READING NATION MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2021

CHAMPAGNE WIDOWS: Veuve Clicquot, Grande Dame of Champagne, is the first in a series about real-life widows in France (1800-1950) who made champagne a worldwide phenomenon.

Veuve Clicquot, Grande Dame of Champagne Champagne, France, 1800. Twenty-year-old Barbe-Nicole has inherited Le Nez (an uncanny sense of smell that makes her picky, persnickety, and particularly perceptive) from her greatgrandfather, a renowned champagne maker. Her parents see Le Nez as a curse that must be hidden and try to marry her off to an unsuspecting suitor. But Barbe-Nicole is haunted by her Grandmere’s dying wish for her to use Le Nez to make great champagne. When she learns her childhood sweetheart, Francois Clicquot, wants to start a winery, she rejects her parents’ suitors and marries Francois despite his mental illness.

Barbe-Nicole (Veuve Clicquot, Widow Clicquot) must now learn to use Le Nez to overcome Francois’ suicide, the difficulties of starting a winery, and the Napoleon Codes preventing women from owning a business. All this while Barbe-Nicole’s father forges a military uniform contract with Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who wages six wars against the European monarchs, crippling her ability to sell her champagne. Using Le Nez, she beats the impossible hardships of Napoleon’s wars, often challenging Napoleon himself.

When Veuve Clicquot falls in love with her sales manager, Louis Bohne, who asks her to marry, she is forced to choose between losing her winery to her husband, as dictated by Napoleon Code or losing

Louis.

In the ultimate showdown, Veuve Clicquot conquers Russia with her champagne, just as Napoleon loses his war with Russia, killing five million soldiers in the Napoleonic wars. BarbeNicole and Napoleon have used their gifts opposite ways with vastly different results. Barbe-Nicole learns to use Le Nez to support her family and community of ‘Champagne Widows’ created by the Napoleonic wars.

"For anyone who loves champagne, a must-read novel about Veuve Clicquot."

—Judithe Little, author of The Chanel Sisters Rebecca Rosenberg fell in love with méthode champenoise in Sonoma, California, where she lives.

Over decades of delicious research, she has explored the wine caves and cellars of France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Argentina and California.

When Rebecca discovered the real-life Champagne Widows, she knew she'd dedicate years to telling the stories of these remarkable women.

Rebecca is a champagne historian, tour guide, and champagne cocktail creator for Breathless Wines.

Her other award-winning novels include The Secret Life of Mrs. London and Gold Digger, the Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor.

Drawing Lessons by Patricia Sands Sixty-two-year-old Arianna arrives in the South of France for a two-week artists’ workshop full of anticipation but burdened by guilt. Back home in Toronto, she has been living with the devastating diagnosis of her husband’s dementia and the heartbreak of watching the man she has loved for decades slip away before her eyes. What does her future hold without Ben? Before her is a blank canvas.

Encouraged by her family to take some time for herself, she has traveled to Arles to set up her easel in the same fields of poppies and sunflowers that inspired Van Gogh. Gradually, she rediscovers the inner artist she abandoned long ago. Drawing strength from the warm companionship and gentle wisdom of her fellow artists at the retreat—as well as the vitality of guest lecturer Jacques de Villeneuve, an artist and a cowboy—Arianna searches her heart for permission to embrace the life in front of her and, like the sunflowers, once again face the light.

Patricia Sands lives in Toronto, but her heart’s other home is the South of France. An avid traveler, she spends part of each year on the Côte d’Azur and occasionally leads groups of women on tours of the Riviera and Provence. Her award-winning 2010 debut novel, The Bridge Club, is a book-group favorite, and The Promise of Provence, which launched her three-part Love in Provence series (followed by Promises to Keep and I Promise You This), was a finalist for a 2013 USA Best Book Award and a 2014 National Indie Excellence Award, was an Amazon Hot New Release in April 2013, and was a 2015 nominee for a #RBRT Golden Rose award in the category of romance. Sands also contributes to such Francophile websites as The Good Life France and Perfectly Provence, and she appears as a public speaker for women’s groups.

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Hello Readers! Welcome to READING NATION MAGAZINE, THE magazine for readers and booklovers everywhere. This month’s issue is filled with more great books to add to your TBR list, new authors to follow, a trip to France with Patricia Sands, a writer’s workshop with the one and only Carolyn Haines, some beautiful art

by Janet Oakley, and so much more!

If you’d like to join this great community of authors and readers, go to www.thepulpwoodqueens.com to find out more - we’d love to have you! Wherever you are I hope you’re healthy, happy, and enjoying a good book.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mandy Haynes

Pulpwood Queen Author Creator, Editor, and Publisher of READING NATION MAGAZINE, Owner of three dogs write press, and crazy dog lady…

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AUTHORS INTERVIEWING AUTHORS

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TO ADD TO YOUR TBR LIST

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BONJOUR!

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WRITING WORKSHOP

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LISTEN UP!

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AUTHORS AND THEIR ART

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TIARA WEARING, BOOK SHARING, GUIDE TO LIFE

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IF OUR PETS COULD TALK

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UPCOMING EVENTS

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NETWORKING

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FYI

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Mark your calendar!

The next International Pulpwood Queen and Timber Guy Girlfriend Weekend is going to be a Week Long Book Club Convention!

Since Covid-19 appeared, we’ve all had to learn new ways to celebrate important events and stay in touch. Last January we had our first Virtual Girlfriend Weekend and it was so much fun, we decided if we had to have another virtual event until we could all meet in person, we’d make it even longer.

Want to know more about Girlfriend’s Weekend? Here’s a link to what Robert Gray of Shelf Awareness had to say about last January’s Zoomathon Signs of hope…

Stay tuned for the full program of Authors, Bloggers,Publishers, Podcasters, and other Keynote Speakers you’ll meet!

The complete schedule is here!

Tickets are available here

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Thank you Brother Mockingbird Publishing for letting us share some stories!

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“Part book club meeting, part costume party, part comeas-you-are, the Pulpwood Queens annual Girlfriend Weekend is an extravaganza none who've ever attended will forget. This 20th anniversary commemorative book is like Girlfriend Weekend itself--a warm, wise, tender celebration of friends, reading, and all the ways books bring us together.” --Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours

Before She Was the Queen Helen Thompson Kathy L. Murphy and I go back to a time before she was the adored leader of the largest book club in the world.

Thirty years ago, Kathy was a bookseller for Barron’s Books in Longview, Texas. Barron’s was, hands down, my favorite bookstore, and Kathy quickly became one of my favorite people. I remember the first time I asked her for a book suggestion and she handed me Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons. I absolutely loved that book and came to love Kathy Murphy for her book suggestions and, most of all, for her friendship.

Kathy helped me choose books for our new little library at Chapel Hill Independent School District based in Mount ISSUE NO. 8

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Pleasant, Texas. She brought big-time authors to our tiny school. Kimberly Willis Holt won the National Book Award the week she spoke at Chapel Hill. It didn’t matter how small our school was, Kathy brought authors because she knew the kids loved them.

Our Pulpwood Queens group originally met in the school library. When I retired and opened a deli, the book club moved with me. Then a public library job became available and we all moved once again. Over the years members have come and gone, but Kathy and her dream behind a book club where everyone belonged remained.

For years our group has laughed and cried together and hotly debated the merits of each book. While we’ve loved most of the choices, we have sometimes wondered what possessed Kathy when she chose certain books. Great or not-so-great, we’ve discussed them all.

Girlfriend Weekend is the highlight of the Pulpwood Queens’ year. We all gather to listen to our favorite authors and to visit with Kathy. Every year the programs get better and every year Kathy shines!

I am always amazed at the number and quality of authors who assemble to visit with us. It’s like a huge family reunion and Kathy is there as our matriarch.

Thank you, Kathy, for many years of friendship and fun.

Through the good times and the bad, you’ve been there for us all. Long live the Queen!

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For this month’s Authors Interviewing Authors feature, we have two Madville Writers in Conversation.

Cooper Levey-Baker

Brian Petkash

Cooper Levey-Baker: Brian, we met in grad school, well after we had both decided that we wanted to write fiction, and I realized that I’ve never really asked you what made you want to become a writer in the first place. So, what was it that sparked that interest?

Brian Petkash: I had an inkling early on that I wanted to tell stories. I dabbled in middle school and high school 18

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with some, I’m certain, terrible stories. I took a creative writing course in college, churned out some better stuff, although, damn, there were some talented writers in my class and I remember being a bit discouraged, that idea of, “I will not be able to write like that.”

But I remember really enjoying the time spent writing them, and every couple of years I’d write something and feel that feeling I felt in high school or college again. And then, while teaching a high school class, I had what I felt was an idea I could run with: a retelling of Henry IV set in modern-day Cleveland. I wrote the first chapters of that, but kind of lost track of it, and realized that I am a writer who needs deadlines. So, off to get my MFA where that story and others took life.

Cooper: That’s interesting that it was that specific story idea that set you off on your career. My urge has always been kind of vague. When I was young, I loved to read and make art, and when I went to college, I realized that all I really wanted to do was read novels and then read about those novels and talk about them with people, and I just had this very indistinct ambition of wanting to write for a living, but I had no idea how to actually do that. I didn’t really know any “writers” at the time.

I eventually fell into doing journalism after college and have done that for 15 years or so. I love it, but I’ve always felt this push and pull between the analytical side of my brain and the creative side, and while journalism has enriched that more intellectual part of me, it doesn’t ISSUE NO. 8

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satisfy that unconscious, artistic urge that fiction does.

Brian: What are some of the biggest stumbling blocks you’ve faced doing fiction?

Cooper: Just finding the confidence to feel like I had something to say took me a very long time. I used to think, “Oh, how can I write a novel when I haven’t read all of Flaubert yet,” or whatever. I always thought that to become a novelist you had to have some kind of credentials first. Getting over that took me years.

And I also used to think that novels had to be these big, sweeping historical epics, and I never felt capable of writing in that vein. But at some point, I realized that I could write about, say, red tide in a small Florida city, and that that narrow focus would actually make my work better rather than if I was trying to sum up the human condition—which often leads to really dreadful writing.

How about you? Any advice for people who want to go down this insane path?

Brian: I think my biggest challenges were the hits to my confidence that would occur while submitting my work.

Rejection is a big part of this path and while I thought I was ready for the sheer amount of rejection, I clearly was not. It could be discouraging.

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But I found some ways through that. I would reread feedback I’d gotten in workshops and such about my work—the positive bits, of course—and also, every now and then, I’d get a near-miss rejection, when an editor took the time to write that, although they were passing, they liked my writing and encouraged me to submit again.

Talking to other writers also helped. I’m in a weekly writing group that hasn’t met much this past year, unfortunately, but they’re an enormous source of encouragement.

I found I just needed to keep writing and understand that I write because I enjoy the creative process.

Cooper: That’s the other thing I learned, which was that being a writer means actually, you know, writing a lot.

It might sound dumb, but I always use a sports metaphor.

