Susan May Warren Talks About International Intrigue

In January 2022, USA Today bestselling author Susan May Warren introduced fans to her new Sky King Ranch series. Now Warren propels readers back into the thick of the action in a tale full of suspense, romance, and international intrigue in the next epic installment, Sunburst.



Sunburst is a twist on the marriage of convenience trope. It’s set in beautiful Nigeria and is about a former Navy SEAL who is sent in to rescue his brother from the Boko Haram. He discovers, among the captives held with his brother, the woman he never stopped loving . . . but can’t have. That is, until they find themselves on the run in Nigeria and the only way to protect her is to marry her. But when the dust settles and they’re safe, can he let her go? It’s book 2 in the epic Sky King Ranch trilogy.

What is the connecting factor for all three books in this series? 

Sky King Ranch is the home of the Kingston brothers, who went their separate ways ten years ago after an epic family fight. They all entered different branches of the military and are now all separated from that life, for different reasons. They find themselves returning home to the ranch only to discover that there is trouble afoot that’s bigger than the ranch, bigger than Alaska, and something only they can stop. This all starts with a mysterious woman who arrives in Alaska in book 1. So the connecting tissue is more than the family and the ranch; it’s the suspense thread that thickens with each story. 

Sunburst is set in Nigeria. Can you please tell readers why you selected this location?

During the pandemic my son married a darling woman from Nigeria named Precious. They were married in Italy. My husband and I were unable to attend, and she wasn’t able to return to her home, which was a big deal. Nigerian weddings are something to behold, and I hated that she missed out on that special event. So, when I was outlining my next book I thought, what if Presh and I planned a fictional wedding for my heroine, and thus, she at least got to take part in planning a beautiful Nigerian wedding. Plus, it gave me a chance to experience her culture through research and deepened our relationship through our many hours spent together on Zoom. Someday I hope to visit Nigeria—and attend her wedding event. (Yes, even though they are already married!)

Although your two main characters, Ranger Kingston and Noemi Sutton, reconnect in Nigeria, they have met before. Can you provide a little information on their backstory? 

Ranger and Noemi met in one of my favorite places—Key West. I set their meeting before the hurricane damaged the Bahama Mama resort in The Heart of a Hero, so it was fun to revisit that location. They met while Ranger was training for a free-diving certification and Noemi and her father were ashore to fix their sailboat. As for the rest . . . well, you’ll just have to read the book! 

In an effort to save themselves and the rest of the hostages, Ranger and Noemi come up with a plan. Can you give a hint to what this plan involves?

Well, the trope sort of gives it away, but they are inadvertently mistaken for a married couple, which plays into their game plan until they meet Noemi’s uncle, who is the Ovie of the area (aka the king). He’s not so happy that they married without his permission, so everything goes off the rails! 

NGO worker Noemi Sutton is in Nigeria attempting to return a young girl to her family in the Boko Haram territory. What type of research was required to accurately portray the intense danger that this undertaking would entail?

Aside from reading news reports and watching terrible videos, I read a number of books by survivors who had been kidnapped by the Boko Haram. One was a fantastic book titled Under the Tamarind Tree. That’s where I got my idea for the massive Kuka tree in chapter 1. I also read a number of memoirs by former missionaries to the area to get their take on the life from a foreign point of view.

 Do you have a favorite character or one that you can really relate to? 

I think I really love Auntie Precious. She immediately takes my heroine, Noemi, into her heart. I’d like to be like her. 

Sunburst is packed with suspense, romance, and international intrigue. What is the secret to being able to masterfully blend all three of these elements?

Each step of the story in one area creates a problem in one of the other areas—so
everything is connected. The romance isn’t just tacked on and the suspense isn’t just “stuff that happens.” When I plot, I start with the international problem, and then I make it personal by giving the characters a trigger, or ignition, into the plot. This in
turn triggers the romance, which causes them to do something about that situation,
adding to the suspense. Then it all twines into the international plot. Going back and forth like this keeps the story from being episodic and instead builds on each story thread.

What do you hope readers will experience when reading Sunburst?

 I hope they sense the peace that comes with trusting God, even when he seems far. He is closer than we think, and sometimes it just takes opening our eyes to see him.

Susan May Warren is the USA Today bestselling author of more than 85 novels with more than 1.5 million books sold, including the Global Search and Rescue and the Montana Rescue series, as well as Sunrise. Winner of a RITA Award and multiple Christy and Carol Awards, as well as the HOLT Medallion and numerous Readers’ Choice Awards, Susan makes her home in Minnesota. 

