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Five Stars       Oy Yew is book I of the Waifs of Duldred Trilogy and was long-listed for the Times/Chicken House prize for children’s fiction. I would have awarded it first place. Occasionally I pick up a YA book to read and the title of this one intrigued me. I discovered it is a terrific read, one I could not put down, and I think anyone from 12 to 100 would love it. The author has created a totally believable and engrossing dystopian world, one in which goodness blossoms and evil exists but is not spelled out. It begins with a small boy, so small and pale that no one notices him. He lives outside a bakery in Affland, living on the wonderful smells of bread and sweets and scraps from garbage. When he is mistakenly nabbed as a Porian – a child discarded from that land and sent by raft to drift to Affland or die on the way – he is brought to a factory to work. When asked his name, his captors say he responds to “Oy, You!” and he is named Oy Yew. Oy Yew slaves away in the factory along with other waifs, who are fed little and worked hard. He makes his first friend and is enjoying his life for the first time, but one day he is chosen to serve at Duldred Hall. ‘Lay low and grow,’ is the motto of the waifs of Duldred Hall, because if they reach the magical height of 5 thighs 10 oggits, they get to leave their life of drudgery. But their Master, Jeopardine, is determined to feed them little and keep them small. The manor is populated by all sorts of great characters with names that look familiar but aren’t, and the waifs themselves are given names according to their assigned work. Oy becomes Drains, because he is small and can get into drains and sewers to clean them. There’s Stairs and Ceilings and Peelings, too. The waifs get around to clean, polish, change linens and sheets, etc by a system of small waif tunnels that run between floors and rooms, so they are not seen.  When the head cook falls ill, and Molly, her assistant, is unable to make the complicated dishes demanded by Jeopardine for himself and his guests, Oy steps in. It seems he has a real knack for cooking, although where he learned it, no one, not even he, knows. Even the diseases which strike Master and waif alike are fascinating. Oy is afflicted for a short while by seeing small, incredibly hued fish swimming around in his eyes. Jeopardine is a collector of bones and will do anything to become the next President of the Grand Society of Ossiquarians. Even though Oy becomes invaluable as a cook, the reader gradually becomes aware that Jeopardine values the bones of Oy even more, and his methods of working the waifs and particularly Oy, become sinister. There are many mysteries in addition to the fate of the waifs. Who and what is Oy? He is not a Porian but doesn’t know where he came from or who he is, just that he is different. Can the waifs escape? Who can they trust? What will happen as Jeopardine descends into madness? Oy Yew is a children’s classic for adults, too. It tickles the brain as a lighthearted fairy tale with a murder mystery and an adventure story. This is a book I will definitely read again, and if I could give it ten stars, I would. I can’t wait for the second book in this series. About the author Taken from an interview by Maddy at Writing Bubble Ana Salote’s  father was a heavyweight boxer from Tonga, her mother was a Derbyshire miner’s daughter. She grew up among strong characters with constant drama, and it became a mine of material.  She attended a comprehensive school where the teachers but left at 16 and went to the university of life, one of reading. She now lives in Somerset, England, which she finds a beautiful, magical place. Ana find some things are intrinsically magical: acorns, seahorses, teapots, owls and chimneys. Chimneys seeded the central mystery of Oy Yew. The character of Oy is based on a real person: a shy, sensitive character with a voice you strain to hear. She is also fascinated by nature and nurture. As a writer, Ana is a pantster. She kicks off with a trigger then runs with the scenes, and plot ideas form as she writes. The next two books in the series set for release at yearly intervals, with the next one out in December. I can’t wait to read it! 0 0

