I'm currently reading For Dead Men Only by Paula Paul. This book is the second in the Alexandra Gladstone Mystery series and will be released April 12th.
Something's going on in in Newton-upon-Sea. A Freemason is found dead inside the Masonic Lodge of the Ninth Daughter and a Templar Knight is seen riding through the village. While the enigmatic Constable Snow considers the death to be a heart attack as there are no obvious wounds, the Grand Master of the lodge believes it to be murder and calls upon Dr. Alexandra Gladstone. Before Alexandra can even consider investigating the matter the Grand Master himself is found dead. Even though she is a doctor with all the necessary training and talent, Dr. Gladstone is not allowed to perform autopsies-it just wouldn't be proper for a woman to see an unclothed man, even for this purpose. However, biased townspeople and discriminatory laws won't stop this Victorian doctor and her friends. With her housekeeper/nurse Nancy, the two lads she has taken in to work for her, her faithful dog, Zeke, and the dashing Lord Dunsford to help, Dr. Alexandra Gladstone will search for answers despite the risks.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Even Book Characters Need to Eat - Guest Post
Even Book Characters Need to Eat
By Marty Wingate
In the Potting Shed mysteries – and especially in The Skeleton Garden, number four – food is integral to my protagonist/gardener, Pru Parke. That’s because she doesn’t cook – she never learned and now, in her mid-fifties, she’s afraid to even try. (This is in sharp contract to the protagonist in my other mystery series, Birds of a Feather. Julia Lanchester is a good cook and loves to eat – she’s one of those irritating people we all know who eats all the time and never seems to gain weight.)
But the kitchen is the heart of the house at Greenoak, and what would a kitchen be without a chicken-and-leek pie in the oven? That isn’t the only reason, there are more: Evelyn – the cook – is a prominent character; gardeners get hungry; it’s England – so there’s always a cup of tea going; and there’s teenage boy in the house, who is the usual bottomless pit.
If she isn’t turning out a steaming pot of boiled potatoes, Evelyn is making her famous (although only runner-up in the village baking contest) ginger teacake or assembling meals for the local pensioners. When Evelyn is present, she’s Queen of the Kitchen, and won’t allow Pru to so much as put the kettle on. Evelyn has a sixth sense when it comes to someone messing about in her domain, and she always seems to know when Pru has violated the rules. Pru does only rarely, and mostly for Saturday breakfast when she occasionally fixes biscuits for Christopher, her husband. It’s the only thing she knows how to make – the Southern kind of biscuits, not the British kind, which are cookies to Americans. But Evelyn can sniff out a dusting of flour better than a bloodhound.
And yet, for reasons explained in The Skeleton Garden, Pru makes the somewhat rash decision to cook a Christmas pudding. For American readers – Christmas pudding is a steamed cake, dense, heavy, moist, spicy, and filled with sultanas (raisins) and often candied fruit. It can be served with a custard sauce or a brandy sauce – I prefer the custard sauce made, of course, with Bird’s Custard, which is a mix and quite tasty.
Once, many years ago, I made a Christmas pudding, and it wasn’t much fun, so I don’t know why Pru got it in her head to take on this project when she could’ve bought one online. Last November, when my husband and I were in England, we visited the lovely Suffolk town of Southwold where we took a tour of the Adnams Brewery which ends in their exceptional gift and kitchen shop. And low and behold, there were Christmas puddings in two sizes, all wrapped up and ready to take home. Perfect – the smaller size came home with us and so, for our Christmas pudding, all I had to do was stir up the Bird’s Custard. Why didn’t Pru think of that?
Sunday, March 27, 2016
An Eyeshine Interview & Giveaway
I'm happy to welcome Cy Wyss to the blog today. Cy writes the Eyeshine Mystery series.
Kathy: PJ has a unique ability. Like her mother before her, when night falls, she turns into a cat. Would you like to possess that ability?
CW: Sure! I think that would be fun. It would be great to be able to talk with my cats and really see what their view of the world is like. It would also be fun to be able to roam around outside at night and not worry about what people have to worry about (mostly other people, that is). Of course I’d have to be careful of other animals, but in the book PJ speaks canine and squirrel and other animal languages; that would be the icing on the cake.
Kathy: I currently live with three cats. Do you have pet cats of your own?
CW: Three cats, that is probably a lot of fun. We do have cats, we have two cats. We have an intrepid young black cat named Yellow. His name suits not only his big yellow eyes but also the fact that when we first saw him he and his two brothers wore color-coded collars and his was yellow. We also have a grey tabby named Brucee. He is a bit older and awfully odd. He likes to play fetch with Christmas bows. He also steals my daughter’s stuffed animals and carries them around the house meowing. Both cats are wonderful and I can’t imagine life without cats.
Kathy: Clara is the county's prime cat rescuer. Is she based on a real person or group? Are you involved with any local rescue organizations?
CW: Clara is the canonical crazy cat lady, except she takes good care of all her strays. I don’t know anyone like her. I’ve often wanted to get involved with local rescue organizations, for example being a foster parent for animals. My husband is not keen on filling our house with animals, and I don’t blame him. Still, I’d like to be more like Clara.
Kathy: In human form PJ is a reporter and photographer. In fact, even when young she was known for her candid and "impossible" photos. Do you have an interest in photography yourself? Do you tend to take lots of snapshots of everyday life?
CW: I studied photography in high school and really enjoyed it. I do still like to take pictures and it is facilitated by the fact we all have cell phones with high resolution cameras. I like taking the pictures and then looking back at our everyday life. There is so much in life, and even little things can give great joy so I try to capture some of that feeling.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?
CW: Cozy mysteries are harmless fun. There’s something about a story that’s inoffensive and universally appealing that is hard to resist. I grew up reading Agatha Christies so that’s shaped my ideas of what good mysteries are. Eyeshine was particularly fun to write. I did wonder about including references to a meth lab, but I refrain from any gory details. That’s the challenge: how to make it interesting and contemporary while still remaining cozy.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
CW: I also write thrillers, hard-boiled mysteries, and science fiction.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
CW: EYESHINE is the first book in the series about PJ, a freelance reporter by day and a cat by night. Every day at sundown, PJ turns into a cat. She wears a camera when she’s a feline and captures some great shots from unusual angles and places. Her brother is the sole FBI agent in Mayhap, Indiana’s field office and helps her stay down to earth while she investigates local crime.
DIMORPHIC is the first book in a series about Judith, a woman who inherits her twin brother’s braindead body. When she falls asleep, she switches bodies. She decides to use this power for the pursuit of evil and DIMORPHIC is the story of how she goes about becoming a superhero. She finds a mentor, sidekicks, and bad guys to chase.
My other series is about Inspector Richter, a detective in the San Francisco police department. Richter is a classic loner, but has a bionic eye. Using this eye, he can see the same information as a lie detector test: heartrate, blood pressure, galvanic temperature, etc. So Richter is a walking polygraph. What advantages does this give him? He still has to work within the confines of the law. His word carries a lot but ultimately he needs proof. His eye simply leads him in the right direction, the rest is up to him.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
CW: I like PJ. She is plucky and genuine. She views the world a little differently because she spends half her time as a cat. I would think this makes her more straightforward and honest to a fault. She is also a little arrogant, but she knows it and I think that adds to her appeal.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
CW: I like the Lilian Jackson Braun Cat Who mysteries. I also like the Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown mysteries. I realized mysteries where cats played a role were popular and thought, what about an amateur detective who is a cat? I meant that not as personifying animals, but somehow about someone who turns into a cat. Thus was born the idea of PJ, a woman who turns into a cat at sundown and back into a person at sunrise. She has to shape her life around her ability so she is not found out.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
CW: Really what got me into self-publishing was Joe Konrath’s blog about it. He was very persuasive that going with a big publisher isn’t in the bests interests of an author any more. It is ironic, since his first books were published canonically. I like the idea of self-publishing, but am finding it difficult to carry out further steps, in particular marketing. Getting yourself known is the big issue. Whether one does that via the canonical route or a self-directed route is less important, I think. The big publishers have the advantage of having publicists and contacts. Anyway, I’m glad I self-published. It has been an enlightening experience.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
CW: I would invite Agatha Christie, Michael Connolly, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Hugh Howey. That would be an interesting party. I’d say that is all of my favorite genres represented: cozy mysteries, darker mysteries, classical literature, and science fiction. I’d love to hear the conversation they would strike up. I would have to prepare in advance so I had some pithy questions memorized to start us off. I would also hope there would be time for some one-on-ones, that would be perfect.
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
CW: At the moment I am reading both the Hugh Howey silo series and a Connolly book starring detective Bosch called THE BLACK BOX. I really like the Bosch series. I haven’t read any of Connolly’s Lincoln lawyer series, but will have to try those as well at some point. Connolly is a master. If I could write half as well as he does, I would be doing great. The Hugh Howey series is partly in preparation for a science fiction book I want to write. I wanted to see what contemporary science fiction was at its best. And I can see why Howey is very popular, the series is very good.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
CW: Other than writing, I like online gaming. I play World of Warcraft too much. Heck, I like games of most every sort. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of chess with my daughter. That is fun and rewarding to see her improving leaps and bounds at the game. We also play Yahtzee, Life, Uno, and Settlers of Catan. It is nice to have games to play in the late afternoon when she’s home from school and done her homework, but before we go out to her extracurricular classes.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
CW: Milk, for sure. We are big milk drinkers and go through around a quart a day so we always have a large supply of it. In the freezer I always have spanakopita, which makes a nice quick dinner when I don’t have any other ideas. In the pantry I always have cereal bars and fruit rollups for my daughter to have as snacks.
