AND THE WINNER IS...CRIME HITS HOME!

I am absolutely rejoicing! 

I've written about the launch of this anthology and of my excitement that my short story, CURRENTS, is included beside crime-writing greats like Walter Mosely, Sara Paretsky, Naomi Hirahara, Gabino Iglesias, and more. There is even more terrific news that I need to share with you!

CRIME HITS HOME has won the coveted Anthony Award for Best Anthology!

My grandfather once said, "Show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are." If that saying holds true, then the great company I'm in means I write darned good stories.

CURRENTS unfolds what happens when two assassins are stranded on a deserted island. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

In fact, Michael J. McCann, award-winning novelist and reviewer for the New York Journal of Books wrote a terrific review of the whole anthology and gave me an amazing shoutout!

Check it out:

Our survey of editor Rozan’s spread wouldn’t be complete without mentioning “Currents” by Connie Johnson Hambley. The atmospheric and entertaining story of two assassins facing off against each other on a desert island in the Pacific, it’s an example of how an anthology like this one can bring our attention to an author whose fiction will bear closer examination in the future.

A columnist for Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Hambley has also independently published three thrillers in her Jessica Trilogy, including The Charity (2012), The Troubles (2015), and The Wake (2017). Her contribution to this anthology casts light on her current work, as it were, and encourages us to keep an eye out for what might be coming next.

So, Yeah! I'm kinda chuffed today! 💞💞💞💞

AN AWARD NOMINATION AND A KILLER REVIEW!

It's time to share some good news!

The anthology, CRIME HITS HOME, has been nominated for an Anthony Award! This award recognizes excellence in all things crime-writing-related. From novels to short stories, to collections like anthologies, even a nomination is something to rejoice in.

So, color me rejoicing! 

I've written about the launch and my excitement of my short story, CURRENTS, being included with crime-writing greats like Walter Mosely, Sara Paretsky, Naomi Hirahara, Gabino Iglesias, and more, but I learned something else that has me stunned.

Michael J. McCann, award-winning novelist and reviewer for the New York Journal of Books wrote a terrific review and gave me an amazing shoutout!

Check it out:

Our survey of editor Rozan’s spread wouldn’t be complete without mentioning “Currents” by Connie Johnson Hambley. The atmospheric and entertaining story of two assassins facing off against each other on a desert island in the Pacific, it’s an example of how an anthology like this one can bring our attention to an author whose fiction will bear closer examination in the future.

A columnist for Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Hambley has also independently published three thrillers in her Jessica Trilogy, including The Charity (2012), The Troubles (2015), and The Wake (2017). Her contribution to this anthology casts light on her current work, as it were, and encourages us to keep an eye out for what might be coming next.

So, Yeah! I'm kinda chuffed today! 💞💞💞💞

Launched! THE SOUL CHANGER'S CONFESSION Short Story

My short story, The Soul Changer's Confession, is included in a wonderful anthology published in Running Wild Anthology of Stories, Volume 4 Book 1 by Running Wild Press.

This collection is built on inclusion of diverse voices but does so organically and with ease. Culled from submissions from around the world, authors from Kuwait, Ireland, France, Saudi Arabia, and more offer slices of perspective and life in delicious bites. A joyful and provocative mix of genres and styles made this anthology one of my favorites.

The Soul Changer's Confession is a bit out of the norm for me. Swapping souls among the living to create eternal soul mates sounds wonderful, but havoc erupts at a nursing home when the soul changer sees too much. Yes, I put a smidgen of crime in there too!

The Amazon listing describes Book 1 as, "[a] cornucopia of stories that span genres and styles. Our editor spanned the globe to find every style and type of story to keep you engaged and make sure that we never, ever fit neatly in a box." Available in Kindle and paperback, this book is perfectly calibrated to our times and for summer beach reading. 

Running Wild Press is woman owned and lead. They describe themselves like this: "We’re a tameless mix of creatives who find each other through books, workshops, conferences, blogs, and word of mouth. We share a love of reading and a flair for the unusual."

As an added bonus, the editors found so many great writers from around the world, they decided to create TWO anthologies. Running Wild Anthology of Stories Book 2 continues the exploration and fun. Enjoy both! 

BOOK REVIEW: Heron Island by R.A. Harold

HERON ISLAND by R.A. Harold

Heron Island by R.A. Harold is a meticulously researched and lushly written turn-of-the-century murder mystery set on an island in Vermont.

The back cover description sums up the book best: "Widowed Rough Rider Dade Wyatt longs to cast off his shadowed past and retreat to a quiet life as a security operative for paper tycoon Warren Dodge. But when plans to host Wyatt’s old commander Teddy Roosevelt on Dodge's idyllic Vermont island are imperiled by a guest’s death, Wyatt descends into a maelstrom of poverty, anarchy and class war to safeguard the President and catch a killer."

