Wednesday, June 22, 2011

New for Tali, Mail Drop

Sara Sain John and I share a table.


AH, a victim (customer.)


Good news! I'm starting a new Tali Cates mystery, "Murder Most Fowl."
I will keep you posted when it's done and where to get it. This one will be shorter, 20 to 30,000 words. I love writing short and tight.

It deals with Murder of course, both the fowl and human kind. Should be fun. Wolves in north Texas.


I attended a book signing last Saturday. (See pictures above. Sara Saint James and I shared a table. Then we had lunch with other writing friends and had good food as well as wonderful conversation. Leaving the restaurant for 106 degree weather was not as fun. Couldn't touch the steering wheel or car door.










Monday, June 13, 2011

Mystery Blog Tour- Anne K. Albert

Introducing Anne K Albert and her yummy looking mystery.



Bio: Anne K. Albert has taught high school art, sold display advertising for a small town weekly newspaper, and worked for a national brand water company, but now writes full time.

A member of the Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and married to her high school sweetheart for more than a quarter of a century, it's a given she'd write mystery and romantic suspense.

When not in her home office, she enjoys traveling, visiting friends and family, knitting, crocheting, and of course, reading.

Carol - What are your favorite books to read?

Anne - The same kind I like to write - cozy or gentle mysteries and romantic suspense stories. I can’t resist a puzzle to solve, a handsome hero, spunky heroine, and a happily-ever-after. It’s also very important to me that the villain gets his comeuppance in the end. Plus, I prefer that all morbid details, harsh language, and intimacy to be ‘off stage’. For that reason you won’t find any of those in my stories.

Carol - What did you hope to accomplish with your books?

Anne – All I’ve ever wanted to do is entertain the reader. If I can provide a fast paced story, bring a tear to their eye and a smile to their face, well, that’s all the better!

Carol –How would you describe your books to someone who has not read any of your previous novels? Anne - My stories chill the spine, warm the heart and soothe the soul – all with a delightful touch of humor.

Carol - Tell us about your book.

Anne – FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL is set the week before Christmas when the stress of the holidays is enough to frazzle anyone’s nerves. Tensions increase when a close friend begs Muriel to team up with a sexy private investigator to find a missing woman. Forced to deal with an embezzler, kidnapper, and femme fatale is bad enough, but add Muriel’s zany yet loveable family to the mix and their desire to win the D-DAY (Death Defying Act of the Year) Award, and the situation can only get worse.

Here’s an excerpt:

My cell phone blared from the confines of my purse. I dug to retrieve it, and then picked up. “Hello?”
“Muriel,” Aunt Val said. “Come home. Quick. I think I accidentally killed someone.”
“What do you mean ‘accidentally’?” Frankie accelerated, steering the Envoy into the outside lane of highway 290 and zooming past everything in sight. Including a police cruiser.
“How should I know?” I said. “Val hung up before I could ask for specifics.”
“She’s at your house?”
“I think so.”
“You think so?”
I checked the rearview mirror for flashing lights. “Slow down. You’ll get a ticket.”
“You’re more worried about a traffic violation than the fact you’re aunt just killed somebody?”
“She thinks she killed someone. Big difference.”
“Right.”
Ten minutes later, we arrived in my driveway. The Christmas lights I’d put up that morning stretched the full length of the front of the house and twinkled on the snow-covered shrubbery with wild abandon. I might have been impressed with my handiwork if not for Val and Big Boy standing guard beside the garage. In the shadows, I saw a body at their feet.
I climbed out of the Envoy and dashed to their assistance. Problem was I had no idea what to do. Dead bodies were new to me. As were missing persons, kidnappers and ransom demands. But I was learning. Fast.
“Are you okay?” I asked, as Frankie joined me.
“I’m fine.” Reigning Big Boy in by his collar, Val toed the body that lay face down in the snow. “Don’t know about him, though.”
“What happened?”
“I took Big Boy out for his evening constitutional. Got as far as your driveway, noticed you’d put up some lights and stopped to admire them. Then, I spotted someone crouching by the side of the garage. I figured he was a burglar, so I let Big Boy loose and, well, one thing led to another.”
“Such as?” Frankie knelt down to examine the body.
“Big Boy lunged at him. I thought he’d tear the guy to pieces. Turns out all he wanted to do was sniff his crotch. You know how dogs are.”
Yeah. We knew.
“Anyway, this guy wasn’t all that obliging. He tried to push Big Boy away. Big Boy pushed back. Then the guy fell backwards into that drift and I think he hit his head on Muriel’s gnome. See?” She pointed to a mound of snow. “It’s right there. You can see the top of its head. It’s the ugliest gnome I’ve ever seen.”
Frankie looked up at me. “You’ve got a gnome?”
“Gargoyle. And it’s supposed to be ugly. To ward off evil spirits.”
“Doesn’t ward off thieves or burglars,” Val pointed out.
Frankie placed his middle finger on the man’s throat. “He’s alive.”

Carol - Where can readers get a copy of your book?