Find her online at www.susanmaywarren.com, on Facebook @SusanMayWarrenFiction, and on Twitter @SusanMayWarren. 

The Spark of an Idea

Wendy Wilson Spooner

SPARK OF AN IDEA

Allen Hamilton is a name that inspires me to my core.

The first time the idea sparked to write his story was on a research trip to Ireland where I was hunting for ancestral records with my husband and parents. As we searched archives in tiny villages surrounded by deep green hills, and combed through the records in town halls flanked by ancient castles and cathedrals, something deep within me stirred—a connection to the past as tangible as the cobblestones beneath my feet.

Allen was the oldest son of my 3rd great-grandfather. When he turned 18, he met a man from “the states” at his great-aunt’s manor house in County Donegal that lit the fire of the American dream in his heart, and compelled him to cross the Atlantic alone to find a way to save his family. Allen’s father was a Clerk of the Crown and one of 17 sons of a landed gentry family near Enniskillen Castle in Northern Ireland. But when the British forced oppressive fees and tax laws on the people it imploded the economy—three decades before the Irish Famine. And seeing no hope for recovery, Allen borrowed the six-pence for passage and crossed the ocean in search of an answer.

BASED ON A 2OO-YEAR-OLD LETTER COLLECTION

A faded and worn letter collection survives today, written by Allen’s parents to him after Allen went to America. My mom and my daughters and I transcribed many of the faded, damaged letters which copies can be found on microfilm in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah as well as the genealogical library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The correspondence is both inspiring and heart-breaking, filled with the family’s trust in God as they suffered, while Allen journeyed thousands of miles away through antebellum America, seeking for a way to make a success of himself so he could bring his family to him before it was too late.

As starvation and typhus fever raged throughout his homeland, it was who and what Allen became in The U.S. that still inspires me today.

I wrote Once Upon an Irish Summer through the eyes of Allen’s fictional descendant, a young gifted artist struggling through debilitating grief, because what we learn from the past entirely holds the promise of changing our future.

NO REGRETS

Writing this story in dual timeline was one of the hardest tasks I could have taken on as a debut novelist. But I would do it again because the outcome has inspired countless people to delve into the lives of their own ancestors. And I believe that those who came before us want nothing more than for each generation to become a little better. And that’s what Once Upon an Irish Summer is all about. To learn about the people we come from, to honor them, and then to stand on their shoulders to become someone even better.

Wendy Wilson Spooner, Lic. G., LCoT, is an Genetic Genealogist by day, a writer by night, and an artist in between.

Her love of what we can learn from history compels her to write the true stories she unearths during her research because she has found that truth is indeed, much more exciting and inspiring than fiction.

Wendy is a member of the International Society of Genetic Genealogist, The Association of Professional Genealogists, Romance Writers of America, and The American Night Writer’s Association. As an award-winning author of professional articles and poems, she’s turned to novel writing to share what she has learned with a greater audience.

When not writing or researching, Wendy paints, hikes, binges on Bollywood movies, and spends time with her greatest loves—her family.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

https://wendywilsonspooner.com

https://www.facebook.com/authorWendyWilsonSpooner/?modal=admin_todo_tour

https://twitter.com/Wendy_W_Spooner

https://www.instagram.com/wendyspooner/


http://KnowMyRoots.com

The Beauty of Flaws

Mary Alford

As an author, I love writing about flawed characters because I find myself rooting for them to prevail over their weaknesses and find their happy ending.

Whether it’s personality shortcomings, physical imperfections, or emotional scars, each flaw helps to create depth to a character and make them appear more human and relatable.

When Among the Innocent was still just an idea—even before I’d developed the storyline fully—I had the two main characters pretty much figured out.

That probably sounds strange, but for me, characters definitely drive a story.

In Among the Innocent, the heroine, Leah Miller, was once an Amish teenager content to live the Plain life until her entire family was murdered. Leah knew she could no longer live in the community where her family died and survive. She left the faith and was adopted by the former chief of police and his wife. Yet Leah carried the guilt of being the only survivor with her since that night. Not only does she bear the scar of the killer’s attack, but Leah also struggles to make connections to those around her. She joined the police department and worked under her adopted father to reclaim some of her power.

