Thrilling Midwives

by Samuel Thomas

When you picture your typical protagonist for a thriller, a few professions come to mind. You have your detectives, police officers, lawyers, and spies, of course. Occasionally you’ll get a doctor, or a reporter thrown in there, but there is a “type.” Historically speaking they’re usually men, and they are usually in the business of figuring things out. Problems arise when a nefarious person, government agency, or criminal organization (did I repeat myself?), wants to keep them from figuring it out.

In light of this, my decision to write thrillers about a midwife seems brilliantly iconoclastic, right? What less likely protagonist could there be, except a nun? (Shout out to ITW member Nancy Bilyeau, whose recent thriller The Crown is about a nun. It’s excellent and you should read it.) In truth, I started with the midwife, and found myself writing a thriller as if it were the most natural thing in the world. How did this happen?

Click here to continue reading…

Miranda Parker Moderates May 23 #LitChat Literary Mysteries

Literary mysteries take readers beyond the who-did-it and into the psychological playground of murder and mayhem. This Wednesday in #litchat we’ll discuss how literary mysteries differ from mainstream or genre mysteries and why they are often misunderstood. Join me on Twitter at 4PM ET. I will be the guest moderator for this session. Woohoo!  Don’t forget use the hashtag #litchat http://litchat.net/

 

the 99cent UnStory

There are a lot of books, both print and digital that aren’t readable. I’m not talking about the kind of story that may not be your cup of tea. I’m talking about unstories. An UnStory is a book that is poorly written, full of backstory, and goes nowhere. There are tons of them available to download online for as little as 99 cents. But that cheap read will cost you more than you bargained for.

Chick Lit Author Blog Hop

In honor of Inter­na­tional Chick Lit Month I’m cel­e­brat­ing with 34 fab­u­lous authors for the Chick Lit Author Blog Hop. Not only are we cel­e­brat­ing, but we’re giv­ing away ebook good­ies and a $150 Sephora Gift Card for those of you who play along.  So Wel­come to my spot on the hop and let’s get started…

The post below con­tains a “secret” ital­i­cized word (*not a book title). Find it, then col­lect a secret word from each of the other fab­u­lous Chick Lit Blog Hops, and you can qual­ify for the Sephora Gift Card.

Chick Lit on the Edge

I fell in love with Chick Lit in high school when I was intro­duced to Jane Austen. How­ever, I didn’t think I could write it, because for some odd rea­son some­one has to die in my sto­ries, my main char­ac­ter has to be smack dab in the mid­dle of the crime scene, and she has to be smit­ten by a bad boy.

My Angel Craw­ford Series is more like a Chick Lit Sus­pense. It’s min­i­mal on the crime pro­ce­dural jar­gon, strong on the page turn­ing, man­hunt action filled sus­pense, and heavy  on women try­ing to  do the best they can to live their best life and look good while doing it.

Once I became pub­lished I was over­joyed to found sim­i­lar chick­lit sus­pense nov­els like mine. Here are two of my favorites:

Kate White’s Bai­ley Weg­gins Series is my favorite.  ‘Til Death Do Us Part was the novel that hooked me to the series. I had to go back and catch up.

Syn­op­sis: True crime writer and sometime-sleuth Bai­ley Weg­gins takes the plunge into a world of domes­tic divas and deadly nup­tial doings … When she gets a call from Ash­ley Hanes on a frigid night, Bai­ley expects to be hit up for fash­ion show tick­ets. Instead Ash­ley reveals that two brides­maids from Pey­ton Cross’s wed­ding have recently died in freak acci­dents … and Ash­ley is ter­ri­fied she’s next.

Ellen Byerrum’s KILLER HAIR

Syn­op­sis: Fash­ion reporter Lacey Smith­son­ian tack­les a deadly fash­ion crime in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., when A beau­ti­ful dead hair­styl­ist, is found mur­dered.  Amid ditzy diva styl­ists, a fog of D.C. scan­dals and con­spir­a­cies, and a wave of “assisted” sui­cides, Lacey must tease out the twisted truth before she becomes the vic­tim of the Cap­i­tal City’s next fatal coif­fure, assisted by her unstop­pable styl­ist, a short-circuited psy­chic, and the one man she thought she’d never have a sec­ond chance with.

