FIRST FRIDAY! Blackburn, Lovely, and Vidler

The Delivery Guy © Alberto Jorrin Rodriguez | Dreamstime.com

It's First Friday again! One picture, three short pieces by three very different authors. Check them out. 

Blackburn

Send in the Clown

   Tips, baby. It’s all about tips. And so I wear this mask … sometimes. Because it’s also about who answers that door. If a woman answers, she screams, yanks the pizza from me, and slams the door. If a guy answers, he shakes my hand, and tips me well. And if little kids are in the house? Oh, baby! Then, whoever answers the door tips me well, because children love my mask.

   So it’s also all about guessing who will be on the other side of that door. Houses with kids are easy to spy—toys and other junk strewn outside are sure giveaways. Now, if I could only master the kid-less households ...

   But this delivery was pretty obvious. A two-pizza order in a warehouse? Didn’t think I’d be disrupting a ladies’ bookclub meeting, right?

   I was right! Four guys sitting around a rickety card table playing poker. Cha-ching!!

Lovely

   Joe’s brain cells were sparser than the pepperoni stingily dotted on the pizzas he delivered. It was Joe’s first night working for Harry’s Pizza, and customers were emailing to gripe about the foul smell of the pies he delivered. He didn’t realize his dearth of brain cells was balanced by tear-inducing body odor, and his technique of wedging pizza boxes against his ribs exposed them to his potent armpits.

   Why were customers upset? He reasoned it had to be the medical mask he was ordered to wear. It scared them. “People who stick needles in you wear those masks,” Joe thought. “I have a friendlier one from last Halloween.”

    Pleased with his solution, Joe rang the bell for his first clown-masked delivery. A woman opened the door, screamed, and fainted.

   “Was it bad breath?”

   Joe exhaled into his hand through the large hole in his mask and sniffed. “I’ll chew gum before I make the next delivery.”

Vidler

   This had to be the dumbest idea ever.

   But Boyd, his best friend since kindergarten, insisted his wife was having an affair.         “Dianne thinks I’m out of town.” He handed Jason the pizzas, a red shirt, and a mask. “She’ll open the door. Blame the mask on COVID-19, and whoever’s with her will want to see it. And I’ll know who he is.”

   This wouldn’t turn out well, but Jason couldn’t reasonably refuse. Reluctantly he dressed and checked the mirror. His moustache showed through the mouth. He sweated beneath the hot mask; Dianne would surely recognize him. And Boyd would be watching from the car.

 * * *

   Dianne answered the doorbell. “I didn’t order piz— Jason?” Laughing, she grabbed him and hugged. “Come in, quickly.”

   “You?” Boyd bellowed from the car. “My best friend?”

   Jason took a deep breath and turned. All he could see was the gun in Boyd’s hand.

Bang.

About the Authors

Cindy Blackburn

Cindy Blackburn writes cozy mysteries because she thinks grim reality is way overrated. When she's not thinking up unlikely plot twists and ironing out the quirks and kinks of her lovable characters, Cindy is feeding her fat cat Betty or taking long walks with her cute hubby John. A native Vermonter who hates snow, Cindy divides her time between the south and the north. Most of the year you'll find her in South Carolina. But come summer she'll be on the porch of her lakeside shack in Vermont. Yep, it's a place very similar to Lake Elizabeth. Cindy's favorite TV show is Young Sheldon, her favorite movie is Moonstruck, and her favorite color is purple. Cindy dislikes vacuuming, traffic, and lima beans.

Amazon

UNDISCLOSED

Welcome to Lake Elizabeth, Vermont, where Santa Claus is due to arrive any day now, and Cassie Baxter is going nuts. Who wouldn't go nuts? This is her first Christmas with her adopted son Truman, and she's determined to make it memorable. But that human skull the kid found when he was searching for Christmas decorations in the attic wasn't exactly part of the plan. And Joe Wylie, Cassie's supposed boyfriend, isn't making life any easier during this frantic week before the holiday either. Then there's Cassie's father, and her best friend Bambi, and her other best friend Sarah, and all those crazy, quirky, kooky neighbors that make Lake Elizabeth--Lake Elizabeth! Santa's sure to have a jolly good time when he finally does come to town! Ho Ho Ho

