The “greatest classic Korean novel” by Kim Man-Jung follows a
young boy’s rags to riches story that encompasses wives,
concubines, wise men, scholars, and the military. One man lives an
incredible lifein 17th century Korea, continously
attracting the most beautiful women, many whose status makes them
worthy only of positions as his concubines, and experiencing
fantastical elements, such as fairies and dragons. It’s challenging
to view this as a great romance from the modern perspective of the Me
Too movement. Then at the end, it’s all a dream. Classics are not
for everyone. I was graciously given a digital copy from the
publisher through NetGalley.
Paolo takes Emily, who has finally managed to get her bi-polar under
control, out on his boat for a romantic date. After a wine-filled
evening, Emily awakens to find herself alone on the boat. A roller
coaster ride through the police investigation reveals a different
Paolo, and Emily must work to prove herself innocent in this missing
man mystery. Jacobs does a great job of eliciting sympathy for his
unreliable narrator, and the twists and turns are credible and
gasp-worthy. Fans of Catherine Steadman’s Something in the Water
and / or Kelly Simmon’s Where She Went will appreciate Jacobs’
style of storytelling. I received a digital copy of this fantastic
thriller from the publisher through NetGalley.
I lay across my bed reading a book laid on the floor next to the bed.
Hearing a harrumphy throat clearing, I sat up and tilted my head
questioningly at my father in the doorway. He walked in and sat next
to me on the bed, clasping his hands together, staring at the floor.
I copied his body language without thinking, dreading what my mother
had sent him to tell me. Well—he began—I know you’re a teenager
now. Yeah—I responded. Shifting, adjusting his pants, rubbing his
beard, he tried again—I just want you to know what’s going on,
you know, with boys and all. I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes
before assuring him—Daddy, it’s not like I’m dating anyone; the
boys in this town don’t like me. He looked at me funny and said—I
betcha some boy does like you, but he’s just shy, cuz you know,
you’re a pretty girl. My laughter surprised him, and I shook my
head as though he was clueless. Boys in my school saw me only as a
target. Well, in any case—he told me as he again stared at the
floor—one day you’ll like a boy, and then things will happen.
What things, Daddy—I asked, appreciating the realization—things
like threesomes and fetishes and maybe adult toys. Good lord—he
hollered as he jumped halfway to the door and inquired loudly—where
the hell did you learn that shit. I couldn’t help grinning as I
answered—Daddy, we have cable; you don’t need to tell me about
sex.
G.
Allen Wilbanks is a retired police officer living in Northern
California. For twenty-five years he wrote collision and crime
reports during the day to pay the bills, and short fiction during his
off-time to stay sane. In 2016, he retired from real life to devote
his full attention to fantasy. He has published two short story
collections, and the novel, When Darkness Comes. His short stories
have appeared in Daily
Science Fiction, Deep
Magic, The
Talisman and dozens of
other magazines and anthologies all
over the world.
Tell
me about your writing process: schedule, environment, inspirations,
black magick spells, etc.
I live on five acres of property in a rural neighborhood, so I spend
most of my day isolated from other people. I’m okay with that,
though, because it gives me time to write with minimum distractions.
I’m also a bit of a hermit if I’m being honest. I like the
isolation. Most of my days look pretty similar. I wake up in the
morning about 7 AM to say goodbye to my wife as she heads out the
door to go to work. I start my morning with a four or five mile walk
through the pastures and farmlands surrounding my home while I listen
to audiobooks (since I rarely have to time to sit and read a book
anymore). Back home, I work in my yard tending the garden and fruit
trees for a couple hours (still listening to a book), and then about
11 o’clock I settle into my den to write. My wife gets home about 6
PM each day and usually finds me at my desk still working on whatever
WIP I’ve chosen for that day.
Walk
me through your publishing process, from “final” draft to final
product, and marketing strategies.
