Page 3 of 17
1 2 3 4 17

Review: “Somebody to Love” by Kristan Higgins

~ By Elle Filz

By all accounts, Parker Welles is living a charmed life.  A trust fund kid, she’s the author of a wildly-successful childrens book series – the profits of which are donated to charity.  She’s also got an adorable son, good friends, and a nice little life in small-town Rhode Island.

And one day, she loses it all.  One evening, her father appears on her doorstep with his two henchmen (not so affectionately known as “Thing One” and “Thing Two”) and announces that he’s in trouble with the SEC.  Their assets – including Parker and her son, Nicky’s, trust funds – are gone.  All she has left is the money in her checking account.Oh, and a house in Maine that was left to her by an aunt.  With Nicky going to California with his dad, Parker decides to head to Maine.  If she can flip the house, she’ll have a nice little nest egg with which to purchase a new home for herself and Nicky.  She just doesn’t count on the home being such a disaster or Thing One being such a good handyman…

It’s so easy to love Kristan Higgins.  Her characters are people you want to have dinner with and the small towns that she builds are little pieces of New England heaven.  In Somebody to Love, Higgins revisits both characters and locale, which gives the whole thing a high school homecoming feel (assuming, of course, that you liked high school).  The genius of it is that, instead of creating a sequel for one book, Higgins has managed to combine the people of one book (Parker Welles is Lucy Mirabelli’s best friend from The Next Best Thing) with the location of another (Gideons Cove, Maine, is the home of Maggie and Malone in Catch of the Day), thus establishing that, yes, Higgins’ novels are all in the same universe.  If the pattern holds true, that also means that I’m not completely crazy for hoping to see one of the O’Neill boys from Just One of the Guys starring as the hero of his own novel one day.

(What can I say? Lucky and Jack were both intriguing.  A prequel about either of them would be incredible.)

Though the reader doesn’t have to have read either of the original books to understand Somebody to Love, there are a couple of seemingly throwaway lines that instead turn into delicious inside jokes if you’ve gone in having read Catch of the Day.   And since The Next Best Thing has, in my opinion, the best “Law and Order twist” of all of Higgins’ novels, you should probably pick that one up, either before or after Somebody to Love, as well.

By day, Elle Filz is an IT geek in Baltimore, MD.  By night, you can either find her singing karaoke or jotting down notes for her next women’s fiction story.  She is also an aspiring Betty Crocker-type who thanks God every day that a fireman lives next door.
PostCategoryIcon Posted in  Reviews  |  PostTagIcon  Tags:  , , , , , ,  |  PostCommentsIcon  Comments Off on Review: “Somebody to Love” by Kristan Higgins

This Week in Chick Lit

~ By Melina Kantor

Hello Chick Lit Fans!

Congratulations on surviving the week!

Here are two of the chick lit related stories floating around the Web this week:

First, there’s this story in Publisher’s Weekly about defining chick lit, in which Barbara Vey actually asked people on the street for their definition of the genre.

Then, I came across this article about being a book snob. Warning: the article includes the term ‘”downmarket” genre fiction’. Hmm.

Also, don’t forget to check out all the wonderful posts over at International Chick Lit Month!

Have a great weekend. 🙂

Melina writes contemporary women’s fiction with a pinch of oregano and a dash of chutzpah. She loves to travel and enjoys turning her adventures into research and inspiration for her writing. This summer, she and her dog will be moving from Brooklyn to Jerusalem. You can visit her at http://melinakantor.com.

PostCategoryIcon Posted in  Chick Lit News and Links  |  PostTagIcon  Tags:  , , , ,  |  PostCommentsIcon  Comments Off on This Week in Chick Lit

Interview With Teresa Thorne

~ Interview by Chris Bailey

Before [RWA Chapter] Southern’s Magic’s 2011 Reader’s Luncheon, I asked Birmingham author Teresa Thorne to tell blog readers more about her award-winning novel, Noah’s Wife, named the 2009 Historical Fiction Book of the Year by ForeWord Reviews Magazine.
Our correspondence fell into an unpredictable cyberspace wormhole, but I’m delighted to report that we ultimately managed to connect, and thrilled to bring you the interview.

