The Finally Ever After Subgenre from Musa

Musa now has another romantic subgenre called Finally Ever After. They are short reads - about 7,000-11,000 words - and are based on the premise of characters with a past history who are being given a second chance.

Below is Sara Daniel's description of her FEA romance novel, Zane's Art.

Finally Ever After: Zane’s Art
By Sara DanielEarly this year when Musa posted a submissions call for a series called Finally Ever After, I jumped at the opportunity. The stories were to be short, happily ever romances about lovers who have loved each other and lost. Now, they have a second chance to create the happy ending they didn’t get the first time.

I love characters with a past history, especially in a short word count. They have instant attraction and long-standing unresolved conflict—the perfect elements for a fast-paced, emotion-packed read. Zane’s Art had all these things coupled with a strong present conflict. The story flowed out of me so fast I knew it was meant to be!

Zane’s ArtHigh school art teacher Julianne Truman's last chance to save her beloved art department from budget cuts is to sell the old sketches that her former boyfriend—and now famous artist—Zane DeMonde drew for her. But is she prepared to let go of his artwork and the last traces of him in her life?

Desperate to save his artistic reputation from the exposure of his early works, Zane returns to the home town he wanted to forget. He accuses Julianne of profiting from his success and demands she take his art off the market and cancel the auction.

Their high school attraction flares back to life, forcing Julianne to choose between the students who count on her and the man she never stopped loving.Excerpt:"Cancel the auction."
Julianne Truman’s head snapped around at the hard male voice. The stapler fell from her hand and cracked open on the floor, as she caught sight of the extraordinary face that went with the voice. Her knees shook as she climbed down the ladder. She hadn’t faced Zane DeMonde in nearly fifteen years. At one time she’d believed he’d be part of every single day of her future.

"Zane, I didn’t expect you to come." She stepped toward him. His black hair was a little shorter than the last time she’d seen him, but at shoulder length it was still far longer than most men’s. Gone were the black hoodie and ripped jeans of his youth. Now he wore chinos and a sharply pressed blue button-down shirt, open at the neck.

The dark storms in his cobalt blue eyes were exactly the same as the day he’d walked away from her. "Cancel the auction. The sketches and painting are not for sale."

She swallowed. "I own them. If I choose to sell them, that’s my business." And it was breaking her heart to part with the only piece of him that she’d been able to hang onto all these years.

"When they have my name on them and you’re getting rich off me, it’s my business."

Getting rich was so far from the truth Julianne would have laughed if her chest weren’t so tight. "It’s an honor to have you back in town." At least her students would think so. Her brother would likely burst an artery. And she—well, she couldn’t even begin to process the mix of emotions she was feeling. "Do you have a minute to talk? I can explain what’s going on."

"I know what’s going on."

She hoped he couldn’t hear how hard her heart was hammering or sense how desperately she longed to wrap her arms around him and pick up where they left off fifteen years ago, as if he’d never left her. "Then you know that the arts are at the bottom of the school district’s priority list. To have supplies for the classroom, to restore the school mural, to give my students a chance to explore different mediums, the art program needs an alternate source of funding."

"You’re the Dentonville High art teacher?"

She couldn’t help feeling defensive at his derisive tone. "Yes, and I love my job."

"Do you? Or have you never moved beyond your high school life?"
BUY LINK
http://musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=44&products_id=421 To learn more about Sara Daniel and her work, please visit her website http://www.SaraDaniel.com and blog. http://saradanielromance.blogspot.com Stay connected on either or both of her Facebook pageshttp://www.facebook.com/SaraDanielSaraShaferhttp://www.facebook.com/SaraShaferDaniel Remember, Sara is also only a tweet http://www.twitter.com/SSaraDaniel away.
And here's Sara's bookcover:

Let us know what you think about these shorter, more intense reads. It seems that many people prefer shorter, quicker reads, particularly those using e-readers. What do you think? Meat and potatoes or dessert? Or a little of both?

Patti Yager Delagrange's MOON OVER ALCATRAZ

Patti is a fellow author from Musa. Her latest book, Moon Over Alcatraz deals with the sorrow and difficulties that a couple go through after the death of their child.