You have to keep practicing, just like an NBA player or another pro athlete. Every chance you get to write, that’s an opportunity to practice your skills, even if what you’re working on at the moment isn’t the most exciting thing in the world. My first “writing” job was writing descriptions of houses for a real estate marketing company, and I tried to treat it like a game—to use even those boring assignments to hone my skills and get better. You’ve got to put in the work, shooting thousands of free throws over and over again with no one watching.

What are you working on now?

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Brian: I had started a piece that I think has the legs to be a novel. I’d started it before Covid, had been about 70 pages into it, and was really digging it. It’s a novel set in Cleveland, like my short story collection, but will zero in on the music scene there. How about you?

Cooper: I had started working on a new novel last year, but I lost momentum on it. I am hoping to pick it up again soon. It’s about a journalist in a small town who starts unraveling a conspiracy that involves a conflict between developers and NIMBYs. There are a lot of books and movies out there that portray journalists, but not many that, I think, reflect what happens in small newsrooms.

Also, I’ve always wanted to put all the hours I’ve spent listening to mundane local government meetings to some kind of creative purpose.

Brian: Ooohhh, I like the sound of that (and to your putting those meetings to good use!).

Cooper: Can I ask, with Mistakes by the Lake, what do you want readers to take away from it?

Brian: My hope is that, first, readers will come away with a bit of a breathless look into the history of one American city, a city I love. This ideally comes from both the 22

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historical details but also from how the language changes from story to story, decade to decade. And I hope some of the characters’ lives resonate with readers. You? Cooper: Not that Dead Fish Wind is a 100 percent fun read, but all I want to do is give the reader pleasure. As a reader, one of my favorite feelings is when a book expresses something I’ve felt but wasn’t able to put into words before. That’s such an amazing moment when you feel that shock of recognition in a book. I’m hoping the novel offers that to at least a few people.

Brian: What books do you think influenced Dead Fish Wind?

Cooper: It’s funny how when I reread the book now, I can see these traces of what I was into at the time. Elena Ferrante has long been a huge influence, particularly her novel, The Days of Abandonment. I’d also say Joan Didion’s Play it as it Lays. László Krasznahorkai’s Satantango was a big deal to me, as well, and there’s some of Thomas Pynchon’s early novels in there, too.

What do you like to read?

Brian: Well, I have a giant to-read pile. And it’s full of a variety of books and authors.

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I’ve been reading a lot of music history-type books, both of the general sort and those specific to Cleveland’s rich musical legacy.

I’ve recently become intrigued and enamored by ancient and classic Greek and Roman novels. Books like Apuleius' The Golden Ass and Chariton’s Callirhoe. I have a few more of those to read, including Tatius’s Leucippe and Clitophon.

Pat Conroy was a big influence. As were Fitzgerald and Twain. Other influences have been John Dufresne, Denis Johnson, Dennis Lehane, Stephen Mack Jones, Haruki Murakami, Jack Olsen, Richard Price, Karen Russell, George Saunders, and Colson Whitehead.

Oh, and Michael Koryta: just discovered his mysteries set in Cleveland and I’m blown away. Not for the least of reasons that he was, like, 22 years old when he wrote those books.

Cooper: How can people keep up with you?

Brian: My website (https://brianpetkash.com/) and on Instagram at @petkashreads (https://www.instagram.com/ petkashreads/).

Cooper: People can follow me on Twitter at @LeveyBaker (https://twitter.com/LeveyBaker). Brian, 24

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it’s been a pleasure.

Brian: Really enjoyed the discussion, Cooper.

Brian Petkash is the author of Mistakes by the Lake, a collection of stories centered around Cleveland. His award-winning stories have appeared in Midwestern Gothic and Southword, among other publications.

Cooper Levey-Baker is the author of Dead Fish Wind, a novel that will be published by Madville in January 2022.

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Purple Lotus by Veena Rao A 2021 Georgia Author of the Year Award Finalist Award-Winning Finalist, Women's Fiction, 2021 International Book Awards Award-Winning Finalist, Multicultural Fiction, 2021 International Book Awards Featured in Travel + Leisure's “20 Most-anticipated Books for Fall" "The dazzling tale of an Indian-American woman finding her way through the labyrinth of tradition to selfawareness in the modern world. The writer employs an energetic prose style interspersed with melodic passages to make the writing itself a hybrid. Set in particular times and places, Purple Lotus nonetheless appeals to readers everywhere, especially women, to claim the full measure of their human rights. A vivid and resplendent novel for our time." ―Elaine Neil Orr, critically acclaimed author of Swimming Between Worlds "Rao's resonant novel is an ode to the value of personal dignity and the importance of being true to oneself that carries on long after the final chapter." ―Newsweek magazine 26

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Tara moves to the American South three years after her arranged marriage to tech executive Sanjay. Ignored and lonely, Tara finds herself regressing back to childhood memories that have scarred her for life. When she was eight, her parents had left her behind with her aging grandparents and a schizophrenic uncle in Mangalore, while taking her baby brother with them to make a new life for the family in Dubai.

Tara's memories of abandonment and isolation mirror her present life of loneliness and escalating abuse at the hands of her husband. She accepts the help of kind-hearted American strangers to fight Sanjay, only to be pressured by her patriarchal family to make peace with her circumstances. Then, in a moment of truth, she discovers the importance of self-worth--a revelation that gives her the courage to break free, gently rebuild her life, and even risk being shunned by her community when she marries her childhood love, Cyrus Saldanha.

Life with Cyrus is beautiful, until old fears come knocking. Ultimately, Tara must face these fears to save her relationship with Cyrus--and to confront the victim-shaming society she was raised within.

Intimate and deeply moving, Purple Lotus is the story of one woman's ascension from the dark depths of desolation toward the light of freedom.

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Boop and Eve's Road Trip by Mary Helen Sheriff Eve Prince is done--with college, with her mom, with guys, and with her dream of fashion design. But when her best friend goes MIA, Eve must gather together the broken threads of her life in order to search for her.

When Eve's grandmother, Boop, a retiree dripping with Southern charm, finds out about the trip, she-desperate to see her sister, and also hoping to alleviate Eve's growing depression--hijacks her granddaughter's road trip. Boop knows from experience that healing Eve will require more than flirting lessons and a Garlic Festival makeover. Nevertheless, Boop is frustrated when her feeble efforts yield the same failure that her sulfur-laced sip from the Fountain of Youth wrought on her age. She knows that sharing the secret that's haunted her for sixty years might be the one thing that will lessen Eve's growing depression--but she also fears that if she reveals it, she'll lose her family and her own hard-won happiness.

Boop and Eve's journey through the heart of Dixie is an unforgettable love story between a grandmother and her granddaughter.

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To Lay To Rest Our Ghosts: Stories by Caitlin Hamilton Summie Winner - 4th Annual Phillip H. McMath Book Award 2017 Silver Award Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards for Short Stories In these ten elegantly written short stories, Caitlin Hamilton Summie takes readers from WWII Kansas City to a poor, drug-ridden neighborhood in New York, and from the quiet of rural Minnesota to its pulsing Twin Cities, each time navigating the geographical boundaries that shape our lives as well as the geography of tender hearts, loss, and family bonds. Deeply moving and memorable, To Lay To Rest Our Ghosts examines the importance of family, the defining nature of place, the need for home, and the hope of reconciliation.

“This debut collection works together to form a Cubist portrait of grief….Summie’s ghosts linger.”—The Minneapolis Star Tribune

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Five Will Die by Trace Conger When a serial killer stalks a sleepy Ohio town, everyone is a suspect.

Nothing ever happens in Lincoln, Ohio. Sheriff Tim Burke likes it that way. That’s why he moved to the tranquil town after a panic disorder, triggered by a gruesome unsolved case, forced him to retire from Cleveland’s Homicide Division.

These days, the only thing Burke has to worry about is who spray-painted the side of Walt Tanner’s barn. That all changes when someone slips a note under Burke’s door. A note claiming five people will die in Lincoln.

At first, Burke and his two deputies dismiss it as a prank by local teenagers, the same troublemakers he singled out for defacing Walt’s barn.

Then the first body turns up. Then the second.

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Trace Conger is an awardwinning author in the crime, thriller, and suspense genres. He writes the Connor Harding (Thriller) series and the Mr. Finn (PI) series.

His Connor Harding series follows freelance “Mirage Man” Connor Harding as he solves problems for the world’s most dangerous criminals. The Mr. Finn series follows private investigator Finn Harding as he straddles the fine line between right and wrong.

Conger won a Shamus Award for his debut novel, THE SHADOW BROKER. His suspense novella, THE WHITE BOY, won the Fresh Ink Award for Best Novella of 2020.

He is known for his tight writing style, dark themes, and subtle humor. Trace lives in Cincinnati with his wonderfully supportive family.

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Ninety-Nine Fire Hoops: A Memoir by Allison Hong Merrill Allison Hong is not your typical fifteen-year-old Taiwanese girl.

Unwilling to bend to the conditioning of her Chinese culture, which demands that women submit to men's will, she disobeys her father's demand to stay in their faith tradition, Buddhism, and instead joins the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then, six years later, she drops out of college to serve a mission--a decision for which her father disowns her.

After serving her mission in Taiwan, twenty-two-year-old Allison marries her Chinese-speaking American boyfriend, Cameron Chastain. But sixteen months later, Allison returns home to their Texas apartment and is shocked to discover that, in her two-hour absence, Cameron has taken all the money, moved out, and filed for divorce. Desperate for love and acceptance, Allison moves to Utah and enlists in an imaginary, unforgiving dating war against the bachelorettes at Brigham Young University, where the rules don't make sense--and winning isn't what she thought it would be.

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Allison was born and raised in Taiwan and arrived in the U.S. at twenty-two as a university student. That’s when she realized her school English wasn’t much help when asking for directions on the street or opening a bank account. By recording each of the classes she took––including physical education––and reviewing the tape every night for a year, she eventually learned English well enough to earn an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. But please excuse her if she misuses the verb tenses or mixes up the genders in third-person pronouns when she speaks. It’s no secret––English is a hard language to learn.

Allison writes in both Chinese and English, both fiction and creative nonfiction, which means she spends a lot of time looking up words on Dictionary.com. She’s a Pushcart Prize nominee and her work has won both national and international awards, including National Championship in the 2010 Life Story Writing Competition in Taipei, Taiwan and the Grand Prize in the 2019 MAST People of Earth writing contest. She’s the inaugural winner of Sandra Carpenter Prize for Creative Nonfiction, first-place winner of the 2019 Segullah Journal writing contest, and first-place winner of 2020 Opossum flash contest, and many more. Her memoir, NinetyNine Fire Hoops, is available on September 21, 2021 ISSUE NO. 8

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Shelter from the Texas Heat

by Bobbi Kornblit Best Novel Women's Fiction Pinnacle Book Achievement Award Best Multicultural Novel Indie Excellence Award American Library Association List of Top 50 Novels with JFK Through laughter and tears, SHELTER FROM THE TEXAS HEAT tells the story of a woman's emotional journey on a road that could tragically lead to a dead end or to the highway of happiness. The fast-paced book is set in Dallas and Austin from the Kennedy "Camelot Years" to the present.

