"Van Locken's Witch" Character Interview...Part One!

My wonderful beta readers compiled a list of their more burning questions for Rand, Lissa, and some of the crew! Here's hoping they...and you...enjoy the answers as much as our characters did the questions! 

 

Fünfmastvollschiff Royal Clipper by Engelberger

First question goes to Wolf Dircksen Van Ness, First Mate and best friend of Kapitien Rand Van Locken:

Tell me, Wolf, were you attracted to Lissa yourself, or were you just pushing Rand's buttons in the beginning of the book?

(Wolf laughs.) "Now, there isn't a red-blooded man out there who wouldn't be attracted to the lovely, lady Lissa! However, I knew right from the beginning that Rand was completely besotted by the girl. Stubborn man didn't want to admit it though, so I decided to give him a friendly push in the right direction. After all, a more perfect woman for our highly-regarded kapitein just didn't exist and I think we all knew that."

While I have you here Wolf, here is another question for you:
What did you have planned for the first man to step into that confessional?"

Join us for the "Van Locken's Witch" Book Tour and Giveaway, February 24th through March 14th!

After a whole lot of "life-happens" during the past several months of my life, I am excited to finally announce the Blurb Blitz Book Tour for my latest novel, Van Locken's Witch...

But before I give you the details of the tour, I feel compelled to give you a little background because, in the grand scheme of things, the 'prequel' does not come after the 'sequel.'  (I know...right?)

For those of you coming late to the party, I should tell you that I published "Shadow of the Witte Wieven" (the 'sequel') in April of 2012 through Inkspell—at that time, a brand new, up-and-coming publishing company. 

This fun new company said they were looking for polished novels to publish and I just happened to have one I thought I could offer them. However, when I read their guidelines for submission, I discovered they were looking for novels of no more than 80,000 words in length. Mine exceeded that limit by about 33,000. So, I made the painful decision to cut out a great deal of the back story, submit it and see what happened. Several weeks later, the lovely founder and CEO of the company offered me a contract despite the fact the book still weighed in at over 100,00 words. Very gracious of her, wouldn't you agree?

The Star Catcher, by Stephanie Keyes!

Today, I am really excited to host Stephanie Keys as she allows us a peek inside the Star Catcher of her Star Child Series!

The Star Catcher by Stephanie Keyes 

(The Star Child #3)

Publisher: Inkspell Publishing 

Release Date: November 10, 2013

Grab it: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Synopsis:

Magick and destiny intertwine as he fights to save his kingdom and the goddess he loves.

Her kiss…the feel of her skin…the beat of her heart…For seventeen-year-old Kellen St. James, each memory is marred by a single sentence on a lone strip of paper.

Cali has been taken…

Armed with an amulet that channels the ultimate power of Faerie, Kellen searches for his love. However, control of the amulet’s energy comes with a price, and Kellen soon learns that Cali’s captor has plans for the stone. With the threat of the Star Catcher’s evil looming above Kellen and his kingdom, he’ll have to free the Heart of Faerie and break the curse the binds the Children of Danu to the darkness. But before that, he has to find his real father, the king. No pressure, right?

Kellen and Cali will battle bewitched armies and unknown foes as they fight to stay together. Will Kellen embrace his immortal destiny? Or will his world, and the man he is fated to become, be destroyed by The Star Catcher?

The Mind-Boggling Possibilities of a Jury Summons and the Greenbrier Ghost....

A summons for jury duty in a United States district court

So... I received a jury summons for early on this coming week. Of course, one has to wonder if one will be chosen and if so, for what purpose. As I pondered the various possibilities, my mind wandered from burglary, grand theft auto, bank robbery, domestic violence, to murder and everything in between. After all, what happens in Las Vegas, in all reality, doesn't always stay in Las Vegas, I assure you...

If they happen to select me (which, just in case you were wondering, and if given my druthers, I would rather go through natural labor and childbirth), would the case inspire a future novel?

The thought of such a happenstance brought a memory to mind. I recalled a murder trial I had read about years ago that began June 22, 1897, in Lewisburg, Greenbrier county, West Virginia. Erasmus Stribbling Trout Shue stood accused of murdering his wife, Elva Zona Heaster.

Zona Heaster Greenbrier Ghost