Catching UP!

Books that Went to Press this Week

 

 

PIRATES OF THE EASTERN SHORE, by Andy Nunez

    Another in Andy Nunez's popular Eastern Shore Series. This one explores Pirates treasure buried along the Atlantic seaboard, visits to the Delmarva Penninsula by Captain Kidd and Blackbeard, to the Oyster Wars of the 20th Century.

8x10. illus.

NO Galleys that went out, 

or went out again, this week, but...

Work Began or Continued on the following Books 

WANTED: ROYAL PRINCESS OF CONVENIENCE: Royal Hearts of Mondoverde Series, Vol. 2 by Anna Dynnowsky

  The Crown Prince has gone to press and the second son in a series of Five is on the list, though Anna hasn't quite finished the book, she should have it done soon.

 

LOST SOUL: A Hannah Griswold Mystery Vol. 2, by Robert Kanehl

  We don't have a new cover yet, but Hannah Griswold is back and solving another ghostly mystery.

  THEN CAME HEAVEN,  by Gilda Arruda. 
    A novel of love, loss, and faith. The cover above is only a mock-up. We are still working on it. 

THE BOY WHO COULD STOP TIME: The Ancient Magic Book Series, Vol. 1, by Evelyn Frederick Moll.

   After strange feelings surround Josh Sparkins when he hears an old time adage, he figures out he has the ability to stop time. This exciting ability offers Josh opportunities for adventure, fun, and even revenge. However, when he realizes he ages at an accelerated pace when he stops time, he fears he is heading for his final days. 

 LAINEE DELANEY: BATHING BEAUTIES: Lainey Delaney Series, Vol.2, by Frances Langley

   Lainee Delaney is back, off for the summer and lying about the pool, just taking it easy, then, as you might expect, if you read Langley's  first book...A Mystery Happens!!!

IRIS DESTINY, by Joseph Daniel Carr.

   We are promised a new cover and new edition on this on, but haven't seen the artwork yet.

 

Earthquake in Messina Italy, in the early 20th Century

STORYBOOK II, by Elena Dorothy Bowman

      Within the pages of this book are stories that my mother once told me; of certain incidences that she remembered. But mostly it is compiled of the memories that were a part of all our lives.
    There were happy times and there were sad times. It was a time of struggle, of prosperity, of joblessness, of wondering where the next paycheck would come from.  Times when a “breadwinner” didn’t have the money to buy a quart of milk, put bread on the table, or a dime to ride the trolley to work. Even a time when the poor didn’t know they were poor. But always, a family that stood together no matter what problems they were facing.  

 

 BLEEDING HEARTS: Killian Kendall Mystery Series, Vol. 1

   Winner of the Stonewall Society's 2002 Pride in the Arts Literary Award in the Whodunit Category!

REAP THE WHIRLWIND: Killian Kendall Mystery Series, Vol. 2,  by Josh Aterovis.
   Suicide, or murder? That's the question in the second Killian Kendall mystery. Will Smith suspects murder when an old childhood pal drowns, and asks his friend Killian for help in solving the mystery.

TRUTH OF YESTERDAY,  by Josh Aterovis

ALL LOST THINGS, by Josh Aterovis

CHANGE  OF WORLDS, by Josh Aterovis
 

Jack's News!

  by your bookstore cat, 
and gossip columnist!

Hey, Elena Bowman. How are you doing? I heard you were sick and was wondering about STORYBOOK II. Sure hope you are feeling better and that we will get the stuff we need to finish your book soon.

 

FINALLY! PIRATES has gone to press.  Andy Nunez is setting up a speaking tour, and personal appearances even before he has a copy in his hand. Promotion is the name of the game for him, by golly! Always has been.

 

He's not only a super writer, but an artist as well. I think he did a great picture of Blackbeard and the others on this cover. Don't you? Arline is sure relieved. Lots of illustrations in this one and she had almost forgotten how to do them.

 

Roger had a birthday yesterday! He said it was "the big 8-0!" Whatever that means. I'll be nine in June. 

 

Boy was he grumpy when he got home from the drug store. One prescription was "three hundred smackers." He said it was "highway robbery." I wonder what a smacker is. Maybe some kind of fish? I like fish. 

 

Anyway keep thinking of me and send me an e-mail if you have any kind of promotions or public appearances going one  and I'll let folks know about it here.

Don't forget to let me know what you are all up to! 
Just send me an e-mail with "News for Jack" in the subject line, and I'll make sure it shows up right here. 
Thanks!