SHELTER FROM THE TEXAS HEAT is a novel about holding onto secrets and the power of friendship to help release them. The tales of three generations of women are blended together like a tangy hot, subtly sweet barbecue sauce.

"This debut novel will appeal to readers who enjoy Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and The Help." --The Alcalde Magazine, The University of Texas

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The Eves by Grace Sammon Through plot twists and turns that cover three continents, we learn the truth of Jessica’s life and lies just as we fall in love with the vividly drawn characters and the vibrantly described settings. The Eves is set predominantly in the beautiful Maryland countryside and in a townhouse a stone’s throw from the Nation’s Capital, it pulls together the unlikely combination of lambs and llamas, of community and community service, of despair and hopeful reconciliation, and may finally answer the question – are we ever really “done?”

“In Grace Sammon’s debut novel about relationships, a woman finds meaning in her life when she begins to listen to the stories that other people tell.... Sammon is a solid writer who offers lovely passages about aging gracefully and the bond between mothers and children.... The book offers many rewarding and meaningful moments around relationships—moments that should resonate with readers.“ – blueink review

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Champagne Widows by Rebecca Rosenberg Twenty-year-old Barbe-Nicole inherited Le Nez (an uncanny sense of smell) from her greatgrandfather, a renowned champagne maker. She is determined to use Le Nez to make great champagne, but the Napoleon Code prohibits women from owning a business. When she learns her childhood sweetheart, François Clicquot, wants to start a winery, she marries him despite his mental illness.

Soon, her husband’s tragic death forces her to become Veuve (Widow) Clicquot and grapple with a domineering partner, the complexities of making champagne, and six Napoleon wars, which cripple her ability to sell champagne. When she falls in love with her sales manager, Louis Bohne, who asks her to marry, she must choose between losing her winery to her husband, as dictated by Napoleon Code, or losing Louis.

In the ultimate showdown, Veuve Clicquot defies Napoleon himself, risking prison and even death.

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"The sun-drenched vineyards of France, a real-life heroine who against all odds refuses to give up her dreams... and champagne. What's not to love? And that's just what Rebecca Rosenberg delivers in Champagne Widows.

Barbe-Nicole Clicquot was a woman ahead of her time, a fascinating blend of ingenuity, heart, and sheer tenacity, with a nose for wine and a head for business. A 19th century widow who built an empire as war raged all around her. Note: This richly woven tale is best savored slowly, though with all delicious things, it won't be easy." ~ Barbara Davis, best-selling author of The Last of the Moon Girls.

"Award-winning author, Rebecca Rosenberg returns with another Historical Fiction jewel in CHAMPAGNE WIDOWS. Meet the women who succeeded in creating world class champagne in a time men ruled business and society. Lovers of history, romance, and French culture will relish the multi-layered plot and cast of characters including the ultimate French icon, Napoleon Bonaparte." ~Johnnie Bernhard, award-winning author of Sisters of the Undertow Rebecca is a champagne historian, tour guide, and champagne cocktail expert for Breathless Wines. Other award-winning novels include The Secret Life of Mrs. London and Gold Digger, the Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor.

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The Burning Light of Two Stars: A MotherDaughter Story by Laura Davis This riveting memoir by Laura Davis, coauthor of The Courage to Heal, examines the endurance of mother-daughter love, how memory protects and betrays us, and the determination it takes to fulfill a promise when ghosts from the past come knocking.

When she published The Courage to Heal in 1988, Laura Davis helped more than a million women work through the trauma of childhood sexual abuse. But her decision to go public with her grandfather's incest deepened an already painful estrangement with her mother, Temme.

Over the next twenty years, from a safe distance of three thousand miles, Laura and Temme reconciled their volatile relationship and believed that their difficult past was behind them. But when Temme moves across the country to entrust her daughter with the rest of her life, she brings a faltering mind, a fierce need for independence, and the seeds of a second war between them. As the stresses of caregiving rekindle Laura's rage over past betrayals, they threaten her 38

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intention to finally love her mother "without reservation."

Will she learn what it means to be truly openhearted before it's too late?

Dearest Readers, In the ten years it took me to write The Burning Light of Two Stars, my seventh book, I couldn’t wait for the day when it would be in the hands of readers. Now that day has finally come.

I believe that reading is a collaboration between author and reader, so now it’s your turn to bring your heart, life lessons, and family stories to these pages. I hope you find my motherdaughter memoir as compelling and evocative as my 150 beta readers did: “The Burning Light of Two Stars is riveting, an effortless read. I’m in two book groups, and at any given time I am reading two or three books concurrently. I put them all down for this one. It’s just that good.”

--Olivia Bethea, Atlanta, Georgia, podcaster and book club member “I read all night, and I do not give up sleep easily. The Burning Light of Two Stars fed my soul.”

--Eileene Tejada, Ph.D. Professor of English and Anthropology at Napa Valley College “From the opening moment when Laura Davis is called into life by her mother, to their braided, sometimes twisted, often beautiful, long life together, The Burning Light of Two Stars takes us on a journey of two unforgettable, larger-than-life ISSUE NO. 8

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characters. We are pulled into their story and their struggles, and read on to discover if they will find it within themselves to make peace together. A tour de force of indelible scenes woven together in an innovative structure, it seemed to me that the pages literally turned themselves. Laura Davis’s first book in nineteen years is a major publishing event, not to be missed.”

— Carolyn Brigit Flynn, author of Communion and editor of Sacred Stone, Sacred Water "I was completely captivated by this story. It was one of those books you start reading and feel as if you've stumbled on a treasure."

—Yasmin Kerkez, Founder of Moving Beyond Family Struggles “From the very first page, I didn’t want this beautiful, compelling story to end. And for me, it hasn’t: Laura’s memoir and all of her characters have stayed with me to this day.”

--Kay Taylor, author of Soul Path Way “Caregiving an elderly parent, especially against the backdrop of a difficult shared past, can be a bruising spiritual ordeal. We who must travel this territory don’t need any more sentimental narratives about it. What we do need is the healing medicine of truth-telling, and Laura Davis brilliantly and generously gives it to us. I literally could not put this book down.”

--Katy Butler, bestselling author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door and The Art of Dying Well

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If you’d like to see if The Burning Light of Two Stars hooks you from the beginning, I invite you to read the first five chapters on my website, far more than an Amazon sample.www.theburninglightoftwostars.com You’ll also find links to buy the book in paperback, digital and audiobook formats, get signed copies, and purchase copies in bulk.

I’d also be delighted to visit your book club. You can access my book club guide here:www.lauradavis.net/bookclubs Laura Davis is the author of The Burning Light of Two Stars: A Mother-Daughter Story, the story of her loving yet tumultuous relationship with her mother, and six other nonfiction books, including The Courage to Heal, I Thought We‘d Never Speak Again, and Becoming the Parent You Want to Be. Her groundbreaking books have been translated into 11 languages and sold two million copies. In addition to writing books that inspire and change people’s lives, the work of Laura’s heart is to teach—helping people find their voices, tell their stories, and hone their craft. Laura loves creating supportive, intimate writing communities online, in person, and internationally. At her website, you can read the first five chapters of her new memoir, learn about Laura’s books and workshops, and receive a free e-book: Writing Through Courage: A 30-Day Practice.

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House of Rose by T. K. Thorne Rookie patrol officer Rose Brighton chases a suspect down an alley.

Without warning, her vision wavers, and the lone suspect appears to divide into two men--the real suspect, frozen in time, and a shadow version with a gun.

Confused by what she's just seen, but with no time to second guess it's meaning, Rose shoots the real suspect in the back.

Forced to lie to detectives, she risks her job and her life to discover the shocking truth of who she really is--a witch of an ancient House, the prey of one powerful enemy, and the pawn of another.

House of Rose, set in the Deep South city of Birmingham, Alabama, is the first book of the Magic City Stories.

"Former police captain Thorne delivers a promising debut, making the police procedural aspects believable and intriguing. ...as a whole this is a nice mix of mystery and fantasy that leaves the door open for more series installments."

--Library Journal 42

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Independent Bones: A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery by Carolyn Haines When Dr. Alala Diakos, a visiting professor of Greek literature, comes to teach at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, it doesn't take long for controversy to follow.

With her fervent feminist ideals and revolutionary leanings, she quickly earns the admiration of many--and the ire of others. During a speech in the park, in which Alala tries to organize the women of Zinnia to demand equal pay, the crowd gets unruly, with men heckling the professor. And when PI Sarah Booth Delaney finds a sniper rifle and scope in the bushes, she begins to worry that there are more than fighting words at stake.

Sarah Booth calls her boyfriend, Sheriff Coleman Peters, who offers the protection of the Zinnia police department, but Alala rejects him, saying she has no use for the law or men. And when a notorious domestic abuser is found dead the next day, suspicions turn to Alala herself, who was overheard bragging that she would take him down. Tensions deepen when connections are drawn between Alala and two similar, previous deaths.

But Sarah Booth doesn't want to believe Alala is a murderer, and when the professor shows up at Sarah Booth's doorstep, asking her to find the real criminal, Sarah Booth embarks on a case stretching across the Delta. Yet Alala remains at the center of it all, and Sarah Booth can't help but wonder if the killer has been with her all along...

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Rebecca Barrett and Susan Y Tanner Mystery writers extraordinaire, vie for the title of Trouble’s favorite scribe and partner in crime detection.

Who will win? Only Trouble knows but the feline detective does love a good holiday and both have crafted Christmas offerings for your reading pleasure.

Watch for Trail of Trouble and Trouble on the Mountain in 2022!

Holiday Troubles Trouble would rather be home watching Christmas classics with his human, Tammy Lynn, but his creed is always to ‘protect and serve’. None of his temporary charges display much in the way of Christmas spirit so ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ might seem an unlikely outcome.

But, then, they don’t know Trouble …

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Trouble Under the Mistletoe by Rebecca Barrett Heart breaker Teddy Adamson just walked back into Billie Dean Bailey’s life, but dire happenings are going on under the mistletoe.

Who ends up dead and why? Was it the maraschino cherries in the Tizzington sisters’ fruit compote?

Or was it something more sinister?

A Trouble’d Christmas by Susan Y. Tanner Mace Walker has two goals – prove himself innocent of grand theft and see the guilty party punished.

Angry, bitter, and out for revenge, he’s determined to make the woman he once loved help prove his innocence—whether she’s willing or not.

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The Queen of Paris: A Novel of Coco Chanel by Pamela Binnings Ewen “Ewen (The Moon in the Mango Tree) dazzles in this outstanding historical thriller that chronicles the life of Coco Chanel in occupied France. ..Ewen’s Chanel is arrogant and fragile in equal measure, and the author does a marvelous job of diving into the motivations of a woman born into poverty as she defends the fortune she built for herself, making this a refreshingly nuanced character portrait and also a real page-turner.

This is top-notch historical fiction.”

Publisher’s Weekly – starred review “Empathetic yet unsparing. The Queen of Paris is an engrossing historical novel that reveals another room in the House of Chanel: beyond the timeless elegance, simplicity, and jasmine-scented perfume was a desperate woman, trapped by a maze of circumstances, and her own troubled mind.”

