BOOK REVIEW,CHASING AMANDA BY MELISSA FOSTER

CHASING AMANDA is the latest release from award winning author Melissa Foster.

Molly Tanner is cursed/gifted with clairvoyance, which she calls The Knowing. For the most part, she’s kept the talent hidden for fear of rejection. But her life fell apart nine years ago when she witnessed a child, Amanda Curtis, being abducted from a Philadelphia parking lot and didn’t question the man who said the girl's screams were because he wouldn’t buy her a doll. Later, Molly saw in her visions what happened to Amanda, and has lived with debilitating guilt since--to the point of almost losing her sanity. To help her, Dr. Cole Tanner moved his wife and son from Philadelphia to a small town in Maryland.


For eight years, the Tanners have been happy in their new home. Eric, the Tanner’s son is in his first year of university, Molly is active in the new community, and Cole is a respected physician. Molly feels safe and accepted. . . until the day Tracey Porter disappears from a playground. Guilt from the first abduction overwhelms Molly, but she is determined that this time she will speak out in time to save the child.

As her visions surface, so does Cole’s insistence that she let the police handle the crime. Molly knows Tracey is alive because visions reveal Tracey’s fear and that she is kept in a dark place. Molly’s search uncovers old and new crimes and old and new secrets. Does she dare risk all? And can Molly help Tracey in time to save her?


I don’t give spoilers in my reviews, so I can’t reveal the plot’s intricacies. This book engaged me right away and kept me turning the pages. Ms Foster kept me guessing to the end of the book, then presented several surprise twists that united all the story’s threads. I love a book that ties up all the loose ends nicely, don’t you?


CHASING AMANDA is a nominee for the 2011 Dan Poynter's Global eBook Award (winners to be announced this summer). It's available in print from Amazon and B&N and available in e-book from them as well as from Smashwords and other online sources. Please check back on Wednesday, when Melissa Foster will be a guest here. In the meantime, you can LEARN MORE ABOUT MELISSA'S KINDLE CONTEST at her at her website, http://www.melissafoster.com/

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE SIGNERS

"The Declaration of Independence of the United States
of America, July 4, 1776" by
Charles Edouard Armand-Dumaresq
is on display in the White House Cabinet Room



 A friend sent me a small part of this in an email. I don't know the author, but it started me pondering.  I've added quite a bit to it and am posting for your consideration on this important day in our history.

     Declaration of Independence?

Thomas Jefferson, considered
the principal author of the
Declaration of Independence

Have you ever wondered about the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? I have, and I've also wondered about the wives and children of these men. Did the wives share their political fervor, or were they swept helplessly along by the actions of their husbands and the tides of change?

Signers included two future Presidents of the United States: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Althought these two men were frequently adversaries during their political careers, they had made peace between them by the time each died on the same day--July 4th, 1826--exactly fifty years after signing the Declaration of Independence.

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

Carter Braxton

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts. Sounds like an honorable man, doesn't he?

Thomas McKean

Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him. Thomas McKean rode staight from signing the Declaration of Independence in Philadephia to Deleware to help draft the Deleware Constitution. He rode there in one day, then almost singlehandedly drafted the first state constitution of the newly formed United States of America. He served in major offices in Delaware and Pennsylvania, and later as President of Princeton University.

Washington

At the battle of Yorktown , Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his
headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.


Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart

John Hart, of New Jersey, was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying.
Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. His wife died in October of 1776. John Hart continued in politics in New Jersey until his death from kidney stones in 1779.



The 56 names, their occupations, and state they represented are:

John Adams, lawyer, Massachusetts
Samuel Adams, mrchant, Massachusetts
Josiah Bartlett, physician, New Hampshire
Charles Carrol, merchant/plantation owner, Maryland
Samuel Chase, lawyer, Massachusetts
Abraham Clark, lawyer/surveyor, New Jersey
George Clymer, merchant from Pennsylvania
William Ellery, lawyer/merchant, Rhode Island
William Floyd, land speculator, New York
Benjamin Franklin, scientist/printer, Pennsylvania
Elbridge Gerry, merchant, Massachusetts
Button Gwinnett, merchant/plantation owner, Georgia
Lyman Hall, physician/Congregationalist minister, Georgia
John Hancock, merchant, Massachusetts
Benjamin Harrison, plantation, from Georgia
John Hart, land owner, New Jersey
Joseph Hewes, merchant, North Carolina
Thomas Heyward, Jr., lawyer/plantation owner, South Carolina
William Hooper, lawyer, North Carolina
Stephen Hopkins, merchant, Rhode Island
Francis Hopkinson, lawyer/musician, New Jersey
Samuel Huntington, lawyer, Connecticut
Thomas Jefferson, lawyer/plantation owner,Virginia
Francis Lightfoot Lee, plantation owner, Virginia
Richard Henry Lee, plantation owner/merchant, Virginia
Francis Lewis, merchant, New York
Philip Livingston, merchant, New York
Thomas Lynch Jr., lawyer, South Carolina
Thomas McKean, lawyer, Delaware
Arhtur Middleton, plantation owner, South Carolina
Lewis Morris, plantation owner, New York
Robert Morris, merchant/land speculator, Pennsylvania
John Morton, farmer, Pennsylvania
Thomas Nelson, Jr., merchant/plantation owner, Virginia
William Paca, lawyer/plantation owner, Maryland
Robert Treat Paine, lawyer/scientist, Massachusetts
John Penn, lawyer, Pennsylvania
George Read, lawyer, Delaware
Caesar Rodney, plantation owner/soldier, Delaware
George Ross, lawyer, Pennsylvania
Benjamin Rush, physician, Pennsylvania
Edward Rutledge, lawyer/plantation owner, South Carolina
Roger Sherman, lawyer, Connecticut
James Smith, lawyer, Pennsylvania
Richard Stockton, lawyer, New Jersey
Thomas Stone, lawyer, Maryland
George Taylor, merchant, Pennsylvania
Matthew Thornton, physician, New Hampshire
George Walton, lawyer, Georgia
William Whipple, merchant, New Hampshire
William Williams, merchant, Connecticut
James Wilson, lawyer, Pennsylvania
John Witherspoon, Presbyterian minister, New Jersey
Oliver Wolcott, lawyer, Connecticut
George Wythe, lawyer, Virginia

