Guest Post by Jim Bronyaur!

Today we have a fabulous guest post by the author of the Minivan Mom Mystery Series Jim Bronyaur! He will be talking to us about writing his sequel, the merging of new & old characters, 

and how to develop them!

So without further ado... take it away Jim!!!        

There’s always fun in creating new characters, but when it comes to writing a sequel, there’s the chance to mix new characters with old ones and seeing how they react.

I loaded up the first book in the Minivan Mom Mystery Series with some fun characters – everyone from Eve Bailey herself, to her family, to the town gossip queen, and even to Eve’s sworn enemy, Karen Corothers.

When I wrote the second book in the series, I needed those main characters to be alive and well, but I knew it couldn’t just be about them again.  There had to be something new and fresh happening with these ‘old’ characters in the background moving the story along.

To do this, I created the Jenkins family and their back story.  A family of land owners who appear normal on the outside but are anything but on the inside, maybe much like most families in the world.  The family shows that money doesn’t create happiness and that regret can be a lifelong curse living inside ourselves.

Of course, I had to create the murder victim since it is a murder series.

In the first book, we have this innocent seeming woman, a local resident who perhaps walked off the straight path in life.  There’s tragedy behind Janet in If Errands Could Kill and I didn’t want that same thing to happen in the second book.  For the second book, I imagined it moving a little more quickly.  I figured since we all know who Eve is by now and we all about Marysville, why not just jump right into the story and bring some outside stuff into the book?  What that means is that I created the murder victim as a rich, big wig kind of guy, someone who had a lot to do with a local casino in town that seems to causing trouble and bringing trouble to the innocent town of Marysville. 

Eve doesn’t know who the murdered man is but that doesn’t mean she’s not connected to him… and that’s where the second book really picks up its speed.  In the first book, it was about Eve trying to understand the fact that a normal, kind woman had been killed.  For the second book, it’s Eve working through some of her own past to help the present.

The new characters bring more life to the series and more life to Eve.  The fun part of the book and the series is that in the background, we have the other characters, still living and still functioning within the story – and even helping the story along too.

In other words, writing the sequel just made the ‘family’ within the Minivan Mom Mystery Series bigger and better. 

Yes, plans do exist for a third book, but I cannot share them just yet.  But there will be some of the old characters, and yes, I will be back to work creating new ones.

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Grab your copy of both If ErrandsCould Kill and A Mess to Die For on Amazon… and don’t miss any of the excitement in the Minivan Mom Mystery Series!

The House on Blackstone Moor Review, Guest Post & Giveaway

The House on Blackstone Moor

Carole Gill
Genre: Gothic Romance/Paranormal

Expected Publication: May 2, 2012

Publisher: Tudor Rose Press

ASIN: 00804XJBA

Buy It!

Amazon 
Amazon UK

Description:

“They say my father was mad, so corrupted by evil and tainted by sin that he did what he did. I came home to find them all dead; their throats savagely cut. My sisters only five and eight were gone as well as my brother who was twelve. My mother too lay butchered in her marriage bed. The bed her children were born in…”

Young Rose Baines discovers the savage murders of her family by her mad, incestuous father.

She is plunged into a nightmare of hell and is incarcerated in two madhouses after which she is helped to obtain a position as governess at Blackstone House.

The house is located on haunted moorland. Nothing is as it seems for Blackstone House and its inhabitants have hideous secrets. There is unimaginable horror there but there is love too--love that comes at a terrible price.

The story is as haunting as it is terrifying and will remain with the reader long after its disturbing tale has been told.

Review:

Rating:

 ‘The House on Blackstone Moor’ blew me away. This book is so intensely dark and twisted and will take you on a journey that will change you forever. Rose, is a young woman who goes through hell and back nearly literally, her family is brutally murdered by the hands of her own father. After years of being tortured in many ways by her demented father she loses her whole family and before she knows what is happening she is admitted to a insane asylum. She doesn’t know where to turn and who to trust. She just focuses on getting out of the hell whole she calls home for the time being. The only person she really confides in is her doctor, Dr. Bannion and he gets her a job outside of the asylum. She is to a governess to a well-established family, or so it seems.

