I also was determined that I would be published on my own merit and not because of who I knew or where I worked. Because of that I did not say where I worked in any of my submission letters and it was also partly why I wrote under my married name to separate me from my work life and that way if my manuscript was called in by an agent it was really because they wanted to read it and not because they were intrigued by who I worked for or what I did. Because of that however I had to experience what it was like coming up through the slush pile (the term publishers and agents give to unsolicited manuscripts) of which they get tons every single day. It was incredibly harsh. It took me just under a year to get an agent and then 4 months to get a publisher so in total the process was 18 months. This is actually by no means the average. And it was also doubly awkward when publishers I was working with started rejecting my book. But I think things happen for a reason, because what I learned going through all that has made me kinder and more understanding to my own authors. It still does. I can really empathise with their worries and concerns but I have been incredibly lucky with my own publishers who have been nothing but enthusiastic and supportive throughout.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Synopsis:

An epic, sweeping tale of a dynasty rotten to the core, driven by ambition, lust – and hatred.

For generations, Aurelia was the crowning glory of more than three thousand acres of Iowa farmland and golden cornfields. The estate was a monument to matriarch Lavinia Hathaway’s dream to elevate the family name—no matter what relative or stranger she had to destroy in the process. It was a desperation that wrought the downfall of the Hathaways—and the once-prosperous farm.
Now the last inhabitant of the decaying old home has died—alone. None of the surviving members of the Hathaway family want anything to do with the farm, the land or the memories.

Especially Meredith Pincetti. Now living in New York City, for seventeen years Lavinia’s youngest grandchild has tried to forget everything about her family and her past. But with the receipt of a pleading letter, Meredith is again thrust into conflict with the legacy that destroyed her family’s -great name.

Back at Aurelia, Meredith must confront the rise and fall of the Hathaway family…and her own part in their mottled history.

THANKS TO THE LADIES AT THE BOOK TRIB
I HAVE ONE (1) COPY OF THIS BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE

He’s baaaaack!!   Yes, my paisan from the old neighborhood is back.   For those who aren’t Italian, paisan means pal and/or buddy.   I don’t think I ever told the story how we virtually met.   So before he starts telling us about his latest book, I will digress and share.

He sent me an email via GR asking me if I lived anywhere near Providence College, which is where he attended college and in which he mentions in his Moonlight novels.  And then he happens to mention…..”Oh and btw I just wrote a book that you might enjoy.”  I explained I would put it on my TBR list but that I review for several publishers and publicists and when I had a lull I would pick it up.  It just so happened, that a week later a tour company that I was reviewing for put a call out for his book so I jumped at the chance, and as they say the rest his history.

As I said, he is returning today to talk about his latest book, which should be quite interesting since this is definitely not in the genre that he hooked me with.  But I will let him explain.  So I am happy to have Vincent Zandri here once again!!!

ABOUT VINCENT ZANDRI

Vincent Zandri is the No. 1 International Bestselling author of THE INNOCENT, GODCHILD, THE REMAINS, MOONLIGHT FALLS, CONCRETE PEARL, MOONLIGHT RISES and SCREAM CATCHER. He is also the author of the bestselling digital shorts, PATHOLOGICAL and MOONLIGHT MAFIA. Harlan Coben has described his novels as “…gritty, fast-paced, lyrical and haunting,” while the New York Post called THE INNOCENT, “Sensational…Masterful…Brilliant!” In March, April and May of 2011, he sold more than 100,000 Kindle E-Book editions of his novels. In September 2011, he signed a major deal with Thomas and Mercer of Amazon for the publication of his new novel, Murder by Moonlight, and the re-publication of many of his back-list titles, including The Innocent and The Remains. Zandri’s list of publishers also include Delacorte, Dell, StoneHouse Ink and StoneGate Ink. An MFA in Writing graduate of Vermont College, Zandri’s work is translated into many languages including the Dutch, Russian and Japanese. An adventurer, foreign correspondent, and freelance photo-journalist for RT, Globalspec, IBTimes and more, he lives in New York. For more go to WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM

You can find Vin at the following locations:
Website, Blog, Amazon Author Page, Facebook, Twitter

Or at his next 2 stops:

2/14/2012 Misty Rayburn Review – http://www.the-top-shelf.com

ABOUT THE BOOK

A young U.S. Army officer who’s served in Afghanistan finds himself suffering from intermittent bouts of “hysterical” temporary blindness due to impossible and deadly orders he was forced to obey by high command in the field. When he’s reunited with his fiancée in a military hospital in Germany after being separated for more than year, the couple are encouraged by doctors to travel to Venice, Italy together. There, amongst the canals and the cafes, they try to rekindle their love and fight off their personal demons while trying to comprehend the enormity of the heartbreaking role they now must play in love and war.