Linda Lovely

Linda Lovely, the author of eight mystery/romantic thriller titles, finds writing pure fiction isn’t a huge stretch given the years she’s spent penning PR and ad copy. She hopes readers have half as much fun reading her novels as she has researching and writing them. Amazing how much better she sleeps after finding a really cool way to do away with fictional villains who share personalities with real-life hypocrites and bullies. Her goal is to deliver thrill-packed reads, while ensuring justice is served, laughter is plentiful, and love triumphs. Though not perfect, her heroines and heroes are smart and determined. A long-time member of Sisters in Crime, Lovely also belongs to International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America. When not writing or reading, Lovely takes long walks with her husband, swims, gardens, and plays tennis.

Amazon

BAD PICK

The plot for BAD PICK, Lovely’s latest mystery, is as current as today's headlines. But you'll also find plenty of laughs and a delightful side of romance. Vegan Brie Hooker lives with her feisty Aunt Eva at Udderly Kidding Dairy, a hop, skip, and jump away from South Carolina’s Clemson University. In BAD PICK, Brie’s fun farm outreach backfires when religious extremists decide goat yoga is a form of devil worship.  Picketers at Udderly’s gates soon become the least of Brie’s troubles. Not only is she accused of murder, she worries the death might actually be her fault. Danger mounts when an old family friend’s visit ensnares Brie in a high-stakes feud between a U.S. Supreme Court nominee and the woman determined to expose his secrets. 

www.lindalovely.com

https://www.amazon.com/author/lindalovely

https://www.henerypress.com/author-lovely-linda

https://www.facebook.com/LindaLovelyAuthor

Ellis Vidler

Amazon

Ellis Vidler lives and writes in the South Carolina Piedmont. She's also an editor and has taught fiction writing. Ellis’s books can be found at Amazon.

All Ellis’s stories have some degree of romance, a little bad language, and a lot of suspense.  The McGuire women psychics and the Maleantes novels are available in audio, print, or eBook and her short stories are available in eBook. http://www.facebook.com//EllisVidler.AuthorPage

PRIME TARGET

Suspense with a love story. When a New York ad exec’s husband is murdered before her eyes, only her wits can save her from the long reach of a ruthless crime lord.

Madeleine Schier heeds her husband's panicked call to come home, only to witness his brutal murder by a crime boss and become a target herself.

My Writing Process

Aaron Paul Lazar, one of my favorite writers, tagged me for a Writing Process Blog Tour. If you haven’t tried his books, you’re missing something special. Aaron writes mysteries and more. One series features Gus LeGarde, a music professor, family man, gardener, and cook—a man you’ll want to know. Don’t Let the Wind Catch You, Tremolo: Cry of the Loon, and Double Forté are among his many books.

Now the blog about Ellis's writing process.
I’ll answer questions about my work and methods (or lack of) and will subsequently tag two wonderful writers to continue the topic.

 Q. What are you working on? 

I’m nearing the finish line with Prime Target, a suspense novel about a woman who becomes the target of a mob boss after witnessing her husband’s murder.

I’m also working on more stories about Will Porter’s Maleantes & More team (from Cold Comfort).  I think Will is up next—I have several chapters done and am in love with the characters, always a good thing. He’s assigned to protect Gwen Gordon (from Haunting Refrain) from a kidnap threat.

The next McGuire Women story is emerging from the psychic fog. Isobel (from Time of Death) will have a prominent role, but the main character is Aurelia’s child, who moves from the West to the Blue Ridge Mountains (home territory for me) looking for peace.

Q. How does your work differ from others of its genre?

I’m something of a cross-genre writer. My stories are primarily suspense but all have some kind of love story. Some readers prefer pure genre material, but I write what feels right for my story and characters. And what I like to read. :-)

My stories are linked: minor characters in one book become protagonists in another book.  In the Maleantes & More books, Will Porter operates a security firm. Ben Riley (Cold Comfort) is one of his employees.

Another book lurking in my mind is about another of Will’s men, Austin Cutter. Cutter is stunned to see a newspaper article announcing his engagement to Allison Gilmore, a woman he hardly knows.