Hello readers! Cameron here. You may know me as the “daughter” in some posts and I am hijacking her blog for Mother’s Day. Please join me in giving cheers to all the natural, birth, adopted, and pseudo moms out there! No matter what relationship a person has with his or her mother, that person is alive because of her sacrifice of both time and self. I may not have come from my mother’s womb, but she has always been my mom. She taught medical students for over 20 years while running a research lab and navigated her way through the ups and downs of academia (“publish or perish”), secured her tenure and numerous awards, and adopted and raised two rambunctious kids in the process. She and my dad were at every game, match, meet or horse show, and there was always food on the table and clean clothes. Now that I find myself navigating my way through the adult world, I keep asking her how did she do it? She always says it just worked out. Thank you always, to this wonderful, talented, and powerful woman whose love, brains, hard work and passion for life have always been an inspiration for me. Even though she’s retired now, she has transitioned from typing out lengthy grant requests to creative writing. She has already released two murder mystery books and the third will be released soon. I have also read the first chapters of her Pilgrim novel and eagerly await the finished product. The bar has been set. Thank you mom! With love, Your favorite daughter #mom #inspiration #womanpower #professor #research #author #passion 0 0

Whew! I’m still coming down from A-Z, but wanted to catch y’all up on the Granger clan doings. Right now we are awaiting the move of my daughter and son-in-law from LA back to NC. They’ll be staying with us for a while, and in the meantime we are looking at houses for them. Guess they trust us to pick something good for a starter house, and truth be told, we’ve got some experience (not all of it great). We’ve seen some really overpriced dogs so far, such as one listed as just needing some cosmetic fixes. Fixes like the removal of the two huge pines leaning over the drive and replacing both front and back decks, the roof, the siding, and all the upstairs carpeting – not to mention refinishing the floors, putting in an all new kitchen (part of it was ripped out), and refurbishing both bathrooms. Hopefully things will improve when we see some more this coming week, but we are not hopeful. The request? I am looking for some followers who would be willing to read an Advanced Reader copy of my new book, Death by Pumpkin, which will be out around the middle of June. I would love to have some reviews posted on Amazon  before the release date! I will provide a real book to read! Cover reveal in two weeks! and thanks to everyone who voted! 0 0

Here are the rest of the suggestions for my characters in my book. I hope you’ll make some comments and maybe even be interested enough to read more about them in my books. Q = Phil Pearce. Phil is the only character I’ve created with a specific face in mind, that of J.D. Qualls. Robin Rivera Also suggested Gerard Depardieu, another good choice. R = Ruthie Hersh, the elderly fireplug who guards the police station from the front desk and knows everybody’s business. She has fading red hair in a bun in the first book.  There were no suggestions here, so I picked Debbie Reynolds and Betty White. S = Sam Brewster, Chief of the Pequod Police Department. I still don’t have a perfect vision of him and there were no takers for him either. He is a combination of my brother and Chief Chris Blue of the Chapel Hill Police Department. With regard to actors, I see him as possibly looking a bit like Philip Seymour Hoffman. Chief Chris Blue T = Tanya Davis, a minor character in the first book who reappears briefly in the third. She is an African American undergraduate who looks like she could be an athlete but in fact is a physics nerd. Jemima Pett suggested the British long jumper Jade Johnson. My pick is China Anne McClain, a young American actress. U = Senior FBI Agent Bongiovanni. Geoff came up with a young John Cleese or Kevin Kline. Bongiovanni is described on the basis of a high school classmate of mine, but I see him played by none other than Jeff Goldbloom. V = FBI Agent Michael Bowers.  No one had any suggestions, and I want someone who could be clutsy, arrogant, socially inept, but also sweet. Jeremy Renner came to mind. W = Will Brewster, the cad of a husband. Jemima suggested a young Chris Noth could be slimy enough. I definitely see David Hyde Pierce. X = Bitsy Wellington, one of the villains in the first book and a huge part of the third. I didn’t have a good vision of Bitsy when I started writing her, but then I saw the Grave Digger episodes on Bones, and knew I had found the perfect person – someone capable of playing a small woman, aggressive and downright nasty: Deirdre Lovejoy. She is currently playing a badass senior administrator with a Southern accent on Black List. Y  = Rhe, and I have to admit I do not have a focus on her yet. Perhaps it’s best that way. In an indirect way, a high school classmate suggested Lee Remick, an actress probably most of you don’t remember since she was popular in the 60s. Geoff, not to be stumped, suggested Sandra Bullock. Z = Zoey Harris, Will’s lover and the cause of the breakup of his marriage to Rhe.  Slender, blonde and self-centered, she led to Jemima’s suggestion of Elle McPherson, and I thought of a young Gwyneth Paltrow. Thanks to all of you who responded with these suggestions. Geoff and Jemima take the cake for participation! So, what do you all think now? Agree? Have other suggestions? Don’t forget, many of these characters return in Death by Pumpkin, along with some great new ones and some hair-raising moments for Rhe! 0 0

