Thanks to Goodreads for tracking my reading adventures in 2016!
Merry Christmas!
In Search of Christmas Novellas…
Having devoted the month of November to NaNoWriMo, I found myself facing several incomplete and postponed projects that needed immediate attention. I’ve been playing catch-up this month and spending fewer hours reading novels–one of my favorite pastimes.
To get into the mood of the season, I decided to search for Christmas novellas that could be easily read in one sitting.
I didn’t have to look too far.
Four author friends–two Canadian and two American–have released Christmas novellas. I treated myself to four delightful reads that transported me from the west coast of Canada, across the American southwest, to New York.
Enjoy!
Will a Christmas wish give a lonely author a family?
Mystery writer, Joel Carpenter, has no time for romance. He has a deadline to meet, and too many skeletons in his closet to trust the slightly spinny artist renting his house.
Christy Taylor has her hands full dealing with an ailing business and a diabetic daughter, she doesn’t need the temptation that is her landlord, Joel Carpenter.
Can a Christmas wish bring two stubborn souls together and give a little girl the gift she wants most?
Jilted by her fiancé, librarian Maddy Jacobson is nursing a broken heart, when her best friend gives her an early Christmas present. Intended to be a fun, psychic reading in a spooky, tea house, the gift turns out to be life changing. Maddy becomes haunted by a mischievous, Highland ghost.
Ruggedly handsome, Cullen Macfie, the Highlander, has been dead for over three centuries, and never in all those years has he been so attracted to a woman, as he is to Maddy. He falls hopelessly in love and decides to woo her.
Can there be a future for a librarian and a naughty, Highland ghost?
A Highland Ghost for Christmas is a sweet, romantic comedy guaranteed to warm the cockles of your heart, make you laugh out loud and leave you craving a man in a kilt … and shortbread, of course.
With Christmas just a few weeks away, Gia San Valentino, the baby in her large, loud, and loving Italian family, yearns for a life and home of her own with a husband and bambini she can love and spoil. The single scene doesn’t interest her, and the men her well-meaning family introduce her to aren’t exactly the happily-ever-after kind. Tim Santini believes he’s finally found the woman for him, but Gia will take some convincing she’s that girl. A misunderstanding has her thinking he’s something he’s not. Can a kiss stolen under the Christmas lights persuade her to spend the rest of her life with him?
This romantic thriller is a steamy way to warm up your winter. Perfect for holiday reading, this Christmas novella will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Earth Friendly Gifts
When selecting a gift for a special friend or relative, I try to think and act with the Earth in mind. Instead of spending countless hours searching for that perfect item or gadget that will eventually be relegated to a drawer or closet, I stop and consider what would be appreciated. Mindful gift giving that creates deeper connections and honors environmental values does not require a lot of money or effort.
Continue reading on the Long and Short Reviews Blog.
Movie Review: Collateral Beauty
The reviews were less than promising. And the Rotten Tomatoes score dropped from 24 percent to 14 percent in less than one week. But I was determined to see this new Christmas movie with an other-worldly twist and a host of A-list actors.
Will Smith stars as grief-stricken Howard Inlet, the owner of a Manhattan ad agency, who spends his time building intricate structures out of dominos, writing poison pen letters to Love, Time, and Death, and bicycling madly through the streets of New York. Unable to even speak of his six-year-old daughter’s death, Howard retreats further and further from reality, jeopardizing the financial futures of his company and minority partners: Whit (Edward Norton), Claire (Kate Winslet), and Simon (Michael Peña).
Desperate to seize control and prevent catastrophe, the partners hire three struggling actors to personify Death (Helen Mirren), Love (Kiera Knightly), and Time (Jacob Latimore) and gaslight Howard while an unscrupulous investigator records the interactions and doctors the footage. I enjoyed watching all these “entities” in action…my favorite was Helen Mirren’s portrayal of Death.
Taken aback by these personal replies from the universe, Howard begins to doubt his sanity and seeks solace in a support group headed by Madeleine (Naomie Harris).