Inspiration Behind the Book

How many times have I seen an Amber Alert on the news which ends in the child’s death? How many times have I been driving down the freeway and read about another child kidnapping in yellow lights across a billboard? How many times have watched on the news that another child has been murdered?
Too many times. One time is too many.

And each time this occurs I wonder how in the world do the parents make it through such a tragedy? How do they go on? How can they return to work? How can they face interacting with family and friends after their child’s death? How do they go on living?

This question had burned in my mind for years and I wanted to write about it. People have asked me how I can write about something that’s never happened to me. I counter with: I write fiction. All fiction writers tell a story they’ve made up in their heads. But they imbue that story with their own feelings. Which is what makes a good book. And I have a wealth of feelings that I used when I wrote Moon Over Alcatraz. I have two children. I know what it’s like to love two human beings unconditionally, with no reservations. My kids often ask me, "Do you love me, mom?" And my answer is, "Always and forever."

Moon Over Alcatraz

So I took a happily married couple, excited to have their first child, placed them in the delivery room, and had the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby’s neck, which produced a still birth.
And that’s pretty much what happened to that couple - their lift stood still. They didn’t know how to move on from there. Instead of looking to each other for solace and renewal, they turned away from each other. Both of them, unbeknownst to the other, dealt with their grief in a way that broke them
apart, instead of pulling them together.

Losing a child is devastating. And each person deals with that emotional turmoil in their own particular way. I’d go so far as to say that no one can predict how they would act in that circumstance. Emotions can be unpredictable, surprising even to the person who’s experiencing them. This is what happens to Brandy and Weston. You have a difference in their emotional upheaval. One character is the mother who carried her baby to term, and the other is the father who didn’t have that same physical experience.

Patti


Excerpt

Three days later we were standing at the edge of a hole in the ground at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Hayward, the silence so thick, the insides of my ears buzzed like a distant swarm of angry bees. Mr. Peralta and another gentleman stood off to the side while Weston and I held hands next to a tiny casket.
Weston had chosen a simple mahogany box with gold handles, a bouquet of white lilies graced the top of the small box. I knelt down and laid a kiss on the smooth wood then wiped off the tears that had fallen on top. Weston joined me, placing a single red rose in the middle of the lilies.
He helped me up and we stood side-by-side in silence, my guilt over her death like a stone in my empty belly. I missed everything I’d dreamed would be happening right now, yearned for all that could have been.

Weston nodded at the man standing next to Mr. Peralta and our baby was slowly lowered into the gaping maw. She reached the bottom, and a bird landed on the rich brown dirt piled next to the grave. It pecked around, chirping a little song then flew off - as if saying goodbye. My heart squeezed inside my chest. I picked up a small handful of soft dirt. "Goodbye, Christine," I whispered, throwing it on top of her casket. Weston wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me in close to his side. Why her? Why my baby? Was this supposed to make sense? And, if so, to whom?

We drove home in silence. No words existed to express my grief.

Below are links where you can learn more about Patti.

http://www.patriciayagerdelagrange.com
https://www.facebook.com/patti.yeager
https://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=PattiYager

MUSA ANNIVERSARY BLOG HOP!!

My next Musa book comes out on November 9. This time it’s a Regency novella. I tried writing a novella for a change because it is a long time between my Regency novel releases, and this way I hoped my readers would see I was not neglecting them. (It is also a trial run for a series of novellas, one of which is almost finished, about a Regency couple who investigate small crimes amongst the ton—the sort of petty crimes that members of the ton would prefer to keep under wraps).

The November 9 release is called Captive wherein a somewhat witless Regency miss captures a man as a prize for her unmarried sister. Mayhem ensues when her sister realises that their prisoner is none other than their father’s arch enemy. I do not yet have a cover for Captive, but I’m posting my other Musa book covers below.