I
have published three books: two collections of short stories and one
novel. I published each of them through CreateSpace (which has since
been bought out by KDP Select). The software was very user-friendly
and made the process as simple as possible for a newbie like myself.
There is software for making your own cover and creating your own
layout for the cover of the book, but I would actually recommend
reaching out to a professional cover artist or designer. It makes a
world of difference and your book will look much more appealing to a
potential reading audience.
Marketing
is the hard part. I am a bit of an introvert and am much more
comfortable writing stories than trying to convince others to buy
them. This is still an area I am working on improving. If you are
publishing traditionally, there are usually people working for the
publishers who are
responsible for marketing, but if you are an indie writer like me,
you need to get the word out on your own. Social media is the key to
attracting readers. It is more than just telling people you have a
book for sale; you need to get people interested in you personally
first—then they might get curious enough to purchase what you have
written. Building a following is a slow, gradual process. I wish I
could give you some secret or tip to sell a million books, but I
haven’t figured it out myself just yet.
Talk
about your support system online and IRL, especially your biggest
cheerleaders.
My
biggest supporter in my writing is my best friend and fellow writer,
Wes Blalock. Our paths have paralleled each other’s in many ways.
We both had careers in law enforcement before focusing on writing
full time. Although we tend to write in different genres, we beta
read much of each other’s manuscripts, offer editing advice, and
encourage one another with our projects. We have even attended
writing events together.
Online,
I have joined several writing groups on Facebook and have connected
with writers all over the world on Twitter. I find I get to know
people a little better and interact more with them on Facebook, but
the groups you join are important. Many of them are looking for
people to sell books and writing services to rather than provide
support and help. Choose carefully. Look for the groups that support
one another, share publishing opportunities, and offer advice when
you have serious questions about the process of writing or
publishing.
How
does life, and career in law enforcement, influence your writing and
vice versa?
While
I was working in law enforcement, much of my writing was very dark.
It focused on human cruelty and personal suffering. My ideas
frequently came from real life incidents I had investigated, then I
would twist the tale to give it a more suspenseful feel or add
supernatural elements. Writing was cathartic for me then, it helped
me process all the ugliness and violence I dealt with in my job. Now
that I’m retired, I still love writing horror stories, but I have
found myself moving more into the realms of dark fantasy and
surrealism. I guess as my life has become less chaotic, so has my
storytelling.
What
do you love most about your creativity?
When
I was working as a police officer, writing was one of the ways that I
dealt with stress. Writing (and reading) short stories helped me deal
with some of the harder emotional aspects of my job in a healthier
way than drinking or trying to ignore them. Creating a story allowed
me to decompress and to process my feelings.
Although
I am no longer dealing with the same level of stress in my life,
writing is still a great outlet. I take pieces of dreams, ideas, and
feelings and try to create something complete and wonderful out of
them. I keep notebooks all around the house because I never know when
a thought or somebody’s comment might trigger a new story idea. I
absolutely love seeing a published final version of a story that
started out as just a bunch of fragments of ideas and emotions. It is
even more rewarding when I hear from someone who enjoyed reading
something I created, but that is not the main reason I write. I think
even if I never published another piece, I would continue to write
just for the peace and enjoyment it brings me.
Eva meets Lt. Spencer on the SS Lurline on her way to Hawaii, where
her fiance and a nursing position await her in Pearl Harbor. Their
story incorporates the real history of a mysterious message and
government coverup exposing Pearl Harbor to attack. This is a good
story even if you’re not a huge fan of WWII novels. There’s
espionage, danger, injustice, and romance. The only niggle is the
anachronistically feminist Lt. Spencer. The characters are complex,
with multiple storylines blending seamlessly toward the inevitable
end. I was graciously provided a copy through a Goodreads giveaway.