Whew! Congratulations to everyone who participated in the A-Z challenge, and THANK YOU to everyone who visited my blog during this time. Your comments were fun, funny and perceptive. I hope I’ve piqued the interest of some of you to read my books (there’s always an ulterior motive, right?) To create some more fun, I’ve compiled pictures of suggestions from all of you (plus some of my own) with regard to who the characters look like. This will stretch over two posts and I will do it alphabetically, beginning with Marsh Adams. No takers here, so this is my suggestion for Marsh: Kevin James. B was Bob Morgan, and I had received a picture from Elizabeth Hein and suggestions of Robert Wagner from Elizabeth Calwell, a young John Candy from Jemima Pett, David Duchovny from Liz Brownlee, and a young Ryan O’Neil (mine). E was Nancy Ennis, Rhe’s red-headed fellow nurse and Geoff Le Pard suggested Merida from the Disney movie Brave.  Brilliant! F was Frank Boyette. Again, no takers, but since he owns the pizza place, Ernie’s, I see him as rotund, How about Dom Deluise? H was Sylvia Hutty, the fashionista director of Human Services at Sturdevant, and again no takers. But I remember Shirley McClain when she was young, and I could see her in this role. I also recalled Claudette Colbert, a featured actress in some of my favorite old movies (It Happened One Night) and a woman with great sophistication. I was Kelly Ingram, the football player, and I had a ton of suggestions for him: a young Ryan O’Neil (Jemima Pett and Keith Channing), Ryan Gosling or Channing Tatum (Geoff Le Pard) or a young Zach Effron (my suggestion – how could you not like him?). For Jack, two suggestions: McCauley Culkin (Luccia Gray) or Jay North (mine – does anyone remember Dennis the Menace?). I used James Barnes for K. He was the kidnapper/killer in Death in a Dacron Sail. I offered up my own picture and had no takers. L was Lyle Pendergrass, the ancient guard at the rear of Sturdevant Hospital in both books. Geoff Le Pard suggested David Jason while I thought of James Cromwell. M was James Manning, the slimy CEO of Sturdevant Hospital. Geoff jumped in again with the    suggestion of Richard Chamberlain, while keeping with the red hair trait, I thought of Eric Stoltz. N was Mary Noon, the Irish farm woman, and I have three suggestions: Judi Dench (Jemima Pett), Mrs. Doubtfire (Robin Williams, suggested by Geoff), and Fianula Flanagan (my idea and she’s Irish!). O was Tom O’Neil. Here we have the real Tom O’Neil – Nat Wilson, or someone I’d been thinking of as I created the character: Sam Elliot. P was Paulette, Rhe’s best friend. Charlotte Hoathar suggested Reese Witherspoon, and I had her on my list, too. Geoff suggested Olivia Coleman and I thought Porter Girl (Lucy Brazier) could also be Rhe! The rest of the alphabet next time! What do you think of these choices? 0 0