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
CW: I’m currently working on a science fiction book. The premise is that the practice of preferring male babies that happens in, for example, India and China, has made it into the DNA and now males outnumber females 100 to 1 in a race called the Vuor. The story is about the clash in values and culture that ensues when the Vuor contact Earth. And, of course, there’s a war hanging in the balance. I’ll see how it goes.
I do plan to write a second book in the Eyeshine series. I am working out a plot, probably involving murder at a county chili cook-off. It sounds like a suitably fun scenario for the background of a crime, and something that everyone can relate to.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
CW: I like being able to write my own schedule and use my time the way I see fit. On the other hand, it gives me enough rope to hang myself and I often find it difficult to write during the long alone times when my daughter is at school and husband is at work. It helps to have writer’s groups to belong to and be able to go to write ins with other Indianapolis area authors. There is a thriving group spun off from the NaNoWriMo group and I’m privileged to be a part of it. I guess that is also one of my favorite things about being an author: being with other authors.
PJ Taylor is a reporter with a difference. Each night she turns into a black tabby cat from sundown to sunup. In this first adventure, follow PJ as she chases thieves, drug dealers, and even a murderer. Will PJ solve the mysterious drowning death of cantankerous old coot Chip Greene? Or will a local special needs boy end up taking the blame? Be prepared for twists and turns along the way as PJ applies all her feline senses to this diabolical situation.
I live and write in the Indianapolis area. After earning a PhD in Computer Science in 2002 and teaching and researching for seven years, I’ve returned to the childhood dream of becoming an author. I better do it now because I won’t get a third life.
Behind me, I have a ton of academic experience and have written about twenty extremely boring papers on query languages and such, for example this one in the ACM Transactions on Databases. (That’s a mouthful.)
Now, I write in the mystery/thriller/suspense genres and sometimes science fiction. I know for some people databases would be the more beloved of the options, but for me, I finally realized that my heart wasn’t in it. So I took up a second life, as a self-published fiction author.
Online, I do the Writer Cy cartoon series about the (mis)adventures of researching, writing, and self-publishing in today’s shifting climate. I also love to design and create my own covers using GIMP.
Catch Up:
Kathy: PJ has a unique ability. Like her mother before her, when night falls, she turns into a cat. Would you like to possess that ability?
CW: Sure! I think that would be fun. It would be great to be able to talk with my cats and really see what their view of the world is like. It would also be fun to be able to roam around outside at night and not worry about what people have to worry about (mostly other people, that is). Of course I’d have to be careful of other animals, but in the book PJ speaks canine and squirrel and other animal languages; that would be the icing on the cake.
Kathy: I currently live with three cats. Do you have pet cats of your own?
CW: Three cats, that is probably a lot of fun. We do have cats, we have two cats. We have an intrepid young black cat named Yellow. His name suits not only his big yellow eyes but also the fact that when we first saw him he and his two brothers wore color-coded collars and his was yellow. We also have a grey tabby named Brucee. He is a bit older and awfully odd. He likes to play fetch with Christmas bows. He also steals my daughter’s stuffed animals and carries them around the house meowing. Both cats are wonderful and I can’t imagine life without cats.
Kathy: Clara is the county's prime cat rescuer. Is she based on a real person or group? Are you involved with any local rescue organizations?
CW: Clara is the canonical crazy cat lady, except she takes good care of all her strays. I don’t know anyone like her. I’ve often wanted to get involved with local rescue organizations, for example being a foster parent for animals. My husband is not keen on filling our house with animals, and I don’t blame him. Still, I’d like to be more like Clara.
Kathy: In human form PJ is a reporter and photographer. In fact, even when young she was known for her candid and "impossible" photos. Do you have an interest in photography yourself? Do you tend to take lots of snapshots of everyday life?
CW: I studied photography in high school and really enjoyed it. I do still like to take pictures and it is facilitated by the fact we all have cell phones with high resolution cameras. I like taking the pictures and then looking back at our everyday life. There is so much in life, and even little things can give great joy so I try to capture some of that feeling.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?
CW: Cozy mysteries are harmless fun. There’s something about a story that’s inoffensive and universally appealing that is hard to resist. I grew up reading Agatha Christies so that’s shaped my ideas of what good mysteries are. Eyeshine was particularly fun to write. I did wonder about including references to a meth lab, but I refrain from any gory details. That’s the challenge: how to make it interesting and contemporary while still remaining cozy.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
CW: I also write thrillers, hard-boiled mysteries, and science fiction.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
CW: EYESHINE is the first book in the series about PJ, a freelance reporter by day and a cat by night. Every day at sundown, PJ turns into a cat. She wears a camera when she’s a feline and captures some great shots from unusual angles and places. Her brother is the sole FBI agent in Mayhap, Indiana’s field office and helps her stay down to earth while she investigates local crime.
DIMORPHIC is the first book in a series about Judith, a woman who inherits her twin brother’s braindead body. When she falls asleep, she switches bodies. She decides to use this power for the pursuit of evil and DIMORPHIC is the story of how she goes about becoming a superhero. She finds a mentor, sidekicks, and bad guys to chase.
My other series is about Inspector Richter, a detective in the San Francisco police department. Richter is a classic loner, but has a bionic eye. Using this eye, he can see the same information as a lie detector test: heartrate, blood pressure, galvanic temperature, etc. So Richter is a walking polygraph. What advantages does this give him? He still has to work within the confines of the law. His word carries a lot but ultimately he needs proof. His eye simply leads him in the right direction, the rest is up to him.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
CW: I like PJ. She is plucky and genuine. She views the world a little differently because she spends half her time as a cat. I would think this makes her more straightforward and honest to a fault. She is also a little arrogant, but she knows it and I think that adds to her appeal.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
CW: I like the Lilian Jackson Braun Cat Who mysteries. I also like the Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown mysteries. I realized mysteries where cats played a role were popular and thought, what about an amateur detective who is a cat? I meant that not as personifying animals, but somehow about someone who turns into a cat. Thus was born the idea of PJ, a woman who turns into a cat at sundown and back into a person at sunrise. She has to shape her life around her ability so she is not found out.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
CW: Really what got me into self-publishing was Joe Konrath’s blog about it. He was very persuasive that going with a big publisher isn’t in the bests interests of an author any more. It is ironic, since his first books were published canonically. I like the idea of self-publishing, but am finding it difficult to carry out further steps, in particular marketing. Getting yourself known is the big issue. Whether one does that via the canonical route or a self-directed route is less important, I think. The big publishers have the advantage of having publicists and contacts. Anyway, I’m glad I self-published. It has been an enlightening experience.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
CW: I would invite Agatha Christie, Michael Connolly, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Hugh Howey. That would be an interesting party. I’d say that is all of my favorite genres represented: cozy mysteries, darker mysteries, classical literature, and science fiction. I’d love to hear the conversation they would strike up. I would have to prepare in advance so I had some pithy questions memorized to start us off. I would also hope there would be time for some one-on-ones, that would be perfect.
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
CW: At the moment I am reading both the Hugh Howey silo series and a Connolly book starring detective Bosch called THE BLACK BOX. I really like the Bosch series. I haven’t read any of Connolly’s Lincoln lawyer series, but will have to try those as well at some point. Connolly is a master. If I could write half as well as he does, I would be doing great. The Hugh Howey series is partly in preparation for a science fiction book I want to write. I wanted to see what contemporary science fiction was at its best. And I can see why Howey is very popular, the series is very good.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
CW: Other than writing, I like online gaming. I play World of Warcraft too much. Heck, I like games of most every sort. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of chess with my daughter. That is fun and rewarding to see her improving leaps and bounds at the game. We also play Yahtzee, Life, Uno, and Settlers of Catan. It is nice to have games to play in the late afternoon when she’s home from school and done her homework, but before we go out to her extracurricular classes.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
CW: Milk, for sure. We are big milk drinkers and go through around a quart a day so we always have a large supply of it. In the freezer I always have spanakopita, which makes a nice quick dinner when I don’t have any other ideas. In the pantry I always have cereal bars and fruit rollups for my daughter to have as snacks.
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
CW: I’m currently working on a science fiction book. The premise is that the practice of preferring male babies that happens in, for example, India and China, has made it into the DNA and now males outnumber females 100 to 1 in a race called the Vuor. The story is about the clash in values and culture that ensues when the Vuor contact Earth. And, of course, there’s a war hanging in the balance. I’ll see how it goes.
I do plan to write a second book in the Eyeshine series. I am working out a plot, probably involving murder at a county chili cook-off. It sounds like a suitably fun scenario for the background of a crime, and something that everyone can relate to.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
CW: I like being able to write my own schedule and use my time the way I see fit. On the other hand, it gives me enough rope to hang myself and I often find it difficult to write during the long alone times when my daughter is at school and husband is at work. It helps to have writer’s groups to belong to and be able to go to write ins with other Indianapolis area authors. There is a thriving group spun off from the NaNoWriMo group and I’m privileged to be a part of it. I guess that is also one of my favorite things about being an author: being with other authors.
