Getting to know Tammy Euliano #author #books #medical #thrillers #physician #teacher

Posted on by Tessa Russ

My guest author today writes her stories based on personal experience and of course an active imagination! Please help me welcome Tammy Euliano. We’ll peek at her bio and then find out more about her latest book.

By day, Tammy Euliano, MD, is a Professor of Anesthesiology and Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Florida where she cares for patients, teaches medical students and residents, performs research, and invents cool stuff. She’s been honored with numerous teaching awards, more than 100,000 views of her YouTube teaching videos, and was featured in a calendar of women inventors (copies available wherever you buy your out-of-date planners).

By night, she plays games with her family (now remotely), plays tennis (badly), cuddles her dogs, reads, and writes medical thrillers. In her writing, she is intrigued by ethically blurry topics and enjoys positioning characters on all sides of a debate, each with a well-reasoned position…or humor…or dogs.

Vacations are for exploring our amazing world. She has dragged her family of five to all the major US national parks, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Costa Rica, the Caribbean, the Galapagos, the Mediterranean, Europe, and New Zealand. Trips are spent soaking up the history and culture while also experiencing nature, often in extreme fashion.

Author Social Links: Facebook * Instagram * Goodreads

Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?

Tammy: The idea of managing the end-of-life has fascinated me since way before any kid should think about such things. We had a debate in my 5th grade class about the fate of Karen Ann Quinlan, a young woman in a persistent vegetative state whose parents wanted her ventilator disconnected, while the State of New Jersey disagreed. I don’t recall what side my 10-year-old-self argued, but the question never left me. Medical technology and the ability to keep the body alive has far out-paced our ethical ability to deal with the implications.

In medical school and residency, the question resurfaced repeatedly, while watching families’ extended mourning in the ICU, and anesthetizing patients for innumerable procedures despite little to no hope of a meaningful recovery. Meanwhile, the absurd cost of medical care in the US frequently made the news, especially expenditures in the last few months of life and final hospitalization.

Actually getting words on the page took a bit longer. After writing an introductory anesthesia textbook with my mentor, we decided to continue our teamwork with a novel. Sadly he fell ill and passed away, but I had the bug and found the time to start Fatal Intent.

Betty: Which character arrived fully or mostly developed?

Tammy: Definitely Dr. Kate Downey, the protagonist. She’s quite a lot like me. Shocking for a debut author, I know. Though a few years my junior, ahem, we share careers as anesthesiologists who specialize in obstetric anesthesia and teach medical students and residents, sometimes using a simulated operating room environment.

Our personalities overlap a bit, or did when I was her age, but there the similarities end. Instead of my tragedy-free life to date, she suffered the loss of her parents and now the traumatic brain injury of her husband. Boy, are we authors cruel, or what? I have to keep reminding my husband that Kate is not me, and he is not her comatose husband, Greg. As for her dog, I’m afraid mine is just as energetic, spoiled, and completely untrained…times two.

Betty: Which story element sparked the idea for this story: setting, situation, character, or something else?

Tammy: The situation. Long intrigued by end-of-life issues, the seeds of a plot began germinating in my head (kind of a gross image, really). Over time, the story world and its characters began invading my real life, popping to mind at all hours, sometimes quite inconveniently.

Betty: Which character(s) were the hardest to get to know? Why do you think?

Tammy: The villain, of course. Initially I imagined him wholly evil, then realized he was sort of doing a good thing, just in a bad way, then decided he needed to be evil-er both to raise the stakes and to make it clear what should happen. It was fun trying to get into his head and understand his motivations.

Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?

Tammy: Since it’s set in my real-life world, not as much as I’ve had to for other books. I did read up on some medical details, how home deaths are managed, and end-of-life laws around the world. Google is my go-to, but I’m fortunate to have connections throughout the medical world to get answers to my questions. Also, there are Facebook groups of lawyers, doctors, and police who will answer questions with their expertise.

Betty: How long did it take for you to write the story you’re sharing with us? Is that a typical length of time for you? Why or why not?

Tammy: This story took at least three years to write, though that included realizing I didn’t know how to write and starting over multiple times as I learned what not to do. It’s sequel took less than a year, and I’m hoping the next will be shorter still. I’ve developed some skills, though have much more to learn!

Betty: What rituals or habits do you have while writing?

Tammy: I’m fortunate to have two great writing locations, one at my house, and one at a lake house we visit on weekends. At both I have a laptop stand and can write standing up outside where my dogs conveniently bring me balls to throw…well, not exactly BRING, but hide somewhere under a bush nearby to keep me awake. Another habit is using a large white board to make a mind map of my plot and finally, having characters write me a hand-written letter about their lives and motivations. It makes them more three-dimensional in my mind. As a friend reminded me, “Each character is the hero of his/her own story, even the villain.”

Betty: Every author has a tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?

Tammy: I pay attention to “just,” but use “but” way too much. And smile and nod are always a problem, as are look and gaze. I try to picture the movie version and those words just (oops) seem right. I need to continue to read great writers critically to learn how they get around such seemingly insurmountable stage direction.

Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?