Gwinnett and Morris were born in England. Lewis was born in Wales. Smith, Taylor, and Thornton were born in Ireland. Wilson and Witherspoon were born in Scotland. Other signers were born in what were then the American Colonies.So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and
silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they
paid.

Remember: Freedom is never free!

Patriotism is NOT a sin, and--although celebrations are fun and important--the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, fireworks and baseball games. Really, it does.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

RELEASE DAY FOR HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME!

Beginning July 1st, I’m celebrating the release of my sweet contemporary romance, HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME from The Wild Rose Press.

Available Now!

In case you are not familiar with the term, a “sweet” romance is one in which there is no consummated sex. Yep, in this day of everyone going in for erotica, this book moves in the other direction. HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME is a bit humorous in places, poignant in others. The book is set in West Texas, in and near Lubbock. Write what you know, correct?

Downtown Lubbock

My family moved to Lubbock in June the year I was ten, and I lived there for ten years before moving to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Hero and I still have family in Lubbock and surrounding towns, and we visit there about once a year. It’s changed since Hero and I moved away, but the same “small town” atmosphere still exists.

Buddy Holly

Lubbock is the former home of Buddy Holly and his band, the Crickets. Singer/songwriter Mac Davis is from there, and singer Waylon Jennings is from the area. The city has also been the birthplace or home of several other musicians including Delbert McClinton, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock and Joe Ely (collectively known as The Flatlanders), Todd Mankin, Terry Allen, and Lloyd Maines and his daughter, former Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines. Dan Blocker of "Bonanza" fame was from O'Donnell, near Lubbock. There are more "stars" who started in Lubbock, but I can't name all of them here.

Texas Tech University

Lubbock, Texas (33º35' N, 101º51'W) is considered to be at the center of the South Plains, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado (the Staked Plain), and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University. The area is located between the Permian Basin to the south and the Texas Panhandle to the north, and the population is about 250,000.

South Plains

Lubbock was named after Thomas S. Lubbock, a former Texas Ranger and Confederate officer. His brother, Francis R. Lubbock, was the governor of Texas during the Civil War. The county of Lubbock was founded in 1876. The settlement that is the present-day city of Lubbock was not formed until late 1890. Two settlements within the county, Old Lubbock and Monterey, were combined to form the settlement of Lubbock. During the following year, the settlement of Lubbock was named the county seat for Lubbock County. Now, more about HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME. 

This could be
Courtney

Dallas, Texas independent book store manager, Courtney Madison, is definitely down on her luck! Her father died fourteen years ago, her mother died after a lingering illness only a couple of months ago. Courtney is the guardian of her fifteen-year-old brother, Jimmy, who has suddenly become friends with rough characters and developed bad habits. To make matters even worse, she is being downsized and will be out of a job in less than two weeks. (We know how hard it is for independent book stores to hang on against major chains and the internet.) Life couldn’t be more worrisome for Courtney. Just when she’s hanging on to her sanity by a thread, she learns she’s inherited two million dollars from a man she befriended while her mom was in the hospital. Two million! Her worries are over--or are they?  There’s a catch, of course. Isn’t there always?

Could be
Derek

Derek Corrigan is bitter toward women. As a child, his mother abandoned him to his alcoholic, abusive father. His adopted mother abandoned him by dying. His cheating wife abandoned him when she was killed in a car crash with another man, leaving him to raise his son and daughter. He will never trust another woman. Been there, done that, had the vaccination! That’s Derek on the book’s cover, playing with his two children, Warren and Meg. A terrific father, Derek has a gift for making money at whatever he tries. He’s a rancher and business tycoon, but he works from home several days a week so he’s available to his children. What a guy, right?