Eyeshine
by Cy Wyss
on Tour March 1-31, 2016
Book Details:
Genre: Cozy Mystery Published by: Nighttime Dog Press, LLC Publication Date: November 2015 Number of Pages: 200 ASIN: B017WD3WWU Purchase Links:
Read an excerpt:
People called Brooke Annabeth Taylor “PJ,” which stood not for pajamas but for Peeping Jane. She’d been a photographer and reporter for as long as the town could remember—at least since grade school—and her reportage was known for the most candid and impossible photos, like Peter Parker’s but from nearer the ground. Her job was made more difficult by her moniker because once people found out what it was, they shied away and wouldn’t tell her the secrets that are a reporter’s stock-in-trade. As she got older, it got harder and harder to convince anyone to give her a story. Now, at thirty, she was no longer “kitten cute” and able to wile her way easily into subjects’ confidence. Still, she managed to find a way.
With her penetrating amber eyes and easy smile, people found her disarming. She loved her relationship as a freelance reporter with the town’s paper, and all the vagaries that life entails, such as being a night owl and an absolute bulldog for the truth. If she could have chosen her own moniker, it would have likely combined these: Owl Dog. It was particularly inappropriate, however, because she turned not into a bird or canine every night, but into a cat.
She had been a black tabby from sundown to sunup since shortly after puberty. She often wondered why other people didn’t morph into alternate beings for the dark hours, but was admonished very early on by a loving mother to never, never, ever speak a word of it to anyone. PJ liked to think that was because her mother had a similar power and had suffered, but it could have been due solely to the woman’s intelligence and sense of practicality.
PJ’s father had died when she was ten. The man was a scientist, an absent-minded chemist, and PJ was of two minds about his awareness. On the one hand, his cleverness meant surely he wouldn’t have been fooled by a mere wife, no matter how adept at deception; on the other hand, his absentmindedness meant sometimes he forgot to wear shoes. So it wasn’t a stretch to think he might have no inkling about the bizarreness of his wife or daughter.
At sixteen, with PJ in limbo between childhood and womanhood, her mother suffered a tragic and debilitating stroke that took her life within months. PJ then moved in with her much older brother and his family. By then, she had become as adept as her mother at hiding her talent, in spite of the fact her brother was an FBI agent by that time, at twenty-nine, and extraordinarily difficult to deceive. It helped that after he witnessed firsthand the transformation from girl to cat, he immediately went into a long-lasting shock that consisted of utter denial. Instead of considering how her unique power could assist him in his life of crime fighting, he grounded her for a month and kept her largely confined to her room, especially after sundown.
PJ forgave Robert for locking her up, only because of her natural optimism and sense of personal grandeur. Honestly, grudges were beneath her, as were most things mere mono-modal humans did. She focused on her schoolwork and got all A’s that semester. Much later she discovered her brother had to take a polygraph test every year he was employed with the all-knowing government agency. PJ realized Robert had so thoroughly put the image of his sister becoming a black tabby cat out of his mind that he had convinced himself it wasn’t even a hallucination—it simply hadn’t existed at all. There’s no need to lie if you’re a true believer, and that was the most effective path for a forced deceiver. So PJ kept her secret, and Robert kept his job.
Fourteen years later, PJ was irrevocably known as Peeping Jane and Robert had traveled the country and come back in his forties to set up a one-man field office in Mayhap, Indiana. One day, PJ was out with her best friends Clara Goodwind and Vicky Donnerweise at the Mayhap Spring Festival when the sun dipped low on the horizon, threatening to bring the stars closer and the day to an end.
“PJ, why do you always leave just when things are getting interesting?” Clara said.
She was a buxom woman with big hazel eyes and bright red hair. Her wardrobe favored items with cats in evidence or implied by pithy sayings, such as “Meow Happens,” which her pink tube top currently sported. The woman was Taft County’s prime cat rescuer, with a warren of dedicated chicken-wire pens covering her backyard and a full-time feeding schedule. When she wasn’t volunteering at the county’s humane shelter, she was ensconced in a network of gossips centered at the Mayhap Memorial Library. Clara was an assistant librarian but party to all the good stories the town could provide. PJ found her an invaluable source. If it happened, or was going to happen, Clara knew about it and would talk.
Vicky stood with arms akimbo and watched PJ inhale an elephant ear. She was a striking woman with hair even blacker than PJ’s and blue eyes where PJ’s were yellow. Vicky was tall and muscular, like a man, but lither and hourglass-shaped inside the bulky kit she wore for law enforcement. She was one of Taft County’s deputies, second in their force only to Sheriff Curtis Denning, whom she happened to be married to.
“Land’s sake, PJ, how do you eat like that? You know I’m active all day, but I can’t eat three of those things without being ten pounds fatter tomorrow. Do you just stay up all night on the treadmill or what?”
A loud cry of enjoyment crescendoed from the fairway before PJ could answer, which was just as well since her mouth was filled with fried dough and she wouldn’t have gotten more than a grunt or two out. She didn’t have the heart to enlighten her friend. Every night, indeed, she ran the treadmill of being feline. She wandered miles in the summertime, searched every nook and cranny of the county, chased rodents and vermin, and napped only fitfully and with one eye open under the shifting moon.
She popped the last of the ear into her mouth and said, “It’s genetics. Some people are luckier than others.”
Vicky and Clara groaned.
Clara adjusted her pink-rimmed glasses and slurped her sno-cone. “At least I managed to keep myself to just one Devil Dog. And sno-cones have no calories after noon—everyone knows that.” Clara was constantly watching her figure, which didn’t seem to keep her from growing more buxom by the year. At the rate she was going, she would be a round octogenarian with a radiant smile in fifty years. PJ thought things could be worse.
“So you two coming two weeks from today or what?” Vicky said.
She was having a cookout, a common occurrence in the warmer months, and the Taylors and Goodwinds were regular fixtures. Everyone knew the cookouts were as much a bid to stuff the people of Taft County with reasons why the Denning clan should hold on to the sheriff-hood for the indefinite future, but everyone came anyway. Vicky’s ribs were legendary, and Curtis’s beer was as tasty and free flowing as anyone’s ever was. Today was Saturday, and two weeks from today was going to be the first big Donnerweise-Denning BBQ of the season.
“Yeah, I’ll be there,” PJ said. “At least until sunset.”
Vicky rolled her eyes. “Because you turn into a pumpkin at sunset, right? We’ll never get to see nighttime you. Isn’t Doc Fred helping you with that?”
Doctor Fred Norton was Mayhap’s most celebrated, and only, psychiatrist. Apparently he was a third cousin twice removed to the iconic Oprah Winfrey and had once listened to her problems with aplomb, inspiring her to go on and listen eternally to others. He was given a brief mention in a book of hers, which was now out-of-print. For Mayhap, that was all it took to secure one’s place in the annals of town history. He even had a special shelf in the library to display his pamphlets on the pluses of positive putation, despite the brochures containing more than their fair share of buzz non-words.
PJ’s cover story for disappearing every evening, no matter the weather or event, was a rare and debilitating overreaction to darkness. Everyone thought she ran home to sit in a bright room under full-spectrum lights so she could make it through the dark hours with her psyche intact, her odd and entrenched phobia notwithstanding. Doc Fred made a perfect corroborator. His acute sense of professional delicacy meant he could never confirm nor deny PJ’s hints that he was treating her without success for her illness. Perhaps he had spent the last decades sketching her case study, which would no doubt be picked up by the professional societies should it ever come to a positive conclusion.
“Sorry,” PJ said to Vicky, “I’m not going to talk about it.”
“Oh, right. Shrink’s privilege and all that.”
“Well, get going,” Clara said. “I don’t want to have to carry around any pumpkins your size after dark, if you turn into one.”
“Alrighty. Toodles, people.”
With her penetrating amber eyes and easy smile, people found her disarming. She loved her relationship as a freelance reporter with the town’s paper, and all the vagaries that life entails, such as being a night owl and an absolute bulldog for the truth. If she could have chosen her own moniker, it would have likely combined these: Owl Dog. It was particularly inappropriate, however, because she turned not into a bird or canine every night, but into a cat.
She had been a black tabby from sundown to sunup since shortly after puberty. She often wondered why other people didn’t morph into alternate beings for the dark hours, but was admonished very early on by a loving mother to never, never, ever speak a word of it to anyone. PJ liked to think that was because her mother had a similar power and had suffered, but it could have been due solely to the woman’s intelligence and sense of practicality.
PJ’s father had died when she was ten. The man was a scientist, an absent-minded chemist, and PJ was of two minds about his awareness. On the one hand, his cleverness meant surely he wouldn’t have been fooled by a mere wife, no matter how adept at deception; on the other hand, his absentmindedness meant sometimes he forgot to wear shoes. So it wasn’t a stretch to think he might have no inkling about the bizarreness of his wife or daughter.
At sixteen, with PJ in limbo between childhood and womanhood, her mother suffered a tragic and debilitating stroke that took her life within months. PJ then moved in with her much older brother and his family. By then, she had become as adept as her mother at hiding her talent, in spite of the fact her brother was an FBI agent by that time, at twenty-nine, and extraordinarily difficult to deceive. It helped that after he witnessed firsthand the transformation from girl to cat, he immediately went into a long-lasting shock that consisted of utter denial. Instead of considering how her unique power could assist him in his life of crime fighting, he grounded her for a month and kept her largely confined to her room, especially after sundown.