Dalton Cooper is very much a part of Leah’s tragedy even though she doesn’t realize it. Dalton’s Amish brother was accused of killing Leah’s family and later taking his own life. After the former chief of police was killed while out on a call, Dalton takes over the position to prove his brother’s innocence.

Dalton has been chasing after the truth for ten years, and it caused him to miss so many important things in life, like how seriously ill his wife was until it was too late, and she died.

Leah’s adoptive mother, Marge, plays a huge part in the story. We see Marge struggling with dementia. Some of the things Marge says goes against everything Leah knew about her and Ellis’s life. Is it part of her dementia or old secrets rising to the surface?

The right location can make or break a story, especially in suspense. I’d read about the St. Ignatius, Montana area in the past and chose it for the setting of Among the Innocent. There is much about the location that adds to the suspense of the story. The Mission Mountains cast their shadows on the Amish community below, while the isolation and vast stretches of countryside allow for plenty of places for a killer to hide. There is something about setting a suspense story in an Amish community that reminds me of the age-old struggle between good and evil.

And what better flawed villain could there be than a serial killer with plenty of baggage of his own. Serial killers are some of the most frightening of all villains. They invoke fear in real life and in fiction because they can move among society and usually function normally while hiding their true selves even from those closest.

Unraveling what makes this killer tick will take readers back to his childhood, and to a past that hopefully comes as a huge surprise.

Throughout the story, the faith aspect plays an important part. Both Dalton and Leah were once strong believers, but Leah’s past drove her away from God, while the tragedies in Dalton’s life brought him closer.

Among the Innocent is a story filled with secrets. At the heart of it, is the decade old murder of Leah’s Amish family and the surprises lurking behind the case.

One of my biggest challenges as an author is to be able to keep the reader guessing about the identity of the bad guy until the very end. If I can do that, then I’ve done my job. I truly hope readers will be surprised when they read the final pages of Among the Innocent and learn who the killer is. And hopefully they’ll say, “I didn’t see that coming.”

Mary Alford is a USA Today bestselling author who loves giving her readers the unexpected, combining unforgettable characters with unpredictable plots that result in stories the reader can't put down. Her titles have been finalists for several awards, including the Daphne Du Maurier, the Beverly, the Maggie, and the Selah. She and her husband live in the heart of Texas in the middle of seventy acres with two cats and one dog. Learn more at www.maryalford.net.

A Pandemic Book Baby

Rachel Fordham

Where the Road Bends is my pandemic book baby! My husband, who is a dentist, had his office closed to all patients except the rare emergency, my children were home from school, and nothing felt normal. It was under these circumstances that I began writing the story of two lost souls who find each other in a most unusual way, during very trying times.

Looking back, I wonder how much the pandemic, without me knowing it, trickled into this story. My characters deal with their own uncertainty and questions about their futures. They have fears and yet, try to find their footing. Writing fiction is an interesting thing, it’s made up, and yet, it is full of pieces of reality. Our family was also looking for our footing, trying to be optimistic despite our worries and praying for outcomes we could not see.

The initial idea for this change of fortunes story came from a couple places. The first is my love for Les Misérables. I love how one act of generosity changes the main characters trajectory. He is able to make a new life for himself (though still haunted by the past). The author wheels began turning, could I take a main character and suddenly change his course overnight? How would I do that?

I love how one question leads to others, until there is suddenly a story mapped out (usually a much different one than expected!). My first thought was for Quincy (my leading man) to find a fortune, but how? Then I discovered that people used to sew their money into clothing when they traveled by stage or train in hopes it wouldn’t be stollen if bandits came along. What if money was left, sewed inside of clothing and then someone else became the owner of that clothing?

I think the “what if” question is the key to good brainstorming! I kept asking what if over and over. In the end, Where the Road Bends does not very closely resemble Les Misérables and it does not include money sewed into clothing, but there is a change of fortune. My former boxer, who had no true course in life finds himself on a new path and it all happened because of an injury that nearly took his life. The sequence of questions led me to a story that fit perfectly in its Iowa setting where Norah (my leading lady) is facing the prospect of a marriage of convenience to save her farm.

Days before her wedding, she discovers an injured Quincy whom she nurses back to health and in the process discovers a friend (something she has not had in a very long time). But Quincy is penniless and without a marriage, Norah will be homeless…

I loved walking with these characters as they face some very difficult times. It was therapeutic for me to nudge them along as I was also trudging along, my characters and myself believing that happy endings do come in their own time. It was also comforting stepping back into Iowa (the setting of some of my previously published books), it was like visiting old friends (in fact a couple old friends make very brief appearances in this book).