The three partners share their own issues with the actors, acquiring new insights as the film reaches its climax.
While watching, I was able to suspend my own ideas about what usually happens when angels and wannabe angels don’t magically appear and set everyone on the right path. And that is the allure of inspirational fables such as Collateral Beauty.
As to the definition of collateral beauty…it wasn’t made very clear in the film. This is my interpretation:
Our deepest losses can bring us to our knees and endanger our peace of mind. But those losses can also reveal moments (sometimes micro-moments) of beauty and laughter. When those fleeting moments appear, we must acknowledge them.
Fact Checking
I’m happy to welcome author Rusty Rhoad. Today, Rusty discusses fact checking and shares his latest release, Kaffka, The Holy Grail, & A Woman Who Reads: The Quests of Sir Kay.
Here’s Rusty!
Are you one of those readers where it ruins a book for you if the author is factually inaccurate? Does it have to be gross negligence? Is incidental inaccuracy moderately OK?
Turning that around from out side: how much fact checking is enough?
As a writer, I can vouch for one thing: 100% fact checking is a massively time-consuming undertaking. But as a reader, I’m pretty harsh when a writer screws it up badly. Seems contradictory, I know. And yet.
A few years ago, I wrote a scene about a feast that took place in the early 6th century Britain. They were feasting on wild game, barley bread, leeks, potatoes, and a homemade alcoholic brew. A very knowledgeable editor told me that potatoes came from the Americas and weren’t known in Britain until much later. A fact that I didn’t even know that I needed to check!
Fast forward to this summer. I was taking a vacation from writing–and pretty much everything else–on a cruise up the Alaskan coastline. A near-perfect vacation thus far, despite the fact that I’d hurt my back the week before and was not up to my usual adventuresome antics. And then came the whale-watching outing we’d signed up for.
First of all, it was a perfect day. In Alaska, those aren’t all that common–overcast had been the rule up to then. And we were pretty excited that we’d stumbled across a couple of finback whales feeding, although other than being whales, finbacks aren’t known for their entertaining antics like some of the other Cetacea. Bald eagles soared overhead, adding to our delight.
And then we stumbled into maybe a dozen and a half Orcas.
A couple of them, clearly aware that we were watching, put on a show for us. Leaping almost clear of the water less than 50 yards from the boat, falling back with a suitably impressive splash. The others continued their feeding, committed to their policy of mutual inter-species indifference.
Watching them reminded me of a thriller I’d read a few years back, where Killer Whales were featured in the opening scene. Some divers were exploring a pool in a hole under an icecap when they came across a pod of them. The whales eagerly killed all of the divers and swam about looking for more. This despite the fact that an attack by an Orca on a human in the wild have never been recorded. That wasn’t the only gross inaccuracy in the novel. I was so disgusted I took time to seek out the author’s address and write him about how bad his grip on the facts was (he didn’t reply). Needless to say, I’ve never bought anything else by him.
So in one sense, I guess I didn’t totally get away from the responsibility of a writer. Even on a whale-watching trip.
Not long ago I read a novel where a villain threatened the hero by cocking a machine pistol. Seriously? “Well (the chastened author asked), how many people know that a machine pistol isn’t cocked like a regular pistol?” Of the subcategory who read books where machine pistols are involved, I’d say a sizeable percentage.
So how much fact checking is enough? Here’s my advice: if you want a dedicated readership who will buy your next novel, and you have no idea what you’re talking about, check it all. Or at least ask someone familiar with the topic to read and comment. Don’t just make it up and assume.
About the Novel
Kaffka, the Holy Grail, and a Woman Who Reads: The Quests of Sir Kay is my fourth novel with ties to the Arthurian legends, but the first one that actually abandons the comfortable familiarity of contemporary times for the more arduous sixth century. I have long been fascinated with Britain’s foremost hero and his noble knights since the childhood romances about the Knights of the Round Table that I devoured growing up. But T. H. White’s The Once and Future King, the first significant work that I read for myself as an adolescent, changed my life forever.
