My friend, Elizabeth Hein, interviewed me for a post today on her blog, Scribbling in the Storage Room: https://scribblinginthestorageroom.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/interview-with-n-a-granger/ I met this talented writer through one of my critique groups five years ago. She has published two books: Overlook and How to Climb the Eiffel Tower and writes wonderful short stories. You might want to pop over and learn more about her. Thank you, Elizabeth! 0 0
I was introduced to Terry Tyler when I reviewed her previous book, Kings and Queens. This is the sequel, and if I liked the first book, which I definitely did, I like this one even better. Kings and Queens is a modern day parallel to the sixteenth century saga of Henry VIII and his six wives, with property developer Harry Lanchester as the central character; it tells the story of his six wives through the eyes of various characters in the book. Last Child begins after the death of Harry, and mirrors what happened after Henry the VIII’s death. Then a Regency Council represented the interests of young boy king, Edward VI. Here, until Jasper, Harry’s only son, reaches maturity, his company and its holdings are being directed by Jasper’s uncle, Ned Seymour, with the help of various directors including a very ambitious Jim Dudley, and a childhood friend of Harry’s, Will Brandon. Harry had two other children, Isabella (Henry’s Mary) and Erin (Elizabeth), and this book is divided into three parts to tell the story of each of the Lanchester offspring. Ms. Tyler has cleverly interwoven many characters with similar names and positions to those in the court during the reigns of Edward, Mary and Elizabeth. Hannah is one character who provides a grounding to each part; she is the former nanny/housekeeper, who had a brief affair with Harry, between wives; she has continued as a friend and confidant to the children, despite now having her own successful career running a nanny agency. Isabella lives alone, off the Lanchester estate, still harboring anger and bitterness toward the other children for her father’s divorce of her mother. Erin, a beautiful, fiery, outspoken, and eminently sexy teenager lives with her brother Jasper, or Jaz as he wished to be called, on the estate. Jaz, a young teen, is considered to be a sweet kid by Hannah, but with his penchant for girls, drinking, smoking, swearing, and anything but studying, it’s hard to believe. He is spoiled rotten, unhappy with his guardians, Ned and Angie Seymour, and not enthusiastic at the thought of taking over the company when he reaches 18. We get to hear from him personally through his keeping of a diary on a Dictaphone. Almost everyone knows the story of Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, but Ms. Tyler has thrown us some curve balls. For example, Jim Dudley meets an attractive, much younger woman named Raine, who has a real talent for marketing. Their relationship provides an emotional touchstone for the book. Isabella finally finds her man …you just have to read the book to see what happens. Erin’s love is Jim Dudley’s son Robert, just as Robert Dudley was the love of Elizabeth I’s life. Erin is the child most like her father, determined to run and expand his company, while seeming to have no use for a husband. And, yes, there’s a twist here, too. I devoured this book, loving the characters that Ms. Tyler has brought to life, enjoying the twists and turns, the jealousy, greed, love, and lust. This is definitely more than worthy of the history of the Tudor court, and except for a slowing in the pace at the very end, it is a barnburner of a book. Terry Tyler has published nine books on Amazon. She offers a rather unique genre in her writing, what Amazon says readers describe as lying somewhere in the area of contemporary drama and romantic suspense, with the occasional bit of rock fiction thrown in. You can find Last Child on Amazon: and it is available on Kindle. You can find Terry at: http://terrytyler59.blogspot.com 0 0
This is my third year doing the A-Z Challenge. The first year I posted on odors, which is something every writer needs to think about. You can paint a picture of movement and taste and feel, but an odor can really cement a scene. Plus they are the oldest of all of our senses, evolutionarily speaking. Last year I did something just for fun – Renaissance artists. I took two courses on these artists in college enjoyed them so much, I wanted to revisit the subject. It was a massive undertaking,and my posts were too long, I now realize. My apologies to all those who really tried to read them! This year my subject is….wait for it….ta-dah………. Maine! You know that my Rhe Brewster mysteries are set in Pequod, Maine, and I’ve just released my second book in the series, Death in a Dacron Sail. I’ve tried to pull places from Maine into both books and am doing the same with the third, which is underway. So this year, I’ll take you on a tour of sites in Maine: old houses, ships, lighthouses and more- places that Rhe or Jack or Sam might visit. I hope you’ll like touring Maine with me! PS And I’ll try to keep them short! 0 0