When I look back on the writing of my novels, I often think of what was happening in my own life during the writing of them. The novels, for me, are a time capsule full of memories of the life that was happening around me as I wrote. My debut was written during one of my son’s medical crisis’s. It released the same month we said goodbye to our beautiful and loved foster daughter. That book will always remind me of the heartache and the joy of loving others. This book, Where the Road Bends, will forever remind me to keep taking steps forward even when I am unsure what lies ahead.

Rachel Fordham is the author of The Hope of Azure Springs, Yours Truly, Thomas, and A Life Once Dreamed. Fans expect stories with heart and she delivers, diving deep into the human experience and tugging at reader emotions. She loves connecting with people, traveling to new places, and daydreaming about future projects that will have sigh-worthy endings and memorable characters. She is a busy mom, raising both biological and foster children (a cause she
feels passionate about). She lives with her husband and children on an island in the state of Washington.

www.RachelFordham.com

The Long But Happy Path of a Debut Suspense Novelist

 

Frank A. DiBianca

My pre-retirement writing career started with a 9,000-word short story entitled The Love Coach about an insecure engineering grad student doing research with lasers and his platonic love coach. 

During the period 2013-2019, my mystery-novelist wife, Kay, and I attended half a dozen writers conferences, almost all of which were Christian. At these conferences, I presented synopses of The Love Coach and a few other short fiction pieces. None of these pieces had been professionally edited. The many editors and agents I met with liked the premise of The Love Coach and encouraged me to expand it to a full novel. But the many teaching sessions I attended discouraged me. I had so much to learn. I decided to put my short stories aside and move straight to writing a full-length novel.


So, I wrote a 120,000-word cosmic fiction novel called The Centaur about a runaway asteroid. I outlined it at a Christian writers conference to a publisher. He liked the premise very much and told me to send him the manuscript. So, I emailed him my creation. Months later, he emailed back that he and an assistant editor were still trying to decide where to slice into my manuscript, but he’d get back to me. They never found an opening. Now I know why.


Disappointed but unwilling to give up, I decided to return to The Love Coach and, after expanding it to a 15,000-word novelette, took a preliminary book proposal for it to a writer’s conference in 2018. Several professionals I spoke with said they liked it, but it still wasn’t long enough. The same story I’d heard before but hadn’t been listening. Now I would listen. I worked hard and successfully on turning the story into a novel.


Back at the same conference in 2019, I scheduled meetings with acquisition editors representing five publishers. The morning of my meetings, I learned there was a prayer room. I went to it and prayed to the Lord for help in finding just one interested acquisition editor. By late that afternoon, four of my meetings resulted in acceptances to receive my proposal after it was finished. Praise the Lord!


I went home and was blessed to engage three outstanding editors, Mel Hughes, specializing in developmental editing, Barbara Curtis, copy editing and proofreading, and Jeanne Leach, book proposal development. For over a year under their direction, I wrote, removed, and rewrote chapters in the novel, adding copious amounts of suspense material to make it more exciting. I also wrote and modified a new book proposal. And finally, in late 2020, I sent the finished proposal to the four acquisition editors.


Surprised and thrilled, I received two publication contracts for my new novel, and through the efforts of Managing Editors Darla Crass and Karin Beery, I signed with Iron Stream Media (ISM) in February 2021. The agreement provided that the suspenseful romance would be rebalanced into a suspense with romantic components, which I enthusiastically embraced. The new title of the novel is Laser Trap, to be published by Iron Stream Fiction, an Imprint of Iron Stream Media.


Over the next sixteen months I first worked closely with Ms. Crass on the rebalancing. After that phase was complete, I worked with ISM editors Sally Shupe and Denise Loock to make numerous further improvements per their recommendations. This period was challenging, but throughout the rebalancing and further editing, everyone thought the book kept getting better and better. And that’s what everybody wanted.

Laser Trap is scheduled for release on June 7.



Frank A. DiBianca is a fiction writer and retired university professor. He received a Ph.D. in high-energy physics from Carnegie Mellon University and later worked in biomedical engineering. Frank lives in Memphis with his wife, Kay, an award-winning mystery author. His debut suspense novel, Laser Trap, is scheduled for publication on June 7, 2022, by Iron Stream Fiction, an imprint of Iron Stream Media.