Foreward Reviews “Ewen’s Coco is a proud and image-conscious character, sprung from a painful, lonely childhood to become a selfmade triumph, a Machiavellian madam—” Kirkus Reviews 46

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Dancing on Glass by Pamela Binnings Ewen In the steamy city of New Orleans in 1974, Amalise Catoir meets Phillip Sharp, a charming, magnetic artist, unlike any man she has known.

A young lawyer herself, raised in a small town and on the brink of a career with a large firm, she is strong and successful, yet sometimes too trusting and whimsical. Ama’s rash decision to marry Phillip proves to be a mistake as he becomes overly possessive, drawing his wife away from family, friends, and her faith.

His insidious, dangerous behavior becomes her dark, inescapable secret. In this lawyer’s unraveling world, can grace survive Ama’s fatal choice? What would you do when prayers seem to go unanswered, faith has slipped away, evil stalks, and you feel yourself forever dancing on shattered glass?

Dancing on Glass received the 2012 Single Titles Reviewer Choice Award, and was a finalist for the 2012 Christy Award.

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Sonju by Wondra Chang “Pitting a woman’s passion against life-crippling traditions, Wondra Chang does for South Korea what Thomas Hardy did for the English countryside. Chang’s debut opens in Seoul in 1946, when Sonju is almost 20 and the nation is poised on the edge of war and modernization. Her strict parents force her to marry a well-off stranger in the country, though she has long loved a poor, fatherless man committed to an equal union. But Sonju was not made to be a sacrificial lamb on the altar of family “honor.” With a style direct and lyrical, Chang’s debut moved me so viscerally that I wept through the last third. You won’t be the same after reading this courageous and powerful novel.”

—Janet Benton, author of Lilli de Jong “Wondra Chang delights us with a story of family, love and the search for happiness. Here is a journey filled with romance, tragedy, and intrigue, a journey worth taking.

Enjoy.”

—Jose Antonio Rodriguez, author of This American Autopsy

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God, Destiny and a Glass of Wine

by Linda Mason Crawford Some people live their lives on a daily basis, navigating through life's hustle, bustle, and the fear of not reaching their full potential.

They can't understand how they could have a positive God-ordained destiny. Some believe they might possibly be on the right path, but they are constantly challenged by their bad decision-making and choice of unhealthy relationships. Some are convinced that they are destined to fall short of having a good and meaningful life, or of enjoying any journey that is before them. The bottom line is God has a plan for all of his children, including you, his child. Whether you have a clear path of where you are going or you are at a loss as to what you are supposed to do, whether you are excited about your future or fearful and embarrassed of the years behind you, Linda Mason Crawford's book, God, Destiny, and a Glass of Wine, is sure to speak to you, right now, wherever you are. It is bound to help you grasp hold of your way.

"After all," Crawford says, "this is your destiny. Make a change and walk in it."

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Debbie Baldwin is the author of the Bishop Security Series

Buried Beneath Book 3 Camilo Canto has unfinished business.

As the newest member of the Bishop Security team, Cam has left the dark world of undercover work with the CIA and is starting a new life in South Carolina. Unfortunately, there is a haunting figure from his past with an agenda.

The Conductor is a criminal mastermind who wants Cam eliminated along with the evidence Cam compiled while working undercover. A devious plot is in place to do just that. Cam is abducted and awakes on the island paradise of Mallorca, where crime, danger, and obsession are buried beneath the picture-perfect surface. In order to stop The Conductor, Cam must sift through layers of diversion, including an infatuated supermodel, a corrupt mine owner, and an obsessed treasure hunter. As he fits the puzzle together, Cam crosses paths with a beautiful archaeologist searching for answers to another mystery hidden in the caves beneath the island.

Evangeline Cole is a Ph.D. candidate in Mallorca with an archaeological team. When Evan stumbles upon a strange marker, she is compelled to follow the clues to solve a centuries-old mystery buried in the caves. When Evan's treasure hunt crosses paths with Cam's investigation, passion and danger ignite. Cam is forced to confront both 50

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the real and psychological demons from his years undercover to find the true treasure buried beneath.

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Countenance by Joy Ross Davis Countenance is a suspenseful yet heartfelt story full of intrigue and unexpected revelations, where magic is made in the kitchen and angels can fall in love. Memorable characters inhabit a home that is more than it seems, and unwittingly prepare for a final showdown where forces battle for the souls of both those who reside there and the dead who cannot move on to the next realm. Thirty-eight-year-old Nealey Monaghan's life is turned upside-down one night when her sister's estranged ex-husband kills nearly everyone she loves in one fell swoop. Numb to the world, Nealey is taken in by her charmingly eccentric Aunt Sylvie, cookbook author and proprietress of the Playhouse Inn Bed and Breakfast in the hills of Tennessee. Hoping to help her niece find purpose and meaning in her life again, Sylvie makes Nealey a coowner and begins teaching her the tricks of the trade...and the secrets of the house.

Unbeknownst to either of them, nor to the ghost relatives who have lived there since they were murdered in 1889, there is a common thread running through their veins, and a deep secret that is dying to come out...

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Joy Ross Davis is more than an eloquent story teller! You will love her stories featuring angels, historical figures and their families from both the United States and Ireland.

Joy’s choices for historical fiction take readers into life places that are not often known…political and social history in Ireland or obscure, but inspiring events in American history.

Joy Ross Davis is a student of the lore and magic of the back hills of Tennessee. She writes imaginative fiction featuring unusual angels as main characters. Her novel, Countenance, won a Silver Medal of Excellence in an international readers' awards contest. She has lived and worked in Alabama for most of her life. She has a Ph.D in Creative Writing, and for many years, taught English at a local community college. She retired to become a caregiver for her mother who suffered from dementia. She wrote her first novel shortly after her mother's death. For several months in 2007, she lived in Ireland and worked as a travel writer and photographer. She lives in Alabama with her son and three rescue dogs.

“My fur-buddies, Murphy, Sophie and Maddy Lou help me get the words in the right order. The characters in my novels and stories frequently find their lives enriched by a special dog. In Countenance, an Irish Wolfhound, LuLu, plays a special role. The old beggar has a special friend to share a warm spot and simple meals when available.” Joy ISSUE NO. 8

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Freedom Lessons by Eileen Harrison Sanchez

Anniversary Celebration Print ~ eBook ~ Audiobook Bookstores ~ Online Dear Readers, This little book has taken me on a journey that I never expected. I am profoundly grateful. A huge thanks to all my readers who have written reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, Bookbub, Twitter and Instagram. If you have read Freedom Lessons and haven’t written one yet, I would deeply appreciate it if you could. If you haven’t read it, you can find it everywhere books are sold and in libraries.

To celebrate the second anniversary of Freedom Lessons I decided to pay back and pay it forward by donating copies of Freedom Lessons to Lisa Libraries and to the student members of DAYLO: Diversity Awareness Youth Literary Organization at the Pat Conroy Literary Center. Lisa Libraries donates PreK to YA books to underserved libraries.

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Our young leaders of DAYLO inspired me. They are living the lessons of my book.

Sincerely, Eileen Harrison Sanchez “Be the change you want to see.”

Anniversary Celebration Schedule October 29 – Desideratum Podcast Freedom Lessons Interview November 1 – Book Club Talk – West Orange Library November 4-5 – NJEA Author’s Alley November 5 – NJEA Workshop “Using Historical Fiction to Teach Social Justice” November 14 – PWQ Writers Workshop: “Memoir v Fiction – How to Decide” November 8-30 – Suzy’s Approved Book Tour on Instagram November 16 – Barbara’s Book Club December 5-7 – NJASL Conference Author’s Alley December 6 – NJASL Workshop “Building Courage, Connection and Compassion Through Historical Fiction” January 11-16 – International Pulpwood Queen and Timber Guy Book Club Convention January 13 : 2022 International Pulpwood Queen and Timber Guy Book Club Convention Workshop Panel: “Books As Bridges: How Story Connects, Heals, and Guides Us” ISSUE NO. 8

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The Kiminee Dream by Laura McHale Holland A deeply poetic, riveting debut novel, The Kiminee Dream is a tale of Midwest charm and quirky characters, but with twists and turns that reveal a dark side you don't see coming.

Odd things happen in Kiminee, Illinois. Lilacs bloom in winter.

Gravel glows golden on occasion.

The river sings as it wends through town. But this is normal for the tight-knit folks who call Kiminee home. So when auburn-tufted Carly Mae Foley learns to read at age two and masters multiplication at age three, the denizens take it in stride and embrace her with pride.

But all is not well in Carly Mae's family. And when a twister roars though, it decimates their home, along with their emotional bonds, as her mother's affair is exposed and her father goes missing. A determined grandmother, one-eared dog and generous benefactor come to the gifted child's aid, but not everyone is rooting for her, and when an appalling crime occurs, long-held animosities boil over. No one can say whether the good folks of Kiminee will pull closer together-or be torn apart.

Influenced by folklore and magical realism, The Kiminee Dream was named a Finalist in the 2021 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

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Burning Bright by Michele Kwasniewski Fresh off the debut of her EP, sixteen-year-old Dani Truehart is flying high on a string of number one hits. After locking down her first full-length album in record time and furiously preparing for her world tour, Dani is torn between leaving her loved ones behind and embracing her burgeoning stardom.Dani's fame and fortune explode as her tour moves across the globe. Elated when two of Hollywood's hottest young actors, Kayla Spencer and Trey Connors, befriend her, Dani finds herself living life in the fast lane and recording her second album as she tours. Constantly dogged by the paparazzi, Dani basks in the adoration of The TrueHart Nation, her loyal super-fans who are ready to follow her around the world and go to war with anyone who dares dis their favorite pop star, whom they've dubbed "The Queen of Harts."With her ego growing as fast has her fame and fortune, a string of platinum hits and her jealous mother desperate for a piece of her wealth, sixteen-year-old pop sensation Dani Truehart navigates the glamor and perils of stardom as scandal threatens to ruin her and everyone who helped make her a star.

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Husbands and Other Sharp Objects by Marilyn Simon Rothstein “Witty, humorous, heartwarming, entertaining, and wonderful.” — Linda’s Book Obsession “Hilariously funny, relevant, and full of charm. You can’t help but fall in love with this story! Marilyn Simon Rothstein will make you laugh and cry, and when you reach to the end, you’ll close the book with a smile on your face, fully satisfied. Highly recommended!” —Loretta Nyhan, author of All the Good Parts “Funny, poignant, and downright heartwarming!

Rothstein is definitely an author to watch. Her humor is snappy and smart, yet she knows how to tug at a reader’s heart and leave them with a sigh.” —Bette Lee Crosby, author of The Summer of New Beginnings “Hilarious and heartfelt, Rothstein’s latest overflows with authenticity as we follow Marcy navigating life after her marriage has gone to seed. The novel thrums with honesty, balanced with the perfect mix of tension, laughter, and self-discovery. Allow yourself to laugh out loud!” —Eliza Gordon, author of Dear Dwayne, With Love 58

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Gumbeaux Love by Jax Frey The adventures of the Gumbeaux Sistahs continue!