Real life historical figures like Teddy Roosevelt, Vermont Lieutenant Governor Nelson Fisk and William Seward Webb populate a cast of richly drawn characters. Fictional Wyatt is helped by a Creole manservant as Wyatt draws upon his considerable deduction skills to solve a murder. 

Harold achieves what few authors can. She brings to life the history and social tensions of a period of time, then weaves motive and opportunity around the norms of that day. Her settings are detailed, characters fittingly drawn, and story moves at a pace indicative of high-society--carefully, with measured steps.

Summer is the perfect time to transport yourself to another era by becoming engrossed in this book. You will come away thoroughly entertained and have a greater understanding of American history

BIO:

Robbie Harold, Author

Roberta (Robbie) Harold is a novelist, poet and non-fiction writer from Montpelier, Vermont. As R.A. Harold, she is the author of two historical mysteries, Heron Island, set in Vermont, and its sequel, Murdered Sleep, set in Washington, DC. Murdered Sleep won the 2015 Genre Fiction award from the Independent Publishers of New England (IPNE). Her work has been published in Vermont Life, Hunger Mountain, Synezoma, and South Carolina Review. A 2001 graduate of Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English, she won its Robert Haiduke Poetry Prize in 1999. She is a frequent contributor of articles and reviews to the Montpelier Bridge and is active in community theater. She is currently at work on two new novels, neither of them mysteries (except, at this point, to herself).

Christmastime Already? Sheesh!

Okay. I've been slacking off in writing my posts. November events blasted me out of my routine, rocketing past Thanksgiving, and landing me in the land of elves and Santa. Holy schmoly! What just happened?

I know I'm not alone in feeling clubbed and dazed. Book events filled my calendar, and November left many of us numb from a shared experience. (I'm not going to mention the "T" word, or anything about a shocking "E," or, well, you get the idea.) Time marches on. I'm a mom in the middle of an active family, so I feel pressure to get in gear and make Christmas happen.

Past Christmases were a blur of school events, office parties, shopping, baking, and decorating the house. I'll admit to being a little high octane when it came to making Christmas memories. The sleight of hand my husband and I perfected about Christmas Eve magic had our kids believing in Santa well past the average age of enlightenment. Their refrain? There must be a Santa because no way mom and dad would buy all that stuff and no way in heck could we hide it all until Christmas morning. Boo yeah! Mission accomplished.

But this year is different. My family will have one empty seat at the dinner table. It's a fact I'm having a hard time accepting.

Two of my children have graduated college and my youngest is a freshman. Asking them what they want Santa to bring makes them roll their eyes, and with no kids in the local schools, holiday concerts, bake sale fund raisers, and classroom parties are things of the past. I'll confess to being grumpy about decorating my home, too.

This season, the one filled with joy and love, is teaching me to find the joy in my life and focus on the love. I will eventually bake, shop, wrap, and decorate, but I'm refusing to do so when it feels like a "have to" instead of a "want to." I want to enjoy this holiday with my family. And I will.

This Christmas will not be a blur of activities. I am choosing to spend my time wisely and carefully, with people I love. I am going to take the time needed to show how I feel. Maybe we'll hike together or eat warm ginger bread, made from my grandmother's recipe, dripping with melting butter. When we do, I'll listen to their favorite Christmas memories and ask them about their hopes for the future. I don't think anyone's going to notice I didn't wrap a bunch of presents or I served a store-bought quiche instead of making my own. If they do notice? I'll invite them to talk with me while I wrap or cook. I want my time with them.

My second novel, "The Troubles," won best fiction award at EQUUS Film Festival in NYC

I realize that finding joy is like looking at yourself through a fun house mirror. Depending upon your perspective, features dominate your view or shrink away. I'm surrounded with joy. I just need to decide to keep my focus there.

Part of my joy was learning that "The Troubles" won a literary award! I may write a whole post on my November events, I may not. For now, I'm sharing a little bit of my joy with you.

If I don't post again for a couple of weeks, please know I wish you a wonderful holiday season and a joy filled new year. 

BOOK REVIEW: Turning for Home by Natalie Keller Reinert

If you're a horse lover without a horse or have a stable full of the four-legged beasts in your back yard, Turning for Home will have you sigh with love for the horses in this book as well as the humans who champion them.

Natalie Keller Reinert has crafted a story so real, I could feel the horse grit on my hands as I turned the pages.

Racehorses fill Alex's stable and heart. She loves each horse in her care as a trainer, and is passionate about the well-being of all horses at the track. As an outspoken activist for the ethical treatment of thoroughbred athletes, she becomes a lightning rod in a scandal for the very type of abuse she strives to stop. All she has to do is stay out of the public eye and away from the track until the controversy sorts itself out. But trouble isn't something Alex backs away from. 

