Free Your Spirit with Historical Author – C.K. Crigger

 

     Born and raised in North Idaho on the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation, C.K. Crigger lives with her husband and three feisty little dogs in Spokane Valley, Washington. She is a member of Western Writers of America and reviews books and writes occasional articles for Roundup magazine.

Imbued with an abiding love of western traditions and wide-open spaces, Ms. Crigger writes of free-spirited people who break from their standard roles. In her books, whether westerns, mysteries, or fantasy, the locales are real places. All of her books are set the Inland Northwest, the westerns with a historical background. She is a two time Spur Award finalist and won the 2008 EPIC Award for Western/Historical fiction. 

Please tell us a little about your new release without giving too much of a spoiler away.

Here’s the back blurb for Three Seconds to Thunder, the third book in my China Bohannon series:  China Bohannon is a modern 1890’s career woman, but the Doyle & Howe Detective Agency hasn’t turned her loose on a case of her own just yet. China is champing at the bit and when a call for help comes in, a trip into the mountains above the St. Joe country sounds just the thing to prove her worth and assist a friend at the same time. Porter Anderson’s uncle has disappeared and a Johnny-come-lately timber baron has claimed the family homestead. What’s more, he has a bill of sale for it that Porter knows his uncle didn’t sign. The problem is proving it—or so it would seem.  Porter doesn’t believe his uncle sold out and left the country without telling anybody. He’s afraid old Lionel Hooker might be dead—murdered.

Declaring the case unsuitable for a lady like China, Monk takes it on, but now no one has heard from him in days. China sets out to discover his whereabouts as the dry lightning of summer sets the woods ablaze.

What she finds is a trail of lies, theft, and murder, with her uncle Monk likely the latest victim. Then, just when the problem appears solved, trouble breaks out again. This time, Gratton Doyle is the one in danger and China who must bail him out.

 

Excerpt / OakTreeBooks / Amazon / B&N

 

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

I’m going to answer this from the opposite point of view because there’s nothing hard about writing the China Bohannon stories. I love every moment of it. The only part that occasionally proves challenging is keeping the action going at a breakneck pace. Otherwise, I love the characters, I get a kick out of the Bedlington terrier, and I adore doing the research for the time and the setting. I’ve even got a partial plot for a fourth book in my head.  

What comes first, the plot or the characters?

Characters, every time. There is no plot without the proper characters to drive and people it. Good guys, bad guys (or girls), all the players...you just never know when what might at first seem a fairly minor character suddenly pops up and has to be restrained from taking over. In Two Feet Below, the second CB book, my heroine winds up in a logger’s camp. I thought I’d milk the scene and then move on, but as it happens, those loggers not only took on a major part in Two, but one went on to star in Three Seconds to Thunder.  

Do you have a ritual when it comes to writing? Example...get coffee, blanket, paper, pen, laptop and a comfy place?

No rituals for me, unless you consider rereading what I wrote in the previous session a prime to the writing pump. However, I read a lot about writers who put on their favorite classic music and write to that. At one time, I used to do something similar —only I remember a song titled “Lightning Crashes” rather than anything highbrow. Now I prefer silence during the actual writing. I will, however, sometimes listen to an evocative song before I start writing. I love having a song as a theme, one that will send me straight into the book’s mood.  

Do your books have a common theme or are they all different?

My series books no doubt have a common theme. In my Gunsmith series, it’s my heroine finishing the history trapped inside an antique gun. In the China Bohannon series, it’s righting a wrong and solving a crime.  I hope the standalones are all different and unique! 

How do you go about naming characters?

I just love naming my characters. Possibilities are wide open for me here. I can (and do) collect all sorts of names and sometimes just plain make them up--or I think I do. Tomasella—the heroine in one of my fantasies—is one I thought I made up until I saw it somewhere years later as a last name. My Shih Tzu is named after her. I’ve never seen the name Boothenay—from the Gunsmith series—anywhere else. Names similar, but not precise. The Border Patrol Officer in Hereafter is named after Lily, my Persian kitty who was my writing partner for sixteen years. But names have to suit the time period you’re writing in. And they have to suit the character. Sometimes that character can really be stubborn, too.  One of my westerns began with the heroine named Leah, but dang, she just wasn’t Leah. Apparently she wasn’t Sophia, either. Who she was/is, is Caroline, which strikes me a odd since it’s so close to my own name. As an aside, the other day I sold a book to a lady named Zennetta. Guess whose name is going to show up soon in one of my books?  