About the book:

Noah’s Wife is the story of Na’amah, a brilliant young girl with a form of autism we know today as Asperger’s Syndrome. Na’amah desires only to be a shepherdess on her beloved hills in ancient Turkey–a desire shattered by the hatred of her powerful brother, the love of two men, and a disaster only she knows is coming.

Welcome Teresa!

Q. To begin, let me admit: I’m both a writer and a fan, and I’m totally intimidated by your accomplishments. You not only have achieved admirable things in real life–you’ve garnered a novel-of-the-year award and earned a slew of other writing credits. And you’re making your home city a better place. And you have a personal life. How have you managed to ride herd on your competing interests?

A. Thank you for your too kind words, Chris. I guess part of the answer is that I am not good at relaxing. I figured that out one day when I went onto my front porch, which looks down into a beautiful valley, and sat in a rocking chair to “practice” retirement (no book; no laptop; no cell phone). It lasted about 30 seconds before I had to get up and “do” something. On the other hand, I rarely watch TV. (I am socially-challenged if conversations head that way.) And I am a terrible house-keeper. (So fortunate in having a husband who enjoys cooking, does laundry and puts up with me working in seclusion for long periods of time.) Another factor that helps is no (human) children in the house, only four dogs, two cats and two horses.

Q. What was the genesis of Noah’s Wife?

A. A friend of mine wrote a poem called “Noah’s Wife.” She was inspired to write it after learning that in the Bible, Noah’s wife is not even given a name and only allotted one line. I thought that needed to be “fixed.” I wanted to write a story that reflected what might have really happened, the source of the Noah’s ark tale, so I started researching it. To my excitement, I learned about a great flood thousands of years ago that transformed a small fresh water lake into the Black Sea and flooded the plains of Mesopotamia. I researched the time period, placed my character in ancient Turkey, and traveled with her for four years to see what happened. It was a wonderful ride.

Q. What was the earliest answer you remember to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

A. An astronaut. I wanted to make “first contact” with cool aliens! Wrote a letter to NASA when I was eleven years old asking what courses I needed to take to be in the space program. Back then, that was impossible for a woman, especially one with bad vision (too many books), so I decided to become a social worker, only a funny thing happened along the way, and I ended up in a 22-year career as a police officer in Birmingham. Go figure. In those days, we always had a partner, and mine usually drove. My job was to look out the window for signs of break-ins or suspicious people. In between bursts of adrenalin, this got boring, and I don’t do boring very well (see above re: rocking chair). So, I would stare out the window, looking alert and daydream about plot and dialogue for a novel. To this day, I do my best “thinking” in a car.

Q. What came first, life experience or the urge to write?

A. My first story came at about age ten, so if you don’t count my first decade as “experience,” the desire to write came first for me.

Q. Among all your projects, do you have a favorite?

A. I can’t pick one, but of my novels, my favorites are Noah’s WifeAngels at the Gate: The Story of Lot’s wife, my forthcoming novel; and a science fiction novel, Snowdancers of Veld. I was also fortunate to have the experience of turning one of my short stories into a screenplay and seeing it made into a film (Six Blocks Wide). That was almost too much fun!

Q. Would you tell us about your adventures in publishing? I ask because I notice that you have had two publishers–Chalet and Blackburn Fork–in a short time. As many of the Romance Magician blog subscribers are also writers, an account of your journey would be enlightening.

A. Sure. “Adventures in publishing” is an apt phrase. The short version of the story is that originally, Noah’s Wife was picked up by Chalet Publishing, a boutique publisher in Arizona, however, they had to close their doors, so I chose to publish Noah’s Wife myself (Blackburn Fork) because people are still asking for it. Meanwhile, I am shopping a home for my next novel, Angels at the Gate. An agent is reading it as we speak. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Q. When you consider how easy it is to email and blog, we may be living in a new golden age of letters. Do you have any advice for writers who aspire to be novelists?