A Free Book to celebrate Black History Month

GO DOWN MOSES: 

The Story of Harriet Tubman: Runaway Slave, 

Conductor on the Underground Railroad, 

and Spy for the Union Army

FREE THIS MONTH,

on the front page of the site, or

search for the title at: 

www.writewordsinc.com

by Arline Chase
Eppie Finalist, 2004

After escaping to freedom herself, Harriet Tubman led more than 300 other slaves to freedom. She spied for the Union Army during the Civil War. A fictionalized biography, based on her published interviews with her biographer, and on other source records.

Why this book?

I wrote this book because Harriet Tubman and I share a home town. Her story has always fascinated me. She was a woman with great heart and great love for her family.  If you think she led people to freedom only because she hated slavery, you are wrong.

Harriet did hate slavery, but she led more than 300 people to safety primarily because she loved her family.

After escaping to freedom, Harriet lived in Philadelphia, only across the line in Pennsylvania. She managed to "get word" about her loved ones from abolitionist friends and neighbors down on the Delmarva Peninsula.

Then she learned that the doctor who owned her sister had died and all his "goods and chattels" were to be sold at the courthouse door. It is certain that Harriet knew those "goods and chattels" included her sister and her sister's children.

Though Harriet's sister was a slave, she was fairly happy. She had married a free man and while her children were born into slavery, they had a pretty good life with the doctor. Harriet's sister was allowed to live at home with her husband and only come to work as a house slave every day. Her children, though not legally free, enjoyed a goodly amount of freedom and were not put to work at an early age. So by all accounts the sister was happy with her life and grateful that the doctor was a kindly man who gave her many liberties for a slave.

Then the doctor died.

As a country doctor who was often paid "in kind" with chickens, and eggs, etc. the doctor had run up debts that he left behind. Legally, everything he had owned must be sold at auction  to discharge those debts. Anyone, from anywhere could buy Harriet's sister and her children at auction. Different people might buy her children separating the family for good. Certainly, there was every chance that she would be "sold South" and never see her husband again. 

Harriet conferred with William Still, a representative of the Philadelphia Abolitionist Society, the man who had helped her find lodging and work when she first escaped.  Still worked with the  Underground Railroad, a secret network of people dedicated to helping end slavery and to helping slaves escape.

The two conferred and plotted and planned. It was Still who gave Harriet the code name "Moses," and sent her on the first of many journeys into danger as a "conductor" in the Underground Railroad.

On the day of the auction, Harriet (disguised as a man) wandered through the crowd on the courthouse lawn. Yes, the same courthouse that stands on  High Street in Cambridge, today.  She spied her sister and the children, in shackles, standing with the distraught husband. She knew he was a free man, but far too poor to be able to buy his family.

They took no notice of her, as she spoke with two young boys, slipping them coins in secret. A moment later, the boys began to fight, not just each other, but dashing madly around, knocking grown-ups to the ground, tipping over furniture, throwing dishes and pots at one another and scooting through startled members of the crowd.

While everyone was distracted by the fight, Harriet shephered her sister's family down High Street as fast as they could go, hurrying them toward LongWharf, where she had a boat waiting.

The boat, manned by abolitionists, pushed off as they all leapt aboard and sailed clean away up the Choptank River, into Chesapeake Bay, and on north to the port of Baltimore. On Pratt Street, more members of the Underground Railroad were waiting with false papers. Harriet left her disguise behind and they all boarded a train to Philadelphia, where Still met them with more help.

That was the first time Harriet returned to Dorchester County, but not the last time she came to the aid of the Ross family.

Harriet had 16 or 17 brothers and sisters and Ross was her maiden name. Whenever Harriet got word that someone needed help, she came down to get them. Her brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews, and later on, even her parents who were in their 80s, Harriet took them all to freedom. When people heard that she would be coming, they appeared in numbers and begged to go along. Harriet never turned anyone away.

It is a fine thing to note, in the pages of William Still's book, THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD: A RECORD OF FACTS, NARRATIVES, LETTERS, ETC,  how often the accounts he kept for the Philadelphia Abolitionist Society mention the conductor "Moses" arriving with passengers from the South, sometimes as many as 27 at a time, and among them, always, was one or two named Ross.

At first, Harriet did not set out to be a great heroine and freedom fighter. She set out to help her family, so that they, too, should be free as she was. Later, she became an activist and spoke for the Abolitionist cause and for Women's Suffrage.

In modern times, the Episcopal Church has named her a Saint.  While making her journeys, Harriet had a price on her head amounting to $10,000 a vast sum in 1857 and all the while whenever she was in danger, both when she was "conducting" people to freedom, and later during the Civil War, she looked to her God for protection with utter faith and never in vain.