Amazon buy link

Barnes and Noble Buy Link

Addendum:  In case you don’t see it, Vin just left a comment that his novel Scream Catcher is a free download all weekend!!!!  What a deal!!!  Don’t miss out!!!

MY REVIEW

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT by Vincent Zandri

Published by  StoneGate Ink

ASIN: B0060MB5JM

At the request of his Virtual Publicist a digital short edition, was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.

  Synopsis (borrowed from Amazon):  A young U.S. Army officer who’s served in Afghanistan finds himself suffering from intermittent bouts of “hysterical” temporary blindness due to impossible and deadly orders he was forced to obey by high command in the field. When he’s reunited with his fiancée in a military hospital in Germany after being separated for more than year, the couple are encouraged by doctors to travel to Venice, Italy together. There, amongst the canals and the cafes, they try to rekindle their love and fight off their personal demons while trying to comprehend the enormity of the heartbreaking role they now must play in love and war.

  My Thoughts and Opinion:  The mystery, the suspense, the engrossing roller coaster twists and turns, white knuckle ride to the very last word is what put this author on my radar when I read Moonlight Falls.  And as I kept reading his subsequent novels (all of them) it moved him right on up to the Number 1 spot for mystery/suspenseful reads.  Then I read Scream Catcher and instantly saw a difference in his writing style.  Not in a bad way, but in a way that proved that this author has a lot to give, that he is most definitely a master at storytelling.  And then something happened, that I can honestly say, I was blown away.  I never thought these 2 words would be in the same sentence, Zandri and romance.

OK..another test..could he pull this one off?  Even though it was a digital short, which disappointed me because I wanted to get the whole package, but I will be patient until the sequel is out), he transported me to the sidewalk cafe in Italy sitting next to this American couple that seemed to be quite uncomfortable with each other.  Yes, he made the characters come to life, he allowed the reader to form a vivid imagery of the scene, feel the emotions, see the sights and sounds.  If this digital short is any indication what the novel will be, I have something to look forward to.  He just raised the bar even higher!!!

I don’t know about you, but when an author revisits here at the CMash blog, for me, it’s a delight.  It’s like an old friend stopping by, sharing a cup of coffee and catching up on the latest news.  And today is just that case.  James LePore was here the last time talking about his book, Blood of my Brother and today to tell us about his latest novel, Gods and Fathers.  So have a seat, grab your coffee and let’s visit with an old friend, Mr. James LePore.

ABOUT JAMES LePORE

James LePore is an attorney who has practiced law for more than two decades, and an accomplished photographer. He is the author of three previous novels, A WORLD I NEVER MADE, BLOOD OF MY BROTHER, and SONS AND PRINCES, as well as the story collection, ANYONE CAN DIE. He lives in Westchester County, NY with his wife, artist Karen Chandler.

Nationally bestselling author James LePore has established a reputation as a writer whose vividly drawn characters and morally complex plots have kept readers up to all hours turning pages. His new novel promises more sleepless nights and more nonstop thrills.

I practiced law for twenty-five years before retiring in 1999 to write and take pictures. My photography can be seen here.

I have written a number of works of short fiction that have evolved from my novels. After each novel was completed, its characters continued to live in my head, telling me, it seemed, that they wanted to go on living on the page. The stories that grew out of A World I Never Made were published in February, 2011, in a volume entitled, Anyone Can Die. My second novel, Blood of My Brother, and my third, Sons and Princes, are available now at amazon and all other online booksellers.

I have heard it said that genre novels are plot driven, while novels in the literature category are character driven. I believe that my novels offer something of both: compelling, fast moving plots in exotic venues, and characters that are complex in that they are flawed, and, finding themselves caught up in situations of extraordinary stress and danger, are forced to face their own demons in order to prevail. It has been gratifying to find that many readers and reviewers have enjoyed this blend in my work.

