#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with James Hill

I’d like to welcome James Hill to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite traditions:

BBQ, I love to cook outdoors over charcoal or wood fires. I also love fishing, freshwater or saltwater fishing is a relaxing pastime.

Something that you’ll never do again:

Driving cross-country is a grueling undertaking that turned out to be less fun than imagined.

Favorite treat:

Rum floats. For those who don’t know what this is, it’s ice cream (any flavor but I like chocolate), a little Coke Cola (although Cherry Pepsi works too), and a good brand of rum (I like Captain Morgan or Bacardi Black).

A treat that makes you gag:

If it makes you gag, I will not consider that a treat, but milk.

Best memory:

Sailing on the Nile River on a felucca. That trip made it into my novel Killer With Three Heads.

Something you’d rather forget:

Hitting a patch of black ice and crashing my car into a traffic pole.

Funniest summer story:

We were having a firework war with some guys. They were firing rockets from their third-floor window, and we fired from a porch across the street. We unleashed a barrage of twenty-five-ounce rockets and set their curtains on fire. We won the war.

Something embarrassing that happened to you:

I went swimming at the beach and the lifeguard thought I was drowning. He rushed in and pulled me out. I wasn’t drowning but was drunk and doing handstands in the water.

Best thing you ever grilled:

I grilled a turkey for a homecoming for my son.

Your worst kitchen or grilling disaster:

I took a pan out of the oven with my bare hands. For some reason I didn’t think it was hot. It was.

Your favorite thing to get from the ice cream truck:

Super Deluxe Banana Split.

Some dessert that you wish you’d never bought:

Cheesecake, bad cheesecake feels like you ate rocks, and good cheesecake taste better but feels the same.

Best vacation memory:

Was a working vacation at the Miami Book Fair and we stayed on South Beach. It was a nonstop party.

A vacation disaster that you’d rather forget:

The time we went fishing and I got hit in the head with a rock. My brother and I were playing war, he told me to run, and he was going to throw a hand grenade at me. He had impeccable aim.

Best summer vacation ever:

Scuba diving in the Caribbean.

Somewhere where you don’t ever want to return:

There isn’t any place I would not go to again.

Most favorite place to write/edit:

On my boat in the marina, Ummagumma is a floating bar most of the time and very laxing.

The worst place to try to write because of all the distractions:

The beach, too much to look at and sand gets everywhere. Also never take a laptop to the beach.

The thing that you will most remember about your writing life:

Finishing my adult urban crime series, Killer With A Heart, Killer with Three Heads, Killer With Black Blood, and Killer With Ice Eyes.

Something in your writing life that you wish you could do over:

Start publishing my stories earlier. Waiting to get published was a huge waste of time.

About James:

James L Hill, a.k.a. J L Hill, is a native New Yorker from the South Bronx, Fort Apache, of the turbulent 60’s.

He earned a degree in computer programming, his other love. A multi-genre author, his experiences seasoned his novels and the worlds he imagined.

James started RockHill Publishing LLC to publish his own work and give others access to the literary world.

The four-part adult urban crime series, The Killer Series, is complete. Killer With A Heart, Killer With Three Heads, Killer With Black Blood have all received five-star reviews. Killer With Ice Eyes, the final chapter of the boys from the Bronx, is available now.

He is currently working on a three-part historical fantasy Gemstone Series; The Emerald Lady is in publication to rave reviews. The Ruby Cradle and the third book, The Diamond Warrior, is coming soon.

Then there’s the psychological dystopian science fiction thriller, Pegasus: A Journey To New Eden for your reading pleasure.

Let’s Be Social:

Readers and Writers Podcast:

https://anchor.fm/rockhillpublishing

YouTube Channel:

 https://bit.ly/RockHillYouTube

RockHill Publishing Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rockhillpublishing

Author J L Hill Facebook:

 https://www.facebook.com/jlhill57

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Emmie Caldwell (Mary Ellen Hughes)

I’d like to welcome Emmie Caldwell (Mary Ellen Hughes) to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: I like gardening, chocolate ice cream, and amazing sunsets.

Things you need to throw out: Clothes that looked frumpy ten years ago but are still usable.