GETTING ON WITH ITWHEN THE MUSE DRIES UP

　
For weeks now I’ve been pushing, pushing to get some words on paper. Any words. My brain is weary of Regencies and romantic suspense novels. It needs grist for the mill. So…solutions:

Do a refresher course of some sort, something to get the juices flowing. Uh huh, did that and it sure wasn’t worth the money I paid for it. There are so many of those courses out there in the ether that liken writing to growing parsley, or knitting sweaters, or climbing a mountain (close) but what makes these authors burn to redistribute the English language? They come up with phrases and words like trisituational which loosely translated means three story threads; or irreconcilable dichotomy (!), in other words your conflicts both internal and external are at such odds to each other that you’ve painted yourself into a corner because the conflict can’t be solved. So why don’t these seminar instructors use plain English? To justify their existence, I guess. And because they can make money out of webinars and writing how-to books for already confused writers.
Another favorite solution for those of us at the cross-roads is to plot, plot, plot and stop flying by the seat of our pants. Uh huh. Well, like many writers, if I plot my book into oblivion where’s the point in writing it? Been there, done that. Of course we need story outlines and basic plotlines for the various characters. But I find that after planning some characterisation, the plot tends to take care of itself. In fact my two ‘best’ books wrote themselves. But I can’t hang around waiting for that to happen. Hey, it might never happen again! Nose to the grindstone.
Read, read, read, particularly in other genres. Yes. Definitely. And when I’m stuck, stuck, stuck, I’d rather read than write. However that could go on for weeks, months, years…
There is no writer’s block. Nora assures us this is so and she should know. Don’t think I have such a thing anyway. Several plotlines are still weaving around in brain. Just can’t force myself to finish the Regency novella and romantic suspense I’ve almost finished and then jump into one of those ideas. I’m bored, bored, bored with my current books but my anal retentive behavior tells me to finish those books before starting something else.
The real reason for my procrastination. Marketing. There’s so much of it to be done that it takes all the fun out of writing, because most of that ‘marketing’ involves writing of a sort, just not the fun, real writing. We ignore marketing at our peril, so we are told. (But note there is nothing definitive ever been produced that can prove a case-by-case point). Only those writers at the top of the tree can afford to pay publicists or simply ignore the ‘M’ word. Since the advent of Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and blogs, I sometimes wonder what it would be like to gain such a good income from my writing that I could afford to employ someone to do all this stuff. Dream on, Vonnie. Okay, whinge over!
Anybody else out there in this bind, where they spend as much time marketing as they do writing and have lost their impetus? Anyone got any solutions? Leave a comment and not only will you go in the draw to win a Kindle Fire (if you’re in USA or Canada, but international winners will receive a $50 Musa gift card). The most humorous reply wins a paperback copy of Mr. Monfort’s Marriage which I’m happy to post anywhere in the world.

www.vonniehughes.com
http://www.facebook.com/VonnieJHughes
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5605111-vonnie-hugheshttp://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Vonnie+Hughes&x=18&y=20
http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=162666
(The above should lead you to the next blog on the list to give you further chances to WIN)

MY TEN FAVORITE BOOK CHARACTERS

I'm on the Musa blogsite talking about my ten favorite book characters. Of course this is one of the most subjective topics on earth. See if you agree with any of them:
http://musapublishing.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/my-ten-favorite-book-characters.html
Enjoy!

AUSTRALIAN WRITERS' AND READERS' CONFERENCES

Australia, with a population of 20 million, does not have as many writers’ conferences as say, the UK or USA. But below are a few which might interest people from overseas. They are well worth a visit in my opinion. My favourite one based on its comprehensive coverage is GenreCon – see below.

　
Brisbane Writers’ Festival

This year the Festival is from 5-9 September. Each year it brings tens of thousands of readers together with the writers who inspire them in a setting of parkland and water. You can find conversations ranging from fiction to politics, science to sustainability and everything in between. Writers and readers share stories of adventure, travel, history, music and memoirs at writer talks, bookstalls, book readings and feature events. There are
workshops, masterclasses and seminars for everyone from the novice to the experienced professional.


Somerset College Celebration of Literature

Somerset College is in South East Queensland and has a history of nurturing writers. Next year its conference will be 13-15 March 2013. Their novella writing competition is now open for secondary school students. Submit a 10,000-20,000 word novella on any topic. State winners receive cash prizes and gain writing advice from the Penguin Group (Australia) as well as attending the Celebration of Literature conference. It is a wonderful opportunity for budding writers.


