New Cover Reveal: A KISS AT VESPERS medieval Irish romance

If you feel like you've heard the title of this novelette before, you're right. A KISS AT VESPERS was originally published in 2013, but now I'm re-releasing it. And there's nothing like a shiny new cover to make folks notice.

And so, it is my pleasure to share with you...

Isn't it lovely? There's a baby goat!! Sweet and romantic, just like the story. Want to read the book? You don't have to wait long. The e-book will be available on June 1, 2017.

To be notified when A KISS AT VESPERS becomes available,

click here.

A KISS AT VESPERS

In 1008 AD, Dublin is just a small town, newly opened to trade now that Viking violence there has died down. A young woman named Asta runs away from her boring life in Britain on one of her father’s trading vessels bound for Dublin, hoping that she and the sailor she loves can find a new life together. But when shipwreck takes him from her, her whole world changes. She is helped up the rocky shores of eastern Ireland by handsome and enigmatic Brother Martinus, who takes her to the Monastery of St. Luran’s to recover. Despite his vows of silence and chastity, Brother Martinus is entranced by the beautiful maiden who seems delivered to him by Providence. Their unexpected relationship causes both of them to rethink their concepts of faith and love.

VIOLENCE IN VEGAS - A Kindle World Novella by Julie C. Gilbert

We do try to be cutting-edge here at Jester Harley's. To that end, I am pleased to welcome our first fanfiction-writing guest. Take it away, Julie C. Gilbert!

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Writing Crime Fiction for the Lei Crime Kindle World

by Julie C. Gilbert

Hi, Thanks for having me, Anne.

Today, I’d like to tell you about my book, Violence in Vegas – a Lei Crime Kindle Worlds Novella. It features FBI Special Agent Marcella Scott, who is not a character I came up with. That said, I have a weakness for writing FBI agents. This is true in my Heartfelt Cases series (Christian Mystery) as well as most of my Kindle Worlds stories, six of which are Lei Crime and one that’s in the Sydney Rye Kindle World.

Aside - What is Kindle Worlds?

Kindle Worlds is Amazon’s idea of officially licensing fanfiction. Basically, you find a world you like and write a story with one of the characters created by the original author. Then, you split the royalties with the author of that world.

Back on Track – Violence in Vegas

Julie C. Gilbert

I’d originally set out to write about many different characters in the Lei Crime Series, so I started the Defining Moments Series. However, Defining Moments II turned into Shadow Council #1 because I fell in love with writing Marcella Scott. She was just a ton of fun with her love of fancy shoes, her lovable partner, and her need to dodge her mother’s matchmaking efforts.

The Shadow Council series grew to 4 books which had her pitted against bank robbers, corrupt politicians, and crazy people from her past. I thought the poor lady needed a vacation. She wound up in Vegas to help a friend with an unofficial sabotage case. Since trouble follows her like a magnet, she ran into mayhem, of course.

Thanks for stopping by and listening.

Official Description for Violence in Vegas:

Sin City holds some dark secrets …

But Marcella Scott’s in town to help Angela Melkin-Pierce with a small case of sabotage. Somebody’s been slashing guests’ tires and ransacking rooms at The Grand Game Hotel. With the guest list including the Reno Birdwatcher’s Society and the Paradise Quilting Club, the suspect list is very thin. The only intriguing option is Gatton Technologies, headed by eccentric billionaire, Jeffrey Gatton. When he decides to host a masquerade party at the hotel, Marcella goes undercover.

The air of elegance quickly turns to terror when masked men kidnap Gatton and Angela.

Marcella’s going to need all of her wits—and a borrowed handgun or two—if she wants to survive the violence in Vegas.

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Grab your copy of Violence in Vegas today, or start at the beginning of Marcella’s adventures (Shadow Council #1: Money Makes it Deadlier). When you finish with that, Rescue in Reno should be ready for you.

You can visit Julie C. Wilson on her Website and learn how to get a free scifi or mystery book. You can also find her on Facebook.

Gwen Thompson: Your Book Is Like Your Apartment

My guest today is Gwen Thompson, whose first book, Men Beware Women, won the Miami University Press 2011 Novella Contest and was just published by Miami University Press. Gwen has a particularly interesting perspective on writing because of her other work as a feng shui  consultant. Here she shares some fascinating advice about using words to your greatest advantage.

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Form : function :: sound : sense.  Yes, I know analogies have been eliminated from the SATs, but that doesn't let writers off the hook for making apt comparisons.  This particular analogy is a favorite of mine because when I'm not creating imaginary settings as a writer, I'm helping people re-create their real-life settings as a feng shui consultant: www.yourgracefulspace.com.  At its most basic, feng shui is the art of harmonizing form and function in your home, where objects that only serve a practical purpose without pleasing the senses are missed opportunities.  City dwellers living in small spaces soon learn to be extra mindful about choosing household items that do double duty in this way.  With space always at a premium on the page, writers do well to choose their words as wisely. 

This is why my training regimen as a writer includes listening to the Afternoon Drama on BBC Radio 4.  The BBC broadcast original 45-minute radio plays in every style and on every subject imaginable five days a week, and make them available to listen to online for a full week after they're broadcast.  Besides providing me with a refresher course in trans-Atlantic idioms while I was writing MEN BEWARE WOMEN (set in Oxford and New York), Radio 4's afternoon plays are consistently compelling and well-written for the simple reason that they have to be.  Unlike in the theatre or on film, where special effects, scenery, costumes, and actors easy on the eyes can distract audiences from all manner of bad writing, you can't get away with lame dialogue in a medium where dialogue is all there is.  What draws us to remember and re-read our favorite passages of writing is the conviction that the author has said what he or she is trying to say in the best possible way: good writing is where sound meets sense.  In fiction this of course applies to narration and description as well as to dialogue--no surprises there.

What surprised me, as a first-time author, was how form and function, sound and sense came into play together on my book's cover.  The form the designer chose--the view through the gate into the quad of an Oxford college--gives potential readers an enticing glimpse of the world where much of the book takes place, fulfilling a cover's function of luring you to look inside the book and enter the story.  The title MEN BEWARE WOMEN is a play on the title of a play by Thomas Middleton called WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN that figures in the plot, but it also sounds a lot like a warning label.  Turning this title into part of the scene by placing it on the type of sign where you'd expect to see a prohibition posted (namely, KEEP OFF THE GRASS) deepens the sense of being drawn fully and immediately into the world within the pages.   

But when sound and sense are mismatched, whether accidentally in mistranslations or deliberately as in the Twinkie Song, comedy ensues, intentional or not. 

Writers, beware!

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You can learn more about Gwen Thompson's writing on her website.

She also has a site dedicated to her feng shui work.

You can purchase Men Beware Women from the publisher, at Amazon, or at BN.