Bet you didn’t see I’d have a Z! Zoey begins as a strong minor character in Death in a Red Canvas Chair but returns with a vengeance in Death in a Dacron Sail.  I don’t think we’ve seen the last of her and I see her returning in my fourth book. Zoey is an undergraduate at Pequod College, and Rhe talks to her as part of her investigation of the death of a fellow student. Here is how I describe her: When she finally emerged from the classroom, I saw a model-thin young woman, all legs, dressed in a denim skirt so short heavens know what you would see if she bent over. She was wearing cowboy boots, the latest campus fad. “Are you Zoey Harris? I asked, as she paused to drape her raincoat through her backpack. “Yeah, and you are…?” she said cautiously. With a closer look, I saw she was wearing a good deal of make-up, perfectly done, which seemed strange for a wet day of running to classes.  And chewing gum. *** Zoey certainly fell in the category of what I called the ‘Beautiful People’. It’d been my experience that the beautiful and handsome kids tended to congregate with each other, at least in high school and somewhat in college, so it was not surprising that she and Lili hung out together.  And I was also pretty sure Zoey had at least a few brains to go with her looks.  She was definitely socially adept. *** Zoey looked at her wrist watch, which I couldn’t help but notice was thin, gold, and looked to be a Patek Philippe. I glanced at her other wrist and saw she had a diamond tennis bracelet, which went with what I had assumed were fake diamond studs in her ears.  A little pricey for a college student if they were real. In Death in a Dacron Sail, the real Zoey emerges: “Up until her question, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but just then I spied Will, sitting at a table toward the rear of the room. With him was a Pequod student I knew well, Zoey Harris.  They were holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes with undisguised lust.” Any thoughts on Zoey? What does she look like? Whew!  I’ve come to the end of the A-Z challenge for 2016. A few thoughts: First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who has followed my blog for the month of April. I’ve loved exchanging comments and visiting your posts! Second,  I hope you’ve enjoyed meeting some of the characters from my books.  If you haven’t read them, I hope you’ll give them a try. It’s good to read them in sequence, but they are nearly stand-alone so you can jump in anywhere. Third, I will soon post pictures of people suggested for my characters. Because of privacy issues, I chose them from Hollywood denizens, who love publicity. And finally, the cover reveal for Death by Pumpkin is also upcoming, and I thank everyone who voted in the first and second rounds. The book will be out sometime later in May. Stay tuned! 0 0

At last we come to Rhe herself. I have purposefully not described her fully because I want readers to conjure up their own Rhe. What I have written is that Rhe is tall, generally good-looking, and toned from swimming and her job as an emergency room nurse, which keeps her on her feet. She is in her early to mid-thirties and has dark hair but I have not specified brunette, dark red or chestnut – definitely not black. Rhe is a type A – she often leaps before she looks – and is very intelligent. She has an outgoing personality, but tends to cultivate just a few close friends. Hopefully it is clear that Rhe has a snarky sense of humor, which emerges most frequently when she’s with Sam or Paulette. In a scene with Paulette: “Grateful is not what I wanted to hear, but I guess it will have to do for now – OW! I think I stapled my finger!” “Good thing you’ve got a nurse handy, then.” In two scenes with Sam: 1. “Well, nice to meet you,” I replied and turned back to the dock ladder. Calling thanks to Pete, I began the climb back up to the dock, with Sam following behind me, to keep me from falling or so he said. I really think he wanted an opportunity to make a comment on how big my rear had gotten.  Lucky for him, he didn’t. 2. “Will do. Call me when the DNA results come in. How about dinner with us sometime this week?” “You know I can never resist a home-cooked meal. Let’s see how the week plays out.” “Any special requests?” “Just something edible.” I couldn’t help it – my inner child took over and I stuck out my tongue at him. Rhe is intensely loyal to her friends, is devoted to her son Jack, but her feelings toward her husband Will change over the course of the three books.  Keeping all the balls in the air is a challenge for Rhe — balancing home life, her work, and investigations for the police department. Rhe is not a good cook, at least not at first, and her cooking has been a source of amusement for her brother-in-law Sam. Under the tutelage of Paulette, however, she is getting better. She does love to eat and has never met a foodstuff she doesn’t like. Hence there is a minor role for food in all three books. This may be the most difficult character to imagine, but I look forward to your suggestions! 0 0