PJ forgave Robert for locking her up, only because of her natural optimism and sense of personal grandeur. Honestly, grudges were beneath her, as were most things mere mono-modal humans did. She focused on her schoolwork and got all A’s that semester. Much later she discovered her brother had to take a polygraph test every year he was employed with the all-knowing government agency. PJ realized Robert had so thoroughly put the image of his sister becoming a black tabby cat out of his mind that he had convinced himself it wasn’t even a hallucination—it simply hadn’t existed at all. There’s no need to lie if you’re a true believer, and that was the most effective path for a forced deceiver. So PJ kept her secret, and Robert kept his job.
Fourteen years later, PJ was irrevocably known as Peeping Jane and Robert had traveled the country and come back in his forties to set up a one-man field office in Mayhap, Indiana. One day, PJ was out with her best friends Clara Goodwind and Vicky Donnerweise at the Mayhap Spring Festival when the sun dipped low on the horizon, threatening to bring the stars closer and the day to an end.
“PJ, why do you always leave just when things are getting interesting?” Clara said.
She was a buxom woman with big hazel eyes and bright red hair. Her wardrobe favored items with cats in evidence or implied by pithy sayings, such as “Meow Happens,” which her pink tube top currently sported. The woman was Taft County’s prime cat rescuer, with a warren of dedicated chicken-wire pens covering her backyard and a full-time feeding schedule. When she wasn’t volunteering at the county’s humane shelter, she was ensconced in a network of gossips centered at the Mayhap Memorial Library. Clara was an assistant librarian but party to all the good stories the town could provide. PJ found her an invaluable source. If it happened, or was going to happen, Clara knew about it and would talk.
Vicky stood with arms akimbo and watched PJ inhale an elephant ear. She was a striking woman with hair even blacker than PJ’s and blue eyes where PJ’s were yellow. Vicky was tall and muscular, like a man, but lither and hourglass-shaped inside the bulky kit she wore for law enforcement. She was one of Taft County’s deputies, second in their force only to Sheriff Curtis Denning, whom she happened to be married to.
“Land’s sake, PJ, how do you eat like that? You know I’m active all day, but I can’t eat three of those things without being ten pounds fatter tomorrow. Do you just stay up all night on the treadmill or what?”
A loud cry of enjoyment crescendoed from the fairway before PJ could answer, which was just as well since her mouth was filled with fried dough and she wouldn’t have gotten more than a grunt or two out. She didn’t have the heart to enlighten her friend. Every night, indeed, she ran the treadmill of being feline. She wandered miles in the summertime, searched every nook and cranny of the county, chased rodents and vermin, and napped only fitfully and with one eye open under the shifting moon.
She popped the last of the ear into her mouth and said, “It’s genetics. Some people are luckier than others.”
Vicky and Clara groaned.
Clara adjusted her pink-rimmed glasses and slurped her sno-cone. “At least I managed to keep myself to just one Devil Dog. And sno-cones have no calories after noon—everyone knows that.” Clara was constantly watching her figure, which didn’t seem to keep her from growing more buxom by the year. At the rate she was going, she would be a round octogenarian with a radiant smile in fifty years. PJ thought things could be worse.
“So you two coming two weeks from today or what?” Vicky said.
She was having a cookout, a common occurrence in the warmer months, and the Taylors and Goodwinds were regular fixtures. Everyone knew the cookouts were as much a bid to stuff the people of Taft County with reasons why the Denning clan should hold on to the sheriff-hood for the indefinite future, but everyone came anyway. Vicky’s ribs were legendary, and Curtis’s beer was as tasty and free flowing as anyone’s ever was. Today was Saturday, and two weeks from today was going to be the first big Donnerweise-Denning BBQ of the season.
“Yeah, I’ll be there,” PJ said. “At least until sunset.”
Vicky rolled her eyes. “Because you turn into a pumpkin at sunset, right? We’ll never get to see nighttime you. Isn’t Doc Fred helping you with that?”
Doctor Fred Norton was Mayhap’s most celebrated, and only, psychiatrist. Apparently he was a third cousin twice removed to the iconic Oprah Winfrey and had once listened to her problems with aplomb, inspiring her to go on and listen eternally to others. He was given a brief mention in a book of hers, which was now out-of-print. For Mayhap, that was all it took to secure one’s place in the annals of town history. He even had a special shelf in the library to display his pamphlets on the pluses of positive putation, despite the brochures containing more than their fair share of buzz non-words.
PJ’s cover story for disappearing every evening, no matter the weather or event, was a rare and debilitating overreaction to darkness. Everyone thought she ran home to sit in a bright room under full-spectrum lights so she could make it through the dark hours with her psyche intact, her odd and entrenched phobia notwithstanding. Doc Fred made a perfect corroborator. His acute sense of professional delicacy meant he could never confirm nor deny PJ’s hints that he was treating her without success for her illness. Perhaps he had spent the last decades sketching her case study, which would no doubt be picked up by the professional societies should it ever come to a positive conclusion.
“Sorry,” PJ said to Vicky, “I’m not going to talk about it.”
“Oh, right. Shrink’s privilege and all that.”
“Well, get going,” Clara said. “I don’t want to have to carry around any pumpkins your size after dark, if you turn into one.”
“Alrighty. Toodles, people.”
Author Bio:
I live and write in the Indianapolis area. After earning a PhD in Computer Science in 2002 and teaching and researching for seven years, I’ve returned to the childhood dream of becoming an author. I better do it now because I won’t get a third life.
Behind me, I have a ton of academic experience and have written about twenty extremely boring papers on query languages and such, for example this one in the ACM Transactions on Databases. (That’s a mouthful.)
Now, I write in the mystery/thriller/suspense genres and sometimes science fiction. I know for some people databases would be the more beloved of the options, but for me, I finally realized that my heart wasn’t in it. So I took up a second life, as a self-published fiction author.
Online, I do the Writer Cy cartoon series about the (mis)adventures of researching, writing, and self-publishing in today’s shifting climate. I also love to design and create my own covers using GIMP.
Catch Up:
Eyeshine Tour Participants:
Visit others on the tour! In addition to the great reviews & features you could win your own copy of Eyeshine!Don't Miss Your Chance to WIN:
This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours for Cy Wyss. There will be 1 winner of 1 $10 Amazon.com US Gift card. The giveaway begins on March 1st and runs through April 1st, 2016. a Rafflecopter giveawayGet More Great Reads at Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours
Friday, March 25, 2016
Between Good and Evil Interview & Giveaway
I'm pleased to welcome R. Michael Phillips to the blog today. BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL is the first book in the Auburn Notch Mystery series and was released earlier this year.
Kathy: I admit to a fascination of asylums of the 19th and early 20th century and have visited a few. Have you visited any asylums?
RMP: I never gave them too much thought until I started the book, now I can’t wait to visit one. I’ve located one outside of London I might have to peek inside my next time over. There’s another one close to me in Pennsylvania I’d like to stop by.
Kathy: Is Willis Asylum based on an actual asylum?
RMP: The Willis Asylum is a combination of a few different abandoned buildings I came across while doing the research for the book. I blended the creepier parts together and then worked backwards to strip away the decay to give it a dignified beginning.
Kathy: Setting plays an integral part in mysteries, sometimes becoming a character unto itself. What makes Auburn Notch the perfect setting for BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL.
RMP: Auburn Notch is a fictional town nestled beneath the shadows of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. New England was a center for industry at the turn of the century, and has always been an idyllic spot for vacationing. It’s kind of the last place you would expect to find crimes with a surprising twist, so I felt it was a good place to establish the town. You’re right about the setting becoming a character in the book. The freshness of the mountain air has a cleansing affect on Promise Flynn, and completely different from the gritty streets of Chicago she left behind. Then, in an instant, winter rolls in and it turns icy cold, just like the hand of death. Who could ask for more out of a setting?
Kathy: What first drew you to mysteries?
RMP: I’ve read mysteries all my life. Whodunits. Thrillers. Suspense—everything from Agatha Christie to Robert Parker. I guess I just enjoy a good puzzle, so I decided to create a few of my own.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
RMP: I’ve always heard it is best to write what you know about, so I write mysteries, just mysteries. In that same respect, I also use settings I’m very familiar with—New Hampshire for the Auburn Notch Mysteries, and London for the Ernie Bisquets Mysteries.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
RMP: The Auburn Notch Mysteries is a brand new series for me, set in New England. It combines a tough female protagonist with a past she is trying to put behind her, and crimes that aren’t what they appear to be in a setting where they would never be expected. This series is a little darker with a heightened suspense level than my other series.
My other series is the Ernie Bisquets Mysteries. It’s centered around a retired pickpocket in contemporary London who has decided he is going to help the London police with their more challenging cases—whether they want his help or not. These are English cozies, so the characters are quirky, and the crimes are intricate puzzles.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
RMP: That’s a tough choice. Right now I have to say Ernie Bisquets is my favorite. I’ve written 3 books in his series, and have just started the 4th. Ernie is a true character, and someone I think anybody would enjoy meeting—just make sure you still have your wallet before he walks away. I’m just getting to know Promise Flynn, so there’s a good chance she’ll be right up there with Ernie soon enough. One of these days it might be fun to introduce them to each other in a story.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
RMP: I’ve been writing the London-based series for so long I wanted to change things up a bit. I’ve been kicking around new characters and plots for a while now, but some didn’t seem to work well in a London setting. Then I took a trip back up to New England and it hit me—why not start a new series?
