WELCOME LEIGH RUSSELL

LEIGH RUSSELL

Leigh Russell studied at the University of Kent, gaining a Masters degree in English. For many years a secondary school English teacher, she is a creative writing tutor for adults. She is married, has two daughters, and lives in North West London. Her first novel, Cut Short, was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award in 2010. This was followed by Road Closed, Dead End, Death Bed, Stop Dead and Fatal Act, in the Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel series. Cold Sacrifice is the first title in a spin off series featuring Geraldine Steel’s sergeant, Ian Peterson.
Connect with Leigh at these sites:

Q&A with Leigh Russell

 Do you draw from personal experiences and/or current events?
I never use personal experience or current events as my inspiration. My stories are complete flights of imagination. All my stories begin with a ‘What if…?’ question. What if a character hears a noise in the night and discovers a stranger in the house? What if someone arrived at work one day and discovered a dead body in the office? What if a bus driver found a corpse on his bus at the end of the route?

Do you start with the conclusion and plot in reverse or start from the beginning and see where the story line brings you?
When you write a story you take your reader on a journey. I always know where the story begins, and where it will end, but the route evolves as I write. I have my ‘ten second elevator pitch’, but ideas occur to me as the plot and characters develop.

Your routine when writing?  Any idiosyncrasies?
I have no routine, but am rarely creative in the mornings. My brain is never fully alert until the afternoon. To begin with I wrote everything long hand and then typed it up, but I have learned to create directly onto the screen and rarely hand write now. Wherever I go, my iPad goes too, so I write wherever I am.

Is writing your full time job?  If not, may I ask what you do by day?
I am fortunate that I earn my living writing fiction. Since my spin off series launched last year, I am now delivering two novels a year to my publisher. For many years a teacher, I still do some classes, but this year will stop teaching altogether, as I no longer have enough time to do anything but write. I will continue to run occasional writing retreats for adults, one of which takes place on a beautiful Greek island every summer. It’s glorious, and a very inspiring place to work.

Who are some of your favorite authors?
A tricky question because there are so many! In the crime genre I’ll mention just three because they are also fans of my work and have been generous with their praise of my books: Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver and Peter James. Outside my own genre I enjoy Dickens, Edith Wharton, F Scott Fitzgerald, Kazuo Ishiguru, John Steinbeck, Harper Lee… to name just a very few.

What are you reading now?
At the moment I am too busy writing to have time for reading (shameful admission!) but I do have a huge list of books waiting to be read!

Are you working on your next novel?  Can you tell us a little about it?
I am always working on a novel! The sixth Geraldine Steel novel has just been published in the UK, Fatal Act, along with the first in the Ian Peterson spin off series,Cold Sacrifice. The manuscript for the second Ian Peterson novel is with my editor, and I’m currently busy writing the seventh Geraldine Steel novel. Both of these will be published in the UK this year, and hopefully in the US as well, where my existing novels are coming out every month. Writing two books year keeps me busy!

Fun questions:
Your novel will be a movie.  Who would you cast?
This is a very tricky question… an actor who is hugely talented, famous and very popular so that lots of people will go and see the film!

Manuscript/Notes: hand written or keyboard?
Keyboard.

Favorite leisure activity/hobby?
Dare I say writing? It doesn’t feel like ‘work’.

Favorite meal?
Home made pizza.

Thank you for interviewing me here, and I hope you enjoy the Geraldine Steel and Ian Peterson series.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When headmistress Abigail Kirby’s corpse is discovered in the woods, police are shocked to learn that her tongue was cut out while she lay dying. Then, shortly after a witness comes forward, he is blinded and murdered. With mangled dead bodies appearing at an alarmingly increasing rate, Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel is in a race against time to find the killer before he claims his next victim….

READ AN EXCERPT

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Mystery & Detective; Women Sleuths
Published by: Witness Impulse
Publication Date: 1/28/2014
Number of Pages: 384
ISBN: 9780062325631
Series: DI Geraldine Steel #3, Stand Alone

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.

WELCOME ALESIA and MICHAEL MATSON

MICHAEL and ALESIA MATSON

Michael  and  Alesia  have  been  married,  loving,  fighting,  and  writing  together  for  20  years. They  live  together  with  their  two  goofy  dogs  and  a  spastic  cat  in  Northern  California.