Sydney Writers’ Festival

Sydney Writers' Festival is Australia’s largest annual literary celebration of literature and ideas The Festival returns on 20-26 May 2013. Each year there are more than 300 events in venues stretching from the Festival hub at Walsh Bay to the Blue Mountains. For one week every May authors of the very best contemporary fiction and writers of cutting edge nonfiction, including some of the world's leading public intellectuals, scientists and journalists are in attendance.


Byron Bay Writers’ Festival

This festival is renowned throughout Australia for its beautiful seaside setting and often for the sculptures that are created especially for the festival week.
You can be assured that at Byron Bay every possible type of author is represented from fantasy writers right down to environmental activist authors. It is a festival for the common man but with enough substance to please those with literary leanings i.e. it is fun and engaging and does not encourage navel-gazing.


GenreCon

This three-day conference brings together Australian and international genre professionals and usually features agents and reviewers as well as representatives of every possible genre – romance, mystery, science fiction, crime, fantasy, horror and thrillers. It is considered to be one part professional development and one part celebration.


Romance Writers of Australia Conference

These annual conferences take place in a different city each year. This year it is the Gold Coast. Next year for the first time it will be in Western Australia. RWA conferences are packed with assistance for writers and often non-romance writers attend to hone their skills. This year’s conference (just finished), was wildly successful. The setting, with many hotel rooms overlooking the sea, was conducive to bonhomie and judging from the hundreds of photos on Facebook, everyone not only networked to the fullest, but also most people gained a "snap!" moment when something clicked so that they came away energized. The RWA conferences are renowned for the numbers of workshops held by overseas authors.
　
ARRA Conference (Australian Romance Readers Association)

Prior to the RWA conference this year, the ARRA held a book-signing event. The ARRA, joined by people the world over, also has its own convention every second year and the 2013 one will be held at the Mercure Hotel in Brisbane (Queensland) on 1-3 March next. The keynote speakers will be Kristan Higgins, Anne Grace and Rachel Vincent.

Marketing Site for E-books

Here is a site where all e-books are priced less than $6. Yep. My books are there too!

http://www.hollysbargainebooks.wordpress.com/

COZIES AND MYSTERIES

This is the final post about the mystery and suspense genres.

Mystery Genre
Previously, defining a mystery was easy. A mystery was a riddle or a puzzle e.g. Murders in the Rue Morgue. The reader and protagonist had to determine the secret, solve the crime and find the guilty party. The clues were buried throughout the story. Originally the mystery genre was divided into three sub-genres – the cozy, the soft-boiled mysteries and the hard-boiled mysteries and the classifications were based on the level of violence. Hard-boiled fiction originated in the U.S. e.g. The Big Sleep.
Today the mystery genre has been divided into many different subgenres such as romantic suspense, police procedurals, amateur sleuths, noir, private eyes, whodunits, etc. (Amateur sleuth novels are similar to cozies but are usually more violent. The murder is solved by someone close to the victim i.e. the sleuth has a vested interest in the outcome). Professional sleuths are not police procedurals per se but can be crimes solved by people such as a judge or medical examiner or someone experienced in the working background of the victim i.e. they have a knowledge of the circumstances. (Think Dick Francis). Sometimes these are turned into a series.
In mystery writing, plot is everything. Dorothy Sayers and the Detection Club wrote the rules that now define mystery and detective fiction. They struck a balance between intellectual integrity and artistic licence. (Remember that mysteries and cozies are defined by the intellectual skills of their protagonists rather than their ability to overcome their antagonists using power i.e. rather than using esoteric weaponry or complicated fighting skills, they use their brains).
Hercule Poirot, Father Brown and Lord Peter Wimsey all owe their existence to Detection Club members. Even though their books would now fall under the cozy subgenre, their writings and influence established a pattern for the entire mystery and detection genres.
The main four rules of the Detection Club were first that detectives must solve cases by using their wits i.e. no divine revelations or coincidences. The second rule was that the writer must not conceal any vital clues from the reader. The third rule was that authors promised to use contrivances such as super-criminals or secret entrances in moderation only. And the last main rule was that poisons unknown to science were forbidden. The conclusion was always that justice must, in some fashion or another, be brought about by the action of the ‘detectives.’