Tammy: I’m a physician, an academic anesthesiologist specializing in obstetrics, to be specific. Besides caring for women in this most special moment, I also teach medical students and residents, and have worked with my husband’s engineering team to develop new medical devices. Since I began writing, I resigned my administrative positions and therefore enjoy my job infinitely more. Managing people is not my forte.

Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?

Tammy: Fatal Intent is surely it. Related are the amazing blurbs I was able to get from the likes of Lee Child, Kathy Reichs, and Tess Gerritsen, all heroes of my author journey.

Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?

Tammy: Learning that I reached readers in an impactful way would define success for me. That I held their attention, took them away for a while, made them think, maybe taught them something, but most importantly that they enjoyed their time in the world of my imagination and it brightened their day (or night, or hopefully both). Ideally, that it also stuck with them afterward in some meaningful way.

When her elderly patients start dying at home days after minor surgery, anesthesiologist Dr. Kate Downey wants to know why. The surgeon, not so much. “Old people die, that’s what they do,” is his response. When Kate presses, surgeon Charles Ricken places the blame squarely on her shoulders. Kate is currently on probation, and the chief of staff sides with the surgeon, leaving Kate to prove her innocence and save her own career. With her husband in a prolonged coma, it’s all she has left.

Aided by her eccentric Great Aunt Irm, a precocious medical student, and the lawyer son of a victim, Kate launches her own unorthodox investigation of these unexpected deaths. As she comes closer to exposing the culprit’s identity, she faces professional intimidation, threats to her life, a home invasion, and, tragically, the suspicious death of someone close to her. The stakes escalate to the breaking point when Kate, under violent duress, is forced to choose which of her loved ones to save—and which must be sacrificed.

Buy Links: Amazon * Indiebound * Kobo * B&N * Google * Apple * Chirp

I agree wholeheartedly with your friend’s advice that the villain is the hero of his/her story, too. Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to share your intriguing story with us, Tammy!

Happy New Year and happy reading!

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

First Thoughts on A Place Called Armageddon by C.C. Humphreys #HistoricalFiction #HistFic #amwriting #amreading #books #novel #mustread #review

Posted on by Betty Bolte

The third book in my Historical Fiction Around the World series is C.C. Humphreys’ A Place Called Armageddon: Constantinople 1453. As a reminder, I am exploring historical fiction written by authors from other countries than my own USA. My aim is to share my experience of reading each of these books, chosen for their author’s native country and for my interest in the time/place/topic. So I’m not going to just give a short review of the story, but what I find interesting about the layout, the storytelling, or whatever else intrigues me about the book.

This book is a hardback edition consisting of 458 total pages, of which 442 constitute the story. It’s copyrighted in 2012. Like Colleen McCullough’s The First Man in Rome, it includes a glossary and maps to help me orient myself to the place and the language. Unlike that previous read, this book only includes 2 maps—one of the city walls and one of Constantinople in 1453—and the glossary of 3+ pages. But those proved enough to enable me to follow the movement within the story and to enjoy the narrative and dialogue.

Before I started reading the story, after learning from reading The First Man in Rome, I studied the maps, read through the glossary, and then also read the Historic Notes and the Author’s Note. Then I felt like I had a good grasp on the context of the story as well as the author’s intent behind writing the story.

Reading this story so far—I’m on page 250 as I write this—reminds me of something I noticed decades ago when working as a technical writer tasked with transcribing the conversation during a meeting. A subtle difference can be detected between how a woman speaks vs. a man. It’s hard for me to pinpoint the nuances. A different cadence, perhaps? Word choices to an extent. A different approach to storytelling or speaking in general. I could tell by reading the transcript whether the words were spoken by a man or a woman 90% of the time.

In a similar manner, I noticed a difference in the narrative/storytelling by this first male author of the series. One of his narrative choices is to string together actions using commas. Let me give you a few examples. “He sat, gulped, stared at the board before him.” “He raised [her hand] to his lips, tasted it, her.” “The big, nimble man feinted, flicked, lunged, a forearm’s length of steel thrust before him.” In each case Humphreys declined to use any conjunctions. I’m not complaining about his technique, mind. I’m pointing out a subtle writing style choice. It works to convey the flow and the fluidity of motion or thought. I may try employing something similar in my own writing if it suits the situation and story.

Another difference in this historical fiction from the other two is the level of detail associated with the fighting style and techniques of the characters. In the first two that I’ve read so far, both written by women, the fighting happened but the specific steps, sights, actions were not explicitly detailed. Humphreys goes into far more precise detail of how to arm and shoot a crossbow and a bow and arrow. Continuing from the last cited example above, here is one fight sequence to demonstrate what I mean.

“In the center, though, all was quiet enough, if not still. The big, nimble man feinted, flicked, lunged, a forearm’s length of steel thrust before him. But Gregoras had just had time to do what he probably should have done before he’d spoken—he drew his own dagger left-handed, cut down, putting blade to blade, guiding the other’s past his left side. Then he raised his boot and slammed the heel hard down onto the man’s unshod toes. As he screamed, Gregoras drove his right hand up his hip, curling his hand over, bringing the brass knuckles uppermost just when the force of the blow was at its height.” (p143)

See what I mean? I could reenact this scene based on that paragraph. If I were an actor, which I tried to be once, but that’s a tale for another day! This is not the only instance of the step-by-step actions taken by a character in combat with another. I’m surmising the author either knows how to fight hand-to-hand or took some lessons on how to for the sake of writing these scenes. I’d be more likely to do the latter, but that’s just me.

