Interview and Giveaway with D. A. Featherling



Interview Questions/Sleuths and Suspects Blog

1. Tell us a little about yourself.
   Writing books has always been my dream. I’m blessed to be able to do that now, full-time, and decided to indie publish to be able to get my books out faster than the traditional route. As a result, I put my 5 –year-old home staging business on the back burner and started publishing and writing a little over a year ago. To date I have seven books on the market, in three different genres. Yes, I’m one of those multiple genres people. I call it my ‘fiction a la carte.’ Readers can choose their favorite from my menu of offerings.
2. Tell us about your most recent book/or the book we are focusing on.
   My most recent book (Making Over Caro) is the last (Book 4) in a romantic comedy series (Second Time Around series). All of the books stand completely alone, the common thread is that one of the characters in the book is looking for love a second time around. Caro Arnold is a successful realtor who quickly becomes involved in trying to discourage an unwanted suitor from her past. It takes the help of her best friend, and a group called The Pink Flamingoes, to help her succeed. Lots of fun and laughter along the way.
3. Why did you choose this particular genre?
   I love writing humor, and I like writing first person, so for me, romantic comedy was an obvious choice. Plus the humor has helped me (and others) through some tough times in life, so I like the fact it can offer some relief from the trying events we all go through.
4. What was your journey to publication like?
   I’ve been writing since the late 90’s. I did all the usual things to get published for several years, then family illness and health issues intervened, and the writing went on the back burner. I later became a small business owner and that took up all my time. But in January 2013 I decided I was going to pursue my dream of publication, so I’ve been doing that ever since.
5. What is a couple of your favorite books and what are you reading now?
   I love Dee Henderson’s The O’Malley series. And Jan Karon’s Mitford series. So many talented authors out there. I do tend to mostly read mysteries/suspense…one reason why I also write mysteries, so my reading tends to focus in that direction. Right now, I’m reading “Accused” by Janice Cantore. Haven’t read her books before and am enjoying it.
6. What are you working on now and can you give us a little peek inside it?
   As I said, I write in multiple genres…one of which is futuristic suspense. Book 1 of the Out of Time Series is entitled “Time Out” and is the story of a young woman who is accidentally transported into the future into the millennium. I’m getting ready to write Book 2, “Double Time,” which will advance the action in both the present time and future worlds as the millennium draws nearer its close and believers on earth are heading toward the Tribulation. My heroine is going to encounter bad guys both on earth and the future so she’ll have her hands full.
7. What advice would you give authors who are on their own journey to publication?
   Decide what’s important to you. How important is publication? Consider all your options for that – there are many these days. Then, don’t give up! Make yourself the best writer you can be. Produce the best work you can. There is so much information about writing out there today and so many resources, no writer can say they can’t get help in improving themselves. Be ruthless with yourself as well. Produce something you can be proud of.
8. Do you have any books or websites that have helped you with your writing that you could share with us?
   James Scott Bell has a couple of books out that are very useful. The Writer’s Digest series of “How To” books has some good titles in them as well. Look for books and/or websites that are written by people who have succeeded in their craft. You know what they did worked, so don’t settle for second best.
9. Is there anything you’d like to tell us we haven’t covered?
   My motivation for writing is to imagine a book I’ve written in the hands of a reader, who, when finishing the book and closing the back cover, has a smile on his/her face. That’s success in my opinion and what I hope folks will find with my writing.
10. Please let us know where we can find you on the web.
    My website is: www.dafeatherling.com and you can find my author page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/D.A.Featherling

Please leave a comment and your email address for a chance to win a copy of one of D. A. Featherling's mysteries.  



 

Interveiw and Giveaway with Tina Whittle

I'm happy to introduce you to Tina Whittle. Tina and I were on a panel together at "Mystery Goes South" in Atlanta, GA. We both write cozy mysteries that incorporates history into the story. Tina has been gracious enough to give away one of her books. You must be a follower of the blog, leave a comment and leave your email address so we can contact you. Let's get started on learning more about Tina.