The buy link is www.thewildrosepress.com/Caroline-Clemmons-m-638.html. I hope you’ll take a chance and buy either the print or e-book of HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME, and that you’ll enjoy reading this modern day Cinderella story.


Thanks for stopping by.

Reviewer Carol Upton shares MADETHAT WAY

Welcome to Carol Upton, who wants to share a review of a YA book, MADE THAT WAY, with readers. MADE THAT WAY discusses a rare genetic problem, but the information on living with any health or family problem beyond one's control is helpful to everyone. This is the second in the series, following BORN THAT WAY. Here is Carol’s review:

MADE THAT WAY
Susan Ketchen
Oolichan Books
Soft Cover, 2010, $12.95
ISBN: 978-0-88982-270-2
Available from Amazon or local bookseller

Reviewed by Carol M. Upton

Usually it makes me feel better to wear my riding clothes. But today nothing helps, even when I buckle on my riding helmet and hop on my bike. Somehow I know I'm doomed. ~ Susan Ketchen

In this family fiction sequel to BORN THAT WAY, Susan Ketchen reunites readers with the intrepid young Sylvia, who is challenged by a genetic disorder, wild about horses, and determined to find solutions to the obstacles presented by her life in general. Sylvia wants to be a real horsewoman and she’s excited about getting her own horse, even if the horse is arriving at a less-than-perfect time. Brooklyn is, well, not quite a regular horse. He has big ears, makes strange sounds, and he’s already bitten the transport driver.

Ketchen captures, with humour and pathos, the developing personality and growing pains of a not quite fifteen-year-old girl who would just like to be normal. Sylvia also wants to be treated as an adult, but sometimes, no one seems to listen very closely, and she must puzzle things out on her own.



Susan Katchen and her laughing horse

 The strength of this book lies in Ketchen’s examination of some topics that parents and children may find difficult to discuss. What does it mean to be normal or disordered anyhow? Where does a young person turn when her parents don’t listen, when she is tormented at school, and is now faced, not with her dream horse, but one who appears to be complicating her life even further.

Ketchen’s writing is fast-paced, compelling and full of surprises. MADE THAT WAY can be read in one sitting, but Sylvia’s persistence and creativity in overcoming her life’s challenges will inspire the reader for a lifetime.

Susan Ketchen was born in Nanaimo, B.C. and had a successful Family Counseling practice for many years. She now resides on a small Vancouver Island hobby farm with her husband, two horses, two cats and a flock of chickens. GROWS THAT WAY, the third book in this series will be published in fall 2011. Visit Susan at: http://www.susanketchen.ca/

Thanks, Carol, for sharing your review of Susan Ketchen's book.

A SENTIMENTAL LOOK AT A MID-1800'S AUTOGRAPH BOOK




Whenever I watch "Antiques Roadshow" or any other show in which family treaures are displayed, I cringe. Our family has very few things handed down through the years, and none of it is monetarily valuable. We do have one momento I treasure, though.

Those who know me are aware that I have been researching my family almost from the time our eighth grade American History class was asked to do a short pedigree chart. Unfortunately, I did not learn to keep good records and ask pertinent questions until after those who were well informed in our family’s history had passed on. Luckily for me, a kind third cousin once removed (see, doesn’t that sound like a dedicated family historian?) passed me a family heirloom. Not our direct line, but from an ancestor’s first wife. 



Sallie circa 1869

Her name was Sarah Margaret Bailey, and she was called Sallie. She was a cousin to our ancestor, but I can't remember offhand how many times removed. Anyway, the heirloom is an autograph book about six by eight with a dark blue cover decorated with painted flowers and leaves of abalone shell. After all this time, the handwriting is fading until it’s barely legible. Some inks retained color better than others. Most legible are the pencil inscriptions. I love reading the remembrances for their odd spellings, strange punctuation, and saccharine sentiments. I’m positively fascinated by this book! Sallie was dearly loved by her family, and by mine. I see her as a carefree young miss at school, then opening her home to friends and soldiers during the Civil War. Some of the entries thank her for time spent in her home, which may mean an hour or a day or longer.

Southern Belle

This little book lets us see into the life of a lovely Southern belle in northwest Georgia, at school before the Civil War began, a young woman whose callers were soldiers, who became a bride, a mother, and a young woman on her deathbed. The inscriptions change in tone. Please let me share some of them with you:



The flowery words of a dashing suitor:

Ah would the hands that write these lines
Were fondly clasped in thine
Ah would the lips that read these words
Were once more pressed to mine

Those happy hours with thee I spent
Those like I nere shall see.
If fortune smiles or darkly frowns
Still Ill forget thee not
Farewell the word I scarce can write
Farewell to love and thee
On by-gone days then think of me
Farewell remember me
Your friend

Silly words from a discouraged would-be beau:


Miss Sallie wont believe me when my love to her I swear
She teases me so very much I believe I’ll pull my hair
I’ll tell you what the fact, if she keeps on treating me bad
I believe I will go crazy. I know I will go mad.
Yours in a hurry

From a female school friend:


Miss Sallie               Jan the 27 1860


In memory’s tears
O, May I share
One lonely vacant spot
Of all the names recorded there
Let mine not be forgot
Your Sincere friend


Then, the Civil War began, and the ancestor she later married wrote:

Confederate soldier

To Miss Sallie
A place in thy memory dearest
Is all that I claim
To pause and look back when thou hearest
The sound of my name.