Another lesson learned from reading Dorothy Dunnett’s The Game of Kings is to be a reader first, then analyze what I’ve read so I can share it with you all. I am enjoying the story overall despite the fact that I am not one who really cares to read about battle strategies and fighting. Humphreys shares the human side of the fighters so I am happy to read about the relationships they have with their brothers and wives among other people in the story. I found out my husband has already read this book and enjoyed it; he called it a “good story” which is high praise from him.

That’s my first thoughts about this book with more to come next week when I wrap up my reading of the story. Anyone else reading it? What are your thoughts, if so?

Happy reading and Happy New Year to all!

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

Visit www.bettybolte.com for more on my books and upcoming events.

Audrey Harper needs more than home and hearth to satisfy her self-worth despite being raised with the idea that a woman’s place is in the home. Working as a music critic for the city newspaper in Baltimore, Maryland, during the Second World War, she’s enjoyed both financial freedom and personal satisfaction in a job well done. When she uncovers evidence of German spies working to sabotage a secret bomber plane being manufactured in her beloved city, she must choose between her sense of duty to protect her city and the urgings of her boss, her family, and her fiancé to turn over her evidence to the authorities. But when her choices lead her and her sister into danger, she is forced to risk life and limb to save her sister and bring the spies to justice.

Set against the backdrop of the flourishing musical community during the 1940s in Baltimore, Notes of Love and War weaves together the pleasure of musical performance with the dangers of espionage and spying.

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Getting to know Roslyn Reid #author #awardwinning #paranormal #mystery #books #supernatural #suspense

Posted on by Tessa Russ

Please help me welcome a fellow Authors Guild member to the interview hot seat! Roslyn Reid brings a refreshing new style of storytelling to us. Let’s take a peek at her bio and then dive right in, shall we?

Amazon best-selling and award-winning author Roslyn Reid’s first mystery, A Scandal at Crystalline, debuted to almost a dozen five-star reviews on Amazon. It reveals the sinister side of raku pottery and kicks off a series of quirky mysteries set in Maine, featuring Black private detective James Early and his teenage son Tikki. The Spiricom, the second book in The Early Mysteries series, debuted in September 2021.

Reid lives with her corgi, Great Pyrenees, and husband in Downeast Maine, where she gardens, lifts weights, and hikes. A former model, she contributed to Llewellyn’s annual almanacs for several decades and has written for a few of the local newspapers.

Social media: Facebook * Facebook2

Betty: Breaking news! Roslyn learned not too long ago (as in, around December 16, 2021) that The Spiricom won the 2021 N.N. Light Book of the Year Award in the Paranormal Mystery category! Congratulations, Roz! Now, on with the interview.

Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?

Roslyn: It just came out of the ether when I woke up one morning. And the next morning. And the next. Finally, I decided to write it down.

Betty: Which character arrived fully or mostly developed?

Roslyn: I’d say the main character, James Early, and his son Tikki. They even arrived with names.

Betty: Which story element sparked the idea for this story: setting, situation, character, or something else?

Roslyn: It was an episode of the original Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV show, where the wife killed her husband with a leg of lamb and then cooked the murder weapon and served it to the cops who were investigating.

Betty: Which character(s) were the hardest to get to know? Why do you think?

Roslyn: Chandler Hammond, because he’s missing for the entire book.

Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?

Roslyn: Court documents and victims—I based the Ponzi scheme on a real one my BFF got involved in.

Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?

Roslyn: About 4 or 5.

Betty: How long did it take for you to write the story you’re sharing with us? Is that a typical length of time for you? Why or why not?

Roslyn: A couple of years. I’d say this was typical, depending on how much detail I need.

Betty: What rituals or habits do you have while writing?

Roslyn: I write in bed. Always have.

Betty: Every author has a tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?

Roslyn: According to one of my editors, it’s “so.” So try finding an alternative for that!

Betty: Do you have any role models? If so, why do you look up to them?

Roslyn: My writing role model is Raymond Chandler. He was also a literary critic, so he knew what worked.

Betty: Do you have a special place to write? Revise? Read?

Roslyn: As I said, in bed. I read on the couch, which used to be a bed. J

Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?

Roslyn: No, I am happily retired.

Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?

Roslyn: Getting my first book published. It took 5 years.

Betty: What other author would you like to sit down over dinner and talk to? Why?

Roslyn: Tess Gerritsen, because she lives about an hour away and is practically a neighbor. In fact, she does sit-down dinners with Authors Guild members, but I didn’t have the fee for her latest one. L

Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?

Roslyn: If something I’ve written accomplishes what I wanted it to do, that’s success. I can usually tell by the feedback.

She was killed on their wedding day…but he couldn’t let her go.

Tall and handsome Dr. Spencer Py was a well-respected environmental Scientist. But one moment can change everything. When a car crash kills his new bride Melanie and leaves him bound to a wheelchair, he’s left racked with despair over his failure to save her. Grief turns to obsession, and one fateful night he stumbles upon plans for the Spiricom on the internet, Thomas Edison’s device for communicating with the dead. Determined to be united with his beloved, he embarks on a journey to build the device, never imagining the results, and unwittingly drawing Detective James Early into the scariest case of his life.