Each book of the McGuire Women series (Haunting Refrain and Time of Death) features a different character from a family with a psychic streak.

All my books have mild adult language and situations, which I include in the descriptions because some people prefer not to read such books. To me it’s realism, but we all live in our own small world.

Q. Why do you write what you do?

These are the stories that pop into my head and also what I like to read. I set them in places I’ve been or live near because I can research the details more easily and because I find them intriguing environments. The characters have to appeal to me, and I usually fall in love with the hero. Some are beautiful, some are not, but all have qualities that draw me—kindness, honor, integrity—and a dash of vengeance. You pay goodness forward, but bad acts you pay back. Works for me and for my main characters.

Q. How does your writing process work?

Mine is an iffy process. I need silence to concentrate, but I’m learning to listen to music to help shut out other things. Early mornings when the house is quiet, no radio or TV, phone, or conversation, suit me best. Then I can think, get in the “zone,” so to speak. The more I write, the easier it comes. Write, write, write.

I’m slow, can’t help editing as I go, and I sometimes write myself into blind canyons. That requires backtracking and taking a different path. I WILL outline my next book before I start. :-)

That's it! Thanks, Aaron Lazar, for asking me to participate in this fun blog hop!

I’m passing the baton to:

Polly Iyer, suspense/thrillers, including Threads, Mind Games, and Goddess of the Moon. Polly's blog is on Goodreads.

Linda Lovely, mystery/suspense, featuring the Marley Clark Mysteries No Wake Zone and Dear Killer.

Write What You Fear?

At Amazon

My guest this week is Linda Lovely, author of the new romantic suspense Final Accounting as well as the Marley Clark mysteries.

We’ve all heard the old saw—write what you know. Oh, really?

Fortunately, most authors of romantic suspense, mysteries, and thrillers have never been shot, beaten, handcuffed, kidnapped, stalked or targeted by a relentless assassin. So does that mean we can’t write about heroines and heroes thrown into terrifying situations?

Of course not. There is a way to write what we “know” when we place our heroines/heroes in dangerous situations we’ve never experienced. Method actors do it all the time. They draw on the real emotions that gripped them at some point in their lives.

I suffer from “moderate” vertigo and a fear of heights. Years ago, when I was a partner in a PR firm that prepared feature articles for corporate clients, I covered the Miss Universe contest for a Hollywood lighting equipment manufacturer. The client specified it wanted a photo (I was both writer and photographer) taken from “above” to spotlight its lighting equipment with the Miss Universe contestants on the stage below. To get the shot, I was allowed to climb the scaffolding during rehearsals. (Did I mention this contest was NOT held in the USA where OSHA standards might apply?)

As I scooted along the beam, the whole rickety structure seemed to sway. I was terrified. Sweat beaded on my forehead. My heart raced. My fingers were so sweaty I could barely focus the camera. I got dizzy. Closed my eyes. Tried to steady my breathing. I watched a sweat droplet plummet and wondered if the lady below thought there was a leak in the roof. The incongruous thought made me want to giggle. Edge of hysteria? Maybe.

I’ve now published three books. The plots are quite different. But—what a surprise—my heroines all suffer from vertigo and a fear of heights and find themselves in situations where they must overcome those fears to survive.

In DearKiller, Marley Clark climbs to the pinnacle of a lighthouse to flee a gunman. In No Wake Zone, the sequel to Dear Killer, Marley must leap from a rooftop to the scaffolding of a roller coaster to lure a killer away from her cousin. In FinalAccounting, my new romantic thriller, Nexi Ketts rappels into the depths of a cave that’s deeper than the Statue of Liberty is tall.

Do you take advantage of your fears and remembered emotions when you write? If so, do you have fears that resurface in different guises in your manuscripts? 

FINAL ACCOUNTING

Nexi Ketts has reinvented herself—new name, new look, new life. She makes her living catching corporate cheats, partial atonement for dear old dad’s embezzling ways.

A fling with a handsome cop ends badly when he tries to kill her. She flees, naked, causing a fender bender, and making it damn hard for Detective Barry Gerton to think clearly. A second vicious attack convinces Barry the secretive Nexi, who has her very own FBI dossier, is the target of a professional assassin.

