Interview with Glynis Astie

Hello wonderful reader. How's it going? 

I personally have been swamped with a crazy summer semester on top of working 36 weekly (unpaid) hours at the hospital. Which is why there hasn't been a review in a hot minute. But I promise I have a few reviews in the works at the moment so stay tuned. 

One fun thing I've been up to is chatting with Glynis Astie the fabulous rom-com writer. You may have seen my Review of her novel Gamer Girl back in May. This is a fantastic 5* book and Book of the Month winner so you can imagine my excitement when she agreed to do an interview with me!

Enjoy,

Interview with Glynis Astie

Firstly I would like to congratulate you on a wonderful book. Gamer Girl blew my mind. I thought the dialogue was absolutely fantastic. From the characters voices, to their attitudes, to the thoughtfulness of their words and the immersive feel of the conversations. Can you tell me a little bit about your process of writing dialogue?

Thank you so much, O! I really enjoyed writing Gamer Girl. I remember having trouble writing dialogue for my first book, French Twist. When I saw the words on paper, I felt this bizarre need for everything to be formal, as though I were handing in a research paper to a professor. (Seriously, I didn’t use contractions or slang—not even the occasional swear word. It sounded totally off!) Thankfully, I received early feedback that my dialogue sounded stilted. From then on, I made it a regular practice to read what I wrote out loud, which made it easy to see where I needed to make corrections. It was a lot of fun to add different voices and intonations while I read (my cats were highly entertained) and I did my best to add descriptors to capture these nuances for the reader.

I suspected you might do that. It really does give it an authentic feel!



When you imagine Morgan do you have a celebrity doppelganger in mind for him? I'm sure my viewers would appreciate the visual ;)

It’s funny, but before you posed this question, I hadn’t really thought about it. All of my other books are based on my life, so I’ve never had to imagine what my characters look like. Although I was asked once who would play the major characters in movies of my French Twist series and it was fun to think about, but that’s a story for another time. After I read your question, I searched Pinterest and eventually struck gold. Sam Claflin would make a great Morgan—he’s GORGEOUS, he can play to both Morgan’s goofy and serious sides AND we already know he can rock an American accent. Thanks for prompting me to search for the visual, O!

As the title suggested, our protagonist Meri is a gamer girl. I have to say I loved the back story for that it was very well thought out and meaningful, but I digress. So, are you also a gamer?

I have something very sad to tell you, O. I have NO gaming skills. None whatsoever. I wish I did, because I love video games, but I’m missing the necessary hand-eye coordination. My youngest surpassed my skill level when he was about three. Every once in a while, he’ll ask me to play, but becomes frustrated because I can’t keep up. (And I go through lives like they’re going out of style.)

I was actually inspired to write Gamer Girl after watching a video game documentary with my husband. I really liked the idea of a character leading two lives—one inside the game and one outside—and that these two lives could converge in the most interesting ways.

Congratulations on your recent release of French Roast. I hope I get to read it very soon. What similarities are there between Gamer Girl and the French Twist series?

Thank you, O! There are certainly some similarities between the two. Meri and Sydney both lack confidence, though for different reasons and they show this in different ways. Meri is a lot better at covering up her insecurities than Sydney. Sydney (who is my alter ego) has a tendency to catastrophize and to say some seriously crazy things. My heroes are certainly swoon-worthy, although Morgan is a lot more flawed than Louis. (Knowing my husband would be reading how I portrayed him as Louis, I had to be on my best behavior.) Both books also have a bevy of side characters, including a wise cracking older character who often becomes a favorite of readers. Grams was completely fictional—just an amalgam of old Jewish lady stereotypes coupled with my imagination—while Teddy was based on my father. I’ve been told by my siblings that I captured him perfectly, and I’m extremely proud of this. If only he had lived to read my tribute to him. (It’s a given he would have given me a list of corrections, but it would have been a wonderful conversation.)

What time frame do the 4 books of the French Twist Series cover?