Things you need for your writing sessions: A window, a bottle of water, oh, and a laptop.

Things that hamper your writing: Phone calls, Amazon deliveries, hunger.

Things you love about writing: I love creating a new character – good or evil.

Things you hate about writing: I hate discovering plot holes that require major rewriting.

Hardest thing about being a writer: The hardest thing is reading other books and not mentally editing them as I do my own writing.

Easiest thing about being a writer: The easiest thing about being a writer is writing a scene when I know exactly how I want it to go. The words just flow!

Favorite music or song: I lean toward classical music after studying piano for some years.

Music that drives you crazy: The kind that is all drums and shouting and no melody.

Things you always put in your books: An animal, well, almost always.

Things you never put in your books: Violence to an animal

Favorite places you’ve been: I love northern climes and particularly enjoyed trips to Alaska, Montana, and Norway.

Places you never want to go to again: Airports, only because of too many miserable delays and cancellations. I may change my mind, but for now I’d rather drive.

Favorite things to do: A game of doubles tennis; planting a flower garden

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Cleaning out a file cabinet

Things that make you happy: Being with family or friends.

Things that drive you crazy: Movies based on a book that don’t follow the book.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Landed on a glacier via a helicopter.

Something you chickened out from doing: Riding Space Mountain at Disney World

The nicest thing a reader said to you: One reader told me that the problem one of my characters dealt with helped her with her similar problem.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “I thought you wrote children’s books!”

About Emmie:

Emmie Caldwell, author of the Craft Fair Knitters Mystery Series, is the pseudonym for Mary Ellen Hughes, the national bestselling author of the Keepsake Cove Mysteries, the Pickled and Preserved Mysteries, the Craft Corner Mysteries, and the Maggie Olenski Mysteries. A native of Wisconsin, Mary Ellen has lived most of her adult life in Maryland, which has inspired many of her stories.

Let’s Be Social:

http://www.emmiecaldwell.com

http://www.maryellenhughes.com

http://www.facebook.com/MaryEllenHughesauthor

Mary Ellen Hughes/Emmie Caldwell (@mehughesauthor) / Twitter

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Erica Miner

I’d like to welcome Erica Miner to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: Roses. BBQs. Summer in San Diego. The ocean. Writing. Lecturing.

Things you need to throw out: Those size 2 jeans that I never again will be able to wear. Sigh.

Things you need for your writing sessions: Peace and quiet. My backless desk chair.

Things that hamper your writing: Noise. Interruptions (my husband is usually the guilty one).

Things you love about writing: Telling stories!

Things you hate about writing: Starting from scratch with a blank screen in front of me.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Putting aside all distractions and committing to the process.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Expressing my desire to tell stories. When the creative juices are flowing, this is the easiest thing ever.

Favorite foods: Mangoes are #1, but pretty much every fruit on the planet, especially tropical.

Things that make you want to gag: Beets and lima beans

Favorite music or song: As a writer of Opera Mysteries, of course I’m a classical music geek. Favorite opera is by Puccini, composer of the famous La Bohème and Madame Butterfly: his first big hit, Manon Lescaut, is filled with youthful passion and endlessly beautiful melodies.

Music that drives you crazy: Heavy Metal, Rap, Country Music.

Favorite smell: Croissants baking

Something that makes you hold your nose: diesel fumes

Last best thing you ate: A fresh, perfectly ripe mango, so ripe you could almost drink it from a straw.

Last thing you regret eating: Chocolate that was almost all lecithin and lacking in true chocolate flavor.

Favorite places you’ve been: Italy, France, Switzerland, San Francisco, San Diego, New York

Favorite books (or genre): The classics: Dickens, Austen, the Brontës.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Anything gratuitous violence and/or mistreatment of kids or animals

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Waterskiing.

Something you chickened out from doing: Diving off a high board.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: ‘Death by Opera is better than Death by Chocolate!’

The craziest thing a reader said to you: ‘You can’t see the stage from the Met Opera orchestra pit.’ That is patently false. Anyone who’s ever sat in that pit knows better.

About Erica:

Formerly a Metropolitan Opera Orchestra violinist for 21 years, ERICA MINER now enjoys a multi-faceted career as an award-winning author, lecturer, screenwriter, and arts journalist.