I find Sir Kay to be a particularly intriguing figure. In the original Welsh legends, Kay (known then as Cei) was Arthur’s closest and most loyal companion. But by the time of the twelfth-century French romancers, notably Chrétien de Troyes, Kay had been transformed into the loutish foster-brother that we remember from the Disney animated movie, The Sword in the Stone. Not only that, but also Kay is a perfect example of my typical “beta male” hero—he’s far less likely to beat up the bad guy and save the world and far more likely to make sardonic comments about it all.
I’m glad that Sir Kay has finally gotten a chance to tell his story.
Bio
Rusty Rhoad grew up in Bluffton, South Carolina—the town that is the model for White Sands in Avalon, South Carolina as well as appearing in the novel in its current state of population and trendiness—before going to school in Houston, Texas (location of as yet unpublished novel Bradley Schuster and the Holy Grail). After a stint in the army at Fort Polk, Louisiana—not currently in any novel, for better or for worse—Rusty and his wife Kate took a year-long camping trip in their VW bus, covering some of the same territory that Arnie Penders explores in Return from Avalon (and Points West) before temporarily suspending their wanderlust near Houston.
During the last decade of a 32-year career as a chemical engineer, Rusty began writing novels over lunch. And now safely out of the grip of the complexity of the military-industrial rat race, he continues to write. He has four novels published, a fifth looking for an adventurous publisher, a sixth in editing, and a seventh in progress.
Where to find Rusty…
Fun Friday
10 Things You Need To Know About Flora Vastine
I’m happy to welcome author J.R. Lindermuth to this blog. Today, John will share ten interesting features about Flora Vastine, the protagonist in his latest release, Shares the Darkness.
Here’s JR!
1. Fresh out of high school and lacking the self-confidence needed to fulfill her dreams, Flora was a minor character, working as a part-time dispatcher for the Swatara Creek Police Department, in Something In Common, the first of the Sticks Hetrick series.
2. Flora’s admiration for her brothers Ed and Donnie, both of them State Police troopers, was a factor in her desire for a career in law enforcement. They, along with brothers Bill and Steve, encouraged and helped her achieve the goal.
3. With the help of her brothers Flora honed her skills in driving, marksmanship and self-defense and, with the support of Daniel ‘Sticks’ Hetrick, former chief and now unofficial consultant to his less experienced successor, joined the police department in Cruel Cuts, the second novel in the series. Though she’d cleared the final hurdle of her Act 120 certification, Flora still had to deal with Chief Aaron Brubaker’s dubious opinion of female officers.
4. Flora was attracted to Corporal Harry Minnich even before joining the department. But it took some time before the big lug seemed to notice her other than as a novice officer in need of the guiding influence of his broader experience.
5. Flora loves to run. It’s her favorite form of exercise. Either fresh in the morning before a shift or to mellow down after a grueling night tour, you’ll find her pacing along the streets of Swatara Creek, usually with her iPod tuned to some appropriate running music.
6. Flora lives with and keeps house for her widowed father Bill Vastine, a retired factory worker. They have a close relationship and Bill is always available with fatherly advice or help.
7. Flora’s acquaintance with a strange Amish girl nearly leads to her death in Corruption’s Child, third of the Hetrick series. In this same novel, Flora demonstrates her developing skills and finally wins the respect of Chief Brubaker.
8. After pondering sometime over a suitable name for the Border Collie Harry gives her for her birthday in Being Someone Else, Flora decides on Change. “That’s her name,” Flora said. “I got to thinking, nothing ever stays the same. For good or bad, life deals us change and it’s up to us to accept the challenge or consequences.”
9. While Sticks and Anita Bailey, the new woman in his life, are on a Caribbean cruise (where he deals with two murders with roots back home in Pennsylvania), Flora puts her life in jeopardy as she solves the mystery of assaults on young women in town.
10. Both Hetrick and Flora confront troubling, dangerous people from their pasts in A Burning Desire, sixth novel in the series. Flora’s compassion puts her on the hot seat with Chief Brubaker but proves to be a life-saving misstep.