Author, needlework enthusiast, aspiring Buddha, RPGer, gardener, tech-geeky, herbalist, pirate. Married to Michael, her co-author, for 21 years. Two grown sons, two goofy dogs, one eccentric cat. Writes for her own entertainment, and hopefully yours.
Connect with Alesia at these sites:

Michael wrote his first book at age 12. A 24 page masterpiece hand typed onto letter paper folded in half with a construction paper cover — hand illustrated, of course — the tome was none-the-less a best seller in the family. Since then he’s been an airman; a commercial fisherman, the third generation to go to sea in his family; a lobbyist; truck driver; counselor and minister; and general contractor. All the while, writing has remained an important creative outlet and a cornerstone of his marriage to his equally literally gifted wife. Having retired from his construction firm, he now writes and publishes full time from his home in Northern California.
Connect with Michael at these sites:

GUEST POST

The  first  questions  we  get  asked  are  usually  “how  can  you  write  with  the  person  you’re  living with,  every  day?  How  are  you  even  still  married?”  There’s  a  bit  of  disbelief  that  a  husband  and wife  team  can  function  professionally  as  well  domestically,  and  for  good  reasons:  You’re  going  to sleep  next  to  the  person  with  whom  you  just  spent  an  hour  arguing  plot  developments.  The  rent is  overdue.  The  car  just  broke  down.  The  kids  have  the  flu,  the  last  chapter  you  wrote  is  crap  -­ and  you  know  you’ve  got  to  get  up  the  next  morning  and  try  again.  Life.  It  just  keeps  happening, whether  you  want  it  to  or  not.

Well,  one  answer  is  that  we  keep  all  the  knives  locked  away  during  working  hours.

Seriously,  as  a  couple  we  are  polar  opposites.  Alesia  is  the  extrovert,  Michael  the  introvert. Alesia’s  strengths  are  emotional  and  intuitive,  Michael’s  are  intellectual  and  logical.  Alesia  writes in  snarled  bursts  of  words  that  she  straightens  out  later.  Michael  edits  as  he  writes.  Alesia  wants poetry  and  flow  and  music  in  the  prose.  Michael  prefers  wordy,  legalistic  prose.  For  Alesia,  the world  is  right  if  it  feels  right.  For  Michael,  the  fantasy  world  must  make  logical  sense  or  it  drives him  crazy.  (No  guarantees  inferred  or  implied  that  his  logic  makes  sense  to  anyone  else.)  We problem  solve  in  completely  different  ways  -­  and  when  we  clash,  it’s  usually  spectacular.

But  so  is  the  makeup  sex.

We  don’t  really  have  any  easy  explanations  for  how  we  do  what  we  do  as  a  married  couple.  We fight  a  lot.  We  scream,  storm  off,  write  angry  emails.  We  also  spend  hours  at  our  keyboards, pulling  love  and  lies  and  trust  and  danger  out  of  our  imaginations  to  weave  these  stories together.  It’s  not  easy  -­  insert  tired  maxims  about  hard  things  being  worth  it  all,  here.  But  when  a thing  is  important  to  you,  you  keep  finding  new  ways  to  navigate  through  the  minefields,  whether you’re  writing  a  book  or  raising  a  family.  Or  both.  One  of  our  strengths  as  a  couple  turned  out  to be  that  we  never  quit  on  each  other,  on  ourselves,  or  on  our  characters.  That  always  keeps  us coming  back  to  the  computers,  to  our  stories,  and  to  each  other.

It’s  fair  to  say  that  our  work/marriage  paradox  is  a  work  in  progress.  We’ve  learned  a  bit  about how  to  disagree  and  still  go  to  bed  together  at  night.  In  the  end,  we  hope  our  readers  enjoy  the results  of  it  as  much  as  we  do.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A con turned cop. An urchin turned lady. Two webs of lies. An epic love. Sir Vincent Sultaire is the Raven, rakehell, playboy, con, serving a term of indenture for the crimes of burglary and extortion. His lover, Lady Angelique Blakesly, seems to be a wealthy, widowed baronness and devout member of the conservative Guardian Paladin church. But Angel’s careful poise and reserve conceal the Iris, one of Fernwall’s most successful high-stakes burglars; and beneath the collar of Raven’s indenture, he’s playing the cops and the cons for fun and profit. Their deceptions intersect explosively after the brilliantly executed theft of the priceless Tôrg-Dernäd. Sir Vincent is put in charge of the investigation, a thief set to catch a thief. Angelique, beholden to forces beyond her control, is desperate to stop him. Will Raven discover the truth? And will it be enough to set Angel free before their lies destroy them both?

