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Take a Spin in the Time Travel Machine of Author Elizabeth Crowens

2/26/2020

Welcome to the Coffee Chat!

This week we’re sharing book talk with author Elizabeth Crowens and taking a look at her Scifi/Fantasy time-travel novel, A Pocketful of Lodestones.
Good morning, Elizabeth! How do you take your coffee?

EC: Light with ¾ teaspoon of honey or one packet of raw sugar.

Ally: That's easy enough. While I get our drinks, please introduce yourself to readers.

Bio:

Elizabeth Crowens has worn many hats in Hollywood for over 20 years, is a black belt in martial arts, a Sherlock Holmes fan and is a contributor to Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Black Belt Magazine and of author interviews for Black Gate, an award-winning speculative fiction online magazine. She also has short stories in the Hell’s Heart anthology and the Bram Stoker Award nominated anthology, A New York State of Fright.

She has two award-winning alternate history novels, Silent Meridian and A Pocketful of Lodestones from the Time Traveler Professor series and also writes in the Hollywood mystery genre and tends to inject her work with black humor. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, the Horror Writers Association, the Authors Guild and is an invested member of the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes. www.elizabethcrowens.com

Something unique that isn’t in your regular bio: “I won a car in a raffle when I was thirteen years old, but my father refused to let me have it when I turned sixteen and old enough to drive. I wrote about the incident in the mystery novel I’m currently working on, but I let the situation happen to my protagonist, instead.”

Author Contacts:

Website: https://www.elizabethcrowens.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ECrowens
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.crowens

INTERVIEW:

Ally: Given your own interest in fantasy, if you met JK Rowling, what would you talk about?

EC: We’d talk about Edinburgh where she’s lived for years and still lives now. Edinburgh is such a magical city. There’s little doubt how it could’ve been inspirational. We also have something in common in the fact that we were both single mom’s struggling to make a go at a writing career. Somehow, she managed to write and survive and I didn’t, which was most likely because I worked in the film industry with long, insane hours. This was also before the time where laptops were available to bring on set. I’d like to hear directly from her as to how she did it.

Ally: You’re thrown through a black hole into an unknown world, what book hero would you want with you? Why?

EC: Sherlock Holmes. If you compared us to characters on Star Trek, I’d be more like Bones, smart but very emotional, and he’d be more like Spock. I’d need someone more logical, more analytical and with a good track record of keeping a cool head under stress. Spock would be a good second choice, but he’s a TV hero, not a book hero.

Ally: Do you write on a desktop, laptop or on paper? Why? Does it make a difference whether it’s a first or last draft?

EC: I’ve tried, but I hate writing on my laptop. I still have an outdated 17” MacBook Pro with special software installed for specific professional reasons, but it was too heavy to travel with so I got a 12” MacAir. It’s great for research and notes at conferences when I travel, but I can’t see the document large enough for any kind of editing. In fact, I have a heck of a time simply editing an email on such a small screen. I’m hooked on my 27” desktop model where I can see two full-sized documents side by side. Unfortunately, I have carpal tunnel in my writing hand, so it’s difficult for me to write on paper. Even if I’m taking notes in a seminar, it’s much easier for me to do it on my laptop or record it, if allowable.

Ally: If your house was burning (your family and pets are already out safe), what one thing would you try to save? Why?

EC: My time machine, and by that I mean the backup drive attached to my iMac 27” desktop computer. It’s ironic that I write about time travel, and I’d save my time machine. It’s 4TB and contains all of my writing files and graphics files worth saving.

Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?

EC: I write in two genres: alternate history and Hollywood mystery. Currently, I’m finishing up my third novel in the mystery series, and I’ve been querying to get a new agent, because I don’t want to settle for a small press with no presence or distribution. Also, I picture that series easily adapted for Netflix or Amazon, so unfortunately I don’t have a release date on that yet. Regarding the alternate history/Time Traveler Professor series, Book Three has been a work-in-progress with a lot already written, and historical fiction always takes a bit longer because of the massive, required research. Its title will be The Time Traveler Professor, Book Three: A War in Too Many Worlds, and the cover is already done. It would be optimistic to say it will be out by late fall 2020. More likely, it will be released in 2021. What I can reveal is it will start in 1917, (there’s a movie by that title up for Oscars right now) when our protagonist, John Patrick Scott working for British intelligence, is sent to work undercover as a spy in Berlin.