Known for “Bringing Murder and Music together” Erica’s 3-part Julia Kogan “Opera Mystery” novel series is due for re-publication by Level Best Books starting in September 2022. The first novel draws on Erica’s real-life experiences working at the Met. The series continues with novels that take place at Santa Fe and San Francisco Opera.

Erica’s debut novel, Travels with my Lovers, won the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. Her screenplays have won awards in the Santa Fe, WinFemme and Writer’s Digest competitions. She writes for such arts websites as BroadwayWorld.com, USBachtrack.com and LAOpus.com.

A resident of the Pacific Northwest, Erica is a top speaker and lecturer on opera and writing. Her presentation venues include the Seattle Symphony the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at University of California San Diego and University of Washington; the Creative Retirement Institute at Edmonds College (Seattle); and Wagner Societies on both coasts and Sydney, Australia.

Let’s Be Social:

https://www.ericaminer.com

https://www.facebook.com/erica.miner1

https://twitter.com/EmwrtrErica

https://www.instagram.com/emwriter3/

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Lynn Chandler Willis

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Lynn Chandler Willis to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: Blankets and fuzzy socks

Things you need to throw out: Blankets and fuzzy socks

Things you need for your writing sessions: A playlist created on Spotify specific to that book, and visual images of how I envision my characters.

Things that hamper your writing: Certain songs on said playlist have such an emotional pull on me that I’ll find myself changing the direction of the scene to fit the song.

Things you love about writing: Letting my mind wander with all the what-ifs and when it all comes together in a complete story.

Things you hate about writing: Coming up with character names! The names have to have meaning and contribute to the characterization.

Words that describe you: Warped.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Perfectionist, until I’m not.

Favorite foods: Pizza and anything Mexican. Oh, and Asian! Friday nights are my indulgence nights and I rotate between ordering pizza, Mexican, or Asian. It’s sadly predictable.

Things that make you want to gag: Sardines.

Favorite smell: Fresh linen. Remember the smell of freshly washed sheets air drying on a line in the backyard? Cleanest smell ever!

Something that makes you hold your nose: Certain types of cheese. And I’m a big fan of cheese so that one is tricky.

Something you wish you could do: Stick to an exercise routine.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Play Wordle.

Something you like to do: Walk Finn (my brown border collie) around the farm and easy-to-moderate hikes.

Something you wish you’d never done: Tried hiking a rocky trail up the side of a local mountain. No guardrail––nothing to keep you from falling. It was meant for mountain goats and I’m not a mountain goat. It was terrifying! You know when you’re in that moment of sheer panic that you just can’t move? That was me.

Favorite books (or genre): Anything by William Kent Krueger and/or Tana French

Books you wouldn’t buy: Epic fantasies. This world is hard enough for me to understand.

Most embarrassing moment: Misspelled my own name in a by-line

Proudest moment: When the whole family turned out for my first book signing.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Adopt Finn (the brown border collie) from the shelter

Biggest mistake: Bringing home two sibling, 8-week-old puppies. As much as I love puppies, they’re especially nice when you can enjoy puppy kisses when they belong to someone else.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: I made a difference.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: I had a reviewer take me to task for my acknowledgements.

About Lynn:

Lynn Chandler Willis is a best-selling, multi-award-winning author who has worked in the corporate world, the television news industry, and had a thirteen-year run as the owner and publisher of a small-town newspaper. She lives in the heart of North Carolina on a mini-farm surrounded by chickens, turkeys, ducks, nine grandkids, a sassy little calico named Jingles, and Finn, a brown border collie known to be the best dog in the world. Seriously.

Let’s Be Social:

Website

Facebook

Book Preorder Link

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Scott Overton

I’d like to welcome the talented Scott Overton to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday.

A few of your favorite things: Books, books, and more books. My house is insulated with books. Also my 12-string guitar.

Things you need to throw out: Fifteen jackets (mostly leather). Twenty-five sweaters. Ninety-five percent of the junk I have stuffed into every available drawer.

Things you need for your writing sessions: A keyboard and a healthy supply of good coffee (especially in my Ember self-heating mug).