After the longest four weeks in February, I am finally in a springtime state of mind. Although it is chilly and rainy today, there are those unmistakable giveaways that have switched my brain from winter to spring mode. First of all, the birds are noisy! They wake me up in the morning with all their happy chirping. They live in giant holly trees lining our driveway and are very clever at hiding themselves. If there weren’t bird poop on my car, I wouldn’t know they were there. Most of the winter, they’re pretty quiet, engaged in staying alive by eating anything and everything we put out for them: suet, seed and peanut butter. Come spring, the courtship is on, the feeder is less in demand, and we have to make sure we close the garage door and take down the seasonal wreath on our front door. If we don’t, dollars to donuts we’ll have nests in a week or so. One year sparrows nested in the wreath and took umbrage that we opened the door once the eggs were laid. When the babies had hatched, we posted large warning signs for delivery people not to come to the front door. Mama bird was not happy. Second, the trees have a fuzzy, purplish- green hue to their branches. This is due to the leaf buds, what artists called it “impressionistic spring.” Probably because the impressionists did such a good job painting it. Believe it or not, I first heard this term when as a high school junior, I was being given a tour of the Middlebury campus by an art major. Some things just stick, even decades later. And no, I wasn’t accepted. Third, crocuses, undeterred by cold weather, bloom in my sort-of garden (more like a wild, whatever comes up, comes up, area) and the daffodils sprout. Right now, their yellow blooms are starting to unfold. So having transmuted to a neural springtime, I can only wait for warmer weather and the opening of our pool. In the meantime, I’ll try not to dance naked on the grass. 0 0
Today I’m nursing a headache from celebrating St. Paddy’s Day, but over a cup of coffee and an English muffin, I’m having a grand time interviewing Sylvia Villalobos, whose new book, Stranger or Friend, I reviewed yesterday. Sylvia, can you tell me about where you grew up? I grew up in Bucharest, Romania, a country of twenty million people. One unique fact about it: even though Slavic-speaking countries surround Romania, the Romanian language is Latin derived and sounds more like Portuguese or Italian. Why did you start writing? Having grown up in the land of writers like Eminescu and Eliade, and having spent time reading Dickens, Hugo, and Dostoyevsky, I was influenced by that certain look into the human nature, by the good, the flawed, and the in between. By the undying belief that man can be good, as in Hugo’s Jean Valjean. Early on, the reading led to inspiration, and ideas willed the pen into my hand. A high school teacher liked my essay on Eminescu’s “Evening Star,” so I wrote another one, followed by a short story that would have given me no peace had it not found its way onto paper. Have you been writing for a long time? Organized writing since high school, but writing was always part of my life in some form — jagged thoughts, unfinished stories, random descriptions and observations. A central theme of your book is being seen as different, in this case in a small town. What sparked that idea? Some of the attitudes in the book reflect my observations, as an immigrant, of locals toward outsiders. The book is the culmination of two lives at a confluence of cultures: an Eastern European — the author — married to a California native of Hispanic descent. It is is an observation of intersecting cultures. Of what it takes to accept someone “different” (someone who looks and maybe speaks differently) and what happens when we don’t. Is there a character in your book with a personality that closely resembles yours? The main character, Zoe Sinclair, is a lawyer, and I almost became one. I work in the legal field today, so Zoe and I have a lot in common. Also, this is the story of a woman going back home. As someone who had left home and moved not only away but very far away, I am connected with Zoe in that regard. Which character did you find the hardest to write? The hardest