Today I’m hosting one of my favorite guests – Teagan! She’s so much fun, and a highly creative writer, as evidenced by her book, Three Things Serial. Who else could make short stories out of random things suggested by blog readers? It’s Friday, today is Cinco de Mayo, and the penguin in the question below has the right idea.
The Three Things Serial Story
Hi Teri. It’s great to be at your blog again. When I started my blog (Teagan’s Books) at the end of 2012, I did a few posts. By 2013 I wanted a theme — something more than just talking about my novel (Atonement, Tennessee) each week. That’s how the first of my serials began — The Three Things. I expanded on a writing exercise I developed long ago. (I would ask friends to give me three completely random things. Then I…
In case you needed a boost to get over the midweek hump, I’m here with a launch party!
John W. Howell is one of the most supportive bloggers I know. He’s also a fantastic writer of suspenseful, thrilling fiction. John has just re-launched the first book in the John Cannon trilogy,My GRL.
Not only that, it’s story day at his blog, Fiction Favorites. So be sure to check out the misadventures of Lucas, Alice, and the sheriff.
Now, I’m handing things over to John. He’ll tell you all about the star of this party, My GRL.
Announcing the Re-launch of My GRL
The cover is new and the book edited once again to enhance the experience. What is really nice is the price has been cut for the introduction. You can buy the kindle version for a special introduction price of
$0.99
Here’s the blurb.
John J. Cannon successful San Francisco lawyer takes a well-deserved leave of absence from the firm and buys a boat he names My GRL. He is unaware that his newly purchased boat had already been targeted by a terrorist group. John’s first inkling of a problem is when he wakes up in the hospital where he learns he was found unconscious next to the dead body of the young woman who sold him the boat in the first place. John now stands between the terrorists and the success of their mission. Amazon for the kindle version
Check them out and read the first few pages on Amazon.
Also, you can check out John Cannon’s other two adventures, as well as, the new My GRL at John W. Howell’sAuthor Page
Author Bio
John began his writing as a full-time occupation after an extensive business career. His specialty is thriller fiction novels, but John also writes poetry and short stories. His first book, My GRL, introduces the exciting adventures of the book’s central character, John J. Cannon. The second Cannon novel, His Revenge, continues the adventure, while the final book in the trilogy, Our Justice, launched in September 2016. All books are available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.
John lives in Port Aransas, Texas with his wife and their spoiled rescue pets.
Thanks John! And thanks to all of you for visiting this launch party! Click over to John’s blog (here) and wish him “Bon voyage!”
Terrific Teri Polen interviewed me for her month long celebration of Halloween, called Bad Moon Rising. Be sure to click over to her site and say hello — and check out all the fantastic books she has already featured. Happy Halloween, everyone.
Welcome to Day 25! Today’s featured author is Teagan Geneviene. We’ve had so many stunning covers lately and Teagan’s is no exception. I’m one of the many who miss Sookie Stackhouse and it sounds like Atonement, Tennessee will fill that void perfectly.
Synopsis
Esmeralda Lawton is sick and tired of the big city. “Ralda” was betrayed until trust became a theoretical concept. So it’s a dream come true when she buys an old estate, complete with historic cemetery. Okay, she isn’t excited about the cemetery, but she’s strangely drawn to the estate. Atonement, Tennessee, a quaint town, seems like the perfect place for her. However, her new life isn’t quiet.
The house is full of antiques. Some have extraordinary properties — a brass bed causes strange dreams, and a mirror shows the truth of who you are.
A mysterious neighbor secretly watches over the graveyard. There’s more to him than…
Hello everyone. In case you aren’t familiar with her, let me just say that blogger and author Sally G. Cronin is one of the world’s most generous and supportive people. When I saw that she had a new collection of short stories coming out, I volunteered to participate in the book launch. So without further preamble, here’s Sally to introduce her hew book with a little “behind the scenes” look.
Take it away Sally!
Tales From The Garden – Behind the scenes – by Sally Cronin
I have been overwhelmed by the support of fellow bloggers and writers during the launch of Tales from the Garden and was delighted to be invited by Teagan to be a guest and to talk about some behind the scenes background on the book.
As I progressed through the stories it became clear that I would need some more creative input, and when I visited my sister in Portsmouth in the summer I took advantage of her lovely garden to take photographs. Diana and her late husband had spent many years creating inviting and beautifully stocked areas of the garden to sit, catch the sun or inhale the scents of the many flowers they had planted. Miss Ellie who is a black Staffie brought another element to the story Trouble in Paradise and she became the guardian of the fairy king as he lived out his exile. He too originated in Diana’s garden, in a lovely sunlit courtyard at the back of the house.