1. Tell us a little about yourself.
   Well, I’m a full-time mystery novelist living and working in Southeastern, Georgia. I’m a wife and mom; I love reading and writing and almost all things Southern (the food and the language and the people, yes, the choking hot summers, not so much). I share my lap with a neurotic Maltese named Cloud and my backyard with four bossy chickens named Pansy, Maleficent, Onomatopoeia, and Chicken Whittle. My research interests are varied – neuroscience, SWAT procedures, the American Civil War – but my favorite kind of learning is hands-on (which is why you’ll find me at Writers Police Academy every year.
    
2. Tell us about your most recent book/or the book we are focusing on.
   I write the Tai Randolph/Trey Seaver series, which is an amateur sleuth traditional mystery series. The series itself is based in Atlanta, but for the most recent book – Blood, Ash and Bone – I moved the action to Savannah, where Spanish moss, cobblestones, and ghost stories soak the atmosphere. There’s kissing, bickering, and clue-finding as Tai, the owner/operator of a Confederate-themed gun shop,  and Trey,  her ex-SWAT corporate security agent boyfriend, look for a priceless Civil War artifact and instead find stalkers, moonshiners, unreconstructed rebels, alligators, wolves, KKK Grand Dragons, snipers, bikers, buried treasure and a ruthless killer. You know, just another day in the Deep South.
    
3. Why did you choose this particular genre?
   They say that romance is the genre of emotion, sci-fi the genre of ideas, and mystery the genre of justice. Real life, unfortunately, is a more tattered reality. Mystery allows readers – and writers – a way to experience a world where order is restored, and the good guys win (at least most of the time). I especially enjoy an amateur sleuth novel, because I get to pretend that someone like me (okay, someone a little more adventurous) might actually be able to solve a crime.
    
4. What was your journey to publication like?
   Arduous. I’m glad, though; that gave me a chance to practice two important skills – patience and detachment – that have become crucial to my career now. Submitting (and all the work that comes along with it, the research and querying) is a job in its own right. I had to learn to balance that part of being a writer with the actual, you know, writing. And now, I have to balance PR and promotional work with actual writing. So I also learned balance and perseverance. I am grateful now for the rejections too – they taught me to understand the difference between the kind of critical feedback that is useful, and the kind I need to ignore.



 

1. What is a couple of your favorite books and what are you reading now?
   I’m reading your book, Terror on Tybee! I love Southern mysteries, both the ones that let me explore new ground and the ones that return me to familiar territory. For me, the past is like an undiscovered country, so I enjoy historicals of all stripes. I just finished a fabulous romp through Victorian London in Wicked Little Secrets by Susanna Ives, and I am waiting for my advanced reader copy of Dark Places of the Earth by Jon Bryant, a non-fiction account of the slave ship Antelope and the Savannah court trail – argued by Francis Scott Key himself – that set the legal precedent for the Amistad case. And I’m steady working through Neuroscience For Dummies.
    
2. What are you working on now and can you give us a little peek inside it?
   I am having the most fun with my current work-in-progress, Deeper Than The Grave (set for release in November 2014 from Poisoned Pen Press). It’s the fourth in the Tai Randolph/Trey Seaver series, and it’s got two intertwined mysteries (one during the 1860s and one during the present time) both involving a set of unusual bones. Plus this is the book where my  characters’ complicated romance reaches a crucial make-or-break-it stage. For this book, I’ve been researching forensic anthropology, skateboarding, blacksmithing, the I-95 drug corridor and – believe it or not – what would happen to Atlanta during a massive traffic-jammed, blizzard-induced shutdown ( I claim NO responsibility for what happened in January – I write fiction. Pure fiction).
    
3. What advice would you give authors who are on their own journey to publication?
   Only this, that most obvious and repeated of aphorisms – it really is all about the journey. They say if a butterfly isn’t allowed to break out of its cocoon all by itself, it won’t have the strength to fly. Such is the same for writers. The pre-publication jungle is a place of pain and frustration and disappointment, but it is the training ground for patience, perseverance, and the ability to hold on to what matters to you most. It thickens your skin even as it opens your heart. And in the middle of all the nonsense, you create what will be your practice, your meditation, your Zen – sitting at the keyboard, clearing space for your art. Be in that present moment with it. It will be your life preserver, I promise.
    