What do you see for the future of publishing in e-books?

More copies of my books sell in electronic format than in print already. I look for that trend to continue. While I will never stop buying paper books, I’ve got to say I enjoy the Kindle, too. Electronic books are easy to carry around and don’t require bookcases to hold them. However, if you’re watching TV with one eye and reading with the other, paper books suit me better. So what? I like both, but I think e-books are definitely the wave of the future.  

What are your current books out right now, and what are the books coming up for release?

I’m currently promoting the China Bohannon series. #1: One Foot on the Edge, #2: Two Feet Below, and #3: Three Seconds to Thunder, the last two published by Oak Tree Press. My latest release is from Amber Quill Press and is a futuristic fantasy featuring post-apocalyptic mutants and magic. Its title is Hereafter. I’m also shopping around another novel starring Boothenay Irons, as well as a contemporary mystery. 

What do you do on a typical writing day?

Hah! Somedays I retreat to my basement office and spend a lot of time staring at a blank computer screen. Other days the words spew out like lava and I write like mad. It all seems to even out in the end. If the creative juices aren’t flowing as I’d like, I can always edit and improve and allow my mind to take care of business. 

Please describe your writing environment.

I can’t resist answering this question. First of all, my office is a pit. Papers and notes and scraps of this-and-that all over the place.  I’m surrounded by two overflowing bookcases, stacked boxes, printers, and oh, yes, a 1906 Thomas Edison gramophone, with the big old horn and cylinder records. There are even two file cabinets for actual business type stuff. The carpet is in dire need of cleaning and most often has my best doggie friend lying on it at my side. The kitty frequently visits and stomps across the computer keyboard, scattering stuff even more. When I make an effort and dung out junk and straighten and organize the rest, it reverts to this horrible state in less than a week. I need a maid! 

Connect with C.K. at one of the following: 

Website: www.ckcrigger.com

Blog: www.ckcrigger.blogspot.com

Blog: www.chinabohannon.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/carol.crigger

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ckcrigger

 

Fall in Love with Berengaria Brown’s Wolves

 

Berengaria Brown is a multi-published author of erotic romance: contemporary, paranormal (magic, ghosts, vampires, fairies, dragons, and werewolves), futuristic, medieval, and Regency-set historical. She loves to read all different kinds of romance so that is what she writes: one man/one woman; two women; two men; two men/one woman; three men, two women/one man, three men/one woman…. Whatever the characters need for their very hot happily-ever-after, Berengaria makes sure they get it.

Do you plan all your characters out before you start a story or do they develop as you write?

I don’t start writing until I know about the characters and what they want. But sometimes other characters appear during the story. Once I had a ghost completely take charge of the book. 

What main genre do you write in?  

     Since I like to read all different kinds of genres that’s what I write. But my main genre would be ménage.  

If you had to choose one person to have dinner with, who would it be? And why?  

James Bond. Sexy, sophisticated, adventurous. Yum! 

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? 

I’ve always loved reading, and read a lot. One day I had no books to read so I decided to write a book. When it was finished I still had nothing to read so I wrote another one, and another one… The rest as they say is history. 

Can you please give us a sneak peek at any of your upcoming books? 

My newest release is called “Werewolves Can’t Fly”.

Mermae joined Kade and Iain four months ago. Halloween is almost here and Iain, a werewolf, is desperate for them to commit to each other. But how can they keep their secrets in a city? And if they move how will they earn money and live?

Seeking help from mated werewolves Dwyer and Nelson, Iain gets permission to run on Halloween at their secure farm and use their hidden cabin. The mating is wonderful, but all their other problems remain unresolved. Is there a solution for them?

 

What would be the best way for readers contact you? Do you have a website? Email address? MySpace site? Blog? Message Board? Group? 