Five, fiery Southern women wage wars against their unique problems using their improbable friendships, hilarious evilgenius schemes, strategy sessions with oh-so-many cocktails, and a shared passion for good gumbo.

Single, Southern artist, Judith Lafferty, casually confesses to her Gumbeaux Sistahs that she is occasionally lonely and would like to fall in love again. Seriously - you'd think she would know to keep her mouth shut around these women by now. The sistahs tackle her problem along with their own with their usual unreasonable, extreme plots and schemes, including a kidnapping, a cupid costume, trying out pick-up lines at the cheese counter, and blind dates from hell. In helping out their friend, the sistahs help each other out as well and bring to light the many flavors of love in all of our lives. Be ready for twists, turns, laugh-out-loud times, and heartwrenching moments. You'll be sure to recognize yourself and your close friends in the unstoppable sistahs.

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One Hundred Daffodils: Finding Beauty, Grace, and Meaning When Things Fall Apart by Rebecca Winn "There is so much life in the garden.

That is why I come. Life that is gentle, self-supporting, and beautiful. Continuous in its cycles, grounded, pure."

When her husband asked for a divorce after twenty-five years of marriage, Rebecca Winn felt untethered physically, spiritually, and emotionally. The security she'd had in her marriage was suddenly replaced by an overwhelming sense of fear, hopelessness, and dread. She felt invisible and alone and was horrified to consider that her deepest longing -- to know and be known by another person -- might never be realized. But from this fear emerged a powerful desire to answer one of life's most profound questions: How can we ever know another person if we do not truly know ourselves?

Facilitated in measures by a love affair with a younger man, dedicated study of Jungian psychology, and a deep dive into global spiritual practices, Winn transformed heartbreak into wholeness through communion with the divine in nature. By turning to her garden for guidance, sanctuary, and inspiration, and dialing closely into the flora 60

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and fauna around her, she ultimately discovered what is possible when we are willing look at our unvarnished selves with an open mind -- and see others with an open heart.

“I love this book so much I am sending a copy to everyone in the Kerri Miller Book Circle.” ~ KERRI MILLER, Host of MPR NEWS, Minnesota Public Radio “When women share the truth about life and loss, hearts can begin to heal and hope is restored. Readers will embrace that gift in Rebecca Winn’s comforting and lovely memoir on beginning again.” ~ SARAH BAN BREATHNACH, author of Simple Abundance; 365 Days to a Balanced Life Rebecca Winn is a multiple award-winning landscape designer and creator of the inspirational Facebook blog, Whimsical Gardens. Her eye for nature's beauty and her unique blend of wisdom, insight and humor inspire and entertain hundreds of thousands of readers around the globe each day. Born in Dallas, Texas, Rebecca's family moved to Europe when she was in first grade, providing her the opportunity to grow up surrounded by the majestic, centuries old gardens of Italy, Scotland and England, which strongly influenced both her garden designs and her writing. Her articles have appeared in regional and national magazines.

One Hundred Daffodils is her first book.

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Pause by Sara Stamey First Place, Somerset Award for Women’s Fiction Dear Diary, Shall we pause to take stock?

Female (liberated, at least from fraught marriage). Age 52, height 5’5”, weight 120, bone density excellent, minimal cellulite, maximal hot flashes. One and ¾ breasts.

Months since sex: 27 Lindsey Friedland, former river-rafting guide and avid outdoorswoman, has hit the worst stretch of water she’s ever faced: divorce from an abuser, breast cancer, menopause symptoms that her friends seem to have paddled serenely by. And she’s lost sight of her dream of becoming an environmental journalist.

Lindsey needs to get her spark back.

Dear Diary, Disastrous blind dates so far: The walking cologne bottle. The “really want a gal to give me babies” guy. The pushy past-life reintegration facilitator.

Will Lindsey make it past the rocky shoals of family 62

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upheavals, job crises, sexism, and ageism… not to mention toxic love traps? Does “happily ever after” now mean settling for occasional (but hot!) sex with Mr. Maybe? Can she reclaim her journalism dream?

Dear Diary, I’m tired of being tragic. I’m sending off my article about the bulldozers versus the baby owls.

Award-winning novelist Sara Stamey’s “Cybers Wild Card” science fiction novels with Berkley/Ace received praise from Publishers Weekly, SF Chronicle, and Fantasy Review, and made the Locus Best New Novelists list. Her Caribbean psychic suspense novel ISLANDS—“A stomping, vivid ride” (Statesman Review)—won the Chanticleer Paranormal Suspense Award and Hollywood Book Festival Genre Award. Her near-future Greek islands CygnusRibbon&Ariadnethriller THE ARIADNE CONNECTION won the Chanticleer Global Thriller Grand Prize, as well as Cygnus Awards for Speculative Fiction and Science Fiction. “A rocket-paced thrill ride that delivers complex, engaging characters in a laser-sharp plot.” (Chanticleer Reviews). She’s now writing a sequel, THE ARIADNE DISCONNECT.

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Trouble The Water by Rebecca Dwight Bruff "Before this decisive night, I'd not fully appreciated the subtle line between inspiration and insanity.

But now, with all our lives at risk, I found myself navigating that most perilous edge . . . " Inspired by the life of an unsung American hero and slave, Trouble the Water navigates the rich tributaries of courage, betrayal, and redemption. In his inspiring journey, Robert Smalls witnesses great privilege and suffering alongside his owner's daughter and the dangerous son of a firebrand secessionist. At the age of twelve, he's sent to work in Charleston, where he loads ships and learns to pilot a cotton steamer. When the Civil War erupts and his cotton steamer becomes a confederate warship, Robert seizes the opportunity to pursue freedom for himself and the people he loves.

"With this stunning debut novel, Rebecca Bruff establishes herself as an exciting new voice in historical fiction." Cassandra King Conroy

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Stars of Wonder: A Children's Christmas Adventure by Rebecca Dwight Bruff "And many years later, during a Very Challenging Moment, they listened to the wind and watched the evening stars and listened to their own hearts and to the Creator of Creation, because they never forgot that night in the desert when they learned what to do first in aVery Challenging Moment."

STARS Of WONDER is the fast-paced, courageous journey of four adventurous siblings who follow the brightest star in the night sky. Not knowing where their travels will take them or who they may meet along the way, they fight off dangerous animals, and meet a wise stranger as they overcome many unexpected struggles. As they travel hot desert sands, by day and night, they become separated and lost, and must rely on their curiosity and courage, as well as trust and cooperation, to attain their dream.

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Death By Chance by Abigail Keam Josiah is an angry woman, who lives on a farm in the Bluegrass horse country. Her husband took up with a young socialite and stole Josiah's money. Then he up and died on her before Josiah could find where he hid their savings. So you see why Josiah is angry.

Besides being perturbed, Josiah has the unfortunate habit of stumbling over dead bodies. Skeeter Statler is her sixteenth body and this habit is irritating the police to no end. But Josiah can't do anything about it. Finding corpses seems to be a knack of hers.

"This is a perfect read. Go, grab it." The Prairies Book Review FIVE STARS! "Death By Chance by Abigail Keam is an entertaining sequel in a charming cozy mystery series. The story is intriguing, the plot suspenseful, and the characters relatable. With multiple twists and turns, the story is captivating from the first page until the last, keeping the reader guessing until the exciting finale. The characters are quirky and eccentric, giving the series an original flavor.

Even though this book is the sixteenth installment in a series, it does very well as a standalone." Readers' Favorite 66

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Abigail Keam is the award-winning and Amazon best-selling author of several series including the Josiah Reynolds Mystery Series about a Southern beekeeper turned amateur female sleuth.

“I hope my readers come away with a new appreciation of beekeeping from my Josiah Reynolds Mysteries.”

She also writes the Mona Moon Mystery Series–a rags-to-riches 1930s mystery series which includes real people and events into the story line. The series is about a cartographer who is broke and counting her pennies when there is a knock at her door. A lawyer, representing her deceased uncle, announces Mona has inherited her uncle’s fortune and a horse farm in the Bluegrass.

Mona can’t believe it. She is now one of the richest women in the country and in the middle of the Great Depression!

The Last Chance For Love Series tells of strangers who come from all walks of life to the magical Last Chance Motel in Key Largo and get a second chance at rebuilding their lives, and The Princess Maura Fantasy Series.

One thing Miss Abigail loves to do as an author is to write real people and events into her stories. “I am a student of history and love to insert historical information into my mysteries. My goal is to entertain my readers, but if they learn a little something along the way–well, then we are both happy.”

Abigail loves honeybees and for many years made her living by selling honey at a farmers’ market. She is an award-winning beekeeper who has won 16 honey awards at the Kentucky State Fair including the Barbara Horn Award, which is given to beekeepers who rate a perfect 100 in a honey competition.

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The Cicada Tree by Robert Gwaltney “Some things in this world are meant to burn …”

The summer of 1956, a brood of cicadas descends upon Providence Georgia, a natural event with supernatural repercussions, unhinging the life of Analeise Newell, an eleven-year-old piano prodigy. Amidst this emergence, dark obsessions are stirred, uncanny gifts provoked, and secrets unearthed.

During a visit to Mistletoe, a plantation owned by the wealthy Mayfield family, Analeise encounters Cordelia Mayfield and her daughter Marlissa, both of whom possess an otherworldly beauty. A whisper and an act of violence perpetrated during this visit by Mrs. Mayfield all converge to kindle Analeise’s fascination with the Mayfields.

Analeise’s burgeoning obsession with the Mayfield family overshadows her own seemingly, ordinary life, culminating in dangerous games and manipulation, setting off a chain of cataclysmic events with life-altering consequences—all of it unfolding to the maddening whir of a cicada song.

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The Woods at Barlow Bend

by Jodie Cain Smith Based on the true story of a teenage girl who must forge her own life once the secrets of her parents are revealed.

One shot fired deep in the pine forests of her youth was all it took to change Hattie's life forever. At the age of fourteen, Hattie learns that her mother, Addie, is dead, and her father, Hubbard, stands accused of Addie's murder, along with countless other shocking betrayals. Overnight, Hattie becomes mother to her three siblings while still very much a child herself. The life she had dreamt of now seems impossible to achieve.

How will Hattie break away from the father who prevents her from living the life she desperately wants?

Will her heart ever be able to heal in the height of The Great Depression?

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A Quiver in the Purlieu by Amit Verma A book flies away as soon as it's completed, defining a pivotal point in the life-arch of the protagonist. This life-arch also features a banyan tree growing in Canada, a bar in semi-rural U.S.A., a sliver of time in an idyllic, isolated village in India, a bored billionaire playing the stock market, a comic book princess, and an interstellar spaceship journey. And all this takes place in a universe that's ever-expanding.

Amit Verma Is a resident of Houston, TX, where he divides his time among things he Is passionate about, Including molding captive Impressionable minds and conducting research as a professor In Electrical Engineering, a perfect family, and a never perfect yard.

His two works on literary fiction, The Lives and The Times, and The Lives and The Times II have been variously called, a rare find, a page-turner, and ... Is refreshing and does a humorous take on some of the pressing Issues ...