character to write was Zoe’s ill mother. She is based on an aunt who helped raise me. Zoe moves back home, leaving her life and career behind, to take care of her mother who refuses surgery at her advanced age. The question is: when someone we love is ill, and refuses life-saving treatment, what do we do? What’s your next project? I’m working on another mystery but also have to write another Zoe Sinclair novel. She is a complex, deeply emotional character and insists I continue writing her story. Furthermore, I am putting the finishing touches on a short story with a legal bent. Continually searching for that all-important premise filled with questions, which arouse feelings that are often beyond imagination, yet seem real. Is there one place where you find writing the easiest, the most comfortable? Not really, although at my desk in a perfectly quiet house — that would be preferred, if possible. Book come in so many formats now. Do you prefer e-books, hardcovers or paperbacks to read? Until recently, I was adamant about reading paperbacks only. The idea of holding a real book in my hands, of knowing that our thoughts, too, are real and can be touched, was extraordinary. Then I started reading on my Kindle and enjoyed it just the same. Or almost the same. So, now it’s both. Is there any person in particular whom you admire? Why? To keep it about writing, I admire writers who explore the beauty of language, who allow a mystery or thriller to go beyond plot and fast-moving suspense and give us beautiful literary works. Writers such as P.D. James, for one. And of course, the old masters: Victor Hugo, Dostoyevsky — those who crafted a character so flawed yet so human we couldn’t help but love. Where can readers find out more about you and your work? I can be reached in a variety of ways. Here they are: strangerorfriend.com silviatomasvillalobos.wordpress.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/silvia.villalobos.140 Twitter: @Silvia__Writes Email: svillalobos.ro@gmail.com My thanks to Sylvia for her patience with this interview! I hope everyone who reads this post will check out her book! I’m heading off for another cup of coffee… 0 0
Stranger or Friend is Sylvia Villalobos’ first book, a mystery. Anyone familiar with Sylvia Writes, Ms. Villalobos’ blog, knows she is a wonderfully lyrical writer, an accomplished painter with words. I was very much looking forward to her book, and I was not disappointed. Zoe Sinclair returns just before Christmas to her home in Pine Vale, Wyoming, to take care of her mother, who is weak and clearly terminal with a heart condition. She comes back to the cold of an impending winter and the shocking murder of her best friend, Lori. Pine Vale is a small, somewhat isolated town whose citizens know each other. Outsiders are noticeable, and in the minds of some, not welcome. Which is why the Herods – Zoe’s and her mother’s across the road new neighbors – are viewed with such suspicion. No friend could possibly have murdered her, or could they? Ms. Villalobos sets the scene and the tension at the outset, when Zoe hears a faint crying and someone running in the woods in the dark outside her home just as she is pulling her bags from the car. The situation inside is no better: her mother Rosemary is incredibly weak, can’t be left by herself, and refuses an operation to repair her failing heart. A close family friend, Dr. Knox is overseeing her care and comes every day to check on her. Zoe’s life is bleak and made bleaker when an old friend from high school, Nolan Fox, now the Sheriff, comes to tell them that Lori is dead, strangled, her clothes ripped off. He needs information from Zoe because of her close relationship with Lori, and from Rosemary, because Zoe had been caring for her. Homicide is something new in Pine Vale, but the Sheriff leaves with more questions than answers. The town gradually becomes populated with recognizable characters: Marshall Park, an old friend who had stuck up for Zoe in high school and who is now the town’s handyman, despite his desire for a career as an artist; Louise Webber, the town gossip, who puts her nose in everyone’s business; Detective McCoy from the county administration, who is first reluctant to take on the case, then tries to run it by stepping on Sheriff Nolan; Cory, Lori’s boyfriend, knows nothing about what Lori was doing right before she was killed. Daphne Herod has become a close friend of Mother, as she is called, and it is Mother who introduces Zoe to the family: Daphne, a dream interpreter like Mother; Nick, the younger son who is severely mentally disturbed and who escapes from the house on a regular basis; and the older