In doing the research for my own book, I mainly used the two editions of HARRIET TUBMAN: THE MOSES OF HER PEOPLE,  by Sarah Hopkins Bradford, because they contain the only original source material, that has Harriet Tubman's own words directly quoted from interviews with her.  In writing the book everything that Harriet says in dialogue, is something that she had actually said to Ms. Bradford. I did clean up the dialect a bit, mostly in an effort to make it more easily understood by today's readers.

GO DOWN MOSES  is free for February at www.writewordsinc.com. Just order it in the usual way, you will not be charged. For anyone interested, both Bradford's and Still's books are free downloads from www.guttenberg.com and www.amazon.com

A Cosy Winter Read, and answer to a question...

According to the statistics, only 34 percent of murderers are prosecuted and about half of them are convicted. In Volume 2 of the Eva Wyatt mystery series, she is faced with not one but two exceptionally well-organized, clever criminals. As always, Detective-Sergeant Eva Wyatt is trying to beat the odds.

Question from the e-mail:  Found this in a book I'm reading. A book from a NY publisher. Is this correct? I can hear your voice in the back of my head saying, "Virginia, you know better THAN that."

     "He embraced her and held her quietly, than dried her tears."

Answer:  YOU are RIGHT.  Then (another time, either before or later) and Than (something different in a comparison) are often used incorrectly and since spell check won't warn you (both are real words in every dictionary) it is an error that can easily slip past the most professional of editors.

Warm Read and a recipe.

A Cozy, Warm-Hearted Mystery

 to Curl Up With on a Cold Day

When their plans for their Charleston vacation are sidelined, Bonnie and Sue find that Savannah offers more than meets the eye. When they first arrive at The Magnolias, they plan on a nice quiet stay at a 200-yearold bed and breakfast; not the eighty-year-old murder of Colonel Blanchard, the disembodied voice of the missing Ghislaine, and the mysterious melody that is heard by all of the inn’s guests each midnight.

Pan-Fried Makeral Filet

This recipe calls for mackeral, but I have even used frozen flounder filets and find that the "garlic makes it Good!" rule holds in this recipe for any kind of  white meat fish.

Ingredients

• 1 Mackerel, filleted
• 1tbsp Extra Virgin Olive oil
• 2 New Potatoes – par boiled and sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Clove garlic
• 1/4 Cup White Cooking Wine

Using a frying pan, soften the in the olive oil with the bay leaf and garlic.  Add the new potatoes and when everything is nicely golden and crispy, move them to the side of the frying pan and add your Mackerel fillets.  Cook these through, but be careful not to overcook your mackerel.
This is a quick and simple recipe which is great straight off the fishing boat.

I have found that if you catch more than 1 fish, you can prepare the seasonings with double the amount called for and cook them in 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil, then reserve them in a bowl.  

Repeat that process with more seasonings and cook enough extra potatoes to make a side dish large enough for however many you will serve.

Place your filets flat in a baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray.  Add the white cooing wine to the bowl of prepared seasonings spread evenly over your fish filets. Cover the pan with Aluminum Foil and bake in a300 degree  oven for15-25 minutes. 

Check them often, then reseal, to keep the seasonings in. Filets are done as soon as they turn white.  Do not overcook.  You need at 2 filets per person...

Catching UP!

No Books Went to Press this Week

 

 

 Galleys went out, 

or went out again, this week:

 

PIRATES OF THE EASTERN SHORE, by Andy Nunez

    Another in Andy Nunez's popular Eastern Shore Series. This one explores Pirates treasure buried along the Atlantic seaboard, visits to the Delmarva Penninsula by Captain Kidd and Blackbeard, to the Oyster Wars of the 20th Century.

 

 

Work began or Continued 

on the following books: 

 

THE KIDNAPPING OF SEN. ANDY THOMPSON: Adventures on Capital Hill Series, Vol. 2. 

   by Celine Rose Mariotti
  

    Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have U.S. Senators who really did their job, got along well, and stood up for what was right? This is not your typical book about politics.  It’s the perfect U.S. Senate!  Throughout the book, there is an ongoing health care debate.  Senators Andy Thompson and Hunt Wagner lead the way with a resolution to try to stop President Robinson and Secretary von Schumann from sending troops to Botswana.  But a real adventure begins when Senator Thompson is kidnapped and Brian Travors, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State is suspected of being involved.  Senators Hunt Wagner and Darius Clemens head a committee hearing to get to the truth.  President Robinson suffers a heart attack and Vice-President Barry Newman takes over temporarily.  This book is a real page turner!  Read it and you’ll have hope for tomorrow!