Horses may fill Alex's life, but one horse fills her heart. Tiger Prince is a loser at the track, but something about Tiger tugs at her. He's keen witted and a gorgeous mover and Alex determines to create a new life for Tiger. Maybe he'll become a show jumper, maybe an eventer. All Alex knows for sure is that if Tiger can forge a new life, she can prove that thoroughbreds can have a long career even after their racing lives are over. 

Turning for Home is a must read for the horse loving reader. This book also received special honors as a finalist for the Dr. Tony Ryan award that recognizes books highlighting the Thoroughbred breed. 

About Natalie:

Growing up between Maryland and Florida, Natalie Keller Reinert has spent much of her life in the saddle. From galloping racehorses at Aqueduct, to grooming for international-level Event riders in Ocala, to riding on mounted patrol in New York City, if it involves horses, Reinert’s probably given it a try.

In 2011 she released THE HEAD AND NOT THE HEART, which became the first of four novels in the Alex and Alexander series. She’s also written novels set in eventing (AMBITION) and horse showing (SHOW BARN BLUES).
















Join Natalie and me at the Equine Affaire where we'll tell how capturing the essence of the horse helps authors create better stories.

BOOK REVIEW: Keeping Secrets by Maggie Dana

When a book is nominated to be on Amazon's new Prime reading program, you know you have to check it out.




Keeping Secrets is the first book in Maggie Dana's Timber Ridge Rider series geared to young adults. Filled with teen angst,Keeping Secrets sets the stage for those many life lessons that allow its main character, Kate McGregor, to come of age. She blames herself for the death of a prize show horse and has sworn never to ride again. Ever!

Enter the need for a summer job and a place to live and Kate finds herself right back where she doesn't want to be...on a horse farm populated by the quintessential mean girls. For any horse crazed reader, Dana books are sure to give a healthy dose of horse and life lessons.



Tightly constructed and well-written, the Timber Ridge Riders series should be on every young reader's list.

Maggie Dana’s first riding lesson, at the age of five, was less than wonderful. In fact, she hated it so much, she didn’t try again for another three years. But all it took was the right instructor and the right horse and she was hooked for life.

Join Maggie and me at Equine Affaire and hear us talk about your favorite fictional horses!

BOOK REVIEW: Remember Me by Laura Moore

Laura Moore's book, Remember Me, is a wonderful addition to the equine fiction genre and not in the way that you think.

The reader meets Margot Radcliffe at a crossroad in her life. Gorgeous and headstrong, she

wants a place by her father's side to run Rosewood, a first-class horse farm in Virginia. Her father and, more importantly, his new trophy wife, think marriage is a much better idea for Margot. Tempers flare, and Margot leaves her family to become a super-model. A tragedy forces Margo back to the farm and back to face the man she'd rather forget.

I know what you're thinking. Horse book? Syrupy romance? Erotica with hooves? If any of that were true (or offensive), I wouldn't tell you to READ THIS BOOK!

First, the "horse book" genre is populated with young adult and coming of age novels. This book is neither one of those. Yes, there is romance and yes, some steamy sections, but the similarity stops there!

Margot has to do what she can to keep her family's farm solvent. Along with stepping into her father's shoes as farm manager, she has to step up as parent to her half sister. The inner life Moore brings to her characters kept me turning the pages. Bad boy Travis is a treat. Oh, and the terrific descriptions of horse farms and the business of training helped too!

What I loved about this book is what readers don't see a lot of. Each of Moore's characters has a strong moral compass that keeps them on solid footing. Margot has to raise a teenager rattled by grief and determined to be, well, a teen. How Margot deals with her half sister is wonderful mix of love and muddling through the slop of life with only an inner compass to guide her.

Moore's writing is first rate and her story is tightly constructed and readable. Treat yourself and read book one of the Rosewood Trilogy, Remember Me.

Laura was born in and grew up there and in Western Massachusetts. She received her undergraduate degree and my M.A. in art history. Since graduate school, Laura has worked as a museum lecturer and has taught art, art history, and French. She now lives in Rhode Island, where, in addition to writing, she teaches English at the Rhode Island School of Design--a great place to share her love of art and fiction.

Join Laura and me at the Equine Affaire in Springfield, Massachusetts, as we discuss how using the essence of the horse helps us write better fiction.

BOOK LAUNCH: Folly Cove by Holly Robinson

One great aspect about a writing life is the wonderful people you meet along the way who then become friends. We cheer each other on and thrill in their successes as we strive for our own. It's one thing to read a great book and want to tell your friends. It's extra special when that book was written by your friend!

This is my experience in reading Folly Cove, Holly Robinson's newest book. 