To win a copy of my upcom­ing release SOMEONE BAD and SOMETHING BLUE (June 2012),leave a com­ment with your name and email address.

More about my book, SOMEONE BAD and SOMETHINGBLUE:

Beau­ti­ful, brainy, and tough-as-nails, sin­gle mom and bail recov­ery agent turned sleuth Angel Craw­ford has a lot on her plate. But between crime-solving and kinder­garten car­pool, it’s all in a day’s work…
Ordered to take a vaca­tion, Angel gives in–and sets out to solve the mys­tery that’s got her liv­ing on the edge: a dis­turb­ing deliv­ery and haunt­ing mes­sage that trans­ports her back to the tragic day her fiancée, Gabriel Hwang, was mur­dered. Con­vinced the trail to the killer is no longer cold after six long years, Angel embarks on a hunt for the truth that pro­pels her into Atlanta’s secre­tive speakeasy soci­ety, the annual Run­ning of the Brides, and a romp around a swamp with a hand­some U.S. Mar­shall that may ruin her future with Pas­tor Jus­tus Too-Hot-To-Be-Holy Mor­gan. That is, pro­vid­ing she has a future…

Now here’s your chance to win other nov­e­l­i­cious Chick Lit e-books or a $150 Sephora gift card, read on!

Chick Lit Author Blog Hop Rules:
–Each of the 34 par­tic­i­pat­ing authors has writ­ten a Chick Lit-centric piece. At each stop on the blog (includ­ing mine), you will have the chance to win a free Chick Lit e-book! All you have to do is leave a com­ment on the blog post, includ­ing your name and email address, and you’re auto­mat­i­cally entered to win!
–At the end of this post, you will find a list of all of the stops, so get hop­ping and I know you’ll find some fab­u­lous books.
–And, if you’d like a chance to win a $150 gift­card to Sephora, visit all 34 blogs,  and in each of the author’s posts, you will find a secret ital­i­cized word. Col­lect all 34 secret ital­i­cized words and email the list to CLABlogHop@aol.com before mid­night on Sun­day, May 20th, and you will be entered to win! 
–The e-book win­ners as well as the Grand Prize Sephora gift­card win­ner will be announced on Mon­day, May 21st.

*Con­tests are open to res­i­dents of the United States only.
And so with­out fur­ther ado, here are the Chick Lit Author Blog Hop Participants:

1. Natalie Aaron/Marla Schwartz
2. Erik Atwell
3. Christa Ann Banister
4. Tra­cie Banister
5. Bar­bara Barth
6. Whit­ney Boyd
7. Lacy Camey
8. Margo Can­dela
9. Lisa Cheney/Lisa Craig
10. Lau­ren Clark
11. Jen­nifer Daiker
12. Jenny Gar­diner
13. Heidi Hall
14. Cari Kamm
15. J. F. Kristin
16. Francine LaSala
17. Lisa Lim
18. Kim­berly Lin
19. Saman­tha March
20. Mag­gie Marr
21. Libby Mer­cer
22. Miranda Parker (me)
23. Jackie Pilos­soph
24. Caitie Quinn
25. Bethany Ramos
26. Mered­ith Schorr
27. Rachel Schurig
28. Lisa Scott
29. Nancy Scro­fano
30. Dina Sil­ver
31. Lucie Simone
32. Juli­ette Sobanet
33. Heather Thurmeier
34. Jen Tucker

    ---

    1. Natalie Aaron/Marla Schwartz	2. Erik Atwell	3. Christa Ann Banister
    4. Tracie Banister	5. Barbara Barth	6. Whitney Boyd
    7. Lacy Camey	8. Margo Candela	9. Lisa Cheney/Lisa Craig
    10. Lauren Clark	11. Jennifer Daiker	12. Jenny Gardiner
    13. Heidi Hall	14. Cari Kamm	15. J. F. Kristin
    16. Francine LaSala	17. Lisa Lim	18. Kimberly Lin
    19. Samantha March	20. Maggie Marr	21. Libby Mercer
    22. Miranda Parker	23. Jackie Pilossoph	24. Caitie Quinn
    25. Bethany Ramos	26. Meredith Schorr	27. Rachel Schurig
    28. Lisa Scott	29. Nancy Scrofano	30. Dina Silver
    31. Lucie Simone	32. Juliette Sobanet	33. Heather Thurmeier
    34. Jen Tucker