Things that hamper your writing: Like everyone, the constant availability of the internet is both a blessing and a curse. Has there ever been such a potent distraction? (Sex doesn’t count.)

Things you love about writing: Creating something from nothing, then hearing a reader tell you how much they loved it.

Things you hate about writing: The fact that there’s no magic spell that will carry your words and thoughts from your mind to your reader’s without the obstacles of publishing, distributing, and marketing getting in the way.

Things you never want to run out of: Kleenex. As long as I have boxes of Kleenex all around the house, I don’t feel poor.

Things you wish you’d never bought: Do we have that much space? How about a battery-powered rotating tie rack? Sheesh!

Favorite music or song: I love so many I could never pick one favorite song or genre. But the full-length version of Don Henley’s “Heart of the Matter” is one of the most amazingly well-crafted songs I know.

Music that drives you crazy: I try to appreciate rap, but I just can’t.

Favorite beverage: Home-roasted, freshly ground coffee brewed in a French press.

Something that gives you a sour face: Sour craft beers. I love most craft beers, but I just don’t get the appeal of the sours.

Favorite smell: My wife’s freshly baked bread. Isn’t that in everyone’s Top 5?

Something that makes you hold your nose: We have outhouses on our property, but cleaning the trap of a kitchen sink smells even worse.

Something you’re really good at: Talking to an audience, any audience (I was a career radio host).

Something you’re really bad at: Asking favors. I really hate to inconvenience anyone. It might be my inner Canadian coming out. I’ve always hated phoning people too, in case I was interrupting something. Texting is only marginally better.

Things you always put in your books: A love story. Falling in love is one of the most essential parts of the human experience, and compensation for all the bad things in life.

Things you never put in your books: I don’t write gruesome or gory. Sick people can do horrible things to other people, but that’s not entertainment to me.

Things to say to an author: I loved your book so much! (And I just posted a 5-star review on every online site I know.)

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I don’t read and I don’t understand how you can waste your time just making stuff up.

Favorite books (or genre): Lord of the Rings. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Books by Larry Niven or Robert J. Sawyer.

Books you wouldn’t buy: I have no interest in celebrity confessions or salacious scandals. Who cares?

Things that make you happy: Nature makes me happy. The sun on water, the moon on water. Loon calls. The smell of pine needles. Bright stars, northern lights, and utter silence.

Things that drive you crazy: Bad drivers who risk my life as well as their own.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Marrying my wife.

Biggest mistake: Believing anything a boss promised me.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: (Daring? Or just stupid?) I skated down a hill after an ice storm (and didn’t die!)

Something you chickened out from doing: Sky-diving (though, to be fair, I had a commitment to fulfill at the time, and a young son watching if I’d gone splat.)

The coolest person you’ve ever met: An actor named Don Harron — most people might know him as the comedic character Charlie Farquharson, who appeared on Hee Haw, but he was a true Renaissance man who could do everything and do it well.

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: As a radio host, I met dozens of celebrities and they all looked like I expected. They didn’t all act like I expected. But most were genuinely nice people.

About Scott:
A radio broadcaster for more than thirty years, Scott Overton described that world in his first novel, the mystery/thriller Dead Air, shortlisted for a Northern Lit Award in Ontario, Canada. Now he writes science fiction including his 2020 SF-thriller The Primus Labyrinth, the 2021 SF-adventure Naïda, 2022’s SF-psychological thriller The Dispossession of Dylan Knox, and the 2022 cautionary tale Augment Nation. His short fiction has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies.

Drawing on university training in theatre arts as well as his radio career, he’s also a freelance voice talent, including narrating audiobooks in his home studio on a lake in northern Ontario. His website is www.scottoverton.ca 

Let’s Be Social:

Buy the Books   https://books2read.com/ScottOverton  
Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/ScottOverton.author  
Twitter @SFtruenorth

Goodreads www.goodreads.com/ScottOverton

Amazon amazon.com/author/scottoverton

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with J. P. McLean

I’d like to welcome J. P. McLean back to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Favorite thing that you always make time for:

Responding to reader’s comments. I love hearing their feedback on the books and answering their questions.