Blurb
Jan Kepler and Swatara Creek Police Officer Flora Vastine were neighbors and schoolmates, but never close.
When Jan, a school teacher, avid birder and niece of a fellow officer, goes missing and is found dead in a nearby tract of woods Flora finds herself thrust into the middle of an examination of the other woman’s life, as she searches for clues.
As usual, the police have more than one crime to deal with. There’s illegal timbering and a series of vehicle thefts taking up their time. And there are other issues to deal with. Flora is concerned there’s some shakiness in her relationship with Cpl. Harry Minnich who seems to be making a lot of secretive phone calls.
Still Flora maintains focus on the murder. Despite evidence implicating other suspects, the odd behavior of another former classmate rouses Flora’s suspicion. Flora’s probing opens personal wounds as she observes the cost of obsessive love and tracks down the killer.
Buy Links
Amazon | Torrid | Simon and Schuster | Barnes & Noble
Bio
J. R. Lindermuth is the author of 12 novels, including six in his popular Sticks Hetrick mystery series and two in the new Sheriff Sylvester Tilghman series, and a non-fiction history book.
A retired newspaper editor, he currently serves as librarian of his county historical society where he assists patrons with genealogy and research.
He is a member of EPIC and International Thriller Writers and currently serves as vice president of the Short Mystery Fiction Society.
A native Pennsylvanian, he is the father of two children and has four grandsons.
Where to find J.R. Lindermuth…
Website | Amazon | Blog | FB (personal) | FB (author) | Twitter | Goodreads
A Mangiacake Tradition
Scalilli. Turdilli. Crostoli. Grispelle. Biscotti. Pizzelle. I have fond memories of all those Italian desserts my mother and grandmother prepared during the Christmas season. They would start baking early in December and then make more batches as the month progressed.
While I enjoyed partaking, I was not overly thrilled with the amount of work involved. In fact, delicious and labor intensive would be two apt descriptions for many of the entrées and desserts that emerged from my mother’s kitchen.
One Christmas in the early 1970s, my mother presented a different kind of dessert. She placed a dish filled with unusual shapes on the table and said, “Help yourself to a snowball.”
Continue reading on Kathy Bryson’s blog.
10 Career Choices I Almost Pursued
I’m happy to welcome back Soul Mate author Ryan Jo Summers to the Power of 10 series. Today, Ryan reflects upon past career aspirations and shares her latest release, Beside Still Waters.
#1—Veterinarian. This was always number one on my list, from the time I was old enough to understand what a veterinarian was. I never took our pets to visit one, so I must have watched one on television or read about them in books, but however I learned about them, I wanted to become one from this hallowed profession. The colleges were even selected as I grew older and held tight my dream. Notebooks filled with reference materials I gleaned over the years. Interestingly, I did not meet my first veterinary doctor until I was eighteen and went to work at their clinic as a technician. Best career ever.
#2—Coast Guard Boatswains Mate. You know those movies in which the boaters find themselves in stormy waters and great trouble? The boats pitch wildly as the waters rise and toss it about. And at the last moment the Coast Guard rushes to the rescue. That was what I wanted to do. I wanted to be the one at the bow of the rescue boat, during the biting rains, racing across the choppy seas, to reach the stranded boater. To this day I can’t watch a boating movie without wondering why I didn’t pursue this.
#3—Marine Biologist. This was a close runner up behind being in the Coast Guard. Still on the water for a good deal of time, and still related to the animals I cared so deeply about. Anchored with a great deal of science, which I always enjoyed, I will always think this would have been a good career choice.
#4—Architect. I don’t recall what started this notion. Perhaps it was during a brief study in school of famous architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and others. This career choice was more of a passing infatuation that never grew beyond a few dreamy sketches of my perfect house. I might still have that notebook stashed around somewhere.
#5—Archeologist. This was another science fueled career decision, and it seemed initially to be exciting. I’m not sure where the beginning premise originated but once I learned archeologists usually work in dry, dusty, and hot environments, I quickly bailed. No thanks, I’m a water lover, not a desert dweller. My sophomore novel, “Shimmers of Stardust”, features an archeologist who winds up in very hot water over an unexpected ‘find’—an outlaw from the past.