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Obama’s Children by Earl S. Braggs This item will be released December 1, 2021.

A universal quest for human dignity and acknowledgement made specific through the Black experience.

“If poetry is music, Earl Braggs is its composer. And what he composes is jazz— smoky, sensual, serpentine stanzas of jazzy poetry at its improvisational best: staccato-trumpeting lines, tempodriven voices, melodic repetitions, lowdown bluesy fragmentations of logic and sensibility… pouring into the corners of our consciousness, ragtiming us into bootyshaking highs and tenor-saxing us into deep deep downs.

Such is jazz. Such is poetry. Such is jazz and poetry together. And such is this jazz-riffing collection.”

—George Drew, author of Drumming Armageddon and Fancy’s Orphan

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Seven Stars of Midnight by R. E. Joyce Seven Starts of Midnight is an epic fantasy thriller centered on a world at the brink of darkness. The forces of evil festering for centuries erupt and seven heroes are called to save the world and rebuild the goodness of the earth.

Gathered together from all parts of the known world our heroes lay their individual desires aside to become part of the adventure and by doing so build something new and worthy of praise.

R.e. Joyce Bill is a writer of prose, a poet in his own mind, and selfproclaimed master of words.

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The German Client by Bruno Morchio Private investigator Bacci Pagano can’t resist taking the bait when his new client dangles a check with too many zeros. He should have known that where there’s bait, there’s always a hook.

In a hospital corridor, private investigator Bacci Pagano is keeping watch over Jasmìne Kilamba. If she lives, her testimony will shatter a notorious human trafficking ring.

Seemingly out of nowhere, he is approached by an elderly German named Kurt Hessen who is searching for his Italian half-brother. Despite his better judgment, Pagano accepts the job. So many things, good and evil, happened when the Nazis occupied Genoa in 1944, what did it matter now? But it matters very much to someone and Pagano finds himself plunged into a world of old secrets and new lies in this wartime thriller where the bill for the sins of the past has come due . . . with interest.

Originally published in Italian as Rossoamaro, The German Client elegantly intertwines a wartime thriller about Nazioccupied Genoa with the gritty realism of Pagano’s current investigation in what La Repubblica called “a masterful tale.”

Nominated for a National Book Award, The German Client spent five weeks on the Corriere della Sera best seller list and won the Azzeccagarbugli Prize for Best Mystery.

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Just One Look by Joanne Kukanza Easley "Easley writes a thoroughly gripping story, set in the sixties and seventies, of a woman's loss and grief, and how, after a series of trying events, she learned how to heal her heart again." -Sublime Book Review In 1965 Chicago, thirteen-year-old Dani Marek declares she's in love, and you best believe it.

This is no crush, and for six blissful years she fills her hope chest with linens, dinnerware, and dreams of an idyllic future with John. When he is killed in action in Viet Nam, Dani's world shatters. She launches a one-woman vendetta against the men she seeks out in Rush Street's singles bars. Her goal: break as many hearts as she can.

Dani's ill-conceived vengeance leads her to a loveless marriage that ends in tragedy. At twenty-four, she's left a widow with a baby, a small fortune, and a ghost-make that two.

Set in the turbulent Sixties and Seventies, Just One Look explores one woman's tumultuous journey through grief, denial, and letting go.

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“History surrounds the visitor at every turn…”

Patricia Sands takes us on a beautiful trip to France.

Enjoy!

Bonjour! Allow me to sweep you off to a very special part of the south of France!

Arles, the setting for my novel Drawing Lessons, is a town and commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.

Just an hour’s drive from Marseille, the first time my

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husband and I visited this enchanting town on a day trip from Antibes, I knew I wanted to write a story set here!

History, from Roman times onward, is alive throughout the town. Place de la République, the main square, is a popular gathering place. The centre fountain features a 4th century Egyptian obelisk from Roman times that lay hidden in plain sight for hundreds of years. The square is bordered on one side by Cathédrale St. Trophime and its mystical cloister, built between the 12th and 15th centuries. On the opposite side is the Church of Sainte Anne from the 1600’s and in between is the Hotel de Ville (city hall) which has underground crypts from Roman times to explore.

A few minutes’ walk through narrow medieval streets will bring a visitor to the Roman ruins of the Théâtre Antique and the breathtaking, restored 2,000-year-old amphitheatre, Les Arènes. Both are frequently used for concerts and festivals and always open to visit. I spent many hours on those timeworn stone seats writing and absorbing the ambiance. C’est magique!

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There are many other Roman monuments and ruins, including a large part of the original baths, to be found throughout the town. The excellent Museum of Antiquities is a treasure-trove of history and artifacts including an amazing 2000-year-old Roman wooden barge discovered buried under silt at the bottom of the Rhône. A fascinating video shows the entire process from recovery of the barge to restoration. It’s no wonder Arles has been declared a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE.

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Arles is truly a town meant for strolling.

History surrounds the visitor at every turn. The lives of generations of inhabitants are reflected in the centuriesold townhouses that line winding streets and lanes.

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The spirit of Vincent van Gogh lives in this area. He moved to Arles in February 1888 and spent a turbulent year emotionally, not endearing himself to the citizenry but experiencing one of his most prolific years painting.

Other artists joined him from time to time, most notably Paul Gauguin for a few months before van Gogh’s psychotic behaviour caused him to leave.

The Fondation Vincent van Gogh is well worth a visit for more information about his work and time in Arles.

Placards showing Vincent’s paintings of the town are strategically placed at the specific locations he painted.

There is also an excellent self-guided walking tour that covers all aspects of his work and everyday living.

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I love walking these streets in darkened evenings and imagining his life here.

Vincent spent a couple of months in the local hospital, the building and gardens today still remain much as they were at that time.

After this, van Gogh left Arles and voluntarily admitted himself to the monastery/asylum of Saint Paul de Mausole in St. Remy de Provence.

Just over a half-hour’s drive south of Arles, is one of the largest wetlands in the world. The Camargue has been home to a famous breed of white for thousands of years.

These horses work with black bulls raised in the area and managed by French gardiens (cowboys).

Visits to a manarde or ranch to watch the symbiotic connection between these animals is a must.

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thousands of flamingos nest each year. A remarkable sight!

Rice fields, vineyards, lagoons and canals, as well as endless beaches are all part of the landscape that invites visitors year round.

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The eclectic fishing town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer tempst visitors with delicious fresh seafood at the many restaurants. Van Gogh painted here as well, fascinated by the enticing alleys, beaches and wooden fishing boats.

The shining jewel of the Camargue is the ancient walled town of Aigues-Mortes. In the 1200’s, King Louis IX departed from here to fight two crusades. At that time the Mediterranean bordered the town before silting up, which in turn allowed for the famous salt flats to evolve.

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Be fascinated here by climbing a tall hill of salt and learn how the fleur de sel is still harvested by hand in the same manner as it has been through many centuries.

Is it any wonder I felt compelled to set my novel Drawing Lessons here? How could I resist? After several short visits, my husband and I settled in for a three-week stay while I researched and photographed and enjoyed a most memorable experience. I hope you have enjoyed this visit too!

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WHY KNOWING GENRE IS IMPORTANT Carolyn Haines

When I first started writing, I didn’t have a clue what I was writing—and I didn’t care. I was writing a story that just had to be told. I was a journalist, so I wasn’t well-schooled in point of view, structure, narrative summary versus immediate scene, or any of the writer’s tools that are used to create unforgettable experiences in the pages of a novel.

I wrote without any real thought of being published. I wrote because I loved writing, words, language, and drawing people into my private and very special world.

Eighty books later and after working with a lot of the big New York publishing houses, I know differently. A writer really should know his/her genre and should know the elements of story expected in each genre. Not to be a great writer, but to be a published writer.

The human animal loves stories. We learn from them intellectually and emotionally. We “walk in someone else’s shoes” and that experience can teach us compassion and so much more. But humans also enjoy a certain pattern, a way that story unfolds. Doesn’t mean you can’t do it differently, only that when you do it differently, know what you’re doing and make it count.

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lessons I taught. Know your genre. So here’s the spiel.

Back in the good old days when books weren’t sold in genre sections and bookstores, there were novels and nonfiction. From now on, I’m only talking about fiction. The authors were alphabetized. I would have been near Grisham and King. Now, though, books are slotted into sections like mystery, fantasy, general fiction, etc.

There are four basic elements to a novel: setting, character, plot, and theme. All books have these elements. I have added a fifth element to some novels called style—this is when an author is so powerful, you can read a few lines or paragraphs and recognize the author by the style of the writing. For example James Lee Burke. The man is a master in the use of language. His style is unique. Elmore Leonard, the same. There are many others. Both of these authors write mysteries, basically, but I would classify them as literary writers and put them in “general fiction” category.

A novel is a book that uses the four elements in equal measure. Theme is as important as setting. Character is as vital as plot. It is a balanced telling of the story at hand with all the richness that comes from a balanced novel.

To me (and yes, I made all of this up) genre fiction takes those four elements and warps it slightly. And here the genres come into play. If you pick up a book in the romance section, the element of character and relationship is going to play a big and vital role. In some “romances,” there is little plot development—it is all internal conflict ISSUE NO. 8

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and emotion. Often the theme—and never forget that this is VERY VERY comforting to some readers—is that love prevails. The readers who come to this category want to shut the cover of the book and be in a place where their belief in true love is affirmed. That is a key part of many romances.

In the world of horror, what element would you think is most important? IT can be any of them, but for our purposes, let’s say setting. The haunted house. The cabin isolated in the woods. Being shut off from others is a way to heighten the danger and put the reader in the place where they have no external help. It ups the ante for the creep factor. Of course a creepy character can play as significant a role as setting, just as in mystery there is great debate whether character or plot are most important. I contend that the best mysteries deliver both. So these are not hard and fast category designations but more of a shorthand way to look at your writing and weigh what is most important to you. Where you might fit in.

Fantasy—setting. World building is one of the key elements of good fantasy. Think of Tolkien or Harry Potter. What fabulous worlds they gave us. But both Tolkien and Rowling are masters because the characters, the plots, the settings, and the themes are equally important and well done.

Thrillers—plot, generally. And remember that a thriller must have a ticking clock and very high stakes. This is why, even though editors say they don’t want serial killer 88

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books, they often buy them. Because if a person dies in the first pages of a book, then the worst that can happen already has. But if the killer can kill and kill again—he must be stopped at all costs.

Most people read thrillers and mysteries for a sense of justice. In many mysteries, the overall common theme is “justice prevails.” Just as “love prevails” works in romances. But the better written books take those thematic elements and weave them so tightly into the characters and plots that each story becomes a jewel, a masterpiece. I wrote a mystery called FEVER MOON. The broad theme is justice prevails. It’s set in 1944 Louisiana and the protagonist is a wounded veteran who returns to Iberia Parish, Louisiana as the sheriff. The richest man in the parish is murdered and a young woman, Adele, who appears to be in the throes of some supernatural “spell” is accused of the murder. She is found hovering over the eviscerated body. The people in town think she is a loup garou, a werewolf. But the sheriff knows better. He’s seen the worst humans can do to each other in WWII. And he defends her. This is a mystery, but the theme is truly “how our belief systems control us in ways we never think about.” The people believe in the loup garou, and they are willing to kill a young woman they believe is a shapeshifter because they believe she is evil. So while all books have a theme, and some only explore a broad, category theme, others dig deeper. This, too, is part of a writer’s style.

