Close Encounters with Famous Authors -- 2011

My 2011 has been a year filled with wonderful books and authors. While I continue to work on completing my own second novel, The Love Code, much of my personal satisfaction comes from having a hand in the promotion and design of other authors’ works as well. Along the way I've embraced new landmarks in my journey as a writer, I’ve met some great people and shook the hands of a few literary icons. This year I met several, but four in particular stand out the most.

While we get to know authors through their works, for indeed the stories they tell depict at least an aspect of who they are as people, there's nothing like meeting or speaking with an author face to face. There's no greater thrill than meeting a well-known author and receiving from them a golden piece of advice or an insight.

A great way to kick off the New Year is by sharing a few of my close encounters this year with famous authors. From each of these I took away a bit of advice, some observations and maybe some juicy gossip too.



Brenda Seabrooke – Children’s book author of Wolf Pie, Cemetery Street, 'Twas the Day Before Christmas, Stonewolf , The Haunting at Swain's Fancy, The Haunting at Stratton Falls, The Vampire in my Bath Tub, Under the Pear Tree, Judy Scuppernong, The Haunting of Holroyd Hill, The Swan's Gift, The Dragon that Ate Summer, The Care and Feeding of Dragons and more.

I met Brenda through Sarasota Author Connection where she gave me and my fellow aspiring authors a small group talk about her journey as a writer. For Brenda Seabrooke the fire of storytelling was lit at a very young age. When she was a child the gears of keen listening and a vivid imagination meshed to make storytelling a natural internal dynamic for her. A story she heard might end, but the gears kept churning and she’d rethink the story, carry on the character’s action to another plot, retell it or make her own sequel. I immediately related to her when she explained how listening to stories as a child in Georgia naturally led to her becoming a story teller herself. Her journey to become a prolific writer of children’s stories published by so many acclaimed publishing houses and to belong to the Children’s Book Guild of Washington D.C. extends back to these deep roots…the simple act of listening to stories. Brenda reinforced to me the invaluable gift of reading to children. You never know what little budding writers you might have in your midst.

Lois Duncan – Author of over 50 books! She’s written some very well-known young adult suspense thrillers as well as childrens’ books, two of which have been made into movies, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Hotel for Dogs.

Lois Duncan grew up right here in Sarasota, Florida where I live so it wasn’t too unusual for me to meet her. I just happen to be lucky enough to be sitting next to her at one of my Sarasota Fiction Writer’s Group meetings and learned a little bit about her journey as a writer. Like Brenda Seabrooke, she knew from early childhood that she wanted to be a writer. She submitted her first story to a magazine at age 10 and became published at 13. She continued to write through her teens…articles, stories, poetry…but what caught my attention the most was her focus toward the young adult thrillers. Of course, everyone knows I Know What You Did Last Summer, but did you know that she may soon be getting a movie deal for another of her novels, Down a Dark Hall? It’s being optioned by none other than another well-known author (turned producer) whose name I’m not allowed to drop here. Let’s just say she’s kind of bella, her name’s not Edward, and anything she writes seems to sparkle in the limelight.

Susan Richards –Author of memoirs with a particular focus on horses and the restorative powers of taking care of animals. Her most recent book Chosen by a Horse made it to the New York Times Best Seller List.

For some reason this year, my Christmas season was jam packed with parties, but the one I looked forward to the most was the one held by my local writing group, Sarasota Fiction Writers. It was going to be held at the Ritz-Carlton Lido Key with live entertainment provided by a renowned Russian pianist, and then we’d have our usual fantastic pot-luck dinner followed by a book/gift swap. You never know who might appear at one of our meetings though, because in Sarasota there are so many wonderful artists, writers and famous personalities and we are always bringing along guests. So who should I sit right next to at dinner? Susan Richards! Though I had never heard of her before, I was so happy to meet her, because as a traditionally published author, she offered me a small tidbit of advice that’s huge really. After some small talk in which she told me she now lives here part-time to get away from the cold north, she told me that she had written novels for years, but never got published until she started writing memoirs.

Memoirs are still a hot topic for agents and publishers and she just recently published one that made it to the NYT Best Seller list. She also advised others at the table that you can’t expect to get published by sending out only a few queries. In other words, you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.