#6—Librarian. This was a no brainer. I grew up hanging out in libraries, both school and public. I knew the Dewey Decimal system by heart before I could drive a car. And in high school I took an elective called Librarian Aide. It was a wonderful year. I learned so much about public interaction, professional expectations, librarian equipment like microfiche and projectors, and the books I read that year. Oh my! In the end, I left and never returned to working in a library. My den, however, resembles a library with its wrap-around book shelves laden with, what else, books! And a few other things like ceramic statues, CD’s, and a model ship.
#7—Nurse. Now, this is a career I still tinker with. Technically, a veterinary technician (a career I enjoyed for over eight years) is an animal nurse. And I did go ahead and earn my certificate as a Physical Therapy Aide, and have never used it. I love all things having to do with nursing, from phlebotomy, to radiology, to rehabilitation, to surgery. Doubtlessly I would find something I liked in the nursing field.
#8—Caterer. I am not sure where this came from, as I never knew a caterer or hired one. It was more of a sudden awareness somehow of a career and a fleeting fancy that it would be a cool job. I like baking and cooking, so it seemed like a natural connection. The notion passed before I could do any research to see what was required. Interestingly, I used catering as a career for my heroine in an upcoming release, “Coffeecake Chaos”, and I routinely pet-sit for a pair of caterers now.
#9—Teacher. This one was suggested, repetitively, to me by numerous people as I grew up. It was suggested by many that I go into teaching. (Honestly, I don’t really know why) So when the elective of teacher aide came up in Jr high school, I signed up for a year. I also took office aide as well. I was in eighth grade and sent to first grade to assist with 24 charming six-year-olds. It was an educational year, I learned a lot, and look fondly back on the time. And it cured me of any desire to be a teacher. I am tinkering with having this be the career of the heroine in one of my early-planning-stage stories.
#10—Writer. This was up there neck and neck with Veterinarian. I always knew I wanted to be a writer, ever since I could read and write. It took some years to realize people actually made a living doing this, but I wanted to write. I needed to write. Whether I made a living or not, I had to be writing something, and searching for someone who wanted to read it. It wasn’t so much a career, I felt, but a calling. Perhaps over time I will write stories to incorporate the other careers I ended up not pursuing.
Blurb
Top Journalist and corporate climber, McKayla Buchanan, is sent to a remote California mountain camp for inner-city, at-risk teens. Accustomed to political corruption and high-society drama assignments, she is suddenly a fish out of water. At Camp In As Much, she meets eight hostile and distrustful teens, assorted volunteers and rescued horses—and Clay.
Clay Michaels is the man who founded Camp In As Much and made it the success it is now. His hope for the highly recommended journalist is to come and write a feature to send seeds out to form other camps like his nationwide. He never considered the reporter would turn out to be a lovely woman, or for him to have such an attraction to her.
Between McKayla’s worldly experience and Clay’s strong faith, they form a partnership to help with the endless challenges of the kids. While McKayla’s assignment is supposed to be temporary, it isn’t long before she and Clay are each wishing it could last longer. A serious situation will force McKayla to decide if she can give up her worldly ways and place her faith in the same higher source that earthy and godly Clay does.
Bio
Ryan Jo Summers writes romance across the genres. Her books contain love stories blended with any combination of mystery, paranormal, time travel, shape shifting, Christian and humor elements. She comes from a family of wordsmiths. Her dad is a songwriter and his aunt wrote poetry. Ryan Jo dabbles in poetry, short stories and non-fiction articles. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking and baking, reading, spending time with friends, growing plants, playing chess, mah jongg, and wiggly word find puzzles and exploring the great outdoors. She lives in the heart of Appalachia in Western North Carolina in a charming old cottage with a menagerie of rescue pets.
Where to find Ryan Jo Summers…
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter
Joanne Guidoccio 