Determined to protect her, Barry unexpectedly falls in love. Nexi yields to the same sizzling attraction. Trust is another matter... Nexi has secrets to guard. And Barry’s been burned before.

Yet once the couple lands in Jamaica, trust is no longer a luxury. Amid the trappings of paradise, they need each other to survive a heart-stopping, cross-island game of hide-and-seek and a harrowing descent into the depths of Dragon’s Throat cave.

BIO

Linda Lovely’s romantic suspense novels pair suspense, action, and adventure with romance and humor. Final Accounting, her newest thriller, previously claimed finalist spots in RWA’s prestigious Golden Heart and Daphne du Maurier contests. Dear Killer, the first in Lovely’s Marley Clark romance-laced mystery series, was a finalist in the 2011 RWA Golden Quill competition for published novels.

FIRST FRIDAY! 3 AUTHORS, 1 IMAGE

I gave three outstanding authors this photograph and asked each to write about it in 150 words or less. Three very different visions of the same thing came back. Amazing how imagination works!

DAVIS

Anger churned in my chest when I saw Jason standing in the doorway of the barn wearing that insipid mask. Twenty-five-years old and he hadn’t any sense. The night before he had tried on different masks, like a child effecting poses and attitudes of Halloween spirits. Now, he wasted time when he should have been completing chores.

“Jason, what are you doing?” I said, approaching him. He peered from the mask. Was that outrage in his eyes? He manipulated something. “What are you fiddling with?” 

“You criminally stupid hag,” he said. He grabbed my shoulder, spun me around, clamped a wire around my neck and squeezed. I fought, knowing I would lose. Perhaps stealing the boy twenty years ago hadn’t been my best decision. I’d raised him, instilling fear when he asked too many questions. Had he learned the truth? How could I know his real parents were billionaires?  

GALLACHER

Hello my dear Mary, I knew you wouldn't disappear completely from me without at least one more meeting to say goodbye properly. I've waited here on every anniversary of your passing.

I was sure you'd come. You'll notice the cottage is not as it was. I never cared to tend to it after your murder. I want you to know that the madman who killed you is also now dead.

I expect some day the police will come and ask me about that, but I don't care. What he took from me can never be replaced. What I took from him goes some way to paying for that. I still miss you.

LOVELY

At first glance, the crumbling stucco building proposed by Mark as a setting for a Halloween Haunted House held little promise. Too small to set up multiple jack-in-the-box thrills for kiddies. A weed-choked field separated the yawning black entryway from the nearest road. Getting people here would be a bigger nightmare than any jangling skeletons or severed heads rigged inside.

I stumbled over a half-buried car door. The field was a dumping ground. Great. I looked up. A man blocked the doorway. Jeans, black hoodie, white drama mask. Was Mark trying to scare me? Same height, same build. Why did he pick a woman’s face as a mask? “Nice try, Mark,” I called, “but you’d frighten me more wearing a Tricky Dick mask.”

No answer. I noticed his hands. All ten fingers. Mark had nine—a missing index finger. My heart shifted into overdrive. “Who are you?”    

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

E.B. DAVIS

At Amazon

E.B. Davis’s lives in the Washington, D. C. Virginia suburbs and longs to live at the beach. She is a member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, Sisters in Crime and its Guppy and Chesapeake chapters. Her short stories have appeared in online magazines and in print, including the Shaker of Margarita anthologies. “Lucky In Death” appeared in Chesapeake Crimes: This Job is Murder, and “The Acidic Solution” was published in He Had It Coming http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008STR0G2 in August. Fishnets, a Guppy anthology, will include her short story, “The Runaway.” She blogs at http://writerswhokill.blogspot.com.

At Amazon UK  and US

SEUMAS GALLACHER

Seumas Gallacher lives in Abu Dhabi and has two crime thrillers on Kindle now, THE VIOLIN MAN'S LEGACY and VENGEANCE  WEARS BLACK, the first two in a series. The novels spin around  three former SAS commandos, owners of a specialist security firm that tackles major crime gangs using their black operations expertise to deadly effect.