Others tried to sway her heart:

To Miss Sallie
But once I dared to lift my eyes,
To lift my eyes to thee
And since that day beneath the skies
No other sight they see


In vain sleep shuts them in the night
The night grows day to me
Presenting idly to my sight
What still a dream must be

A fatal dream – for many a bar
Divides thy fate from mine
And still my passions make war
But peace be still with thee.


And another:




To Sallie dear,
Oh may each flower that greets the spring
And glistens in the sunny light
And every bird with sportive wing
Whose song is measured by its flight
Bloom brighter when thy form is near
Sing sweeter when thy face they see
A life of joy without a tear
Is what I wish and pray for thee

As the war progressed, our ancestor sounds war weary and fearful of death. Definitely not an eloquent, flowery suitor, is he?


Remember me when I am gone,
think of me sometimes,
pray for me often
& I’ll remember thee


But he’s the one who won her hand in marriage. Family lore is that she didn’t recover from a second pregnancy. The last entry is when her first child, a boy, was almost two. Childbirth carried so many serious complications in 1870, especially for the “proper” ladies who wore tightly laced corsets. We are only speculating, of course. Would the following cheer you if you were gravely ill? I think not!


What shall I wish for thee?
What helping invoke? I might wish that thy barque would glide sweetly o’er the bosom of Life’s
Troubled ocean, without a ripple to disturb its easy course. And that thy fair and beautiful brow
Would never receive the fingerprints that time always writes to mar the beauty of loved ones –
Again I might wish that your life might always be one bright dream of pleasure – But how vain
Would be that wish – There never was a bright eye but it was dimmed by tears – not a true and
Happy heart -- but it had its share of sorrow – for we are all mortals and we are doomed to some
Trouble at least. So I will not make vain or silly wishes. But let my heart dictate my wish – You
Have suffered long and painfully – none know what agony you have endured. But now I hope
your sickness is at an end – and that you may soon rise from your bed with the same good health
you enjoyed in the days of long ago – and that you may realize what it is to be a devoted wife &
Mother – for little Ossie needs a Mothers love. But should it so please God that my wish may not
Come to pass, may you submit humbly as becomes a christian – knowing that “He doeth all
Things well – and in ______ resignation acknowledging His supreme power say “Thy will not
mine be done” – Then at last when He sees fit –for you to linger no more in this “vale of tears” –
may your soul wing its way back to the “God who gave” – There to await the loved ones in the
Spirit-land


Very truly your friend




Thank you for reading. Please stop back again soon!

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR GOLDIE BROWNING

Readers, please help me welcome my friend, Goldie Browning.

Author Goldie Browning

Caroline: Readers love to get to know authors. Please tell us about growing up. Share anything that lets readers get to know the real you.

Goldie: I’m the youngest of a family of four and I grew up on a working farm in rural Parker County, near Springtown, Texas. We had cows and chickens and we raised our own vegetables. Very different from the way we all live today. We didn’t have a telephone at all until I was about nine years old and when we did get it, we had a 10-family party line. For all you youngsters out there who don’t know what that is, it means that we shared the same line with nine other neighbors. So we didn’t tell any secrets over the phone, and we didn’t talk long. When I started dating my husband Alan, I was a junior in high school and he was a senior. His family also had a 10-family party line, so if you put it together, that was 18 neighbors we were competing with. We did most of our talking at school or on dates. We’ve been happily (and I mean it) married for 38 years, one daughter who is 35. No grandkids. A grand-cat and a grand-dog. We also have two mini schnauzers, two cats, two bearded dragons, and a turtle. I’ll feed anything that opens its mouth.

Caroline: Who are your favorite authors and favorite genres?


Goldie: This is a tough question because I love so many types of books. I love the classics like the Bronte’s, Hawthorne, Jane Austen, and Poe. But my all time favorite author is Norah Lofts, who is famous for her historical romances and tales that hint at ghostly happenings. I own everything she wrote. I also love to read Rebecca Paisley and Laurie Moore, with their witty romantic comedies. Steven King for his spine-tingling horror; Dan Brown for his fascinating adventures; Victoria Holt for her gothic romances. Too many to list. I read a lot of non-fiction and biographies, too. But if I had to choose my favorite genre, it would be historical, with a little romance and a little mystery sprinkled in.

Caroline: How many books do you read a month? What are you reading now?


