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Rejection!

Geri Clouston
Rejection is part of the literary experience- we've all been there. Whether it is rejection by publishers, agents, contests, or reviewers, it is never easy. I suppose that rejections by publishers and agents for self-publishers aren't even that hurtful today since it has become expected! We certainly can appreciate how difficult this is for everyone who has been "rejected" by indieBRAG. Although we do not ever mention books not honored, we do get some very wounded and angry authors who strike out at us. We just let this pass over us without response. Many times I believe these authors regret their angry words upon reflection - perhaps not. Although there is a lot to be learned from rejection – does anyone realy believe  that? - there are many reasons to just plow ahead and have faith in your work. That is not to say you do not accept and consider constructive review, but rejection is often from publishers and agents who have never read a single word of you writing and that isfrustrating. I am sure we have all heard some great stories about literary rejection but, those of us who have experienced it first hand,  can never get enough!Enjoy:…

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Words of Wisdom , , , ,

The Grave Blogger – Donna Fontenot

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Donna Fontenot I would like to introduce Author Donna Fontenot, the winner of the BRAG Medallion for her book, "The Grave Blogger."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Donna it is a pleasure to be interviewing you. Congrats on winning the BRAG Medallion. Please tell me about your book, The Grave Blogger. The pleasure is truly mine! Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with you and your readers. Winning the BRAG Medallion was a thrill that I'll never forget. The Grave Blogger story centers around Raya, a freelance writer and blogger who researches cold cases for true crime websites. During her research, she stumbles upon a 20-year-old case dubbed the "Bayou Family Slaughter" case. The newspaper account of this horrific crime immediately causes a psychological reaction in Raya, with disturbing sights and sounds reverberating through her mind. Though they feel very real, Raya is unsure if these are memories or hallucinations. Determined to uncover the truth, she heads to the scene of the original crime - the small South Louisiana town of St. Felicity - to investigate the Bayou Family Slaughter case. When she arrives, Raya gets help from Nick Simoneaux, a young St. Felicity detective…

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Authors' Chat

The Coach House – Florence Osmund

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Florence Osmund I would like to introduce Author Florence Osmund, the winner of the BRAG Medallion for her book, "The Coach House."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Thank you Florence for the pleasure of an interview and congrats on winning the BRAG Medallion. Please tell me about your story, "The Coach House." "The Coach House" story begins in 1945 Chicago. Newlyweds Marie Marchetti and her husband, Richard, have the perfect life together. Or at least it seems until Marie discovers cryptic receipts hidden in their basement and a gun in Richard's desk drawer. When she learns he secretly attends a mobster's funeral, her suspicions are heightened, and when she inadvertently interrupts a meeting between him and his so-called business associates in their home, he causes her to fall down the basement steps, compelling Marie to run for her life. Ending up in Atchison, Kansas, Marie rents a coach house apartment tucked behind a three-story Victorian home and quietly sets up a new life for herself. Richard soon learns her whereabouts and lets her know he is not out of the picture yet, but ironically, it is the discovery of the identity of Marie's real father and his ethnicity that unexpectedly…

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Authors' Chat

Sons of the Wolf – Paula Lofting

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Paula Lofting I would like to introduce Author Paula Lofting, the winner of the BRAG Medallion for her book, "Sons of the Wolf."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Paula, congrats on winning the BRAG Medallion and I'm delighted to be interviewing you for the second time! You have written a story that involves one of my favorite persons in history, Harold Godwinson and you have introduced people in your book that I'm not familiar with. Please tell your audience about your story. Hi Stephanie, thanks very much for allowing me to tell your readers about my book. Sons of the Wolf is set in 11thc England in the years leading up to the Norman Invasion. Many people know the date 1066 heralded the end of Olde Engla-lond and swept in new masters from across the sea, the dawn of the Norman Age in Britain.  Much has been made of the 'Usurping Godwin' whose comeuppance on the field of battle was delivered by the 'righteous' William of Normandy.  But do they know the story from the English point of view? In Sons of the Wolf, the preceding events that influence both sides are explored and in the sequels that…

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Authors' Chat

Gross – Lee Davis

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Lee Davis I would like to introduce Author Lee Davis, the winner of the BRAG Medallion for his book, "Gross."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Lee, thank you for the opportunity to interview you, please, tell me about your book, Gross. No-no-no, thank you! First I'll point out to readers that this particular book is subtitled Doctor Deathworm Rises, which may help avoid confusion as there is currently another entry in the series (in comic form), with another on the way. This book picks up shortly after Donald, a very lost and confused child, has come to understand the nature of his origins, which were covered in the previous comic entry, Through Demon Skin. Donald was sent to Earth by his father from his chaotic home world in hopes that Donald receive a human upbringing, knowing that Donald is destined for great things in the bridging of worlds. The same dimensional fissure through which Donald was sent is also responsible for an alien corruption that has seeped into the land, infecting it. Sensing Donald's presence and the light of righteousness that the boy defiantly seeks, along with the threat to the chaotic infection that he poses, the corruption is constantly…

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Authors' Chat

A response to Sue Grafton’s angry words.