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
RMP: As tough as writing a book is, finding a publisher is even tougher. This was the goal I set for myself when I started the first book. Writing a book is an accomplishment in itself, but to be published and distributed adds a great deal of credibility to that accomplishment. I decided no matter how long it took, I was going to find a traditional publisher that believed in my work as much as I do. I was thrilled when I got the offer from Sunbury Press for the new series. They will also be publishing the next book in the Bisquets’ series.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
RMP: Charles Dickens, for his thoughts on today’s social and political climate; Oscar Wilde, for his wit; Robert Parker, for his exceptional grasp of dialog; and Dorothy Parker, because she could make any gathering of authors an event worth attending.
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
RMP: I’m just finishing Peter Ackroyd’s FOUNDATION—the history of England from its earliest beginnings to the Tudors, and CHOICE OF ENEMIES by M.A. Richards.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
RMP: I’m a classically trained artist, so I always have a painting or two on my easels going at all times. Painting helps me think when I’m stuck on a plot direction.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
RMP: Cream Of Wheat, Clotted Cream (great on scones,) Wise Potato Chips, and Cinnamon Raisin Bread. I’m a man of simple tastes.
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
RMP: I’m very excited to tell you I’ve turned in the 2nd book in the Auburn Notch Mysteries. If all goes well with editing and book jacket design, it should be released by the end of the year. I’ve also started book 4 in the Ernie Bisquets Mysteries. I have a very complete outline, so I intend to get this one done by the end of summer. Look for an early 2017 release for that. I also have outlines for 1 more book in each series, so I’ll be pretty busy for the next year or two.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
RMP: I have to say the best part of being an author for me is meeting new people at book signing events. There is a great energy there, and I really enjoy the feedback about the series. I’ve incorporated a number of ideas into storylines we’ve come up with at these events. Mystery readers are very devoted to their genre and like being surprised, so I do everything I can to accomplish that for them in my books.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Kathy: I admit to a fascination of asylums of the 19th and early 20th century and have visited a few. Have you visited any asylums?
RMP: I never gave them too much thought until I started the book, now I can’t wait to visit one. I’ve located one outside of London I might have to peek inside my next time over. There’s another one close to me in Pennsylvania I’d like to stop by.
Kathy: Is Willis Asylum based on an actual asylum?
RMP: The Willis Asylum is a combination of a few different abandoned buildings I came across while doing the research for the book. I blended the creepier parts together and then worked backwards to strip away the decay to give it a dignified beginning.
Kathy: Setting plays an integral part in mysteries, sometimes becoming a character unto itself. What makes Auburn Notch the perfect setting for BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL.
RMP: Auburn Notch is a fictional town nestled beneath the shadows of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. New England was a center for industry at the turn of the century, and has always been an idyllic spot for vacationing. It’s kind of the last place you would expect to find crimes with a surprising twist, so I felt it was a good place to establish the town. You’re right about the setting becoming a character in the book. The freshness of the mountain air has a cleansing affect on Promise Flynn, and completely different from the gritty streets of Chicago she left behind. Then, in an instant, winter rolls in and it turns icy cold, just like the hand of death. Who could ask for more out of a setting?
Kathy: What first drew you to mysteries?
RMP: I’ve read mysteries all my life. Whodunits. Thrillers. Suspense—everything from Agatha Christie to Robert Parker. I guess I just enjoy a good puzzle, so I decided to create a few of my own.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
RMP: I’ve always heard it is best to write what you know about, so I write mysteries, just mysteries. In that same respect, I also use settings I’m very familiar with—New Hampshire for the Auburn Notch Mysteries, and London for the Ernie Bisquets Mysteries.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
RMP: The Auburn Notch Mysteries is a brand new series for me, set in New England. It combines a tough female protagonist with a past she is trying to put behind her, and crimes that aren’t what they appear to be in a setting where they would never be expected. This series is a little darker with a heightened suspense level than my other series.
My other series is the Ernie Bisquets Mysteries. It’s centered around a retired pickpocket in contemporary London who has decided he is going to help the London police with their more challenging cases—whether they want his help or not. These are English cozies, so the characters are quirky, and the crimes are intricate puzzles.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
RMP: That’s a tough choice. Right now I have to say Ernie Bisquets is my favorite. I’ve written 3 books in his series, and have just started the 4th. Ernie is a true character, and someone I think anybody would enjoy meeting—just make sure you still have your wallet before he walks away. I’m just getting to know Promise Flynn, so there’s a good chance she’ll be right up there with Ernie soon enough. One of these days it might be fun to introduce them to each other in a story.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
RMP: I’ve been writing the London-based series for so long I wanted to change things up a bit. I’ve been kicking around new characters and plots for a while now, but some didn’t seem to work well in a London setting. Then I took a trip back up to New England and it hit me—why not start a new series?
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
RMP: As tough as writing a book is, finding a publisher is even tougher. This was the goal I set for myself when I started the first book. Writing a book is an accomplishment in itself, but to be published and distributed adds a great deal of credibility to that accomplishment. I decided no matter how long it took, I was going to find a traditional publisher that believed in my work as much as I do. I was thrilled when I got the offer from Sunbury Press for the new series. They will also be publishing the next book in the Bisquets’ series.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
RMP: Charles Dickens, for his thoughts on today’s social and political climate; Oscar Wilde, for his wit; Robert Parker, for his exceptional grasp of dialog; and Dorothy Parker, because she could make any gathering of authors an event worth attending.
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
RMP: I’m just finishing Peter Ackroyd’s FOUNDATION—the history of England from its earliest beginnings to the Tudors, and CHOICE OF ENEMIES by M.A. Richards.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
RMP: I’m a classically trained artist, so I always have a painting or two on my easels going at all times. Painting helps me think when I’m stuck on a plot direction.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
RMP: Cream Of Wheat, Clotted Cream (great on scones,) Wise Potato Chips, and Cinnamon Raisin Bread. I’m a man of simple tastes.
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
RMP: I’m very excited to tell you I’ve turned in the 2nd book in the Auburn Notch Mysteries. If all goes well with editing and book jacket design, it should be released by the end of the year. I’ve also started book 4 in the Ernie Bisquets Mysteries. I have a very complete outline, so I intend to get this one done by the end of summer. Look for an early 2017 release for that. I also have outlines for 1 more book in each series, so I’ll be pretty busy for the next year or two.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
RMP: I have to say the best part of being an author for me is meeting new people at book signing events. There is a great energy there, and I really enjoy the feedback about the series. I’ve incorporated a number of ideas into storylines we’ve come up with at these events. Mystery readers are very devoted to their genre and like being surprised, so I do everything I can to accomplish that for them in my books.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Currently Reading...
I just finished reading An Unhappy Medium by Dawn Eastman. This book is the fourth in the Family Fortune Mystery series and will be released April 5th.
Clyde Fortune gets a bad feeling when her mom tells her that her sister, Grace is coming to town along with her husband and young daughter, Seth's little sister. Is the feeling just a normal reaction to her complicated sibling relationship, or is she getting a true premonition? As Seth gets the family involved with his Zombie Fun Run to benefit the animal shelter more red flags go up for Clyde, and not just the ones proving she's not as in shape as she once was! Grace finally confides that she and her husband are in trouble after mobsters didn't heed her financial advice. Death at the Zombie Run brings matters to a head and family secrets are no longer contained.
Clyde Fortune gets a bad feeling when her mom tells her that her sister, Grace is coming to town along with her husband and young daughter, Seth's little sister. Is the feeling just a normal reaction to her complicated sibling relationship, or is she getting a true premonition? As Seth gets the family involved with his Zombie Fun Run to benefit the animal shelter more red flags go up for Clyde, and not just the ones proving she's not as in shape as she once was! Grace finally confides that she and her husband are in trouble after mobsters didn't heed her financial advice. Death at the Zombie Run brings matters to a head and family secrets are no longer contained.
Monday, March 21, 2016
Spotlight - Cover Reveal for Fixin' to Die
Presenting the cover of the first book in a new series from Tonya Kappes:
Print ISBN-13: 9781635110371
ePub ISBN-13: 9781635110388
Kindle ISBN-13: 9781635110395
Hardback
ISBN-13: 9781635110401
Title: FIXIN’ TO DIE
Series: Kenni Lowry Mystery
Series
Series Number: 1
Edition: First
Pages:
Author: Kappes, Tonya
Publisher: Henery Press
Price: $15.95 trade
paperback
$31.95 hardcover
$2.99 digital ebook
Publication
Date:
June 14, 2016
BISAC Audience: TRA
(General/Trade)
BISAC Subject:
FIC022040 (mystery: women sleuths)
FIC022070 (mystery: cozy)
FIC016000 (fiction: humorous)
Description:
Kenni Lowry likes to think the zero crime
rate in Cottonwood, Kentucky is
due to her being sheriff, but she quickly discovers the ghost of her
grandfather, the town’s previous sheriff, has been scaring off any would-be criminals
since she was elected. When the town’s most beloved doctor is found murdered on
the very same day as a jewelry store robbery, and a mysterious symbol ties the
crime scenes together, Kenni must satisfy her hankerin’ for justice by nabbing
the culprits.