Goldie: It varies so much, depending on whether or not I have time. Sometimes I’ll read a couple of books a week. The one I’m trying to find time to read now is called THE COUNTESS, by Rebecca Johns. It’s about Elizabeth Bathory, the famous blood countess who was one of the inspirations for Dracula, along with Vlad the Impaler. Research for a future book. The last book I finished was MAHKO'S PRICE by John O’Dowd. It’s great. Look it up.



Caroline: When you’re not writing, what’s your favorite way to relax and recharge? Hobbies?


Goldie: When I’m not writing I enjoy spending time with my family, watching movies, and playing with my critters. Reading and critter spoiling are my hobbies. I’m also crazy about reality TV shows. Just loved “Billy the Exterminator”.



Caroline: Describe yourself in three or four words.


Goldie: Type-A personality procrastinator



Caroline: Would you like to share any guilty pleasures that feed your muse?


Goldie: I love to go to places that are supposed to be haunted. This really gets my imagination going.


Caroline: I knew that about you. How long have you been writing?


Goldie: I wrote a few short stories in high school and dreamed about becoming a journalist, but the closest I got was as editor for my college magazine and reporter for the Springtown Epigraph. In the late 1980’s I wrote two sweet romances. One, I sent to Harlequin, and it was rejected with a very encouraging personal letter. The second one I almost got published, but the company went bankrupt before I got the contract, but I didn’t know that until 20 years later. Instead of notifying me of the state of affairs, the editor-in-chief sent me a rejection letter from hell, which made me stop writing for years. After retiring from my day job, however, I started again and NIGHT JOURNEY is what I produced. The book I’m working on now is a romantic comedy called JAIL-ORDER BRIDE. I started it a few years ago and then I got sick, so I’m trying to pick it back up. While writing it, I entered it for critique at the UK critique site www.Youwriteon.com and won first place for the month of February in 2008. I won a critique by an editor in England, then I got sick. I’ll finish it now.



Caroline: Where do you prefer to write? Do you need quiet, music, solitude? PC or laptop?


Goldie: I’ve moved my laptop to the kitchen table because the office is too loud, with all the roaring and shooting from Dear Husband playing World of Warcraft. I’m thinking about moving out to the patio room with the bearded dragons and the turtle. I prefer quiet and solitude, but that’s not a reality in my house. I’m now using a laptop, since my desktop crashed.


Caroline: Yes, that’s why Hero and I have separate offices. Well, that and the fact he says I left my papers all over his stuff. Sadly, that's true. He doesn’t play games, but he watches TV on his PC monitor. Are you a plotter or a panzer?


Goldie: Both. NIGHT JOURNEY was plotted, mostly because the basic plot came to me in a dream. My current WIP is kind of in between. It’s all in my head, not written down.



Caroline: I’m asking this even though I know the answer. Do you use real events or persons in your stories or as an inspiration for stories?



Actual ad for the setting for part of
NIGHT JOURNEY. Dr. Baker's
treatment killed countless people. It
consisted mostly of water. Dr. Baker
later died of cancer....Karma or
coincidence?

 Goldie: Absolutely! NIGHT JOURNEY is set at a real-life haunted hotel and the villain was a real-life bad guy. The plot came to me on the second night of a stay at the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. That night I saw a “blue fluorescent floating mist” that hovered in our room late at night—my husband says I dreamed it. The next night I went on the ghost tour, learned about Dr. Baker, and that night I dreamed the basic plot. I was hooked on the place and spent months doing research. I even found Dr. Baker’s trial court records at the national archives in Fort Worth, Texas that were supposedly lost, according to the Clerk’s Office in Little Rock.



Caroline: I remember how much research you did, but do you do all your research before you begin a new project, or some as you go along?


Goldie: For NIGHT JOURNEY, I did the research first. But, of course, you always do some as you go.



Caroline: Tell us about your writing schedule. Do you set goals? Do you write daily?


Goldie: I’m embarrassed. Ever since NIGHT JOURNEY came out I’ve spent all my spare time trying to promote. But I do intend to set a schedule. Starting tomorrow. I will write daily, at least two hours. I swear.


Caroline: Hmm, I do remember you said you’re a procrastinator. LOL Do you write full time or do you have a day job. If you have a day job, what is it?


Goldie: I am gloriously retired from a career as a courtroom deputy clerk for a federal judge. So, writing is now my day job.



Caroline: What do you hope your writing brings to readers?


Goldie: I hope that my writing will bring my readers the wonder I felt the first time I went to the Crescent Hotel. The place absolutely reeks with history and I’m hoping that my descriptions will give them the same enjoyment and curiosity that I felt there. A friend of mine told me that my book was “very visual.” I think that is a great compliment.



Caroline: What advice would you give to unpublished authors?


Goldie: Get involved with critique groups and take all the advice you can get from those more experienced than you. Listen to what they tell you, but follow your own gut feeling. Just because somebody tells you something should be one way, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true. Accept what makes sense and ignore what doesn’t. Develop your own style. It’ll come.



Caroline: Tell us about your release.