Purchase links: Amazon

Wishing you all the success with your writing, Roz! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Holidays and happy reading!

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

My impression and lessons learned from The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett #HistoricalFiction #HistFic #amwriting #amreading #books #novel #mustread #review

Posted on by Betty Bolte

I finished reading Dorothy Dunnett’s The Game of Kings which turned out to live up to expectations of being a great story. I shared last time a few stumbling blocks I encountered, but eventually overcame them. In order for me to enjoy the story, I had to make a few adjustments to my approach. I also got a little help from some new Twitter “friends” after my last post.

First, let me mention that the tweet sharing the last week’s blog topic was retweeted by the Dorothy Dunnett Society, which I was unaware even existed. How fabulous to think of the impact one author has had on so many readers! In fact, according to their site, their mission includes to “advance the education of the public concerning the history, politics, culture and religion of the 11th, 15th and 16th centuries by promoting the study of and research into such subjects generally and into such subjects particularly as they related to the works of Dorothy Dunnett.” I must thank the Society for retweeting my tweet so that other fans could share their experience and appreciation for The Game of Kings with me.

In my last post, I mentioned that the story is set in Scotland in 1546, when Mary Queen of Scots was 4 years old. And that I inferred that fact from knowing Mary is 4 years old in the story. I looked up when she was born but couldn’t pinpoint the time period more closely. Thanks to Max A. Ess, I now know:

Max.A.Ess @Nigel333

Replying to @BettyBolte @DunnettCentral

1/ The book is set from 1547-48 not 1546. The battle of Pinkie occurs close to the beginning of the book. It was on September 10th 1547. Mary was born in December so she was still four years old then. The capture of Sir Thomas Palmer near Haddington was in Summer 1548.

I really appreciate Mr. Ess weighing in on the exact time frame of the story. It may seem a trifling thing, but I do try to keep historic events in context as much as I can. Granted, I’m still learning about 16th century history and have a very long way to go. One of the reasons I’m broadening my historical fiction reading is to also broaden my knowledge of history.

Several other Dunnett fans told me about how much her stories meant to them, how they learned to skim the unfamiliar terms and perhaps take time to look them up later. But basically what I gleaned from their comments is to read first, analyze second. So I had to take off my editor and author hats and put on my reader hat. Step away from reading critically in order to read for pleasure. Only then was I able to truly enjoy the story, the storytelling, and absorb the history. This is a technique I used while working on my BA and MA in English when reading the classics. I often had to just try to read it for the story and not critically, at least the first time before I reread for critical analysis. So thanks to the folks who reminded me to read first!

Going back to the slew of foreign terms and quotations peppered throughout the story. The main culprit, if you will, of using most of them is Lymond, but others also do. I had to wonder about why they were included. Ms. Dunnett must have had a reason for going through the seemingly immense effort to locate appropriate quotes from all of the various languages. What purpose did they serve? I sincerely doubt that she was “showing off” her own intellect or accomplishments by including them. As I read, I kept wondering and pondering until I reached a place in the text where I think she revealed the true reason. The main character, Lymond, is having a conversation with Gideon (on page 340 in my copy of the book) who in exasperation exclaims, “I wish to God…that you’d talk—just once—in prose like other people.” In Lymond’s reply he says, “I echo like a mynah” bird, pulling all of these quotations from books he’s read. He’s a very well read man, that’s certain, and I think he uses language as a weapon or a tool to deflect and confuse or to create a delay while he thinks through the situation at hand. I think when Lymond says he’ll talk in prose like others, it’s a turning point in his growth arc. I won’t elaborate because I don’t want to ruin another’s enjoyment of the story.

My main takeaways from reading this book are varied. Keep an open mind about the writing style. Immerse myself in the story first. Absorb the history as well as the story by putting my inner critic in the back seat while reading. Perhaps jot down or highlight the unfamiliar terms to explore later, but even that I think would pull me from the story itself and detract from enjoying the read.

Are you reading along? What did you think of The Game of Kings, if so? I’m open to having a discussion about what you think of each of these stories, too!

Up next for me is another book off my personal bookshelf: A Place Called Armageddon: Constantinople 1453 by C.C. Humphreys. Humphreys was born in Canada and has lived in the USA and the UK. Again, I know very little about 15th century history and Constantinople. We’ll see what I learn from reading this one…

Happy reading and happy holidays to all!

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

Visit www.bettybolte.com for more on my books and upcoming events.

Martha “Patsy” Custis manages an immense eighteenth-century plantation in the Virginia colony. But as a young widow she must balance her business with caring for her two young children. Her experience and education have sustained her thus far but when her life veers in an unexpected direction, she realizes she has much more to learn. When Colonel George Washington takes an interest in her, she’s convinced he’ll be a loving husband and father for her children.

But when trouble in the form of British oppression, taxes, and royal arrogance leads to revolt and revolution, George must choose between duty to country and Martha. Compelled to take matters into her own hands, Martha must decide whether to remain where she belongs or go with her husband… no matter what the dangerous future may hold.