Stephen King – Well he needs no introduction.

Stephen King is one of our most well-known resident authors here in Sarasota, and so it was with great pride and love that our local Barnes and Noble, hosted a special book-signing event in November this year. At first I didn’t think I’d go. After all, I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but I’ve never read any of his fiction. Nevertheless, I’d followed Stephen King’s career my whole life. In fact, it seemed I’d literally followed him to Sarasota from Maine, because that’s actually where I started out decades ago before moving here. Then his book on writing popped up into my radar and Stephen King On Writing became my number one favorite book on writing. So I resolved to go to the book signing and meet the man that can spin golden tales out of air with the skill of a surgeon and the magic of an alchemist.

So what did I learn at the signing? Well I learned that even though I was just one of 800 people at the book signing, I wasn’t just a little speck to him, a man that some think as being so far beyond reach. He signed my book just like everyone else’s, yes, but as I thanked him he looked at me and smiled. No words, but I gathered from him just enough of a look for me to know that he is every bit the hard-working, driven man I thought he was. You see, he had the flu, was running a fever, and at three hours into the book-signing was clearly exhausted, but you know what? He had a job to do. I realized that even though he’s king in the publishing world, he came by it not just by some luck of the draw or knowing the right people. He came by it because he worked at it. He’s as down to earth as they come, hard-working and dedicated to the craft. Years from now, when people think about this era and study the works of the late 20th century, guess whose titles will be at the top of the list? Stephen King’s.

The Five Best Novels with a Holiday Theme

Today I'm pleased to introduce a guest post from Brittany Lyons. Brittany Lyons aspires to be a psychology professor, but decided to take some time off from grad school to help people learn to navigate the academic lifestyle. She currently lives in Spokane, Washington, where she spends her time reading. She was inspired to write this piece so that she could share her love of literature and the holidays with others. So without further ado...


During the fall and winter months, when the winds howl and the grey skies settle heavily over the land, there is no better way to warm the heart than with a cup of coffee and a hearty holiday novel. Novels set during the holiday season are plentiful and it can be difficult to choose one from among them, so much so that you may feel like you need an online PhD just to find the right one for you. Your search just got easier -- here is a list of holiday novels, some classic, some modern classics, to enjoy this holiday season.

1) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens



Dickens' 1843 masterpiece, ”A Christmas Carol” endures as one of the most potent stories of charity and redemption. Visited by spectral tour guides on Christmas Eve, the greedy Ebenezer Scrooge is shown the innocence of his youth, the joy and heartache of his fellow man and the terrifyingly bleak future that awaits him if he doesn't begin to show love and charity.

2) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott


This perennial favorite follows the lives of the March sisters in Massachusetts. Though the plot follows their lives over several years, it is the charming, personal way Alcott describes enduring the long, harsh Massachusetts winters that makes Little Women a supremely comforting holiday read.

3) Skipping Christmas by John Grisham


A departure from his usual legal thrillers, Grisham's “Skipping Christmas” has a "clever, curmudgeonly edge," according to Publisher's Weekly. The novel tells the story of the Kranks, empty nesters who decide to skip all the fuss of a traditional Christmas and plan to sail to the Caribbean instead. Their decision has unpleasant implications, however, as the neighbors and vendors grow increasingly unhappy with the Kranks' decision. It all comes to a head when their daughter returns unexpectedly with a last-minute request for a traditional Christmas at home.

4) The Gift: A Novel by Richard Paul Evans


Publisher's Weekly praised the "tightly honed narrative" and USA Today noted the "effective" prose of this modern holiday classic. An emotionally damaged business traveler is stranded before Thanksgiving and shows kindness to a family with a devastating secret, with tissue-drenching results.

5) The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg


Although a children's book, this 1985 Caldecott Medal-winner belongs on this list because it became an instant classic due to its lush illustrations and sweet, simple story. On Christmas Eve, a boy travels by magical train to the North Pole to receive the first gift of Christmas. This family favorite is all about the power of belief and the wonder of Christmas.