From the living room floor, I watched the roaches crawl across the
ceiling. When they began to fall, I hurriedly wrapped the blanket
around me and tucked it in as best I could. Uncle J’s death was
unexpected and Aunt D came unglued, dragging my cousins from sibling
to sibling. I crossed my fingers they’d be moving on soon. Alas,
they enrolled in the local school, the meanest two in my grade…not
twins, just one dumb one. They tormented me daily, on top of the
usual bullying I received from my classmates, so that in the evenings
I would ride my bike around town until dark, hoping dinner would
distract them. I was ordered to come home straight after school and
stay there by my mother, adamant that I show compassion. The night I
took to the streets on my bike, sobbing, I returned long after sunset
to find my father waiting for me in his garage. I homed in on the
light as a beacon of refuge. He was fiddling around, doing a little
of nothing, as he liked to say, when I entered. Without turning
around, he told me—Your mother’s angry with you. He looked at me,
one eyebrow raised. There was nothing to say. Facing the counter
again, he said—I got you something—and brought a little box to
me. We sat on his workbench so I could open it. My gift was an itty
bitty radio with a pullout antenna. He took it from me, placed it on
a little table next to an overstuffed chair he’d dragged down from
the attic, and plugged it in. Next to the chair, he’d put a small
bookshelf and filled it with some of the books from my room. He
hugged me and said—You can come read in here after school; I’ll
let your mother know where you are.
Guests at a dinner party on a yacht in Maine end up in the hospital
with food poisoning. The chef blames her carelessness in mushroom
scavenging, but then discovers one of the guests was an MI5 agent and
a friend of her father, who is a toxicologist in hospital in Britain
dying of mushroom poisoning, blamed on his carelessness. Local FBI
agents and MI5 colleagues, suspecting foul play, parse their
communication, with intermittent inexplicable forthrightness. The
constant repetition of characters’ main traits of being government
agents blends them together in a brothy soup of spyness. Suddenly,
there’s a culprit, with no previous hints or any indication of
involvement, so that backstory must be thrust in awkwardly. I
received a digital copy through NetGalley, where the synopsis
provided no clue that it was 9th in the series,
information only to be found at the end of the book. Perhaps if Dear
Reader is already invested in these spy characters, this particular
story would hold more credibility.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
Carla Neggers is the New York Times bestselling author of
the Sharpe & Donovan series featuring Boston-based FBI agents
Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan, the Swift River Valley series set in
small-town New England and many other novels of romance, mystery and
suspense. With dozens of bestsellers to her credit, Carla and her
husband divide their time between their hilltop home in Vermont, a
pull-out sofa at their kids’ places in Boston and various spots on
their travels, frequently to Ireland. Learn more at CarlaNeggers.com
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Undercover FBI agent Colin Donovan joins his wife, Emma Sharpe, an
FBI art crimes expert, for his brother’s wedding in their fishing
village on the southern Maine coast. When Kevin Donovan, a marine
patrol officer, receives a call to check on suspected food-poisoning
at a party aboard a yacht Colin, a former marine patrol officer, tags
along.
It’s quickly evident this is no ordinary case of food poisoning.
They’re dealing with a deliberate attack. Most of the victims are
one-time associates of an imprisoned arms trafficker—a Russian
national whose arrest the previous year was made possible by Colin’s
undercover work and Emma’s art crimes expertise.
A rare, boutique deadly poison is responsible for the deaths and
near-deaths aboard the yacht. From his federal prison, the trafficker
claims to know nothing of the attack but he believes one of his
rivals is responsible or at least involved. Whoever distributed the
poison had to be on the yacht at some point and therefore was either
a passenger or a guest. Given the nature of the weapon used, the
attacker also would have to be highly skilled in handling its
volatile, deadly components. Who made the poison? What was the
purpose of the attack—revenge, greed, a message, ideological?
With more questions than answers, Emma and Colin enter the shadowy
world of the victims of the attack. They discover someone is out to
sell extremely dangerous poisons to organized crime networks. The
trail takes them to an unlikely source.