Available Now! That's the
Crescent Hotel on the cover


Goldie: NIGHT JOURNEY is published by GenerationNext Publications. It was released as an e-book on April 30, 2011 and as a trade paperback on May 24, 2011. It is a ghostly tale of past lives that intertwine with the present.

Blurb: A ROMANTIC WEEKEND GONE WRONG


A stay at America’s most haunted hotel, a spooky ghost tour with a visit to a former morgue, and a family wedding—all the ingredients for a fun-filled weekend. Emma and Zan Fuller have never been to the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas—at least not in this lifetime. But the ghosts that haunt the former cancer hospital remember Emma, and they won’t rest until she’s joined them once again. When a bizarre accident almost claims her life, her soul is catapulted backward in time to 1938. Things get even worse while she lies comatose, however, because she is now a target for an organ transplant scheme.


STAR CROSSED LOVERS


It’s Depression Era 1938 when Ivy Turner meets Harry Fuller. Love happens quickly, but they’ll never live happily ever after if her parents have their way. Despite their objections, the couple elopes. Wedded bliss soon turns to despair, however, when Harry is arrested and Ivy is sent to the Baker Cancer Hospital in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. But Ivy doesn’t have cancer. She’s pregnant with Harry’s child—the child who will someday become Zan Fuller’s father.


JOURNEY ACROSS TIME


Emma wakes up, but not the way she’d expected. Her soul has entered the cancer-riddled body of a woman who had died only moments before. And to make matters worse, she’s trapped in time—it’s 1938. She’s back at the Crescent Hotel, which is now the Baker Cancer Hospital. The people who had once been simply characters in a ghost story are now living, breathing human beings. But Emma’s biggest worry is Zan’s grandmother, Ivy. If anything happens to her or her baby, Zan will never exist. Can Emma, imprisoned in a sick and dying body, rescue Ivy and Harry? Can Zan, in 2011, prevent the hospital from ending her life support and harvesting her heart?



NIGHT JOURNEY Excerpt:

Two-fifteen.


The red numbers on the digital clock seemed to waver as Emma blinked to focus her eyes in the darkness. A blustering wind wailed mournfully outside and rain pelted the windowpanes. She sat up in bed and scanned the dark and misty chamber. Instantly alert, her heart shifted gears.


Something was in the room—something evil. She wrinkled her nose at the smell; the cloying odor of camphor and alcohol permeated the air.


She gasped when she saw the shadowy wraith hovering just inside the bathroom door. Intermittent flashes of lightning illuminated the sky like a strobe light and sifted through the shuttered window just enough to reveal the outline of the apparition.


Emma clutched the blanket to her chin and stared, too horrified to move or speak. She felt icy cold, yet sweat beaded on her forehead. She turned toward Zan lying beside her. He snored peacefully, oblivious to the terror lurking so near.


Emma heard the creak of footsteps moving across the floor. Whoever—or whatever—was in the room passed from the bathroom and headed toward the door, leaving a bitter chill in its wake. She watched in horror at the murky ectoplasm’s metamorphosis. Even in the darkness Emma could make out the shadowy form of a woman wearing a mid-calf length dress and a handkerchief-shaped cap.


The rasp as the deadbolt disengaged and the groan of ancient hinges fractured the silence; the door began to open.


Light flowed in from the hallway, casting uneven shadows on the parlor walls. The apparition became more distinct. Emma trembled at the intense hatred that emanated from the mad, cold stare of the spectral woman.


Emma summoned all her strength just to move her hand enough to touch her sleeping husband. The warmth of his skin reassured her and she shook him harder, but he didn’t wake up. She tried to call his name, but her vocal cords refused to respond.


Terror gripped her heart like a vise and squeezed until she thought she might faint. She closed her eyes and prayed to wake up from this hideous nightmare. It had to be a dream—a terrible, horrible hallucination.


She opened her eyes and looked toward the door. The phantom was still there. It watched Emma for several more seconds, and then passed through the open door and into the hallway. The door hung halfway open as if to remind her she wasn’t imagining things.


An overpowering compulsion swept over her. She climbed out of bed, slipped a nightgown over her head and crept toward the door. The coldness of the doorknob surprised her. She glanced back toward the bed. The back of Zan’s head was all she could see with his body beneath the mound of covers. She pulled the door all the way open and stepped into the hallway.


The ghost was clearly visible now. Emma stared in horrified fascination at the figure standing near the stairwell. Could it be one of the phantom nurses Cheryl had talked about on the tour? Or was it the pursuer in her reoccurring nightmare? Perhaps they were one and the same?


The woman was dressed in an old-fashioned nurse’s uniform, with starched cap and apron. Her dishwater blond hair was pulled back in a severe knot at the nape of her neck. She looked young, no more than thirty. But the expression of madness in her eyes, combined with the grotesquely scarred cheek, lips, and forehead made Emma flinch with revulsion.


As if she were hypnotized, Emma followed the woman down the stairs. The black cat on the bench arched its back and hissed as the specter passed it on the stairwell landing. Emma stumbled, almost tripping on the hem of her long nightgown. When she looked up, the ghost had vanished.