  

  THEN CAME HEAVEN,  by Gilda Arruda. 
    A novel of love, loss, and faith.

 

Earthquake in Messina Italy, in the early 20th Century

STORYBOOK II, by Elena Dorothy Bowman

      Within the pages of this book are stories that my mother once told me; of certain incidences that she remembered. But mostly it is compiled of the memories that were a part of all our lives.
    There were happy times and there were sad times. It was a time of struggle, of prosperity, of joblessness, of wondering where the next paycheck would come from.  Times when a “breadwinner” didn’t have the money to buy a quart of milk, put bread on the table, or a dime to ride the trolley to work. Even a time when the poor didn’t know they were poor. But always, a family that stood together no matter what problems they were facing.  

 

 

 
THE MURDER OF SEC. JUDD KANE: Adventures on Capital Hill Series, Vol. 2. 

   by Celine Rose Mariotti
       Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have U.S. Senators who really did their job, got along well, and stood up for what was right? This is not your typical book about politics.  It’s the perfect U.S. Senate!  Throughout the book, there is an ongoing health care debate.  Senators Andy Thompson and Hunt Wagner lead the way with a resolution to try to stop President Robinson and Secretary von Schumann from sending troops to Botswana.  But a real adventure begins when Senator Thompson is kidnapped and Brian Travors, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State is suspected of being involved.  Senators Hunt Wagner and Darius Clemens head a committee hearing to get to the truth.  President Robinson suffers a heart attack and Vice-President Barry Newman takes over temporarily.  This book is a real page turner!  Read it and you’ll have hope for tomorrow!

REVEREND CASTLE'S CRISIS, Rev. Castle series, Vol. 2 by Celine Rose Mariotti
   Rev. Castle is back in another cozy mystery.

BLEEDING HEARTS: Killian Kendal Mystery Series, Vol. 1
   Winner of the Stonewall Society's 2002 Pride in the Arts Literary Award in the Whodunit Category!

REAP THE WHIRLWIND: Killian Kendall Mystery Series, Vol. 2,  by Josh Aterovis.
   Suicide, or murder? That's the question in the second Killian Kendall mystery. Will Smith suspects murder when an old childhood pal drowns, and asks his friend Killian for help in solving the mystery.

TRUTH OF YESTERDAY,  by Josh Aterovis

ALL LOST THINGS, by Josh Aterovis

CHANGE  OF WORLDS, by Josh Aterovis
 

Jack's News!

  by your bookstore cat, 
gossip columnist, and feline friend.

CM Albrecht let us know about this really great Five Star review from Readers' Favorites:

Author C.M. Albrecht has a winner here. The story is right up there with some of the best PI adventures. Without the use of explicit or strong language and excessive violence, the author has skillfully woven an excellent mystery plot. The reader can quickly identify with the characters. I really enjoyed reading this book.

 

Also, our friends at www.allromanceebooks.com are asking if romance writers wish to advertise on their page in an upcoming edition of Romantic Times. Here's what they say:

 

We are now booking spots for our May 2015 ad with RT BookReviews Magazine.

Please note - This issue will be handed out for free to attendees at the RT Convention in May.

The ad will be a full page/color and contain 24 covers on the flame background with our logo, tagline, and web-address. A review is not guaranteed.

We would need a minimum 300 dpi 600X900 color cover in jpg or pdf format at the time of payment for the May issue.

We expect this ad to fill quickly so please query via email to julie.cummings@allromanceebooks.com to discover if space is available.

Once you have queried and space is confirmed, you will receive further instructions for completing your reservation.

Cost of ad is $115.00 

Arline has flu again. I just can't believe how frail humans are. I mean when a cat sneezes, it's because there's dust in the air, or someone spilled the pepper. Humans cough and sneeze allthe time and they get these red eyes and noses and everything drips.  So messy...

The vet says she'll be better when spring rolls around. Can't be too soon for me.

Don't forget to let me know what you are all up to! 
Just send me an e-mail with "News for Jack" in the subject line, and I'll make sure it shows up here. 
Thanks!

 

A Good Read + A Plot Question

Grab your compass and come along with the crew of the motor ketch the Lady Dance. Be with them as they unravel the mystery of the lost continent of MU for a great adventure.

Question from the E-mail:  I'm confused about how to plot.  The members of my writers group all have different advice about this. What's your stand on it?