Blog: http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com.au/

Website: http://berengariabrown.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berengaria.brown#!/berengaria.brown?v=info

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/BerengariaBrown

How can readers find out more about you and your books? 

I update my blog every week, sometimes twice a week with my news. For readers wanting a specific genre, my website shows my books divided by genre, and by series. 

What is the best and worst advice you have ever received? 

The best advice is to never give up. Keep reading, keep writing, keep polishing your craft.

The worst advice is probably to believe that just because one publisher tells you something, that other publishers will think the same thing. 

What was your first published work and when was it published?

My first book was Intensity which was published by Siren BookStrand in April 2010.

Amos, Wesley and Keziah have been bed partners for a while. Amos and Wesley want Keziah to move in with them and become a permanent partner but she has refused, wanting to be independent. Then she stands up for her friend and loses her job.

Amos and Wesley convince her to move in with them and plan to screw her insensible to make her want to stay. But chaos erupts at the company board meeting as Amos’s incompetent father tries to use the ménage as a weapon to take control of the company from Amos, so Keziah decides the only solution is for her to leave. And the ghost has his own agenda…

Buy link: http://www.bookstrand.com/intensity

 

Mermae joined Kade and Iain four months ago. Halloween is almost here and Iain, a werewolf, is desperate for them to commit to each other. But how can they keep their secrets in a city? And if they move how will they earn money and live?

Seeking help from mated werewolves Dwyer and Nelson, Iain secures permission to run on Halloween at their secure farm and use their hidden cabin. The mating is wonderful, but all their other problems remain unresolved. Is there a solution for them?

Torquere Books / Amazon

 

 

Karen Wiesner creates realistic, unforgettable characters one story at a time…

 

Karen Wiesner is an accomplished author with 94 books published in the past 14 years, which have been nominated for and/or won 125 awards, and has 30 more titles under contract. Karen’s books cover such genres as women’s fiction, romance, mystery/police procedural/cozy, suspense, paranormal, futuristic, gothic, inspirational, thriller, horror, chick-lit, and action/adventure. She also writes children’s books, poetry, and writing reference titles such as her bestsellers, First Draft in 30 Days and From First Draft to Finished Novel {A Writer’s Guide to Cohesive Story Building}, available from Writer’s Digest Books. Look for Writing the Fiction Series: The Complete Guide for Novels and Novellas, her next offering from Writer’s Digest Books, in May 2013. Her previous writing reference titles focused on non-subsidy, royalty-paying electronic publishing, author promotion, and setting up a promotional group like her own, the award-winning Jewels of the Quill, which she founded in 2003. Jewels of the Quill produced two award-winning group anthologies per year published by Whiskey Creek Press from 2005-2011. All were edited by Karen and others. For more information about Karen’s fiction and series, consult her official companion guide The World of Author Karen Wiesner: A Compendium of Fiction. Along with her writing, Karen enjoys designing websites, graphics, and cover art. For more information about Karen and her work, visit her websites at http://www.karenwiesner.com, http://www.firstdraftin30days.com, http://www.falconsbend.com and http://www.JewelsoftheQuill.com. If you would like to receive Karen’s free e-mail newsletter, Karen’s Quill, and become eligible to win her monthly book giveaways, send a blank e-mail to KarensQuill-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. 

 

Please tell us a little about your new release without giving too much of a spoiler away.

The Friendship Heirlooms Series is, of course, a spin-off of the Family Heirlooms Series. In the original, the premise was how nuggets of faith could be passed down as family heirlooms from parent to child, sibling to sibling, spouse to spouse. Siblings in the Samuels family were the main characters in each story. I loved the reality of dealing with issues that married couples and families deal with on an everyday basis, mingled with the struggle that goes along with those issues in the Christian walk. I think the realistic quality of the material is what appeal to so many women—the situations are ones you can apply to your own life.

Being a writer of series can be a Catch-22. Sometimes a series drags on long past the point of author interest. Other times a series ends far too soon. That was the case for me with the Family Heirlooms Series. I fell in love with so many of the secondary characters in this series that I came up with book ideas for two of those characters, sold them as non-series novels, but then realized I had a lot more tales to tell that connected with but didn’t really fit in as part of the Family Heirlooms Series. The Friendship Heirlooms Series was born.