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Getting to know: Melanie Chartoff #author #actress #stage #screen #voice #essayist

Posted on by Tessa Russ

Let’s mix it up a bit today, shall we? My guest author today is a very creative woman who is going to share a bit about the inside of a creative personality. She’s written a book about her life and struggles which sounds fascinating. Please help me welcome author Melanie Chartoff to the interview hot seat! Here’s a look at her background, and then we’ll find out more about her.

Beginning as an actor On and Off Broadway, Melanie Chartoff is best known for the characters she created on Fridays, Seinfeld, Newhart, and Rugrats. Recently published in McSweeney’s, Medium, Entropy, Purple Clover, The Jewish Journal, Funny Times, Five on the Fifth, Glint, Entropy, Verdad, Bluestem, Evening Street Press, Mused, Jewlarious, Defenestration, Better after 50, Living the Second Act, and three editions of Chicken Soup for the Soul (Simon and Schuster), Odd Woman Out: Essays and Stories is her first book.

Author Social Links: Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

Betty: How would you describe your childhood?

Melanie: An amusement park. Hilarious yet dangerous, thrilling, and scary.

Betty: What kind of schooling did you have? Did you enjoy it?

Melanie: Small town public school—lucky I lived til 10th grade. Chose my college because they gave me a small drama scholarship and it was an hour from New York City. The drama department there was run by dilettantes on tenure who prepared us for fallback jobs, for failure as actors.

Betty: When did you have your first kiss and with who? How did it go?

Melanie: First peck from a furry face teen boy. First real kiss in Junior High—and I got so aroused I was terrified—I felt how easy it would be to lose control so I stayed a virgin til I was nearly 23.

Betty: What do you think is your greatest achievement? Why?

Melanie: Surviving show biz and making a real home for myself and in myself, and finally getting married to a wonderful man at age 65, a dream I’d harbored since I was 12.

Betty: What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you?

Melanie: Having a tooth knocked out in a staged fight on live television.

Betty: If you could change one thing from your past, what would it be and why?

Melanie: I’d trade in my original father for a kinder model.

Betty: What’s your greatest fear? Who else knows about it?

Melanie: Afraid of having water close over my head—I can’t swim. Now you all know!

Betty: How much of your true self do you share with others?

Melanie: In my book, I reveal my many shames and comedic overcompensations.

Betty: Are you close to your family?

Melanie: No. My sister and I are estranged, and I’ve not been able to see my mother in a year and a half due to COVID, and she can’t hear me on the phone.

Betty: Do you wish your relationship with them was different in any way? If so, how?

Melanie: I wish they would stop blaming me for the choices they made in their lives. I wish my sister was open to discussion and to going to therapy of some sort to ameliorate her regrets and resentments and her dependence on my mother who is now 97.

Betty: What characteristics are you looking for in a potential lover/spouse?

Melanie: I have it all in my brand new and only forever husband. He is kind, deep, brilliant, empathetic, devoted to his therapy patients, and very, very funny.

Betty: How do you like to relax?

Melanie: Do yoga, walk by the sea, esp in foreign lands, and lately often recall a Sunday by the ocean in Polignara a Mare, Italy.

Betty: What kind of entertainment do you enjoy?

Melanie: International streaming series and films that take us far away from the American political and pop cultural scene. We love Chaiflicks (on which I appear) a distribution site for Jewish themed films from many lands—Africa, Germany, Austria, S. America. Astounding small stories with enormous impact.

Betty: If you could change yourself in some way, what change would you make? Why?

Melanie: I would rid myself of the lupus and arthritis which limits me. I’ve learned to live with it all, but would be far happier without it.

Betty: What do you think you’re good at? Bad at?

Melanie: Self-discipline, teaching charisma, entertaining, singing, acting, improvising, and dancing, but I won’t twerk. I’m bad at swimming! Being ignored by old friends without explanation.

Betty: What items do you carry in your pockets or handbag?

Melanie: Cell phone is ever present. Lip balm, a q link, a key.

Betty: What foods and beverages do you routinely have in your refrigerator?

Melanie: Pellegrino. Iced herbal tea.

Go backstage on Broadway, behind the scenes on network television, and inside the complicated psyche of a talented performer struggling to play the role of a complete human. Odd Woman Out intimately exposes the nature of identity in the life of a performing artist, snapshotting the hopeful search for a self Chartoff could love, and someone else’s self to love, too.

Buy Links: Amazon * B&N

Thanks so much for letting us take a peek behind the curtain, Melanie! Wishing you all the best in the new year, too.

Happy Holidays and happy reading!

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

First thoughts on The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett #HistoricalFiction #HistFic #amwriting #amreading #books #novel #mustread #review

Posted on by Betty Bolte

Next up on my historical fiction around the world reading tour! I started reading Dorothy Dunnett’s The Game of Kings because it’s been sitting on my bookshelf for at least a decade now. It makes sense to me to read the ones I already have on hand before I go in search of others.  This paperback is 512 pages long without an intro or any collateral information attached. I’m on page 112 at the moment, so only 400 pages to go. This is a slower read than I had anticipated, but I’ll explain why in a minute. I inherited my mother-in-law’s copy after she passed in 2009. The narrator in this story is an omniscient one, knowing what each character is experiencing, thinking, feeling.