Ally: Which of the short answer questions did you pick?

EC:
a. an author (living or dead) you'd love to take to lunch: Can I pick two? Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells who are both featured in my Time Traveler Professor series. I’d love to pick both their brains, either separately or together, and I’ve read a lot of their biographies as research for my novels.
b. ebook or print? I collect antiquarian books for research. For those, I prefer them in print, and often they are only available in print. For new works, I prefer them on Kindle. I can adjust the type, slip a Kindle inside a small purse, and I read three times as fast on Kindle. Sometimes, I’ve had to purchase a print book and still buy the Kindle, because the type was too small to read. I hate when that happens. Also, I live in Manhattan and am running out of space to store physical books.
c. best place you’ve ever visited: It has to be Scotland. If I had the money, I’d get a flat and live there a few months out of the year. It’s also one of the many reasons why I had my hero come from Scotland, although I have to admit I started writing the first book before I had ever traveled there. However, I couldn’t finish it until I did.
d. the supernatural character that got you hooked on the genre: I guess you could consider a Jedi knight as having supernatural abilities. In that case it would be Obi-wan Kenobi. I consider Star Wars both science fiction and fantasy, because of The Force, which is actually based on chi or ki in martial arts. After the first Star Wars was released in 1977, that was the push I needed to start training in martial arts. Eventually, I got my black belt in Japan. If you asked me which movies were the most influential of steering me in the direction of Hollywood, it would be Star Wars and A Clockwork Orange, which also includes almost all of Stanley Kubrick’s other films, as well.
e. a supernatural ability you’d love to have: Being a shape-shifter. I just think it’s super cool and would be a much better choice than making oneself invisible.

Ally: It’s been a pleasure talking with you, Elizabeth. Before you go, please tell us about A Pocketful of Lodestones.

A Pocketful of Lodestones (The Time Traveler Professor, Book Two)
Genre: SF/F: alternate history/fictional memoir/time travel

In 1914, the war to end all wars turns the worlds of John Patrick Scott, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Rebecca West and Harry Houdini upside down. Doyle goes back to ancient China in his hunt for that “red book” to help him write his Sherlock Holmes stories. Scott is hell-bent on finding out why his platoon sergeant has it out for him, and they both discover that during the time of Shakespeare every day is a witch-hunt in London. Is the ability to travel through time the ultimate escape from the horrific present, or do ghosts from the past come back to haunt those who dare to spin the Wheel of Karma?
The Time Traveler Professor, Book Two: A Pocketful of Lodestones, sequel to Silent Meridian, combines the surrealism of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five with the supernatural allure of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell set during WWI on the Western Front. • First Prize winner of the Chanticleer Review’s Paranormal Fiction Awards.

Buy Links:

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RQ7DFL6
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1950384055

Signed paperbacks (same price):
USA:
https://www.mysteriousbookshop.com/products/elizabeth-crowens-the-time-traveller-professor-a-pocketful-of-lodestones-to-be-signed?_pos=1&_sid=b7eaacf5b&_ss=r

London: The Atlantis Bookshop http://theatlantisbookshop.com/

Thanks for Stopping!

Author Gayle Carline Talks About Writing And The End Of A Series

2/19/2020

Welcome to the Coffee Chat!

This week’s guest author is Gayle Carline, featuring her mystery book, MURDER BYTES.

I’m delighted to meet you, Gayle. How do you take your coffee?

GC: I like it black, although sometimes I will splurge for a latte. Medium Roast. I’m partial to a whisper of vanilla or hazelnut.

Ally: Perfect. While I pour, please tell readers a little about yourself.