Geri Clouston
I guess you saw the comments by bestselling author Sue Grafton about self-published authors. If not, you should! During an interview with a local newspaper she said- "that's as good as admitting you're too lazy to do the hard work". The self-published books she has read are "often amateurish", she said, comparing self publishing "to a student managing to conquer Five Easy Pieces on the piano and then wondering if s/he's ready to be booked into Carnegie Hall". According to Grafton, Becoming an author is about hard work: "taking the rejection, learning the lessons, and mastering the craft over a period of time". Having had her first three novels rejected, she said she sees "way too many writers who complete one novel and start looking for the fame and fortune they're sure they're entitled to". She added "To me, it seems disrespectful ... that a 'wannabe' assumes it's all so easy s/he can put out a 'published novel' without bothering to read, study, or do the research," said Grafton. "Learning to construct a narrative and create character, learning to balance pace, description, exposition, and dialogue takes a long time. This is not a quick do-it-yourself home project. Self-publishing is a…

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The Self-publishing World , , , ,

Oleanna – Julie Rose

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Julie Rose I would like to introduce Author Julie Rose, the winner of the BRAG Medallion for her book, "Oleanna."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Julie, please tell us about your story, Oleanna. Oleanna and her sister Elisabeth are the last of their family working their farm deep in the western fjordland. A new century has begun, and the world outside is changing, but in the Sunnfjord their world is as small and secluded as the verdant banks of a high mountain lake. The arrival of Anders, a cotter living just across the farm's border, unsettles Oleanna's peaceful but isolated existence. Sharing a common bond of loneliness and grief, Anders stirs within her the wildness and wanderlust she has worked so hard to tame. When she is confronted with another crippling loss, Oleanna must decide once and for all how to face her past, claim her future, and find her place in a wide new world. Who or what inspired you to write this story? The book was inspired by the lives of my great-great-aunts and the lives they led after they lost so many of their family members—to death, and to emigration to America. Oleanna is set…

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Authors' Chat

Learning From Our Mistakes . . . Or Not

Geri Clouston
   Fact:   http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/ (Notice how the picture of the Triangle fire looks incredibly similar to those in the Times articles of the more recent fires: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/world/asia/pakistan-factory-fire-shows-flaws-in-monitoring.html?pagewanted=all)   History Times ThreeFor those of you following the New York Times stories of the fires at garment factories, first in Bangladesh, India, then in Karachi, Pakistan, you'll notice the lamentable similarities to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in this country in 1911.When I wrote The Triangle Murders, I researched the details of that fire and blogged about it in past posts. I fictionalized a murder set against the backdrop of the actual fire and detailed the forensic analysis of the fire after the fact. I also blogged about heroines like Clara Lemlich and Frances Perkins who helped raise awareness of the deplorable situation the garment workers found themselves in every day, as well as the changes Clara and Frances helped institute to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.Reading the stories about these recent fires in other parts of the world simply blew my mind.But first, back up to Saturday, March 25, 1911, and a few grim facts: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory occupied the top three floors of the 10-story Asch…

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from Fact to Fiction!

Thwarted Queen – Cynthia Haggard

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Cynthia Haggard I would like to introduce Author Cynthia Haggard, the winner of the BRAG Medallion for her book, "Thwarted Queen."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Cynthia, thank you for the pleasure of an second interview and congrats on winning the BRAG Medallion.. You write about an interesting time in History. What inspired you to write Thwarted Queen? I was watching a BBC documentary in which Tony Morrison was talking about the Princes in the Tower, who disappeared in July 1483, and were never seen again. He mentioned that British historian Michael K. Jones had been going through the records of Rouen Cathedral and had discovered that Richard Duke of York, Cecylee's husband, was absent for a period of five weeks in the summer of 1441. This was important because Edward IV, the father of the Princes in the Tower, was born on April 28, 1442, and thus this raised the whole issue of whether King Edward was illegitimate. I did my research, and the more I looked into it, the more I became convinced that Edward IV was illegitimate, because it explained so many things about the subsequent behavior of his relatives. My question as I started…

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Authors' Chat

Peggy Pinch – Malcolm Noble

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Malcolm Noble I would like to introduce Author Malcolm Noble, the winner of the BRAG Medallion for his book, "Peggy Pinch."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Thanks for including me in your blog, Stephanie. It certainly needs to be a regular stop for anyone interested in the world of books. You have a knack for interviewing authors who have something to say, so I guess I feel a little out of place! Malcolm, thank you for this lovely interview and my apologies for the delay. Please tell me about your book, "Peggy Pinch." It's a murder story set in an English village at the time of the General Strike. Peggy Pinch, the policeman's wife, knows that any investigation by Scotland Yard will uncover village scandals that will discredit her husband, so she sets out to solve the murder herself. It's my favourite. What inspired you to write this story? I had already published eight Timberdick Mysteries and I wanted to break out a little. However, I felt a different book would disappoint the readers who had been with me from the beginning, so I started out by writing a back story for one of the minor Timberdick characters…

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