son Sebastian, a computer geek, whose good looks draw Zoe’s immediate attention. Is it Nick whom she hears in the woods? Did he murder Lori and the family is hiding it? A lot of townspeople think so. There is plenty of tension along the way to the discovery of the true killer: hang ups on Mother’s phone, a beating given to Zoe when she follows a suspicious red car into the country side, a Christmas card from Lori to Zoe whose message makes no sense, a rock thrown at Mother’s window, another murder. Ultimately, the killer seeks out Zoe herself as the next victim. I was definitely in suspense until, as they say, all was revealed in the final chapters. If I had a complaint about the book, it would be a rather slow beginning. But by the sixth chapter, I was fully engaged. Ms. Villalobos has drawn a dark and gritty mystery about a small town full of prejudices, and it’s a good read. Her writing is so descriptive and haunting that this reader found herself sitting right in the middle of Pine vale and its plots. I recommend it to my blog followers and mystery readers in general! You can find her book, which is being published by Summer Solstice and which will be released March 24, at: Disclosure: A free copy of the book was provided to this reviewer. Silvia Villalobos is a native of Romania who lives in Los Angeles and loves to write murder mysteries and short fiction. Her stories have appeared in The Riding Light Review, Pure Slush, and Red Fez, among other publications. She is attracted to write about premises filled with questions which arouse feelings and mental discourse. Her upbringing in Romania may have contributed to her wonderful imagination and to the writing of stories filled with peril. She likes to take long walks through the local paseos or hike in the Santa Clarita Woodland Park, and in addition to writing, she blogs regularly and has taken up preparing and giving speeches for Toastmasters International. Follow her on Twitter: @Sylvia_Writes and on her blog, Sylvia Writes 0 0
Tomorrow I get to introduce the first book by Sylvia Villalobos, the author of the blog Sylvia Writes. The book will be released March 24, and I was lucky enough to get an ARC. Sylvia has been a blogging sister for quite a while now, and her posts are always thoughtful, insightful, and challenging. I hope you will check her out, and stay tuned for my review of Stranger or Friend tomorrow. Someone else had a book release this month…er, me…and I hope you have taken a look at Death in a Dacron Sail. I promise you are in for a good reading ride. You can click on the icon to the left to connect with the book. Apologies for the shameless self promotion! 0 0
My second book, Death in a Dacron Sail was released ten days ago. I had a fabulous launch party in the Vat Room of a local brewery, and there have been two lovely online reviews so far: Barb Vitelli http://iwishilivedinalibrary.blogspot.com/2015/03/death-in-dacron-sail-review.html?showComment=1425491072329#c3996690571933 Rosie Amber https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2015/03/11/death-in-a-dacron-sail-by-noelle-granger/ Sally, of Smorgasbord – Variety is the Spice of Life – did a five star treatment of my first book, Death in a Red Canvas Sail: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2015/03/11/five-star-treatment-death-on-a-red-canvas-chair-by-n-a-granger-noelle/ Nick Rossi, bless his soul, has tweeted about my book for the last week. A million thanks to all of them! As Rhe would say, they are wicked kind. I’ve also had interviews published Chapel Hill Magazine, The Raleigh News and Observer, and the Boothbay Register. So now what? I feel like I’ve given birth, and someone else is caring for the baby! Am I suffering from post-partum depression? Here is what I have planned at this point: Other blogging friends out there who will review the book. Postcards printed I can send to everyone on my Christmas card list. Bookmarks printed to leave along with copies of my book to drop off at local independent bookstores (Barnes and Noble will not carry the book because it was published by CreateSpace) – this will take a day of driving around and begging. The A-Z Blog Challenge: this year it will be something related to my books (reveal on March 23) Some readings – working on that! So, all of my dear readers, give me more ideas! And please read the book and put some reviews on Amazon for me. I need all the input I can get. And I’m happy to return the favor. Hugs from Rhe, Will, Sam, Jack, Paulette and Marsh and…me! 0 0