BOOK DETAILS:

Series: The Raven & The Iris
Paperback: 418 pages
Publisher: Metaphor Publications
Publication Date: November 26, 2013
ISBN-10: 097541075X
ISBN-13: 978-0975410752

PURCHASE LINKS:

       

THANKS TO REBECCA AT THE CADENCE GROUP,
I HAVE ONE (1) COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS

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WELCOME BACK JON FOYT

JON FOYT

Striving for new heights on the literary landscape, along with his late wife Lois, Jon Foyt began writing novels 20 years ago, following careers in radio, commercial banking, and real estate. He holds a degree in journalism and an MBA from Stanford and a second masters degree in historic preservation from the University of Georgia. Jon is 81 years old, an octogenarian prostate cancer survivor, a marathon runner (60 completed), hiker, and political columnist. He currently resides in a large active adult retirement community near San Francisco. Jon Foyt is the successful author of 11 fiction books.
Connect with NAME at these sites:

ABOUT THE BOOK

Things are not quite what they seem at Sunset Gardens, an active adult retirement community in California. The directors of the Homeowner’s Association has been handling money in questionable ways, there’s secret meetings occurring at The Silent Front, a former speakeasy, and an influential resident recently committed suicide. Reporter Willy Herbst, approaching retirement, is curious about what’s going on in the neighboring community “over the hill.” He and his eager intern, Sally Saginaw, team up to investigate. Their discoveries are surprising…

Time to Retire is filled with mystery, romance, and adventure, as Willy and Sally explore the lifestyles of aging retirees.

“A gripping narrative that reads like a mystery, entertaining and thought-provoking.” – Doug Hergert, columnist and author of Nothing in Paris and Can’t Get It In France

“A realistic description of a retirement community. Living in such a place, I recognize the foibles of members, the clubs, and the Board as vivid and humorous. Holds your interest… an enjoyable read that I recommend.” – Samuel P. Oliner, author of Altruism, Intergroup Apology, Forgiveness and Reconciliation, and The Nature of Good and Evil

Read an excerpt

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Mystery, Romance
Paperback: 276 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Publication Date: October 13, 2013
ISBN-10: 1480075698
ISBN-13: 978-1480075696

PURCHASE LINKS:

           

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I HAVE ONE (1) KINDLE VERSION COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
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Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books.

According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Click on title for synopsis via Amazon and/or IndieBound (I am an IndieBound affiliate)

           

Tuesday:  An Anniversary Feast by Michael Baron (personal purchase)
Wednesday: Part Of The Story Magazine by The Story Plant (personal) A quarterly digital free magazine.  This publisher has some amazing authors like (listed alphabetically, Lou Aronica, Michael Baron, James LePore, Steven Manchester and many more.  GET YOUR COPY TODAY!
Friday:  The Obedient Assassin by John P. Davidson ( Media Muscle/ Meryl L. Moss Media
Saturday:  Cider Brook by Carla Neggers (Media Muscle/Meryl L. Moss Media)

This is a sticky post for my Read-A-Thon Progress

Hosted by Michelle @ Seasons of Reading

01/27 Monday
Book: Murder Has Consequences by Giacomo Giammatteo
Pages read: Kindle 81% to 100% Finished
Comments: Another page turner by this author. This is the 2nd in the “Friendship & Honor” series)
Book: Pressed Pennies by Steven Manchester
Pages read: 22
This author is on my “must read” list. Thrilled when I received a signed ARC. Predicting this will be another award winning novel by this author.