Whether you need to stay warm in winter's chill or escape into the holiday spirit year-round, nothing fires the imagination like a good read. This list is merely a gateway to all the literature inspired by the holiday spirit. Under a warm blanket, these novels provide the kind of wonder and spirit that the holidays are all about.

Book Review - Coming Up For Air by Patti Callahan Henry

Title: Coming Up For Air
Author: Patti Callahan Henry
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN, Pub. Date: 978-0-312-61039-5, September 2011
Format: Paperback Advance Reader Edition

The publicists at Author Exposure provided me with a Advance Readers' Edition of Patti Callahan Henry's latest novel, Coming Up For Air. I chose it from over fifty other books. Considering that I've never read any of the author's works and I usually veer away from books that look even remotely like a romance, why did I choose it? The title captured my attention.

At first glance, the phrase, "coming up for air", might describe either one of two things: A) quite literally, a marine mammal or diver coming up from below water to surface for air, or B) a person rising to their authentic self. I chose Patti Callahan Henry's book, hoping that it would reveal a story pertaining to the latter.

Coming Up For Air takes places largely in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, Georgia, where Ellie Eddington lives a neat, well-to-do life with her husband and one child away at college. From the beginning, however, we learn that she doesn't sit quite as comfortably into her surroundings. On the surface, life amongst her family and family friends is well-groomed and polished, but lurking below is an angst easily recognized by anyone who has ever felt displaced in life. In the last decade, Ellie has taken to painting flowers, individual flowers, each reminiscent of the garden at her childhood home. Her journey begins with a very unsure Ellie as the story opens to her first art show, organized by her reluctantly supportive mother. An art show for a high-profile charity event, however, delivers to her mother enough reason to tout her daughter's "hobby".

The next day, Ellie's mother dies and we learn that Ellie's ex-boyfriend and first love, Hutch, had been creating an exhibit to pay homage to her mother. She had been elected as one of several women to be cited for their charitable and social contributions. The extent of these contributions perplex Ellie, when she discovers that her mother, who had always kept a stiff and somewhat cold demeanor, had actually been a passionate, anti-racist, activist in Alabama during the early 1960's. What could account for the transformation of this woman who, later in life, appears to focus on status only, a woman who had grown the flowers in her garden "for their botanical and ornamental value only?"

A few days after her mother dies, Ellie comes across her mother's journal. With a visit to Alabama, she and her ex-boyfriend research together her mother's role in the very turbulent years in southern history, the Freedom bus ride, desegregation protests. Piece by piece Ellie comes to understand how her mother, whom she loved very much, had been two different people: the passionate, free-spirited one of her youth and the one she had cultivated herself to be...and the reason she had done so. Ellie is driven to understand this, because not only did her mother control many of the choices she herself had made in life, but there are parallels in the two women's' lives. Ellie has come to a crossroad in her marriage, especially with the reappearance of her first love, and she begins to feel her authentic self rising up out of the drowned existence she's suffered for two decades.

Patti Callahan Henry's prose is beautifully crafted in a way that reveals the underpinnings of the character's actions. How a mother feels when they look at their college-aged daughter, a mirror of their younger self, for example, or the suffocation one feels with a manipulative partner, are written almost poetically, drawing true empathy from the reader. As the story unfolds, Patti Callahan Henry has masterfully layered the elements with symbolism and themes that any admirer of southern literature would love. She illustrates how past history can reveal truths; how people often lock their hearts away, only for them to burst forth later in mid-life, forced to "come up for air."

I recommend Coming Up For Air to anyone who likes romance as long as they are willing to dig deeper than the physical aspects of love. You won't find any torrid affairs or bodice ripping action in Coming Up For Air. The romance in this story is tied more to how someone loves, not why they love or who; how loving a person or locking away your heart affects a person's authenticity.

I also recommend the book to anyone who loves southern literature. The story is contemporary, but certainly hits on classic themes. It is literary fiction, too, as it deals heavily with the angst of being imperfect, being human. Just as Ellie describes herself, we are all like wildflowers in Mrs. Eddington's garden, real humans who are weeded out because we haven't fit the mold of the botanical or ornamental variety.