The first book begins just as I met my husband and the last book ends ten years later. These books were a joy to write, although the last one was bittersweet as it dealt with a very difficult time in my life. In the end, writing the last installment was very healing for me and I’m incredibly proud of the result.

Tell me about your inspiration for the French Twist series and about how much of the story would you say is based on reality?

About a year after my second son was born, I had a dream that I wrote a book about how I met and married my husband in six months. The idea was so foreign to me as I had never imagined writing a book. I had decided to stay home with my boys, so I had the time and decided to give it a whirl. I wrote the first book in about three months and was very pleased with the results. (I have learned a lot since then and just may go back to spruce it up!) I would say about seventy-five percent of the first book is based on reality, with the total dropping to about sixty percent for the next two and coming back to seventy-five percent for the last one. In most cases, the events are accurate, but the timeline has been changed. I’m not quite sure how this happened, but the change in chronology helped the story progress in a more digestible manner.

Are you currently writing anything?

I’m a creature of habit, O. I write in the fall, edit in the winter, release in the spring, and take the summer off. I will be thrilled to spend the summer with my boys, and when the fall rolls around, I will be starting my next book, which is going to be a bit of a departure for me. I plan to tell the story from three different points of view and in a rather unique manner. That’s all I can tell you for now, but keep your eyes peeled over the summer for more details!

Oh, I love that routine! I hope you guys have a fantastic summer and I will keep my eyes peeled! 

Thank you so much for chatting with me. It was truly a pleasure and I look forward to reading more of your books. 

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Guest Post by Glynis Astie

Review of Gamer Girl

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Fractured Promises by Aleisha Maree *Cover Reveal + Blurb + Interview*

Hello awesome person, today we are featuring an adult paranormal erotica with a guest post including a cover reveal, blurb, and interview provided by the author.

Fractured Promises

by

Aleisha Maree

'*~-.(_COVER REVEAL_).-~*'

Blurb

I am Knox The Assassin Ambrose. I loved an angel, yet couldn't keep her. These hands of mine, they make people bleed. They rain down pain upon sweet pain. Break a man’s bones with just one swift southpaw to the jaw. I'm an Assassin of men's' bodies and women’s hearts. I don’t do nice. I'm Raw, Rough and Unwavering in my quest to be the best.

I feed on my enemy’s hate, turning it into power and strength. I know how to fight with my fists but I also know how to destroy you without a single touch. I **** clawed my way to the top and that is where I'll stay.

No need to seek the warmth of a woman’s arms as I had them all falling at my feet, then like a south paw to the jaw she was there. Stuck in my minds eyes, haunting my dreams and etching in under my skin. The more this new beauty holds my attention, the more I lose of my angel, the one who first saved me. To top it off, she has her eyes, so every time I look at her, I'm reminded of what I've lost. She's taking over my senses and turning my brutal world upside down.

Gone is the Knox my angel loved, instead I’m fighting harder than ever before.

Maybe just maybe I can find that love my soul craves. Miss Blue-James; can she accept the monster I've become? She has her own deep, dark secrets and evil is chasing her tail, seeking to bring her down.

But the evil hell bent on destroying her, hasn't met me yet. I won't fail her the way I failed my angel. Tick Tock goes the clock.

Author Interview

      

1. When did you first realise you wanted to be a writer?

I have read and got lost in books since a very young child. I have always said to myself I’ll write like this one day. I’ll be the retreat for people like me who seek solace in books. Even if it is a bit twisted.  I became a  mum at a young age so that has always been first and foremost in my life but now the voices  are too loud and want out,so i’m grabbing it and running with the crazy

2. What is the first book that ever made you cry?

      Danielle Steel - His Bright Light read it! It is amazing.

3. How long does it take you to write a book?

I’m a debut author with my first book released on june 1st. I started to write Broken In between working on the Dairy Farm and raising my kids while we were living in the most isolated part or the south Island New Zealand. So it took a while started in October 2016 and finished in March. Split Broken into two books with Fractured Promises due in August 2017

4. Do you have any bizarre writing quirks?

I’m just bizarre in general, but i click my toes together the whole time that i am wrighting.