Emma scanned the third-floor hallway, searching for the nurse. She didn’t know why she followed her. She only knew that some irresistible urge pushed her. When she saw a movement at the farthest end she gathered her nightgown in her left hand and hurried toward it.


Whatever she had seen turned left. She came to a glass door leading onto one of the observation decks. The wind formed a vacuum and she had to tug with all her strength to open it. She gasped when she felt the full force of the storm. The battering rain pelted down on her, immediately soaking the thin material of her gown.


Emma flinched when she saw a girl standing there. From her profile she looked young and beautiful. She wore an ankle-length white dress; her long, pale hair was plastered to her head from the driving rain. She turned her back to Emma and slung one foot over the balcony railing. A scream rose in Emma’s throat. “No!”


The girl turned and looked at Emma, her face a mask of utter despair. She gazed sadly, then pulled her other leg over the balustrade and jumped. Emma ran frantically to the edge of the veranda and searched the ground. The storm lashed violently around her, making it difficult for her to see. A bright lightning flash momentarily lit up the night sky. She could see no body on the ground below.


Emma turned and stumbled back inside the hotel. Her teeth chattered; her hair and nightgown were completely soaked. She stood shivering in the hallway, trying to calm her spinning nerves. The clattering screech of unstable wheels approaching from the end of the hallway arrested her attention.


The ghostly nurse advanced, pushing a long cart on wheels. A white sheet covered the object on the gurney.


Emma stood paralyzed as it drew closer; the shrill noise grew louder.


She couldn’t move—she couldn’t think—she couldn’t breathe.


The nurse stopped and smiled at Emma. Her scarred lips twisted into a leer as she pulled the sheet forward. A woman’s corpse lay on the gurney, its face contorted in the final throes of agony. She hadn’t been told who the dead woman was, but somehow Emma intuitively knew. She’d seen that face before—somewhere—sometime.


Overcome with grief, Emma collapsed in the hallway. She pounded on the door of the room where she sat, crumpled and sobbing. She heard voices from inside the chamber; someone fumbled with the deadbolt. The door opened and Emma cried with relief when she saw Moonbeam and Chief Whitefeather.


“Emma, what’s wrong?” Moonbeam clutched her wrap with one hand and helped Emma with the other. “You’re soaking wet.”


“She’s dead,” Emma babbled, shivering and sniffling. “Anna’s dead….”


“Who’s Anna?”


Eyes wild, confusion painted on her face, Emma scanned the hallway. “I don’t know…I know Anna’s dead…but I don’t know who she is.”

Caroline: That’s a great excerpt. I’ve read the story, and I love it. Where can readers find your books?

Goldie: http://www.amazon.com/Night-Journey-Goldie-Browning/dp/0983279225/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1308086830&sr=8-1

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/58080

Caroline: Anything else you’d like readers to know?


Goldie: One of the subplots in NIGHT JOURNEY deals with the heroine having an accident with a closed-head injury. She’s in a coma and the evil hospital administrator schemes to push her husband to “pull the plug” and allow them to harvest her heart for a senator’s daughter in need of a transplant. The conflict is that she had just signed paperwork for an upcoming outpatient procedure and she’d signed a “form” Living Will, so they were pushing the legal boundaries by trying to rush it before they were absolutely sure she wouldn’t come back. The ironic thing is that soon after finishing NIGHT JOURNEY I became very ill and learned I had cardiomyopathy, also known as congestive heart failure. I received an implanted cardio-defibrillator and was told I might need a heart transplant! But luckily, the transplant cardiologist changed my medication drastically and by the time I had completed the extensive testing for transplant evaluation, my heart had remodeled itself and was back working in the normal range. My personal cardiologist called it a miracle. I’ve often thought it strange that I had chosen this plot element and then it almost came true for me.

Caroline: Your close call had all your friends praying for you. How can readers learn more about you?


Goldie: My website is http://www.goldiebrowning.com/ and I’m also active on Facebook.


Thanks for sharing personal details and information on your new release, NIGHT JOURNEY. Best of luck with sales.

BOOK REVIEW OF CHIQUE SECRETS OF DOLCE VITA BY BARBARA CONELLI

Available Now

CHIQUE SECRETS OF DOLCE VITA, by Barbara Conelli, is a fascinating tour of Milan, Italy with vignettes of the city and its inhabitants. This book is 141 pages from Flagrans Press illustrated by Nela Vadlejchova. Ms Conelli gives the reader twenty-two vignettes of her favorite city, which may also be used as a travel guide, a brief history lesson, or a reader’s pleasant escape.


Ms Conelli says, “Living a dolce vita means living with an open heart and soul, indulging in life with all your senses. . . Let’s simply uncover all the sweet, passionate, and dark Milanese secrets that have up to now remained unrevealed. The chique secrets will teach you to live your own dolce vita no matter where you are in the world. Because la vita e bella, life is beautiful, and the most amazing wonders of this world often hide in the simplest things.”