The Bradford sisters, Laura, Elly, and Anne, love one another, as only sisters from an overbearing and complex mother can. Their mother, Sara, former jazz singer and wife of the owner of a historic inn located in a beautiful coastal New England town, has secrets and is willfully ignorant of her impact on her daughters. Laura placed her own life as a competitive equestrian on hold, the "good" daughter who sacrificed to "do the right thing." Elly and Anne returned to the family fold after living lives that resulted in dashed dreams. They come back to the inn and face each other as well as the results of their decisions. Prominent throughout the story is the Bradford family trait that keeps secrets close to hearts even as families threaten to break apart.

No one writes about the inner lives of women better than Holly Robinson. Describing the complex relationships between sisters and lovers, and unraveling the impact of mothers and aunts are fertile ground for Holly's skilled touch. Add to this, a mystery of a father who abandoned Sara and her daughters, in settings that will take a reader's breath away, and you have a story that will keep you turning pages until the small hours of the morning.

I received an ARC of this book prior to its release.

Do yourself a favor and read this book. I know Holly Robinson will become your new favorite author.

Holly's Bio:

Novelist, jourlalist and celebrity ghost writer Holly Robinson is the author of several books, including The Gerbil farmer's Daughter: A Memoir and the novels The Wishing Hill, Beach Plum Island, Haven Lake, and Chance Harbor. Her newest novel, Folly Cove, will be published by Berkley Publishing Group/Penguin Random House in October 2016. Holly's articles and essays appear frequently in publications such as Cognoscenti, The Huffington Post, More, Parents, Redbook and dozens of other newspapers and magazines. She and her husband have five children and a stubborn Pekingese. They divide their time between Massachusetts and Prince Edward Island, and are crazy enough to be fixing up old houses one shingle at a time in both places. Connect with Holly on Facebook, at www.authorhollyrobinson.com and on Twitter @hollyrob1.

If you're in the Springfield, Massachusetts area November 11, stop by the Equine Affaire and hear Holly on a panel discussion of using the essence of the horse to bring readers a better story.

A2R Marketing: The Care and Feeding of Your Favorite Author

Come on, 'fess up. You have a crush on an author and are happy with the one-sided affair.

You read his or her work with books you own, got from a library, or borrowed from a friend. You fell in love with a story or a character because something touched you in a way you never thought possible. Somehow, the author reached into your heart and expressed something you knew was there, but didn't know how to articulate. Then, you read the quick bio in the back of the book and were even more intrigued with the person behind the words. Shyly, with no one looking, you googled her and found blogs or recent interviews. You liked what you read, or viewed, or heard. You were hooked.

We authors are a complicated sort. We spend hours alone, crafting sentences we hope will do exactly that - to beguile and hook you. You've bitten our sweet apple and thought you were safe in your curlers and fuzzy slippers, with a mug of tea in one hand and a thick tome in the other. You thought you were safe from need.

You were wrong. For each sated moment you enjoyed, a hunger grew. Maybe you talked about your new love with anyone who would listen (thank you!). Perhaps you suggested our book to your book club (wonderful!). The more adventurous of you "liked" a Facebook page (yes!), followed us on Twitter (yippee!), or left a comment on a blog (way to go!). Maybe you've even been so bold as to attend a reading (incredible!). Thank you for carrying us in the crook of your arm as you commute (cover out, please, so all can see), or got sand in our pages at the beach (aahhh!). Lip prints on your e-reader are perfectly acceptable as you kiss a favorite passage. If you've done one or all of these things, you may have smiled to yourself thinking you've cared for your beloved author.

Everything mentioned above is fantastic and greatly appreciated, but there's more you can do. Remember, we authors are lovers of words. Not just our own words, but yours, dear Reader. Yes. Your words. Post a review. Gulp! We ask you to declare your love of us publicly. We ask you to stand on the rooftop of the great House of Barnes & Noble, or atop Mount Amazon, or on the shores of Goodreads, and shout, loudly and proudly, that you've read our words and want more.

Because, in those digital wilds, more of you lurk. We authors know this to be true. There are readers out there who want to know what you've read and what you thought. In the process of caring for us, you get to care for your own. How perfect can that be?

So, as you care for us, feed us with your words and reap the reward knowing you're providing sustenance for others, just like you.

Here is a check list for ensuring proper care:

• Tell your friends and suggest it to your book club. Many authors are happy to join your group for an evening and others can do appearances via Skype.
• Ask your local library to buy a copy. Better yet, but one and donate it after you've read it!
• If the author has a Facebook page, please "like" it;
• Ditto for Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.;
• If you see them on a blog, comment.
• On Amazon, post a review AND add the author as a 'favorite' by visiting their author page and clicking the "Add Favorite" star button below their image;
• Add the book to your Goodreads list and review it there.
• Authors are happy to hear from you. Reach out. 

More on A2R (Author to Reader) Marketing can be found here.