Seeing Into the Life of Things

Sara M. Robinson

Poetry As the Mechanism For Seeing Into the Life of Things.



In all of my previous columns I have written about how poetry works, the role of language, mechanics, and how to start our own internalized fire for poetry. I’ve written about poetry as a way to witness current events or to watch nature. What do I mean by this topic? In my unfolding explanation down this page, I attempt not to be redundant, but to offer some new/different sight lines using poetry.


How does poetry work to see the necessary points of life… and death? I submit that the first work poetry has to do here is get our attention. This is best done by a powerful first line, especially if the poem is short. Say, ten lines, more or less. William Carlos Williams’ poem, “The Red Wheelbarrow,” is only eight lines containing sixteen words. But that first line, “so much depends,” is a novel. This line is so expansive that it is amazing that it comes back to focus on the red wheelbarrow. That’s how attention works.


Poetry asks us to move in all directions. Some critics would say poetry requires us to move. Either way the key is observation. We may see lots of things and we may need to make decisions about what to keep and what to discard. For example, you witness a bluebird singing and you see a nice-looking car drive by. That decision of what to keep and write about is likely pretty easy. But what if you witness an accident and you witness someone struggling with groceries. In that case you may want to keep both as writing potential. Observation is about choices.


Poetry is also about reaction times. I hinted at that above. How we may react quickly to an event, though the poem may take much longer to come together. We react, poetry reflects. The caveat to this, however, is speed. Today’s electronic/digital age requires information to be sent at nanosecond speeds and read about as fast. There does not seem to be time to absorb the information and even to contemplate it. Poetry does not fit well with nanosecond speeds so this is why it could become a casualty. Spoken word poetry is one way to keep up as I see and hear young poets recite poetry in the fashion of hip-hop or rap.


Maybe poetry can be both things: Modern quick speed and slow thoughtful pacing. The quick one can relay immediate witness and the slower pace can provide perspective and documentary.


Lastly, poetry’s vision can bring us all into solidarity… in the world… in all life.

June~Who Knew?

                                                                    

The month of June. Who knew it would get here so fast. Seems like yesterday we were celebrating Valentines Day.

Here we are in the sixth month of the year. June contains the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, (the day with the most daylight hours) and the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, (the day with the fewest daylight hours) excluding polar regions in both cases.

But June also contains Father's Day; it's known for the time schools let out for the summer and the longest day of the year, which is June 20.

June is also the middle of the year and the midpoint of the growing season between planting and harvesting.

In history, June was also the month in 1942 when The Battle of Midway (World War II) began. In June 1989 Tiananmen Square protests ended when Chinese Troops killing hundreds. And June of 1969 US Senator and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was assassinated.

It is also a month with new books releasing such as:

Sunday Afternoons and Other Times Remembered: A Memoir

by Ben Ewell

Then there is Beyond the Moonlit Sea by Julianne MacLean

The Reunion by Elizabeth Drummond

But don't stop with these, there are hundreds releasing. And out of those I know you will find a few you will enjoy.

Happy Reading!

Remember and Honoring

Honoring 

The Men and Women 

Who Died 

While Serving in the Military

Butterfly Premonitions

Nancy Roe

Book ideas come from strange places. A song. A picture. Newspaper articles. Real life.


The idea for Butterfly Premonitions started with portions of my life. Not in the murderous kind of way, but in the history of my family.

1. My mother spent many years on genealogy research. She not only researched her own family, but helped others doing research in Delaware County, Iowa. In her hospital room a week before her death, she spoke with a couple from Wisconsin that wanted to thank her for her research.

2. Anne Dudley Bradstreet was the most prominent of early English poets of North America and first writer in England’s North American colonies to be published. She is the first Puritan figure in American Literature and notable for her large corpus of poetry, as well as personal writings published posthumously. Anne Bradstreet is my ninth great-grandmother on my mom’s side of the family. (This must be where I get my love of writing.)

3. Rebecca Towne Nurse was convicted of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials and hanged as a witch on July 19, 1692, at age 71. Rebecca Nurse is my eighth great-grandmother on my mother’s side of the family.


4. My two papillons inspired the title. (If you don’t know, papillon is French for butterfly.)


All of these family markers are reflected in my new book.

Premonitions. A missing father. A murdered stepmother. A reopened cold case.

Merli Whitshire’s foreboding premonitions lead her home after a ten-year absence. She hopes to find her missing father, but her first night in Haven Hill, Iowa ends with a murdered stepmother.