Bio:

GAYLE CARLINE is the award-winning author of the Peri Minneopa Mystery series, as well as a weekly columnist for the Placentia News-Times. When she’s not writing, she teaches workshops at conferences about writing and publishing. Gayle lives in southern California with her husband and four-legged menagerie.

Something not in your regular bio: “I own three horses, one of which I show competitively in AQHA events. The other two are at a horsey retirement home, being lawn ornaments.”

Author contact links:

http://gaylecarline.com
http://gaylecarline.blogspot.com
http://facebook.com/AuthorGayleCarline
http://twitter.com/GayleCarline

INTERVIEW:

Ally: Why did you write your featured book?

GC: I wrote MURDER BYTES with a couple of goals in mind. One is that it’s the “next” installment in my Peri Minneopa Mystery series, and I had decided that the character’s arc was coming to a completion. So “next” became “last.” Also, a lovely woman had won a silent auction with my books and the promise to have her name in the next one. She wanted her husband’s name, instead (thank God his name is not John Smith). I HAD to write the book!

Ally: Do you write with a theme or message in mind?

GC: I’m always writing to theme. My books are very character-driven, and they are working on something personal while the bullets fly around them, so to speak. In my first mystery, FREEZER BURN, it was about the ambiguous feelings women might have about pregnancy. In my second, HIT OR MISSUS, Peri is 50 and doesn’t know where she fits in, in the fashion-and-body-consciousness world. Seems like a trite theme, and yet it can define a woman whether she likes it or not.

Ally: Do you know the book’s ending before you start writing? How specific is it? Does it ever change?

GC: True confession: I rarely know who the killer is until I get to the end of the book. After 5 mysteries and 1 romantic suspense, I’ve accepted the fact that I begin the book thinking the murderer is X, and know it will be someone else by the end. When I write, I usually have a general structure written down, but in between I’m a pantser.

Ally: You’re thrown through a black hole into an unknown world, what book hero would you want with you? Why?

GC: It would be someone smart enough to talk their way out of trouble, but strong enough to do battle if it came to that, probably Edmond Dantes (the Count of Monte Cristo), Jean Valjean, or John Carter (Edgar Rice Burroughs’ hero of Mars). Or Chyna Shepperd from Dean Koontz’s INTENSITY. She’s badass.

Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?

GC: I’m actually in process of editing a fantasy I wrote, called BLOOD DRAGON RISING. Girl pirates and dragons and all. It will be at least a two-parter, if not a trilogy. I’d like to have it out next year, but we shall see, won’t we?

Ally: Which of the short answer questions did you choose?

GC:
a. memorable book you’ve read: A Prayer for Owen Meany
g. a movie you’ll always remember: The Big Sleep
m. If you were a color, what would it be? Purple. Mostly I’m cool blue, but occasionally my red temper flares.
o. favorite quote: “It’s not the years, honey, it’s the miles.”
t. Your pets: Duffy is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Lady Spazzleton is a Golden Retriever, Dhani (All Hats Off) is a Quarter Horse, as are Frostie (One Zip in Time) and Snoopy (My Flashy Investment). Snoopy wrote his memoir, FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH. It’s pretty good.

Ally: It was a pleasure to have you, Gayle. I hope you'll come back and tell us about your fantasy when it's released. But today, I'd love to hear more about MURDER BYTES, the finale of your Peri Minneopa series.

MURDER BYTES (Peri Minneopa Mystery #5)
Genre: Mystery
Rating: PG-13

“Peri has had enough. She’s closing her business, marrying her detective boyfriend, and settling down to a life of ease–until her brother shows up, accused of a murder he swears he didn’t commit.

Now she’s back in the thick of things, investigating the death of an engineer who may have been stealing techno-secrets from other companies. Her relationship with her brother is an icy one, at best, and she struggles with her ambivalence, as well as her desire to leave investigative work behind. Digging around in people’s lives is reasonably easy, but when the bullets start flying, will Peri be able to keep her promise?”

Buy links:

Amazon:
eBook: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Bytes-Peri-Minneopa-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B083S4G7VT
PB: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Bytes-Peri-Minneopa-Mystery/dp/194365414X
HB: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Bytes-Peri-Minneopa-Mystery/dp/1943654158

Barnes & Noble:
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-bytes-gayle-carline/1136159841?ean=9781943654147

See you all next week!