Milan's La Scala Opera House

 Later, she writes, “Most of us keep pursuing the image of a perfect life, perfect job, perfect relationship, and a perfect bank account balance. We look around ourselves, watch others, compare ourselves to them, and we always want something more, something better. Ambitions and desire for a better life are definitely a healthy part of us, and engine that keeps pushing us forward and prevents us from stagnating. But sometimes we should just stop for a while and learn to enjoy the little, ordinary things. A beautiful summer morning, a good meal in nice company, or a trip to the mountains. All those small details that make us so happy. So while chasing the perfect life, we don’t forget the present one, which might not be so bad at all.”




Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle, Milan

 In addition to colorful Milanese residents, Ms Conelli reveals historic details. Since I love history, I was pleased to learn about Vittorio Emanuelle II, Padre della Patria (Father of the Land). Embarrassing to admit, but I had never read about this democratic king who unified Italy into a republic against the Habsburgs’ Austria. He turned Italian cities into urban centers that rivaled Paris and London.


I also enjoyed learning about Italian silk production started in the 12th century and which still continues on a small scale today. Who knew? Ms Conelli says that “When you buy a piece of silk here, it is not just a common fashion accessory that you can get anywhere in the world. It holds a piece of history, a piece of honest, patient work, and most of all, lots of love that local manufacturers have been giving to their beloved silk for hundreds of years.


CHIQUE SECRETS OF DOLCE VITA contained many more tidbits, but if I related them that would spoil the book for readers. This book will be of interest to readers who like traveling vicariously through a book or those who plan a trip to Milan.

Purchase this book in print or for Kindle at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Barbara+Conelli


Please join me Wednesday for Barbara Conelli’s post on writing. Thanks for reading!

BARBARA CONELLI, GUEST AUTHOR

Please welcome Barbara Conelli, author of CHIQUE SECRETS OF DOLCE VITA. Barb lives between New York and Milan, and as a real globetrotter, she's always on the move, accompanied by her adorable and very spoiled beagle. To her, writing is like breathing, and she's currently working on her new book.

Barbara Conelli, Author

What To Do When Your Muse Goes On A Vacation


As an author, you know that creeping, uncomfortable feeling. Every now and then, it comes uninvited and becomes your unwelcome yet very persistent guest. It haunts you. It confuses you. And then it hits you: Your muse has decided to take a few days off without your permission, leaving you stuck in the middle of your future masterpiece.

You don't get new writing ideas, or you do but you seem unable to turn your ideas into sentences, paragraphs, chapters. You feel that your writing is going nowhere, you are going nowhere, and you start questioning your own talent and skills.
Before you throw the computer out of the window and renounce writing forever, try these simple steps. Believe me, they work. Guaranteed! (Actually, you may find out that you don't really need your spoiled, capricious muse after all.)

1. Don't obsess about it.

Okay, so maybe you've planned to write a certain number of pages or words every day and now you're falling behind the schedule. So what? Relax. When things get better, you will soon and easily make up for the lost time. Writing is a creative process that should be allowed to flow naturally. You cannot (and you mustn't) force yourself to write at all costs when you don't feel like it. Writing is fun and you should find pleasure in it. Let's face it, if you don't write with passion, the result will be flat anyway. So stop worrying about it; a short break will do you good.

2. Get out of your comfort zone.

Look for new experiences. It doesn't matter what you do, and it doesn't need to be related to your book. Just get out of the house and have fun. Go away for the weekend, try a new exciting activity, go to a concert, meet new people. New experiences bring new waves of energy into your life and wake up your tired brain. Forget about your writing for a couple of days and focus on new, fun stuff instead. You will see that new ideas will start popping up in your head in no time and you will find joy in writing again.


3. Create a writing ritual.

Barbar's book, available at
www.Amazon.com

Create your personal writing ritual. Some writers have their own "writing corner" where they don't do anything else but write. Others have "writing clothes" that they wear only when they work on their book. You can have your personal "writing tea", "writing food" or "writing scent". Such rituals get you in the mood for writing and send a clear signal to your brain telling it that now it's time to be creative. If possible, set a specific time for writing every day. Switch off the cell phone and tell your family and friends not to disturb you, unless it's a question of life and death. Stick to your writing rituals and indulge in your writing routine. You will grow to love it.


When your muse leaves, it is your chance to experience new things, come up with fresh ideas and eventually become a better writer. So don't fear your muse's vacation time: You know you can write another great chapter of your masterpiece without her.

Thank you, Barbara. You can learn more about Barbara from the following sites. She hosts her Chique Show blogtalk radio at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/barbaraconelli
E-mail: radio@barbaraconelli.com 
or barb@barbaraconelli.comTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/barbaraconelli


Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/barbaraconelli
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/barbaraconelli
Website: http://www.barbaraconelli.com/

Please join me Friday when I host an interview with my friend Goldie Browning. She'll share her life and an excerpt of her new paranormal romantic suspense, NIGHT JOURNEY.