With the help of her Poppa, a lone
deputy, and an annoyingly cute, too-big-for-his-britches State Reserve officer,
Kenni must solve both cases and prove to the whole town, and herself, that
she’s worth her salt before time runs out.
Related
subjects include: cozy mysteries, women sleuths, murder mystery series,
whodunit mysteries (whodunnit), humorous murder mysteries, book club
recommendations, amateur sleuth books, Southern humor, small town, paranormal
mysteries.
Books in the Kenni
Lowry Mystery Series:
·
FIXIN’ TO DIE (#1)
Part of the
Henery Press Mystery Series Collection, if you like one, you'll probably like
them all…
Author Bio:
Tonya has written over 20 novels and 4 novellas, all of which have
graced numerous bestseller lists including USA Today. Best known for
stories charged with emotion and humor, and filled with flawed characters, her
novels have garnered reader praise and glowing critical reviews. She lives with
her husband, three teenage boys, two very spoiled schnauzers, and one ex-stray
cat in Kentucky.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
A Sunken Treasure Interview
I'm happy to welcome Kait Carson to Cozy Up With Kathy today. Kait writes the Hayden Kent Mystery series. DEATH BY SUNKEN TREASURE is the second book in the series and will be released this coming Tuesday!
Kathy: Like Hayden Kent, you too are a SCUBA diver. How did you get interested in diving?
KC: I went to school at the University of Miami. In my sophomore year, I fell in love, with a SCUBA diver. He had been up for the role of Sandy in Flipper but lost it to Luke. Diving was a big part of his life, and he was a certified instructor. He introduced me to the underwater world and taught me to dive. For a girl used to the cold waters of New Jersey, the lure was inescapable.
Kathy: Do you have any tips for people who may want to start diving?
KC: Yes. Get the best instruction you can find. NAUI and PADI both have great classes, as does the “Y.” Learn to be a safe diver, learn the tables and how to use them, even if you don’t think you will ever need them. I can promise you that there will come a time when your computer battery will die and the dive tables will become your best friend. Don’t worry about all the bells and whistles. Get a comfortable mask that fits well, swim fins, and a regulator you can trust. Then always dive your training and your comfort level.
Kathy: Have you ever searched for underwater treasure?
KC: Much to my father’s dismay, no. He used pet sit for me and would audibly wonder every time I came home from a dive trip why I didn’t find treasure. I think he thought I was holding out on him. The truth is, underwater treasure seeking is regulated by the State. It’s a very specialized type of enterprise, and a very expensive one to do properly. That’s not to say I don’t look for the shine of gold when I dive, I do. It never tarnishes.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?
KC: My first exposure to mysteries was the Nancy Drew series. At their heart, they are cozies. They take place in a small town, have an amateur sleuth, and the gore takes place off the page. When I got a little older, but still of an age to read the Nancy Drew books, I started wandering around the small town I lived in looking for things that were out of place. Eventually, I started spinning my own cozy mysteries, and things took off from there. Cozies offer something that no other genre do. That’s possibility. They are everyman stories. There’s no reason you couldn’t discover the body in the creek bed.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
KC: Yes, I write short romances and true confession stories. I have a romance kicking around in the back of my mind that I hope to bring to life at some point. Hasn’t happened yet.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
KC: Hayden Kent is a paralegal living in the Florida Keys. In the first book, she finds a body underwater. In the second her best friend’s son has drowned while hunting for treasure. In both cases, the underlying theme is about the strength of friendship. Because nothing in the mysteries is as it seems, to discover the killer Hayden must peel back multiple layers of deception to uncover the truth and bring justice to the dead and closure to the living.
My first series features Catherine Swope. Catherine is a former cop turned first dog walker as she recovers from the events that resulted in her leaving the force, and ultimately becomes a Realtor in Miami, Florida. Catherine because of her background, faces a different set of problems and decisions. In both the Swope books, Catherine’s knowledge of law enforcement techniques makes her both the prime suspect and the chief investigator. The Swope books, while still cozies, deal with larger issues, graft and corruption in small town governments and drug dealing.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
KC: The sidekicks are my favorite characters. Mallory Corbett is Hayden’s best friend. Mike Reardon is Catherine’s boyfriend. They serve as the balance and the conscious for the main characters while always being a part of the action and in on all the fun.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
KC: On a philosophical level, I wanted to explore what happens when someone is in a bad situation through no fault of her own and left to figure out how to get out of trouble. Life happens so fast these days that we often find ourselves in situations where things are snowballing out of our control. It interests me to see how people take charge of their destiny and resolve the issues.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
KC: Peer pressure! I joined Sisters in Crime, and learned of the Guppies chapter. Guppies is an Internet chapter and the name stands for Great Unpublished. Through my association with the Guppies, I took a number of classes, honed my writing skills, learned about marketing, blurbs, synopsis, and all the nuts and bolts of what writers do (it’s a lot more than putting fingers on the keyboard and telling a story). With the support and encouragement of the Guppies, I decided to embark on the great publishing adventure. Anyone considering writing, and taking their own writing to the next level, would be well advised to sign on to Sisters and Guppies.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
KC: Mark Twain. Now there’s a man who can turn a phrase. PD James. She revolutionized the modern mystery. Hank Phillippi Ryan. An amazing woman and writer who makes it look so easy. Daphne DuMaurier. Her books always took my breath away.
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
KC: WRITES OF PASSAGE. An anthology published by Henery Press that gives writers inspiration. The Ghost and Mrs. Mewer by Krista Davis.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
KC: SCUBA diving, of course. Crocheting. I love to have something to do with my hands when I watch movies. Running. It keeps me sane and I find it’s a great way to work out plot points. I’m learning to throw things. Potting that is. I’ve bought a wheel and right now, I’m making wonderful mud pies. Someday I’ll get this centering thing down.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
KC: Wine. Marinated mushrooms. Frank’s Red Hot. Granny Smith apples.
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
KC: Yes, and yes. I’m currently at work on the third Hayden Kent book, tentatively titled Death Dive. Catherine Swope is knocking at my imagination for her third book. And I’m developing a three book arc for a new series that features a woman private pilot. Then there’s that romance I’m always considering.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
KC: Meeting readers. I love visiting blogs, doing book signings and public speaking. It gives me a huge amount of pleasure.
Kathy: Like Hayden Kent, you too are a SCUBA diver. How did you get interested in diving?
KC: I went to school at the University of Miami. In my sophomore year, I fell in love, with a SCUBA diver. He had been up for the role of Sandy in Flipper but lost it to Luke. Diving was a big part of his life, and he was a certified instructor. He introduced me to the underwater world and taught me to dive. For a girl used to the cold waters of New Jersey, the lure was inescapable.
Kathy: Do you have any tips for people who may want to start diving?
KC: Yes. Get the best instruction you can find. NAUI and PADI both have great classes, as does the “Y.” Learn to be a safe diver, learn the tables and how to use them, even if you don’t think you will ever need them. I can promise you that there will come a time when your computer battery will die and the dive tables will become your best friend. Don’t worry about all the bells and whistles. Get a comfortable mask that fits well, swim fins, and a regulator you can trust. Then always dive your training and your comfort level.
Kathy: Have you ever searched for underwater treasure?
KC: Much to my father’s dismay, no. He used pet sit for me and would audibly wonder every time I came home from a dive trip why I didn’t find treasure. I think he thought I was holding out on him. The truth is, underwater treasure seeking is regulated by the State. It’s a very specialized type of enterprise, and a very expensive one to do properly. That’s not to say I don’t look for the shine of gold when I dive, I do. It never tarnishes.
Kathy: What first drew you to cozy mysteries?
KC: My first exposure to mysteries was the Nancy Drew series. At their heart, they are cozies. They take place in a small town, have an amateur sleuth, and the gore takes place off the page. When I got a little older, but still of an age to read the Nancy Drew books, I started wandering around the small town I lived in looking for things that were out of place. Eventually, I started spinning my own cozy mysteries, and things took off from there. Cozies offer something that no other genre do. That’s possibility. They are everyman stories. There’s no reason you couldn’t discover the body in the creek bed.
Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?
KC: Yes, I write short romances and true confession stories. I have a romance kicking around in the back of my mind that I hope to bring to life at some point. Hasn’t happened yet.
Kathy: Tell us about your series.
KC: Hayden Kent is a paralegal living in the Florida Keys. In the first book, she finds a body underwater. In the second her best friend’s son has drowned while hunting for treasure. In both cases, the underlying theme is about the strength of friendship. Because nothing in the mysteries is as it seems, to discover the killer Hayden must peel back multiple layers of deception to uncover the truth and bring justice to the dead and closure to the living.
My first series features Catherine Swope. Catherine is a former cop turned first dog walker as she recovers from the events that resulted in her leaving the force, and ultimately becomes a Realtor in Miami, Florida. Catherine because of her background, faces a different set of problems and decisions. In both the Swope books, Catherine’s knowledge of law enforcement techniques makes her both the prime suspect and the chief investigator. The Swope books, while still cozies, deal with larger issues, graft and corruption in small town governments and drug dealing.
Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?