I give Coming Up For Air by Patti Callahan Henry 4 out of a possible 5 magic books.

Meet Emlyn Chand, Author of Farsighted

Today I'm pleased to feature an interview with Emlyn Chand, the author of Farsighted, a YA novel that takes us to a whole new arena in the paranormal / YA genre. If you've had enough of vampires, then Alex Kosmitoras might just be your answer. He's psychic! Farsighted takes us on Alex's journey to discover and accept his psychic abilities, and along the way we're introduced us to a world where mythical elements from many cultures come into play.

1. Tell us about yourself. Describe Farsighted and tell us why you were compelled to write it.
I’m Emlyn, a 26-almost-27-year old YA author. I am also the president of Novel Publicity and a crazy bird lady too. And, oh yeah, I emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in my left

hand (at least that’s what my Twitter bio says).

Farsighted tells the story of Alex Kosmitoras. Here’s my mini teaser: Alex Kosmitoras may be blind, but he can still “see” things others can’t. When his unwanted visions of the future begin to suggest that the girl he likes could be in danger, he has no choice but to take on destiny and demand it reconsider.

Everything started with a single image—my face in these tacky oversized sunglasses reflecting out at me from the car’s side mirror. I was daydreaming while my husband drove us across Michigan for my sister’s wedding. Something about my image really struck me in an almost horrific way. I felt the glasses made me look blind but found it so weird that there was still a clear image within them; it seemed so contradictory. At the time, my book club was reading The Odyssey, which features the blind Theban prophet, Tieresias. I started thinking about what it would be like to have non-visual visions of the future and began forming a modern Tieresias in my mind. Lo and behold, Alex Kosmitoras was born. I didn’t want him to be alone in his psychic subculture, so I found other characters with other powers to keep him company. Thank God for my poor fashion sense. J

2. Who will enjoy reading this book and why? Can you compare it to any other titles with which readers may be familiar?
Farsighted is YA and thus written primarily for a teen audience. It’s a bit cleaner than other YA on the shelves so would also be a safe bet for slightly younger readers. Adults seem to enjoy it as well :-) Farsighted is paranormal that’s a touch more normal, so yes, it can be likened to Twilight, Harry Potter, or Hunger Games. But Farsighted’s world is much more like our own than any of these other settings.

3. High school is a difficult time for a lot of kids. Your characters, Simmi and Alex, deal with some very unique challenges in high school. Talk about their gifts and challenges and how any aspects of your own background influenced this theme in your novel?

High school is tough! Like Simmi, Shapri, and Alex, I was also that person on the periphery. I was always different, which was both a challenge and a mark of pride. Unlike my characters, I don’t have psychic powers—not sure that having them would have improved the high school experience anyway!

4. What did you have to research in order to write the book?
I spent about three months trying to talk myself out of writing Farsighted. It’s too ambitious, my inner critic pointed out. You’ll never get it done, not in the way it deserves to be done, it pressed. But there was another part of me that couldn’t resist; I knew I had to at least try before giving up. I started by reading tons and tons of books—I read about world folklore and superstitions, religions especially Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, and Sikhism, psychic powers, the occult, blindness, and even Nostradamus. I learned how to cast runes and perform a ten-card Celtic Cross Tarot reading. I had nightmares for several weeks, but then they eventually stopped, and I started writing.

5. When you write how do you approach the scope required of a novel? Do you start with a small synopsis, an outline, write the ending first, etc? Did you begin with a seed of an idea, a title that spurred your imagination or something else?
I begin with a seed of an idea and work out from there. With Farsighted, I started with Alex and created the rest of the story and characters to fit around him. Using the runes as a structural framework for this novel created an outline for me too. I’m a numbers person as well as a word person. I love things to be organized just so. If you set a stack of papers in front of me; I’m going to fuss with them until they are lined up in a perfect stack. It’s just the way I am. Shaping each chapter around a rune gave the story order, which made me feel happy and comfortable. Whenever I got stuck and didn’t know what should happen next, I was able to learn more about that chapter’s rune and get the inspiration I needed to continue. The runes themselves tell a story, one that is successfully completed. I felt that boded well for Farsighted.