5. Where do you get your book ideas?

Life, past experiences lol the voices in my head are totally on a loop that just go round and round.  Listening to music and when i’m asleep i dream of such amazing stuff and incorporate it into my books.

6. What do you do when you are not writing?

I’m a mum of six and a wife to one so i spend quality time with the family baking muffins and shit. Earning brownie points so i can sit in front of the computer for another 24hrs.

7. What does your family think of your writing?

They think i spend way too much time in front of the computer and don’t understand how the books that i write can come from someone like me...just a dairy farmers wife.

8. Do you hear much from your readers? What kinds of things do they say?

No not really.  I would love to hear more from them.

9. What do you think makes a good story?

My husbands says the title and the bigger the boobies the better on the cover (sorry he just wanted to feel involved in my interview lol), but on a serious note i feel passion, and an awesome twisted plot that takes you by surprise makes for an fabulously alluring story.

10. Does writing energise or exhaust you?

Both, it energises my soul and exhaust my brain.  But i wouldn't have it any other way.  (the voices like it like that)

11. What are common traps that new authors fall into?

People pleasing, feeling they have to change to fit into an already established writing world.

All new writers JUST BE YOU don’t fall into the trap that society wants.  Me i’m just batshit crazy all day every day.  Take me like a grain of salt and put me in ya coffee.

12. Have you ever got READERS Block?

Yes all the time mostly when i go against the voices in my head lol when they want to do something and i dont think its a good idea as i don’t think y’all ready for half the shit they want to say.  They get stubborn and shut up shop. Radio silence all day long.

13. If you could tell your younger writer self anything, what would it be?

To not have been as scared to let the world know what goes on inside my brain. Keep writing no matter how crazy shit gets don’t ever stop writing. If you write a sentence a day, pretty soon you will have a whole book.

14. What was the best money you ever spent as an author?

Priceless :) i could not put a price on the knowledge or experience i have gained through the indie community.  The love and support alone is worth a million dollars (but my covers are pretty badass and they are done by Amanda Walker thanks Girl shout outs to you!)

15. What does literary success look like for you?

People understanding my words and my thought process.  Who i am is really hard to portray having people be able to fall into the loop of my words and actually get it and not be afraid is my idea of success.

16. Tell us about your latest book.

It takes broken promises to a whole new level! It only gets better from from here.  Hold onto your panties girls shits about to rough!

17. Do you sometimes find yourself Googling yourself?

What??? Noo i get my neighbour to lol (she is tots me mate we drink coffee and talk bullshit real good)

18. Describe how you felt when you published your first book.

Crazy ecstatic, shaking in me boots, overwhelmingly worried that the world wouldn’t get me but oh so astonishingly proud to show my kiddies DREAMS DO COME TRUE!!

19. What’s coming next?

From my badass self you're gonna get a 6 book series called Reapers Reign.  Then we will be hitting close to my soul with 2 real life stories. 1 will be called Letters to My Mummy.  The 2nd will be called Dear Dolly.  They both are me raw emotional and stripped bear.

20. Do you have a favourite book?

I have sooo many favourite books to name them would take ooodles of years, but if i had to say my favourite it would have to be, The book my mummy made me when i was younger she aint no published author but she made a book especially for me all about me xoxo

Aleisha Maree – Author

Writer of dark erotic souls in leather and lace.​​​​​

•  Aleisha Maree is a Wife to one amazing man who is the love of her life her soul in this crazy world & a Mumma bear to 6 little hell hounds (I mean kids ; ) lol ) that mean more to her than breathing.

•  She’s from a small village called Wakefield in the South Island of New Zealand it’s the most beautiful stunning part of this fantastic world.

•  She had a remarkable childhood with people who are still by her side diving into her world of crazy.

•  Reading and getting lost in the world of words and peoples remarkable thoughts has always be the greatest form of escape and the most magical journeys.