Answer:  Here it is, straight from my workshop handout on plot.

                                           PLOT

Ideally, plot should arise out of characters and be shaped by what they want and what stands in the way of their reaching their goals.

If you know your characters, what happens to them will arise naturally out of their beliefs, desires, experiences and actions.

Or it will arise out of the desires and actions of the villain, or the interaction between the protagonists and antagonists. It is vital that you know your characters innermost feelings and see clearly their reasons for acting as they do. (Remember Motivation is key.)
  
Every story should have a beginning, middle, and end. Every plot should advance with rising action, that follows the rule of three and keeps good company with dramatic structure and form. Remember, plot can evolve and change, as your characters evolve and change. But it is far, far, easier to write a story if you know what will happen in it first.

The Beginning: Every story starts with a character who wants something and why.

If he wants something he can’t have, the character has a problem  that must be solved and how he or she will solve it determines  what the story is about (PLOT) . If the character doesn’t want anything, there’s no story.

Every story is about someone who is striving for something, someone who is taking a risk. The reasons for taking that risk should not be entirely selfish, either.  Cinderella wanted to go to the ball, because her father had told he for years that she would go and be the most beautiful girl there. But her step-mother and step-sisters stood in her way. They were barriers that stood between Cinderella and what she wanted. Usually, main characters must be prepared to take risks to get what they want.  She took the risk, even though she knew that at midnight her fancy clothes would turn back to rags and if she didn't leave first, everyone there would laugh at her.

The Middle must contain Obstacles: Every character who wants something meets with barriers that stand in his or her way.

When a character meets a barrier, conflict (and tension and suspense that help hold your reader’s interest) is born. IF there is no conflict, there is no story. A hangnail is not a barrier. Something important has to be at stake and the character has to face the possibility of losing it ALL. Every real barrier is a plot turning point. Either the character will climb over the wall or he’ll fall to his death. Either way, something important will change.

Usually, in the standard dramatic structure there are three major barriers (or plot turning points)that stand in the character’s way and the last one contains within it, the “Bleak Moment.”

The bleak moment is the place in the plot where it seems as if Nothing will Ever Work Out for the character. It’s that “ALL IS LOST” moment. This is the same for every kind of fiction, no matter the genre.

For Cinderella it was when she was waltzing in the Prince’s arms and the clock struck twelve. For Ishmael, in Moby Dick, it came after the final crisis, Ahab was dead, the ship sunk, everyone else had drowned and he was struggling in the water, knowing he was going to drown, too. For Ishmael the bleak moment happened just before the coffin bobbed to the surface and gave him something to hold on to.

The End: The resolution of the story is the end.

For Cinderella, the bleak moment came early, but the resolution turned up later. It was when the slipper fit and the prince asked for her hand. For Ishmael it was when the other ship spotted hm floating on the coffin and rescued him.

Now endings don’t always have to be happy. They can be sad, too. But all good plots, if they are satisfying to the reader,  have a resolution. Sure there is the occasional “Make up your own mind” plot. One of the reasons I hated the Robin Cook’s book Coma was because it didn’t really have an ending. When you plot and plan, don’t forget to find a real resolution for your character. Either they will get what they want, or they won’t.

A good resolution has all the answers, and ties up all the loose ends.

Best way to escape the SNOW!

A Great way to Escape the Blizzard

Set against the backdrop of a historic snowstorm, Snow Escape is the story of one woman’s innocent foray into the world of online dating turned deadly.

Allegra Maxwell is a 30-year old, single school teacher looking for love. Having chosen to use the Internet to meet the opposite sex, she encounters an articulate, prospective beau on the night the biggest blizzard in history is blanketing the Big Apple. Their pleasant conversation soon turns sinister when she discovers that "Charles" has been stalking her for weeks and claims he lives in her building. With threats of destroying her little by little are made, Allegra must stay one step ahead of the mind games. Turning to neighbors for help, tragic consequences ensue.

BLIZZARD PARTY TREATS

Just the Recipe to prepare ahead and nibble on while you read!

Ingredients

• 2 cups Corn Chex

• 2 cups miniature pretzels

• 1 cup dry roasted peanuts

• 20 caramels, coarsely chopped

• 1 package (10 to 12 ounces) white chocolate baking chips

  Savings in cambridge, MD 21613  Change Zip

My Savings Add to Grocery List

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients. In a microwave, melt chips; stir until smooth. Pour over cereal mixture and toss to coat.
2. Immediately spread onto waxed paper-lined baking sheet; let stand until set, about 20 minutes.
3. Break into pieces. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 6 cups.