4. Do you have any books or websites that have helped you with your writing that you could share with us?
   When you need to remember why you’re doing this – reconnect with your Muse, your God, your Divine Inspiration, your Creative Spirit – I cannot recommend The Artist’s Way by Julie Cameron heartily enough. It lives by my writing chair. Also on that note, Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, which is practical, mystical, gritty and incandescent all at the same time. In terms of mystery writing specifically, I am constantly telling people to get this book -- How to Write Killer Fiction: The Funhouse of Mystery & the Roller Coaster of Suspense by Carolyn Wheat. I haven’t found a better book on writing the genre, everything from plot to character development to how to tell if your book is a mystery or a thriller (there’s a difference). And in terms of websites, Dan Harmon (he who writes the brilliantly subversive sit-com Community) spins the archetypal Hero’s Journey into a circle, demonstrating that plotting isn’t a linear start-to-finish process, but rather a grand cycle that begins where it ends, and that by understanding that, you can plot almost anything just by filling in the eight stations of the Story Circle (you can find Dan’s highly entertaining and somewhat salty explanation of all this (Die Hard! Werewolves! James Bond!) at the Channel 101 website: http://channel101.wikia.com/wiki/Story_Structure_104:_The_Juicy_Details
    
5. Please let us know where we can find you on the web.
6. Several places actually. My main cyber-home is at http://www.tinawhittle.com – here’s where you’ll find my appearance schedule, news and reviews, plus links to sample chapters and short stories featuring my mystery-solving duo. You can also find links to blogs, including The Fascination Files (http://tinawhittle.blogspot.com/) and The Mojito Literary Society (a blog I share with four other genre writers at http://themojitoliterarysociety.blogspot.com). You can also find me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/tina.whittle) and Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/tinawh) and my protagonist has her own Twitter (her handle is @Tai_Randolph).

Interview and Giveaway with Deborah Malone by Deborah Malone

It's time for an interview with one of my favorite writer's - moi'.  If you leave a comment telling me your definition of a cozy mystery and are a follower of this site then you could be the winner of your choice of one of my books "Death in Dahlonega" or "Murder in Marietta."


 

Can you give us a sneak peek at your new release “Murder in Marietta?”

     Trixie and Dee Dee head off to Marietta, Georgia for another assignment. They visit the Marietta History Museum where they spend the night to see if they can sight the resident ghosts. Sometime during the night a murder takes place in the museum and the director, Doc Pennington, is put on the suspect list. He asks Trixie and Dee Dee to help him find the real killer. Nana takes a larger role in this book and she won’t disappoint you with her antics.  All of this together makes a recipe for murder and mayhem.

Update:  My third book in the Trixie Montgomery series “Terror on Tybee Island” should be out in December.

 

What inspired this book?

     I’ve always loved to read so I think it was natural that I’d transition into writing. Mysteries have been my genre of choice since I was a young girl and loved to read Nancy Drew.  Cozy mysteries are one of my favorites and Ann George has been a big influence on my writing. As for writing Christian Fiction – Margaret Daley’s books were a big influence.

 

How did you know you were called to write?

     I’ve always wanted to write, but while I was writing my manuscript I wrote it as a secular book. While I was writing it I was thinking I’d like to write it in a manner that wouldn’t be offensive. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as “Christian fiction.” I had finished the manuscript when I read one of Margaret Daley’s books and went to her website where I ‘discovered’ Christian fiction. I couldn’t get enough. I joined ACFW and began to study how other writers wrote their books. I went back and rewrote my manuscript as Christian fiction.

 

 

Are you a panster or do you outline?

     I’m definitely a panster. I have a general outline on how I want the manuscript to progress, but that’s it. Then I might do a general outline for each chapter, but none of it is done in detail. Now after I’ve written a chapter I will go in Microsoft One Note and detail the chapter so I can keep up with my characters, timeline, setting, etc.