Ms. Dunnett is a Scottish author and this book is set in Scotland in 1546, when Mary Queen of Scots was 4 years old. Note that the only way I know the actually time period is not because it’s explicitly stated in the story other than by referring to the fact that Mary is 4 years old. I had to look up when she was born to know the actual date. This is a rather common theme—having to look up things—in my experience of reading this story, too.

If you look at the photo of the physical book I’m reading, you may notice that it is literally taped together. The pages are worn and hard to turn. It’s tattered to the point that as I’m reading, bits of the paper cover litters my pant legs. I do not know whether my mother-in-law bought a new or used copy of this book. But either way, it has literally been read to pieces.

I find this very curious because this story is not easy to read in some ways. My experience reading the story is a combination of intrigue and annoyance, to be honest. While I have some smattering of German language left in my memory, I am not multilingual. I know people who are, but learning other languages has not been my primary focus in life. So reading this story is a challenge because there are so many foreign words and quotes woven throughout. In fact, I read with my iPhone nearby with 3 apps at the ready: Dictionary.com, a Google Translate translation app, and a browser ready with “definition _______” on tap.

I use those three often because of the frequency of Scottish slang, or quotes in Spanish, Latin, French, etc. Each chapter also starts with a quote in Old English. Let me give you some examples so you can see what I mean.

Chapter one, entitled “Opening Gambit: Threat to a Castle,” begins with this quote:

First of ye chekker sall be mecioune maid
And syne efter of ye proper moving
Of every man in ordour to his king
And as the chekker schawis us yis forne
Richt so it maye the kinrik and the crowne,
The warld and all that is therein suthlye,
The checker may in figour signifye.

So what I interpret that to mean, given the theme of the book/series is chess moves, is something about the chess player and the moves he makes. I tried using my Oxford English Dictionary to translate but many of the words are not included in the OED.  Words like mecioune, schawis, kinrik, suthley. So I have to just take the overall idea of moves associated with the king and the crown in the world of the chess game, but the exact nature I don’t understand entirely.

Then there are the inline terms such as:

Oriflamme – “gold flame”; The sacred banner of St. Denis, a banderole of two or three points of red or orange-red silk, attached to a lance

Rieving and ruttery – “that robs or reaves” and “lust, lechery”

Yelling bills and bows – Calling for individual archers (bow and arrow) and crossbows to come to a fight

Kist – a small chest for holding valuables

“Se’l ser un si, scrivero’n rima; Se’l ser un no, amici come prima.” – “If there is a  yes, I will write in rhyme; if it’s a no, friends as before.”

“Le douxiem’ mois de l’an Que donner a mà mie? – “The twelfth month of the year, What to give grandma?”

There are many, many more, and I’m sure there will be many more to come. (Thanks to Google Translate for helping me out here!) All of this got me wondering about my mother-in-law re-reading this book so many times. Did she know what all these things meant? Did she speak or read all these languages? How did she manage to enjoy it so many times? I will confess right here and now that I picked this book up before and put it down, not having the inclination to read it with all the effort involved in trying to figure out what all these mean and feeling like it wasn’t written for a reader like me. I didn’t get rid of the book precisely because it had been loved to tatters.

I asked my husband if his mother spoke these languages and he said no, or at least he didn’t think so. I know she was well read, reading everything she could get her hands on. She loved to do crossword puzzles, too, so she knew a lot of esoteric words. After mulling this over for several days, I’ve come to the conclusion that she read the context and skipped any other unknown foreign terms and languages to glean what she could from the action and setting and dialogue she did understand. And didn’t worry about the rest of it. She obviously read this entire The Lymond Chronicles series multiple times, or had friends borrow the books and read. They are all obviously worn and tattered.

So that’s my plan going forward: to read it for the story as much as I can get from it and try not to spend so much time looking up foreign terms and quotations. But I wonder if I can skim those parts without my curiosity begging to be satisfied. I am not sure on that score!

Have you read stories written like this? How did you manage to enjoy them, if so? I’d love some tips!

Happy reading and happy holidays to all!

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

Visit www.bettybolte.com for more on my books and upcoming events.

On sale for $1.99 (ebook) through 12/14/21!

Audrey Harper needs more than home and hearth to satisfy her self-worth despite being raised with the idea that a woman’s place is in the home. Working as a music critic for the city newspaper in Baltimore, Maryland, during the Second World War, she’s enjoyed both financial freedom and personal satisfaction in a job well done. When she uncovers evidence of German spies working to sabotage a secret bomber plane being manufactured in her beloved city, she must choose between her sense of duty to protect her city and the urgings of her boss, her family, and her fiancé to turn over her evidence to the authorities. But when her choices lead her and her sister into danger, she is forced to risk life and limb to save her sister and bring the spies to justice.

Set against the backdrop of the flourishing musical community during the 1940s in Baltimore, Notes of Love and War weaves together the pleasure of musical performance with the dangers of espionage and spying.

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Getting to know Sharon Skinner #author of #paranormal #mustread #fiction #books #kidlit

Posted on by Tessa Russ

I’m happy to welcome an author who writes young adult and middle-grade novels for a change of pace. Please help me welcome Sharon Skinner to the interview hot seat! Take a peek at her bio and then we’ll dive into the interview.