Return to the quaint little town of Peaceful, Wisconsin, from my award-winning Family Heirlooms Series, where you first met and fell in love with these colorful, lovable friends. Now you can read the stories of those secondary characters in an all-new spin-off series. Nuggets of faith can be passed down as heirlooms from friend to friend, heart to heart, soul-mate to soul-mate.

Zoë Rossdale was first introduced in GLASS ANGELS, Book 4 of the Family Heirlooms Series. Zoë is hands-down my favorite character of all the many, many I’ve created. I knew going into the outline for her book that I wanted to write her in 1^st person point-of-view…not something I’ve done often. I wanted to achieve a “Chick-lit” feel for the book, and I knew I could capture it in that POV. But I also knew I wanted to include the hero’s POV, but not in 1^st person. I wasn’t sure how to do this, but a friend and fellow author, Diane Craver, encouraged me to go ahead with this idea, which seemed crazy to me. So I did it. I wrote the first two scenes: Zoë’s in 1^st person, Curt’s in 3^rd. I loved every minute of writing both of these scenes, and they worked. I knew that first sure when I sent them to Diane and she felt the same way I did. I knew this was the only way to write this story, and I also knew I wasn’t done with Zoë and Curt. I’ll be revisiting them in the 5th and 7th books in the Friendship Heirlooms Series.  

What comes first: the plot or the characters? 

Characters, always. It doesn’t matter how great a plot is, if there aren’t great characters to put the plot in motion, the book will fail.  

How long does it take you to write and then edit a story? 

Outlining takes a week, possibly two if it’s a really complicated book, then I set the project aside for a few months. Then comes the writing, which takes me 1-2 weeks for a novella or 3-4 weeks for a novel (I write 2 scenes per day). Then I set the project aside again for a few months. When I come back to it, I revise the book over the course of a single week—no matter what size the book is, I only take a week. I think it’s crucial to read a book like this, very fast, during the revision, because if you let yourself take too long, you’ll forget or miss important details that you can only see if you revise the chapters back to back in only one week. At this point, I generally feel comfortable enough with the book to send it out to critique partners. Once I get it back from them, I make any corrections based on their suggestions, then I print the book out and read it—all in one day. Again, this is for consistency so I don’t forget anything. I usually have only minor tweaks to make at this point. I correct the mistakes on the computer, then send it off to my editor. My editor revisions normally amount to clarifying a few sentences here and there, nothing major. That’s that.  

What are your current books out right now, and what are the books coming up for release?

Since there are so many on both sides, I’ll say check out my website for the full listing of available titles and upcoming releases. In my Friendship Heirlooms Series, you can look for these releases:

 

MICHAEL’S ANGEL, Book 2 of the Friendship Heirlooms Series with LeeAnn Wagner and Michael Fremont from GLASS ANGELS and SHARDS OF ASHLEY, Books 4 and 5 of the Family Heirlooms Series, Inspirational Romantic Suspense

Trade paperback from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/karenwiesner

Download from Whiskey Creek Press http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com

 

FOREVER AND ALL THAT JAZZ, Book 3 of the Friendship Heirlooms Series with Jasmine “Jazz” Pepowski and Pastor Wesley Horace from SHARDS OF ASHLEY, Book 5 of the Family Heirlooms Series, Inspirational Romance

Trade paperback from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/karenwiesner

Download from Whiskey Creek Press http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com

Coming January 2014 

FIRST COMES LOVE, Book 4 of the Friendship Heirlooms Series with Chad Feldmann and Winnie McBride from GLASS ANGELS, Book 4 of the Family Heirlooms Series, Inspirational Romance

Trade paperback from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/karenwiesner

Download from Whiskey Creek Press http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com

Coming March 2014 

CLUMSY GIRL’S GUIDE TO HAVING A BABY, Book 5 of the Friendship Heirlooms Series with newlyweds Zoë Rossdale and Curt Bertoletti from CLUMSY GIRL’S GUIDE TO FALLING IN LOVE, Book 1 of the Friendship Heirlooms Series, Inspirational Romance