Meet Cozy Mystery Author Dianne Ascroft

2/12/2020

Happy Valentine’s Week!

Are you ready for book talk and to meet another author? This week’s guest is Dianne Ascroft with her featured cozy mystery book, Out of Options.
Good morning, Dianne. What may I get you to drink?

DA: I’m a tea drinker (milk, no sugar) but when I drink coffee, it’s a caramel latte.

Ally: Let’s go with what you prefer. While I pour your tea and my coffee, please tell readers about yourself.

Bio:

Dianne Ascroft is a Canadian who has settled in rural Northern Ireland. She and her husband live on a small farm with an assortment of strong-willed animals. She is currently writing the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries series. Out of Options is the prequel to the series. Her previous fiction works include The Yankee Years series of novels and short reads, set in Northern Ireland during the Second World War; An Unbidden Visitor (a tale inspired by Fermanagh’s famous Coonian ghost); Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves: A Collection of Short Stories (contemporary tales), and an historical novel, Hitler and Mars Bars, which explores Operation Shamrock, a little known Irish Red Cross humanitarian endeavour.

Something not in your regular bio: “For many years I played the Scottish bagpipes in pipe bands wherever I was living (Canada, Scotland and Northern Ireland), and I still love Scottish and Irish folk music.”

Author contact links:

Website: https://www.dianneascroft.com
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/DianneAscroftwriter
Twitter: @DianneAscroft
Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/y1k5c3

INTERVIEW:

Ally: When a reader opens a Dianne Ascroft book, what can they expect?

DA: I write cozy mystery set in a small town in Canada, and historical fiction set in Northern Ireland during World War II. My books are all PG.

Ally: Why did you write your featured book?

DA: In A Timeless Celebration, the first novel in my series, Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries, I made references to the main character Lois Stone’s life in Toronto before she moved to Fenwater, and to the events that occurred which made her decide to move to a small town. I had this backstory very firmly in my mind when I wrote the first book in the series so I decided to write a prequel novella to let readers see Lois’s life in Toronto and what happened to upend it, causing her to move to the town where the rest of the series is set. This backstory became my prequel novella, Out of Options.

Ally: Do the people in your real life show up in your writing? In what way?

DA: I don’t usually include people from my real life in my books but I do use some of the characteristics and quirks of people I know as facets of a character. But my characters don’t closely resemble anyone I know. They mostly just escape from my imagination and run free to do whatever they please.

There is one exception to this. In many ways, though not entirely, Lois Stone, the main character in my cozy mystery series, is rather like me. After years of doing detailed historical research for my previous historical fiction series, I decided that my cozy mysteries wouldn’t involve a huge amount of research. So, as I created Lois, I deliberately used some of my own likes and dislikes to bring her to life. I also borrowed her name from the first and last names of two women whom I admire and are important to me (my mother and one of her best friends).

Ally: Tell us about your reading habits. Favorite genres. Books read per month, year? Print or ebooks? Current favorites?

DA: I read a wide variety of fiction, contemporary women’s fiction and historical fiction as well as mystery and romance. I look for stories that feature memorable characters, and settings that nearly jump off the page. And the plot has to grip me too, of course. Most of my reading is done on an ereader but I do still take paperback books with me on long bus and airplane journeys. I read several books per month but I don’t actually keep track of exactly how many.

Ally: What three books in your genre would you recommend to fans (after they’ve read your books, of course!).

DA: In the cozy mystery and traditional mystery genres Leighann Dobbs, Anne R. Tan and Deborah Garner are authors I really enjoy. In the historical fiction genre, I’m a fan of Diana Gabaldon and Manda (M.C.) Scott. When an author has the ability to breathe life into characters, unveil complex stories and create vivid settings, I’m hooked. I love stories that come alive in my mind.

Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?