 

How long have you been writing?

     I started writing seriously in 2001 when I started writing for “Georgia Backroads” a historical magazine. I am still writing for them. I started on my book in 2002, but life got in the way and so I came back to it around 2009/10.

 

Tell us something silly about you.

     My friends and family could probably answer this better than me. The one thing I can think about is that I love to sing – but I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. So I sing in the car with the windows rolled up and the radio/CD’s going to cover up my singing.

 

What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

     There aren’t any deep messages in “Murder in Marietta, but there is a theme of forgiveness and faith. For the most part I hope I make someone laugh and take them away from the stresses of real life for just a while. I want them to have some laugh out loud moments

 

What is your favorite season?

     Spring

 

What project are you currently working on?

     My third book in the Trixie Montgomery series “Terror on Tybee Island” should be out the first of December. Trixie and Dee Dee along with Nana and Trixie’s mama Betty Jo have gone to Savannah/Tybee Island, Georgia for a vacation. Of course they are going to have to help someone find a killer. My next book in the series is “Chilled in Chattanooga.”

 

What has been your most challenging experience writing a book?

     I don’t think I can list just oneJ  Learning the craft/rules of writing was a big curve for me. Then there is the editing. Then there is submitting to publishers. And then when you are finally published you think you are home free – not! Then there is the marketing. It seems there are always new challenges to learn in writing and publishing a book.

 

What is your favorite color?

     Blue

 

What is a fond childhood memory?

     I have many fond memories, but one that stands out is when my grandmother bought me a horse. My parents weren’t able to afford one so she chipped in to help and one Christmas they surprised me. Boy was I surprised.

 

What book are you currently reading?

     I just finished “Honored Redeemed” by Loree Lough.

 

Links for books: www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com

 

Links where you can find Deborah:

www.deborah-malone.com

www.deborahsbutterflyjourney.blogspot.com

www.sleuthsandsuspects.blogspot.com

www.cozymysterymagazine.blogspot.com

 

 

: Deborah Malone’s first novel Death in Dahlonega, finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Category Five writing contest! Deborah was also nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year in First Novel category. She has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, for the historic magazine “Georgia Backroads.” She has had many articles and photographs published, and her writing is featured in “Tales of the Rails,” edited by Olin Jackson. She is a member of the Georgia Writer’s Association as well as Advanced Writer’s and Speakers Association. As a current member of the American Christian Fiction Writer she has established a blog where she reviews Christian Fiction.  

 

 

 

 

 

Interview and Giveaway with Fay Lamb

CONGRATULATIONS

PAT - WINNER OF

"STALKING WILLOW"

I'd like to welcome Fay Lamb to Sleuths and Suspects. I believe this is her first time to visit and I hope it will be many more. I first met Fay at the Catch the Wave Writer's Conference in Atlanta, GA last year. She is an excellent teacher and she is one of the friendliest and helpful editors I've met. I'm looking forward to seeing her again this year. I'm thrilled for her success with her debut books. She is gracious to offer a copy of her book "Stalking Willow" for a giveaway. Just leave a comment and your email address and be a follower of Sleuths and Suspects to be entered in the giveaway. Believe me you don't want to miss this book! Now on to the interview.

1.       Tell us a little about yourself.

I live in a small Florida town called Titusville. Most times when I mention the name of the city, I have to add that it is where Kennedy Space Center is located. My family, and my husband’s family have lived here for generations. Both of our grandmothers were born in Titusville. Besides writing, I am also an acquisition editor for Pelican Book Group—a job I love. I am a past-secretary for ACFW, and I moderated the ACFW Scribes’ Critique Group for four years.

 

2.       Tell us about your most recent book/or the book we are focusing on.

Stalking Willow is the first novel in my romantic suspense series entitled Amazing Grace. This story was released by Write Integrity Press in May.