01/28 Tuesday
Book: Pressed Pennies by Steven Manchester
Pages read: 72

1/29 Wednesday
Book: Pressed Pennies by Steven Manchester
Pages read: 0

1/30 Thursday
Book:
Pages read:

07/26 Friday
Book:
Pages read:

1/31 Saturday
Book:
Pages read:

02/01 Sunday
Book:
Pages read:

02/02 Monday
Wrap up
Book(s):
Total pages read:
Comments:

An Anniversary Feast by Michael Baron
Published by The Story Plant
Publication Date: January 14th, 2014
ASIN: B00G1SM4ZO
Pages: 60
Review Copy from: Personal Purchase
Edition: Kindle
My Rating: 4

Synopsis (via Amazon):
Deborah Gold and her boyfriend Sage are celebrating their three-month anniversary, marking one of the longest relationships Deborah has had in a young life of too much work and not nearly enough play. They have a special, very romantic day planned, one that will culminate in a sumptuous meal at one of the hottest restaurants in the country. When they wake up to a blizzard, though, they realize that not only have their evening plans changed, but everything they were going to do for their celebration has been snowed out. Fortunately, for a couple of food lovers like Deborah and Sage, there’s a day’s worth of entertainment available in trying to turn the limited supplies in Sage’s apartment into a fine-dining experience. The adventure this entails will challenge their creativity and define their relationship in ways they’ve never before considered.

The second of four novelettes about the Golds, who we first met in the national bestseller LEAVES, AN ANNIVERSARY FEAST is a cornucopia of food and romance.

My Thoughts and Opinion:
In this novelette sequel to Leaves, we are reacquainted with Deborah, one of the 5 Gold siblings. Since selling the family inn, which she was the chef, Deborah has settled into her new life, including her relationship with Sage. Plans for their 3 month anniversary, an elaborate dinner at a friend’s restaurant, are thwarted by a blizzard, but together, they prepare a gourmet meal from items in Sage’s pantry.

This is the second of four novelettes, that will be published, that showcases each member of the Gold family, ending with a full length novel Everything of Nothing. The remaining novelettes are titled Harmony and Putting Yourself Out There. My review of Recovery can be seen here.

Reading the first two novelettes, felt as if I was catching up with old friends.

Not only did I enjoy “catching up” with Deborah, but also the chapter entitled “a note from the author” in which he relates how each Gold sibling was “born”.

The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the length. Michael Baron’s writing always leaves this reader wanting to read more of his characters. I am now anxiously awaiting the next installment. Warning: do not read this sequel if you are hungry. The food descriptions will have your mouth watering.

Highly recommend not only this novelette but any and all of Mr. Baron’s titles.

REVIEW DISCLAIMER
This blog was founded on the premise to write honest reviews, to the best of my ability, no matter who from, where from and/or how the book was obtained, and will continue to do so, even if it is through PICT or PBP.
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.

(2014 Challenges: EBoook, Where Are You?, A-Z, Turning The Pages, Outdo Yourself)

New year,  and hopefully, new reading habits, that’s why I will be participating in the Winter Respite Read-A-Thon starting Monday and runs thru Feb. 2nd. Want to join in? Sign up at Seasons of Reading hosted by Michelle from The True Book Addict.

Last year was horrendous for me when it came to reading.  I can only remember once in the many, many years that I have been reading, that I had a reading slump that lasted this long.  I am determined to turn that around and thought this would be the perfect incentive.  Keep your fingers crossed!

WELCOME MIKE SMART

MIKE SMART

Mike Smart has spent over 30 years in the IT industry. Gatekeeper draws on his firsthand experiences witnessing the remarkable acceleration of our dependency upon computer software and systems. In doing so, he highlights many of the issues in the IT industry that have been overlooked. Smart is based in West Sussex and is already working on his second novel The Platinum Solution which is set in South Africa following the death of Nelson Mandela.
Connect with Mike at these sites:

Q&A with Mike Smart

Do you draw from personal experiences and/or current events?
A mixture, I have been fortunate that I have travelled pretty extensively either for pleasure or business and this has provided me with a lot of interesting perspective when one “looks back” at the UK or other countries such as the USA.  Understandably people see themselves very differently in many cases than how they are perceived from afar.  I also take a great deal of interest in current events and look to bring current themes into my work.  Gatekeeper for example is a great story in its own right but at the same time sets out to highlight the very real problems we all face with data privacy and our total reliance on IT to support us in our everyday lives.

Do you start with the conclusion and plot in reverse or start from the beginning and see where the story line brings you?
Before I start on a book I see an overall picture that I am setting out to describe, so when I know where I am beginning, know what the outcome will be and then in a short punchy style link the front and back with hopefully a good story in between

Your routine when writing?  Any idiosyncrasies?
I write quickly and in a highly focused manner, normally between 20.00 and 01.00 – I have a day job so am not able to focus all my attentions on writing.