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know these because these categories are a short cut in selling and marketing your book. Even if you self-publish, you need to know what you’re writing so you can find the audience that wants to read your book.

Books go in trends, just like fashion. Hemlines go up and come down. It was so interesting to me when I was teaching that only two or three of my students wanted to write mysteries. I’d grown up on Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Mysteries were my favorite reading material.

But the young folks I was teaching had grown up on Harry Potter and fantasy was the type of story they loved and wanted to write. I did an intensive study of J.K. Rowling’s world of Harry Potter and came away even more impressed than I was before by her keen ability to plot. I do believe that she had the whole series plotted out long before she wrote them. The over-all arc of the series is terrific, and each book advances that. I’d always enjoyed fantasy, but I read a whole lot of it to be as informed as I could about the genre my students wanted to write.

While I was teaching, dystopian fantasy was a big seller. I didn’t enjoy reading this, but I read enough to learn how it was put together and how it worked.

If you approach an agent with your work, your cover letter should contain the type of book and the word count.

Something like, “My novel, THE DARKLING, is a 90,000 word gothic thriller that explores the physical manifestation of a desperate need for love.” This gives a look at the type, size, and thematic elements. Gothic says 90

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it’s horror, and thriller addresses the pacing of the story and the stakes. This allows the agent (or editor) to go through their mental rolodex to think about a home for this book. Who’s looking for this type of fiction? It also allows them to decide if it’s a book they’d enjoy reading. You don’t want an agent trying to sell something he or she doesn’t love.

Knowing the genre elements can also help a writer stay on track. If you’re writing a thriller, you might not want to slow the pace with a long, lengthy, tender love scene. In a thriller, nothing should interfere with the pace. Just as in a tender romance you don’t want a chain-sawing villain to make an appearance.

Most of us write instinctively, based on our hours and days and years of reading. That’s how I wrote my first books.

There was no internet, no on-line articles or classes or really any way for me to connect with other writers. Now writers have the internet, conferences, lectures, and classes on-line. It’s a much different world. And editors and agents expect writers to know the business. Writing a great book isn’t enough any more. I hate saying that, but I believe it to be true.

The more you know about what you’re writing, the cleaner and more focused your writing will be. Your chances of getting an agent or a bigger audience increase with everything you learn. Your ad placement depends on your genre.

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fabulous, has the business side to it. It can’t all be just the creative. Oh, how I wish it could.

Good luck with your writing.

Carolyn Haines has over eighty published works under her belt including mysteries, thrillers, suspense, horror, gothic southern fiction, literary fiction, and nonfiction.

She’s received too many awards to mention including: The Harper Lee Award for Alabama's Distinguished Writer and the Eugene Current-Garcia Award for Alabama's Distinguished Literary Scholar.

The Alabama Library Association honored Carolyn Haines, a long-time assistant professor of creative writing at the University of South Alabama and an internationally recognized author, with its second Lifetime Achievement Award.

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And in March of 2020, Carolyn was a 2020 inductee into the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame.

Watch her workshop on Kathy L. Murphy’s YouTube channel here.

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The Storytellers Grace Sammon

My earliest childhood memories are of bedtime stories from “the big red book.” I can tell you with certainty that the book was huge, and heavy, and well-worn by the brothers that preceded me. I vividly remember my twoyear-old self almost tumbling down the stairs carrying this immense and weighty tome in anticipation of whatever story would unfold. The book was The Illustrated Treasury of Children’s Literature, five hundred and twelve pages of enchantment, wrapped in a book that, in truth, only measures 10” x 7” x 2” and weighs just over a pound.

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I know because it sits on my bookshelf as I write this with all the poems, fables of Aesop, and the stories of “Aladdin,” “The Jungle Book,” and hundreds more waiting for me all in one place There was something magical about not only the story, but the power of the storytelling that I understood even as a child. I was aware that these were not the works of a single hand. The stories and poems had different nuances and rhythms, reflected different times, voices, and cultures. For better or worse, within the limitations of their times, the pages of that book opened my world to people different than me. “The Little Match Girl” exposed me to poverty. “Little Black Sambo” – who I thought very brave to engage with that tiger – was the first Black face I saw. “Amahl and the Night Visitor” showed me a handicapped boy. These stories opened my world in a way life experiences did not. Unbeknownst to me, as I sat in the big red chair, snuggled close to my father reading from this magical book, seeds were being sown in this young storyteller.

In each of my jobs I have been the writer on staff. That was not my designation, but it emerged to be true that I was looked upon to write the brochures or newsletters, or design content. The Eves is my fourth book. My others are in the field of education. It was with the writing of my first book and a trip to New Mexico to work in a Bureau of Indian Affairs school in Wingate, however, that really laid the stage for the work I do today. On a quick dash into the Old Town Albuquerque plaza, I saw it. A small, very ISSUE NO. 8

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“storyteller” sculpture. This $5.00 figure of what appeared to be a woman with children climbing on her spoke to me and said, “You must write the stories.” To this day, she is one of my prize possessions.

The storyteller figure originated in the Native American Cochiti tribe with a potter named Helen Cordero. Many other tribes have chosen to also make storytellers, as oral history is so much a part of the Native American culture.

Lore has it that because Cordero wasn’t very good at making pots, she started making figures of her grandfather, the storyteller in her family. Her figures are amazing and feature her grandfather, long braid down his back, his mouth open, mid-story. There are always children climbing on the figure, engaged, excited, scared, agog.

That is the feeling I wanted to capture in The Eves that the story not only engages us, but changes us.

This author life is an interesting one, at least to me. Even in a time of pandemic it opens doors, solidifies friendships and, of course, provides the foundation for new stories.

Today’s author markets, creates mailing lists, and blogs, and writes newsletters, and podcasts, and posts, and then wakes up the next day and does it all again. Eighteen months ago, I had no social media presence, no “friends,” and thought this virtual world was a rather silly place. I still don’t have a mailing list or newsletter. Today, I have true friends and have learned an immense amount through the kindness of strangers.

Last May I was interviewed by Dr. Gayle Carson, owner 96

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of the Spunky Old Broad Radio Network - a station and a woman very much about legacy. Gayle passed away in August but not before offering me my own radio show to share more stories.

It was meant to be, but like most of my professional life, wholly unplanned. What emerged was my show, The Storytellers – dedicated to authors and others who leave their mark on the world through the art of story. I interview authors, reporters, photographers, and song writers who, for whatever the reason, have to tell stories.

We air an episode weekly that runs in 145 countries and then lives on as a podcast. I try to bring the stories that will, like “the big read book” bring a series of voices, cultures, and experiences to listeners. As you know, there are many of us out here. Bloggers and podcasters and radio hosts that want to share the art of story. There are many people for me to continue to learn from, enjoy their blogs and their posts, and their amazing podcasts. We are all storytellers. The stories matter, because, as I say in the tag line to The Eves, “when our stories are told, everything changes.” I invite you to listen to The Storyteller episodes on my website www.gracesammon.net and perhaps, tell your own.

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Woof, Warp, and Words Janet Oakley

Blonde on Blonde

Though history and writing historical fiction are my passions, I have always done something in art. In second grade I made illustrations for my Funny Bunny book series, in high school I did illustrations for our creative writing publications and, during my first round of college where I got my BA in American History, I made masks for theater productions. But it was a loom in a little town in New Hampshire that led me to textile arts.

A year after graduating, I flew out to Hawaii on a one-way 98

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ticket where I took an art class at the University of Hawaii Manoa with the serious intent to get a degree. Our first lesson was to close our eyes and feel a lychee nut in our hands and study its prickly texture. From there, sitting under a Banyon tree, we peeled it, smelled it, and then tasted its perfumy fruit as smooth as a skinned grape. But I digress.

My first real crack at a craft was throwing pots in an old Quonset hut on the edge of the campus. This was something I always wanted to do. I felt ceramics would help in my understanding of how things worked in historical times. At that time, I was very interested in 19th century life, particularly pioneers. I learned a lot in those classes, hand-building, throwing on a kick wheel and all sorts of things to do with clay, but it was on my third attempt to fire my pots with a glaze I had made up (this was in the pre-computer days where a lot of math was involved) the pots came out far different than I imagined. I was not only disappointed, but frustrated. I wasn’t sure what to do. I left the hut and wandered down to George Hall on campus where many of the art classes were held.

Down a hall I heard banging. I had found the loom room.

Immediately, I recalled that old loom in New Hampshire and entered in.

What can I say about weaving? First off, it’s harder than it looks. Once I learned what woof or weft and warp were, I spent my first quarter in the loom room crying because my beater fell forward and all my ends went through the reed or I got tangled up on the warping board or I broke a ISSUE NO. 8

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thread. By my second quarter having survived the first, I knew how to fix a broken thread on the loom, and calculate a project. Most of all, I had what I had missed in ceramics: I had instant color from my choice of yarns and could control it.

For the next two years I sat at the back of the loom room working on various assignments that ranged from traditional herringbone patterns and Bronson lace to double weave. After I graduated with a BFA, I went on to become an apprentice with one of Hawaii’s most famous weavers, Ruthadell Anderson. She created large weavings for hotels and businesses, but most famously wove the massive weavings that grace the Hawaii state senate and legislature. It was a wonderful experience. Years later, I was able to thank her.

When we moved down to Hilo on the Big Island, I taught weaving through Hilo Adult Ed and the community college. I also set up my own studio where I produced textiles to sell at the farmer’s 100

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market. I was commissioned to create several wall

hangings, one of these was a tapestry for the manager of Brewer Chemical—a scene of cane fields behind the town of Hilo.

During this time, I was invited to put on a group show with another weaver and a ceramic artist at the town’s art center. I was already experimenting with large doubleweave wall hangings that were stuffed. I also took traditional patterns like honeycomb and blew them up to ISSUE NO. 8

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create wall hangings woven on warp normally used for rug making.

Another technique was to weave a straight piece of cloth and then fold them into “kites.” My wall hanging, Turkey Kill, is an example of that.

Today, I’m busy writing so much that I seldom get to the loom to do a big project like a wall hanging, but I love secretly weaving scarves for friends. My large floor loom sits behind me, with warp on and ready to go. When I need a break from weaving words, I slip over and bang out a new story made of colors and fibers soft to the hand. Soon I’m lost in the rhythm of throwing the shuttle boat across the beater sley, drawing me back to my first encounter with a loom in that little house in New Hampshire.

Woof, warp and words. My happy place.

Janet Oakley is the author of The Quisling Factor

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THE PULPWOOD QUEENS' TIARA WEARING, BOOK SHARING, GUIDE TO LIFE celebrates female friendship, sisterhood, and the transformative power of reading. It includes life principles and motivational anecdotes, hilarious and heart-warming stories of friendships among the Queens, and stories from Kathy about the books that have inspired her throughout her life, complete with personalized suggested book lists.