 

Bitterness, a stalker, and a neighbor to die for. What's a girl to do? Trailed by a stalker in New York City, Willow Thomas, a young ad executive, scurries back to her small North Carolina hometown and the lake house where ten years earlier a scandal revealed her entire life had been a lie, and a seed of bitterness took root in her soul. The cocoon of safety Willow feels upon her arrival home soon unravels when she meets opposition from her and the stalker reveals he is close on her heels.

Can Willow learn to trust God to tear out her roots of resentment, reunite her family, ferret out a deadly stalker, and to rekindle the love she left behind?

 

3.       Why did you choose this particular genre?

I’m not sure that I choose the genre as much as it chose me. I’m usually the first one to put my hands over my eyes when something tense or suspenseful comes on the television. I also keep asking, “Tell me what happened? Did he kill her yet? How’d he do it?” However, when writing suspense, I know what’s going to happen, and I take a lot of joy in hopefully making the reader’s shoulders climb while they’re waiting to see if the hero or heroine will save the day, get out of the situation, and live to tell about it.



 

4.       What was your journey to publication like?

I have a number of adjectives to describe that journey: long, arduous, surprising, fulfilling, and incredible. I have always been a writer. Before I could write, I was a storyteller. Words are magically to me. As a kid who sat in a car while her mother worked or remained home behind closed doors as a latchkey child, storytelling was my preservation. When I finally realized how God wanted me to use the talent He’s given me, I had to learn how to craft my storytelling. That took a few years. Well, it actually took more than a few, but who’s counting?

 

Currently, and for what I think will be a very long while, I’m working with a tremendous editor, and those times in the past when I would have used the unhappy sounding adjectives were well worth it because now, I’m enjoying myself tremendously.

 

5.       What is a couple of your favorite books and what are you reading now?

Bliss by Jeness Walker and Tracy Bowman is at the top of my list of all-time favorite reads. The story is laugh-out-loud funny from the start to the very last line. I hesitate to call it chick-lit or women’s fiction. Let’s call it humorous contemporary fiction.

 

Failstate by John Otte and A Fistful of God by Therese Travis are two of my favorite published young adult novels. I’m partial to Therese’s story because I acquired and edited it for Pelican, but both of these stories transcend their genre, and I highly recommend them.

 

Currently, I’m reading non-fiction. The book is The Prophecies Fulfilled in the Birth of Jesus Christ. An excellent read and study by Dianne E. Butts, a fellow writer at Pix-N-Pens.

 

6.       What are you working on now and can you give us a little peek inside it?

Right now, until September 1, I purposely took a writing hiatus because I had a packed August filled with workshops. However, I’m looking forward to delving into the writing of four books that are currently on deadline. I’m happy to give you a little peek inside Better than Revenge, the next book in my Amazing Grace series.

 

Issie pushed on the gas pedal. The Jeep shot from the bridge and onto the road, skidding against slick mud.

Using both hands, she battled for control of the vehicle, but gravity pulled against her body as the car spun in circles. With a cry, she let go of the wheel and grabbed Cole, pulling him close.

“Not the water, Lord. Don’t let us drown. Please, don’t let us drown,” she pleaded.

With a deafening crash and bone-jarring impact the vehicle came to a sudden stop. Issie held onto Cole, too afraid to move. After a long moment, he wiggled in her arms. She had pulled him to her despite his latched seatbelt. “Are you okay?” She inspected him from head to chest.

He nodded.

“Thank you, Lord.” Thunder boomed, drowning out her words of gratitude.

Looking out her open window through the pouring rain, Issie stared in amazement at the ruts gouged deep in the mire where they’d spun in circles. Their path had taken them away from the creek and across the road to slam up against one of the hundred year old elms. A miracle for sure. Her airbags hadn’t even deployed. Deep, shuddering breaths shook her body. She collapsed over the steering wheel again and sobbed.

Cole touched her. “Mommy, we’re safe. We can walk from here.”

So calm. Where did he get that part of his nature?

Yes, they were safe for the moment, but she’d feel even safer at home with Cole in his pajamas after a warm shower.

Issie groped around in the back of the Jeep, feeling for the blanket she always kept there. Rough wool grazed her fingertips. She pushed open the door, stepped out of the vehicle, and tugged the blanket over her head. Cole climbed across the seat and out to stand under the blanket she’d spread over her. The makeshift shelter did little to protect them against the driving rain.