Emma, Colin, HIT and their family and friends must stop the
poisoner before he facilitates his next attack.
PRAISE FOR CARLA NEGGERS:
“Well-plotted, intriguing and set mostly in the lushly
described Irish countryside, the novel is smart and satisfying.”
—Kirkus Reviews on Declan’s Cross
“Saint’s Gate…is a fast-paced, action-packed tale of
romantic suspense that will appeal to fans of Lisa Jackson and Lisa
Gardner.” —Library Journal
An “intense, edge-of-your-seat whirlwind.” —Booklist
on Liar’s Key
“Insanely
sensational….engaging, complex, unforgettable.”
—RT
Book Reviews, a September Top Pick!, on Liar’s Key
A
“suspenseful, fast-moving thriller with plot twists and
excitement to the delightful conclusion.”
—Reader to
Reader, on Liar’s Key
“A richly atmospheric,
beautifully drawn tale with echoes of Daniel Silva and even Dan
Brown.” —Providence Journal on Liar’s Key
“Carla Neggers has long excelled at forging neo-gothic,
brooding tales rich in setting and atmosphere. With Thief’s Mark,
though, she ups the ante in fashioning a crime thriller of rare depth
and complexity.” —Providence Journal
He came in quietly and stood just inside the doorway. I continued
perusing my bookshelf, waiting for him to announce his reason to
enter my bedroom, a rare occurrence. After a couple of throat
clearings, he walked over and sat on the edge of my bed, patting the
space next to him. The hair on my arms prickled my skin, a vague
unease settling in my stomach as I sat next to him. My father then
asked me—You know your mother and I love you, right? I jumped up to
face him, asking too loudly—Are you getting a divorce? He blinked
and shook his head before smiling and assuring me—No, no, nothing
like that…sit, sit—patting the bed again. I sat up straight and
stared at the wall through a few more throat clearing harrumphs. When
he finally spoke again, he told me softly—Should you ever need any
surgeries…—and I again took to my feet to search his face for
answers. Am I sick—I asked him—I don’t remember the doctor
saying anything. Shaking his head frantically, he implored—Please
sit down and stop looking at me. I complied, and he continued—If
you have back pain, or shoulder pain, or need any kind of
surgery…—I burst out laughing. Daddy, look—I said—I know I’m
only 15, but I will never, ever want breast-reduction surgery, and
you can take that to mother. He nodded, hugged me, and walked out as
quietly as he came in, leaving me rolling around on my bed giggling.
Grace Kelly brought British journalist James Henderson into French
parfumeur Sophie Duval’s life when she hid in Sophie’s shop to
avoid another paparazzi, setting in motion the tale of the
star-crossed lovers, resurrecting the Duval family business, and
laying the foundation for the parallel story of Kelly’s wedding to
Prince Rainier of Monaco. Gaynor and Webb paint a lush, yet pragmatic
picture of Monaco, the Monegasques, and the Princess, with foremost
the blossoming emotions of Sophie and James, characters clearly not
products of their time, but who stand out from the crowd.
Francophiles, parfum lovers, and Grace Kelly fans will love this
novel, though other readers will appreciate the descriptive details
of the setting and the intriguing characters. I was fortunate to
receive a digital copy from the publisher through NetGalley.
Karen swore the susurration followed her as she walked along the
cornfield. It seemed to come only from the section right next to her,
as though her energy were bouncing off the stalks. She thought she
could actually feel the energy hitting her, but maybe it was just her
imagination. When such things happened to her, no one else felt it,
and everyone so far in her life blamed it on her imagination, ergo
her conclusion here. Karen walked on, a bit jittery until the land
opened up onto a meadow.
Deep inside the cornstalks, warnings leapt out as the human passed, with the universal understanding of plants that when their buds came to fruition, they would be raped and pillaged, often by the big monsters the humans employed. For now, they could only deflect the human energy, whispering to each other—a human is near; our time is coming.
