Cindy Miles | Ghosts for the Holidays

Hi Everyone! First off, I'd like to thank Faye and everyone at Fresh Fiction for having me here here today. It's such a wonderful site for readers and authors alike. Thank you!

Now, onto ghosts for the holidays! Ever since I can remember, I've loved ghost stories. From Charles Dickens' Ebenezer Scrooge to Abbott and Costello, I've loved them. The quirkier, the better. At Disney World, my favorite ride was always the Haunted Mansion--especially near the end, when you ride past the tall mirrors and see a wispy spirit sitting next to you. All of those great things combined has inspired my writing, and in particular my November release, Into Thin Air. When I first began writing the book, several of the secondary characters sort of just happened, and they turned out to be some of my favorite, most endearing folk. And to have them interract with the live characters, in a very familial, ordinary way, as if it's a natural occurrance and happens to everyone really made it fun to write. My hero, Gawan, has lived with them for centuries, and they're more like family than anything. I wanted my heroine, Ellie, to experience the same sort of joy I think I would have, should I fall into the arms of a sexy, once-warrior knight turned Earthbound Angel. :) Within the story, those of you who read my debut, Spirited Away, will encounter those once-ghostly characters, as well. I hope you find them all fun, enlightening, and a joy to read and remember. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and here's hoping you bump into a ghost or two during this cheery, special season!

Happy Reading,
Cindy Miles

http://www.cindy-miles.com/

Nancy J. Cohen | VANILLA SPICE

Did you know that vanilla is the only edible fruit of the orchid family? It’s an extremely valuable crop. Vanilla rustling has always been a concern to growers Thus beans may be branded when they are still green. While the plant stock is native to Mexico, beans are also grown in places like Indonesia, Madagascar, and Tahiti. Variations in soil and climate account for the differences in flavor.

Legend says coffee originated in the Land of the Resplendent Moon. The ruler was blessed with a beautiful daughter, who dedicated her life to serve the goddess of crops. One day while gathering flowers in the forest, the girl came upon a young prince. They fell in love and ran away together. The priests caught them and beheaded the doomed couple. In the spot where their blood spilled, a bush grew. A vine sprang from the earth and twisted around the bush like a pair of embracing lovers. Orchids sprouted on the vine, and when the flowers died, slender green beans developed. Thus vanilla was born from the blood of a princess.

Ninety-seven percent of the vanilla used today is synthetic. Vanillin is the organic component mimicked in synthetics, but natural beans contain additional elements that cannot be duplicated. Thus natural vanilla has a much richer smell and taste. You can tell real vanilla extract if the label says it contains 35% alcohol. Vanilla bought in other countries may be synthetic and/or contain unknown additives.

The current annual demand for natural vanilla is for 2200 tons. Besides playing a role in the food industry and in perfume making, vanilla has industrial applications. It makes medicines taste better and covers the smell of tires, paint, and other household products. So next time you have an upset stomach, sip a cola drink. These contain vanilla, which calms the digestion.

Amateur sleuth and hairstylist Marla Shore discusses the vanilla industry with a grower in KILLER KNOTS, my cruise ship mystery available in stores now. Please look for a copy if you want to read more about this fragrant spice.


Nancy J. Cohen

http://nancyjcohen.com/
http://mysterygal.bravejournal.com/

Candace Havens | Charmed & Dangerous

It may seem kind of silly but I love the character Bronwyn in the "Charmed & Dangerous" series. I’m beyond excited that the first book is coming out in mass-market paperback on Dec. 4. Hopefully that means more people will get to read about this amazing chick.

When I first conceived the idea of her, I wanted someone who was strong and didn’t take crap off of anyone. Bronwyn is certainly that. She’s one of the most powerful witches in the world, but you wouldn’t know it to look at her. I like that she has a little bit of an attitude, but she has a soft heart. That one minute she can be caring for an elderly man with Alzheimer’s, and the next she’s blowing up bad guys.

Bronwyn is also an adventurer who loves to travel. People ask me all the time if I’ve been to all the places she has – I wish. (Smile) I do a lot of research into places where I would like to travel, and then I send Bronwyn on her way. I like that side of her, where she can adapt to most any situation. She always manages to make friends, even in the most harrowing of circumstances.