A. My advice is old stuff, but true stuff: Read. Write. Study the craft of writing. Don’t give up. Listen to your characters. Don’t baby your characters; they can’t grow if they don’t experience pain. Put things together that you wouldn’t think would normally go and see what happens. When I “discovered” my character had Aspergers Syndrome (a form of autism), it was a surprise, and my first reaction was, I can’t give Aspergers to Noah’s wife! But my character insisted that was right and I listened to her … and she was right.

Aside from the “Big Six” publishers, there are choices now (small presses, self-publishing, eBooks) that were not available years ago. That is a good thing, but don’t be fooled into thinking you can succeed without the work that needs to be done to be the best writer you can be. The path is a hard one, sometimes bitter, frustrating and even painful. But it is also a path of joy, and I wish every writer the amazing experience of giving birth to a “child” with wings to fly out into the world–apart from you, but always part of you.

Thanks, Teresa, for answering the questions, and best wishes with your agent search!

T.K. Thorne served with the Birmingham, Alabama Police Department for more than 20 years in a variety of positions, including as a detective and precinct commander, retiring with the rank of captain. Today she is the Executive Director of City Action Partnership, a business improvement district in downtown Birmingham. Noah’s Wife is her debut novel. A film from her screenplay, Six Blocks Wide, has shown at film festivals in Alabama and Europe. She lives on a beautiful mountain in north central Alabama with her family of people, dogs, cats and horses.

For more information about T.K. Thorne and her work visit her web site, www.tkthorne.com or her blog, T.K.’s Tales, www.tkthorne.wordpress.com. You can find Teresa on Facebook as Teresa K. Thorne, and also as Noah’s Wife.

PostCategoryIcon Posted in  Interview  |  PostTagIcon  Tags:  , , , , , ,  |  PostCommentsIcon  Comments Off on Interview With Teresa Thorne

My Road to Publication

~ By Karen Cino

My road to publication has been a long one.  Now that it’s here, I can say that it is everything I have ever dreamed of and more.  Being a writer has always been a dream.  Through the years I doubted my dream and wondered if I should have taken a different career path.  It’s tough when you receive one rejection letter after the other.  Eventually I gave up hope, and walked away from writing.  I replaced my story writing with poetry for a brief time, before the voices started again in my head, leading me to believe, it was time.

The most challenging part of my journey was finding the time to write.  And the reason why I want to talk about this is because since getting injured at work, I am home every day.  Can you imagine?  It’s every writer’s dream to be able to write any time they want.  Wrong.  I found since I stopped working, I wrote less, stating there weren’t enough hours in the day.  I took a step back and realized it was to make some changes.

By this time I was all over the place.  Running around for my kids, cooking, cleaning…yuk!  I needed to find time for myself, being able to get myself into a solid writing mode. Sitting back and reflecting, I came up with my own plan.

I make sure that I find time every single day to do my writing. I start my day by going down to the Staten Island Boardwalk. (Yes, even in the dead of winter.) Not only do I stay physically active, but I’m using this time to open my mind.  On my walk, I always make sure I have index cards and a pen, so I’m always equipped to jot down an idea. Did you ever wonder why your mind is always full of extraordinary ideas when you don’t have your gear with you?  Well I learned that my cell phone has a recorder on it, another way to voice my ideas and listen back to them when I get home.

My life as a writer has been a long one, with so many ups and downs. The ups when I completed a manuscript, the downs when I received the rejection letters.  (And yes, I have enough of them to wallpaper my living room.) But through the good times and the bad, I never gave up my dream.  So you can imagine my surprise when I got the call.  When I say I was at a loss for words, believe me that’s something which never happens.

I want to leave you with the same advice you always hear.  Don’t give up.  Keep working on your manuscript and don’t be afraid to submit.  I have waited for this moment for over twenty-three years and I’m glad that I didn’t give up.  Go after your dream, imagine the outcome and know it’s everything you ever dreamed of and more.

Karen Cino is an author, poet and former journalist.  She’d been writing since she was fourteen years old.  She started her career by writing poetry, short stories and articles for her high school newspaper and the Staten Island Register.  After reading Jackie Collin’s Lovers and Gamblers, she knew she found her niche, writing women’s fiction.

Her daily walk down at the boardwalk is what gets her muse going.  It clears her mind and helps her find realistic plot ideas and characters, boosting her muse.  She loves writing about local places that people can relate to.