My first three novels all feature people from the area where I have lived all of my life, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. The characters in these novels are not the same and there are no connections between them. But the novels’ themes are the same—the struggle of flawed men and women to change and grow in the face of great danger. In this sense the three novels can be categorized as a trilogy, the Tristate Trilogy is the name I am giving them.

The hardcover version of A World I Never Made, published in April, 2009, attracted a passionate audience of readers. The paperback version, along with the releases of my next two novels, are an opportunity for a broad, mass-market readership to experience my work. I do not think that anyone who reads my novels and stories will be disappointed. I am recently finished my fourth novel, Gods and Fathers—the story of a high profile Manhattan prosecutor whose son is wrongly accused of murder—which will be published in February, 2012. I live in South Salem, NY with my wife, Karen Chandler, an artist whose work can be seen here.

P.S. As you may have guessed, I am an avid reader and have been all my life. I have compiled a list of my fifty favorite novels (the “LePore Top Fifty”). The list changes from time to time (since I have sole control over it), and I am working on a second Top Fifty list, but If anyone is interested in receiving a copy of the first list, just go to the “Contact The Author” page and ask for it in an email to me and I will send it along.
You can visit Mr. LePore at his website here.

GUEST POST

            The Conception and Birth of a James LePore Novel.

             To me, my novels are ‘born’ when they’re published. It is the process of conceiving and creating them that your readers might find interesting. For example, the idea for my first published novel, A World I Never Made, came to me one night while having dinner with friends. One of them was telling a sad story of a woman she knew whose thirty-year-old daughter had committed suicide out of the blue. Her family thought she was happy, in her work and in her life, then suddenly she kills herself and leaves an audio cassette for each of her parents and six siblings by way of personal explanation. Such planning, so meticulous. Of course, there have been countless novels whose premise was the question of whether a dead body was a suicide or a homicide. I was not inspired to do another one. Then it occurred to me that similar planning, similar attention to detail, could go into a faked suicide, and with that thought, A World I Never Made was conceived.

Blood of My Brother, my second published novel, was conceived many years ago when I came across this from Aeschylus’ Agamemnon:

             And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.

            I typed it on a piece of paper, pinned it above my desk, and began writing a novel that was going to be titled, Drop by Drop Upon the Heart. That novel, many years later, was published as Blood of My Brother. The inspiration for it was the death, many years earlier, of a childhood friend, a death that I still mourn today, though much less so after writing the novel.

A word on creation, that is, the work of actually writing (and rewriting) that takes place between conception and birth. I change. I am a different person when I am writing a novel. I write every day, with few exceptions. I think of my plot and my characters as I’m falling asleep each night. When I’m not writing, I do things that require no brain power, but my novel is never far below the surface. I am always conscious that I am creating something out of nothing, more so of course when I am at my computer, but even away from it. Also a word on perfectionism: I am a great believer in reviewing and rewriting, which is how I start each day. I want my novel to be perfect, which is not possible of course, but to not try to make it perfect would be wrong, a sin, I think. A man’s reach should exceed his grasp—as Gerard Manley Hopkins put it, or what’s a heaven for?

ABOUT THE BOOK

Matt DeMarco is an accomplished Manhattan attorney with more than his share of emotional baggage. His marriage ended disastrously, his ex-wife has pulled their son away from him, and her remarriage to a hugely successful Arab businessman has created complications for Matt on multiple levels. However, his life shifts from troubled to imperiled when two cops – men he’s known for a long time – come into his home and arrest his son as the prime suspect in the murder of the boy’s girlfriend.

Suddenly, the enmity between Matt and his only child is no longer relevant. Matt must do everything he can to clear his son, who he fully believes is innocent. Doing so will require him to quit his job and make enemies of former friends – and it will throw him up against forces he barely knew existed and can only begin to comprehend how to battle.

GODS AND FATHERS is at once a powerful mystery and a provocative international thriller, all of it presented with LePore’s signature fascinating characters placed in dire circumstances where every choice poses new and potentially fatal challenges.

READ AN EXCERPT:

See my review here.