The latest book VENGEANCE WEARS BLACK can be found on these links :

UK  http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008H45KJC/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb

USA  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008H45KJC

Amazon Author Page

LINDA LOVELY

Linda Lovely writes mysteries and romantic thrillers. Her Marley Clark series features a 52-year-old retired military intelligence officer. DEAR KILLER is set in the South Carolina Lowcountry where Marley works as a private island security guard. NO WAKE ZONE moves the action to Lake Okoboji, Iowa. In the next installment, Marley returns to the Carolina Coast.

FINAL ACCOUNTING, a romantic thriller set in Atlanta and Jamaica, is set for release in late October.

Lovely is a member of Sisters in Crime, Romance Writers of America, International Thriller Writers and the South Carolina Writers Workshop. Click on book covers on Lovely’s Amazon author page—https://www.amazon.com/author/lindalovely–or visit her website—www.lindalovely.com—for buy links.

Join in! Add your vision in 150 words or less. After a taste of these authors, check out their books for some good reading.

                 

Pleasures & Pitfalls of Writing ‘Where’ You Know

Amazon, Kindle or print

Author Linda Lovely, who writes the Marley Clark mysteries, is my guest this week.
It’s fun to write a novel that showcases a place you know and love (I suppose it would also be true for a place you love to hate)—a setting you’ve felt as well as seen, a location that sparks passion you can capture on the page.

Yet there are pitfalls in setting a novel in a real locale. How reliable is your memory? Will residents take umbrage if you make mistakes? Will readers draw unintended connections between your fictional cast and real people? Will they forgive literary license if you contradict their memories, their experiences?

I set my new Marley Clark mystery, NO WAKE ZONE, in the Iowa Great Lakes region. Don’t scoff if you haven’t visited. Iowa is not all cornfields. This section, near the Minnesota border, boasts clear blue lakes, towering oaks, trumpeter swans, and the best summer days of my youth.

I can smell, feel and taste the time spent here. My aunt, uncle and cousins lived on Lake Okoboji just outside the town of Spirit Lake. Every summer Mom packed meat loaf sandwiches for our 400-mile car trek to Lake Okoboji. This is where I learned to water ski, where my cousins shamed me into baiting my own hook with a slimy worm, where Bobby Vinton called to the Roof Garden stage to sing with him, where I first tasted saltwater taffy, where I dove off a Camp Foster dock for skin-prickling polar bear swims, where I screamed in terror riding the Arnolds Park roller coaster before begging for another chance to scream again.

As I wrote NO WAKE ZONE, these memories and more surfaced. I felt smooth pebbles massage my toes as Marley, my heroine, waded into Big Spirit Lake. I smelled a breeze heavy with tropical suntan lotion and a hint of diesel from a boat’s four-stroke engine as Marley strolled down her cousin’s dock. I watched ominous thunderclouds mass on the horizon and heard the crackle of lightning as Marley drove past the town’s windmills, arms twirling in fury.

Lake Okoboji, Sunset

Would I have been able to write with equal passion about a location I’d only seen on postcards or visited by video? I think not. These sensory memories made the scenes vivid and real for me. But I did take precautions.

Timelines. I attempted to ensure my 52-year-old heroine never did the impossible. Since she was too young to recall being on stage with Bobby Vinton, I checked with the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to see what Roof Garden entertainer might have invited her to share the spotlight. Likewise, Templar Park where I worked as a cook was defunct before Marley reached college age. So I created a fictional retreat evocative of several of the area’s grand old resorts.

Linda and Steve, Fishing

Resident Fact Checkers. My late cousin, Steve Kennedy, helped greatly with my initial research, and later his widow, Mary, tirelessly checked landmark references for accuracy. 

Asking Permission. I shared an early version of the manuscript with Historic Arnolds Park to seek permission to use this classic amusement park’s real name as well as the Queen II excursion boat and the Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum.

Note to Readers. Finally, I wrote a note to readers detailing elements that were totally my invention and why. For instance, I made no attempt to research the community’s actual law enforcement hierarchy, because I knew how I wanted my investigation to play out.

Kindle or Print

Do you like to read about real locations? Do you expect authors to be faithful to every detail or do you give them leeway for plot requirements? If you’re an author, how do you cover the bases when you set your books in a real place?