KC: The sidekicks are my favorite characters. Mallory Corbett is Hayden’s best friend. Mike Reardon is Catherine’s boyfriend. They serve as the balance and the conscious for the main characters while always being a part of the action and in on all the fun.
Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your series?
KC: On a philosophical level, I wanted to explore what happens when someone is in a bad situation through no fault of her own and left to figure out how to get out of trouble. Life happens so fast these days that we often find ourselves in situations where things are snowballing out of our control. It interests me to see how people take charge of their destiny and resolve the issues.
Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?
KC: Peer pressure! I joined Sisters in Crime, and learned of the Guppies chapter. Guppies is an Internet chapter and the name stands for Great Unpublished. Through my association with the Guppies, I took a number of classes, honed my writing skills, learned about marketing, blurbs, synopsis, and all the nuts and bolts of what writers do (it’s a lot more than putting fingers on the keyboard and telling a story). With the support and encouragement of the Guppies, I decided to embark on the great publishing adventure. Anyone considering writing, and taking their own writing to the next level, would be well advised to sign on to Sisters and Guppies.
Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?
KC: Mark Twain. Now there’s a man who can turn a phrase. PD James. She revolutionized the modern mystery. Hank Phillippi Ryan. An amazing woman and writer who makes it look so easy. Daphne DuMaurier. Her books always took my breath away.
Kathy: What are you currently reading?
KC: WRITES OF PASSAGE. An anthology published by Henery Press that gives writers inspiration. The Ghost and Mrs. Mewer by Krista Davis.
Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?
KC: SCUBA diving, of course. Crocheting. I love to have something to do with my hands when I watch movies. Running. It keeps me sane and I find it’s a great way to work out plot points. I’m learning to throw things. Potting that is. I’ve bought a wheel and right now, I’m making wonderful mud pies. Someday I’ll get this centering thing down.
Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.
KC: Wine. Marinated mushrooms. Frank’s Red Hot. Granny Smith apples.
Kathy: Do you have plans for future books either in your current series or a new series?
KC: Yes, and yes. I’m currently at work on the third Hayden Kent book, tentatively titled Death Dive. Catherine Swope is knocking at my imagination for her third book. And I’m developing a three book arc for a new series that features a woman private pilot. Then there’s that romance I’m always considering.
Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?
KC: Meeting readers. I love visiting blogs, doing book signings and public speaking. It gives me a huge amount of pleasure.
Friday, March 18, 2016
Life as a Woman in a Man’s World - Guest Post & Giveaway
Life as a Woman in a Man’s World
by J. Lavene
I’m
not the woman I used to be. Unlike the costumed balls of my younger
days, my life now is no masquerade. Nothing less than complete immersion
in my life as Jacks Jackson will allow me to get my revenge for
Jonathon’s murder. I can’t afford to be anything less than
hard-as-nails. I must be a man, a detective and sharp-shooter. I must
always be Jacks.
It’s not that there aren’t women doing detective work. Allan Pinkerton
is more than willing to have a woman in the field. Even the NYPD hires
female detectives now.
But women can’t get into all the places male detectives can and don’t
get the same level of respect. I need that respect and the power it
accords to find my fiancé’s killer.
So the lie goes deeper than a lie. The mask is no longer a mask. My
family most likely believes I’m dead, abducted and killed by some
criminal element. It’s better to be thought of as deceased than for my
parents to know I’m living as a gunslinger in the rural wilderness. No
one can come looking for me. No one can know Julia still exists.
With the exception of Lil Stockton: Lil knows my secret. She recognized
me as Jacks in the early days of my career with the Pinkerton National
Detective Agency. Time with Lil allows me a few precious moments where I
can enjoy the luxuries of a hot bath, a warm bed, and a sympathetic
ear. Everyone believes we’re lovers, and we let them—another layer of
the façade that is Jacks Jackson.
Of course, Allan Pinkerton knows too. He’s a shrewd businessman who
cares more about results than any petty notions of gender. I’m his best
performing agent, and my natural talent and training with firearms makes
me a force to be reckoned with.
But Pinkerton uses his knowledge of the criminal underworld to string me along. I know he does it, and I let him.
Having to be Jacks requires every minute of every day. Julia’s anguish
transformed me into another person: a hardened man driven towards
justice.
The days of languishing debutante are over, but is it true that Julia
is really dead? Is Jacks all that will be left when I kill the man who
destroyed my life? Or will any part of me even make it out alive?
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Currently Reading...
I actually just finished reading COPY CAP MURDER by Jenn McKinlay. This book is the fourth in the Hat Shop Mystery series and was released this past January.
Getting homesick for her parents and the United States as Thanksgiving is approaching, Scarlett is also feeling a slight rift from her cousin,Viv who is still refusing to talk about her mysterious husband. On the other hand, Scarlett's feelings toward Harrison are growing deeper and the need to be boyfriendless for a time is less and less appealing.
When the friends, including Nick and Andre, attend a swanky Guy Fawkes party at the home of one of Harrison's CEOs things get out of hand. A run in with an ex of Harrison's, who wants him back at any cost, and another with one of Harrison's business rivals leads to fisticuffs. When the rival is found dead Harrison becomes the main suspect and Scarlett will hold nothing back in proving his innocence!
Getting homesick for her parents and the United States as Thanksgiving is approaching, Scarlett is also feeling a slight rift from her cousin,Viv who is still refusing to talk about her mysterious husband. On the other hand, Scarlett's feelings toward Harrison are growing deeper and the need to be boyfriendless for a time is less and less appealing.
When the friends, including Nick and Andre, attend a swanky Guy Fawkes party at the home of one of Harrison's CEOs things get out of hand. A run in with an ex of Harrison's, who wants him back at any cost, and another with one of Harrison's business rivals leads to fisticuffs. When the rival is found dead Harrison becomes the main suspect and Scarlett will hold nothing back in proving his innocence!
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Spotlight & Giveaway - Uncommon Stock
Book 1 of The Uncommon Series - Continued in Book 2, Uncommon Stock: Power Play.
Mara Winkel is rock climbing, mountain biking, and 'studying' her way through school at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
But when her best friend James asks her to partner with him to start a disruptive new software company she discovers that the world of technology startups is fraught with intrigue, adrenaline, soaring successes, and scorching failures. It turns out this is especially true when your technology threatens entrenched drug cartels.
Mara has to juggle mysterious investors, opaque partners, critical customers, and a team that is as brilliant as it is dysfunctional until only one question remains: win or die.
Book Details:
Genre: Technothriller Published by: Previously FG Press; now Self-Published Publication Date: March 2014 Number of Pages: 231 ISBN: 9781517513214 Series: Uncommon, #1 Purchase Links:
Read an excerpt:
Chapter 1
Mara Winkel turned onto the muddy single track and lifted her body off the seat as her mountain bike plunged down the slope through the aspens. It jolted up and down beneath her, the suspension struggling to keep up with gravel and rocks. She yanked the handlebars to the right to avoid a nasty root. Mara quickly corrected her course to keep her front wheel on the two-foot-wide path.
She accelerated as the track cut down the slope at a sharp angle, sucking in a deep breath of Rocky Mountain air as the bright yellow leaves and white trunks flashed by. She lived for this, adrenaline pumping through her body, complete mental focus, and high-speed natural beauty. What more could a girl want?
Craig let out a “Whhoooooppp,” as he launched down the path behind her. He was fast but she had enough of a head start to keep her lead to the bottom.
The course dropped off into a steep switchback and Mara threw her body to the left and torqued the front wheel around hard to the right to make it through the turn. She raised her body farther off the bike and hit the next section of rolling bumps, catching some air in between each one. The suspension thumped rhythmically and she jerked the bike up onto the mossy side of the path to avoid a large mud puddle.
As Mara turned around the next switchback, a small clearing dropped away from the bottom side of the path and she had a clear view of the surrounding mountains awash in textured patches of green and yellow, battling for deciduous September supremacy. The white trunks of the aspens flashed up again as the track dropped into another thick grove.
It took half an hour to get to the bottom of the mountain. By the time Mara sped through the last section of the trail her quadriceps burned and her knuckles had a death grip on the handlebars. She came around a turn and jumped the bike up over an angled rock in the path. Her front wheel landed on a bare aspen root and skittered to the right along the slick wood. Shit.
She desperately tried to wrench the wheel to the left but the bike nosed into the ground and her momentum carried her up and over the handlebars. Goddamnit. She was in the air and her stomach instantly turned into a roiling pit of butterflies, instinctively clenching her jaw so she wouldn’t shatter her teeth on impact. The green-brown blur ended abruptly as she hit the ground so hard it knocked the wind out of her. As she cleared the cobwebs from her head, she realized she was lying in another muddy puddle that tasted like dirt. Oh well, what’s fun without a little danger? Ever since the situation with her and James’ family she’d always liked adrenaline.
She rolled over and spat, heard a metal screech, and then “Fuuuck.” She lost all of her air again as Craig’s shoulder slammed into her stomach and he landed in the same puddle. Shit, she had forgotten he was so close behind her. Stars glimmered and her vision narrowed as she gasped for breath again.
After a few seconds her sight returned to normal and she turned her head to look at Craig. He was spitting out mud and looked up at her looking at him and then they were both laughing and laughing as the cold rush of adrenaline surged through their systems. He leaned over and kissed her hard on the mouth and she could taste sweat, mud, and Clif Bar. She kissed him back and then punched him playfully in the stomach. “I thought you were supposed to be good at this whole mountain biking thing.”