•  She installs her love for reading into her children with a home overflowing with books.

•  She has spent the last 15 years being a Mumma and wife and until now has put her writing and the amazing voices of these hot alphas and ladies in lace on the back burner but with life slowing down just a little and the kiddies just about all off too school the voices got louder and wanted to come out and play so with that being said enjoy them and the ride it's sure to be a fun one.

•  There will be happily ever afters as well as intense dark loves devils and demons with angels thrown in here and there.

•  This is going to be an epic journey through my mind so I hope you enjoy the chaos oh and the voices you’ll get used to them.    

Love,  

Interview with author Andrew Joyce

Hello everyone! I recently had the honor of interviewing Andrew Joyce about his novel "Yellow Hair." A historical fiction based on historical facts!

Please tell me about your novel, "Yellow Hair"?

Through no fault of his own, a young man is thrust into a new culture just at the time that culture is undergoing massive changes. It is losing its identity, its lands, and its dignity. He not only adapts, he perseveres and, over time, becomes a leader—and on occasion, the hand of vengeance against those who would destroy his adopted people.

Yellow Hair speaks to the injustices done to the Sioux Nation from their first treaty with the United States in 1805 through Wounded Knee in 1890. Every death, murder, battle, and outrage written about actually took place. The historical figures that play a role in this fact-based tale of fiction were real people and I use their real names. Yellow Hair is an epic tale of adventure, family, love, and hate that spans most of the 19th century.


What would you most like the reader to take away from this book?

That it was an enjoyable read and perhaps a little informative.


What inspired you to write "Yellow Hair"?

The inspiration for the book came to me when I was reading a short article and it made reference to the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862. It also mentioned that the outcome involved the largest mass execution in the history of the United States. That piqued my interest.

When I started my research into the incident, one thing led to another and before I knew it, I was documenting the entire history of the Sioux, who are also known as the Dakota, vis-à-vis the relationship between them and the United States.


How did you go about researching for it?

I want to say that I learned the hard way how important proper research is. But it wasn’t really that hard of a lesson. In my first book, which takes place in the last half of the 19th century, I made two mistakes. I had the date of an event off by one year and I had my hero loading the wrong caliber cartridge into his Winchester rifle. I would have gone blissfully throughout life not knowing how I had erred if not for my astute fans. Both mistakes were quickly pointed out to me in reviews of the book. One guy said he would have given me five stars if not for the wrong caliber bullet mistake. I had to settle for only four stars. Lesson learned!

Before I get into telling you about the year-long research I did for Yellow Hair, I’d like to tell you how I researched my second and third books and describe what that research entailed.
My second book was a western and the protagonist was a woman. The research took about three months. I had to know everything from women’s undergarments of the late 19th century to prison conditions for women in those days. (I sent my heroine to jail.) That kind of research was easy. Thank God for the internet. But then I had to do some real research. Molly (my protagonist) built up her cattle ranch to one of the largest in Montana, but she and her neighbors had nowhere to sell their beef. So Molly decided to drive her and her neighbors’ cattle to Abilene where she could get a good price. She put together the second largest herd on record (12,000 head) and took off for Abilene.

That’s when I had to really go to work. I wanted my readers to taste the dust on the trail. I wanted them to feel the cold water at river crossing. I wanted them to know about the dangers of the trail, from rustlers to Indians to cattle stampedes.

This is how I learned about all those things and more. First of all, I found old movies that were authentic in nature. I watched them to get a feel for the trail. Then I read books by great authors who had written about cattle drives to soak up even more of the atmosphere of a cattle drive. That was all well and good, but it still did not put me in the long days of breathing dust and being always fearful of a stampede.

That’s when I went looking for diaries written by real cowboys while they were on the trail. After that, I found obscure self-published books written by those cowboys. Then it was onto newspaper articles written at the time about large cattle drives. That’s how I had Molly herd the second largest cattle drive. I discovered that the largest was 15,000 head, driven from Texas to California in 1882.