Trade paperback from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/karenwiesner

Download from Whiskey Creek Press http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com

Coming June 2014

PERFECT REFLECTION, Book 6 of the Friendship Heirlooms Series with Elaina Houston and Ethan Lynwood from SHARDS OF ASHLEY, Book 5 of the Family Heirlooms Series, Inspirational Romance

Trade paperback from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/karenwiesner

Download from Whiskey Creek Press http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com

Coming October 2014 

CLUMSY GIRL’S GUIDE TO HAVING IT ALL, Book 7 of the Friendship Heirlooms Series with new parents Zoë Rossdale and Curt Bertoletti from CLUMSY GIRL’S GUIDE TO FALLING IN LOVE and CLUMSY GIRL’S GUIDE TO HAVING A BABY, Books 1 and 5 of the Friendship Heirlooms Series, Inspirational Contemporary Romance/Chick-lit

Trade paperback from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/karenwiesner

Download from Whiskey Creek Press http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com

Coming January 2015 

Find out more about this series and the previous one here:

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/fiction9.html and

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/fiction9a.html

Return to the quaint little town of Peaceful, Wisconsin, from Karen Wiesner’s award-winning Family Heirlooms Series, where you first met and fell in love with these colorful, lovable friends. Now you can read the stories of those secondary characters in an all-new spin-off series. Nuggets of faith can be passed down as heirlooms from friend to friend, heart to heart, soul-mate to soul-mate.

 

They were two abnormal peas in an even stranger pod…

Zoë Rossdale is the clumsy girl who always has her elbows, feet, eyes, and brass-red hair going in the wrong directions. After a lifetime of being evaluated critically—and found wanting—she’s trying to change…until she literally runs into the only man she’s ever gone loopy over. Curt Bertoletti has spent years trying to forget the seriously messed-up Zoë. Even as he vows that he won’t stray again, he can’t help remembering how well they fit together. For better or worse, Zoë will always be Zoë—the clumsy girl with her dress tucked into her pantyhose, the girl whose idea of falling in love is to stand at the edge of the precipice, throw out her arms and confidently jump into a free-fall. Can they both live with that fact? Forever?

Print / WhiskeyCreekPress / Author / Excerpt

 

CONTEST ALERT:  Karen will give away a PDF download of the book Zoë made her first appearance in: GLASS ANGELS, Book 4 of the Family Heirlooms Series, from the list of commenters.

 

Jason Hunt’s Lawmen Make You Pay the Fiddler
 

 

Jason Hunt wrote his first story at five years old. His father paid him a quarter for it. He continued to write and ended up studying writing at Cornell with William Kennedy, the Pulitzer prize-winning author of Ironweed. He was a little too restless back then for the hours it takes to write fiction, so he threw an old Gibson guitar in the back of a Plymouth Valiant and drove down to Nashville to try his luck at songwriting.

Jason wrote a lot of songs and played with a lot of great musicians – he even bought his first pair of cowboy from Garth Brooks himself – but he kept thinking about fiction.

Jason started out writing detective fiction. He published short stories in places like Hardboiled, Pulp Pusher, Plots with Guns, Beat to a Pulp, Yellow Mama, and A Twist of Noir. After writing two novels and dozens of stories about tough loners working the mean streets of modern-day America, he realized where these guys came from. They were the descendants of the lawmen and outlaws of the old West.

 

Could you please start by telling us a little about yourself?

Let’s see, I am a communication manager at a biotechnology company near Boston. I used to write country music in Nashville, and I still love to play guitar and harmonica with my son, who is a 17 year-old rock’n’roller. One of my daughters is a writer and the other is an actress. My wife has put up with me for 22 years and, as a result, is probably being considered for sainthood.

 

How does your family feel about having a writer in the family? Do they read your books?

The whole bunch of them are creative, so they don’t really think much about it. Someone is always writing something. I just do it a little more consistently.  J  I’ve written so many different things that no one in the family has the stamina to read all of it. (At least that’s their excuse.) I wrote a poem called Detestable Vegetables when the kids were little, and I know they all read that. I’ve published a lot of hardboiled detective fiction, and I have forbid them from reading any of that until they are at least 25. I gave them all a copy of the new book, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S GUNFIGHT, but none of them have read that yet. Maybe it’s because they had to listen to hundreds of songs I wrote. I don’t know. J

 

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?