Merli’s reintroduced to her four best friends she hasn’t seen for ten years since the evening of high school graduation. She had cancelled her summer plans and abruptly moved to New York City to live with her wealthy aunt and pursue a career in fashion design. Merli thought she was running to NYC, but she was really running away from Haven Hill.

Everyone she meets is hiding a secret, but only one is a killer. Will Merli find out who wants revenge before she dies trying?

Nancy Roe is an Award-Winning Author and Professional Formatter. She has self-published eight books and is writing her next mystery.

In August 2021, the League of Utah Writers recognized Nancy, awarding her the Gold Quill Award for her book, The Accident, and First Place for the first chapter of her novel, Butterfly Premonitions.

Nancy served as a panelist at the Killer Nashville International Writer’s Conference, speaking on the subjects of self-publishing, minor characters, and dialogue. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Guppy Chapter, The League of Utah Writers, Just Write Chapter, Writer’s Circle, and Newsletter Chair of the Newcomers Club of the Greater Park City Area.

On Nancy’s website you’ll find articles on organizing tips, recipes, craft ideas, unusual holidays, and grammar tips, as well as information on book formatting services.

Nancy is a Midwest farm girl at heart and lives in Utah with her husband and four-legged children, Max and Addison.

Visit at: www.NancyRoeAuthor.com

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/nancy-roe

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NancyRoeAuthor

Twitter: http://twitter.com/NancyRoeAuthor

Books: www.NancyRoeOnAmazon.com

When We Wrap Works Up & Move On

Sara M. Robinson

So, now we are closing in on the final essay in this collection. We’ve been through all the mechanics, ideas, parts and parcels of what we can use to write our poetry. How does it feel to know you are successfully engaging in your craft?



I want to leave you with one final thought: Writing poetry is a transactional relationship. I recently learned this term when I took a class on tying flies for fly fishing. The art/craft of tying flies is very similar to the art/craft of writing poetry. Both rely on convincing another party (fish or person) to “take the bait.” With poetry, our metaphorical “hook” is generally the first line.

If you are to concentrate on one particular component of your poetry, then really give that first line attention. Unlike fiction, where the writer has pages to engage the reader, we poets have a shorter line space to pull a reader in. Just like the perfect tie to catch a trout, we need the best line we have to complete the transaction.



Poets spent a “writing lifetime” constructing a poem which will either be read in minutes or dismissed in a moment. Back to the wary trout: I might spend 45 minutes constructing an appealing nymph (to me anyway), only to have my intended catch ignore it. We sure don’t want our intended audience to ignore us!



As you have seen throughout this book, there is no right or wrong way to write a poem. Yes, there are some basics that need attention and possibly correction to make the poem work. Those are your “tools.” I use 3 x 5 notecards with my mechanics written on them. I carry them with me everywhere in my writer’s satchel. Did you notice I did not use the word, “toolbox”? That has become a cliché and my advice is to never use that phrase!



While we are at the end of this edition, we are either beginning or continuing our poetry writing.

I hope you will always write to your heart’s content. I hope you will share your love of poetry with others. May the fire that is within your words, give warmth and happiness to your world.



Until next time…

Sara M. Robinson, founder of the Lonesome Mountain Pro(s)e Writers’ Workshop, and former Instructor of a course on Contemporary American Poets at UVA-OLLI, was poetry columnist for Southern Writers Magazine and inagural poetry editor for Virginia Literary Journal. She has served as guest lecturer at UVA’s College at Wise, Wise, VA. Her poetry has appeared in various anthologies, including We Grew Wings and Flew (2014), Scratching Against the Fabric (2015), Virginia Writer’s Club Centennial Anthology (2017), Blue Ridge Anthologies and Mizmor Anthology (2018). Journals include: Loch Raven Review, The Virginia Literary Journal, vox poetica, Jimson Weed, Whisky Advocate, and Poetica. She is poet and author of Love Always, Hobby and Jessie (2009), Two Little Girls in a Wading Pool (2012), A Cruise in Rare Waters (2013 Stones for Words (2014), Sometimes the Little Town (2016), a finalist for the Poetry Society of Virginia’s 2017 Book Award. In 2019, Needville, her poetry about effects of coal mining on SW Virginia was released and in 2020 debuted as play in Charlottesville. Her most recent publication is Simple River (2020, Cyberwit).

https://saramrobinson.com/

Have You Been Whisked Away Before?