Writing this book of fairy tales has given me a new perspective on gardens. I have never had a particularly green thumb despite my best efforts. I now have become addicted to sites on flowers and plants and my next garden will be lavished with a great deal more love and attention.
Tales from the Garden is a collection of fairy stories and 80 illustrations, for children of all ages, from five to ninety-five that will change the way you look at your garden forever.
The tales reveal the secrets that are hidden beneath hedges and trees and you will discover what really happens at night as you sleep unaware in your bed. Stone statues and those hidden worlds within the earth are about to share their stories.
The guardians who have kept this sanctuary safe for over fifty years will allow you to peek behind the scenes of this magical place. They will take you on a journey through time and expand your horizons as they transport you to the land of fairies, butterflies and lost souls who have found a home here.
The book is available in print and Ebook at a substantial discount via my own website: http://moyhill.com/tales
Sally Cronin spent a number of years in each of the following industries – Retail, Advertising and Telecommunications, Radio & Television; and has taken a great deal of inspiration from each.
She has written short stories and poetry since a very young age and contributed to media in the UK and Spain. In 1996 Sally began studying nutrition to inspire her to lose 150 lbs and her first book, Size Matters published in 2001, told the story of that journey back to health. This was followed by another seven books across a number of genres including health, humour and romance. These include Just Food For Health, Size Matters, Just an Odd Job Girl, Sam, A Shaggy Dog Story, Flights of Fancy anthology, Turning Back the Clock and Media Training.
For the last two years Sally has written a daily blog covering the subjects close to her heart including writing, health and music: Smorgasbord Invitation – Variety is the Spice of Life. You can link to it from here: smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com.
(If you’re looking for the serial, “Copper, the Alchemist, & the Woman in Trousers” go back one post)
In my “real job” outreach is a buzzword. I see my blog as a great outreach effort. Through this blog I’ve met so many fascinating people and made great friends. A newer friend is Barb Taub and she let me visit her blog for coffee and a delightful chat. I hope you’ll join us to share in the fun. While you’re there, check out her terrific blog. Hugs!
Coffee with Barb & Teagan — Memorable Southern Characters
Barb, the coffee smells divine! Yes thanks – I’d like cream, but no sugar. I’m so happy to sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee with you. This really is nice.
Speaking of cream, I’m pleased as a cat with a bowl of cream to tell a little about my novel, Atonement, Tennessee. Umm that really is good coffee. “Ralda Lawton,” my heroine, would have appreciated it her first morning in her new home town. She was inundated with people dropping in, and she was feeling awfully frumpy, since the movers hadn’t arrived with her stuff – or clean clothes! At least she had a jar of instant coffee with her.
I’m happy to have this chance to comment on one thing about my characters, particularly the group of women friends who are all neighbors in the town of Atonement, Tennessee. Certainly I wanted to make them come to life and be memorable. So I may have said they are “larger than life.” But the real truth is — they are not.
If you have spent a couple of decades or more living in small towns in the “deep south” of the USA, like the one where I grew up, then you have surely known women similar to Bethany Gwen, Racine Mabry, or Lacey Hampton. The places I’ve lived and the people I’ve known provide a good deal of the inspiration for my writing. Even love-to-hate-them Ralph Hampton and Destiny Culver.
So now, I want to reminisce about some other memorable southern characters. At the top of my personal list is the late Dixie Carter as Julia Sugarbaker of the TV show Designing Women. Whenever I speak passionately about a subject I apologize for getting up on my “Julia Sugarbaker soapbox.”
Designing Women — The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia
Then of course there’s Fannie Flag, who played a number of unique southern ladies as an award winning actress. However, she also wrote unforgettable southern characters in her best seller, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, which was adapted into the 1991 movie Fried Green Tomatoes.
By the way – her Match Game performance isn’t a quarter of what you’d see in real life in any southern bar. I’m just saying…
One memorable character that really was larger than life was played by Polly Holliday (in the TV version) as Florence Jean Castleberry, better known to all as “Flo.” Flo was a waitress in the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, the subsequent television series, Alice, and that show’s spinoff, Flo. Yes that character was larger than life and outrageous… but nevertheless, I’ve met more than one outrageos real life Flo.
On a more serious note, there’s Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson in TV’s The Closer. Don’t make the mistake of thinking her femininity and accent diminish her intelligence or her ability. The only thing that bothers me about this character is the double-name. That’s another stereotype. I’ve actually known a lot more people from “up north” with double names. But I’m trying to stay off that Julia Sugarbaker soapbox. (Winks and grins)
Barb, the coffee smells divine! Yes thanks – I’d like cream, but no sugar. I’m so happy to sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee with you. This really is nice.