Anne: (I’LL LET YOU ADD THESE LINKS, J) It’s available in e-book format now at Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/Frank-Incense-and-Muriel-ebook/dp/B004CLYDRO/
Barnes and Noble, http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Frank-Incense-and-Muriel/Anne-K-Albert/e/2940011142123/ Smashwords, http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/30192
or from my publisher, Vanilla Heart Publishing. http://www.vanillaheartbooksandauthors.com/ The print edition will be released in July 2011.

Thank you so much, Carol, for hosting me on this stop of the Murder We Write Blog Tour. I’d like to invite readers to visit my website http://www.AnneKAlbert.com/ or my main blog http://anne-k-albert.blogspot.com/.

If they drop by my Muriel Reeves Mysteries blog http://muriel-reeves-mysteries.blogspot.com/ and leave a comment mentioning this interview, I’ll enter their name in a draw to win a pdf copy of FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL. I’ll announce the winner at the conclusion of the tour, sometime during the week of August 22, 2011.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Flowers and Dogs

















Finally loaded pics of my yard so I can show you some of my favorite place, the patio and yard. Just because I love it. It's where I have coffee in the mornings, watch birds and just chill, at least on my days off.


The first picture is silly old dog Jasper. Then two yard views. If I dealt well with heat, I'd spend more time writing outside but I love early mornings and late evenings




Decided its time to write another Tali Cates mystery. So that's my current direction in addition to trying to sell to Woman's World.




New projects anyone? Or old projects you are going to renew? I've spent a lot of time exploring genre's but think I really want to go back to my first love, mystery with a paranormal element. So I need to start plotting away. I'm leaning toward making Tali's world and life a little darker and harder to deal with but don't want to give two much away.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Mystery Blog Tour, Vivian Zabel





“Stolen,” is Vivian Zabel’s latestnovel. It’s a story, that for over 12 years was a true nightmare for Vivian and her family. “Stolen” is a story about a young mother’s effort to get her children back after they are “stolen” by her ex-husband.










Vivian’s advice for those wishing
to write a book…Bio

Vivian Zabel always has had a vivid imagination and, when a child, used it to tell her siblings and friends stories. As soon as she could write, she began to put those stories on paper. She wrote her first poetry when she was eight, and still writes it. Poetry was and is her therapy. When a “friend” laughed at her announcement that she would write a book someday, Vivian didn’t share her goal any more, but she didn’t stop planning on writing that book.
As she reared her children and was a stay-at-home-mother, with spells of working in the business world, Vivian wrote short stories, poetry, and articles, which were published. Vivian taught English and writing for 27 years and retired in 2001. Every year she taught, she attended writing classes, workshops, and clinics, not only to learn how better to teach her students, but also to hone her own writing skills. Finally in 2001 she was able to write full time and write longer works, after she retired from teaching.
At present, Vivian has six books to her credit, two co-authored. Her latest books are Prairie Dog Cowboy (written under the name V. Gilbert Zabel), Midnight Hours (written under the name Vivian Gilbert Zabel), and Stolen, released in November 2010.
Her interests besides writing include her family (husband, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren), reading, helping other people publish their books (through 4RV Publishing), and traveling.

As an editor for over thirty-five years, an English and writing teacher for nearly thirty years; an author with poetry, articles, short stories, and novels published over a span of forty-two years (with more than her share of rejections along the way) and the head of a small publishing company for over three years, Vivian Zabel experienced both sides of the submission experience. Since submissions for 4RV go to acquisition editors anonymously (only fair way to do the job), one of her submissions was rejected a couple of months ago.
Her publishing company 4RV Publishing produced the Oklahoma Book Award winner in fiction for 2010: Confessions of a Former Rock Queen by Kirk Bjornsgaard. Other books have received regional awards in their categories. 4RV has released children’s books, middle grade and young adult books, novels, and nonfiction books.
Vivian has also received emails from rejected writers thanking her for sharing evaluation comments that help and some swearing at her for being so blind she can’t tell wonderful writing when she reads it.
Since submissions for 4RV go to acquisition editors anonymously (only fair way to do the job), one of her submissions was rejected a couple of months ago.

Links:

Vivian’s blog: http://vivianzabel.blogspot.com
Vivian’s website: http://VivianZabel.com
4RV Publishing http://4rvpublishingllc.com
Stolen http://Stolen.yolasite.com
Orders (other than from bookstores, online suppliers) http://4rvpublishingcatalog.yolasite.com



1. Read!
2. Learn!
3. Write!



The result of a broken heart – a novel, the writing of Stolen

Over 14 years ago, two of my grandchildren were taken by their father. We had no contact with them, didn't know where they were, didn't know if they were alive or not. The pain nearly destroyed us. We loved them so much, and they were such major parts of our lives, my husband and I felt as if a chunk of our hearts had been ripped out. I can only imagine the agony their mother, our daughter felt. Something had to be done with that severe pain and despair. I turned to my therapy - writing. Stolen was born. Every year for 12 years, around the time they were last seen by anyone in the family, I would blog a letter to them, giving my contact information. A friend asked if he could spread my latest blog, November 2007, through the blogs of his friends around the world. Of course I agreed. Early 2008, I received an email, "I think you're my grandmother." Finally, the novel is released and a sequel will be possible. God does answer prayer; He just sometimes takes much long than we want. If you're interested in reading more about the book visit
http://Stolen.yolasite.com. Also my website is http://VivianZabel.com .