My next book took place in the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897. Here new elements were added such as wolves and the extreme weather as adversaries. Dogsledding was also involved. I have seen snow only three times in my life and I have never dogsledded. I knew even less about wolves. I had to learn about those things. I had no idea what it was like to travel across a wilderness on a dogsled at seventy degrees below zero. I also had to acquire knowledge about the dogs themselves, especially the lead dog. I learned about all that by doing the same things I did for my second book. The old diaries were the most helpful. As to the gold rush, there was plenty of material in the form of self-published books by some of the participants. Some were never even published, but I found copies of them in the archives of universities and historical societies. Again, newspaper stories printed at the time were very useful. Concerning wolves . . . I read everything I could get my hands on about wolves—their habits, the pack hierarchy, the alpha male, and the different jobs or tasks the males and females have while hunting.

Now we come to Yellow Hair. As I mentioned above, the book is about the Sioux Nation from 1805 to 1890. I had to know both points of view, the white man’s and the Sioux’s. Getting to know the whites’ take on things was easy. There are many, many books (non-fiction) that were written at the time. I even found a book written by Custer detailing his strategy for wiping out the Sioux entirely. That was hard reading. And, again, there were universities and historical societies whose archives were a great help.

As to the Sioux’s point of view, there are a few books that were dictated to newspapermen years later by the Indians that took part in the various battles that I weave into my story. I found a lot of material from Native American participants of the Little Big Horn, written twenty to thirty years after the fact.

But I wanted to immerse myself in the Sioux culture and I wanted to give them dignity by using their language wherever possible. I also wanted to introduce them by their Sioux names. So, I had to learn the Lakota language. And that wasn’t easy. There is a consortium that will teach you, but they wanted only serious students. You have to know a smattering of the language before they will even deign to let you in. I had to take a test to prove that I knew some Lakota. I failed the first time and had to go back to my Lakota dictionary and do some more studying. I got in on my second try.


Wow, that is amazing, and what dedication! 
What has been the best experience for you in your time as a writer?

When I get a review stating that my humble offering was enjoyed by the reader.


What was your biggest challenge while writing "Yellow Hair"?

The research.


What advice would you give to someone who wants to write a novel like this one?

My advice to anyone who wants to get into writing a novel, not just historical fiction, but any genre, is to read, read . . . and then read some more. Read everything you can get your hands on! Reading to a writer is as medical school is to a doctor, as physical training is to an athlete, as breathing is to life. When one reads stuff like the passage below, one cannot help but become a better writer.
"The afternoon came down as imperceptibly as age comes to a happy man. A little gold entered into the sunlight. The bay became bluer and dimpled with shore-wind ripples. Those lonely fishermen who believe that the fish bite at high tide left their rocks and their places were taken by others, who were convinced that the fish bite at low tide.”—John Steinbeck, Tortilla Flat
AND: Never, ever, ever, ever respond to a negative review!!!

Great advice! Thank you so much for chatting with me and sharing such helpful details about your research! 

I hope everyone enjoys this post and will check out the amazing novels by Andrew Joyce! Find handy links below. 

About the Author:

Andrew Joyce left high school at seventeen to hitchhike throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. He wouldn’t return from his journey until decades later when he decided to become a writer. Joyce has written five books, including a two-volume collection of one hundred and fifty short stories comprised of his hitching adventures called BEDTIME STORIES FOR GROWN-UPS (as yet unpublished), and his latest novel, YELLOW HAIR. He now lives aboard a boat in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his dog, Danny, where he is busy working on his next book, tentatively entitled, MICK REILLY.

Andrew Joyce is the recipient of the 2013 Editor’s Choice Award for Best Western for his novel, Redemption: The Further Adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.

Author Links:

Andrew Joyce Official Site

Andrew Joyce on Amazon

Goodreads

Facebook

Links to find the novel, Yellow Hair:

Amazon
Smashwords
iTunes
Kobo
Barnes & Noble


Love Westerns? Check out more books by Andrew Joyce: 

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