6. What elements do you consider vital to a good story? How does this apply to your own book?
For the most part, I think stories live or die with the characters who populate them. Plot is important. World-building is important. But a story without strong or relatable characters isn’t going to stay with readers in the same way. To that end, it was incredibly important for me to create characters who would feel real to the story. Readers have really identified with Alex and Shapri as feeling extremely authentic. Some people like Simmi too. :-D

7. What else have you written? What have you published? Do you have any unpublished manuscripts laying hidden in your desk drawer?
Farsighted is actually my second novel. After lots of back and forth, I decided my first novel would be better off unpublished. So with that said, it’s important to remember that not every work has to be published. My first novel was important, because it taught me I could see an entire novel through from start to finish. But in that first novel, I made lots of mistakes as a writer. Luckily, I learned what my faults were and sought out ways to improve upon them. And Farsighted is the better for it.

8. What aspect of writing do you find the most difficult? How did this apply specifically to writing Farsighted.
Plotting is the hardest for me. I like to build really strong characters, and sometimes I allow them to distract me from my story. These detours can be good, or they can cripple your work. I guess that’s why Faulker said “kill your darlings.” Fortunately, my Farsighted detours were good. Shapri was never supposed to be a main character, but I let her get under my skin. Now she’s many readers’ favorite!

9. Tell potential readers what you hope they will come away with after reading your novel.
First and foremost, I hope that readers will enjoy themselves. My primary goal is to tell an interesting story that people will find entertaining and be glad they read. Secondly, I’d like to infuse contemporary Young Adult fiction with a bit more diversity and teach readers about the beauty of other cultures and other ways of life. I also hope that Farsighted is a book that leads to introspection—what would I do if put in Alex’s place? Did Alex ever have a choice or was this path his destiny? What would it be like to see the world the way he sees the world?

10. Can we look forward to more of Simmi and Alex? What are your plans for the rest of the Farsighted series?
Farsighted is a 5-book series. Each book will be told from a different character’s point-of-view, so in book #2, we’ll actually be able to see what Grandon looks like! Next up is Open Heart. I hope to have that ready by the middle of next year.

11. Where can we buy Farsighted? Please list all links where we can find out more about you, your writing and Farsighted.
You can get Farsighted as an eBook through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords. It will be available as a paperback on November 24th (for my birthday, yay!).
I am available on pretty much any social network you can think of. Visit my website http://www.emlynchand.com or search “emlynchand” on your social media site of choice, and you’ll find me. I’m most active on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, and GoodReads.

Blog Tour Notes

THE BOOK:  Alex Kosmitoras may be blind, but he can still “see” things others can’t.  When his unwanted visions of the future begin to suggest that the girl he likes could be in danger, he has no choice but to take on destiny and demand it reconsider. Get your copy today by visiting Amazon.com’s Kindle store or the eBook retailer of your choice. The paperback edition will be available on November 24 (for the author’s birthday).

THE CASH PRIZES:  Guess what? You could win a $100 Amazon gift card as part of this special blog tour. That’s right! Just leave a comment below saying something about the post you just read, and you’ll be entered into the raffle. I could win $100 too! Please help by voting for my blog in the traffic-breaker poll. To cast your vote, visit the official Farsighted blog tour page and scroll all the way to the bottom. Thank you for your help with that.

THE GIVEAWAYS:  Win 1 of 10 autographed copies of Farsighted before its paperback release by entering the giveaway on GoodReads. Perhaps you’d like an autographed postcard from the author; you can request one on her site.

THE AUTHOR:  Emlyn Chand has always loved to hear and tell stories, having emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). When she’s not writing, she runs a large book club in Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm, Novel Publicity. Emlyn loves to connect with readers and is available throughout the social media interweb. Visit http://www.emlynchand.com/ for more info. Don’t forget to say “hi” to her sun conure Ducky!

MORE FUN: There's more fun below. Watch the live action Farsighted book trailer and take the quiz to find out which character is most like you!

When She Awoke by Hillary Jordan

Is it my imagination, or are books just getting better and better? The wow factor is being ramped up. When She Awoke by Hillary Jordan certainly is a prime example of Donald Maas's Putting the Fire in Fiction. It's fiery red!