Karen is a single mom living in Staten Island, New York with her two adult children, Michael and Nicole, and three cats.

Website: www.karencino.com

Blog:        www.karencinobooks.blogspot.com

PostCategoryIcon Posted in  Writing Life  |  PostTagIcon  Tags:  , , , , ,  |  PostCommentsIcon  Comments Off on My Road to Publication

This Week in Chick Lit

~ By Melina Kantor

Hello Chick Lit Fans!

Happy Friday. More importantly, happy International Chick Lit Month! Yes, there’s an entire month dedicated to our favorite genre, and it’s brought to us by the lovely women at Chicklit Club, Chick Lit is Not Dead, Chick Lit Central and Novelicious. Head on over for wonderful guest blogs and much more. While you’re there, be sure to read the fantastic message on their “About” page.

You may also want to hop on over to Kirkus Reviews to see what Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has to say about contemporary romance.

Last but not least, I came across this cartoon here and just had to share. Thank you, Dr. Fizzy McFizz!

Have a great weekend! 🙂

Melina writes contemporary women’s fiction with a pinch of oregano and a dash of chutzpah. She recently returned from a two month trip to Crete and Israel, where she visited  family and friends did her best to turn her travels into research and inspiration for her writing. You can visit her at http://melinakantor.com.

PostCategoryIcon Posted in  Chick Lit News and Links  |  PostTagIcon  Tags:  , , , ,  |  PostCommentsIcon  Comments Off on This Week in Chick Lit

The Agent Search – Another Perspective

~ By Maureen McGowan

These days, writers have options to get their books into the hands of readers, but many are still looking for something resembling the “traditional” publishing experience. And the simple fact remains, to up your chances of getting your manuscript read by editors at the big publishers, you need an agent.

Since I’ve done the agent hunt thing, twice, I thought I’d share a few thoughts for those of you on the hunt, to put it in perspective, or at least to offer a slightly different perspective. I hope an empowering one.

Yes, while on the hunt, often it feels like agents have all the power. Even once you’ve got an agent, it can take a while before that power imbalance starts to stabilize (depending on how your respective careers are going). But one thing writers often seem to forget is who works for whom.

To remind us, I thought it might be interesting to boil the agent hunt process down to the business basics.

First, at the risk of going all Econ 101 on you, the reason the power feels out of balance is a matter of supply and demand. That is, there are more aspiring writers and manuscripts, than there are qualified agents. Ergo, agents are a scarce commodity, and even if they’re looking for new work, many can afford to be picky when choosing new clients. The more successful they are, the pickier they can afford to be.

But the scarceness of the supply, doesn’t change the substance of what’s going on when a writer is agent hunting. It doesn’t change the fact that the writer is the potential employer and the agent the potential employee, essentially making the agents job applicants.

(Okay, the writer/agent relationship is more of a business partnership, where success is in both party’s interest… but for my analogy to work, let’s pretend it’s an employer/employee relationship… go with me…)

Let’s say you’re a writer with a manuscript in need of a publishing contract, (and it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a manuscript in possession of good words, must be in want of a publishing contract), and let’s say you’re not currently represented by an agent. If you’re in this position, you’ve got a job that needs to be done–the job of shopping your work and landing a contract. Some writers will chose to fill the agent position themselves, instead of hiring from outside the firm, so to speak, but savvy writers will have noted that the chances of landing a great publishing contract goes up if they hire an expert, a sales specialist, to handle the part of the transaction.

So, let’s say you’ve decided to find an agent. To attract qualified applicants for this position, you need to advertise. But because you’re picky, and smart, and don’t want to waste your time interviewing just anyone, you don’t put it out on Craig’s list, you target your want ad directly to those people you hope will apply for the job.

These specialized want ads are called “query letters”. Agents currently looking for more work, who were lucky enough to receive one of your ads, and who think the job sounds like one for which they might be qualified, will respond, effectively applying for the position.

But before the applicants can be seriously considered for the job, each must pass a test administered by the potential employer. To pass this test, the agent-applicants must demonstrate they understand and love the employer’s product and have a plan to find an editor who will feel the same way.