Cozies:Cozies were originally known as English country house mysteries. Prominent during the 1920s and 1930s, this style focused on the members of a closed group such as the members of a village. The stories always involved a puzzle and were often solved by the study of human nature (and a reliance on local gossip). This style was so popular that the abovementioned Detection Club was founded in 1928. Some examples of that era are Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie and The Queen’s Square by Dorothy Sayers.
There’s not a lot of on-screen sex, violence or graphic murders in cozies. The detectives are amateurs, frequently women who have been dismissed as busybodies by the local constabulary (think Miss Marple). They become involved for personal reasons.
The murderers are usually neither psychopaths nor serial killers as in other genres but are more likely to have their motives set in greed, jealousy or revenge. Sometimes these motives are the results of occurrences many years in the past.
Frequently the supporting characters in cozies are broadly drawn and sometimes used as comic relief. The eccentrics of village life loom large in these books but remember that cozies can take place in small closed communities anywhere, not necessarily in small villages.
Cozies are told in the first or third person. The victim is rarely someone who will be missed or who will leave a yawning gap in the lives of others. Also, cozies are not roller-coaster rides like thrillers and suspenses but are a progressive examination of the human psyche. They are gentle gifts to be unwrapped – see Writing the Cozy Mystery by Nancy Mehl on Nike Chillemi’s blogsite.
Examples of this genre are the Miss Marple novels as abovementioned, the Hetty Wainthrop Investigates series, Murder She Wrote and Rosemary & Thyme (British settings).
And this concludes my blogposts on the suspense/mystery genres. Hope you enjoyed them.:

POLICE PROCEDURALS/CRIME NOVELS

Continuing with the breakdown of the various thriller/crime genres, this month I’ll cover police procedurals/crime novels. This also includes private investigator novels.
As well, many crime novels often have as their protagonist an innocent bystander or curious amateur sleuth who may happen upon a crime or are affected by it, so resolve to investigate i.e. they may have a vested interest in solving the crime. In Judith McNaught’s Someone to Watch Over Me, the ‘hero’ (at first perceived as an anti-hero which is not uncommon in this type of novel), has two main incentives to solve Leigh’s husband’s murder. First, he is suspected of committing the murder and second, he wants Leigh to be able to resolve her issues with the dead husband because he’s waited many, many years to move in on Leigh.

Another example is Cilla, the heroine of Nora Roberts’ Tribute. As she sifts through her grandmother’s belongings, she realises there was a lot more to her grandmother’s death than was originally thought. It was always presumed that her grandmother, a famous actress, committed suicide. Cilla is curious about the death because it seemed unlikely that such a vibrant woman would commit suicide, and she is very like her grandmother. Once she discovers that her grandmother’s death was probably murder, she rattles a few cages.

There are many, many private investigator novels available. Many have their roots in Raymond Chandler’s character, Philip Marlowe. (In turn, Raymond Chandler was influenced by Sam Spade created by Dashiel Hammett. Humphrey Bogart was the quintessential Sam Spade, of course). Marlowe was a hardboiled, hard-drinking private eye who was philosophical beneath the surface. And there is Mike Hammer by Mickey Spillane. You can guarantee that at some stage a blonde will stroll into Hammer’s office looking for trouble.

The birth of private investigators in novels began with Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Agatha Christie’s Poirot took up the banner and then many writers ran with it, writers such as Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe and Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski.

Police procedurals (the more modern ones at any rate), often open up for the reader a bird’s eye view of how the police solve crimes. Some, of course, veer well away from fact, but most are carefully researched such as the Michael Connolly books featuring Harry Bosch, Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley, an English lord with a penchant for police work, Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli and Isles and P.D. James’ Adam Dalgleish. Police procedurals usually stray into the psyche and lives of the police personnel involved, and that is what I find so fascinating. I enjoy the way some authors are able to set out how an investigator’s private life affects his professional life. A great example is Face of a Killer by Robin Burcell where the anniversary of the father’s death by a killer plays havoc with the Sydney Fitzpatrick’s head. She is a forensic artist for the FBI, just as Robin was. So of course Robin’s experience lends an authentic ring to her writing. She also writes the Kate Gillespie police procedurals.