Don’t you just love it when a friend calls and asks if they can stop by and visit for a while?  You know, that type of visit where you have some coffee catch up on what’s been going on?  Well today’s visitor hasn’t been here since July and I am looking forward to hearing about this latest novel and hope you are too.  So please help me welcome back Bill Brown.

ABOUT WILLIAM F. BROWN

I live in Ohio.  As a Vice President of the real estate subsidiary of a Fortune 500 corporation, I traveled widely in the US and abroad.   A native of Chicago, I earned a BA in History and Russian Area Studies and a Master of Urban Planning degree from the  University of Illinois.  (Go Illini!)  I’ve been active in politics (I had the stupidity to run and the misfortune to win a -year seat on a County Board of Supervisors) (more hard time than you’d get for armed robbery, car theft, or embezzlement in most states!) and active in numerous civic organizations.  I served in the US Army and was a company commander and drug counselor. (The only two places in the country that teach leadership and organizational management are the Boy Scouts and the Army)   When I’m not writing, I like to play golf (usually poorly) paint landscapes in oil or acrylics and running 5Ks.  (slower every year) .

My wife and I have traveled widely in Russia,Germany, the Caribbean, England, Ireland, Scotland, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, Holland, Egypt, and Israel.

You can visit Bill at is website here.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Synopsis (from author’s website):

Amongst My Enemies is a fast-paced story of action and international suspense  that plumbs the depths of brotherhood, honor, a debt that can never be repaid, and one man’s revenge.   Beginning in the closing days of WW II, it deals with horde of stolen Nazi gold and art, a missing German U-boat, Russian spies, Nazi hit men, and a secret that could shatter NATO. In February 1945, two young Americans, Mike Randall and Eddie Hodge, door gunners on an American B-24, are shot down on an ill-fated bombing mission over Berlin.  Instead of a Nazi POW camp, however, they find themselves in a forced labor battalion in the frozen hell of Konigsberg in East Prussia.  With the SS inside and the rampaging Red Army outside, the old port city and everyone in it are doomed.  When Hodge dies in his arms, Randall swears he will have his revenge.  Assigned to a work detail loading mysterious crates into a German U-boat, Randall manages to hide in the hold as the SS. massacre the other laborers.  In the end, he owes his life to Eric Bruckner, the U-boat Kapitan, and perhaps the last honorable man left inGermany.  When Bruckner to set Randall free on the coast of Sweden, he pays the ultimate price when a British bomber catches him on the surface.  He and his U-boat are destroyed, leaving Randall an emotional cripple overcome by exhaustion and guilt. For the next six years, Randall remains inSweden, working as an anonymous deck hand on fishing boats, trying to forget and to heal; but it is no use.  He knows he must return to US and confess his role in Hodge’s death to his father and sister.  While there, he learns the impossible . . .  Eric Bruckner is alive!   Somehow, he survived the air attack and is now a West German Admiral in charge of NATO plans and operations, visiting east coast ports on a good will mission.  Randall hurries toNew Yorkto see him and to thank him; but when they come face to face in a Manhattan hotel lobby, he immediately sees that the Admiral is not Eric Bruckner.  He is a phony, but whose phony is he? Randall knows the truth, and he knows what he saw inside the wooden crates in that U-boat . . . a fortune in gold, stolen art and jewels, Nazi records, and a dead hero.  No one wants to believe Randall, so he returns to Sweden, to the Baltic coast, with a ragtag group consisting of Hodge’s little sister, a retired NY cop, and an old Swedish fishing captain, and two Israeli salvage experts to find that U-Boat and prove them all wrong.   Equally determined to stop him are the Soviet KGB, the Russian Navy, and the underground Nazi network of Martin Bormann and his ‘strong right arm’, Heinz Kruger. The truth lies three-hundred feet down on the bottom of the Baltic.  Some want the gold.  Some want to know the truth.  Some want to destroy it and kill everyone involved.

THANKS TO THE GENEROSITY OF BILL BROWN,
HE IS OFFERING , TO GIVE ONE OF MY FOLLOWERS,
THE CHANCE TO WIN AN EBOOK EDITION OF BOTH HIS BOOKS,
AMONGST MY ENEMIES AND THE UNDERTAKER.

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THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.