This test is administered via something called a “submission”, and typically the potential employer lets the applicants choose whether to complete this submission test in a one-stage or two-stage process. For example, less confident applicants (or applicants whose offices are particularly cluttered) might chose to start with a sample of their potential employer’s product, often called a “partial”, while others may decide to take the entire test at once by requesting to review a “full”.

Some applicants are so eager, and/or competitive, they ask the potential employer to take all the other applicants out of consideration for a set period of time. This is commonly referred to as an “exclusive”, and employers may choose to accept or reject an applicant’s exclusivity request.

Agents who pass the submission test are granted the privilege of moving on to the final interview stage, often conducted over the phone, but sadly, many agents fail the submission test.

Why the high failure rate? Can we assume the quality of the agent applicant pool is low? No. It’s more complicated than that.

Selling works of fiction is a passionate process, passion’s a tricky thing, and sadly some applicants fail to find the requisite level of passion for all the products they apply to represent. Some discover they don’t share the same taste as the potential employer, and didn’t enjoy the product as much as they’d hoped. Some reach the conclusion that the quality or uniqueness of the product is such that they fear their sales skills will prove inadequate to place it. Still others might fall in love with the product, but don’t believe they have the specific abilities and/or contacts with the right editors to do the product justice.

Yes, there are many reasons why agents fail the submission test, but there’s no reason for agents to feel ashamed about this, or take it personally. Sometimes the fit simply isn’t right. 😉

Agents who fail the submission test send a letter to the potential employer to announce their withdrawal from consideration for the position. Occasionally, if the agent feels particularly demoralized, he or she might fail to withdraw their application in writing. In these cases, the dejected agent sends out passive-aggressive signals, such as breaking off all communications and/or not reporting their test results for an extended period of time, assuming the potential employer will deduce the agent’s failure to pass the submission test.

But most agents will send a written notice of their submission test failure, and these letters are often referred to as “rejection letters”. This term is highly misleading slang as they rarely, if ever, contain the word rejection. The letters are simply the agents’ notification that they no longer believe they’ll be able to adequately perform the job for which they’d applied.

If a large number of applicants fail the testing portion of the interview process, or if few potential applicants respond to the initial want ad, it can be frustrating and disappointing for the potential employer. At this point, the employer will have to round up another group of potential applicants, perhaps by using a revised version of the initial want ad, or by widening the pool of applicants to consider.

If a writer has already widened his or her agent search net to include every applicant who shows potential, but has not yet found anyone qualified to hire, the writer has at least three choices.

  1. He or she might choose to let some time pass and then try to identify more applicants at a later date.
  2. Or, the writer might choose to consider the reasons for feeling unqualified that were offered by the past applicants’, and then revise their product to better suit the tastes and skill levels of the available pool of applicants.
  3. Or, the writer might choose to return to the research and development stage and create an entirely new product. Then, with a new product in hand, they may return to the want ad stage.

Often agents who felt unqualified to represent one particular product may feel better qualified to represent another product produced by that same potential employer — perhaps using refined production techniques, or a with more inventive overall design concept. Statistical evidence has proven this last option has the highest probability of success.*

Bottom line: no reason to be angsty while trying to find the right agent. As clearly demonstrated by this analogy, we writers are in charge. 😉

Okay, I’m not that deluded, but maybe if writers thought of it more this way — trying to find the right person for the job — it might relieve some of the angst?

Who am I kidding? We’re an angsty lot.

* You want a reference for the statistical study? Sorry. Umm… It’s confidential. Yeah, confidential.

Maureen McGowan is a two-time Golden Heart finalist. Her Young Adult Sci-fi Thriller, DEVIANTS, Book One of The Dust Chronicles, will be released in hardcover and e-book formats on October 30, 2012, by Amazon Children’s Publishing. Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer and Cinderella: Ninja Warrior are available now. 