After she moves in with this family and begins to take care of the children she slowly starts to realize things that are very strange the problem is she has nowhere else to go and she simply adores the children. What is a girl to do when she has no family left and everyone is convinced she is crazy?

This book is so intriguing and dark, it contains so many gothic elements and the story keeps taking so many twists and turns that you will have absolutely no idea what is going to happen next. It is in a certain way a paranormal romance but definitely a lot different than a lot of the other ones out there. I truly could not put this book down, I finished it in three days between going to work, that it how captivating it was. It was amazing and deliciously dark, I loved it.

Guest Post:

Starting Out As a Writer

by Carole Gill

I think writing picked me. There I was an eight year old kid, saturated with sci-fi films (my parents were huge fans) and my fourth grade teacher had us write a story.

“Just write a story, children.”

I wrote about Martians invading earth in order to take the children back to Mars. The teacher sent for the Principal and asked me to read it to the class, so I did.

That was actually the first time I remember writing a story. I wrote another one about that time, which was surreal. A child climbs inside of a huge globe in the library or museum and inside is outer space.

My parents were proud and delighted. Their joy eventually was tainted with worry when I became the first Goth. Yes, that’s right you might as well hear it from me today, I am the first Goth of the modern Goths.

I began reading Poe at eleven and wrote about death and the next world, about cemeteries and graves, too. 

My parents saw my teacher and my teacher said they shouldn’t worry ‘it has to come out.’

It did.

I wrote more, a lot more. But then life happened. It just got in the way of my writing for a long time. I only turned back to it about twelve years ago.

My first marriage was over, my mother was gone—I had cared for her for twelve years. I found myself, for the first time in my life, on my own. I joined a local writer’s workshop, and was encouraged to really go for everything.

I was chosen by North West Playwrights of England for further development and found that to be a great experience. I think my writing got very dramatic and my dialogue skills improved.

Three years ago is when I really knuckled down and began sending stories in for publication. Some were rejected, but I carried on. 

I wrote stories and novels. I wrote a crime novel which was ridiculous and a love story which was worse, but I kept on, exploring and reading lots while I did.

Horror was a natural for me, what with being the first Goth and everything and besides, my first marriage was a Hammer film. Yes, it really was! As a matter of fact, I remember writing a story that was inspired by that horrific marriage on Valentine’s Day 2009.

I will be delighted to send it to anyone that would like to read it. It is on Amazon with another story, but as the theme is domestic abuse it would be my pleasure to provide it for free.

Horror that exists close to us is what I find terrifying. No Count in Transylvania is going to drag us to hell with him. Chances are no boogey man will jump out at you either. ‘The monstrous husband,’ is real horror.

I write from the heart. I think every writer should write what they feel, what they have lived through.

‘Write what you know’ is too simplistic; I think the meaning there is to write about what you feel. Isolate an emotion and watch it come to life. A master at doing that is the great Stephen King. He depicts bullies brilliantly for instance.

Life’s experiences, all the things you’ve lived through, will all be stored in your own mind files. As a writer you tap into those files because that’s where your soul is too.

I think of that kind of writing as coming from the heart. Heart/soul—it’s your center. It’s the core of your being. It’s what makes you, you.

Write things you feel, and watch what happens. It will be real; it will read real and feel real to you and to others.

You’ll know what your expectations are, but don’t try to do too much too soon. You have time. Time is your friend not your enemy, you can use that time to grow as a writer!

About the Author:

I wrote my first story at age 8. It was sci-fi but as both my parents were sci-fi fanatics it wasn’t a surprise.

I continued to write however life got in the way as it often does, and it wasn’t until 2000 that I turned back to writing. I joined a local writer’s workshop and was greatly encouraged to keep up with my writing and to send things out.

Shortly afterwards, I was selected by Northwest Playwrights of England for further development but found I preferred fiction writing.

Widely published in horror and sci-fi anthologies, The House on Blackstone Moor is my first novel. It is a tale of vampirism, madness, obsession and devil worship.