So who are your favourite sleuths? Why? Next week we’ll take a look at cozies and mysteries.
　
　

　

　

THE WILD ROSE PRESS

Today is The Wild Rose Press's sixth birthday! Hop over to these blogs and win prizes - GREAT prizes!

The Wild Rose Press Blog http://thewildrosepress.blogspot.com/
The Wilder Blog http://wilderroses.blogspot.com/
Behind the Garden Gate Editor's blog http://behindthegardengate.blogspot.com/
Black Rose Blog http://twrpblackrose.blogspot.com/

THRILLERS

A thriller by its very definition, is not a feel-good book (or movie) but an experience which is laden with suspense and can cover all sorts of topics such as espionage, crime or mystery i.e. it’s a suspenseful adventure story.

Thrillers popped up more and more from the early 1900’s and probably the most famous one of that era was The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan which set the standard for innocent framed men on the run. An earlier novel with a theme of an innocent protagonist that might not spring to mind as a thriller is The Count of Monte Cristo (1844).

Hitchcock’s very early films such as The Lodger (Jack the Ripper) and The Man Who Knew Too Much were the forerunners of his suspense-thrillers which advanced during the 50’s to movies such as Strangers on a Train.

During the 70’s and 80’s movies such as Play Misty for Me and Deliverance and the so-different Blow Out expanded the genre.

In the 1990’s and onwards spy thrillers in particular became much more technical e.g. Tom Clancy’s novels such as The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games along with Robert Ludlum’s books about Jason Bourne.

In the 2000’s now we have novels and movies and TV series based on a variety of thriller subgenres:

 Conspiracy thrillers (Da Vinci Code)
 Crime thrillers (Silence of the Lambs)
 Erotic thrillers (Basic Instinct)
 Political thrillers (Day of the Jackal)
 Psychological thrillers (Misery)
 Spy thrillers (Casino Royale)
 Supernatural thrillers (Flatliners)
 Techno thrillers (Jurassic Park)

Recently one of the more successful thriller writers has been Stieg Larsson (Girl with a Dragon Tattoo etc). Interesting that this a little controversy about who did most of the writing of his more recent novels. All adds to the mystique.

The main elements of a good thriller are:

 The protagonists face death, either their own or someone else’s
 The main plotline is a mystery begging to be solved
 The characters are often dragged into conflict and situations that they don’t normally meet (although the spy subgenre of course has a bunch of well-equipped protagonists and antagonists).

Below I’ve laid out some thrillers I’ve read recently that I enjoyed. Sometimes that does not include well known writers since I love finding new writers who satisfy me with their writing. I like MEAT to my thrillers, not necessarily just the promise of it. I won’t describe the plot lines, but I’d suggest you try some of the following books:

A Bodyguard of Lies by Donna del Oro
Upcoming books by new author Liese Sherwood Fabre
The Geneva Convention by Martin Bodenham
Lost in the Bayou by Cornell de Ville (Young Adult)
Bait by Karen Robards
I Can See You by Karen Rose
Face of a Killer by Robin Burcell
Gone by Lisa Gardner
The Killing Floor by Lee Child

I tend to get hold of a writer and read them dry. The above books are only a very little sample of what I read. I read a large quantity of books called romantic suspense which are, in actuality, thrillers; likewise I love detective fiction and police procedurals which are often more thriller than the genre they are purported to be. I guess it’s all down to that old word: marketing.

NEXT WEEK I’ll move on to police procedurals.

WOO HOO! Discounted books, people

This week ONLY, Smashwords are discounting by 25% (!!!) a HUGE number of books. If you read traditional Regencies, here are the links to a couple of mine.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/127113


and


https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/118549

READ AND ENJOY. 25% off in this day and age is not to be sneezed at.

MUSA BLOG HOP - LOST IN THE BAYOU & THE SECOND SON

LOST IN THE BAYOU is published by Musa Publishing. At the risk of sounding over the top, I have to say that this YA novel is AHMAZING. Mean it. I don't read a lot of YA, but the premise of this book hooked me. Just look at the reviews on its Amazon page. Cornell deVille holds the reader until the last page.