PostCategoryIcon Posted in  Author Guest Post, Industry Expertise  |  PostTagIcon  Tags:  , , , , ,  |  PostCommentsIcon  Comments Off on The Agent Search – Another Perspective

Review: Murder, Mayhem, and Mama by Christie Craig

~ By Toni Linenberger

I bought my first Christie Craig book, Don’t Mess with Texas, because of TxDOT (that’s the Texas Department of Transportation for the uninitiated).  It seems they had taken offense to her use of the catch phrase “Don’t Mess with Texas” as the title of a romance novel.  GASP!  Rick Perry on the cover of Newsweek:  OK.  Romance novel:  not so much.  To counter this imagined offense, TxDOT opted to sue.  (The suit was later dismissed by a judge.  A couple links to the original blog-posts can be found at the bottom of this post.)  Needless to say, I bought a copy for me and subsequently told all my friends they should buy a copy also.  Hey, if they were dumb enough to sue the least I could do was support her in particular and romance in general.

Not surprisingly I found a fun, humorous, sexy read.  I liked her voice and look forward to reading the other “Hotter in Texas” books later this year and next.

In the meantime, she self-published a “book of her heart” entitled Murder, Mayhem, and Mama.  It was a Barnes and Noble Nook First publication earlier this year.  I was intrigued by the description:

BEING A MAMA IS HARD. BUT THE JOB’S EVEN TOUGHER WHEN YOU’RE DEAD…

Cali McKay’s mama isn’t ready to pass over to the “other side” yet. Her unlucky-in-love daughter needs her now more than ever. Before Mama can chain-smoke her way to heaven, she’s gotta make sure Cali’s ex deadbeat boyfriend doesn’t get her daughter killed.

 GRIEF SUCKS. LOVE HEALS…

Cali lost her mom to cancer. Detective Brit Lowell, lost his partner to murder. Now he’s in the mood to take down some dirtbags and Cali’s ex just happens to be a dirtbag leaving a trail of dead bodies behind him. Can Brit trust this beautiful woman to help take down her ex? Can Cali look past this sexy cop’s hard exterior to trust him with her heart? Can life get any crazier when Mama starts meddling from the grave? Only one thing is for sure–none of it will matter, unless they catch a killer before the killer catches them.

I expected a lighthearted comedic mystery / romance and that’s what I got.  The grieving hero and heroine darkened things up somewhat, but there were nice moments of humor to keep things from going too far down that path.  Mama herself provides a nice balance as does the mama cat that adopts Brit.  The story moves along nicely and there are some good twists and turns.

Though the story itself moves along, I wanted more depth of character from both Callie and Brit.  Early on in the story, Brit pigeon-holes Callie as the typical battered wife; just like his mom.  As this is the lens through which he views her, we never quite get a complete sense of who she is from his perspective.  Stuck in her grief, we see Callie as a shadow of her true self.  At the same time, we see Brit as the grieving, driven cop.  Again, we know there is more to him, but we never quite get past the veil to see his true self.

From an entirely personal perspective, I had trouble with the character naming in this one.  I have a dear friend named Brit.  Needless to say, my friend Brit is not the Brit of this story.  As my natural association is to my friend it was hard to disassociate enough to see the character Brit.

At the end of the day, this is a fun read.  Not quite a comedy, not quite a romance, not quite a mystery.  Fans of Janet Evanovich, Vicki Lewis Thompson, and the like will thoroughly enjoy this one.

Find out more at:

http://killerfictionwriters.blogspot.com/2011/08/dont-mess-with-our-books.html

http://www.promantica.com/2011/08/dont-mess-with-texas-trademarks.html

Toni is an historian and published technical writer who is slowly venturing into the blogosphere with thought-provoking reviews on romance and mysteries.  One day she hopes she will be able to turn her attention to writing the Great American Novel.  Toni lives with the most spoiled cat on the planet (Lincoln) and his sister (Abby) in a house filled with wine, chocolate, and, of course, books.

PostCategoryIcon Posted in  Reviews  |  PostTagIcon  Tags:  , , , , , ,  |  PostCommentsIcon  Comments Off on Review: Murder, Mayhem, and Mama by Christie Craig

Friday Inspiration

~ By Melina Kantor

Hello Chick Lit Fans,

Happy Friday!

I saw this and I thought it was the perfect thing to kick off a weekend full of reading and writing.