Set in 19th Century Yorkshire, its locales include Victorian madhouses as well as barren, wind-swept Yorkshire moors. The story is a marriage of horror and gothic romance. I think it can best be described as being gothic paranormal romantic horror.

I suppose you could say I want to put the Goth back into Gothic.

Living in the area the novel is set in, was very beneficial. Also, as a great admirer of the Brontes and frequent visitor to the Bronte Parsonage in Haworth, I found myself nearly obsessed with recreating the gothic romantic narrative.

Having been employed in a hospital which had been historically a workhouse and asylum in Victorian times, I was able to add great realism to the depiction of the asylums as described in my novel.

The sequel, Unholy Testament, is the confession of a demon to the woman he loves. It is nearing the end of its first draft and will be released shortly. 

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Reading Addiction Blog Tours and a copy of this book was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Reading Addiction Blog Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review. There was no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, publisher, publicist, or readers of this review. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning Use of Endorcements and Testimonials in Advertising*

Guest Post: Thankful for a Big Rear by Teasi Cannon

A big, big, welcome to author Teasi Cannon!

Take it away, guurrl!

Thankful for a Big Rear by Teasi Cannon

One day not long ago I was sweeping my kitchen floor in the near trance-like state of La La Land, when I was jolted to my senses by the precious voice of my 4-year-old nephew saying, “Aunt Teasi, you have a vahwee (very) big butt.”

I set my broom aside, smoothed my shirt, and calmly turned to face him.  Bright-eyed and curly-haired, he stood – completely oblivious to the fact that he had said the words no woman ever wants to hear.  And then I let him have it.  I bent down, coming only inches away from his little round face, and said, “Why…thank you!”  Then I smiled big, stood to grab my broom, and returned unscathed to the task at hand. 

A few years ago those innocently spoken words would have completely obliterated me, and rather than a thank you, might have actually incited an immature come-back such as: “Oh, yeah?  Well, you’re short and you talk funny.”   

But now, to the glory of God, moments like that are reminders to me that the miraculous has happened: I no longer hate my body (especially my back side); in fact, it has become one of the biggest blessings in my life.

Like most women (really every woman I’ve ever met), I lived years literally disgusted with what I saw in the mirror.  The territory between my ears felt like nothing short of a war zone, with battles being fought everywhere: the bathroom, the grocery store, the bedroom, even church.  I could never silence the ambush-ready community of inner critics (those hurtful thoughts we all think) that called my head home.  And I missed out on so much: parties I refused to attend because my pants were too tight, dates with my husband because of a few gained pounds, quality time with my kids.  I know I’m not alone in this.

We women have been lied to for years.  We’ve been told that our value – our very right to be seen and celebrated - is determined by our waist-to-hip ratio or the proportions of our facial features, and that’s just not true.  Our value is determined by the only One who really knows it: our God. 

After hitting my head hard on the floor of my personal pit of despair, I slowly began my journey toward believing that.  One inch at a time of healing, truth, and righteous anger led me to a life-saving realization: All those years I was desperate to change how I looked, God was desperate to change how I see.  And He did.

Truth is, if God can make a prostitute the great grandmother of the Messiah, turn water into wine, and make blind men see; don’t you think He can turn a big bottom – or a big nose - or bird-thin legs – or whatever it is you hate – into a blessing.  He did it for me, and I’m so ridiculously happy about the journey that I wrote a book about it.  

About Teasi:

Teasi Cannon Teasi (pronounced Tee See) is married to her best friend, Bill Cannon, and they have three awesome children: Carli, Ben, and Sam. Teasi has a master’s degree in pastoral counseling from Liberty Theological Seminary, and is a sought-after speaker who loves to help women remember who they are in Christ.

Check out Teasi's book & our review of it below!

My Big Bottom Blessing

How Hating My Body Led to Loving My Life

Teasi Cannon

Genre: Non Fiction/Religious

Published: May 8, 2012

Publisher: Worthy Publishing

ISBN: 1617950769

Our Review!

Book Trailer!