Cole’s hand gripped her shirt. Water dripped from his bangs onto his straight little nose. His drenched clothing stuck to his body. His teeth chattered, and he let out a broken “Brrr” under his breath. She kept the woolen cover over them and started down the road toward home.

She looked down at him. “What do you say to a warm shower, a grilled cheese sandwich, some warm cookies, and a glass of milk?”

He smiled up at her. “Yeah.”

“Are you okay?” The voice emanated from outside their cloth protection.

Someone was on her property. She was alone and vulnerable. Issie screamed and pushed her son behind her.

 

7.       What advice would you give authors who are on their own journey to publication?

This is always one of my favorite questions because I love to encourage writers. Recently, I ran across an anonymous quote that said: “It may be true that the real writer writes, but most people believe that a real writers is one who is published.” My advice is to never let anyone tell you that if you are unpublished, you are not an author. Real writers write. Period. I wrote for years. Publication did not make me an author. The process of writing made me an author. And I was an author before I was published. So, I encourage writers to write. Write more than one book. While you’re seeking publication write more books. In that way, when the doors open, you have more to offer than one story. And publishers love to know that an author has more to offer.

 

8.       Do you have any books or websites that have helped you with your writing that you could share with us?

 

I recommend every book on crafting stories written by James Scott Bell: Plot and Structure, Revision and Self-Editing, and Conflict and Suspense. Mr. Bell has an easy style of teaching, and his examples are excellent. He doesn’t talk over our heads and provide strategies that would bore most writers. They are instructional and fun to read. For encouragement in your writer’s journey, I highly recommend his The Art of War for Writers.

 

9.       Is there anything you’d like to tell us we haven’t covered?

This has been a whirlwind summer for me. I’m so blessed and thankful to have three releases. Stalking Willow was released in May. Charisse, the first book in my contemporary romance series, The Ties that Bind, released in July, and Better than Revenge, the second novel in the Amazing Grace series releases and the story whose excerpt is shared in this interview will release in September.

 

10.   Please let us know where we can find you on the web.

My website is www.faylamb.com. There I have a blog entitled Inner Source where guest authors are interviewed and share about the issues contained in their stories—those issues their charactesr overcome by God’s amazing grace or even issues that God might have brought to their attention during the writing of their work.

 

I also love meeting new friends on FB (www.facebook.com/fay.lamb) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/FayLamb). Oh, and I’m also The Tactical Editor, providing editing and writer helps Monday through Friday at www.facebook.com/TacticalEd.

Deborah Malone’s first novel Death in Dahlonega, finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Category Five writing contest! Deborah was also nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year in First Novel category. She has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, for the historic magazine “Georgia Backroads.” She has had many articles and photographs published, and her writing is featured in “Tales of the Rails,” edited by Olin Jackson. She is a member of the Georgia Writer’s Association. As a current member of the American Christian Fiction Writer she has established a blog where she reviews Christian Fiction.  

Interview and Giveaway with Nike Chillemi

CONGRATULATIONS TO BARBARA!

WINNER OF BURNING HEART

 

 

Please welcome Nike Chillemi to Sleuths and Suspects. This is her first time with us. I hope you learn more about Nike and her writing from the interview. I've just heard from Nike and she is going to give away a copy of her new book "Burning Hearts." She will choose from the best comment. Be sure to leave your email address and be a follower. Without further ado here we go!

 

 

 

Q: Tell us a little about yourself. 

Nike: I grew up in upstate New York. My dad was an English teacher who read to my brother and me and I've had a love of books since. I wrote the requisite teenage poems filled with angst, which I read to my parents quite frequently. They were very good about not running out of the room screaming. I worked in marketing in the bridal industry before seriously throwing myself into writing for publication. Every once in a while I give my bridal industry experience away by writing something like: The gown, of pink tulle, having a sweetheart neckline and tulip sleeves, floated at her calves as she glided into the room.