I just realized that I had posted on Michael Bowers earlier – color me embarrassed. My mind is rather scrambled as I try to make yet another revision of Death by Pumpkin with comments from another editor and my copy editor and complete the A-Z Challenge. Here is a new V! The town of Pequod is definitely  a character in my books. A small coastal town in Maine with a waterfront park, its streets and businesses and colorful citizens populate my writing. The waterfront park is the site of the Pumpkin Festival that opens my third book, Death by Pumpkin. I drew Pequod in part from  Camden, which is a delightful old town just north of Boothbay Harbor, where we stay when we visit Maine. I love finding names for the various stores and store owners and using Maine historical figures for the names of the streets. Keep an eye out for these when you read my books!   0 0

Another letter where I can do no better! I’ve decided to introduce you to Bitsy Wellington. She plays a major role in Death in a Red Canvas Chair and my readers liked her so much that I brought her back in Death by Pumpkin. In the first book, Bitsy is the Dean of Students at Pequod College, often butting heads with Will Brewster because of her bend-over-backwards attitude in dealing with the students. She and Rhe grew up together. “Bitsy sat at a delicate antique wooden desk at the very back of the room, framed by windows that looked out over a well-kept garden full of fall flowers.  She wore a corporate grey suit, white blouse with a ruffle at the neck, and was perfectly, if overly, made up.  Her salt and pepper hair was swept up in a French twist, and not a strand was out of place. I could see she was sitting on a cushion, which I figured boosted her high enough to work at the desk.  Her face was much as I remembered, thin and pinched with a narrow nose. If I were a student, I wouldn’t come here on a dare.” “Her real name was Elizabeth, but because of her small size, we had always called her Bitsy, which she hated. She had been a full-blown bully as a child, for which I blamed her parents who considered most of the children in town too good to mingle with their daughter.  Whether it was swimming lessons or sailing Beetle Cats in and out of the harbor, Bitsy had taken every opportunity to belittle her so-called friends, and I was frequently a target.  She hadn’t changed much as an adult – subtly pompous and positively unctuous when she wanted to impress someone. She was not married, and I seriously doubted that matrimony would improve her disposition.” In Death by Pumpkin, Bitsy has become a full-blown sociopath and she is out to wreak revenge on Rhe and anyone around her because of perceived and real actions on Rhe’s part. Her appearance changes. She’s gained weight and looks like she’s been living hard: “Her black coat was filthy and stained with large spots of something dark, and stringy, unwashed hair stuck out of her watch cap. Her face wasn’t any cleaner, with smudges of dirt here and there.” What do you think about Bitsy? Can you see her in your mind? 0 0

Will Brewster is a character who started out as the ideal husband, a little too ideal as one of the members of my critique group pointed out. Far better that he be someone who creates tension, so I rewrote this character as a man I’d love to hate. Rhe and Will have been married for fourteen years. Will is an Assistant Professor at Pequod College, a private liberal arts college on the northern outskirts of the county.  Despite his PhD in Psychology, Will still doesn’t completely understand Rhe. He is not as tall as his brother – about six feet tall – and more slender, but has his same fair hair and is also balding, although not quite as much. Both brothers wear glasses, but Will is short-sighted and needs to wear his all the time. A thread through the first two books is Will’s increasing frustration with Rhe’s involvement in various investigations. Initially. he grudgingly allows her to continue when she becomes a paid consultant with the police department, which helps their finances. Rhe in turn resents being ‘allowed’ by her husband to do something she loves. But as time goes on and Will becomes increasing vocal in his opposition, sparks fly. Plus he is hiding a something from Rhe that will change their lives. More, I cannot say without giving away one of the plot lines in Death in a Dacron Sail. What do you think Will looks like? Got a suggestion for me? 0 0