I do. I was 4 or 5 and my father was teaching me to read. I said I could write better stories than the ones I was learning with, so he said he’d pay me a quarter if I wrote an original story. In those days, a quarter could actually buy stuff, so I said down and wrote “the 3 little Fishermen.” No kidding. I stapled together sheets of onion-skin typing paper and wrote a few pages, liberally illustrated throughout. When I gave it to him, he was delighted and paid me a quarter. I asked if he’d pay me another quarter if I wrote another story. He said yes, and I haven’t stopped writing since.

 

How much research do you do for your books? Have you found any cool tidbits in your research?

I do a lot when I write the first book in a series. For the new book, my first Western, I did a ton of research. You don’t realize how much you DON’T know about a particular period until you start writing about it. A dusty cowpoke walks into a saloon and orders…what? Could you get beer? If so, how was it served? How much did it cost? What kind of currency was the cowpoke likely to have? The list goes on and on and on. For the setting, I picked a historic ghost town – Shakespeare, New Mexico – so there was a lot of stuff online. Also, I downloaded hundreds of photos and hung them up all over my office, so I could look around and feel like I was there.

 

Do you plan all your characters out before you start a story or do they develop as you write?

I try to get a really well-developed sense of the characters. That’s more important to me than the plot. I have to know everything I can about each character to be able to predict how they are going to act in the situations into which I throw them. Sometimes I’ll sketch the characters or cut out pictures from magazines so I know exactly how they look. I imagine their parents, where they grew up, what the major events of their lives were, when they first fell in love, what they think about God…I really need them to come to life for me before I can hope to make them come to life for a reader.

 

Do you write full time? What did you do before you became a writer? Or Still do?

I am writing something all the time. I have to squeeze fiction in wherever I can. It’s usually in the middle of the night or early, early in the morning before everyone gets up. Then I go to work and write boring stuff all day, only to come home at night and escape into my own stories.

 

Do you have a ritual when it comes to writing? Example….get coffee, blanket, paper, pen and a comfy place

I do and I don’t. I have learned over the years to write wherever and whenever I can: Starbuck’s, Duncan Donuts, Barnes and Noble, libraries, on the train, in the car while I’m waiting for someone. I always write on the laptop, and I’m always drinking something – coffee, Diet Coke, red wine, you name it.

 

Who is your perfect hero? And why?

My perfect hero is tough, but tender. He has to be able to kick the !@#$% out of the bad guys, but has to treat women with respect, and he has to be especially kind to kids and animals. He is has some literary or artistic leaning, even if he has never had a chance to develop it, and he is always struggling to understand his relationship with God. He is not really “religious,” but he believes in something bigger than himself. He defends the underdog and abhors hypocrites.

And he can juggle. J  Okay, maybe he can’t juggle….

 

What would be the best way for readers contact you? Do you have a website? Email address? MySpace site? Blog? Message Board? Group?

I think my Facebook page is the best way to reach me.

I also have two blogs: theRealJasonHunt.blogspot.com and slicd.blogspot.com

 

What are your hobbies?

I like playing music. I love reading, although I am mostly an audiobook person these days. I like to cook and to camp, and I love movies. I like travelling, but I also like hanging out, eating popcorn and watching TV. I like talking long walks with my beagle Lulu and sitting around with my lazy, multi-breed, fat-cat Pandora. And drinking wine – I’m particularly fond of that. J

 

 

Kyle William Lees saw his father and brother murdered by Confederate marauders at the close of the Civil War. The gang tried to kill him, too, but he survived. Now he carries a tattered list with thirteen names, and he is scouring the West in search of vengeance, crossing off one name at a time. When his quest takes him to Shakespeare, New Mexico, Kyle finds more than he bargained for, including the infamous Tom Brennan, one of the fastest and deadliest gunfighters around.

 

Amazon, Oak Tree Press