Stranded in the Seychelles is a fun, frothy memoir of two young women looking for adventure before they have to make a life decision about settling down. It is written by Bev Spicer, who has written several humorous memoirs of her life, including Bunny on a Bike, telling of the time she was a Playboy croupier in London. Bev and Carol, her bosom buddy, have come to a fork in the road. Carol has just returned from teaching English to monks in Tibet, while Bev has held a series of uninspiring jobs, including typing out legal contracts and folding and labeling bin bags to send off with a quote to possible customers (that one really impressed me!). She finally gets a postgraduate teaching certificate from Cambridge and, at the time of this story, has been teaching English to uninterested secondary school students for a year. When Bev comes across an ad for qualified English teachers for the National Youth Service of the Seychelles, they both bite. I had to look up the Seychelles: the Seychelles Islands are an archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the eat coast of Africa, in the same general region as Zanzibar, Madagascar and Mauritius. The two friends fly out to their new island home, picturing a luxury villa on a beach, tropical fruit and air-conditioned class rooms. They should have been alarmed by the lack of information or even a syllabus for the classes they were to teach. By this time the reader is thinking too good to be true, don’t do it! They step off their plane into the climate of a convection oven, peopled by native and mixed raced individuals who speak mainly Creole, with strange customs and even stranger food. Eventually they are given their own house, with a steady breeze from the ocean and electricity. Also lizards and a wondrous variety of spiders, which spin webs like nets overnight. Their school is on another island, which they reach by landing craft each morning, together with other recruited teachers. The voyage is spent gagging on the acrid black smoke from the engine. Their classrooms are outside under tin roofs, which heat the air beneath to baking levels by the end of each day, and have poisonous centipedes dropping in from time to time. Teachers at the school come from various European countries as well as Sri Lanka and Mauritius, making a colorful, multilingual lot. The students, by contrast, are perpetually sleepy and unengaged in learning, despite Bev and Carol’s best efforts. This memoir is filled with eclectic characters, surprising and humorous adventures, lots of local beer, and experiences on and with an ancient Kawasaki 250 cc motorbike they purchase for getting around. Along the way, the reader is nicely schooled in the sometimes harsh realities of life in a poor, politically unstable country. A concatenation of events lead to Sue and Carol’s long and eventually successful attempt to terminate their contract after the first school term: most significantly to them was the ban on traveling anywhere during their breaks except within the Seychelles and Mauritius. Not to mention the lack of eligible men. This was a fun read, written with a sharp wit and keen sense of humor, with an eye to the ridiculous and candor with the politics. It’s a great memoir. It made me want to be young again, carefree and open to any adventure. Bev Spicer was born in a small market town in the Midlands of England and educated at Queens’ College, Cambridge. She was a lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University before moving to live in France with her husband and two of her children; there she writes full-time. Along the way, she has been a teacher, blackjack dealer for Playboy, examiner, secretary (various sorts – most boringly ‘legal’) and Sunday checkout girl at Tescos. As well as France, she has lived in Bridgnoth, Cambridge, Rethymnon (Crete), and Mahe (Seychelles). The next place she has said she wants to explore is probably Spain. She reports that her husband is very tolerant. She loves people, reading, writing, speaking French, astronomy (quantum theory addict), gardening, traveling, and hates housework, cooking, drizzle and honey. Sounds like my kind of author! You can find Stranded in the Seychelles, along with her ten (!) other books on Amazon: and Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6450490.Bev_Spicer as well as Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BevSpiceAuthor 0 0
On her blog, I Wish I Lived in a Library, Katherine posted her review of Death in a Dacron Sail. I am so pleased she liked it. I’ve always appreciated her reviews and had kept my fingers crossed she would enjoy it. Check it out at: iwishedilivedinalibrary.blogspot.com or http://iwishilivedinalibrary.blogspot.com/2015/03/death-in-dacron-sail-review.html?showComment=1425491072329#c3996690571933 0 0