The thing you’ll always do just about anything to avoid:

Cold calling anyone to promote my books. This is exactly why I hired a publicist! (Shout out to Mickey Mikkelson of Creative Edge publicity!!) It was the best career move I’ve ever made.

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave:

Though there are times when I can tune out the outside world, I prefer a quiet setting. Coffee is a given, but I’ll take tea in the afternoons.

Things that distract you from writing:

There’s nothing worse than a phone ringing, construction noise, or a car alarm. I’ve been known to unplug the landline and turn off the volume on my cellphone when I’m writing. There’s not much to be done about the other two distractions—construction noise and car alarms—but I don’t often have to deal with them. Thankfully!

The thing you like most about being a writer:

The flexibility to write anywhere, anytime. I can take my laptop on the ferry or into any waiting room and get words down.

The thing you like least about being a writer:

Having to stop when I’m on a roll. But life happens and I can’t go all day without prepping a meal.

Things you will run to the store for in the middle of the night:

Potato chips. Unfortunately, there are no stores here (Denman Island) that are open in the middle of the night. But perhaps that’s a good thing!

Things you never put on your shopping list:

Bottled water, jam, zucchini, and salmon. We have delicious well water, a sister who makes us yummy jams, porch pirates who leave zucchini in the middle of the night, and my husband loves to fish, so we usually have enough salmon to enjoy.

The coolest thing you’ve bought online:

Lee Valley tomato wapper. Actually, it’s called a European Tomato Press, but I call it a wapper because that describes the sound it makes when you crank the handle. It’s made short work of my roasted tomato and garlic sauce.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/kitchen/kitchen-tools/presses-and-mashers/food-processors/44040-european-tomato-press?item=EV101

The thing you wished you’d never bought.

Linen shirts. I love linen and couldn’t resist the online photos, but I should have known better. The shirts didn’t fit, and the quality was terrible. But all is not lost. I’m going to make napkins out of them.

The thing that you will most remember about your writing life:

The passion I have for creating stories. It was a surprise to me to discover how much I love writing. I never tire of tucking into my writing nook and letting my imagination loose.

Something in your writing life that you wish you could do over:

I wish I’d started writing years earlier. I may not have written the same stories, but I’m sure I would have found the passion and written even more books.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid:

A princess. Man, was I fooled. I think it was the pointy hat with the veils that I saw in animated films when I was a kid. https://historicalhoney.com/truth-princess-hat/

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do:

Scuba diving, which I don’t do as much as I’d like. It was my husband’s idea to get certified, and I love the sport, especially in warm Caribbean waters. Not so much where I live in the Pacific Northwest, but only because I’m a wimp in cold water.

Your best recipe:

Roasted tomato and garlic sauce, which is super simple. Core and quarter enough fresh tomatoes to fill a turkey roaster. Add a head of garlic cloves, salt and pepper to taste, and drizzle olive oil over top. Roast at 350 and stir every hour or so until reduced by 2/3. The skins will blacken, which adds tons of concentrated flavour to mix. When cooled, pass it through a press. Add basil for a tasty pasta sauce, or add milk/cream for a wonderful tomato soup.

Something that didn’t turn out like you planned when you made it:

Oh, so many! Where to start?

Things you always put in your books:

Humour. Even my darker-themed books need a little levity.

Things you never put in your books:

I can’t say “never” but I’d avoid at all costs putting a pet in a situation where they were abused.

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living):

Rick Mercer (http://www.rickmercer.com/). He’s a Canadian comedian, author, and political satirist. He performs clever rants with razor sharp wit and his comedy makes me laugh out loud.

People you’d cancel dinner on:

Almost any politician.

The funniest thing that happened to you in an airport:

I was on a layover in Calgary and decided I had time enough to grab a meal, but forgot about the time difference. Panic set in when I heard my name called over the loudspeaker in one of those last call for boarding messages. I dropped cash on the table and raced to the gate. Happily, I caught my flight, but it took ages to catch my breath and settle my heart.

The most embarrassing thing that happened to you in an airport:

My husband and I were going to the Cayman Islands when my luggage didn’t pass muster on the x-ray belt. An agent called me aside and searched my bag. She asked me a few times if I’d packed the bag myself, which I had. She put it through the x-ray machine twice before dumping everything out of it. I couldn’t understand what she was looking for, and she wouldn’t tell me, but she finally found a small penknife in an outside pocket that had been travelling around unbeknownst to me for years. It was mortifying, especially as I had to repack everything in front of an audience.