Is writing your full time job?  If not, may I ask what you do by day?
It would be lovely to write all the time but unfortunately to date the income generated doesn’t fund the expenses of an extended family.  My background is in the IT industry with a focus on Sales & Marketing and M&A work – so the bulk of my time is spent acting as a management consultant assisting large multi-nationals or smaller entities build and develop their businesses.

Who are some of your favorite authors?
Ian Fleming, Tolkien, Dan Brown, Geoffrey Archer, Robert Ludlum – enjoy a good story, preferably delivered with pace

What are you reading now?
Jet by Russell Blake – according to one of the people who read Gatekeeper we apparently have similar no nonsense punchy styles.  Am halfway through and would tend to agree

Are you working on your next novel?  Can you tell us a little about it?
Gatekeeper is the first in the “Max Thatcher Series” the 2^nd The Platinum Solution – it’s about a neo fascist group that is prepared at all cost to return South Africa to apartheid.  I started writing the book before Mandela died as I suspect there will be a power vacuum in South Africa much as there was when Tito died in Yugoslavia.  There the loss of a world statesman capable of keeping everybody in line resulted in the most recent well publicised Balkan War, south Africa could easily go the same way and the story I’ve written depicts one potential way things might go.  A third book is now also underway but not for sharing right now!

Your novel will be a movie.  Who would you cast?
The lead character Max Thatcher would be Ben Affleck, the lead baddie Jack Hunter would bee perfect for a younger Jack Nicholson

Manuscript/Notes: hand written or keyboard?
keyboard

Favorite leisure activity/hobby?
Fly fishing, golf and travel

Favorite meal?
Top class Italian food

ABOUT THE BOOK

When a psychotic business man inadvertently creates a computer virus that causes destruction across the world, the UK government finds itself at loggerheads with MI6 and chaos ensues, in this fast-paced, debut thriller.

Businessman Jack Hunter runs a booming software business. Unbeknown to his millions of clients, he is stealing their private and corporate information using a secretive programme called Gatekeeper. When one of his inner sanctum contacts an investigative journalist, Serena Thatcher, in the hope of exposing Jack and taking over his business empire, Jack retaliates by kidnapping Serena and shipping her across to the Dominican Republic on a super yacht. Events take a catastrophic turn when Jack releases the latest version of Gatekeeper, which he has built using Artificial Intelligence (AI) software, without having fully tested it, and therefore blissfully unaware of the dangerous repercussions that are to follow.

To prevent detection, the software effectively hides itself, causing a virus to break out and corrupt the software on any host environment. IT systems begin to fail everywhere the Gatekeeper is installed; traffic control software, banking systems and stock markets begin to crash spontaneously and anarchy starts to stir as the UK government fails to stop the virus from spreading.

Dubious of both the government and MI6, Serena Thatcher’s ex-special forces brother Max takes matters into his own hands, and enlists the help of Jack’s ex-wife, Clare Pryce, a Cambridge professor specialising in AI software. A high-octane chase from Monaco to the Dominican Republic leads them to Jack, who is protected by his evil henchman Sergi, a former member of the Serbian special forces. Things come to an explosive climax after the Royal Navy are forced to step in. Who will make it out alive? Who is responsible for trying to destroy Jack’s business? And what are the Americans’ ulterior motives for getting involved at the final hour?

Gatekeeper is the fast-paced thriller from debut novelist Mike Smart. Highly topical and engaging throughout, Smart explores a world where the infringement of personal and corporate data and privacy is commonplace and insidious. Smart proves that it is entirely feasible for an individual to steal personal data and the novel examines the flaws of living in such a connected world, where inserting code into a global network can result in catastrophic permutations. An action-packed narrative, a heady blend of Ian Fleming and Dan Brown, explores the terrifying effects of one man’s corruption of an apparently harmless piece of computer software.

BOOK DETAILS:

Series: Max Thatcher Series
Paperback: 268 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition
Publication Date: October 9, 2013
ISBN-10: 1492905860
ISBN-13: 978-1492905868

PURCHASE LINKS:

       

THANKS TO KATY AT AUTHORIGHT,
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