 

Q: Tell us about your most recent book/or the book we are focusing on. 

Nike:  BURNING HEARTS (arson/murder, action, romance, and humor) is set on the south shore of Long Island in the mid-1940s. The story opens with an arsonist burning down a house, killing the owner. A young seamstress, Erica Brogna, make a rescue attempt, but the heavy smoke forces her to get help. Enter Harley Davidson riding Lorne Kincade, a WWII hero, who rushes into the inferno. The story is filled with action. The killer tries to frame Lorne for the murder. But it's also a "sweet" romance in which Erica and Lorne face trials together and fall deeply in love. It's actually my debut novel, which Desert Breeze first published as an ebook, but it's now come out in print and I'm very excited about that. I love ebooks and was completely happy with it in electronic format, but I do know there are readers who only read print and now BURNING HEARTS available for them.

Q: Why did you choose this particular genre? 

Nike: I love murder mysteries and detective stories. The vast majority of book I read fall into one of those two categories. I love to route for the good guys to win. My home, in New York City, has quite a few bookshelves filled with whodunits. I'm so wrapped up in this genre that I've been dubbed the Crime Fictionista. I write reviews of crime fiction and action-adventure novels for The Christian Pulse online magazine. I've judged several literary contests in the last three years, usually in the mystery/thriller category, but sometimes in the action-adventure category.  

Q: What was your journey to publication like?

 

Nike: It was filled with trepidation like everybody's. I had no idea what I was doing six and a half years ago when I wrote my first mystery novel. Not a clue. I keep the manuscript around just for laughs. It's that bad. I got a lot of help from more established writers and I hope I've returned that favor, helping newbie writers as they begin on their writing journey. 

Q: What is a couple of your favorite books and what are you reading now? 

The Roland March series by J. Mark Bertrand is one of my favorite Christian crime fiction series. He can't write them fast enough to suit me. COMES A HORSEMAN by Robert Liparulo is another. INJUSTICE FOR ALL by Robin Carol and EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE by M.K. Gilroy are two others I couldn't put down. Right now I'm reading the New York Times best seller BURNT HOUSE by Faye Kellerman.

 

Q:  What are you working on now and can you give us a little peek inside it? 

Nike:  I'm leaving the world of historical whodunits w/romance and venturing into contemporary mysteries w/romance. I'm constructing a series with really strong, spunky private investigator and law enforcement heroines. My stalwart male investigators may find themselves exasperated at times by these impulsive, but very capable females. My heroes are three-dimensional and ultimately can handle relationships with complicated women. The first work to introduce this new contemporary series is a novella, HARMFUL INTENT. My heroine is a girl-next-door private investigator from Brooklyn, NY who travels to Abilene, TX where she is accused of murdering her husband of one year. There is a huge amount of humor, some of it all out funny, or zany, with moments of satire. I'd compare it with some of the works of Susan Issacs (humorous romantic suspense) or Jaqueline Girdner (comic California murder mysteries) or Chris Well (Earl Walker series, hilarious Christian mysteries).  

Q:  What advice would you give authors who are on their own journey to publication? 

Nike: First of all, keep writing. In the beginning, don't worry about how good it is. Just write it. The first manuscript will most likely get rejected. I don’t know a single writer who submitted their first work and an agent went mad for it and published it. Everyone got the first one tossed back to them. At least everyone I know did. The other thing newbies should do is read in their genre. Read the very best writers in their genre. The ones who are winning awards. Then ponder what makes their writing so good. Don't copy them. Keep your own voice, but learn techniques from the best. 

Q:Do you have any books or websites that have helped you with your writing that you could share with us?

Nike: The one single thing that's helped my writing more than anything else is the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) critique groups. That's like bootcamp for writing Christian fiction. I highly recommend getting into an ACFW group. I've also taken ACFW writing courses and courses other groups have given. I belong to a crime scene writers group where a lot of the members are retired law enforcement personnel. That group concentrates on the police procedure and technical elements of writing crime fiction.  

Q: Please let us know where we can find you on the web. 