“I wasn’t expecting you to be one of the obstacles.” He raised an eyebrow.
“‘Dynamic course design — the track changes while you’re on it. But you make a good point, I’m an obstacle you have no chance of overcoming.”
“We’ll see about that,” he laughed, dimples creasing the scar on his right cheekbone.
They walked the bikes the rest of the way to the base of the mountain. Luckily the worst of the damage seemed to be a few bent spokes and several bruises that would no doubt surface the next day. Mara was still feeling shaky when they reached the car. Her muscles were disobedient noodles.
She glanced at Craig as they loaded the bikes onto the rack. She still wasn’t quite sure what to make of him. They met in a Greek history course they were both taking to fulfill general education requirements and had been dating for the past two months. He wasn’t really her type, a little too jockish for her taste. On the other hand, he was smart, ambitious, liked the outdoors, and had fantastic shoulders.
They got in the car and Craig pulled out on the highway. Mara’s phone beeped from her purse on the floor and she reached down to grab it. Craig glanced over, annoyed. “Let me guess, little Mr. Precious as always?”
“Shut the hell up! Just because I actually have friends of the opposite gender and don’t resort to fucking them doesn’t mean you have the right to judge me.”
“Come on… whatever.” He looked back to road, pouting.
“Get a life.” It was going to be a long ride back to Boulder.
Mara pulled up the text message on her phone. It was from James after all. All it said was, “3 p.m. tomorrow, The Laughing Goat.”
Chapter 2
“Double cap extra dry?” James’ hair was long, straight, and black. It came down almost to his shoulders, but outside of that he looked more or less like he had since high school. He had on a long-sleeve T-shirt with “e=mc2” emblazoned on the front, jeans, and brown leather flip-flops. Mara was always amazed at his tenacity for wearing sandals through Colorado winters. He pushed the cup and saucer across the table to her. Like all Laughing Goat espressos, the foam was drizzled on in abstract swirls reminiscent of Japanese stone gardens.
“You know me too well. Thanks for the drink.” She took a sip, savoring the airy richness of the steamed milk and the sharp earthy bite of the espresso.
“Oolong for me.” James’ mother had fled from western Taiwan in the 80s and he had inherited her love for tea. He had an entire cupboard filled with exotic varieties and drank it like water. “How’s the quarter going?”
“Meh, lots of work ahead. I’m in Swarson’s governance class, which would need its own library to house the reading list. The rest of my courses are fine but the real pain in the ass is doing LSAT prep at the same time. It’s incredible how illogical logic can be.” She wasn’t a fan of the how the LSAT classes were starting to eat into her free evenings. “How’s life on the other side of campus? Is your massive brain tearing apart whatever syllabi the computer science professors have tried to throw at it?”
James smiled thinly. “Hardly.” He glanced down at his coffee and pursed his lips. Mara could see he was thinking hard about something. He looked up again. “Do you really want to be a lawyer?” “Yeah, I mean, obviously my parents are lawyers. There are a number of family friends who are partners at law firms who would give me an internship. I’ve done well in all the recommended prerequisites. Plus, it seems pretty cool to argue with people for a living.”
“But do you want to be a lawyer, like, day-to-day?”
“Yes, well, yeah I think so. It just seems natural, you know?”
“Oh yeah, I’m sure you’d excel at law school and everything. It just seems like it’s so, well, detail-oriented. You’re so outgoing and active. Mike is a lawyer now, and don’t get me wrong, he loves it.” His older brother was halfway through Hastings Law School in San Francisco. “But I just have sort of a hard time picturing you enjoying pulling all-nighters reading through thousands of pages of contracts and stuff.”
“Well, you’re nerdy and introverted so programming seems perfect for you.” Mara was put off by his attitude. He was acting sort of strange. “Sorry, I guess I haven’t really devoted that much thought to it. James, what’s up? Why the mystery text? You know Craig got all pissy again because you’re my best friend.”
James grimaced with obvious distaste. “I really don’t like that guy. He thinks that just because you two are dating, you can’t hang out with any other guys. He’s such a frat boy, seriously, what do you see in him?”
“Dude, get off my back already! I don’t need two men jealous of each other over nothing. You don’t get to decide who I get to date any more than he gets to decide who I’m friends with. I’ll have you know he’s extremely well endowed.”
He held up his hands in mock surrender. “Alright, alright, T.M.I.! I just don’t like the guy…” “James, I know you like beating around the bush, but why are you interrogating me about my legal ambitions and romantic prerogatives? What’s the deal, man? Are we just here to sip coffee or do you actually have something that you want to talk about?”
James took a sip of tea, put the cup down and looked directly into Mara’s eyes.
“I’m dropping out,” he said.
Chapter 3
This made no sense at all. Mara had known James since he had fallen out of a canoe and she had pulled him back out of the water at a camp near the Russian River in Northern California. He had proceeded to explain that he was trying to figure how the water skeeters did their skeeting and was so focused that he didn’t even notice the branch that knocked him out of the boat. They talked for the rest of the way down the river and it was the first time in Mara’s eleven years that she had met someone she thought might actually be smarter than her. Ever since then they had been inseparable. She remembered the shocking brightness of blood on tablecloth. But that was another story.
James went on to blitz every mathematics competition he could find and his parents sent him to nerd camps at MIT and UC Berkeley during high school summers. He loved chess but his real passion was go, the ancient Chinese strategy board game. Mara had never understood. She didn’t like either game. Why play with toys when the real world was so much more interesting?
Though James still had to master the social side of life, he was a genius, or at least the closest to a genius that Mara had ever met. There was simply no way he was flunking out of college.
Mara drained the last of her cappuccino and tried to regain her composure. “What are you talking about, James? I thought you were blowing all of your C.S. coursework out of the water. Last February one of your professors invited you to be a research assistant in his lab. You can’t be dropping out of school.”
James took a deep breath. “What do you know about pattern recognition?”
After an hour of discussion, the espresso had worked its way through Mara’s system and she had to take a bathroom break. Thoughts were spinning through her head. She took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind as she entered the restroom.
James had been working on a new project for over a year now. Apparently it had started when he was hired as a course reader for one of the upper division math courses. The professor asked him to grade the final assignments for all seventy students in the class. The projects had been submitted online. James started to read them but soon discovered that each one took at least an hour to thoroughly review. Mara couldn’t see James spending two weeks going through assignments and apparently James hadn’t been able to see himself doing it either. Instead, he combined a series of algorithms into a computer program that could automatically flag problems in the student assignments, resulting in much less to review.
The approach ended up working so well that he started adding new functionality. He called the program “Mosaic” after the first popular web browser developed by Marc Andreessen in the early 90s. By the end of the grading process, Mosaic could not only identify incorrect final answers, but also where the logic in students’ proofs had gone awry. At this point, James’ description started going over Mara’s head.
He had shared the program with a few other course readers to test it out and the results were strong. Mosaic was able to ferret out mistakes extremely accurately. Then James had added some “machine learning” layers to Mosaic. Apparently that meant that the program could adapt and evolve on its own based on the problems it faced. Mara had thought that that was the realm of Hollywood robots, but James assured her it was standard practice in computer programming. Mosaic then started to identify not only incorrect answers in the student assignments but also to flag other irregularities. James thought there was a bug in the code and it had stymied him for two weeks before he double checked a few assignments and realized they were plagiarized. Mara grinned. How like James to train a computer to catch cheaters.
As Mara was washing her hands her phone chirped. It was a text from Craig asking if she wanted to go trail running. It was enticing. She hadn’t worked out today and her mind was racing. But she needed to find out what was really going on with James so she texted back that tomorrow might be better. As she slid her phone into her pocket her elbow throbbed, a painful reminder of yesterday’s bike crash.
She walked back out into the flurry of sounds and smells of the coffee shop and sat back down at the table. “Okay, so what gives? Your program can catch math geeks copying each other’s homework?” James smiled. “I call it ‘quantitative pattern recognition.’ Mosaic can take a dataset and deduce how logic sort of flows through it. It can tell when there’s something that doesn’t fit. I set it up to play chess against the freeware game on my computer and after it had played about ten games it started to win every time. Then I set it up to play go against me. I won ninety-five times in a row but then it started to beat me.” James flushed.
“Okay… who cares? I mean, can’t you play any game against a computer?” Mara was more impressed that he had won almost a hundred times in a row.
“No, no, you don’t understand. Go is infamous because, unlike chess, computers can’t beat even moderately good human players. There are just too many different strategic approaches to the game. The analytical artificial intelligence of the computer can’t match the flexibility and pattern recognition of the human brain. It’s crazy that Mosaic is beating me, I haven’t lost to a computer in years.”
“Fine, so Mosaic can beat you in go. But where is this conversation going? Why are you dropping out of school?” she asked.
James squared his jaw. “I’m going to start a company. And I need your help to do it.”
Author Bio:
Eliot is a writer and strategist based in Oakland, CA. He is the author of The Uncommon Series and when he’s not hacking away at his next novel, he works with entrepreneurs and investors to build new technology businesses as a drop-in operator and adviser. He was an entrepreneur-in-residence at a venture capital firm where he accelerated portfolio companies, sourced/vetted deals and advised foreign governments on innovation policy and capital formation. He has been a founder and early employee at multiple startups.