Enjoy!

Be sure to head over to http://www.kmweiland.com/ for more writer inspiration and resources.

Melina writes contemporary women’s fiction with a pinch of oregano and a dash of chutzpah. She recently returned from a two month trip to Crete and Israel, where she visited  family and friends did her best to turn her travels into research and inspiration for her writing. You can visit her at http://melinakantor.com.

 

PostCategoryIcon Posted in  Chick Lit News and Links  |  PostTagIcon  Tags:  , , , ,  |  PostCommentsIcon  Comments Off on Friday Inspiration

Interview With Gabi Stevens

~ Interview by Melina Kantor

We’re thrilled to have Gabi Stevens, author of the delightful Time of Transition trilogy, visiting the blog today.

Her latest book, Wishful Thinking, was released on 4/24.

Welcome Gabi!

Q. Please tell us a bit about the Time of Transition series and your new book, Wishful Thinking

A. Every seventy years, the magical world undergoes a change. The old fairy godmothers step down and pass their duties on to the new ones. In the North American Western region, the three old godmothers welcome their three new replacements, but this time the transition isn’t smooth. Unrest from the past raises its specter and threatens the Arcani and Groundling worlds.

In Wishful Thinking, free-spirit Stormy Jones-Smythe lives in a loving community of artists, but when she is chosen as the third fairy godmother, the Arcani world forces its boundaries and expectations on her. The first two godmothers have gone rogue, and the Council assigns her a full time guard to prevent her from doing the same. Luckily even a rigid and strict bodyguard can’t contain her exuberance.

Hunter Merrick doesn’t appreciate the babysitting job he’s been given, especially when Stormy proves as chaotic as her name implies. But a threat forces Hunter to choose which side deserves his loyalty and both choices have dire consequences.

And if Stormy can defeat the greatest enemy the Arcani have seen since the time of Merlin, maybe she can rescue a bit of happiness for herself too. If she survives.

Q. The Time of Transition books take place in quite an intricately built world, full of rules, traditions, and vivid history. I’d love to hear more about your world building process, and how you keep the world consistent from book to book. 

A. The world building was so much fun. First of all, it’s contemporary, so everything that exists today, exists in this world—cell phones, internet, iPads, etc. Second, I set the story in San Diego, a city near and dear to my heart. I did my undergraduate work there, met my husband there, my father-in-law lives there, and I get to visit often. Third, I added magic. The people in my books have magical powers, but they live and mingle in our world. Yes, they have their own social gatherings, jobs, etc. but in my world, the number of Groundlings (those with no magic) vastly outnumber the Arcani. The separation of the two worlds has its origins with Merlin and Arthur. In my history, they tried to set up a society where both peoples could mix freely (Camelot), but that society collapsed when too many Arcani felt Groundlings were inferior, and too many Groundlings wanted to control Arcani magic.

I wish I could tell you I was organized and kept extensive notes and notebook filled with details that needed to be remembered from book to book, but I’m not. If I was unsure of a detail, I would find it in the earlier novels and make sure I maintained consistency. Not the more efficient way to write.

Q. Besides contemporary paranormals, you’ve also written historicals, which you recently released in ebook form. What are some of the challenges of writing in more than one genre? 

A. My historicals are from my earlier publishing career. I love history and historicals and have always written pranormals and historicals (including a couple of paranormal historicals). But when that career fizzled (long story about editors leaving, the market dying, etc.), I focused on paranormals. The toughest part is the voice in the two genres. They have such a different feel—both me, but different.

My ebook release, Temptation’s Warrior, is a medieval romp that was originally released in 2005 in hardcover only. Right now, I’m waiting for the reversion of rights on five regency/Victorian era novels, but I’ll be releasing a fantasy romance in ebook soon—its feel is historical, not contemporary. Again, a different tone, but hopefully as entertaining.

Q. In addition to writing, you’re also a teacher. How do you balance the demands of your day job with your writing career?