DA: The Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries series is my focus for the foreseeable future. So I’m working on the second book in the series and then will write the next one and the next one…Book 2 should be ready to release early this summer. It’s a tale that revolves around the theft of a very important town heirloom from the fall fair just before the item is to be raffled for charity.

Ally: Which quick answer questions did you choose?

DA:

a. memorable book you’ve read – The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
b. most beloved comic book character – Charlie Brown (though I remember him from comic strips in the newspaper rather than comic books).
c. favorite comfort food – arrowroot biscuits
d. last time you rode a train (not subway) – last summer when I went to Dublin to have lunch with a group of writer friends.
e. Your hobbies – walking in the countryside, taking photos of anything that catches my attention, playing ‘football/soccer’ with my cat (she has great control of the ball and never tires of passing it back and forth).

Ally: It was a pleasure to meet you, Dianne. Before you leave today, please show us your featured book, Out of Options.

Out of Options (A Century Cottage Cozy Mystery)
Genre: cozy mystery
Rating: PG

A dry district, a shocking secret, a missing person. When Lois Stone’s friend, Beth Darrow, arranges to meet her to reveal an astonishing discovery, Lois’s curiosity is piqued. Then Beth doesn’t keep their lunch date and Lois becomes worried. What has happened to her friend?

Middle-aged widow Lois is settling into life on her own in her neighbourhood and in the library where she works, and she is just about coping with her fear of strangers after her husband was mugged and died in the park at the end of their street. But her quiet existence is rocked when her friend and fellow local historical society researcher, Beth, arranges to meet her to reveal an exciting and shocking discovery she has made about the history of prohibition in West Toronto Junction, the last dry area in Toronto, and then goes missing before she can share her secret with Lois. There isn’t any proof that Beth is missing so the police won’t actively search for her. Only Lois and Beth’s niece Amy are convinced that Beth’s disappearance is very out of character, and they are worried about her. Where has Beth gone? Is she in danger? And, if she is, who might want to harm her and why? Lois knows she must find the answers to these questions fast if she wants to help and protect her friend.

And so begins a weekend of skulking in the park, apple and cinnamon pancakes, familiar faces staring out of old newspapers, calico cats, shadows on the windowpane, and more than one person who might want Beth to disappear from the quiet, leafy streets of the historic and staunchly dry West Toronto Junction neighbourhood.

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Out-Options-Century-Cottage-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07R4GQWQN
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/out-of-options-dianne-ascroft/1131401945
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/out-of-options-5

Book trailer:
https://youtu.be/0iGhqPPYs1U

Mystery Author Judy Alter Loves Writing Historical Fiction

2/5/2020

Welcome to this week's Coffee Chat!

Our guest today is Judy Alter, bringing us her featured book, The Second Battle of the Alamo, which she describes as faction, a blend of fiction and historical facts.
Good Morning, Judy! What may I get you to drink?

JA: I start every day with a cup of green tea with honey. I always drank black coffee, until one day a few years ago I had the flu and coffee tasted awful. I never went back to it.

Ally: No problem. I always keep tea handy too. While I pour, please introduce yourself to readers.

Bio:

Some find it a surprise that I’m not a native Texan since my entire career has been writing about Texas, but the truth is I was born in Chicago more years ago than I care to disclose. After a brief college adventure in small-town Iowa and a longer period of graduate study in small-town Missouri, I decided I am a city girl and landed in Fort Worth, Texas, where I have lived for over fifty years.

In college I majored in English, because I liked to read, and some man was going to take care of me. That didn’t work out the way I planned, and I had a wonderful career as director of a small academic press. Today, retired, I am the proud single parent of four, the grandmother of seven, and the author of over a hundred books of various kinds and substance. I live in a 600-square-foot cottage with my dog, Sophie.

Something personal about Judy: "My bio rarely includes my cooking, but I am a pretty darn good cook, and I like to experiment, both in cooking and dining out. In my next life, I’d like to come back as a chef—with temperament, back, and feet young enough to stand that life."