Robin and Andy's parents have disappeared - probably in a plane crash. Child Services contact their Uncle Conrad, their only relative, to come and look after them. Uncle Conrad is something else. He has a hook for a hand and he wants them dead so he can take over the family assets. He's also crazy. He relates every circumstance in his life to episodes of The Lone Ranger.

To a background of sixties music, deVille draws out the tension from Robin's point of view; her imagination runs riot and so does the reader's. The novel contains gruesomeness, pathos and fear.

When the kids escape to the Bayou, the terror ratchets up. Well, alligators, a weird tribe hiding in the swamps...I defy any reader from 9-16 to put this book down once they've started it. Oh, and many a reader well past that age.

You can look at it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-in-the-Bayou-ebook.dp/B006H49LL2

It's a mere $3.99 to download.

While you're at it, don't forget to have a look at The Second Son, my Regency under the Clio historical brand from Musa. Find it here:

http://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=98


It got a stunning 5 star review on Amazon.

This link will take you to the site of the blog hop where you can have a look at a number of Musa's books - all genres.

http://mnusapublishingbloghops.blogspot.com/2012/i-love-musa-books-hop.html


NOW, sweeties, if you respond to this blog post with something REALLY UNUSUAL, you'll win a free download of THE SECOND SON. See further down this site for details of the story. By unusual comments, I am looking for something different - not the usual old "nice cover" or whatever. Say something about Lost in the Bayou or about The Second Son, but say something new.

Mr. Monfort's Marriage

A couple of people have asked for the book cover of MMM. I've had a bit of trouble uploading it. Here's hoping it works this time because it's a great cover.

Okay, finally worked. Here you are Cynthia and Anna!

BLOGGING AT ANNIE SEATON'S RE MMM

What is MMM you say? Why, it's Mr. Monfort's Marriage, of course. My latest Regency Historical from Musa Publishing. And Annie is my editor so of course I watched my p's and q's on her blogsite.

Matthew Monfort is a middle class businessman. I don't do Regency rakes. The writing world is full of them. Okay, sure, there's nobody like a rake for making the heart go pitty-pat. But I like my heroes to be just that--heroes. Not known for what they are worth or their lineage, but known for what they've achieved. And Matthew Monfort has achieved much. He's also just achieved a wife, much to his annoyance. A wife from the Upper Ten Thousand, the useless strata of society that makes him grind his teeth. His father landed him in this fix. Uh huh. Verity is sweet...and intelligent...and kind...and tough...but she needn't think she's going to win him over. No.

Got a lot to learn, hasn't he?

Here's the link to Annie's blogsite:

http://annieseaton.blogspot.com.au/p/friday-friends.html

INTERVIEW AT FAR REVIEWS

Here is a link to my interview today with Fallen Angel Reviews:



It is mainly about my New Zealand set romantic suspense LETHAL REFUGE but also has a few searching professional questions.

Sometimes when you're interviewed you really have to stop and think, don't you? Why do I do such-and-such? Looks like I'm the only writer in the world who likes peace to write in. Everyone else comes up with such imaginative musical backgrounds along with having incense burning etc. etc. Me - I love silence. (Anti-social). http://www.fallenangelreviews.com/Interviews/2012/January-LindaL-VonnieHughes.htm

AND THE WINNER IS...

Actually, it's 'the winners are.' Some of the blogposts in reply to my post about Lethal Refuge were as outstanding as I asked for. Thank you people! Well done.

I couldn't decide between Imelda and Jo Duncan so you both get a copy of LETHAL REFUGE. Imelda sucked up beautifully and Jo's post was downright interesting. Good on you, ladies.

Contact me and I'll post your copies out to you.

Interview at KMN Books

Hop on over to http://www.kmnbooks.blogspot.com/

I'm being interviewed there about LETHAL REFUGE by Karen. Thank you Karen!

FREE ROMANTIC SUSPENSE - LETHAL REFUGE

There's a free copy of my paperback going begging. LETHAL REFUGE, partially romantic suspense and partially police procedural has just been released by the Wild Rose Press.

I'm looking for the best comments posted on this blogsite about either New Zealand, where the novel is set, or about why they read in the romantic suspense genre. No ordinary stuff. Give me something unusual, unpredictable or even outrageous.

Make sure you leave your email addresses.