The best job you ever had:

I’m probably being repetitive with this answer, but the best job I’ve ever had is this writing gig. I still get excited by the prospect of a few hours to myself to get words down, and hope I never grow tired of it.

The worst job you ever had:

Staffing in a hospital. And that was long before the current staff shortages. That staffing job would be a nightmare right now.

The one thing you cook/bake that is better than a restaurant dish:

Spaghetti and meatballs. It’s my mom’s meatball recipe and everyone I serve it to loves it. (Either that or they’re afraid to tell me they don’t care for it!)

The one thing you cooked/baked that turned out to be an epic disaster:

Deep-dish pizza. It turned into a pizza casserole. Had to eat it from a bowl. Memorable in all the wrong ways.

About JP

Short bio: JP (Jo-Anne) McLean is a bestselling author of urban fantasy and supernatural thrillers. She is a Global Book Award winner, a CIBA and Page Turner Award finalist, and has received honours from the Eric Hoffer Book Awards, the Wishing Shelf Book Awards, the NIEA Awards, and the Whistler independent Book Awards. She lives on Canada’s West Coast.

Let’s Be Social

Website: https://jpmcleanauthor.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JPMcLeanBooks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jpmcleanauthor (@jpmcleanauthor)

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jpmcleanauthor (@jpmcleanauthor)

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jpmclean

Newsletter: https://jpmcleanauthor.com/mailing-list-signup-form/

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with M. A. Monnin

I’d like to welcome author M. A. Monnin to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday.

A few of your favorite fall traditions: Some of my favorite fall activities are raking leaves, sitting by the firepit with a glass of wine, and watching Chiefs games.

Something autumn-related that you’ll never do again: Go to a professional Haunted House! They’re too scary for me. My kids love them.

Favorite fall treat: I make a mix of candy corn, peanuts, and fall-colored M&Ms. The mix looks pretty in a bowl and tastes delicious.

A fall treat that makes you gag: No pumpkin spice coffee for me, thanks.

Something you’ll only do in the fall: I can’t say rake leaves, because the neighbors have pin oaks and they fall all winter long into spring. So it’ll have to be carve pumpkins. I love jack o’lanterns.

Something you’d never do in the fall season: I’d never travel to the Caribbean in fall. Hurricanes!

Favorite autumn beverage: Hot buttered rum, according to an old Southern Living recipe: a cup of hot apple cider with a shot of Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum, topped with a sliver of butter.

A drink that gives you a sour face: Moscow mules. For me, a little ginger goes a long way.

Favorite fall smell: The scent of fallen leaves. They smell cozy and warm to me.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Fallen hedge apples, also known as Osage oranges. The squirrels love them, but any that they leave behind stink to high Heaven.

Best thing you ever cooked/baked in the autumn: I make a wonderful pecan-orange pie.

Your worst kitchen disaster: Had to be that Thanksgiving when I had the whole family at my house and ordered the meal from a store like my mother did. Only I ordered from a different store, and while her meal was always fully cooked and piping hot when they picked it up on Thanksgiving morning, my turkey and fixings were frozen solid! I did learn that if you have enough sides, you can comfortably feed 12 people on a one pound turkey loaf.

Favorite place you spent a fall day: Arrowhead Stadium watching the Kansas City Chiefs play. Loudest stadium in the country.

The worst place to spend a fall day: That would have to be Phoenix Arizona. We loved Phoenix and lived there for one year when my husband was stationed at Luke AFB, but I really missed the changing color of leaves.

Funniest pumpkin-carving story: This is my favorite, rather than the funniest. For a couple of years, our entire family and several friends got together to carve pumpkins for our local charity Pumpkin Parade. I called our grouping the Monnin Family Plot. Two of my favorite designs were my husband’s fleur-de-lis and my son-in-law’s Christopher Walken.

Your worst pumpkin-carving story: That would have to be the time I tried to do like my friend and neighbor did and attempted to make a snake ala Martha Stewart. My friend’s was the highlight of the neighborhood, with twelve jack o’lanterns strung together with white Christmas lights. I got tired after carving three. Mine was more of an inch worm.