Nike: You can find me at Nike Chillemi ~ Crime Fictionista  http://nikechillemi.wordpress.com/ 

Purchas Links:

BURNING HEARTS at Amazon, now in paperback. http://tiny.cc/7tojyw

The Sanctuary Point, historical murder mystery w/romance series at Amazon. http://tiny.cc/uwojyw



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bio: 

Like so many writers, Nike Chillemi started writing at a very young age. She still has the Crayola, fully illustrated book she penned (penciled might be more accurate) as a little girl about her then off-the-chart love of horses. Today, you might call her a crime fictionista. Her passion is crime fiction. She likes her bad guys really bad and her good guys smarter and better. 

She is the founding board member of the Grace Awards and is its Chairman, a reader's choice awards for excellence in Christian fiction. She writes book reviews for The Christian Pulse online magazine. She was an Inspy Awards 2010 judge in the Suspense/Thriller/Mystery category and a judge in the 2011 and 2012 Carol Awards in the suspense, mystery, and romantic suspense categories. BURNING HEARTS, the first book in the crime wave that is sweeping the south shore of Long Island in The Sanctuary Point series, finaled in the Grace Awards 2011 in the Romance/Historical Romance category. GOODBYE NOEL, the second book in the series released in December, 2011 won the Grace Award 2011 in the Mystery/Romantic Suspense/Thriller category. PERILOUS SHADOWS, third in the series released July, 2012, and DARKEST HOUR, the fourth in the series released in February, 2013.  She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and the Edgy Christian Fiction Lovers (Ning). http://nikechillemi.wordpress.com/



Interview with Susan Lyttek

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO START WRITING?

I always told stories. Perhaps that comes from having an editor for a father and a librarian for a mother. I wrote my first poem at five and my first story at six. I kept writing during all my growing up years. After I came to Christ, I sacrificed all my earlier writing to the Lord and waited on him. After three years, he gave writing back to me and my aim since has been to write to glorify him.

WHAT AUTHORS HAVE INFLUENCED YOUR WRITING STYLE?

I don't know. I read quite a bit. As far as the mysteries go, I adored the Finny's Nose series by Dana Mentink. I also love C.S. Lewis' works and the depth of Dostoevsky. I will read just about anything that Bryan Davis or Stephen Lawhead write, too.  

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR LATEST RELEASE.

  

Army wife and homeschooling mom, Jeanine Talbott finds herself in an impossible situation—she would rather ignore her husband’s transfer orders and stay put.  So she lets James pick out the new house and move their goods while she slowly wraps up the life she’s come to love. 

As she pulls up to their new residence, she discovers her darling bought a charming fixer-upper with rather unexpected neighbors—a Civil War graveyard full of them.

As the family, including kids Justin and Josie, gets settled in Gentle Springs, strange noises come from the cemetery.  Then, James goes TDY (temporary duty assignment) to California.  While he’s gone, their dog, Jelly, escapes the yard and finds a fresh body in the cemetery.  Suddenly, the Talbotts have two mysteries on their hands: who killed the treasure hunter, and what secret was he trying to unearth at the tomb of town hero, Captain Cooperton?

HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND IN RESEARCH BEFORE YOU WRITE A STORY?

Because of the historical mystery, about a month. I also did research as I wrote to confirm whatever details I was using.

With a fantasy novel that I'm currently working on, I've already done about six months of research because it starts in Italy in the 15th century and I knew only the basics about the time and place when I started. Not now!

HOW DO YOU LIKE TO SPEND YOUR TIME WHEN YOU'RE NOT WRITING?

I read a lot. I like puzzle videogames way too much. I attend tae kwon do classes with my teenage sons--both to be with them and to stay fit. We always find new audiobooks to listen to on the drive to/from classes. I enjoy tinkering in the kitchen with new recipes and/or ingredients. When I want to work with my hands, I do crewel embroidery.

HOW CAN READERS CONTACT YOU AND/OR LEARN MORE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR WRITING?

They can go to my website: sajlyttek.com. They can also keep in touch with me on my Facebook author page: Susan A. J. Lyttek