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Enjoy an excerpt from THE Pulpwood Queen Kathy L. Murphy’s book - it’s recommended reading for everyone who is interested in knowing what it means to be a Pulpwood Queen.

“Kathy L. Murphy is the real thing, and she will get America reading if she has to go door-to-door to do it.

After you read this, you’ll want to be a Pulpwood Queen too!” Iris Rainer Dart, author of Beaches and Some Kind of Miracle.

CHAPTER 4 Books Saved Me “The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.”

—Mark Twain

In school I applied the same strategy for survival that I used at home. I would become invisible. I hated calling attention to myself as a child. Not only was I painfully shy then, but I also hoped to hide the fact that I wasn’t getting the hang of reading. If I didn’t understand something in our reading lessons, I would just let it go. Better not to understand than to go through the humiliation of calling ISSUE NO. 8

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attention to myself.

It is ironic now to think about it, but reading didn’t come easily to me.

I suffered through read-aloud time in school, terrified that the other kids would laugh at my halting style. Although I can’t ever recall this happening, just knowing that all eyes would be on me when my turn came made even the anticipation unbearable. I couldn’t wait for read-aloud time to be over so I could slink back into my seat and fade back into the woodwork. I always chose a seat in the very last row, preferably behind a boy who was bigger and taller than me, so I could hide behind him. My teachers would always move me, though, as they liked to seat you alphabetically back then.

My rule was never to make eye contact with the teacher.

You never had to raise your hand in class if you knew the answer, because when you made direct eye contact, they would call on you every time. During class discussions I sweated bullets and prayed my teacher (pretty much all the teachers were women in those days) wouldn’t call on me.

Not because I didn’t know the answer, but because I would have to speak out loud in front of the class. I would become physically sick just thinking about getting up in front of the class. It worked. I didn’t get called on too often.

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grades, my teachers really didn’t pay much attention to me.

I did everything I possibly could to avoid calling attention to myself. I succeeded in my goal because I became an invisible student.

Once there was a flicker of recognition that I existed, and I was caught for a moment in my teacher’s eye. In the first grade, my teacher called in my mother for a conference.

She’d finally noticed me because I had sores on my legs, which were infected mosquito bites. She had called my mother in to speak to her about my legs, because the school nurse had informed my teacher I had impetigo. I needed a doctor’s attention immediately.

Mother, dressed to the nines, took me out of school and bad-mouthed me, the teacher, and the school nurse all the way to the doctor’s office. She was madder than hell that this woman had reprimanded her for what my teacher and the school nurse perceived as medical neglect.

The teacher, ever alert, was watching me. I was no longer sailing under her radar. A strict disciplinarian with high academic standards, she called in my mother once more that year.

“Kathy is just not picking up reading, Mrs. Murphy,” she explained. “May I suggest you get her some reading workbooks?”

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I knew that behind that perfectly innocent smile lay hell to pay, because I’d made her look bad in front of a teacher.

Needless to say, after our meeting, my reading did not improve.

I continued to lag behind, growing more miserable and more self-conscious every year. That is, until I met Mrs. Boulden.

Mrs. Boulden was my fourth-grade teacher. She was a statuesque woman with a big, warm smile and an expansive personality. She was larger than life in every way. She loved clothes and dressed unlike any teacher I’d ever seen. At a time when the accepted fashion among Northside Elementary School teachers was suits, preferably in a subdued, pastel shade of blue or rose, Mrs. Boulden wore brightly colored, flowing scarves, ponchos, and large ethnic jewelry. In winter she even wore a big flowing cape. We kids loved her. She was our Mary Poppins and, just like the British nanny with her umbrella landing smack dab in front of the door of her new charges, Mrs. Boulden entered our fourth-grade classroom stern, firm, and definitely eccentric.

Mrs. Boulden was a bit more than the good citizens of Eureka were used to, but she was left to do her job as she saw fit. She was commanding and wealthy. She was a perfect example of the old saying “Money talks.” No one ever questioned her in any form or fashion. I know she 108

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went to Europe every summer, and she always brought back unusual tins and packages of food for her students to try: smoked oysters, sardines, butter crackers from France, and, one time, escargots.

She was rumored to have been married more than once, each time to a wealthy man. No one knew for sure, and it was the source of endless speculation among our mothers when they gathered at PTA meetings. Just like Mary Poppins, Mrs. Boulden was a mystery. I didn’t fully understand the implications of Mrs. Boulden’s marital or economic status at the time. I thought of her as older than Methuselah, but I think she was younger than I am now, probably in her forties.

Her standards were high and we all rose to the occasion.

She was passionate about literature and the arts, and she did her best to pass that enthusiasm on to the children of Eureka, who accepted it in varying degrees. As for me, she changed my life completely.

To read the rest of the story, pick up a copy of Kathy L. Murphy’s book, THE PULPWOOD QUEENS' TIARA WEARING, BOOK SHARING, GUIDE TO LIFE

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Introducing Populus Alba de la Plumeria

My name is Populus Alba de la Plumeria. Some people call me Popi to which I occasionally respond, depending upon their reason for addressing me.

I like to pluck rose petals off fresh flower arrangements. It makes for both a delicious snack and a constant annoyance for the human. Win-win. Plotting my escape is my favorite pastime. Do I have any "pet" peeves? Besides my unjust imprisonment? Yes. As a matter of fact I do. People always think I am female because of my beauty. am not female. I am a manly cat with a powerful presence.

Surely that should be evident to all who behold me.

But alas... humans can be so obtuse.

Popi belongs to Rebecca Winn

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Upcoming Events For Our Members *Taken from our Calendar of Events All events will be posted on The International Pulpwood Queen and Timber Guy Reading Nation Facebook page and on Kathy L. Murphy's YouTube Channel. We encourage everyone to join us live in 2021. Each event is an opportunity to show support, share stories, and make connections!

Join Kathy L. Murphy and Robert Gwaltney every Saturday at 6:30pm CST for The Pulpwood Queen Book to Film Club. Links to join are posted on our private PQ Facebook groups under Events.

Guest Host schedule for The Pulpwood Queen Presents Her Picks: Nov 1st-7th Nov 8th-14th Nov 15th-21st Nov 22nd-29th Nov 30th-Dec5th 114

Patricia Sands T. K. Thorne Steve Wiegenstein Tamra McAnally Bolton Laura Kemp

READING NATION MAGAZINE UPCOMING EVENTS

Featured Author Schedule for Tuesday Night Online Book Club Links to join are posted on our private PQ Facebook groups under Events.

Nov 2nd Nov 9th Nov 15th Nov 23rd Nov 31st

Patricia Sands T. K. Thorne Steve Wiegenstein Tamra McAnally Bolton Laura Kemp

Writing Workshop (2nd Saturday of each month at 10am CST) Email Kathy L. Murphy thepulpwoodqueen@gmail.com for the link up to one hour prior to the event.

November 14th – Eileen Sanchez

Memoir vs Fiction: Did That Really Happen?

Synopsis of Workshop: In this workshop you will learn how to decide to tell an important life event. When your writing is based on personal experience, you can choose to present it as fiction or non-fiction. As her memoir unfolded on the page unexpected issues arose. What was the best way to tell the story? Why was this an important story to tell? Who will the audience be? From point of view to privacy, participants will learn the decision points between memoir and fiction. Tell your story. Examples from six authors of fiction and memoir will be shared.

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Pat Conroy Literary Center 601 Bladen Street Beaufort, SC 29902 Thursday through Sunday noon-4:00 p.m.

Other times available by appointment

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If you’re an author member and would like to purchase a page (or more) to feature your book, I have several pages left in upcoming issues for 2021. (I’ll be taking orders for 2022 soon ) If you’re a member of the International Pulpwood Queen or Timber Guy Book Club and have a story you’d like to share in the READING NATION MAGAZINE, I’d love to hear it. Book Club Members that includes you!

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READING NATION MAGAZINE FYI

We love our readers and you will always have a place in the magazine to share your news.

I’m looking for pets to feature on our If Our Pets Could Talk page, authors’ art, photos of your local bookstores, and libraries.

Send orders for pages, stories, as well as any questions about the magazine, to readingnationmagazine@gmail.com

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After the first black supervisor in a Texas oil refinery is murdered, there’s a damning confession—but the witness will never testify.

A tale of murder, sex, racial conflict, and labor strife on the Texas Gulf Coast in 1980.

What Seems True was inspired by a true crime that took place in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1979, a crime for which the shooter has never been convicted or even tried. I was there when a real-life Texas Ranger came to a Texaco oil refinery’s asphalt plant to investigate the murder of the plant’s first African-American supervisor. While this outcome seems an injustice that cannot be corrected, what continues to intrigue the author is the psychological aspects of the case: the motives of the people involved and the nature of their relationships. What Seems True uses a similar fictional murder and situation to examine those relationships and motives—which may not be as clear cut as they seem at first blush. The novel is also a story about the fraught relationships of workers—white and black, male and female—in a gritty industrial setting on the Texas Gulf Coast in 1980, a time and place where the 1964 Civil Rights Act still provided minorities and women only a glimmer of hope for workplace equality.

"Award-winning author, J. D. Garrison returns with East Texas mayhem in the crime fiction novel, WHAT SEEMS TRUE. These larger-than-life characters deliver an entertaining read of lust, oil, good old boys, and one femme fatale."—Johnnie Bernhard, author of SISTERS OF THE UNDERTOW "Smart and sensual, atmospheric, you can feel the humidity of the Texas Gulf Coast, smell the smoke-filled boardrooms and musty motels, the exhaust belching forth from the refinery that lights up the night sky like a fairyland in James Garrison's latest novel, What Seems True ... A savvy tale full of grit and grime and passion, vivid characters, and a male narrator who will appeal to

both men and women. You will find yourself rooting for Attorney Dan Esperson, even when you are cringing at some of his choices ... I highly recommend it."—Kathleen M. Rodgers, Winner of the 2020 MWSA Founder's Award and author of THE FLYING CUTTERBUCKS Jim Garrison is a recovering lawyer who lives and writes in Houston, Texas. Born in Statesville, North Carolina, he attended the University of North Carolina, where he nurtured his interest in creative writing, and Duke University Law School. After his first year in law school, he took a long sabbatical at Uncle Sam’s expense to tour the Mekong Delta, along with a couple of side jaunts to Tokyo and Sydney, whetting his appetite to visit exotic places. He arrived home from Vietnam on Christmas morning in 1970 and returned to Duke Law School the next month. After graduation and marriage to his best friend (providing them the occasion for travel to South America), he set out on a first career practicing law in a boutique law firm and then with big oil corp., visiting such exotic places as Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, and Port Arthur, Texas. Following a corporate merger in which he was paid to go away, he decided to stay home for the kids, one living in Berlin, Germany, the other in Delaware—just in case they called. And they did call. That’s when he started writing QL 4, which he’d been mulling over for years.

His wife and still best friend, June, is a clarinetist who really would have preferred he not stay home for the kids. Aside from literature and writing, Jim’s interests include travel, exercise, and good food, preferably with candlelight and a nice, reasonably priced wine.