Author links:
http://www.judys-stew.blogspot.com, http://www.gourmetonahotplate.blogspot.com
Twitter: @judyalter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/judy.alter and https://www.facebook.com/Judy-Alter-Author-366948676705857/ Amazon: www.amazon.com/Judy-Alter/e/B001H6KPU6
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

INTERVIEW:

Ally: Why did you write your featured book, The Second Battle of the Alamo?

JA: I inherited this project from a friend with a terminal illness. I had known Debra Winegarten had a contract to write this book and had urged her to focus on it, among her several other projects. After she was diagnosed with overwhelming malignancies, she called me from her hospital bed and in her whispery voice said, “Will you write my book?” I immersed myself in Alamo history and loved it, and I like to think I helped Debra find peace about the career she was leaving behind.

Ally: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

JA: I have written all my life and cannot imagine not writing. After being read to a lot as a child, I wrote my first short (really short!) stories at ten, submitted to Seventeen magazine in high school (it came right back), and had a long apprenticeship before I found my niche in writing about Texas, primarily the women of its history. With a detour (twelve books) into mystery, I am now back to Texas subjects with a new-to-me publisher.

Ally: Which of your books is your personal favorite?

JA: Having said that Texas is mostly my subject, I must admit that the book I am most proud of is The Gilded Cage, set in Chicago in the late nineteenth century. A fictional biography of Cissy Honoré Palmer, it covers the Chicago Fire, the labor troubles including the Haymarket and Pullman strikes, and the Columbian Exposition. I am fascinated by Chicago history and will write another book set there if I land on the right topic.

Ally: Tell us about your reading habits. What genres and authors do you enjoy?

JA: Although history is my field, I am a lifelong reader of mysteries, especially well-done cozy mysteries. Some of my favorite authors are Susan Wittig Albert, Cleo Coyle, Diane Mott Davidson, and Carolyn Hart—especially the Death on Demand series. I recently read a couple of Murder, She Wrote books and enjoyed them, after having unfairly judged them as lightweight spinoffs of the TV show. On the less cozy side I enjoy Deborah Crombie, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Dick Francis. I also enjoy food books and am a fan of Ruth Reichl.

Ally: Do you prefer to read series or stand-alones?

JA: When I get lost in a good book, I hate for it to end; if it’s one of a series, I know it will continue, and I can return to that world. I like the comfort of knowing the characters and feeling that I am part of the book.

Ally: Which short answer questions did you choose?

JA:

a. Most memorable book: Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose
b. Book you're currently reading: The Years and the Wind and the Rain, by Steve Smith, a biograph of western author Dorothy M. Johnson
c. An author you'd like to take to lunch: Deborah Crombie
d. Ebook or print? Ebook—I mostly read on my computer, not a pad. I sort of live at my desk.
c: Your pets: Sophie, an eight-year-old Bordoodle (deliberate cross of miniature poodle and border collie). She is whip smart, energetic, loving, and medium well trained. I adore her, and I think it’s mutual.

Ally: It was a pleasure having you, Judy. Good luck with your historical/fiction books. Before you go, tell us more about The Second Battle of the Alamo.

The Second Battle of the Alamo
Genre: Faction, carefully researched history with some fictional scenes woven in.

“By 1900, the tale of the 300 Texians who died in the 1836 battle of the Alamo had already become legend. But to corporate interests in the growing city of San Antonio, the land where that blood was shed was merely a desirable plot of real estate across the street from new restaurants and hotels, with only a few remaining crumbling buildings to tell the tale.

When two women, Adina Emilia De Zavala, the granddaughter of the first vice-president of the Texas Republic, and Clara Driscoll, the daughter of one of Texas’s most prominent ranch families and first bankers, learned of the impending demolition, they hatched a plan to preserve the site—and in doing so, they reinvigorated both the legend and lore of the Alamo and cemented the site’s status as hallowed ground.

These two strong-willed, pioneering women were very different, but the story of how they banded together and how the Alamo became what it is today, despite those differences, is compelling reading for those interested in Texas history and Texas’s larger-than-life personality.”

Book Buy Link (Amazon): www.amazon.com/Second-Battle-Alamo-Texass-Landmark-ebook/dp/B07Y1HB6V6