______________

About Linda

A journalism major in college, Lovely has made her living as a writer, tackling everything from magazine features and ad copy to speeches and brochures. Her manuscripts have made the finals in 15 contests, including RWA’s prestigious Golden HeartÒ and Daphne du Maurier competitions and mystery contests such as Deadly Ink, Murder in the Grove and Malice Domestic.

For more information about the author and her books, you can visit her website at: www.lindalovely.com

Is Writing A Team Sport?

My guest today is fellow Sisters in Crime member and author Linda Lovely. Her debut novel, Dear Killer, has just come out. Good story, fun and interesting characters, wonderful setting! 

While many people consider writing to be a solitary pursuit, preferably performed in a secluded garret, I approach writing as a team effort.

Singles tennis is an individual sport. But when tennis players join a team and share a goal—say a league win—it can lift their individual games. Team members practice together, assess strategies, analyze strengths, point out weaknesses, share pointers, root when a point’s won, console when a game’s lost.

Critique partners and writing groups can serve as an author’s team with improved craft and publication as common objectives. To help one another reach these goals, we pinpoint what works in a partner’s plot and what doesn’t. Is a scene funny—or not? Does a heroine stray out of character? Do the dialogue and internal thoughts of our hero ring true, or is he talking/thinking like a woman? (One reason I LOVE having a male writer as part of my critique family.)

Do I make every change my colleagues suggest? No. Yet I consider them all. Even when I don’t take a suggested revision, I may revise to skirt around a word or sentence that made the reader stumble or a scene that slowed pace or seemed “over the top.”

My teammates catch errors I miss because I’m too close to my work. We also share craft techniques and swap info about agents, editors, publishers, contracts, marketing, social networking—all part of the need-to-know mix in today’s entrepreneurial author’s world.

Of course, group activity doesn’t lessen the need to park my fanny in front of a computer for long, solitary stretches. Yet this isolation is never complete. If I get stumped, I can email or pick up the phone. My critique family is generous with their time and respond to even the most trivial worries—like what kind of pens to buy for my first book signing.

I actively participate in the local chapters of Sisters in Crime (SinC) and the South Carolina Writers Workshop (SCWW), too. I’d belong to both organizations even if there were no local chapters. But I can’t say enough about the benefits of attending meetings, gabbing with fellow writers and seizing the opportunity to tap into a wealth of area resources.

Our Upstate SC Chapter of SinC meets in Greenville, SC, and our guest speakers include a wide range of “Law and Order” professionals. We’ve heard from medical examiners, a U.S. Marshall, district attorneys, police officers, arson investigators, crime reporters, FBI agents, private investigators...and the list goes on. These folks not only seem happy to answer our questions at our meetings, they often hand out business cards and invite us to call with any questions we think of after they leave.

Our local SCWW chapter doesn’t address crime—unless we’re talking punctuation felonies. But these meetings are gems as well. Each month, one of our members researches a writing topic and presents it to the group, complete with handouts and examples. During the past year, topics have included pacing, point-of-view, dialogue, the hero’s journey, and hooks as well as digital publishing alternatives. The format ensures everyone contributes and leads to lively meetings.

Most folks who write fiction can attest to the fact that the road to publication—whether it’s for book one, two or ten—is full of twists, turns and more than a few potholes. I find it’s quite comforting to have good company along for the ride.

Linda Lovely’s new book, Dear Killer, is a fast-paced summer read. It dishes up a main course of suspense, action and adventure with generous sides of romance and humor. The Sea Island setting gives the reader a tantalizing glance at the coastal area known as the Lowcountry, famed for its numerous islands, Gullah culture, plantations and resorts. The novel’s the first in a series of Marley Clark mysteries to be published by L&L Dreamspell.

A journalism major in college, Lovely has made her living as a writer, tackling everything from magazine features and ad copy to speeches and brochures. Her manuscripts have made the finals in 15 contests, including RWA’s prestigious Golden HeartÒ and Daphne du Maurier competitions and mystery contests such as Deadly Ink, Murder in the Grove and Malice Domestic.

For more information about the author and Dear Killer, you can visit her website at: www.lindalovely.com.

A note from Ellis. I'll be over at Terry's Place, giving away a Kindle copy of Haunting Refrain.