    
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This entry was posted in Bad Girls Write and tagged Bailey Weggins, Chicklit, Jane Austen. Bookma

CHICK LIT AUTHOR BLOG HOP 2012

The 2012  Chick Lit Author Blog Hop

In honor of International Chick Lit Month I’m celebrating with 34 fabulous authors for the Chick Lit Author Blog Hop. Not only are we celebrating, but we’re giving away ebook goodies and a $150 Sephora Gift Card for those of you who play along.  So Welcome to my spot on the hop and let’s get started...

The post below contains a “secret” italicized word (*not a book title). Find it, then collect a secret word from each of the other fabulous Chick Lit Blog Hops, and you can qualify for the Sephora Gift Card.

Click here to participate

Christian Fiction Author Rhonda Bowen Shares Writing Journey with Toronto, Canada

Congrats to our Rhonda Bowen . She will be writing a column for Toronto's Word on The Street Festival Blog. The Word on The Street Festival is Canada's largest annual book and magazine festival, boasting 200,000 attendants.

The Journey of a Thousand Pages

I guess if I should talk about writing I should start at the beginning. But what is the beginning? Is it that January morning when I excused myself from my meeting to answer the first ever phone call from my would-be-editor? Or was it several years earlier when I sat in a cubicle working my dead end job and decided to start writing for real so I would have something sensible going on in my life. Those were beginnings of sorts.  But I think the real beginning was with a girl named Simone, a boring Geography class, and a $1.25 notebook.

Read Rhonda's first article here:http://torontowots.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/my-journey-to-getting-published-rhonda-bowen/

DeeGospel PR is accepting new clients for the fall and winter 2012 complete this form if you're interested http://www.deegospelpr.com/request

Children Book Week: the Enchanted Attic

the Enchanted Attic

by L.L. Samson

Synopsis: A hidden attic. A classic story. A very unexpected twist. Twin twelve-year-old bookworms Ophelia and Linus Easterday discover a hidden attic that once belonged to a mad scientist. While relaxing in the attic and enjoying her latest book, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Ophelia dozes off, and within moments finds herself facing a fully alive and completely bewildered Quasimodo. Ophelia and Linus team up with a clever neighbor, a hippy priest, and a college custodian, learning Quasimodo’s story while searching for some way to get him back home---if he can survive long enough in the modern world.

Ask Dee: Can Writing for Profit Kill Your Spirit for Writing?

Since I’ve become published, I’ve begun receiving emails, offers for advise, writing tips, that sort of thing… Do you mind if I share my answers here at THE MASTER’s ARTIST? I will share one today and you let me know if should keep this going for my next post.

Question:

Good morning Dee,

I* am writing because I have a friend who used to write socially (an occasional blog here and there) but now is writing for profit. She shared that now that she has to do it that it has some how removed the excitement and actually struggles to write now. Has that been your experience? I'm asking because I love writing as well and enjoy doing blogs when given the chance but if this more than I thought it would be then I'm not sure if it is for me.
Thanks in advance for your guidance and input.

My Answer:  Click here to read at THE MASTER’s ARTiST BLOG

Two Controversial Novels on Faith and Distortion

 

 

                        

Just after I turn in my novels to my publisher, I begin my hunt for a deep spring read, the kind of novel that makes me drop to my knees and thank God that my editor didn’t read it before she signed me, the kind of novel that makes me want to be a better craftsman at writing, the kind of novel that explores topics about my faith that challenges my stewardship, the kind of novel that affirms why I lean on the body of Christ when I’m weak, and the kind of novel where I don’t mind sentences as long as this one. This month I want to share two literary novels with strong Christian themes that are past the fringe of traditional Christian fiction but are at the heart of the dilemma that affects us today. Read more about the novels I picket at Christian Fiction Online Magazine.