Your best Halloween costume: My favorite costume is a gypsy. I love wearing a full flouncy skirt and layering on scarves and tons of jewelry. I even have a crystal ball that I keep close by in case any little ones want their fortune told. My husband is from Louisiana, and I have a large selection of Mardi Gras masks that I can choose from.

A Halloween costume that wasn’t quite what you imagined: That would be the year I decided to go as a devil, wearing a Venetian leather mask we’d picked up, a red cape and a plastic pitchfork. It was only when I saw photos later that I realized I’d put on my reversible cape black side out instead of red, so I just looked . . . odd.

Favorite pumpkin spice item: pumpkin bread.

Something that should never be pumpkin-spice flavored: Coffee!

About M. A.

M. A. Monnin is the author of Death In The Aegean, the first in the Stefanie Adams Intrepid Traveler Mystery Series. Her short stories have appeared in Anthony-Award-winning anthology Mystery Most Edible, Black Cat Mystery Magazine and Black Cat Weekly, and pulp anthology All That Weird Jazz. An avocational archaeologist and AF veteran, her non-fiction articles cover Victorian reception of Ancient Egypt, gardening, and detective fiction.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: www.mamonnin.com

Facebook: (10) MA Monnin | Facebook

Twitter: M. A. DEATH IN THE AEGEAN Monnin (@mamonnin1) / Twitter

Instagram: M. A. Monnin (@m.a.monnin) • Instagram photos and videos

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Allison Brook

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Allison Brook (Marilyn Levinson) to the blog to talk about her latest book.

Favorite thing that you always make time for: email, talking to my grandkids, reading

The thing you’ll always do just about anything to avoid: writing. Well, only for a brief time, until I get into my writing groove.

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: reading glasses and wrist brace

Things that distract you from writing: email, phone calls

The thing you like most about being a writer: readers telling me how much they like my books; finishing a book.

The thing you like least about being a writer: sitting down each day to write. Once I get started I'm all right. All the promotion I have to do for each book.

Things you will run to the store for in the middle of the night: Nothing. I have enough discipline to wait till morning.:)

Things you never put on your shopping list: cake, soda.

The thing that you will most remember about your writing life: the camaraderie and generosity of my fellow writers; comments from readers who love my characters and my books

Something in your writing life that you wish you could do over: I wish it hadn't taken so long for me to get established as an author, though I don't know what I could have done differently.

Something you’re really good at: finding outlets on social media to promote my books

Something you never learned how to do: truly understand and buy stocks and bonds on my own.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: a ballerina

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: keep on writing at my age.

Your best recipe: I've several: simple blueberry cake; apricot chicken; broccoli and cheese casserole; honey-soy sauce salmon

Something that didn’t turn out like you planned when you made it: I made a goose, and it was sooo very fatty.

Things you always put in your books: three-dimensional characters; characters relationships; a romantic interest; usually a dog or a cat; murder.

Things you never put in your books: torture; physical cruelty; death of my protagonist.

Favorite things to do: reading, crossword puzzles, yoga, sudoku, chatting on FaceTime with my grandkids.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: something new that I've never done before

About Allison:

"I was a bookworm from the moment I learned how to read. I devoured Nancy Drews, Judy Boltons, and Trixie Beldons – sometimes two books in one day. Was it any wonder I ended up writing mysteries?

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, I dreamed of becoming a ballerina or a writer. I practiced my pirouettes and penned short stories. My family moved to Long Island, where I continued to write stories until I was discouraged by a high school English teacher.

Turned off to writing, I continued to read voraciously in college and concentrated on my major, Spanish. I studied in Mexico and Spain, intent on becoming fluent in the language. I taught high school Spanish, married my dentist husband, and we started a family. When our two sons were small, I found myself drawn back to writing fiction.

A writer is a writer forever. We may have more than our share of disappointments, but the rewards are many – knowing you bring joy to readers; sharing the camaraderie and support of your fellow scribes. Writing is a way of life, one I wouldn’t relinquish for anything.

Let’s Be Social:

Website

Facebook

Twitter