A. I don’t know whether to say I’m happy that I quit the day job last May or that I’m angry about the whole situation. On the one hand, I love not having to balance the writing and the teaching. Doing both at the same time was nearly impossible—I threw my heart and soul into teaching (as so many teachers do) and also into writing, which left little time for me. But I quit after I felt my integrity couldn’t survive the teaching atmosphere any longer. The constrictions placed on teachers and what they’re allowed to teach—whether they know it’s the right thing or not—became unbearable to me. I don’t want to go into a rant here, but the emphasis on testing has severely curtailed the education a child receives today. School is not longer about teaching a child the joys of knowledge, but about bubbling in the right answer. Thinking is no longer on the curriculum. (Broad sweeping generalization, I know, but this interview isn’t about education but my new release.)

Q. As always, I’m eagerly awaiting your next book! Can you tell us about your next project?

A. My agent and I are shopping a new series about a special town in the Rockies with special inhabitants. I’ll let you know what happens with it.

Thank you for visiting with us, Gabi! 🙂

Gabi Stevens travels the world with her robotics engineer husband and her three incredible daughters (Reality: she went to Europe last summer with her family, but lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico). Because she is fluent in three languages and knows Latin, her abilities are in demand from many different factions (Reality: she has Hungarian relatives who needed her to translate to her family and students to whom she taught English and Latin) and her knowledge has helped numerable writers in their quest for publication (Reality: she has presented many writing workshops and has a critique group). Her latest novels feature fairy godmothers. Her current release is Wishful Thinking, from Tor books. Gabi claims no magical powers of her own. You can find her at www.GabiStevens.com, at her blog, www.GabiStevens.blogspot.com, or on Twitter or Facebook, unless she’s off on one of her world tours (Reality: she’s at home with her two dogs).

Discover the magic:

  • THE WISH LIST
  • AS YOU WISH
  • WISHFUL THINKING
PostCategoryIcon Posted in  Interview  |  PostTagIcon  Tags:  , , , , , ,  |  PostCommentsIcon  Comments Off on Interview With Gabi Stevens

The Romantic Times (RT) Conference, 2012

~ By Angela Kay Austin

At what age did you decide (realize) you were meant to write?  It’s always been a part of me in one way or another.  When I finally made the decision to jump off that bridge and submit, I think I didn’t sleep for weeks waiting for responses.  When the rejections came, I just knew they were wrong…how could they not see my genius J

It took years, but finally, I did receive that wonderful wonderful yes!

Now, feeling like a “legit” author, I thought it’s logical attend a conference.  Participate and sign.  Attend lectures.  It’ll be no big deal.  Right?

What on earth was I thinking?

I freaking lost my mind at RomanticTimes!  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I think I lost weight…no time for eating or sleeping will do that to you.

I don’t know about past events: ratio of cover models to guests, aspiring writers vs. readers, etc.  But, what I do know is that I was able to walk up to people whose books I’ve read for years, and say hi.  Take pictures, and ask questions.  Nalini Singh will never know how amazing I felt when she walked into a Harlequin party and strolled over to me to say hi.  AMAZING!

Every lecture I attended made something explode in my brain.  I thought I was the only one to think or feel a certain way about something, but here I was surrounded by others who thought and felt the same way.  They battled the same problems.

I can’t wait for next year!

 I had an absolutely amazing time!  I hope that I’ll get to run into a few of you guys next year.  See you in Kansas City!

After twenty years of practicing marketing: writing copy, designing layouts, developing advertising campaigns, Angela realized each piece of the plans she put together eventually told a story. And, since she was a tween reading her mother’s Reader’s Digest, and every teen magazine she could find she’d dreamt of telling stories.

Her first book, Love’s Chance stayed on Red Rose Publishing’s Best Seller list for 10 weeks.  Her second release, My Son, is available from Red Rose Publishing.  And was a best seller at All Romance Ebooks.  New releases:  Sweet Victory and Scarlet’s Tears are available from Vanilla Heart Publishing.

Angela has written for the Ezine Rithm ‘n Blues.

PostCategoryIcon Posted in  RWA, Writing Conferences, Writing Life  |  PostTagIcon  Tags:  , , , , , , ,  |  PostCommentsIcon  Comments Off on The Romantic Times (RT) Conference, 2012
Page 3 of 17
1 2 3 4 17