 Bestselling and award-winning author Laura Frantz will whisk you away to a time fraught with peril--on the sea and in the heart — in this redemptive, romantic story.  Laura Frantz has a passion for bringing a distant past to life in her enchanting novels. Her signature style sweeps readers away in a whirlwind of romance adventure, and rich history.

Grab Frantz’s newest novel, A Heart Adrift, and step back in time to the 1700s. You will find yourself in the year 1775 where a threat of war with France is looming over York, Virginia. The story opens at the beginning of the French and Indian War (also called the Seven Years’ War), which pitted England and its colonies against France and their allies, all in a quest for territory. George II was on the English throne, and the conflict lasted for seven long, bloody, costly years, all played out on American soil and at sea.

Colonial America is an unending source of powerful historical men and women who made our nation what it is today. It’s fascinating history right down to the garments they wore. Frantz said, "My regret is that all mystory ideas will outlast me and I won’t find time for all the novels I’d love to write! I’m continually fascinated by our colonial ties to Great Britain and how so many of us have ancestry there."

Both Esmée and Henri are dedicated to the colonial cause. Both are very colonial-minded. They are intent on Virginia’s continuance as a leader among the British colonies, share a heart for what would become the seeds of the United States Navy in time, and are mariners in general, including keeping the first lighthouse in the Chesapeake region.

Here you will meet Esmée Shaw who is fighting her own battle of the heart. She has reconciled herself to live life alone, but still struggles with the loss of a decade-old love affair she has never quite recovered from. You will feel her heartache as you enter iinto her story.

But the pain of that old love affair resurface when Captain Henri Lennox returns to York after a lengthy absence. He is determined to finally complete the lighthouse in the dangerous ChesapeakeBay. This was a dream he and Esmée once shared. Esmée initially tries to avoid Henri, but her desire to make a difference in life entices her to join his undertaking to complete the lighthouse. However, when the colonial government asks Henri to lead a secret naval expedition against the French, Henri’s future is plunged into uncertainty, and he is torn between his feelings for Esmée and his call to duty.

Will a war and a cache of regrets keep Esmée and Henri apart? Can their shared vision and dedication to the colonial cause heal the wounds of the past? While we understand the goings on of the war and love, we will be hoping they can reconcile but will they?

Frantz says, "I hope readers will experience and enjoy the story immensely with all its poignancy and can read between the lines to see that the valleys of life are often the high road, achieving our ultimate good and God’s glory.  I believe this novel is perhaps my most sophisticated yet, dealing with themes of love, loss, forgiveness, and restoration."

Laura Frantz is a Christy Award winner and the ECPA bestselling author of more than a dozen novels, including An Uncommon Woman, Tidewater Bride, The Frontiersman’s Daughter, Courting Morrow Little, The Colonel’s Lady, The Lacemaker, and A Bound Heart. She is a proud mom of an American soldier and a career firefighter. When not at home in Kentucky, she and her husband live in Washington State. Learn more at www.laurafrantz.net.

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Robert Thorogood Has Turned Christie-Mysteries On Its Head!

Robert Thorogood

Meet Robert Thorogood. He is an English screenwriter and novelist. Also he is the creator of the BBC One murder mystery series Death in Paradise. He won France Film's "En Route to France" award in 2012.

Thorogood is the author of THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB, a brand new murder mystery series set in Marlow in Buckinghamshire.

He also has written four standalone Richard Poole murder mystery novels.

If you'd like to get in touch, you can find him  on Twitter at @robthor.

If you are a mystery buff then you probably like Agatha Christie. If so, I know you will enjoy reading Robert Thorogood's The Marlow Murder Club. 

Meet Judith: a seventy-seven-year-old whiskey drinking, crossword puzzle author living her best life in a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of Marlow.

Nothing ever happens in Marlow. That is, until Judith hears her neighbor shot while skinny-dipping in the Thames. The local police don't believe her story. It's an open and shut case, of course. Ha! Stefan can't be left for dead like that.

Judith investigates and picks up a crew of sidekicks: Suzie the dogwalker and Becks the vicar's wife. Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.

When another body turns up, they realize they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. And the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape...

Robert Thorogood, has turned the Christie-mystery on its head with this ever-so-sly cozy perfect for readers who love Richard Osmond's Thursday Murder Club and An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good.

          Chosen as Indie Book of the Month