Just released on October 4th of this year, When She Awoke is a modern interpretation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. When Hannah Payne wakes up only to discover that she's been "chromed" in red, her entire epidermis dyed scarlet, she must exist in society with this demarcation of a murderer. Criminals in this futuristic world come in varying colors, each hue to denote their crime.




From Amazon....
...she finds herself lying on a table in a bare room, covered only by a paper gown, with cameras broadcasting her every move to millions at home, for whom observing new Chromes--criminals whose skin color has been genetically altered to match the class of their crime--is a sinister form of entertainment. Hannah is a Red for the crime of murder. The victim, says the State of Texas, was her unborn child, and Hannah is determined to protect the identity of the father, a public figure with whom she shared a fierce and forbidden love.

A powerful reimagining of The Scarlet Letter, When She Woke is a timely fable about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of the not-too-distant future, where the line between church and state has been eradicated, and convicted felons are no longer imprisoned and rehabilitated but chromed and released back into the population to survive as best they can. In seeking a path to safety in an alien and hostile world, Hannah unknowingly embarks on a journey of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she once held true and the righteousness of a country that politicizes faith and love.



Excerpt From When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

You've seen the bookcover plastered all over the internet, and it's intriguing, but have you really delved into what the book is about. As many of you know, Alice Hoffman, is my favorite contemporary writer, but I'm not just promoting this book here because of a blind devotion. Take a look at the book trailer yourself and decide if this book deserves to be one of the top ten bestsellers for Fall 2011. I certainly think it does and I'm putting it at the top of my To Be Read list.



The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

Book Reviews --Taking it Personally

Recently, a friend and fellow author, Terri Giuliano Long, received a review of her book In Leah's Wake, which set me to pose a question: Should a book reviewer present from their personal outlook on life, or should they refrain from infusing their review with their preconceptions, whether they be religious, political or otherwise?

Terri's recent post, Existentialist Themes in the Novel, In Leah's Wake,  written in reaction to the review, states the matter quite clearly. With regard to her creation of In Leah's Wake, "A Catholic, I can no more escape my core beliefs or heritage than a Jewish, Muslim or atheist writer could his or hers."

Novel and author are part and parcel. Creating a novel is, in a sense, an author's platform for expression and thusly reflects their world view. I would argue that reviews are not platforms for reviewers. Scratching your head? Think of it this way. A book is an author's creation, complete with the full freedom of creative license; a review is a report on that author's effort, and while creative license certainly belongs to any writer, of reviews included, the reviewer should use some restraint.

While reviewers are readers too, a reviewer is so much more. A reviewer's role is to inform, not to emote or display their own world view. It is a reviewer's responsibility to provide an objective review, while making only enough of their personality known as to be deemed an opinion. Reactions that spill further become a different animal than "review". In other words, a reviewer should not turn a review into a soapbox for spouting their own belief system, socio-political orientation, personal plight, etc.

Maybe you enjoy hearing a reviewer bash a book, because it's too Republican, for example, or it doesn't sit well with them because it touches on divorce and they have just undergone one themselves. These factors may interest some readers, but because they don't aptly illustrate the author's work or the purpose of the book, do they really belong in a review? I would argue that there's a fine line between a reviewer's personal opinion of a book and their personal views on life. A reviewer should keep their personal viewpoints out of their review. In fact, the guidelines for some reviewer organizations require that the review not include one sentence written in the first person.

Reviewers come from all backgrounds, especially with the advent of the internet. This has opened the door to anyone with access to a keyboard. Reviews come in many shapes and sizes: whimsical, academic, brief, long-winded; some are written very well, others not so much. What should be the protocol for shaping a review?

Think of what readers really need from a review. Regardless of the shape or size of the review, quite simply, readers want the facts. They want answers to questions. First and foremost, is it well-written? What's it about? To what genre does it belong? What style of writing does the author use? Who would enjoy reading the book? What lasting impressions does the book make? These last two questions do require a bit of subjectivity, but they are not an invitation for the reviewer to step up to the podium and lecture. It's this reviewer's opinion that reviews that do this invalidate the authenticity of the review.