People also ask if she is me. The truth is, maybe a little. She says and does things I wish I could. I have a rather warped sense of humor, and Bronwyn has certainly picked that up. Some of the attributes we share are dark hair, being short and complicated, busy lives. Though, I only love one man these days, I can certainly relate to Bron when it comes to her love life. So yes, maybe there’s a little bit of me in her, but she’s definitely one of a kind.

-Candy Havens
http://www.candacehavens.com/

Shirley Jump | The Ugly Duckling and Victoria’s Secret Models--Really Something to Talk About

The Ugly Duckling. Poor little guy, ostracized by the ducks because they thought he was ugly, not knowing he’d grow up to be a beautiful, self-assured swan. Those ducks made fun of him, ignored him, brought him to tears.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. His offense to reindeer kind? A nose that lit up, something they saw as a liability--and ended up being Santa’s saving grace.

Victoria’s Secret models. Who’d have thunk they’d have something in common with the Ugly Duckling and Rudolph? Well, it turns out they do. In a recent story on Fox News, these ideals of female perfection talked about how they were teased for being too thin, too plain, too whatever.

It seems when it comes to others, none of us is ever perfect enough. We’ve all experienced that middle school torture, those kids who made seventh grade hell (or freshman year, or whatever). I went through it; my own kids have gone through it. And now, in Really Something, my latest release from Zebra, my heroine, Allie Dean, goes through it, and thinks she is the only person in Tempest, Indiana, to be tortured for being different.

But what Allie doesn’t realize is that we’re all placed in little boxes by people, boxes that are formed by judgments and opinions, good or bad. She’s not the only one seen by the town as one way, when in her heart she is actually someone else.

Don’t worry, regular readers, this book is a romantic comedy, just like my other books, with a really hot hero named Duncan Henry, but this is a novel that delves deeper than any previous story has. I took chances with this one, reached further into my own heart and into the hearts of my characters. I really wanted to explore a character who had changed her exterior, who thought that because she had shed the skin of the person she used to be, that she had also shed the problems that came with that self.

Well, Allie finds out it’s not that easy. All my books have a common theme (and anyone who has read the Bonus Features section of my website has read this), drawn from my all-time favorite poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” by T. S. Elliot. The theme of the poem is the lies we tell ourselves, and the lies we tell other people--essentially, the masks we were, in private and in public. Really Something explores this theme as well, and takes it on a town-wide level.

So what do the Ugly Duckling, Rudolph, Victoria’s Secret models and all of us have in common? Plenty. We’ve all been there, at one time or another, and can relate to her journey. So come along and read about Allie’s journey home in Really Something--where you’ll find laughter and tears, and realize that returning home is about much more than just going back to the place where you were born.


http://www.shirleyjump.com/

Linda Lael Miller | Growing Up Western

I grew up in a little town in northeastern Washington state, a place called Northport. My dad was, really and truly, the town marshal. I was raised on stories, told mostly by my adopted grandmother, Florence Wiley, about 'old times', when she lived on a farm outside of Coffeyville, Kansas. In my childhood, she was usually working at the wood-burning cook stove while she told her stories, and that stove has been in every western I've ever written, always in the same part of the kitchen. Later, when the uncles went together and bought her an electric model, she hated it, claiming it burned everything, and banished it. The black iron and chrome Kitchen Queen was soon back in residence.

Her stories were great. Jesse James once slept in the family barn, and she clearly remembered the day the Dalton brothers tried to rob the bank in Coffeyville. The townspeople had gotten word that they were coming, and they were ready, on roof tops and between buildings, with rifles. The gang was annihilated--the shots were audible from the farm several miles outside of town--and later the bodies were displayed as a deterrent to budding outlaws. Grandma Wiley's father was ahead of his time, psychologically, and refused to take his children to town and parade them past those bloody corpses, like so many others were doing.

My dad and uncles were rodeo cowboys in their younger days--Uncle Jack Lael was a champion, rode at Madison Square Garden, and got to kiss Miss America, so I grew up around horses and tales of the baddest bulls and wildest broncos on the circuit, of course. When people ask me how I can make the old west seem so authentic in my books, I like to say it's because I was born and raised in it!

lindalaelmiller.com