Sharon Skinner holds an MA in Creative Writing and is an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach and freelance editor, whose goal is to help writers weave their words into stories that shine. She writes fantasy, science fiction, paranormal, and the occasional steampunk, for audiences of all ages.

Skinner is a proud US Navy veteran, and one of the first women who served aboard a US Navy vessel, the USS Jason (AR-8). In October 1980, she was among the crew of approximately 800 men and 45 women when the Jason deployed for a six-month WestPac cruise in support of troops during the Iran hostage crisis.

She is an active member of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) and serves as the Regional Advisor for SCBWI AZ. Her Young Adult and Middle-Grade novels tend to explore complex relationships, particularly those between mothers and daughters. Her picture book, Rocket Shoes! is “a rhyming story for every kid who wants to fly—and wonders when it’s okay to break the rules.”

Author Social Links: Twitter * Instagram * LinkedIn

More information can be found at sharonskinner.com or bookcoachingbysharon.com

Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?

Sharon: This story actually stemmed from a short story I wrote called Coffee & Cues. It was a story based on a personal experience that I struggled to write until I remembered that I am at heart a fiction writer, and I could make the story into whatever I wanted. It was extremely cathartic to be able to take a less than positive moment in my life and rewrite it with an outcome that was more to my liking.

Betty: Which character arrived fully or mostly developed?

Sharon: The story’s protagonist, Merissa. She is the teenager I want to have been when I was growing up. Despite her lack of confidence and sometimes poor choices, she speaks her mind and her wit has a real bite.

Betty: Which story element sparked the idea for this story: setting, situation, character, or something else?

Sharon: Pretty much every writing project I undertake starts with character. I have to work for plot, which I have plenty of tools in my kit to help with, but if I don’t have a fabulous character to hang out with for the duration, I won’t ever make it to the finish line.

Betty: Which character(s) were the hardest to get to know? Why do you think?

Sharon: I don’t seem to have a lot of trouble getting inside my characters. I think it has a lot to do with my theater background. Getting into characters is something I have always loved doing. That said, I often have to go back and revise my work to ensure the villains are well-rounded and remain the heroes of their own story.

Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?

Sharon: It has been decades since I was in high school, so I had to do a deep dive into what high school looks like, topics of study, etc. I also had to make lunar timelines and a seasonal chart for what plants would be in bloom during the story.

Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?

Sharon: Collars went through a ton of drafts, I didn’t keep a solid count on the number but it was at least ten, possibly more, but I am happy with the way the story turned out, and I actually have a sequel in the works.

Betty: How long did it take for you to write the story you’re sharing with us? Is that a typical length of time for you? Why or why not?

Sharon: Collars & Curses took me about four years from start to finish. I think most of my books have taken me close to that amount of time to write from start to finish. This is partly due to the fact that I have a full-time job as well as a side business as a Freelance Editor and Book Coach and partly because I am generally working on more than one book at a time. The positive outcome of having more than one project going at any given time is that I have been able to average completing/publishing a book a year for the past ten years.

Betty: What rituals or habits do you have while writing?

Sharon: I like to do my drafting on my laptop away from the distraction of email and the internet. When I take my laptop into the living room and plop down on the end of the couch, I am there to write and nothing more. It’s a lot harder to do that on my desktop where my bad habits can get the best of me, like researching in the middle of a scene and then falling into the rabbit hole of the web.

Betty: Every author has a tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?

Sharon: I used to say that “looked” and “turned and looked” used to be my most overused words/phrases, but I’ve gotten better at not using them as much. Now, it’s more likely to be a tired simile or an aging cliché, but instead of calling those favorites or overused, I consider them placeholders for when it’s time to revise.

Betty: Do you have any role models? If so, why do you look up to them?

Sharon: I don’t know that I would call them role models, but there are a number of writers whose work I admire and I aspire to develop my craft to write on that level. I use the work of such authors as mentor texts, delving into what they do well, their use of structure and language to write deeply engaging and emotional stories. Topping the list right now are Becky Chambers, TJ Klune, Julie Berry, Justina Ireland, Erin Morgenstern, Daniel Nayeri, Laura Amy Schlitz, Thana Lai, and Dan Santat.

Betty: Do you have a special place to write? Revise? Read?

Sharon: I like to draft in my living room on my laptop. I still like to revise my own work on hardcopy. My brain processes the words differently when I step away from what I have written on the computer and see it on the page. When I read other author’s published works, I prefer a physical book. I do most of my reading at night for 1-2 hours before I go to sleep and having a physical book gets my eyes and brain off the computer.

Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?

Sharon: Yes, I do. I am a Grant Professional, so I am a sort of technical writer/persuasive storyteller by day. I do like my work, but fiction is my true passion. I love writing and editing fiction and helping other writers through my Book Coaching service.

Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?

Sharon: Successfully completing my trilogy, The Healer’s Legacy series, was one of the most challenging things I have done as a writer. So, I would call that my greatest achievement to date as an author.

Betty: What other author would you like to sit down over dinner and talk to? Why?

Sharon: There are several, but I think I would have a great time hanging out with Becky Chambers. Her writing is so solid. As I have said, I love to spend time with interesting characters, and her characters are just so fascinating and diverse.

Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?

Sharon: I am a firm believer in what Simon Sinek calls “knowing your why.” Publishing can feel so competitive at times, especially since we all have to be so public about what we are doing in order to reach readers. Seeing what other authors are doing/accomplishing can cause us to measure our work and accomplishments against theirs, which is a true recipe for feeling like we are not successful. But if you know your “why,” the reason that you write and publish, the only yardstick you have to measure against is your own. For me, it’s all about reaching readers and connecting. I want them to connect with my work, to be moved, to relate, and to feel like taking the journey with my characters was well worth the time and effort. When I hear from readers how deeply they have connected with my stories, that’s when I know I am a successful author.

Think being a High School sophomore is hard? Try doing it when your messed up genetic code turns you into a wolf every full moon. Not only does Merissa have to deal with high school divas, bullies and pop quizzes, she also has to hide the awkward truth that once a month she really does get bitchy.

And just when she thinks she’s found someone to whom she can actually relate, her new classmate Bree turns out to be an arrogant witch.

Literally.

If they weren’t the only non-Norms in the entire town of Fair Glen—aside from the annoying half-Elf, Jeryd, who shows up and complicates things—Merissa might not give Bree the time of day.

But when Bree is drawn into a curse that causes chaos at school and threatens the town, Merissa must find a way to vanquish the dark power behind the curse and keep her parents from finding out about it.

All without failing biology.

Buy Links: Website * BrickCaveMedia * Indiebound * Amazon

I love that you start with character and base the action on what they would do and how they’d react. Thanks, Sharon, for coming by and letting us learn more about your motivation and writing process.

Happy Holidays and happy reading!

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

Wrapping Up The First Man In Rome #HistoricalFiction #HistFic #amwriting #amreading #books #novel #mustread #review

Posted on by Betty Bolte

I have finished reading Colleen McCullough’s The First Man in Rome and it only took me 24 days! As you may recall, the entire book spans 1076 pages with the story proper comprising 931 of those. I chuckled at the Los Angeles Times quote in the front of the book: “An awesome and epic new work…This is an absolutely absorbing story—not simply of the military and political intrigues that went into the final days of the Republic but also of what it was like to live, love and survive at this pivotal point in our civilization…A master storyteller…A 900-plus-page novel that is every bit as hard to put down as it is to pick up.” [emphasis mine] Yes, it is a rather hefty lift!

If you’re just joining my tour of historical fiction written by authors from around the world, you might want to start here by reading why I chose The First Man in Rome. Note that I’m broadening my reading by sampling historical fiction written by authors in countries other than my own USA. I want to see what different nationalities have to say about their point of view of history. I started by sharing my first thoughts about the novel, then my impressions of life in ancient Rome and some overall observations of the story and writing. Today I’m going to talk about the story and my take-aways.

I will admit to being happily surprised to enjoy the story. It’s filled with political intrigue, infighting, actual fighting for ascendancy in the government, and revenge. All of which is not something I typically enjoy reading. I can’t put my finger on what the author did to weave that magical spell over me, but she did! In doing so, I feel like I glimpsed life in ancient Rome. She made that life style along with its trials and tribulations and achievements come to life for me.

More than once I wondered about the kind of research she must have delved into in order to provide the specific details. Did she find source material as to the layout of the ancient buildings and spaces she includes in the story? Did she walk down the roads, the steps, through the green spaces and cluttered parts of the city? How did she know the fighting techniques, the technological advancements, the strategies employed by the generals of the various armies, and, well, everything? The various maps she includes are rather difficult to read but they do help me visualize the areas she writes about. McCullough’s details create a vibrant, breathing society on the page. Makes me want to go do some research of my own.

I’ve read The Thornbirds by McCullough way back when I was a teen. Her style drew me in then just as strongly as she did with this one. That style also seems similar to other historical authors even though she has a unique narrative voice throughout her works. What I mean is that I didn’t notice anything about her author voice that stood out as different than a good storyteller’s technique. As I read from authors around the world, I wonder if I will come across any who write with a different rhythm or meter. We’ll see, I guess…

So, what’s next you may be asking? Dorothy Dunnett’s The Game of Kings. It’s half the size of The First Man in Rome so theoretically it should take me half the time to read it, right?

Happy reading and happy holidays to all!

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

Visit www.bettybolte.com for more on my books and upcoming events.

On sale for $1.99 (ebook) through 12/14/21!

Audrey Harper needs more than home and hearth to satisfy her self-worth despite being raised with the idea that a woman’s place is in the home. Working as a music critic for the city newspaper in Baltimore, Maryland, during the Second World War, she’s enjoyed both financial freedom and personal satisfaction in a job well done. When she uncovers evidence of German spies working to sabotage a secret bomber plane being manufactured in her beloved city, she must choose between her sense of duty to protect her city and the urgings of her boss, her family, and her fiancé to turn over her evidence to the authorities. But when her choices lead her and her sister into danger, she is forced to risk life and limb to save her sister and bring the spies to justice.

Set against the backdrop of the flourishing musical community during the 1940s in Baltimore, Notes of Love and War weaves together the pleasure of musical performance with the dangers of espionage and spying.

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